Stand On It

by Jan Stryvant

  But then, she would never have met Sean, so she guessed that it was all for the best. She just hoped he wasn't mad with her when he found out what she had done tonight.

  "Check it," Cali whispered as the spell, drained of its power, winked out of sight.

  "No alarms, but it's locked," Sheila said and pulling out a couple of wires she quickly undid the lock, and then carefully turned the doorknob.

  "How many inside?" Cali asked and then listened carefully. She only heard one person breathing, and when Sheila held up one finger, Cali nodded. Pushing the door open enough to slip through, she quietly approached the figure on the bed. Pulling out the flask, she doused the cloth, and then held it over the man's face. He woke up of course, and reached his hands up to grab her arm, but then quickly passed out.

  "Don't hold it there too long, you'll kill him!" Sheila hissed.

  "Go back the way we came, wait for me at the car," Cali said without looking up.

  "Why?"

  "Because you don't want to see this," Cali said, and taking the cloth off of the man's face she passed it and the flask back to Sheila.

  "You are coming back, right?" Sheila asked.

  "Of course," Cali nodded, "Now, go."

  Sheila glanced at the man on the bed, then back at her, and quickly left the room. Looking around, Cali found a nice old-fashioned pitcher and washbasin on one of the dressers with some flowers in it. Taking the pitcher out and setting it aside, she took the basin over to the bed, and hauling the man's body over so that his head was hanging over the side, she pulled out a knife and slit his jugular, making sure to catch the blood in the basin, so as not to make a mess.

  It was about two minutes before his heart stopped, but by then she had probably a half gallon of blood. More than enough for what she was about to do.

  Wrapping a piece of cloth around the now dead man's neck, so as to not make it obvious at first that he was dead, Cali carefully repositioned him on the bed, under the covers. Then taking the basin full of blood, she pulled out the paint brush that she'd brought specifically for this task, and dipping it in the blood she quickly set to work.

  Her teachers had always told her that such theatrics always paid off in the end, that it wasn't the dead bodies that scared people so much, but the presentation that went with it.

  When she stepped back twenty minutes later, Cali looked at her work and smiled, they'd get the message, she was sure.

  Placing the brush into a ziplock bag that she'd also brought along, she stuck it in her pocket and left, going back to the door.

  The hallway was still clear, so opening the door, she went to the guard's station and picking up his body, she carried it back to the room of the dead man, and pushed it under the bed, out of sight. Now that she was leaving, a missing guard would cause some concern, but a dead one would sound the alarm, and she didn't want that to happen until they discovered her handiwork.

  Going back into the hallway, she closed the door behind her, locking it, then quietly ran down the hallway, and went back down the stairs. The guard at the desk was fiddling with something, so she had to wait for the right moment, and then be quick as she moved to the library door, which Sheila had thoughtfully left open for her.

  Closing the library door behind her, she ran over to the open window and carefully climbed out. Closing it carefully, she pulled off the wires that Sheila had placed on it and ran for the wall, climbing up and over it rather quickly. Dropping down on the other side she ran off in the direction of their car.

  "What took you so long?" Sheila complained and started the car as Cali got in. "It's almost four!"

  "I had no idea you were worried about me," Cali said, surprised.

  "It ain't just what Sean would do to me if you got caught, trust me I don't want to even think about that," Sheila said rather dourly, "but Peg would be devastated that I'd left you behind, love."

  "Peg would?" Cali asked, surprised.

  "Of course she would! Peg's a loving and sweet young woman, she's very attached to you, just as she is to the others, including his majesty of course."

  Cali cocked her head and looked at Sheila. "Peg is attached to me?"

  Sheila glanced at Cali who was looking at her kind of strange, "Of course she is! Peg's family was very cold to her, never showing any affection. Now you all love her and care about her. You're her family now!" Sheila snorted, "I thought you dark elves were supposed to all be about family, I would have thought you'd have understood."

  Cali was shocked! Peg cared about her?

  "What about the others?" Cali asked.

  "What about them?"

  "Do they care about me?"

  Sheila looked over at Cali like she'd lost her mind, "Probably, I don't know, I haven't really asked them. Oh, I'm sure that Jolene gal does, she cares about everybody, but Peg told me you had it rough growing up, and having seen what she went through, I think she's just being generous. But I'd be surprised if the others didn't care. I mean, don't they tell you how they're feeling?"

  Cali leaned back in the car seat, her eyes wide, "I thought they were just saying that."

  "Why would they lie about a thing like that?" Sheila's voice sounded almost incredulous.

  "Well, because Sean loves me, and wants me, so we have to live together, and they're just being polite."

  "Ha!" Sheila laughed, "Do you think Sean would have taken you in, if he thought the others wouldn't love you?"

  Cali looked at Sheila, Sheila was a very attractive woman. Hot even. She'd wondered more than once why Sean hadn't grabbed her, since he'd grabbed Peg.

  "Is that why....?"

  Sheila shrugged, "Maybe, I don't know. But I don't feel about Sean the way that Peg or the rest of you do. He's our royal majesty, I get all of that, but I don't love him. Hell, half the time he scares the hell out of me."

  "But you'll still go to bed with him," Cali said, not sure she understood what Sheila was telling her.

  "You don't turn down the king, love, especially not when he's made your girlfriend his wife. Course, it's not like I don't enjoy it, he does care after all. But that's not the point, the point is, he coulda had you as just a lover, he didn't need to make you one of his wives. They all care about each other, which means they now care about you, and you're telling me you hadn't noticed?"

  Cali just stared out the windshield; she didn't know what to say about that. Yeah, the sex with the others was fun; she'd been trained to do all of those things as part of being an assassin. Actually, it was better than fun, because she shared Sean with them, and they shared him with her.

  But the idea that they might love her too? Not just be tolerating her because of Sean?

  That was a thought that she was suddenly very interesting in finding the answer to. What a night, first she redeems her honor while saving her family from danger, and now she discovers that they really are her family? Cali smiled and shivered happily in her seat, she couldn't wait to get home.

  The Third Day

  Jerry Whyte had gotten in to his office early, there were a lot of reports he wanted to go over, and then there was getting everyone and everything in order so they could leave for the assault on time. Morgan had told everyone that they needed to leave here exactly at nine-forty, so they could attack at ten.

  By seven there were a lot of people there, and Morgan hadn't shown up yet. Grabbing one of the younger women who were now filling in until they were able to replace their lycan staff, Jerry told her to go upstairs and wake Morgan.

  Ten minutes later she came downstairs and found him.

  "I knocked on his door, but he didn't answer," she told him.

  Jerry sighed, "Did you look inside?"

  "It was locked, Mr. Whyte."

  "What about the guard?"

  "He must be off duty, there wasn't anyone up there."

  Grumbling Jerry got up and headed out of his office and upstairs, with the girl following him. Sure enough, there wasn't a guard on duty, but then with people awake and walking
in the hallway, it wasn't really necessary. Odds were the guard had gone off to get ready for today's assault, just like everyone else.

  "Morgan!" Jerry pounded on the door, "Wake up!"

  Nothing happened, so Jerry pounded on the door a second time, "Morgan! You in there?"

  Grumbling Jerry used a spell to pick the lock. Opening the door he walked into the room, and looking around he saw Morgan still asleep in his bed.

  "Morgan..." he started, but was interrupted by the scream of the girl who had followed him in.

  "What!" Jerry said and spun around. She was pointing at the wall.

  Someone had painted the symbol of the Ascendants on the wall, the Roman letter A with an arrow drawn through it, curving to face up. Beneath it they had painted a broken letter V. The message couldn't be more clear.

  Stepping over to Morgan, Jerry pulled the blankets back and saw the bloody bandage around his neck, and noticed that he was quite dead. Turning to the door there were several people in the room now and a half dozen more at the door.

  "Somebody find the night guard," Jerry ordered, "and get her out of here!" he pointed to the young girl who was now gasping and starting to go into hysterics as she noticed that Morgan was dead.

  Al came running into the room then as someone took the girl out.

  "Is he?"

  Jerry nodded, "Yes."

  "Dammit," Al said and then turned to look at the blood on the wall. "I better gather up the other council members."

  Jerry nodded slowly, "Yes, you better. I suspect they're not going to want to attack after this."

  "I agree," Al said, surprising him. "After what we did to the Ascendants, I don't think it would be wise to leave our families unguarded."

  Jerry shook his head, "What an undignified way to go, murdered in your sleep. You can tell the others I've resigned my seat on the council."

  "What?"

  "Al, I missed this! I had no idea that the Ascendants were moving against us! And now Morgan is dead! I failed, three times now I've failed. I've underestimated Valens twice and now I didn't even see this coming!" Jerry shook his head again, "I'll be in my office, cleaning out my desk. You're in charge now, Al. Find someone reliable, I'm done."

  Al watched Jerry as he walked out of the room, defeated, and wondered if he'd ever see him alive again.

  "What do we do now?" Hadrian asked, coming into the room and looking at the design painted in blood on the wall, after glancing at Morgan's body on the bed.

  "We put everybody to work repairing our defenses before they attack us," Al said. "Put a guard on the door, we'll bury him later. Right now, we need to see to our own defenses before those arrogant bastards kill us all."

  Hadrian nodded and left the room, followed by Al as he started planning their defense.

  "What do you mean the exit is blocked?" Samis said to Wilhelm.

  "Just that, Samis. The elevator stopped when the top hit ground level. I tried three other exits; all of them were blocked as well."

  "How can that be?"

  "It's magic," Robert said, he'd entered the room while Wilhelm was talking. "I'm getting reports from all over town. All of the regular exits are blocked."

  "Has anyone tried any of the hidden exits?"

  Robert shook his head, "Not yet. I told Deningar to station one of our peacekeepers at each of them to make sure no one went out until we knew just what was going on."

  Samis groaned then as he remembered what his grandmother was supposed to do today.

  "What?" Wilhelm said.

  "Grandmother Robin was supposed to go up to my son-in-law's place today with the rest of the healers to save him."

  Wilhelm snorted, "All this does is delay the inevitable. They have to know they can't hold us in here for long."

  "They don't have to," Samis sighed shaking his head. "If the boy isn't healed today, he'll die. Someone must have leaked the word of his condition to the mages, and now they're acting to see to it that he dies."

  Robert and Wilhelm both swore, "It better not be one of ours that let them know!" Robert added.

  "I better alert our war leader," Samis said, reaching for his phone.

  Wilhelm snorted, "Deningar already did. He told me if someone's trying to block us in, we need to see about teaching them the folly of their ways!"

  "In that case, grab your gear and meet me at my Grandmother Robin's door. I'll call Roloff and let him know the score."

  Both dwarves nodded and headed out the door as Samis picked up the phone and called the war leader.

  "Look on the bright side," Roloff told Samis after he'd told him his suspicions.

  "There's a bright side?"

  "They could have ambushed Grandmother Robin and the others far more easily than blockading us."

  "There'd be a war then," Samis growled into the phone, just thinking about it.

  "Exactly, this is just a harassment, one that I don't plan on letting go un-repaid mind you. But I think it shows that they're not willing to use deadly force against us. Which means we should be able to break out of here without too much trouble."

  "But what if they decide to ambush them after that?"

  "Now that we've been warned, trust me that I'm not sending anyone outside without a lot of our warriors to protect them. I'm sending some scouts out through one of the hidden southern gates. Get Grandmother Robin and whoever you want to take and meet me at the Lyon's gate. I think that's far enough out east that we'll be outside of any of their attentions."

  "Aye, that makes sense. Earth and Stone, Roloff."

  "Earth and Stone, Samis."

  Daelyn ran into the room where Roxy was going over defenses with Oak.

  "My uncle Samis called, someone's trying to stop Grandmother Robin from getting here!"

  "What!" Roxy said, shocked.

  "Someone is using magic to block all of the regular exits, everyone is being kept from going outside."

  "How is that even possible? Don't they have other exits?"

  "They do," Daelyn nodded, "and they're about to send the army out through several of them to counterattack, and make sure that it's safe before they let any civilians out. But it means Grandmother is going to be delayed."

  "How long does she have?" Roxy asked.

  Daelyn shook her head, "I don't know for sure, it was very early Monday morning when she told us two and a half days, and well, we've already passed fifty hours since then!"

  Roxy growled, "Can we send somebody down there to help? Attack them from behind?" she asked Oak.

  "I don't think that's a good idea," Oak warned.

  "Why not?"

  "We're expecting an attack from the Vesti's, right? What if this is simple a diversion to draw people off and make us weaker?"

  "Shit," Roxy growled.

  "Yeah, shit," Daelyn agreed. "Uncle Samis doesn't think that they'll try to kill Grandmother or any of the dwarves, because that would lead to open war, and there's a lot more dwarves here than mages, they'd be wiped out."

  "But they won't hesitate to attack us," Roxy sighed and nodded. "Still, isn't there anything we can do?"

  "I can call Claudia and Chad," Oak said, "give them a heads up. But honestly? I don't know how much we can really help; the dwarves will probably have this figured out before we can even get down there."

  Daelyn nodded, "Oak's right."

  "Well, if this is a diversion," Roxy said looking around, "we better get ready for an attack. You call Claudia, I'm going to call Chad and see if he has anything."

  Oak nodded and picked up the phone, Roxy left with Daelyn in tow to go to Sean's office and use the phone there. They'd gotten an extra line installed, but that was it. Daelyn had been too busy to put in a cell phone repeater for them yet.

  Closing the door, Roxy dialed Chad on the speakerphone.

  "Chad speaking."

  "It's Roxy. Have your lookouts reported anything from the Vesti's compound?"

  "As a matter of fact, they did. Quite a bit too. I was going to call you,
because they said it looked like they were getting ready to mount that attack we were all worried about, the one that wolf was warning us about."

  "What do you mean, looked like?" Roxy asked in a worried voice.

  "Around seven-thirty everything stopped and everyone went inside. When they came out, they all went to work on fixing the walls and they tripled their guard. It looks like they're getting ready for an attack themselves now."

  "Why the hell would they do that?" Daelyn asked.

  "Maybe they heard the Ascendants are after them? They are pretty weak right now and would be ripe for an attack. Could be someone got word of their plans and are going to strike them while they were out striking you."

  "Well, Sawyer did say that everyone is spying on the Vesti's pretty heavily right now. Maybe Jo and I should go talk to Sawyer?"

  Roxy shook her head, "Not today. We need to sit here and be ready to move. Sean's running out of time, we may have to take him to Grandmother Robin, if she can't make it here."

  "Claudia is going to be pissed if you hijack her remaining helicopter again, Roxy," Chad said over the phone.

  "Yeah well, sucks to be her now, doesn't it?"

  Chad laughed, "Call me and let me deal with her."

  "And that would be easier, how?"

  "I'm going to be her son-in-law, Roxy. I'm family."

  "Fine," Roxy sighed, "I'll let you deal with it. Let us know if anything changes with the Vesti's."

  "Of course," Chad said, and then hung up.

  "So, now what?" Roxy sighed and looked at Daelyn.

  "We keep our eyes open and pray," Daelyn sighed.

  "I don't like the idea of just sitting here and relying on prayer," Roxy growled and started to pace back and forth in the small office.

  "Ah, brother! It has been too long since we met in the flesh!" Mtawala said as he gave Nguvu a hug. They were standing in the arrivals area at Reno International Airport. Mtawala had just arrived; his brother had arrived on an earlier flight late last night.