“And I’ll be calling another meeting after my dinner tonight, so keep some time free in a few hours for everyone, okay?” I finished cheerfully. The last half-hour had gotten me in a really good mood.
“Yes, sir,” Brinks said, smiling now.
“Thanks, lieutenant,” I said and turned to leave. On my way out the door, I heard Brinks whisper, “I think he’s going to do it!” to someone. I turned briefly at the door and held my finger to my lips, shushing, and was greeted by twenty or so blushing grins.
Byrnes was on his way to the conference room with three men in tow in shorts with towels around their necks and still sweating profusely. Alsooth was with the other fourteen already. I dawdled in a hallway to give them time to beat me there, but I was only a few paces behind them through the door. The fourteen jumped from the table, snapping to attention, confusing Byrnes for a second as the other three darted for position and snapped to attention, too.
“As you were, gentlemen and ladies,” I said, sliding the chair at the head of the table out and sitting. “Good evening, Alsooth.”
“Good evening, Lord Daybreak,” Alsooth squeaked from the center of the table.
“Major, the opportunity that I’m about to offer is not limited to these men, but to anyone once everything is in place,” I said, starting the meeting. “I broached the issue on their behalf but surely there are others with similar issues that simply felt that their situations were hopeless. Frankly, too much changes with time for any situation to be hopeless, ya know?”
“Yes, sir,” Byrnes said, accepting but not understanding yet.
“All right, here’re the big ‘ifs’,” I said, turning to seventeen very nervous men and women. “If I accept and negotiate asylum for everyone, this is what I’m willing to do. The military will release you from service. I will effectively, but artificially, re-hire you as security within my company for a comparable salary, applying necessary insurance for dependents. We will arrange a registry for those wanting to be traceable within this corporation so that any family members will be able to find you within the United States.
“We will create a liaison office within your men, Major, to work with those affected to arrange leave for visitations and those of you with children who have been legally barred from seeing your children, I will provide funds for attorneys to periodically fight those bans. That doesn’t mean you can fight for custody, though. I refuse, adamantly, to put a geas on a child.
“And as some of you may end up living on that side for short periods of time anyway,” I said, watching them gain hope with each word, “I don’t know why duty can’t be deferential to those of you with issues on that side. So. I’ll give you a few hours to think about it. Major, if you could pass the word around, I’ll be calling another meeting after my dinner tonight. Alsooth, would you set the gym up again for me, please?”
“Yes, Lord Daybreak, with pleasure,” Alsooth sang pleasantly.
“You’re welcome to join us if you can find the time, Major,” I offered. “We’ll be starting in about forty-five minutes. There’ll be a number of people you may be working with in the future there. Very casual. I have a visiting VIP there who doesn’t know how to relax so I’m forcing the issue.”
“I would be happy to attend, Lord,” Byrnes said, nodding and smiling and calculating what he had to do in that time to make it happen. He was as eager to please as the brownies were right now.
“Good,” I said, standing again. “I’ll see everybody else in a few hours then. ‘Bye.”
I shifted to outside the Fuller’s suite, eschewing the Road this time. Darius was just stirring and Sean was watching him avidly. I was greeted at the door by a cute, porcelain-skinned brownie named Lornea who became totally shy when she saw me. Her bright blue eyes glistened when she giggled at my compliments on her bright red dress as she led me upstairs. She was sweet and I was glad that they’d managed to overcome their fear of me enough to face me now instead of hiding constantly.
“Where am I?” Darius asked weakly.
“Go easy, Dad,” Sean said. “You were hurt worse than you thought.”
The door was ajar so I knocked lightly.
“Daybreak was there,” Darius said. “Where are we?”
“In bed, resting,” I said, pushing the door open and stepping in. “Good to see you finally awake, Darius.”
“Daybreak,” he said, surprised at my appearance, trying to push himself up to sitting with Sean’s help. “Where are we?”
“My house,” I said casually, moving to him to help Sean get him upright. “Yes, I’ve kidnapped you and your son for a few days. I’m forcing you to take a few days off to heal. Can’t have you ruining my hard work, now can I?”
“How do you feel, Dad?” Sean asked, plumping his pillows.
“Tired, confused,” he said, groggy and scratching his head, still staring at me. “Hungry.”
“I imagine so,” I said knowingly, nodding. “It was a potent working and took a lot out of you. And it’s why I’m here, to take you and Sean to dinner. Sean, would you fetch something for your father to wear? There’ll be other people there and while his nudity won’t bother them, I’m sure he’ll be uncomfortable.”
“Sure thing, Seth,” Sean said, snickering as he bounced off the bed. Darius lifted up the sheet and peered under.
“I’m naked!” he shrieked.
“That is what I said,” I answered. “Come on, get up. We’ll help you.”
“What happened?” he asked, stroking his chest where bandages were plastered hours ago. His hand then shot to his backside, worried.
“Those are gone, too,” I said calmly before he tried to purge his body of energy.
“Yeah, Seth whipped out this wicked black rapier out of thin air and shoved it into your ass,” Sean recounted, handing Darius a white, cotton lounging shirt with a bamboo imprint on one side and a beach scene along the bottom. “He said it ate those curses like candy at Halloween. Then Peter, First, and he worked on you for about an hour to fix you up. Thank God they came by when they did.”
“Yes,” Darius murmured, still stroking his past wounds carefully.
I turned as a brownie passed the door. “Setali, would you let Mr. Phillips know we’re leaving for dinner in a few minutes, please?”
“Yes, Lord,” he squealed merrily and jogged down the hall.
“What was that?” Darius asked wide-eyed, now staring through the door.
“A brownie, Dad,” Sean said, giggling.
“There are twenty in this suite to take care of the three of you while you’re here,” I said. “Please be nice to my people. They’ve been treated very badly and they’re skittish, but they’ll take very good care of you.”
“We’re in Gilán?” he asked shocked.
“Where else would my house be?” I asked. “Now put your shirt on.” Sean stood beside the bed holding Darius’ shirt out for him.
Darius turned to Sean and, between clenched teeth, whispered hoarsely, “I can’t wear that in Daybreak’s Palace!”
“He wouldn’t let me bring a suit, Dad,” Sean said, grinning evilly.
“Nope,” I agreed. “Threatened to shred ‘em, even. Re-cu-per-ate, not network. There’s no one here to impress, so relax.”
Phillips came in, wearing dark blue shorts, a lighter blue shirt, and dark brown wing tips. Sean and I watched his feet as he walked around the bed, and he said, “I forgot to pack shoes.”
I sputtered, laughing. “Go barefoot, then. I’ll find you something safer on marble than those. You won’t be going outside tonight anyway.”
Darius managed the shirt, mostly, while we laughed at Phillips. He slowly swung his legs over the side and Sean fed his legs through his shorts for him. Sean and I swung around him, throwing his arms over our shoulders and slowly lifted him up, pulling his shorts with us. I had to stoop to not knock him off balance, but after a moment, he gained enough balance to need only a minor hold on Sean to stand.
“Okay, let’s
go,” I said.
“We’re walking?” Sean said, a little disappointed.
“Yeah, Darius needs to keep moving. Work up an appetite. It’s not too far,” I said, grinning. “Besides, he wants to see a little of the Palace on his first night.”
“Yeah, yeah, I would, actually,” Darius said, taking his first step on Gilán.
Chapter 40
“Where did they get that much beef loin?” I asked, cutting into my third piece of marvelously glazed steak.
“From my refrigerator,” Peter mumbled, swallowing. “Glad they did, too. This is fantastic!”
“I thought you weren’t supposed to eat faery food,” Darius remarked, his third empty plate sitting on his knee. A brownie came by and took it from him. He nervously thanked her as she skipped away.
“Waa—hoo!” Sean yelled, appearing above the twenty-foot plants around us by a good fifteen feet, perfectly upright but arms and legs flailing wildly as he flew through the air along the path of the Road. Kieran had built a long ramp onto it and Jimmy tied the Road to it. Sean was taking the inaugural leap with Ethan on the far end ready to catch him. I was watching.
“Sean?” Darius stood up, ready to run in alarm.
“Calm down, Darius, they’re just playing,” Dad said from my right. “Ehran and Ethan are quite capable of keeping him safe.”
Peter laughed. “Said the man who made diamonds in his ass the first time he saw his son armor up and pull the Day Sword.”
“That’s not the same thing,” Dad argued as Major Byrnes appeared on the Road across from the alcove we sat in.
“Major!” I called, waving him to us. “Off the Road! Quickly!” Ethan was rounding the curve at full tilt and would hit the ramp at any second now, with Kieran right behind him.
“Yeah! Ba-by!” Ethan yelled as he sailed over Byrnes’ head, causing him to duck to the floor in shock. Kieran flew over him faster, tagged Ethan on the back of the head, then curled into tight flip, falling to the ground. Ethan was so surprised by Kieran that he started plummeting immediately, but tucked and rolled at the last second.
First blurred in beside Byrnes. “You all right, Major?” he asked kneeling down, concerned.
“Yes, sir,” he gasped. “Who… What was that?”
“Ethan and Kieran playing with a ramp on the Road,” Jimmy said, smiling as he stood. “Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to startle you. Welcome to the family. Seth’s in there.” He darted out onto the Road and blurred out of sight again.
“Welcome…” Byrnes mumbled then looked at me.
“Cat’s out of the bag, now,” I said to Peter, smirking. Byrnes scrambled to his feet without taking his eyes off of me and walked hurriedly in.
“You’re going to do it?” he asked without preamble.
“It’s why I asked you here, yes,” I said nodding. “Go fix yourself something to eat. We’ll be here when you come back. Careful crossing the Road. The boys are being extra boisterous tonight.”
“I noticed,” he said, dazed and confused, but he turned and went back the way he came.
“What are you going to do that’s got him so excited, Seth?” Dad asked.
“Oh, they didn’t tell you?” I asked. “Well, just after my first meeting with the Pentagon officials I brought over last night, Laston informed me that my prisoners had requested political asylum from their government before the meeting started and I arrived. All but seventeen of them, it seems.”
“All of them?” Dad asked, shocked at the number alone.
“Yeah, we were gobsmacked, too,” Peter said, handing his plate to a brownie. “Thank you.”
“’Gobsmacked’?” Darius asked, shaking his head.
“Utterly astounded,” Mike said, walking up from the other side with a beer bottle in his hand. Dad did a double take.
“There’s beer?” he asked.
“In the cooler on the floor beside the table with the light pink broccoli-looking stuff,” Mike said. “We brought it over a few days ago.” Dad got up, clearly on a mission now.
“You have prisoners here?” Darius asked.
“Yes, Darius,” I answered, slightly annoyed. “You remember not taking my call the other day? The reason you missed seeing the Emissaries’ Meeting and several other interesting occurrences? I’m sure Señor Peraza filled you in on most of what you missed. If not, try Mr. Bishop when you get back. Or Gordon. The Castle was beautiful that night. I must remember to compliment them on that score.”
“It was, wasn’t it?” Peter agreed.
“After I saw what you were doing,” I continued, “which we will have a discussion about later, I went looking into what other people were doing and found quite a few… misdeeds. I’m sure you’ve heard. The most disgusting of them was when the Army opened fire on all of us. I’d already killed enough that day. So, instead of destroying another bunch of men, I picked them up and I took them as Echols and his men raised their weapons to fire.
“So, now I have prisoners asking for political asylum,” I explained. “It put me in a very difficult position, mostly because of the way they asked.” Byrnes chose that moment to walk up. “Mike, there’s a chair around the corner on your right you can pull around and Major, on your right on the other side of the big pink pot.”
Jimmy blurred to a stop on the Road, walked in and waited for someone. Sean darted in a few seconds later at about a hundredth Jimmy’s speed. Dad crossed the Road a second later carrying two fistfuls of beers. As Jimmy passed Byrnes, he saw the Major fighting with the chair in the bushes and hauled on it with him. Sean plopped onto the floor next to Darius, red faced and still breathing hard. I felt Kieran start to cycle to Road down to normal levels and knew we were about to be flooded with people.
“Anyway, Darius, the prisoners didn’t do anything wrong when they asked Laston at that time,” I continued with that story as Byrnes was back in hearing range. “They actually didn’t have much choice at that point, but it put the weight of my faery behind the request as well. They had grown… attached to the prisoners, adding another political level as well as playing on my heartstrings. I argued against it with them, but they understand the consequences. So, I made arrangements.”
“I can understand doing things as other people want,” Darius said, sadly.
“Sean, you look like you’re about to burst,” Phillips said as he came up behind us with Kieran and Ethan. David and Steve were only a few yards away.
“Just waiting for a break in the conversation to thank Seth for bringing us here,” he said, bouncing in place. “I’m having a great time! And Dad’s already looking a hundred times better.”
“I’m glad, Sean, really,” I said smiling back at him. “Just remember, do not to try that stuff on the Road while we’re not around. My room is a very special part of the Palace and First, Kieran, and Ethan are a lot more adept than you at controlling it.”
“Yeah, they told me several times,” he said, his exuberance not diminished at all. “It was still great fun.”
“Well, the rest of your stay will probably be more boring, I’m afraid,” I admitted. “Tomorrow I have to see about getting the Major and his… men… fed…” I just noticed that Major Byrnes had started eating once he’d been absolved of any wrong-doing. At the moment, he was chipmunk-cheeked, having shoveled a large portion of food in his mouth as rapidly as he could. I was staring at him, both amused and amazed. Everyone else looked to see what I was staring at. “I promise, I have fed them!” I added, quickly.
Byrnes nodded quickly, trying to chew and swallow, red-faced with embarrassment. Gales of laughter erupted around us as he fought to not choke. Dad handed him a beer as he passed. I nodded when he looked at me for permission. He popped the top and swigged at the bottle to help him swallow.
“There’s more over there, Ted,” I said casually, still holding a half-cocked grin.
“I’ve just never had anything so good, Lord Daybreak,” Byrnes said.
Shrugging, I said, “Sometimes, it’s
good to be king.”
“And in his room, you can call him ‘Seth’,” Jimmy said from the ledge of the planter behind me, popping the top off a bottle. Kieran settled on the arm of Dad’s chair and Ethan perched behind Peter on another planter ledge. David and Steve had the foresight to drag their own chairs up. They were out of luck on the beer, though—Dad ran out.
I spotted a group of brownies playing in a fountain nearby and asked them to go on a drink run for us. They’d have to gather help, but they were happy to do it. This was unique for them. Even Ellorn was playing when he could, but every brownie there knew that no faery lieges ever allowed others to play in their sanctum. I guess they’re all stuffy old bitches.
“And you have decided to accept us?” Byrnes asked, the rest of his food forgotten for a moment.
“Yes, Ted, I have,” I answered, sighing. “I still don’t like the idea. To me, it seems like enslavement, but I understand your reasons.”
“’Enslavement’? I don’t understand,” Darius said.
“They asked for political asylum, Darius,” I repeated. “From me… in Gilán… permanently… I can’t have them living here among the faery without the same geas. It wouldn’t be fair. The faery would eat them alive. And I’m not waiting on them hand and foot. They’re going to have to help out and earn their keep like everyone else or I’ll be broke in a year.” Peter snickered behind his beer.
“So what are they going to be like? After you put this geas on them?” Darius asked, curious.
“I doubt they’ll seem any different,” I said. “There is a slight chance that the connection with Gilán might create changes with some. There is precedence among the faery with reversion to genotype, but that was after generations of forced change to another. You may notice that several of the brownies are larger than the others. The larger ones are actually more normal brownies. They were kept small and Gilán is changing that in great numbers. I’m happy as long as they are.”
Sons (Book 2) Page 75