When It Falls

by Jan Stryvant

  "Not that, ya' goof," Roxy laughed and punched him in the arm, "I mean is she going to join the rest of us as one of yours, or not?"

  Sean looked at her in shocked surprise, "Why, I never even thought about that!"

  Roxy hauled back and got ready to punch him, "What was that?" She mock growled.

  Sean grinned and snickered, "Even if I didn't want her, and yeah, I do. I think my lion would do something bad to me if I didn't make her mine," Sean suddenly stepped into Roxy and pulled her close, kissing her, "Just like I did with you!"

  "Hmm, yum," Roxy grinned back at him. "So he's got the hots for her?"

  Sean nodded, "He likes vicious brutal women who kill anyone who threatens us." Sean winked at her, "Probably why you're both of ours first love!"

  "Poor Jo, being left out like that," Roxy teased.

  Sean snorted, "Everyone likes a sex pot. Plus I have a sneaky suspicion that Jo's more than capable, she's just smarter than us and avoids those situations."

  "And Peg?"

  "Sheer animal cunning," Sean laughed, "Her becoming a fox is one of those things that makes you realize that there are other forces in the world, because she definitely is one."

  "Well she and Sheila are sure a pair when it comes to breaking and entering," Roxy sighed.

  "I think I may ask Jo to give Peg the fourth degree on that eventually, and find out just what she's up to."

  "Don't you mean the third degree?" Roxy asked and hip checked him.

  "They use a hose for the third degree," Sean smiled and bumped hips back with her. "The forth uses those toys you and Jo keep ordering online!"

  Roxy grinned and bumped back, "So now that I've shown you everything and we've talked trash about the rest of the family, what's up?"

  "I want to go visit Eruditio."

  Roxy blinked, "Do they know you're coming?"

  "What? And spoil the surprise?" Sean grinned and looked around for Daelyn.

  "Dae!" He called when he spotted her.

  "What?"

  "Come on! You're driving."

  "Where?"

  "I'll tell you in the car," Sean grabbed Roxy before she could walk away, "You're coming too."

  "Oh?"

  "I've spent hardly any time with you since we got ambushed at Sawyer's. I need my Rox fix," he grinned.

  "I thought you got that last night and the night before?" Roxy purred, while smiling at him.

  "I actually do love you for more than just your body," Sean paused a moment, "there's ummm, what comes after body?"

  Sean laughed as Roxy swatted him, and they headed over towards Daelyn's car.

  "Cali's watching you, you know."

  "Really?" Sean looked around and caught her watching him, "Cali!" he called as she started to turn away, "Yes, Master Sean?"

  "You're coming too! Get that nice butt down here."

  "You sure about that?" Roxy whispered, "She's wearing a tighter shirt than I am!"

  "I have this theory that dark elves prefer to go naked," Sean chuckled.

  "From how tight they all wear their clothing, you just might have a point," Roxy agreed.

  Cali met them at the car just as Daelyn got there.

  "Where are we going?" Daelyn asked.

  "Eruditio. It was suggested I should go talk to them."

  "Not bringing Jo or Peg?"

  Sean shook his head, "Jo might be seen as representing her Uncle's interests, and well, for all I know Peg might decide she wants to rob them after seeing the inside of their place, so better to just let the two of them work on all the magical stuff they're doing."

  Daelyn nodded, and they all got in the car, Sean sitting in the back with Cali so Roxy could appreciate Daelyn's driving.

  Cali seemed totally calm and collected, and if it wasn't for the death grip she had on Sean's hand, he would have thought she wasn't bothered at all by the way Daelyn rocketed across town and then out east towards the Eruditio compound.

  Gaining access at the gate was no problem, the guards there, all lycans, recognized Sean and the girls immediately and told them to go right in.

  "I thought they didn't have lycan slaves?" Cali asked from the back seat.

  "They're not slaves," Roxy told her. "They're employees, free to come and go as they wish."

  "Oh! I had no idea."

  Daelyn drove up by the house and parked, getting out and going up to the door, Sean was surprised to be met by a white haired man with a long white beard who looked every bit the wizard. Except that he was wearing an old pair of faded Levis and a flannel shirt.

  "Sean Valens, it is a pleasure to meet you at last. I'm Joseph Harrison, the current leader of the local council of Eruditio."

  Sean nodded and shook hands with him, and then introduced the girls.

  "What is a dark elf doing here in Reno of all places?" Joseph inquired after Sean had introduced her.

  "We rescued her and several others from the Ascendants, apparently they were already thinking about life without lycans," Sean grumbled.

  Joseph shook his head, "What a terrible thing, terrible thing. Well, please come in, come in, and let us sit and talk a while."

  Sean followed Joseph inside with Roxy on his right and Daelyn and Cali following close behind. Joseph steered them to a rather nice den, where he gestured for them to take a seat, sitting down in a rather comfortable looking armchair.

  Sean dropped down onto one of the couches across from the chair, with Roxy and Daelyn sitting to either side of him. Cali looked torn a moment, and looked like she was going to sit at his feet when Roxy took her hand and steered her to sit next to her on the end of the couch.

  "I must say, Sean, that I've never met a lion before. Not once in all of my years. You really are something of a mystery to me."

  Sean smiled, "I gather we're something of a mystery to most magic users these days."

  "Well, I hope you don't mind me asking some questions then?"

  "Just as long as I can do the same?"

  "Oh, of course, I know that's why you're here! With the things going on these days, I wasn't expecting a social call. What can I help you with?"

  "Well, my first question is fairly simple," Sean said. He'd discussed much of this with his lion last night when he'd decided to come here today.

  "Why are you siding with us?"

  "I don't know that I'd say that we're siding with you, dear boy, we're simply siding against slavery."

  "Granted," Sean said with a nod, "but why?"

  "Because it's wrong? Immoral? Unethical?"

  Sean snorted and let his lion provide the words, "Morality, ethics, right and wrong, those aren't things that the powerful take into account until they see that their power is fleeting, Joseph. You've had a millennium to discover those things. Why now?"

  Joseph tipped his head in acknowledgement, looking thoughtful.

  "You seem to be rather well versed in the situation, Sean."

  "And you still have my question to answer," Sean replied.

  Joseph sighed, "We really had been having ethical discussions about the whole slavery issue, it started with my predecessors back after the American Civil War. However what brought it into sharper focus was plain and simple: numbers. In most of Europe for centuries we mages were always able to keep your numbers in check. But here in America? Or even in Europe since the last war? We've lost that ability.

  "You see, there are more of you than there are of us. And we see that trend continuing as time goes on. It's really a simple matter of survival, your numbers are increasing, ours are not. Either we make peace with you now, while we can, or you will deal with us when we can not."

  "And Sapientia?"

  "Un-uh," Joseph smiled, "my turn."

  Sean heaved a sigh, but had to smile as well, "Ask."

  "Why are you lions getting involved now, after all of these years?"

  "We've always been involved. Who do you think commission my father to find a protection for the lycans against silver? We've been doing that for a g
reat many years. There was just no reason for us to actively move against the councils until we had it."

  Joseph nodded as he listened to Sean's explanation.

  "Now, Sapientia's reason?"

  "I convinced Arthur of the same things that I knew, and I gave him an economic study of slavery versus free enterprise, that he could use to convince the others that it really was in their best interest."

  "Why?"

  "Because in a war between the mages and the lycans we at Eruditio do fear that we too would be caught up in it. You know, I find it quite interesting that you say 'we' when referring to the lions, yet as far as I know, you've not met a single one since you became one."

  Sean smiled, "and is there a question in there?"

  Joseph laughed, "Sorry, my dear boy, I do at times tend to outwit myself. Yes, there was a question, if unasked. Do you speak for all lions when you talk?"

  "If I wish to," Sean's lion answered that one for him.

  "If you wish to?" Joseph paused a moment, "That is a very curious answer."

  "Well, it was a very curious question, wasn't it?" Sean grinned.

  Joseph laughed, surprising Sean.

  "Well, yes. It was. I am very curious and so little is known about lions, which in and of itself is rather curious. The other lycans tell us that you were the first, and I do believe them. They tell us of mystical powers, some even say that you're gods. It is all very curious of course, which leads to curious questions."

  "I believe it is my turn?" Sean asked and Joseph nodded with a small gesture with his hand for Sean to go on.

  "This question has to deal with just how much I can trust Sapientia, what I want to know, is what are Arthur's ulterior motives in all of this?"

  "Oh, that one is easy, Sean, Arthur wishes to return Sapientia to the number one position among the councils that it held for so much of the past. As for trusting him," Joseph shrugged a shoulder, "he sees the same need that I do for us to free the lycans now before they visit the sins of our past on us. As long as you don't oppose his own goals, I would say that you can probably trust him to not interfere with your own."

  Joseph looked thoughtful a moment, "Are you a communal mind?"

  Sean grinned and shook his head, "No, we're all individuals," Sean's lion nudged him, so Sean let him speak, "You're really trying to find out how and if we can all talk to each other, via some mystical means, without just coming out and asking directly, aren't you?"

  Joseph smiled and raised his hand, "Guilty as charged. You must see, Sean, that mysteries are what I live for, and lions are one of the bigger ones in the world today. And right now I've got one sitting across from me in my den. So it's simply a matter of trying to learn as much as I can while I have you here.

  "So, can you?"

  "Can I what?"

  "Communicate with the other lions? They say what one lion knows, they all know, but you did just say that you're not a communal mind."

  Sean smiled; he could feel his lion was enjoying teasing Joseph.

  "Yes, we can talk, yes we do talk."

  "Does that mean that others will start making your medallions soon then as well?"

  'Ah-ha!' Sean's lion laughed triumphantly, 'I knew that's what he was after!'

  'Why would he want to know that?' Sean asked.

  'Let me deal with this, please?'

  Sean smiled and let his lion talk.

  "Now, that is a loaded question, isn't it?"

  "I'm not sure that I follow," Joseph said.

  "Well logically, if only Sean Valens can make the tags, then killing me stops that from happening," Sean noticed that Cali tensed just a slight bit; his lion noticed it as well.

  "However, if any lion can make the tags, then killing me simply moves the production, and the problems I precipitate, to another location and Cali please relax everything is fine." Sean noticed that Joseph's eyebrows raised just a fraction.

  "But," Sean's lion continued, "we have picked this place, and if something were to happen to Sean, to me that is, tomorrow morning another lion, or maybe several lions, would show up and pick right back up where I left off.

  "However there would be some very severe repercussions."

  Sean was impressed, Joseph didn't bat an eye.

  "I had to ask, you know. Because others will ask me, and if I don't have the answer, well, they might make assumptions." Joseph glanced over at Cali, "I meant him no harm, I'm sorry if I caused you some concern."

  "Actually," Roxy smiled, "you gave us all some concern, Cali's just new, she doesn't hide it as well as the rest of us, yet."

  "Touché, my dear girl," Joseph conceded with a nod, and then looked back at Sean. "One last question?"

  Sean shrugged, "Sure."

  "Why are you doing it?"

  "Because they're our children, they've grown up and they don't need you anymore."

  "I'm not sure I completely follow that statement, Sean."

  "Look to your oldest legends, I'm sure you'll figure it out," Sean smiled and got to his feet. "One of these days, perhaps we can talk again?"

  "I daresay you've left me with more questions than when we sat down, dear boy."

  Sean felt his lion prod him again, so he let him speak.

  "Well, then I should at least assure you that we lion's appreciate the way you, Eruditio, have treated our children all these years, and one day, we will see to it that you're rewarded.

  "And that is from all of us."

  Sean smiled and shook hands with Joseph, and then allowed Joseph to escort them out of the house.

  "Okay," Daelyn said once they'd driven a fair distance from the house, "What was that last bit all about? Was he actually thinking about killing you?"

  'He was considering it,' Sean's lion said, and Sean just repeated it to the others.

  "Why?"

  'He's worried about the time and the choosing of this place for the revolt. He was wondering if moving this someplace else, might be more beneficial for him.'

  Sean repeated that as well.

  "So he wasn't thinking of just putting an end to this?"

  Sean shook his head, he understood now.

  "No. However like many men in his position, he thought that he might know better."

  "But he would have died if he tried anything," Cali said in a soft voice.

  "Joseph strikes me as the kind of man who would sacrifice himself for the greater good of his people," Sean told her.

  "So that was why you made the comment about 'severe repercussions?'"

  Sean nodded, "Exactly so. And now if anyone asks him about removing me, he'll tell them that it won't work."

  "Do you think that they'll believe him?" Roxy asked.

  "His own people might," Sean sighed and shook his head, "The others? I doubt it."

  Sean was sitting in the bedroom, checking the batteries from his lab that had been sent over last night, when Cali came over to him. She was wearing a robe, her hair still damp from having taken a shower.

  "What you said back there, how much of it was the truth?"

  Sean stood up and walked over to her, "All of it was, why?"

  "What are you?" Cali asked, looking up into his eyes.

  "I'm just what I appear to be, Cali. No more, no less. I'm a lycan, a lion lycan. That means I can do things other lycans cannot, because we were the first, so the rules are different for us. I'm also a mage, a magic user, an enchanter of items and devices. And I'm a man, a husband, and one day I'll be a father."

  "But you are strong, powerful, you could do anything, be anything. Why have you chosen this fight?"

  Sean smiled down at her, "I didn't choose this fight, this fight chose me. But it's a good fight, so I will fight it."

  Nodding she opened her robe and pressed her naked body against his, closing the robe around the two of them. Sean could feel the warmth of her skin through the t-shirt he was wearing. He put his arms around her naked body under the robe as she laid her head against his shoulder.

  "I'm an
assassin, a killer," she said softly.

  "Does Deidre know?"

  He felt her give a small shake of her head, "No, none of them do. When I was twelve, they took me aside. They said I would be a great beauty, and that I had an important destiny for our house. That a time would come when I must put aside all things and give of myself for the sake of the house.

  "So, I was trained. I was trained hard, day after day, week after week, brutally and cruelly to kill a man, who I hadn't even heard of yet, much less met. As I grew older, the training became more intense, and as I grew in beauty I was trained in the arts of sex and seduction. When the four of us were given to the house Uunregarten, we were picked with care. Deidre was older and experienced; she would be a good mistress to some. My younger sisters, they had great promise and would one day be a fitting wife to any number of young men.

  "But I was the ripe jewel among them. I was meant for the Master of the house, Lord Glaven. He had an eye for the younger women just coming into the first blush of their beauty. He would take me into his bed, and once I had tired him out, I would slay him. It would mean my death and perhaps the deaths of my sisters as well.

  "But our house would be triumphant over the enemy's, they would gain much status."

  "What happened?" Sean asked.

  "Some how they learned, whether it was a traitor in our midst, or a wrong word spoken in to the right ear, I do not know. I was bound, I was punished, I was abused, but rather than kill me, or even kill all of us, they offered our house the greatest insult that they could think of. They sold us off to the humans, to commoners in a distant land, to be used as pleasure slaves."

  Cali looked up at Sean, and he could see that she was crying.

  "I failed my house and I failed my mission, I have been abused by many men, milord, I am nothing but a failure, and I stand before the most powerful and wonderful man I have ever known, a man that has women so much better than I at his beck and call, and I want him.

  "But I don't deserve him. I will be whatever milord wishes me to be, if only he will hold me in his arms, I know I don't deserve your love, and I'm not asking for it, a kind word, a little affection, that's all I ask, and in return I will give you all of my love and devotion. If you just promise me, milord that you will keep me as your own and not pass me on to another."