The Fathering Land
Page 13
"SHUT UP, STUPID CUPID!" five small voices and one big one roared. The big one was me. We got a raspberry in return.
"Umm... what are those?" Clem asked, pointing upward.
"Those are six of my pixie sons. I have a bunch by now. These are Bellerophon, the one with the red eyes; Chaos, the red-head; Dionysus, the purple-head; Eros, he's the one with white hair; Filotus, the blue-haired one; and Hermes, the blond. Boys, this is Clem, one of my oldest and dearest friends."
The boys launched themselves into the air and yelled, "Yo Clembo!" "Clem! My man!" "Oh, a Bigger C!" "Hey, what was Daddio like when he was young?" "Did he have lots of girlfriends then, too?" "Are some of the babes 'round here his?"
I face-palmed as Clem tried to answer, and Mom came and took the baby from him. "Now then, Clem Milford, what's this young 'un's name?"
He smiled broadly as Chaos settled on his shoulder. "Clement Tobias Milford!"
"Oho, way to go, Dad! Yet another kid named after you!" Kyoop crowed.
"Daddio is very popular back home," Hermes said cheerfully. "Tobias is the second most popular name in the township after Icarus!"
"Who's Icarus?" my mother asked, and everyone fell dead silent.
After a long moment, I turned to her and said, "There were nine pixie boys — we call them Dixies to differentiate them — in my first batch of sons. All born on the same day. Icarus was the youngest and smallest. He was pure Irish—orange hair, Fell-green eyes, and brave as a bull." I swallowed hard, my eyes watering. "Icarus... he flew too close to an Alfa witch they called the Sun when she had incapacitated me... and she mortally injured him. But Icarus and another of my hero Dixies, Gration, killed her. Icky gave his life in battle to save us and secure our new home." My voice choked on the last word, and this time, when my hand went over my face, it was from grief, not exasperation.
"That's why Father renamed the town Icarus Township," Little Magic said quietly, "and why it's the capital of the Commonwealth of Icarus."
Clem noticed him for the first time and nearly jumped to the ceiling. "That one's another Elf! And he's glowing!"
"He does that," I admitted, and looked up sharply, blinking back tears. "Clem Milford, this is my son Eos with, um, the Dawn Goddess. Remember how she fixed me and I went a little crazy? Yeah. She relieved me of my virginity. He was the first son I conceived, but he, um, hasn't been born yet. Things are different with demigods, so that hasn't stopped him or anything."
"Well met, Mr. Milford. And Little Clem," my son said politely. "Most everyone calls me Little Magic. I'm way younger than I look. And I'm not really an Elf. I'll probably look like a shiny terran when I'm born. Whenever that'll be. But I like the way the Elves look, and Father and Mama Coulter say that if I take on this manifestation when I get old enough, in no time I'll be hip-deep in—"
"LET'S NOT GO THERE," I said loudly.
"Oh. Another men-only thing?"
"Yes! Definitely!"
"Man, grown-ups are weird." He looked at my mother. "Apologies, Grandmamá, I don't know all the rules yet." He looked at my father. "And you have a very dirty mind, Grandpapá. I like it." Then he sighed and slumped. "Yes, Grandpapá, they have DNA. Everything has DNA. No, they're radially symmetric, like starf— Ugh! Can we stick to girls for the time being? They're ever so much more interesting, silly old bear!"
I might have known begging Dad to reenact Winnie-The-Pooh when I was a kid would come back to bite me in the ass someday.
CONTINUED IN THE THIRD BOOK OF FELL TOBIAS,
ROOT AND BRANCH
Afterword
Since it was ready to go, I've released the Second Book of Fell Tobias just 11 days after the First Book, so those who liked Harem Scare 'Em can move on with the story. I've been pleasantly surprised and gratified at the response to the First Book, given my lack of advertising. It hasn't been a bestseller (yet), but it has been gaining momentum, especially on Kindle Unlimited. Once I hire a professional cover artist to draw in more readers with their artistry (people do judge books by the cover), and find ways to get the word out, I hope to draw a bigger audience. Just publishing more books seems to help.
Hence The Fathering Land. I believe I've crafted a better cover this time, depicting the Goddess herself. It was she who released Fell Tobias from his pre-pubertal bondage and gave him his new name, and it was she who inspired him to take Scarborough Faire in the first place. Emotionally scarred but stronger for it, he's built it into a Commonwealth, and gained allies and enemies on the way. Now he's committed to a war of extermination he doesn't want and that he and his demigod son are desperately trying to avoid.
The third Book of Fell Tobias, Root and Branch, is on its way. It's written; now I just have to add the bells and whistles, including a cool cover. After that I plan to release an anthology of stories I've written over the last few decades. It will include the four stories I published under my real name, as well as about 20 others, some very short, some novelettes. I'll publish them as Tripp Greyson too, since I can't find a way to connect Floyd to Tripp's work. I'd like a few more people than me and my family to see these tales before I die. I'm making no promises, but I plan to get that out while I work on the next cycle of Fell Tobias novellas, which are already partially written… and then there will be some full novels later on.
Cheers!
Tripp Greyson