Over Our Heads

by Jan Stryvant

  Sean nodded.

  "Wands are also pretty popular with a lot of Magic users."

  "And they recharge by draining the wand's owner?"

  "Some do," Jolene agreed, "and they can do it either quickly, or slowly, depending on what the magic user asked for when they had it made. Though some of the most powerful wands are made to absorb solely from the aetheric, or they have to be placed on a ley-line to recharge. But those often take days or even weeks to recharge."

  Roxy looked up at Jolene, "So, they're just big and slow to reload weapons? Like a black-powder pistol?"

  "Almost," Jolene agreed again, "though most have more than one charge in them. At least the better ones do."

  Sean thought about that a moment.

  "So, what you're telling me then," he said, "is that most magic users, use items?"

  Jolene nodded, "For fighting, or for repetitive tasks, they'll use an item first, because it's likely to have the more powerful spell. They'll save their personal magic for last, because it's weaker, often slower, but it's more versatile, so they can figure out what'll do them the most good at the end of the fight."

  Roxy piped up again, "So that means everyone is always looking to buy stuff from enchanters, right?"

  "Yup," Jolene smiled.

  "We're gonna be so rich," Roxy giggled looking at Sean.

  "Well, now I know it's just my money and not my good looks that you're after," Sean sighed, grinning.

  "Oh, the sex ain't half bad either!" Roxy said leering at him.

  "So why all the questions?" Jolene asked.

  "I'm still trying to understand how to best use what I've got," Sean said. "I'm starting to realize that I need to put more into my enchanting abilities, and of course that means less for anything combat."

  "Well yeah, of course," Jolene smiled, "but you're an enchanter, so you can make all sorts of rings and gadgets and wands to use instead."

  Sean blinked at that, and then smacked himself in the forehead.

  "That never even occurred to me."

  "Well, you are new to all of this," Jolene giggled.

  "Still, I'm a gamer; I should be figuring this stuff out."

  "I thought you had. You made those medallions and that protection from scrying spell."

  Sean sighed, "Yeah, but I just keep getting distracted by the next thing that I have to do. I've been so focused on the necklaces and the tags, that I haven't even had any thoughts towards what else should I make? Hell, what else can I make?"

  "Well," Roxy said, "I think we all agree that the silver tags take precedence right now, so until you can figure that out, it's probably best that you focus on that and the rest of us will pick up the slack on the other things. After all, now that we've got us a nice safe place to live, we can afford to just lie low, and you can take the time to learn your father's secrets."

  Sean nodded, "It's just been so insane the last what, three weeks? We've rarely had a moment's rest in all that time, that it just feels strange not having to keep looking over my shoulder every minute."

  "Speaking of shoulders," Roxy grinned and putting the nail polish bottle down, and turned her back to Sean, and then looked back over her shoulder at him, "How about coming over here and rubbing mine for a while?"

  "Oh! Me next!" Jolene giggled.

  Sean smiled and set his father's book down on the table. A break would be good right about now.

  Tuesday they all took a ride to Sawyer's.

  "And to what do I owe the honor of all you outlaws in my clean and law abiding shop?" Sawyer grumbled.

  "Wow, you didn't even call me a slut!" Jolene laughed, "You feeling okay?"

  "Marx has been regaling me to great lengths as to just how lion-weres get when they think you've been insulting their women." Sawyer called out to Marx over by the front door, "Ain't that right, Marx?"

  "Just trying to watch out for you, Boss. Wouldn't want to lose this nice cushy job!"

  Sean wondered briefly if Marx might be embellishing things for his own personal amusement.

  "We brought you more necklaces," Sean said and placed the sack on the counter, and had the pleasure of seeing Sawyer actually smile, "Wow, Kid. That was fast."

  "Well, when I don't have people trying to kill me constantly, it helps. I also have a few things I managed to liberate that I thought you might want?"

  Sean set down a small bag with the items that he'd picked up at Preston's. He gone through all of them and tarballed their effects. Two were rings of protection; the amulet was just a magical battery with a vampire tap like Jolene had told him about. There were a couple of rings of healing, the better one he'd given to Jolene for now, Daelyn didn't wear rings, so he'd have to see about making her another pendant or something.

  There was also an old brass casino token with an enchantment on it to come up showing whichever side the person flipping it called. Sean had already put that one in his pocket; he figured he could play a few tricks on Chad or Steve with it later.

  "What do these do?" Sawyer asked.

  Sean sorted through the different items, explaining them.

  Sawyer pulled out a roll of hundred dollar bills, counted off twenty and handed them to Sean.

  "That's all?" Sean said, a little surprised.

  "Well, I know you didn't make these," Sawyer smiled, "so I'm fencing, not distributing. Bit of a mark down there. Plus, I was still owed money on this," he said pointing to the amulet.

  Sean winced, but then had to laugh, "Honest, officer, I just found those lying in the street!"

  Sawyer snorted, "Yeah, yeah, Kid. That's what they all say."

  Jolene spoke up then, "What is the word on the street right now?"

  "It's quiet," Sawyer told them. "Harkins is spending more time just keeping his people together, the Titus folks are still fighting over who's going to take over, and everyone else is just waiting to see what you do next."

  "Well, I'm not complaining," Roxy chuckled.

  "Yeah, but sooner or later they'll come looking for Sean again," Daelyn pointed out.

  "Well," Sawyer said, "Until then, let me get you another bag of necklaces to enchant. And next time, use the back door, okay? Last thing I need is someone seeing you come through here. Sooner or later they're gonna realize someone is selling these necklaces, and I'm the first one that they're gonna talk to."

  They all nodded, and followed Sawyer back into his office to get the new necklaces and then left.

  On the way back home to their little underground den, they bought some more cushions and blankets, along with a lot of food and other things to make their lives more comfortable.

  "You know," Sean smiled at the girls when they got back home, "I haven't felt this relaxed since, well, since long before any of this started."

  "It's always nice to have a place to call home," Daelyn agreed.

  "Well all we need down there is some internet," Roxy quipped, "and it will be perfect!"

  "Give me a couple of days, and I'll see what I can do," Daelyn smiled.

  "Well, until you pick up those samples on Wednesday, I think a couple of days spent relaxing would be a nice change, don't you?" Jolene asked with a smiled.

  Sean smiled, "After we get done enchanting the latest batch of necklaces Sawyer gave us, I don't think I'm really going to be up for anything more than that!"

  "Well, we'll give you Tuesday off," Roxy chuckled. "But when Dae gets back with those samples on Wednesday, it'll be right back to work!"

  "Such a slave driver," Sean sighed heavily, and then laughed as she smacked him on the back of the head.

  "Jerk," Roxy grinned.

  "But you love me anyway!"

  Tuesday did end up just being a pleasant day of relaxing, the four of them just spending the day being a family and enjoying each other's company. Tomorrow, Daelyn would go pick up the engineering samples and Sean would enchant a necklace or two, once they were sure the design was right.

  Then Sean would have to sit down with his father's book and sta
rt working on figuring out just how he was going to make those new tags.

  Fall on Me

  Sam Wilston looked over the group in the back of the van. He had six wolves with him tonight. He would have preferred the council's best strike team, but agreed with Roger that it would have been a waste of talent. Still, Oak's team was one of the good ones, so he wasn't too worried about tonight's results.

  Gerald Hoise was sitting in the passenger's seat, watching the access point to the hidden underground chamber that the Valens brat was holed up in with his three bitches. Sam had to give the kid points for picking up a dwarf, even if she was something of an outcast in her clan. It had gotten him access to this rather clever hiding place. Even Roger's contact in the clans hadn't known about it, or its location.

  But the tracking device he'd stuck in their delivery box had led them all here.

  David was sitting in the back with the wolves, as geared up as they were, though he was wearing body armor as well, not having the regenerative powers of the animals to count on. Sam eyed the younger man with distaste; he seemed totally at ease sitting back there with the animals that were leading the raid tonight, and had quickly agreed to go and keep an eye on them when Sam had asked.

  Sam really didn't like working with the animals much, but he understood their value to the council. He did wonder if it was an act with David, or if he actually was comfortable with those animals? Sam really hadn't paid much attention to the kid as he'd moved up through the ranks, he was far too junior to present much of a challenge and didn't seem to be all that involved or interested in the political maneuvering that took place on the council.

  Sam was sure that would change in time, after all, the kid hadn't gotten here by being a choirboy. More than likely he was just aware of how much power the others held and was simply biding his own time before starting to engage in the kinds of machinations that the senior members of Council of Gradatim were famous for.

  "So," Sam asked looking back at Gerald, "see anything?"

  "Nope. Hasn't been anything or anyone going in or out since we relieved Richard and his team," Gerald replied, not taking his eyes off the oversized drainage tunnel that served as an entrance into some sort of abandoned dwarven cache or bunker.

  "Okay, listen up." Sam said turning to the wolves, who all perked up. They'd been told that this was an important mission, but they hadn't been told just what the mission was. Only that it was a search and destroy, that there was a book that belonged to Roger that they had to recover, and no one cared what they had to do to get it back, just as long as no one was left alive afterwards.

  Typically the dumb animals never thought that 'no one left alive' just might include them as well.

  "The target is living in there with three women. We know that one of them is a cheetah, another is a dwarf, and the third is some sort of spell casting slut. No one really cares what happens to them, and neither do I," Sam smiled and Gerald gave a little laugh. Sam figured that holding out the prospect of a little rape and other abuse would keep the animals focused on the mission. Everyone knew how their lusts always ran wild with them!

  "So, once you've acquired the book and given it to David, if you all feel like a little bit of a celebration, you can take all the time you want. But you'll have to walk home," Sam said with a wink, noticing how the wolves all gave a bit of a nod.

  "Sir," Oak asked, ducking his head in submission, ignoring the implied insult. Oak knew how Sam felt about him and his kind. It wasn't like Sam hid his distaste of them after all. But Oak had put up with it, not like he had any choice after all. "What of the male?"

  "The male is a renegade lion. The book he has, he stole from where it was being stored for safekeeping. He is to be killed, understand?"

  Oak nodded his head once, "Understood. Do we know anything about their underground lair?"

  "No, but our research discovered that a pair of fairly powerful magic users once lived in a house nearby. We assume that either it was a storage space for things that they wished to keep hidden, or a living space for dwarves that worked for them. In either case, if it was still important, the dwarves would not have just left it there."

  Oak nodded again and turned to look at the rest of his team, his pack. They'd been together since they were boys, having been raised and trained together to work for the council. All in all it wasn't a bad life, some of the members of the council actually treated him and his well, and even the ones that didn't care much for him, like Sam Wilston or his friend Gerald there, still understood their value and usefulness.

  If they could let the women escape, they would. Despite Sam's apparent belief to the otherwise, neither Oak nor any of his pack members had any interest in rape. Or torture for that matter. If they had to kill, they would kill cleanly and painlessly.

  He was a bit worried about the lion however, though he would never show that to his 'betters'. Lions were tough, everyone knew that, and some of them were rumored to have mystical powers. Oak had never met one before, none of his pack had.

  "On your command, Sir," Oak said giving another submissive duck of his head, as he looked at Sam.

  Sam smiled and looked back at the werewolf. Yeah, they each might be taller than him, stronger, and faster. But he held the power of life and death over all of them, and they knew it. He was like a god to them, and they were his servants, his slaves. He was going to enjoy using his power over them tonight. Even Roger, who was usually too forgiving of the animals and their nature, had agreed with him, that the possibility of corruption was too great to allow any of them to live.

  "Go, hunt!" Sam said and flung his arm out to point to the back of the van. The wolf sitting back there opened the back doors and all six of the wolves quickly piled out, loading their rifles and charging them as they quickly moved towards the opening in a staggered skirmish line.

  "Don't take any chances," Sam told David as he got up to follow the animals out the back of the van. "Just get the book and come right back here, understand?"

  David just rolled his eyes, "I know the plan, Sam. We get the book and go," David glanced at the wolves that were now all well clear of the van. But he knew how good their hearing was, so he chose his next words carefully, David didn't like the idea of what was going to happen to the team, he felt it was a waste. But he also knew better than to argue with Sam or Roger. "If they don't keep up, they can walk home."

  Oak turned to Tannin, his second in command as Sam and David had a few last words in the van. Oak liked David; David didn't rub his superiority in anyone's face.

  "Ten bucks that they make us walk home," Oak grunted.

  Tannin snorted, "No way am I taking that bet. Wilston is a right bastard, he'll even find some excuse to punish us for it too, I bet."

  "Cheer up, guys," Shade whispered from the back, "Roger's going to love us for this one. I hear that this lion killed his protégé in that ambulance crash a couple weeks back. So we take out the lion, get the book, and it'll be steak, women, and parties for a week!"

  "Yeah, you got that right," Rock nodded, "Roger always takes care of us when we do him a solid. We do a good job here, and I bet we'll get moved up into the alpha teams."

  Oak smiled at that, they were in the beta teams, but they were the best of the beta teams. But the alphas, the alphas got to find mates and raise a family. There was a pretty little fem in the Gradatim packs that Oak had his eye on for some time now. After tonight, she'd be his, he was sure.

  "Enough chatter," Oak growled, but he was smiling all the same. They all were. They knew the rewards they'd get for tonight, the hints dropped had made that more than clear.

  "Focus on the lion, we take him down. Dusk, you search for that damn book. The moment you find it, drop everything else, grab it and run for the van."

  "What about David?" Dusk asked.

  "If he's between you and the van, give it to him, then pick him up and run back to the van."

  "What if there's more than one book?"

  Oak shrugged, "Gr
ab 'em all. But I don't think we're going to have any trouble finding what we're looking for."

  "What about the woman?" Tannin asked.

  "If they surrender or run, we let them go." Oak growled, "I know they want us to 'kill everyone' but we don't kill the women unless we have to. And if we have to," he looked around at the others; David was moving to catch up with them now.

  "We do it cleanly," he said in a hushed voice, so David wouldn't hear. As much as Oak might like David, he still knew better than to trust him. "Understood?"

  They all nodded.

  "So," David said in a low voice as he caught up with them, "what's the plan?"

  "I'll go first," Oak said, "with Tannin and the others coming up behind me. Dusk will be last, and no insult intended, Sir, but it would make us all very happy if you'd stay well behind Dusk, where it's safe. He'll bring you the book as soon as we find it."

  "You're the experts here, I'll do as you say," David agreed, making Oak smile just a little bit. He didn't think David would be brave enough to insist on being closer to the action. Thankfully he wasn't stupid enough either.

  "How did they find out about this place, Sir?" Oak asked, curious.

  "Oh, Roger bribed a dwarf to put a tracking device on something of theirs. Apparently dwarves aren't all that hard to buy off," David said with a shrug.

  Oak nodded at that, while thinking how most members of the council weren't all that hard to bribe either. He'd seen it happen often enough.

  "Come on, boys, let's get this done!" Oak whispered and led them into the oversized tunnel. It was wide enough for a car and the gravel outside quickly gave way to a section of relatively flat, but grooved concrete. Oak's tracking abilities were more than good enough that they quickly found the access way on the right side of the tunnel that the car tracks led to. The grooves in the concrete did a good job of hiding it from the average human, he was sure. But then the average human didn't have the nose that a werewolf had.

  Opening the access proved to be fairly straight forward, apparently no one had thought to lock it, so the explosives they had brought along weren't necessary.