Authors: Scott V. Duff
“Daybreak,” she whispered back. “How do I know that?”
I offered my hand to her and gently said, “You’ve been under some very nasty magic, dear, but you’re safe now. Unfortunately, it’s going to be very confusing for you over the next few days while we get you back to your family. And the memories of what was done to you while under that spell will not be pleasant or easy to cope with.”
I willed the water to stay as she took my hand and climbed the steps out. Keeping a mild fascination on her, I led her to my mirror and asked, “What would you like to wear? That uniform can’t be too comfortable.”
“Oh, a simple shift will be fine,” she said lightly.
“I think we can do better than that,” I said with a smile and imagined her in a lovely Gilán blue nightgown and presented it in the mirror.
“Oh, my, it’s beautiful!” Sara said stepping closer to her reflection. I caught her as she stumbled through, suddenly changed from the polyester uniform and into the silk and lace nightgown. Steadying her I reached into my closet and pulled out an equally nice robe.
“Easy, Sara, you’ve had a hard time,” I said gently, wrapping the robe over her shoulders. “I’m going to take you to the Pentagon where they will reunite you with your cousin, Brian. It might take a few hours for them to get him to you. In the meantime, I will be very, very cross with them and they will ask you a bunch of questions about Cpt. Pierce.”
She stiffened at the sound of Pierce’s name as flashes of memories began to hit through my fascination. I didn’t stop them because, in the long run, it would help, especially being buffered by me right now. “You must understand, Sara, that Pierce was not your fault. Let your family help you with that. Pierce was not your fault. Say it with me, please.” I shifted us to the Throne Room while we gently chanted that refrain. Her subconscious needed to be aware of it, deeply and securely, and the repetition under the fascination would help there, too. At least, it felt right to me.
“Sergeant,” Jimmy called quietly, taking her from me. Sgt. Morton jogged up quietly, slipping into my place and murmuring to her. Everyone knew who she was now. Jimmy made sure of that.
“All right, time to look fierce,” I said, putting on my game face. My uniform lit brightly as I opened the portal into the lobby of the Pentagon, bypassing the security checkpoints completely. Jimmy’s aspect raised and set all the men on fire under it. I set the pace to a comfortable walk for Jimmy and me, forcing the Guard to a quick trot. Their cadence echoed nicely off the marble hall and thundered when we climbed the stairs. Wending our way through the halls, people were more accommodating than I expected, diving back into offices or flattening into walls as we neared. We even got a few screams of panic and fear, and no, not all of them from women.
Throwing open the doors to General Harmond’s offices before we arrived, we walked straight in. The Guard formed a vee behind me with Sgt. Morton carrying Sara White in the center. People once again faded into offices, eager to know but not participate in what was going on, an interesting variation of “Don’t ask, Don’t tell.” Jimmy stepped up to the reception desk making the two men standing there watching back off quickly. Large, burning men tend to have that reaction on people.
“Lord Daybreak demands audience with General Harmond on a matter of great importance,” Jimmy said imperiously.
“He’s not in today, sir,” the portly woman squeaked fearfully, her hands underneath her desk. The sounds of men running were already beating along both ends of the hall, searching for the strange running fire, their own security breach.
“We are here to discuss lies, woman, not be fed more!” Jimmy exclaimed loudly, nearly shouting. “Now get General Harmond. If I have to do it, I will not be polite about it.”
“What’s all the shouting out here?” Barnett called angrily as he exited his office, stopping instantly when he saw Jimmy. Quietly to his secretary he hissed, “Get Thorn and Hanson in here, now.”
Security finally found us, six of them anyway. They were shouting and waving assault rifles in the doorway. More would be showing up shortly. Taking a step past Morton and still bearing the full force of Daybreak, I turned and said, “Go away.” The front row fell into the back trying to get up. I really wanted to laugh, but fierce was the order of the day. “
Danot zoal
,” I said, pushing my hands out harshly to the sides. “Close the entrances” in the First Elven Tongue with a lot of energy pushed in behind it produced a bright red field in every doorway that accessed the hallway.
“Seth? Is there a problem?” Barnett asked, dodging around his assistant only to be confronted by mine.
“Lord Daybreak demands audience with General Harmond on a matter of great urgency and importance. We are being stonewalled, Col. Barnett. I don’t like that,” Jimmy said sternly and with the full force of his aspect. Barnett fell back a step.
“Get him in here,” he said to his assistant without turning, caught in Jimmy’s glare. I think if Jimmy put a little more effort into it, he could’ve gotten him to piss himself. Maybe I was enjoying this a little too much. Thorn and Hanson walked in through the adjoining hallway and stopped instantly, uncertain what to do.
“Oh, shit, he’s going to claim a breach, isn’t he?” Hanson asked Thorn quietly.
Thorn sighed heavily. “Looks like it. That was fast.”
Jimmy released Barnett, gesturing to Thorn and Hanson. Barnett took their short conversation to mean they knew something. Eyes cast downward, he scuttled quickly across the room and started asking whispered questions. I was getting restless and so was Jimmy. We warned them early on that we were impatient people. Going to the nearest phone, I picked an outside line and dialed a number I wasn’t supposed to know.
As soon as the familiar voice answered with mild laughter in the background, I said, “General Harmond, you are a three minute walk to your office. I will give you four minutes before I start randomly removing load-bearing walls throughout this building until it completely collapses.” Then I hung up and waited, ticking off the seconds.
“But what does that mean?” Barnett whispered hoarsely, gesticulating angrily at Thorn in confusion. I watched in vague amusement as Thorn and Hanson tried to explain to Barnett the same facts of life that I had explained to them earlier. Apparently they had managed to gain a little more from Darius, but not much. Darius did
not
want to be accused of advising them as head of a council and a signatory of the Accords himself. Without amnesty from me, it would place him in complicity for any charges I might bring and neither he nor I knew exactly how far this would go. I didn’t want him involved unless he was somehow already involved. That was a horse of a different color.
At three and a half minutes, Harmond was bent over, holding his knees and huffing, just outside the red screen on his office doors. The Guard noticed, too. Two in the middle of the vee stepped backward, twisted in place, then moved inhumanly fast to the screen at the door. Together they shoved their staves into the field and together, the staves burst into brilliant flames of Gilán-blue fire and their uniforms hardened into armor of diamond appearance that covered them from head to toe. They created a break in the field with their staves and pulled them apart slowly. Like pulling on a tent flap, a hole large enough for Harmond was created.
Harmond looked up in shock, straightening slowly. He eased through the fiery doorway just as slowly, fearful of the new crystalline Greek statues in his office. He grew even more fearful when they moved back into formation and his doorway out disappeared. Jimmy pulled him away from the screen before he could fall back into it.
“Finally!” Jimmy announced loudly, tugging Harmond forward by his shirt and away from the destructive screen. “We’ve been here some time, General, and you know how impatient Daybreak can be.” Jimmy grabbed the back of his pants and frog-marched him around the Honor Guard to stand in front of us. “Barnett, Thorn, Hanson, front and center! Everybody else, get out!” Then he stood between Harmond and me until everyone complied. That, at least, was very quick.
Jimmy sealed the room this time. He was becoming quite adept in these situations, amazing because neither of us had much experience at all.
“Lord Daybreak demands audience with General Harmond of the Accorded Entity known as the Pentagon on a matter of a breach in the Rules of Hospitality,” Jimmy stated, his voice full and clear and authoritative.
I stepped forward as Jimmy moved left. “General Harmond, do you recognize the woman that Sgt. Morton is currently holding?” I asked quietly. He looked behind me quickly then nodded.
“Yes, that’s Cpt. Pierce,” he answered carefully, not understanding the proceedings in the least.
“No, it’s not,” I said harshly. “This is Sara White. She was visiting her cousin, Lt. Col. Brian White, a Navy pilot currently stationed in Delaware. Her will was overtaken and dominated by two black wizards and she was forced to portray Cpt. Pierce in order to gain entrance to Gilán. These black wizards were the same blood mages that attacked my home in Alabama. Are you beginning to see the problem, General?”
“We still have deep moles in the Pentagon,” Harmond said, deep in thought. A pulse of thought from Jimmy and all seven Guards lifted their staves and rapped them on the floor hard. The report was a cannon in the small room, jerking their attention to me.
“Important, yes,” I agreed, “but of less immediate importance. Cpt. Thorn?”
“We refused to help during your pursuit of her, obviously,” Thorn answered. “I refused to help you.” Another pulse from Jimmy provided another rap for another loud report.
“Again, of less immediate importance, but we will definitely cover that today,” I said, glaring at him. “Captain, have you made General Harmond aware of our conversation of earlier today?”
“No, sir,” Thorn answered. “This is the first I’ve seen of him today.”
“Have you made any progress on understanding the Rules of Hospitality past a code of conduct?”
“Only enough to see we’re in deep shit, sir,” Thorn said, shaking his head sadly. “Really deep shit.”
“On that point, we can all agree,” Jimmy said. “Col. Barnett, would you take Sgt. Morton and Ms. White into your office and begin the process of immediately relieving Lt. Col. White of duty to attend to his cousin and return her to her family. At the Pentagon’s expense.”
Questioning looks and head bobs preceded Barnett scooting past Jimmy, again without looking at him. Morton met him near the door and they disappeared into his office.
“Do we have anyone who understands exactly how deep you’re talking, captain?” Harmond asked, growing more commanding after his run down the hall.
“Our most knowledgeable advisor has refused to help until after this issue has been resolved since the Pentagon is an Entity under the Rules,” Thorn said. “Our next available option cannot come into Daybreak’s presence to hear the complaint to offer assistance. No one in M-level knew what an Entity was, much less that the Pentagon is considered to be one. Research on the matter is proceeding as quickly as we can make it happen, sir.”
“Time’s up,” I snapped irritably. “Is the weasel still in the building?”
“”Yes, Lord,” Thorn said, bowing slightly, “if you’re referring to Marshal Harris, that is.”
“Should he be willing to advise you, I will hold my promise in abeyance for the duration of my stay here providing he gives true and honest advice,” I said. “Further providing that no evidence presents itself that he is complicit, I will not further judge him so. That should provide him with sufficient protection.” Another quick exchange of questioning looks between Harmond and Thorn, then Thorn darted down the hallway toward his office. He reacted to Jimmy’s pressure wall at the doorway by pushing his fingers in his ears and popping his jaw out.
Jimmy grinned, turning too quickly for Harmond’s crew to see. He made a small square in the air with his finger and the Guard spread out loosely about the room on the outer edge. Dousing their flames, they took a more relaxed stance and hardened their uniform into armor without the gauntlets and helmets. Now instead of seven giant blue men on fire, I had seven giant diamonds around me. Weird.
Thorn passed through the pressure wall again and hurried to Harmond. He whispered to Harmond, “He wants you to confirm that Daybreak said it.”
“I said it, Marshall,” I shouted, getting irritable again. “No tricks. If you’re agreeing to it, come in. If not, quit trying my patience.”
“I accept,” Harris said in his squeaky high baritone. “Thank you, Lord Daybreak… for the opportunity.” He walked quickly through the pressure wall to Harmond’s side and whispered, “What do you know so far?”
“Nothing more than we’ve already told you,” Thorn responded. “Except that Cpt. Pierce turned out to be a plant.”
“Cpt. Pierce?” Harris asked.
“She was helping care for the Grimes children at his request,” Thorn said.
“And what did he give you?” Harris asked.
“What?” Thorn asked.
“How deep is this hole?” Harris muttered to himself. “Do not make any more bargains with him without a council member present to guide you until you
all
have gained a very clear understanding of the Rules.”
“What bargain? We didn’t make any bargains with him?” Harmond objected vehemently.