by Jan Stryvant
"They're not going to like that very much, Son," Maitland said coming into the room.
Sean shrugged, "No, I suppose that they won't. However, they're outnumbered, outgunned, and outmaneuvered. I'm pretty sure that Sapientia as well as Eruditio will back me, so who are they going to appeal to?"
Maitland considered that a moment, and then nodded, "I do believe you have a point, I would suggest however that you might want to start watching the airports and train stations, so they can't just ship their lycans elsewhere."
Sean nodded, "Good point. I'll have to bring that up at our meeting tonight."
Finishing up his breakfast, Sean got up and followed Daelyn and Roxy outside to check on progress, the attack of Sunday night had done enough damage to push everything back by almost a week he'd been told.
"Uncle," Louise asked quietly after her son and his wives had left the room, "did you ever contact that lion friend of yours to ask him about Sean?"
Maitland nodded, "Yes, I did."
"What did he say?"
"That what Sean told me is correct. That right now they are all following his lead and will continue to do so for some time to come."
"He told you that, did he?"
"He told me that right after I said hello," Maitland sighed and shook his head. "I didn't even get the chance to ask my question."
"How can that be?" Louise asked.
Maitland gave a small shrug, "I'm honestly not quite sure, they never come into our lands, in fact, they never set foot off of the Earth into any of the other lands from what I've heard. However, the very fact that they were able to bring your son back from what looked like death, and that they considered it a worthwhile trade of two others to do so, tells me something important about your son, my nephew."
"And that would be?"
"That exciting times are ahead, and I'm not leaving here until he orders me to go. I've known several great men in my time, Louise, and it looks like I've may have just met one more."
"My Sean? Great?" Louise looked at her uncle in surprise.
Maitland smiled, "He's your son and our family, how could he be anything less?"
Louise sat there and pondered that for quite a while.
"Is it me, or is Cali really happy suddenly?" Sean observed as they went and walked the grounds.
"I think it's just finally settling in that we all love her," Roxy smiled. "Haven't you noticed how much she just lights up and smiles whenever one of us give her a hug?"
"She's had it hard, Sean," Daelyn said, "definitely the hardest of any of us. I think almost losing you hit her even worse than it did the rest of us."
"That bad?" Sean said, a little surprised.
"Everything that could go wrong in her life did," Roxy agreed. "She probably thought she was just in for more of the same, but thank God you broke that chain." Roxy looked over her shoulder at Sean, "And if you had died on us, I would have spent the rest of my life trying to figure out how to make you suffer for it."
Sean grinned and grabbing Roxy he hugged her, "My lion lowered the boom, trust me on that. He was incredibly pissed at me. I got lectured and threatened."
"Well maybe you get let him out later and Rox and I will thank him personally," Dae chuckled.
Sean snorted, "Please, don't encourage him. It's bad enough I'm stuck with him for the rest of my life. Last thing I want him doing is trying to steal my girls."
"Well if you're stuck with him, it's only fair we get to know him," Roxy purred.
Sean just shook his head and sighed.
'The trouble you get me in,' Sean thought at him.
'Hey, this one's your own fault, I didn't start it, you did!' Sean got the distinct impression that the First was smirking at him.
"So just how long until everything is done here?" Sean asked Daelyn.
"Most of it will be done Monday, it turns out that a lot of the people we got from the Vesti's actually have some basic carpentry skills, so things are looking up."
"How are they fitting in?" Sean asked.
"They're still a bit dazed," Roxy sighed, "but they're making progress. A lot of them are wondering what you're going to do with them."
Sean shrugged, "Put 'em to work I guess. I just need to make sure they understand that if they don't like working for me, they can work for someone else. I suspect I'll be having a few talks with Claudia and Chad on maintaining a pack."
"So you want to keep them?" Roxy asked, a little surprised.
Sean nodded, "I need my own people, my own troops. I know I can call on most of the others around here, but that takes time. I want to have a group that reports directly to me, with no middle men." Sean looked around a bit, "Let's go check out my shop, then you can introduce me to all the new wolves. After that I want to head down to Sawyers to see if he knows what's up with the Vesti's. You said you had solid intelligence that they were going to attack us?"
Both Roxy and Daelyn nodded. "Yup, Morgan, their leader, was whipping them up to it. That mage that came up here thought Morgan had gone crazy."
"Hmm, maybe he went off the deep end and someone else is in charge now?"
Both of the girls shrugged.
"By the way, are you sure you want to take me with you to Claudia's?" Roxy asked, "I'm pretty sure she's still mad at me."
"Well she's just going to have to learn to deal with it," Sean grinned, "because I'm not apologizing to her. Now, my shop?"
When the time came to head out, they ended up taking one of the vans, because there just wasn't enough room for everyone in Daelyn's 'cuda, and honestly Sean wanted all of them with him. Not that any of them seemed to want to be all that far from him right now either. Sean really had come closer to dying than anytime before in his life, and they all knew it.
"You know, I really should go back home soon," Roberta said a little wistfully as they headed out through the gates. The dozen sorceresses that she had brought along apparently were talking with Ruthelma, but they'd all made it clear that they wouldn't stay past dinner tonight.
"You are home," Sean purred and gave her a hug.
Roberta gave him a bit of a wild look, "Sean, I have responsibilities back at the guild!"
"And you have responsibilities here too, Love." Sean smiled and lowered his voice a little, "What do you think Sarah is going to say when I tell her you're both moving here to live with me?"
Roberta frowned as Roxy, Daelyn, and Jolene all giggled.
"He's got you there," Jolene said.
"Hoist by your own petard!" Daelyn added.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Roberta said, momentarily looking away from the rather smug expression on Sean's face.
"It means, you used her to get him, and now he's using her to get you!" Roxy said with a smirk.
Roberta opened her mouth to say something, but Sean just pulled her over and kissed her.
"It's not negotiable, Robie. You're moving in, and bringing Sarah with you."
Roberta grumbled, "My mother warned me about this."
"Your mother?"
"Deanna's her mom," Jolene told him.
Sean looked at Roberta in surprise as she just nodded, and then with a sigh relaxed against him.
"Well, at least Sarah will be happy," Roberta admitted, "she misses her dad something fierce and as far as she's concerned, that's you now."
"Oh, you telling me you won't be happy?" Sean teased.
Roberta blushed and looked down at the floor of the van, "Let's just say that it's going to take a little getting used to, having you around all the time. It took me a while to get used to Sampson's coming and going, and well," Roberta looked up at him, "I had kinda been hoping to get you all to move into the guild, but mother warned me that would never happen, because you're a lion, and lion's expect to be in charge."
Roxy snorted then, "He only thinks that he's in charge!"
Cali, who was pressing into his other side almost as if she was painted on him giggled then, surprising him, "But we're happy to encourage his fantasi
es!" She whispered in that lovely voice of hers loudly enough that the others all laughed.
"So, where to first?" Daelyn asked as she started the van.
"Let's go to Sawyer's." Sean said and hugged Roberta again while he kissed Cali who all but purred.
"Sawyer's?"
"Might as well let him see I'm alive," Sean said smiling down at Cali, who smiled back rather radiantly. "He'll spread the word faster than anyone else in town."
"Good point."
"And let's go in the front door this time," Roxy said.
"Oh?" Sean said looking up at her, surprised.
"This is our town now, time to start acting like it."
"Definitely," Daelyn agreed as she drove off down the hill.
Sawyer's Antiquities / Out and About
"Sean!" Marx, the boar lycan who was Sawyer's guard exclaimed in surprise as they came in, "You're alive!"
"Hi Marx," Sean said with a nod.
"Marx, was there ever any doubt?" Jolene added.
"Well," Marx said smiling, "let's just say that some of us were worried, and that includes the boss." Marx raised his voice, "Boss! Sean's here!"
"I can see that, dummy!" Sawyer yelled back.
Marx looked back at them and lowered his voice, "Don't let him fool ya', it wasn't just the money he was worried about."
Jolene chuckled at that and they all walked through the shop, to the other end where Sawyer was waiting behind the counter.
"So, showing off now, are we?" Sawyer asked looking over Sean and the six women accompanying him. "Who are the two new gals?"
"This is Roberta, from the Sorceress Guild," Sean nodded towards Roberta in her robes, who nodded back.
"And this is Cali," Sean smiled and gave Cali a hug, as she was still very much attached to his left side.
"A dark elf, huh?" Sawyer said looking her over. "Which house?"
"House Valens," Cali said, grinning.
Sawyer's eyes got just a fraction wider at that, Sean noticed, and Sawyer then said something in a language that Sean had never heard before, and Cali responded in kind.
"You speak Goblin?" Jolene said to Cali, looking very surprised.
"Of course, all dark elves do."
Sean noticed Jolene looked both surprised and thoughtful then.
"So," Sawyer asked, changing the subject, "what brings you by? Other than proving to me that you're still alive."
"I would have thought that was enough," Sean chuckled.
"Word going around was that some of the other groups in town wanted to keep that from being the case."
"Oh?" Jolene asked, "Who?"
"Gradatim involved some of the minor councils. They heard that Sean here was pretty badly injured and that a bunch of dwarf healers had to save him, or he'd die. So they spent all of yesterday making sure that those healers didn't make it up to your place. Guess they failed, huh?"
"Well, at least now I can tell my uncle who to blame for yesterday," Daelyn said crossly.
"They didn't make it up," Jolene told Sawyer, "we told them to turn back when we discovered we didn't need them after all."
"Oh? What happened?"
"I got better," Sean said with a grin. "But I do have a much more important question."
"And that is?" Sawyer asked, looking a little suspiciously at Sean.
"What happened with the Vestibulum? We had some pretty solid intelligence that they were going to attack us yesterday. That Morgan himself was going to lead his mages against us."
"You don't know?" Sawyer said looking at all of them surprised.
"Know what?"
"Morgan's dead!" Sawyer laughed, "He was assassinated! In his own bed no less! By the Ascendants!"
Sean noticed that Cali's hold on him had damn near become a death grip and she was starting to rub up against him, just a little bit. Glancing at her, the expression on her face was one of savage pride.
"How do they know that the Ascendants did it?" Jolene asked, looking shocked.
"They used Morgan's blood to paint the symbol of the Ascendants on the wall of his bedroom!" Sawyer said grinning, "Scared the hell out of the Vestibulum too! I mean, everyone knows now what they did to the local Ascendants, but no one thought that they had the means to do this, or that they could be so ballsy!"
"Yeah, that's pretty ballsy, alright," Sean agreed and lowering the hand he had wrapped around Cali, he gave her ass a nice squeeze as he noticed that Roxy and Peg both winked at her.
"Yeah, taking out Morgan was a pretty smart move, not only did it get 'em all stirred up, but suddenly they realized that maybe they weren't as strong as they thought they were.
"Sapientia has called for a conclave of all the councils tonight, and I mean all of the councils. They're even inviting the minor ones."
"Why?" Jolene asked.
"They're afraid that if the Ascendants declare a full-fledged war on the Vestibulum, it won't go unnoticed. Especially if it spills over outside of Reno."
"Do you think that will happen?" Sean asked, returning his attention to Sawyer, who genuinely looked excited at that prospect.
"Eh, we can only hope! But I think what's really going on is that Sapientia is finally making a move on Vestibulum and taking back over the lead role among the councils. Probably why they're backing you, Kid. The Vestibulum's strength was always their lycans, which they kept more of than anybody else. Take that away, and add in the Ascendants going to war against them, and suddenly Sapientia is back on top."
"Just like that?" Peg asked.
"Well, not overnight, but here in Reno, yup, Sapientia is definitely in charge now."
"So, Kid," Sawyer turned back to Sean, "How long before I can get more of those tags and necklaces to sell?"
"Didn't I just give you over four hundred of those?" Sean blinked; surely Sawyer couldn't have sold them all, already!
"Yeah, and I'm almost out of them," Sawyer raised his voice then, "a certain somebody made me lower the price!"
"You're welcome, Boss!" Marx called out from the front door.
"Yeah, I'm welcome," Sawyer grumbled, "his father came in and bought fifty of them not ten minutes later. After what I sent up to your house and repairing all of the damages here it cut into my profits pretty heavily. I think I only made a million dollars!"
"Only a million?" Jolene snarked, "Ouch! How that must have hurt!"
"Hey toots, some of us have to work for our money, we can't marry it!" Sawyer grumbled, and then looked at Sean who growled ever so slightly.
"Sorry, Kid. Just teasing." Sawyer quickly apologized.
"Well, I need to raise some money too, so I'll have some more," Sean felt Roxy kick him in the leg, rather hard, "in a week or two. I have a few debts to pay off myself."
"How are the other minor councils reacting to what happened?" Jolene asked.
Sawyer shrugged, "The Tall Men and Totis Viribus probably are going to be pretty upset, they're the ones that joined with Gradatim to try and stop the dwarves yesterday after all. The rest?" Sawyer shrugged, "Goliard will probably be unhappy with losing their playthings...."
"Playthings?" Sean interrupted.
Sawyer nodded, "Goliard's pretty decadent. They're all about partying and sex and just having fun. So you can imagine just what they use their lycans for."
Sean growled, "Maybe we should be paying them a visit next."
Sawyer blinked, then laughed, "Don't be so sure you'll be doing them any favors!"
"Why do you say that?"
"They spoil those lycans, Kid. The guys in Goliard are all pretty well heeled and they all love to buy their pets gifts."
"Well, I guess we'll just have to see," Sean nodded. "Come on, let's go girls. See you later, Sawyer. Thanks for the info."
"No problem, Kid. I haven't had this much fun in decades! Just remember who your friend is when you start making those items again!"
When they all got back into the van, everyone but Roberta was staring at Cali, who blushed and snuggled in under Sean's l
eft arm.
"You did it, didn't you?" Peg giggled.
Cali nodded, "I borrowed Sheila, I think she was a little unhappy that you told me about her."
Peg laughed, "She's been a bit grumpy, now at least I know why. I'll let her know it's okay."
"Guess Cali moves to the top of the list now, hey Rox?" Daelyn teased as she started the van.
"What list?" Cali asked.
"The 'who gets bred next' list of course!" Roxy giggled.
Sean felt his own face blushing then, "You have a list?"
"Yup!" Daelyn snickered, "And I was supposed to be next! But for that, well, as far as I'm concerned, Cali's earned it!"
Sean felt Cali bury her face in his side, but damn if the idea wasn't making him want to purr.
"Wait," Roberta interrupted their teasing. "What did Cali do? Am I missing something?"
"See, this is why you need to move in, Roberta," Jolene smiled. "So you know what's going on with the rest of us."
"Huh?"
"Cali's a highly trained assassin," Peg told her, "Just as Sheila is a highly trained spy."
"And Peg's a thief," Daelyn snickered.
"Hey! That's just a hobby!" Peg laughed.
"One you're apparently pretty damn good at," Roxy said smirking.
"That's only because Sheila's been teaching me."
"Wait," Roberta interrupted again, "Are you saying that Cali murdered Morgan? That it wasn't the Ascendants?"
All of the girls as well as Sean nodded.
"Then why was the symbol of the Ascendants painted on the wall?"
"Misdirection and fear," Cali said softly. "The only way to stop them attacking was to make them afraid of someone else."
Roberta leaned across Sean and hugged Cali, "Thank you."
Cali blushed, "I did it for all of us, for our house."
"What was that you said to Sawyer?" Jolene asked.
"He wanted to know if his house and ours were still allies. I told him that would depend on him."
"Huh?"
"Yeah, huh?" Sean added.
"Goblins and dark elves have been allies for centuries, probably longer," Cali explained. "We come from the same land after all. But where goblins spread out into the new world and even into others a long time ago, we dark elves did not. By declaring myself for House Valens, instead of being still in my old house, I surprised him. It's very complicated," Cali said looking serious for a moment. "For a dark elf to declare herself for another house and not the one she was born into, it means my loyalty has shifted, that a matter of honor has taken place."
