Red Skies

by Jan Stryvant

  Chad snorted. "Max and I are on our honeymoon, here. Good luck with that!"

  Sean chuckled. "Okay, talk with you and Max in private."

  "I'll see what she'll let me do," Chad said with a smile.

  "Where is she, anyway?"

  "She went in with the advance team. They may be good, but the fact is she's better, and honestly, there's no one I trust more to deal with any problems the right way. It's why I married her, after all."

  "And all this time I thought it was just so you could steal Claudia's pack out from under her nose."

  Chad grinned. "Don't let Max hear you saying that."

  "Oh? Afraid she might tell her mom?"

  "Afraid she might smack me for taking on all those extra mouths when I'm still getting the ones I already have in order."

  "Why do I get the feeling you've already had this conversation?" Roxy asked, coming over and joining them.

  "Eh, it came up. Lots of things do. We scenario a lot."

  "Do you tie each other up and play dominance games while you do it?" Roxy teased.

  "I'll be sure to let Max know you suggested it," Chad said with a wink.

  "I think I better go talk with the others about the vehicles," Todd said and quickly wandered off.

  Roxy grinned. "Well, that was easy."

  "Wait, you did that on purpose?" Chad said, looking impressed.

  "Single guys never like hearing about the married guys having kinky sex. It's like how you'd feel if your parents started giving you advice on technique."

  Chad made a face. "Ugh."

  "Exactly."

  Sean interrupted, "So, you're hoping to be done tonight?"

  Chad nodded. "We'll go over to the Vestibulum about ten minutes after sunset. I got two planes sitting on the tarmac at the airport. We'll head for the planes immediately and should be landing in Calgary within a couple of hours after we board."

  "Why Calgary?" Roxy asked.

  "There are a lot of minors there with lycans," Sean told her.

  "Oh!"

  Chad continued. "I'll split off a group then, mostly made up of whoever we drag along from here with a couple of my men in charge, and send them up to Edmonton. There's a couple of minors up there they can deal with. Meanwhile, we'll either spend the night at the local Sorceress' guild, or get back on the planes and fly to Winnipeg.

  "I have Ruth leading a group against the Vestis in Montreal tomorrow. After that, they'll breeze by the Ascendance and we'll link up with them to deal with the Vestis and all the rest in Toronto the following day.

  "Then we're done and we can all go back home," Chad said with a smile.

  "Wait," Roxy asked. "How is Ruth going to get into Canada? She's not a wolf, so she can't just walk across the border."

  "Simple, she's flying in."

  "She has a passport?"

  Chad nodded. "And she's from the United Kingdom, which is a member of the Commonwealth, of which Canada is still a part. So for her there won't even be any questions asked."

  "Aren't you worried about sending her? We all know she has a tendency to be bloodthirsty when it comes to humans."

  "I had a few words with her," Sean said. "She won't go overboard unless her boyfriend tells her it's okay."

  "Ruth has a boyfriend?" Peg asked as she joined them, looking suitably shocked.

  Chad laughed. "Yeah, we sicced one of the tigers on her. Seems he's got some faerie in his family history or something. Ruth seems to like him, and he doesn't seem to have any problems putting up with her shit. It's like a match made in heaven."

  "Huh, learn something new every day."

  "Now," Chad turned to Sean, "what is it you've been dying to tell me?"

  "Oh, according to the other lions, we're going to have a war," Sean said, lowering his voice.

  "With who?"

  "I'm not quite sure on that, but it appears it's going to be one where swords are going to play an important role during combat."

  "Well, that explains some of the phone calls I got yesterday, but swords? Why swords?"

  "'Cause faerie swords really mess with creatures from the underworld."

  "Underworld? I thought there weren't any gateways to the other realms in North America? I thought they were all in Europe or something?"

  Sean shrugged. "I only got as much as I did 'cause I got in the First's face, and rather than beat me to within an inch of my life, he enlightened me a little."

  "But only a little," Roxy grumbled.

  "Once we get Mexico dealt with, I'm going to get him to tell me exactly what's going on," Sean growled, "or else."

  'Or else what?' the First asked.

  'We're going to have our first real knock down drag out.'

  The First laughed in Sean's head. 'That might be fun. But I promised I'd tell you everything, so I will.'

  'Thanks, Dad. I appreciate it.'

  "Well," Chad said, looking over at the group of trucks coming down the dirt road, "it looks like our ride is here. Time to get our game faces on. I better talk to Maitland about medieval tactics, just to make sure I'm up to speed on them, if we're going to be forced to use swords."

  Sean and the girls followed Chad into the lead truck, and then spent the next hour or so enjoying the ride into Vancouver. Chad was going over the details with his second for this operation, a wolf by the name of Baron that Sean didn't know. When they were about a quarter of a mile from the Ascendance compound, Chad had the driver pull over, and everyone got out of the truck as Baron started passing on Chad's orders.

  "Where's Ryan?" Sean asked. "Is he still your pack second?"

  "I figured I'd leave him home this time to keep an eye on things and give him and his girlfriend some alone time. Maybe they'll be married, or engaged at least, by the time we get back. Plus, I need to let each of my captains take a turn in the barrel so I can be sure they all know their stuff."

  Sean nodded.

  "Well, let's you and me walk up to the front gates and see what they say. Oh, and don't shift back."

  "Why not?" Sean asked.

  "They see a lion walking up to their front gate, they know it's over. If they're going to fold, they'll do it then and there."

  "You ever think maybe I'm tired of getting shot?" Sean asked, giving Chad the eye.

  "With great power comes great bullet-sponge opportunities!"

  "Yeah, yeah. But only because I suspect the Ascendance is going to fold. We're not doing this at the Vestibulum."

  "Don't worry, Hon," Roxy said, coming up to them with a nice sniper rifle. "If any of them look like they're going to cause a problem, I'll give them something to take their mind off of you."

  "How'd the hell did you get that across the border?" Chad asked, looking rather shocked.

  "Making a cheetah look like a mountain lion isn't any harder if she's carrying a sniper rifle than if she isn't," Roxy said with a dazzling smile.

  "That reminds me," Sean asked, " what are we going to do for weapons when we go after the Vestibulum?"

  "Oh, Sapientia is lending us theirs."

  "Ah," Sean said and nodded as he followed Chad down the street and around the corner towards the front gate of the Ascendance's local compound. It was early, barely eight o'clock, so there weren't any people around to wonder about the seven-foot-tall lion-morph walking down the street with a platoon of men behind him.

  But the gate to the compound was manned; there were two people there who Sean suspected were wolves, and while they weren't openly armed, Sean suspected there were a couple of rifles nearby. Both of the guards did a double take as they saw Sean, one of them going inside their little guard booth and picking up a phone.

  "Well, they're not shooting," Chad said.

  "Yet," Sean added.

  "Umm, can I help you?" the lone guard at the gate asked, looking up at Sean.

  "I think you know why I'm here," Sean said with a smile.

  "Um, you know, none of us were really sure if it was true or not. I mean, it's one thing to hear ab
out a lion going around and freeing everybody in the States, but well, it's another thing to actually see you..."

  "The council heads will be down in a few minutes," the other guard said, coming out of the small shack. "They didn't expect you to show up so early in the morning."

  "So, how many lycans are there here?"

  "Sixty-three."

  "Sixty-three? I thought this was a small council house?"

  The guard shrugged. "There are almost as many of us as there are of them. Most of the magic users here are older; nearly all their children either migrated to the larger and warmer places in the States or went to Europe. This place has been shrinking for decades. I've been told back in the seventies they had almost as many here as the Sapientia has."

  "How have they been treating you?"

  The guard shrugged. "Not all that bad. Sometimes I think they don't even know how many of us are here anymore. They leave all the buying and selling to Lucas, and well, I don't think Lucas has sold anybody, ever."

  "Who's Lucas?"

  Just then a couple of old men came out of the house, with a younger man helping the eldest.

  "The guy helping council leader Jebediah, that's Lucas."

  Sean nodded and waited until they all came to the gate.

  "You're early," the man who had been pointed out as Jebediah grumbled. "Couldn't you have waited until after breakfast? Or better yet, after lunch?"

  "I'm sorry, but no," Sean told him. "Now, if you would be so kind as to assemble your lycan staff, we'll all be on our way."

  "What, all of them?" Jebediah was obviously surprised.

  "Of course all of them," Sean said, patiently.

  "But we were told we could hire those that wanted to stay!"

  "If they want to come back, then yes, you can hire them. But they all need to come with us first so we can remove their pellets, and so we can be sure they're not under any undue influence."

  Jebediah looked a little offended. "Why would they be under any undue influence? Look here, Son, why can't we just let the ones go who want to go, and keep the ones who want to stay?"

  "Jeb," the younger man said, "let me handle this, okay?"

  "What? Lucas, you're hardly in charge here," Jebediah said a little plaintively.

  "Yes, Jeb, I know. But you did put me in charge of the lycans, didn't you?"

  "Well, yes. That's because you know them better, being one."

  "So why not let me handle this? You all can go back inside where it's warm, and I'll see about breakfast, okay?"

  Jebediah sighed. "Fine. I don't see any reason to start doubting you now, after all these years." Jebediah looked at Sean. "You two can work it out, he speaks for all of us."

  "Of course," Sean said and watched as the two old men turned around and carefully made their way back to the house. Then he turned to look at Lucas, who he suddenly realized was actually an elk.

  "So," Lucas began with a smile, "we're not leaving."

  Sean looked down at him. "I wasn't asking."

  "We were told if we wanted to stay, we can. So we are. Simple as that."

  Sean looked at the two wolves. "Is he serious?"

  "Hey," the first guard said, looking a little nervous, "it gets cold up here in the winter. They feed us, give us some pocket money, and pretty much ignore us as long as things are taken care of. Lucas here deals with them, and we just deal with Lucas."

  Sean turned back to Lucas and looked at him a bit more closely, calling up all his magical frameworks and examining him. He wasn't wearing anything at all magical, nor did he seem to be under any sort of magical influence.

  "Call everyone down," Sean told him. "We're going to remove all their silver pellets, and then we'll talk."

  "And if I say no?" Lucas asked.

  "I'll send my men into get them," Sean growled, "while sitting on your bruised and broken body. This isn't a game, Lucas. I'm a god, your god. If you can't trust me, then I don't need you."

  "But who'll take care of the magic users? If we leave them alone, half of them will starve to death by the end of the week!" Lucas told Sean, looking fretful. "I've been taking care of them for years now! We've all been taking care of them. We're all they've got anymore!"

  Sean sighed. "Just get everyone. We're not going to leave a bunch of old men and women to starve to death."

  Lucas nodded, still looking a little worried.

  "Ben, Jeffery, could you please get everyone?" Lucas said to the two guards, who nodded and then trotted off.

  "So just what do you do here, Lucas?" Chad asked.

  "Oh! A little bit of everything. I'm in charge of all the lycans, and well, we handle security, shopping, maintenance, and I take care of the finances."

  "You're in charge of their money?"

  Lucas nodded. "They're a bit forgetful at times. Well, not all of them, but Jeb there can be pretty bad at times. Most of the senior council are over seventy, and well, there aren't any mages here under fifty."

  "So they put you in charge?" Sean asked, looking at Lucas a little differently.

  Lucas nodded. "I was the head of maintenance, and well, over time I was doing more and more, and when their lycan handler died of old age years ago, I just sort of took over his job. Wasn't like I wasn't already doing it. So I just sort of slowly took over everything else." Lucas shrugged and then smiled a little guiltily. "I mean, originally I was planning on us all taking over and just murdering them in their sleep. Then sell everything off, split the money, and we'd all leave."

  "So what changed your mind?"

  "We had a meeting, all of us, and well, they'd never really treated us badly. Those that were still alive, that is. And life is a lot easier here taking care of them. So we all decided to stay. We can come and go as we please, and do whatever we want." Lucas shrugged and then smiled. "And well, maybe we've become conditioned after all these years, but when they thank us and tell us how much they need us and appreciate us, it really does feel good."

  Sean sighed. "If everyone backs up your story, we'll let them decide for themselves after we deal with their pellets."

  "And if they don't?" Lucas asked.

  Sean looked down at him and smiled slowly. "Elk tastes good."

  "Umm," Lucas said looking a little uncomfortable.

  "Something you want to tell me?"

  "Well, umm, this is a little embarrassing..."

  Sean leaned down and put his nose almost up against Lucas's and slowly licked his chops. "Not as much as being eaten. Spill it."

  "We're running a brothel out of the old kennels!" Lucas said in a quick burst of words, and then just closed his eyes.

  "You're running a brothel?" Chad said, snickering.

  Lucas nodded.

  "Why?" Sean growled.

  "They didn't have any money! Almost none! It was all gone and we needed cash to be able to feed everyone, so we decided to open up a brothel!"

  "Who's 'we'?"

  "All of us! We voted!"

  "And who's on the 'menu'?"

  Lucas gulped. "All of us."

  Sean stood back up and looked down at him. "All of you? Even you?"

  Lucas nodded. "We all felt it wouldn't be fair if only a few of us did it. Oh, some of us like it more than others, and some customers are better than others, but after a couple of decades being slaves, well, it really wasn't that hard."

  "And the bit about not killing the magic users?" Sean asked, curious as to the real reason they'd let them live.

  "Oh, that part was the truth. We were going to kill them, but well," Lucas shrugged, "all the ones we hated died of natural causes, and the ones left we all liked. So we just couldn't bring ourselves to do it."

  Sean nodded and turned to one of the wolves standing behind him. "Bring the truck up here with the necklaces and tags so we can remove all their pellets."

  "So you're not going to force us to leave?" Lucas asked, starting to look hopeful.

  "I'll let each of them make their own choice. And you're not going to tr
y influencing anybody, understand?"

  Lucas nodded.

  "Oh," Lucas added after a moment, "do you think you could let the other lycans know about us? In case they're looking for a job or a place to say?"

  Chad laughed suddenly. "You want us to help you recruit?"

  Lucas nodded without a trace of guilt. "We're having trouble keeping up with demand, and well, it's not all that bad a job once you get used to it."

  Sean just sighed and shook his head. "I'll be back with Peg and Rox," he told Chad. "You can deal with this."

  "So how much of what he told Sean was true?" Peg asked Chad as they drove off to Sapientia.

  "All of it," Chad said with sigh.

  "How many wanted to leave?"

  "None of them."

  "None?"

  "Nope, none. We talked to several of them; after years of sleeping with the magic users, they really don't mind at all. Then of course there's the money."

  "They're making a lot?"

  "They're just happy they're making any. I suspect the reason they're so popular is they're not very expensive. They float a few bribes to the right people, and everyone leaves them alone."

  Sean just sighed and shook his head. "Coming from a state where prostitution is legal, I feel kind of hypocritical wanting to go lecture them all. Besides, they chose it of their own free will. Nobody forced them."

  Chad nodded. "Yup, but I gotta hand it to that Lucas character. He's got a lot of charisma and leadership abilities. They all trust him and do whatever he asks them to. Even the magic users."

  "Well, let's see what the local Sapientia has for us, then we can go deal with the Vestis." Sean sighed.

  "We're here," the driver said from up front.

  Sean nodded, and once again he let Chad lead the way. Being as they were all in human form now, no one stood out. But it didn't take the leaders long to figure out which of them was Sean and to greet him personally.

  "Sean, my name is Gerard; I'm the head of the council here in Vancouver. Arthur speaks very highly of you."

  Sean smiled and nodded, shaking hands with him, and then letting him introduce all the other members of the main council. Sean in turn introduced Roxy and Peg, then Chad and his captain, Baron.

  "So how many lycans do you have working here?" Sean asked.

  "About forty, though I suspect when winter comes that number will increase a fair deal."