by D. R. Rosier
She bit her lip, “I’ll keep that in mind.”
For a moment, he thought her voice had sounded a bit breathy, but that had to be his imagination, libido, and wishful thinking.
“You?”
She sighed, “I’m sadly boring I’m afraid. There’s just so much to learn still.”
Sadie interjected, “Maybe you just need someone to distract you, or drag you off. I bet you’d enjoy a play or concert. It’s too easy to get lost in the stuff that seems important, that you forget to live without someone else to share it with.”
She tilted her head, “Is that something you two do?”
Sadie’s eyes widened, though he had no clue why. There was byplay going on between them he couldn’t read, “I’ve bullied him into it once or twice. A lot of the communities we’ve helped out have a vibrant art and theatre community, music too.”
He nodded, “A few times the last year. I’d be happy to drag you off… that really sounded better in my head.”
She giggled, “Drag away, that does sound kind of fun. Once we take care of the balance anyway.”
He nodded, “Map room, or council?” he asked, as they were almost done eating.
She said, “Let’s order them by priority first, just in case. I don’t think there’s a community near in the directions they were going, but they move awfully quickly.”
She paused for a second, and then said, “I think Sadie is right. I remember my friends in college dragging me away from my texts, and I always had a great time when they did. I always felt reenergized afterward. I have an addictive personality to both knowledge and meaningful work, but it’s probably not healthy. Bria’s a fantastic friend, but her time off interests are… different.”
He wasn’t intimidated about the weight of history behind that remark, but he did wonder a little what he’d have to offer her. She was still young and beautiful, stunning in the middle of her second half of her twenties in appearance, but he’d just grown into a man and was less than half her true age. He hoped that didn’t make a difference, and until it did, he’d do his best to ignore it. He already knew it didn’t bother him. He was just worried it’d bother her, but he didn’t show that doubt.
Age was also the last thing he was worried about. If his thoughts that they might actually get together after all wasn’t crazy, and if his crush kept evolving to something real and deeper, then she’d be as young as they both wanted. Pretty much until he was killed. Life sorcerers were immune to aging after all, and they could confer that immunity on others if they wished. At the cost of life force, of course.
Still, experience made a difference, didn’t it, or were who they were, their interests and compatibility, all that was important? After all, he’d catch up eventually. She’d always be a quarter century older of course, but that time proportionally would mean less and less as time went on.
“It’s settled then, after we deal with business we’ll take in a concert, play, or maybe a musical for the best of both worlds?”
He’d have to thank Sadie later, since he was pretty confident that he’d just scored a date with a goddess.
She flushed slightly under his regard, which was the first indication he’d picked up that his nascent adult interest might just be returned. At least that he’d been able to perceive. They both turned away at the same time and took a sip of their drinks.
She finally said, “Sounds good. Map room?”
They got up and headed that way.
The map room was a fairly large room that held a globe in the center, and the walls were paintings of the continents that were amazingly accurate looking given the age of them. There were also pins with labels all over the place, indicating community names, population sizes, and all sorts of other data.
He shook his head in amazement, “You did all this?”
She replied, “With the help of the elves and dragons. They keep an eye on their neighbors and they’re very supportive of me and the balance when it comes to sharing information, anyway. There’re only two elven cities in America, but three others on the continent, and about as many in Europe, Asia, Africa, south America, and Australia as well. Thirty-one in total.
“Anyway, as I’d thought, there’re no human settlements east until New Orleans, or around the city anyway. You know what I mean. The ones moving north won’t hit anything major until Little Rock. The ones going south are the most dangerous I think as far as to communities. There’s a lot of communities around Dallas and Ft. Worth. We should target the southern ones first, northern ones second, then go east last.”
He shut his eyes and flitted through his birds. He knew by major, she meant there might be tiny communities, extended families living alone on a farm far from others. Most people that survived the first year or two moved together into larger communities though, leaving lots of suburban homes and even full neighborhoods empty.
It felt a little wrong, but they had to protect the big communities first, since the aliens would rip one apart if they ran across one. Those solitary farms or communes with twenty to thirty people… well they couldn’t save everyone, as cold as that sounded. They’d do their best of course, but they could only do what they could do.
“Over half of them have stopped running already. They’re taking shelter and probably looking for weapons in abandoned suburban neighborhoods. We can probably expect to be facing at least tire irons, bats, and other steel tools as weapons, if they can’t find anything better. Two of the groups going almost straight south toward Dallas are looting houses on the run.”
She asked, “The plan?”
He nodded, “Sounds good. I’d have made a suggestion if I disagreed with any particular point. South it is.”
She tilted her head, and asked, “Suggestions?”
He shrugged, “It’s your mantel, I don’t want the responsibility. I’ll focus on helping and keeping you and the others safe, that’s why I’m here. Making things harder on you isn’t helping, and I trust your judgement and wisdom.”
She stared at him strangely for a moment, and he wasn’t sure just what he’d said that had thrown her off.
It seemed pretty simple to him.
She let out a breath, “Thanks. I don’t feel very wise most of the time.”
He shrugged, “Sometimes I doubt my course when the safety of thousands are on the line, for a single community. I can’t imagine it’s easy to shoulder the world, much less needing to argue with jerks while doing so.”
She laughed, “You seem pretty wise yourself.”
“For nineteen?”
She snickered, “No. For at all, period. You’d be surprised how many of my allies argue with me.”
Sadie said, “I think it’s his training. All that focus makes him less reckless and reactionary than most men are, and he doesn’t let his emotions lead him. He’s too powerful to not think things through before acting.”
He wasn’t at all sure what to say to that, or Sadie’s brand-new habit of defending and bragging over him.
He shrugged, “That might be part of it, but I think it’s my father’s example. His style of rule is to do as little as possible and stay out of the damned way so the people can flourish through their own efforts. Same concept, you’ve got it covered, and if I think you missed something, I’ll point it out and then let you decide. Anything else would be horribly arrogant.”
She smirked, “But you’ll drag me off to a play?”
He nodded, “A musical. That has nothing to do with our callings, and it’s totally different.”
There was a long moment where he felt the sexual tension between them ratchet up higher, before she broke their shared gaze that’d held a second or two too long. At least, he hoped it was mutual tension, otherwise it was all in his head and he was in big trouble.
She laughed, “Good point, enough about that. Except… thank you. Let’s hit the council. If they can’t help, we’ll go after those two groups heading for Dallas and still on the run, then reassess to see if we can ta
ke one more, or if we should rest for the next day.”
Sadie said, “We can take more if Bria and I took on more.”
Katie shook her head, “Not worth the risk, since they’re a match for you and Bria in speed and strength. Last line of defense if they reach melee range, and protection for Ryan and I is the safer move. We are hunting down six thousand aliens with four of us, and a single mistake could lead to disaster. We have to avoid fighting fair and true battles in order to win out.”
He could get behind that. The more they killed from a distance the less risk Sadie and Bria took in finding themselves outmatched. All the aliens seemed to be good at hand to hand fighting and martial arts of some kind, and they had four arms and four hands. It’d be a lot more dangerous when they had the steel weapons to parry or block their swords.
Plus, they were their protectors, meant to protect them, not fight their battles for them.
Some things were worth the risk, but he’d recklessly risk Sadie’s life in exactly never.
Chapter Five
He’d never been to the council chambers before for the elves and dragons, in the huge canopy of trees that made up their city. Some of the trunks were up to fifty feet wide at the base in the middle of the magical forest north of Katie’s sanctuary.
Point was, he’d expected something fancier. Although it was pretty enough and even smelled nice, like a field of flowers. The hollowed-out council chamber was a rounded room in a great tree, high off the ground. The elves had also put it right next to the entrance of their city, no doubt so visitors wouldn’t have to go so far into it and disturb their… whatever it was the elves did at home.
The room was mostly bare, except for some flower arrangements that seemed to be growing out of the live wood walls of the tree. The council table and chairs were grown out of the floor, and they were quite fancy as far as the scrollwork and design on wooden table went. The chairs were twisting roots, with lots of leaves growing on it that looked soft.
The council itself was comprised of two elves and a dragon. Sianne, queen of the elves, Trielle, high priestess of Charites, and Lianthenielima, a gold dragon. The elves looked very similar, both of them had the same light ash blonde hair and vivid blue eyes of his elven mother Sy’lia. It was the most common hair and eye color among the elven race. Of course, they also had the same elven exotic beauty, though they both appeared to be in their forties, which probably put them somewhere more than five hundred years old.
He stood behind and slightly to the right of Katie as she gave a fairly concise report and a request for aid in dealing with the rest of them. He was little surprised when Sadie nudged him playfully with her shoulder, and the corners of her full lips were twitching in amusement. He kind of got it, the elves seemed far too serious and formal. It kind of made him want to joke around and liven things up as well, and the dragon seemed bored. Still, mocking the council sounded like a bad idea.
He wasn’t sure what had gotten into his Sadie the last day, but it wasn’t the moment to find out.
Trielle said, “I understand the need, but we also have news. The ship that came down in northwest China came down near one of our cities. We’ve sent most of our fighters to assist in driving them away from our forest and killing as many as possible. The good news is you’ll have much less to chase down over there once the threat here has been seen to, and you can use our gate system to get directly to the area. The bad is we can’t afford to send away any more of our people.”
Lian said, “I’ll see if I can find volunteers among my own people, but the threat is far to the south.”
Katie gritted her teethe, then let out a breath, “I realize only the humans seem to be in danger, but a threat to the balance affects us all. They don’t belong on our world, and we can’t afford to leave even one breeding couple alive.”
Lian still looked bored, “It sounds like Ryan has it covered. None will escape his tracking, or your detection of the balance, it’ll just take a week to get them all. In the meantime, we’ll be protecting our own territory and won’t hold you at fault for going after the human threat first.”
Oh, shit. That was messed up, but he held his tongue, even as Katie struggled to hold hers.
She said calmly, “Since I just found out not twenty seconds ago the elves were under threat by the other ship, I can hardly be accused of showing favoritism when I made the call to address the closest threat first hours before then.”
He was not expecting this. He’d have thought the elves would be all about helping and trusting Katie as the bearer of the mantel. Especially given Bria’s unconditional support. He hadn’t expected political bullshit for some reason, which he supposed was naïve of him. It was a shocking reminder that although he was an adult now, he did lack experience as one.
Was that why she’d been so surprised at his trust in her lead? Whatever, naïve or not he still thought he was right, and he wasn’t going to take the example of the damned council as the way to act. Even if Katie did make a mistake, it was hers to make.
He wanted to help save the world, he just didn’t want to be responsible for it. It wasn’t his job anyway. Gaia, a goddess and the creator of this world and all the other gods and races in it, had personally picked Katie. He didn’t get how anyone could be arrogant enough to second guess that decision, but apparently, the elves and dragons managed it.
Lian snorted, “I made no such accusation. Just pointed out the facts. We already are helping, and with significant resources. We’ll continue to help with the other ship threatening our territory, while you handle the other one.”
Trielle said, “Sy’lia has reported their ship has been mostly taken care of, and Sean’s zombies are currently running down the last few hundred. Perhaps they can assist you, in a day or two.”
Katie bowed deeply, “Thank you for your wisdom.”
The council nodded arrogantly, not having a clue Katie had just told them to fuck off with her tone of voice. He almost laughed, but he managed to suppress it. Sadie too, no sound, but he noticed her shoulders vibrating with laughter, not to mention her more interesting parts lower on her chest.
Still, he imagined at least Lian could scent the depth of her anger, and his.
They turned and followed Katie as she marched from the room with an aloof expression on her face.
He asked, “Are they always like that?” once they were a distance away in the forest.
Katie snorted, “It took me over a month of fast talking when I first met them, to convince them the way to peace with humans was interdependent trade. Humans are many and numerous. The elves wouldn’t see another three, six, or nine thousand dying over the next week as any particular tragedy, as long as I do my job and kill the aliens. They want to be left alone in peace.”
“With their arrogance as company?”
Katie giggled, “Now you’re catching on. We’re going as soon as we get back, Bria should be back by now.”
“She seems different?”
Katie nodded, “In some ways, she is. She believes in my mantel, and she wants to help with that until she has to retire and take her place with her mate. She cares about me, and is a great friend, but she doesn’t particularly care for humans in general either. She’s a dragon, and outside of balance dragons and their elven allies come first, every time. It’s the way it is, and the humans aren’t any better, in truth.”
He grunted, “I can see it. I’m not here for the balance, I’m here for you. What I mean is, I’m here to help you with the balance, but I don’t have a perception of how to do that, like they seem to.”
Katie grinned, “Here for me?”
He nodded, “Friend of the family, old teacher, new friend, all because of the balance being a shared interest and a worthy goal. But in the end, it’s all about dragging you off to plays and musicals.”
She laughed, “Thanks for that. They’re not wrong about one thing, we can handle it. We just could’ve done it faster with a little more help.”
; When they got back, Katie went to take care of something and grab Bria, which gave him a moment alone with Sadie for the first time since this morning.
He asked, “Everything good?”
Sadie replied, “Yes, Ryan. Why?”
He shrugged, “You seem a little… different today, more playful and teasing, and more defensive of me. We’re close, aren’t we? You’d tell me if something was bothering you?”
She smirked, “It’s complicated, Ryan. I’ll tell you all about it once I figure it out. I’m not unhappy or anything, I just didn’t like the way she was sniping at you. Dealing with those old feelings can’t be easy, and I can already tell they’re not going away, they’re developing into more.”
He shook his head ruefully, “is it that obvious?”
She shook her head, “Only to me, and every dragon with a nose. I do know you pretty well, after all. If it helps, she seems quite taken with you, though I’m not sure if she’s fighting it or not.”
He nodded, “Thanks for that by the way, the show thing.”
She leaned in and kissed his cheek, then said softly, “All part of the service, Ryan.”
Her tone had been sweet, and a little wistful.
He smiled as he looked at her in surprise. She hadn’t shown physical affection for him in years, not since he hit puberty and got that crush on her for a year or two. She really was beautiful, and not just on the outside, who she was inside. He kind of wished in that moment it wouldn’t be awkward because of the weight of all that history between them, but he was fairly sure she didn’t feel about him that way, and he was rather conflicted himself.
The crush was long gone of course, but Sadie was a spellbindingly beautiful woman inside and out, he’d have to be a statue made of stone not to notice. It was weird to even think about seriously, and his morphing crush to adult attraction for Katie had most of his attention at that point.
