Authors: Scott V. Duff
“When was your last trip to Faery?” I asked them mildly.
“Eight days ago,” Effram said. “Four,” Isaac admitted, croaking.
“Then you should have all the information you need,” I said. “You’re both either unobservant or stupid or both. What do you do for your Courts on this side of the veil?”
“We… gather information,” Frobisher said.
“You’re spies,” I snapped at them.
“Not exactly,” Beauchamp hedged. “Considering the Fae position within the human world, to call us spies is to exaggerate the importance of what we do. While our knowledge of human politics and business is extensive, before it could be useful, the Accords must fall. Man must declare war on Faery. Since no single man speaks for all mankind, the likelihood of that occurring is excessively small. We gather information.”
That made entirely too much sense. They were spies, yes, but useless spies on one level. From what I could see in their minds, they both believed Dunwoody knew nothing about them and hindered them very little. Dunwoody believed he hid a considerable amount of information from them. The truth was probably somewhere in the middle, but closer to the elves.
“Any chance you know where the Russian is?” I asked without thinking.
“The fixer?” Effram asked. “Leonard Muldoon is currently in Eugene, Oregon.”
I stared at him, shocked by the information. “Why did you tell me that?”
“I have no wish to die, sir, yet I feel my continued existence is in question,” Effram said aristocratically. “The information has little relevance to me at present and costs me nothing.”
“He anted up,” Jimmy offered.
“After he screwed up,” I said, scowling. “You’re offering me information in exchange for your life?”
“Yes, providing it does not interfere with my job,” Frobisher said.
“Meaning?”
“I will not commit any kind of treasonous act against England and definitely not against my Queen,” Frobisher said. “And I will not endanger my position with the Foreign Office.”
“How much information will you provide?”
He considered the question, growing bolder as he thought I might take him up on the offer. “I will answer fully ten questions at your request.”
“A hundred.”
“Fifty,” he countered.
“Done, but I decide what is fully answered and what is not,” I said imperiously.
“I agree,” Frobisher said, bowing his head in defeat. He’d tried not to let it go this far and failed. Now he waited for the bargain to be set.
“And you, Isaac, will you barter for your life as well?” I asked.
“You have yet to show you can take it,” Isaac said, haughtily.
“No, I haven’t,” I said gently. “Do you doubt that I can?” I drew on my aspect as I said that, pulling on my “game face,” my countenance, as Kieran called it. Isaac the elf broke in seven seconds.
“No!” he cried out. “I have no doubts! Do you want the same of me, sir?”
“That will suffice,” I said, then switch to the Fae Common Tongue. “So, our bargain, in trade for not reporting your dishonor of lies to your respective Courts, you, Seelie—” Effram’s true name was a long, rounded-vowel monstrosity of twenty-eight syllables. “And you, Unseelie—” Isaac’s was more easily managed at fourteen syllables, with trilled consonants at the end. “Will oblige me by answering well and fully, at my discretion, fifty questions each regarding the current or past situations in this realm and how they might relate to others by your own agreement. Failure to meet with these conditions at any time before conclusion will be punished immediately and with great prejudice.” Then I pushed my magic out onto them, sealing the bargain.
“You… speak… exceptionally well for a human,” Frobisher said meekly.
“And you knew,” Beauchamp choked out. “You knew all along, didn’t you?” I nodded in affirmation to him, grinning slightly. “Then why did you keep asking?”
“For the answer,” I said.
“But our cover…” Beauchamp stuttered.
“Was not my concern,” I said. “I saw through your disguises and my man waited until your, uh, ‘beard’ was distracted. You chose to ignore that and lie. Elves aren’t allowed to do that with certain people. I am one of those people, therefore my agents are those people. And I was present.”
“But we saw no evidence of power…” Frobisher started.
“Which is why the
sidhe
opt to always tell the truth, in their way,” I said, shrugging. “Not that their way is that much better.”
“May we finally know a name to call you, sir?” Frobisher asked.
“Damn, you two are dense. You have
all
the information you need,” Jimmy said, scowling at them.
“First, settle down,” I said, admonishing him. “We’re being unfair. So far, we’ve dealt mostly with the elite of Faery, the
sidhe
and the royalty. Isaac and Effram are more general populace, the bureaucrats and bookkeepers and such. Hopefully, they are both knowledgeable enough to be useful to us.”
“True enough, ‘Boss’,” Jimmy said laughing, “but have you seen the side of Effram’s face?” Actually, no, I hadn’t looked. Peering through his glamour, his face was severely bruised where Jimmy hit him. More interesting, though, was the line at the center where the staff struck. And left indentations of the sigils that ran along the rod, mixing the power of the First with Gilán’s. There, on Effram’s cheek, were the words “First of Gilán.” I burst out laughing. Busted a gut, really.
Isaac turned and grabbed Effram by his chin, turning his head to read the script while we laughed. Effram explained rapidly what happened to him as we calmed down and they both turned to stare at Jimmy leaning against the patio, grinning at them.
Dunwoody chose that moment to ask, “Does the name ‘Seth McClure’ mean anything to you, Isaac?”
“His name is etched on the ring on his right hand,” Ryan added, happily. “I missed it, too, unfortunately.”
“Lord Daybreak,” the elves together, bowing almost to the ground. “This is such a great honor.”
“I take it your name
does
mean something,” Dunwoody said, watching them hold that position as he crossed to the patio.
“Guys, I don’t know the proper etiquette to get you vertical again and I’m not inclined to wait horrendous periods to torture you, so if you’d like to stand up, please do.” While the elves decided how serious I was, I talked to Dunwoody. “And yeah, Jack, I’m hot shit in the magic world, Lord of my own faery realm. Since that hasn’t happened in about eighteen or nineteen millennia and I’m not faery, everybody’s a bit scared around me.”
“Everybody sane anyway,” Jimmy muttered.
“You’re just a wienie,” I muttered back with a grin, cutting my eyes back over the post at him. One of these days he was gonna figure out a way to get me with something. “Jack, the police didn’t go near the lab and I don’t think they paid much attention to the pot field either. What’s up?”
“Effram knows more about that than I do,” Jack admitted. “But offhand, I would say that they found enough evidence on the farms and left the clean-up here for me as planned. When do you take possession of the property?”
“I believe I already have,” I said, chuckling. “Unless Mr. Edmington plans to object which I doubt, so don’t worry about it. My men will take care of the chemistry set by morning and my faery will have the pot field taken care of before dusk when the fence goes up.”
“You are fencing in the marijuana plot?” Dunwoody asked twisting his face in question and raising an eyebrow.
“No, a twelve-foot security fence on the property line around the whole compound,” Jimmy responded, pushing off the patio wall. “We’ll be gating both entrances more securely, of course.”
“You have your own faery? And what is a realm?” Dunwoody asked, curious.
An easy gesture at the elves from me and Effram answered, “A realm is another world, Jack. There are several that sit near this one, separated by thick veils of energy. The largest realm is Faery and home of the oldest and largest civilization known. Usually an entity of sufficient power will claim an existing dimension, the specifics of how are beyond my comprehension. Lord Daybreak
created
his realm
somewhere,
of Faery but not
in
Faery. Through miracle after spectacular miracle, Lord Daybreak saved and recovered some of the Fae that survived an unspeakable act.” Effram clamped his eyes shut and swallowed hard, trembling. “Everything he did that day was impossible, yet both Queens of Faery, the oldest and strongest beings in the universe, both attest it.
“He is, as he says, ‘hot shit’,” said Effram totally sincere, pointing at me.
“Dude,” I drawled, shaking my head and grinning. “T-M-I. I just wanted the definition of a realm. All you’re doing is creepin’ Jack out. Besides, you give me another problem. What happens to our neighbors’ property now? In the States, it would be seized by the ATF and not given back, sold dirt cheap at some auction to some politician’s second cousin or something.”
“I’m certain that the procurement of their properties will become a top priority of several people very quickly,” Isaac Beauchamp said deep in thought.
“Probably,” I agreed. “And I will not be kind to anyone who decides to expedite matters through violence or by manipulating others into violence. This matter must progress ‘by the books.’ Am I clear?”
“Yes, Lord Daybreak,” they said in unison.
“Good. If I have to deal with any squabbling about who gets what, I’ll slice it up like a suburb. This is more of an embassy, a place to work, not a permanent home. Now please exchange contact information with Mr. Davis,” I directed them. “He’s my London contact at the moment, but he is not an appointment secretary so keep calls to a needs basis.” Davis lightly traveled down the steps beside me while extracting his wallet from his jacket. “And Effram, include any further information you have on the Russian’s whereabouts. I’d rather not search all of Eugene today.”
The druid drifted down the steps past me, reaching for his organizer from his jacket as he went and pulling three business cards out. Exchanging one with each Deputy Minister, he turned the wallet to a notepad and waited for Effram. Dunwoody tapped Davis’ card pensively as he looked around the patio and yard before sliding it inside his suit jacket.
“What’s wrong, Jack?” I asked. “You seem upset.”
“I’m just trying to figure out what happened here today,” he said almost timidly. “No, I mean, how what’s happened is going to change everything for me. I find out that not only am I lousy at my job, but it doesn’t matter anyway? Where’s the future in that?”
“I wouldn’t say you were ‘lousy at your job,’ Jack,” Isaac said dryly. “You’ve been quite a hindrance.”
Jimmy snickered. “A left-handed compliment, how elfish and arrogant for one caught twice so easily.”
“Twice, sir?”
“Once to be saddled with a hindrance and once, to be kind, by every person here,” Jimmy said. His accent was an interesting counterpoint to theirs. All the ups and downs were in different places.
“And you are First of Gilán,
sidhe
of Daybreak?” Isaac asked solemnly with Effram watching and continuing short bursts of dictation with Ryan.
“Yes, I am,” Jimmy said tugging on his aspect and bursting into a bright blue glow. Both elves took three steps back from him and stared.
“The beauty of being saddled with an impossible task, Jack, is that any success is fantastic!” I said cheerfully. “So I wouldn’t worry about being reassigned or fired or anything and I don’t believe Isaac or Effram will be too eager to leave their current positions till our bargain is done. Indeed, once reports are made, I doubt they’ll be allowed that opportunity. If anything your position is even more secure than before, I’d say.
“Now, if there’s nothing else, I do have other things to attend to today,” I finished. Velasquez was already assembling a team to send to the Eugene airport, our only entry point there. That team would start a loose surveillance of the location Effram provided, slowly tightening the circle until we were ready to strike while I researched the information.
So much for a walk through the park.
“No, sir, I believe we’re done for the day,” Dunwoody said. “It has been quite exciting meeting you, Mr. McClure. I look forward to any future opportunities to be of service.”
“Thank you, Mr. Dunwoody,” I answered, standing to shake his hand in parting. “I will pass word back up through my channels congratulating the proficiency with which your office handled this delicate issue.”
Ryan and Jimmy walked them around the house to their car, interceding before any more insipid compliments started again. I was tired of hearing how great I was. Maybe if I had the arrogance of the elves it would be easier to handle. Right now, just walking anonymously through a mall was very appealing. I dismissed the thought and reached for my phone again.
I dropped the lodestone back into my hand. It seemed pretty worthless outside of being extremely pretty. I’d bent and twisted the poor thing subconsciously so badly that it wasn’t recognizable anymore. Now it was three-quarters of an inch across and spherical. A dark blue, so blue it looked black, and when it caught the light it glimmered with a six point cross. It still held the energy matrix inside, fully charged and flowing, but the spherical plane of the inside of the gem was etched with nine circles of druidic modal power circles. At the center was a triad of fluctuating energy nodes that linked to the circles etched to the sphere.
“That’s pretty,” Jimmy said, sitting on the steps beside me. “What’s it do?”
“Nothing that I can see,” I admitted. “Full of energy but no way to get to it.” But I knew that if I opened the circles, it’s form would collapse and within a short time, the lodestone would reshape itself into the orange flat stone we were used to seeing. The energy would be available again, though.
Since I still had my senses out over the whole compound, seeing all of Ryan behind me was no effort of will. His power signature as Druid High Priest was more impressive than Simon’s, so the Hilliards had lost a formidable leader in their decision. Not that Simon was a lightweight, but he was second choice for reasons. Quantum mechanics being what they were, his signature fit quite nicely in the center of the triad. From there it appeared that he could control each of the nine circles, possibly independently of each other. That is, if I could stop the triad from fluctuating.
“Ryan?” I called him closer, holding the stone up. “Can you see into this?”
“No, it’s protected,” he said, staring hard at the deep blue gem. “By a strong druid circle it would seem. What is it?”
“I’m not sure yet,” I murmured. Plunging my senses into the rock again, I could see the circles of power from the center and saw nearly infinite possibilities in the tonal reflections a druid could achieve here, especially an experienced high priest. It would take a lifetime to master, though. And the druid still had to access the circles, which gave me an idea.
“Ryan, I want to try something with you,” I said standing up and moving to a table. Setting the rock in the center of the table, Ryan sat down opposite me and Jimmy stood on my right while I considered what to inscribe where in the gem. “All right, Ryan, each time you feel a circle come into being, I want you to close it. Don’t worry about holding it, just close the circle under your control and wait, just like you were closing a sacred circle for a sacrament. There’ll be nine total. Okay?”
“Okay,” Ryan said. “You do understand I can’t hold more than one at a time, right?”
I just smiled at him and seized the triad. The faery magic had no effect on it, but mine stopped its fluctuations just fine. Since the triad needed to tune the druid’s energy for the circles to control them, its ever-changing nature needed to be stilled. My throat was going to be very sore after this. I started a three-voice invocation using words of power that Ryan Davis never heard before and likely never would again. As the invocation hit the deformed lodestone, a path formed, disrupting a single point at each of the nine-point circles in a straight line.
“Shit!” Ryan yelled, feeling the strength and style of the first circle hit him. If I weren’t singing already, I’d tell him to quit whining that I was holding seventy-five points of that power at bay until he closed them off.
“Close the circle, Ryan,” Jimmy said calmly. The druid started chanting softly, binding the eight points of energy together to his will with all his strength. The pressure eased on me slightly as he achieved the first circle. I waited a moment before releasing the next one. His reaction wasn’t any better, but his reaction time decreased. By the sixth, though, his energy levels were dropping. By the eighth, Jimmy was actively urging him on and I wasn’t sure he’d make the final circle. “Last one, Ryan. You can do it. Just one more and you can rest.”
He did it, too. It took every bit of his energy reserves, but Ryan managed to close the final, ninth circle within the changed lodestone, then collapsed weakly in his chair, releasing the circle’s control. Grabbing hold of it as I had the previous eight, I linked it to its place on the triad and placed his signature at the center, linking Ryan to the stone. The final part of the magic was the simplest conceptually but the hardest to commit to reality. With the final word in a single voice, I bound the triad to Ryan’s energy signature and made the symbolic link a magical one.
Jimmy sat down and rolled the clear crystal gently around the tabletop while Ryan and I rested for a moment. “Ellorn, some tea for Seth, please.” Ellorn appeared within seconds between us at the table holding up a glass of iced tea to Jimmy. “Thanks, Ellorn.” Jimmy handed the glass to me and I drained it immediately, blowing out steam from my tortured throat.
“Would you like more, Lord?” Ellorn asked reaching up for the glass. Nodding I handed him the glass and he disappeared around the table near the side steps to the lawn. A simple push of energy and I was well on the road to recovery before he returned a moment later. I’d held those harmonies for a long time while Ryan closed the circles and it was a powerful magic held in check. Ryan was still wasted by his effort, lying back in the chair, catching his breath.
Thank you, Ellorn
, I sent, taking the glass from him and draining it halfway.
Does Braedon have any settings available that will hold this crystal?
“May I see it, Lord?” Ellorn asked. Jimmy picked the rock up and handed it to Ellorn. Ryan, still drained and punch drunk, sat up quickly when the brownie touched it. Ellorn examined the crystal, rolling it in his hand slowly. “For Mr. Davis.” He held it up again, so I took it this time. “Smith Master Braedon says a setting is available for a jewelry piece, but a secure setting for such a crystal requires an individualized fitting.”
“Definitely not jewelry, I mean this to be a tool for Ryan to use,” I mumbled, my throat still scratchy. From a simple perspective, the clear quartz crystal was an immense power well of elemental energy, the transformed lodestone. It was impressively bound to the will of one man, if I do say so myself. The geometry of the energy flows that created the clear gemstone was absolutely fascinating to watch. Still, I had to give it up sometime, though I was still curious about the color change. Holding it out to drop into his palm, I asked, “What do you think, Ryan? It’s too big for a ring. We could do a wrist strap so that it’s nearly unbreakable and embed the stone, maybe a silver torc along the clavicle, or a platinum chain?”
The crystal changed color again the instant it hit his aura, a deep emerald green and more in keeping with Ryan’s spirit. He gasped as it hit his palm, his attention shooting suddenly to the house as his awareness expanded beyond his previous scope. Not only had the area increased drastically, but the depth within the area increased as well. The number of brownies in the house amazed him almost as much as seeing into the house.
“This is why they called you ‘Archdruid’,” he said, turning to me. “You did something like canter in three registers, didn’t you? Then we watched you make this… this… What the fuck is this, anyway?”
“A focus,” I said, simply. “You seemed to be lost without your control so I’m giving it back.”
“I can’t hold this many circles closed to do any ceremonies—” Ryan began before my phone started chirping at me.
“Silly man, you have that in your hand now. Excuse me a moment,” I said picking up my phone and checking the caller. “Yes, Cpt. Thorn?”
“I have the information you requested, Mr. McClure,” Thorn said. “There’s just not much to it. The three men you inquired about are rather vanilla, not even an income tax form filed late.”
“Hmm, discouraging news, Captain,” I said sighing. “They’re the same man, according to my other sources. I was hoping you could see a relationship investigating them separately. Now I wonder if I was lied to.” Jimmy contorted his face, considering the possibility Effram Frobisher lied. He didn’t think so either. “We’ll just have to proceed more carefully and consider it tarnished information, then. Thank you, Jensen.”
“Who is this guy, anyway?” Thorn asked quickly.
“Who, Muldoon?” I asked absently. “The Russian.” Then disconnected the call, not particularly certain he knew who that was. “Come on, Ryan, you’ll have to study it on your own for a while. We have to secure it and move along to other things. This day is getting quite busy.”
“A chain, then, with the crystal embedded in a band to hold it,” Ryan said making his mind up quickly.
“Then let’s move from this faery unfriendly cast-iron table to the steps where Braedon can help me,” I said and moved, paying attention to where Ellorn was. All the brownies were running around nervously semi-transparent. “Jacket and shirt off, please.”
Ryan stripped to the waist and sat on the second step. His back and arms were covered in brilliantly colored, finely articulated tattoos. Each pictograph within the Celtic knotwork represented a binding to a rite of passage or another honor bestowed on him, another level achieved. The last time I saw this much ink in a man’s skin, he was desiccated from the waist down and moving by force of will alone. These were not the same soul-twisting, body-mangling blood spells, but there was still enough blood magic in it to taint the artistry for me.
“This is beautiful work,” I said, admiring his arm and noting he was more lean and muscular than most lawyers his age and standing. “Whoever did it paid close attention to your musculature and lined everything up quite well. And not an ounce of fat on you, either, I see.”
He smiled broadly. “My father placed most of them, especially the earliest of them, then his youngest brother when he got too old. Unfortunately, I didn’t learn to appreciate them until after he passed away. I just assumed it was a sadistic streak when I was younger.”
“Yeah, I imagine this much color does hurt,” I admitted, shaking my head slightly. “Ellorn, why don’t you and Braedon show Ryan what he has available in chains. And bring the plate Braedon has. That will be perfect for the binding.”
“Yes, Lord Daybreak,” Ellorn trilled from the patio railing then shifted to Gilán.
“Do you have any?” Ryan asked. “Tattoos, I mean.”
“No,” I answered. “I don’t much see the need for it. Thank you, Braedon.” The one-inch square of platinum the small sprite handed me would do nicely. Braedon was ready to leave the instant Ellorn arrived and they’d walked up quietly from behind. He had four options for Ryan to choose from, each one looked thick and ropy in his hands, but was fine filigree on the druid. In hushed tones, he conferred with the brownies and selected a chain of interconnecting squared-off circles with s-sides to lay flat. The smith put the remaining chains back into small pouches and gave me the length of chain along with a simple locking clasp.
Examining the length of chain, I asked Braedon, “I see some apprentice work here, don’t I?”
“Yes, Lord,” Braedon twittered nervously, wondering if he should have left this chain out now.
“Looks like they’re coming along swiftly, Master Braedon, congratulations,” I said, smiling at him. His nervousness fled as the sun rose in his face with his smile, as tiny as it was. This is one of the true pleasures of my new life. That simple, honest compliment to the sprite lit up his face and his aura, creating a chain reaction of “warm fuzzies” throughout his family. In an unquantifiable way, this added up to stronger faery. Nice, but really girly sometimes.
Ryan sat up straight when I draped the chain around his neck and started sizing it with the plate. It needed to be comfortable, unobtrusive, and fall easily into place. To me, it seemed the crystal fit best in the nook of his throat just below his Adam’s apple. As long as the stone was within his aura, he could control it so it really didn’t matter that much if it stayed in contact with him, but he’d worry about it right now. Fusing the ends of the chain to the plate loosely, leaving the excess hanging from one side, I reached around him, picked up the midpoint at his spine, and dropped it to watch how it fell. Removing a link in the chain into a teeny-tiny knowe, I let one slip out of the chain and pulled it away from him.
“I’m going to have to use the whole plate for the weight, but the shape has to change,” I said. “Is there anything you’d like on the front? This isn’t something you can take down to your local jeweler to have engraved. They’d have to break my binding first, not that I’m saying that’s impossible, but even my brothers say it’s hard to do.” Shrugging was second nature now, doing it again. While he thought about it, I went to work on the necklace.
Metalcrafting for the Fae is both difficult and dangerous. Metal in general reacts badly with magic. Faery magic reacts
very
badly with most metals and incredibly poorly with iron. So I didn’t use faery magic, though I did use Braedon’s knowledge, didn’t use druid magic either. Changing vapor points, even temporarily, wasn’t easy, but a moment later the platinum plate melted in my hand. Plucking the crystal from Ryan’s palm, I dropped it into the pool of metal and started forming the platinum around it and the chain. Then I called for his key and dropped that in as well. Slowly reverting the vapor point of the platinum changed its form from liquid back to solid in the shape I wanted and melded the chain directly to the plate, thicker but with less surface area. Same thing to set the clasp.