The idea of “outside” created a flood of excitement as voices rose to nearly deafening levels in the gym. Creating sound buffers around us, I told Alsooth to expect a run on uniform stores for caps soon, then told Byrnes that I wanted to talk with two men as the candidates for Armory Master, cutting three from his list. They were evenly matched until earlier today, but I was curious to see what they thought. Jimmy and I shifted back to the conference room and waited. Byrnes and Velasquez shifted in with Lt. Mankiewicz and SSgt. Franks a moment later.
“Got used to that pretty quick, Ric,” Jimmy said.
“Not really, sir,” he said, smiling. “It is pretty cool, though.”
“You’ll get used to it,” I said. “Gentlemen, please have a seat. Did Ted and Ric tell you why you’re here?”
“No, sir, I have no idea,” Mankiewicz said.
“No, sir,” replied Franks curtly.
“You’re both being considered for the same position in the Garrison,” I said. “It’s not dependent on your current rank and it’s a very important placement. Regardless of our choice, the other of you will become his second unless you decline. You both have that option. These are both high level positions and I don’t want someone taking them who doesn’t want them. We have other options available to us. The position is Armory Master and his Chief of Training.”
I went on to explain briefly what the two jobs entailed, describing the kinds of staffing I thought would be necessary, as well as what I thought the relative advantages and disadvantages would be. Then I gave Byrnes and Velasquez a few minutes to add their own ideas. I was glad I did, because there was much I hadn’t even begun to think of. The wheels turned in both their heads as they considered the propositions and listened to us. They hadn’t said a word yet.
“Ted, have you decided on the rank below commander, yet?” I asked once Ric and he had finished.
“Yes, sir, Lt. Commander makes the most sense to us,” he said.
“Congratulations, then,” I said standing and reaching across the table to shake their hands. “Commander Tom Mankiewicz and Lt. Commander Yancy ‘Brick’ Franks. You are in charge of the Armory. Let’s get you set through the wards and into your offices before my brother comes and yanks me away by the ear.”
“But they didn’t…” Byrnes said, confused but standing with us.
Jimmy laughed and threw his arm over Byrnes’ shoulders. “Get used to it, dude. Happens all the time around him.”
Chapter 44
“What are they doing over there?” Darius asked as he set the plate of biscuits down and picked up the fruit compotes. He peered through the crowded mess hall at David and Steve talking to a pair of Guards at a table in a normally unused area. Three more pairs waited a few paces away.
“They are participating in a completely Peter-arranged miracle of timing,” I answered in a completely faery way. Peter grinned at me around the obscene thing he was doing with his tongue and a forkful of blueberry pancakes. I couldn’t tell exactly who he was messing with, but I could feel at least eight different men watching him very intently. One of them was Dixon from a very near table.
“Sounds like one of your answers, Dad,” Sean said, snickering and shoving a sausage in his mouth.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Darius asked archly, halting a biscuit in lift.
“Evasive but complimentary to misdirect the querist to a different question or topic,” Mark said deadpan. “You’re usually very smooth at it, Seth.”
“Well, you wouldn’t be so smooth if you were sitting across from the blueberry pervert with ten men about to pop off in their pants because of him,” I said with melodrama, knowing that Phillips had redirected to me from Darius. Peter laughed and laughed again as he caught each innuendo, dropping his head in embarrassment and narrowly stopping before he face-planted into blueberry pancakes. Sean was only beginning to understand and Darius sat across from him cringing at the thought.
“To make matters worse,” I said conspiratorially hunching over the table in Mark’s direction, “they’ve privatized their lust. That sort of boxes it up like a chimney and shoots it past everybody. Then I get hit with ten times this superheated lust. And then… then you regret letting someone else take control of the conversation. Right, Darius?”
He burst out laughing. “Was I ever in control? I think I lost that last Monday night when you came into our lives.”
“Yes,” Kieran said, sitting down with Ethan beside Peter. “I know that feeling, too. I once thought I was in control around him, too.”
“Please, the four of you are tempests in a teacup,” Darius enthused. “One gets loose and the other three follow in a swathe of conversational destruction miles wide and all four of you relish every second of it.”
Sean was nearly convulsing in laughs. “Just admit it, Dad. They’re better at it than you are and funnier while they’re doing it! I bet you even forgot what you asked in the first place!” Phillips grinned across the table at Darius, challenging him to deny it.
“Four against one!” Darius cried defensively.
“We just got here,” Ethan denied him. “Don’t blame us for your shortcomings!”
“I remember. I’m not feeble, you know,” Darius said petulantly, sending Sean off into fits again. I saw the surreptitious smiles creep onto both Mark and Darius’ faces. They had found some joy again, buried in their strange relationship. I just hoped they could keep it going past this weekend.
“Excuse us, Commander?” a Guard nervously asked Velasquez, three chairs down on my right. Another Guard stood with him, nervously twisting his new cap in his hands and shuffling on his feet. Neither was comfortable dealing with officers and this high up the command chain petrified them.
“Yes, sergeant?” Velasquez asked, turning in his chair to give the man his attention.
“Well, sir, me and the boys, sir, we’ve been worried, sir, since last night,” the man stammered and stumbled nervously, shuffling his feet and staring at the floor, Velasquez’s chair, or around him—anywhere but at him.
“Spit it out, sergeant. We don’t bite,” Velasquez said patiently, but I could sense the amusement in his voice.
“Speak for yourself, Ric,” Peter called out, sending Sean into fits again.
The man sighed heavily and said, “It’s about Brick, sir. Since he came back from his meeting with you and Commander Byrnes last night, he’s… changed. Me and the boys, we’s worried about ‘im. If he’s got hisself in some kinda trouble, we’d like t’help ‘im. He’s a good man and ‘e’s always been there f’r us…” He finally noticed Velasquez’s smile and stopped.
“Sergeant, I can assure you that Brick isn’t in any kind of trouble,” Velasquez said smoothly. “You might be in a little hot water, though…” He pointed behind them vaguely. Brick stood a few paces away, snorting steam from his nostrils. Well, he would have been if this was a cartoon world.
“Is this moron bothering you, Commander?” Brick asked in a low, rumbling voice, his fists balling continuously, flexing the muscles in his arms and chest.
“No, Brick,” Velasquez said smoothly. “They were merely showing concern for a brother-in-arms. Nothing to worry about.”
“Concern, huh?” Brick said, his anger tempered somewhat. “Well why don’t you take your concern away from Daybreak’s table and wait for a more appropriate moment to speak to Commander Velasquez.”
“Calm down, Brick,” I said mildly. “They were just worried that you were in trouble and were willing to share in your punishment.”
“Oh.”
“Took the wind from his sails, didn’t cha?” Peter asked grinning.
Brick jerked his head to the side to tell the two Guards to scram while reaching to pull the chair next to Velasquez out. Eyes wide with shock, they scurried around him like frightened mice, retreating to the anonymity of the masses.
“Should I pose the question again or are you going to be evasive again?” Darius asked.
Glan
cing back at David and Steven, I said, “They’re giving out travel orders, Darius. We’re sending them around the country.”
Phillips looked over his shoulder at them, then asked, “So what’s the miracle? That seems common enough.”
“We only talked about it yesterday afternoon,” I said. “And now he’s already setup full itineraries, including flights, rental cars, spending cash, and hotel rooms for two groups of twenty-five pairs with little interruption in our schedules. We just have to get the two groups to either JFK or O’Hare Airports two and a half hours apart. I couldn’t have performed that kind of magic.”
“I did have a lot of help, you know,” Peter said. “Smith and Lewis are both excellent logistics officers and David and Steve are both quite good at spotting problems.”
“Yeah? And?” I asked, grinning. “Don’t lessen your part, brother. You were in constant control, answering questions and directing activity. Delegation doesn’t make the job any less done.”
“I’m just saying I didn’t do it alone,” Peter said chuckling as he sat back in his chair, blueberries forgotten now.
“We’ve got a couple of hours before dawn on the East Coast,” I commented. “What would y’all like to do while we wait?”
“Funny you should mention that,” Kieran said, then popped his last piece of toast in his mouth.
I got an incredibly sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as I watched the positively evil smile curl across Ethan’s face.
~ ~ ~
Warm, soft water engulfed me, splashing as I hit the surface and fell down. Sweet relief to my aching, bruised, and battered body started immediately, so I just drifted through the mild currents of my bath and let it work its magic, literal and figurative. Two more bodies waded in from the steps more slowly after a few moments, but I didn’t have the energy to look up yet. It had to be Peter and Jimmy, as badly beaten, bruised, and, well, mauled as I was. They hadn’t been easy on us.
I didn’t think it was possible to get this badly beaten in my own Armory. Kieran and Ethan definitely proved me wrong on that point. Kieran had warned my weapons off, that this was training and practice, but he needn’t have bothered. He should have just popped a huge bowl of popcorn for them and told them to enjoy the show. I swear I could still hear the five of them laughing at me in my cavern.
Still the three of us learned a lot in that hour and a half and I felt confident enough now with Jimmy handling a sword at my side. And Peter and I were both quite proud of the strikes we gained on Kieran and Ethan. One hit honestly made on each, his on Kieran and mine on Ethan. We paid for it in the long run, but damn it, we finally did it!
Another body broke the surface in a clean dive straight toward me. Had to be Ethan, then, since Kieran was in the shower in his room. He grabbed me by my shoulders and dragged me limply to the sides, lifting me above the surface and hanging me off the tiled edge.
“Come on, ya big baby, snap out of it,” Ethan said, pushing away backwards from the side. “We weren’t that hard on you guys.”
“You bastard!” I whispered, though I thought I was yelling.
Ethan laughed from the other side of the pool. “I was never born and I don’t have parents, so how can I be a bastard? Besides, you can’t blame us. You two progressed too quickly into the magical side of it. Kieran has to adapt techniques designed to take months of practice down to minutes and you’re still managing reasonably well. I’d say we’re doing it right, somehow.”
“Lord?” Ellorn said, offering me an Esteleum from my garden from a small tray he held. I practically lunged for the golden fruit.
“Thank you, Ellorn, you are a treasure!” I said quietly. His giggles as he darted out of the poolroom were nearly as delicious as the Esteleum, but there was no chewing the fruit slowly and enjoying it. I would have swallowed it whole if I could have fit it in my mouth.
“First,” Ethan called, standing up in the waist-high water. “Make sure he gives you a decent sword soon. Your staff will serve in most circumstances, but you’ll need an edged weapon in bigger fights. I’ve got to go get dressed. We’ve only got twenty minutes before we have to get started shuttling the Guard to JFK and you have to get Darius home, Seth.” The water rushed in when he shifted to avoid hearing our piteous groans. They were loud and harmonious and they echoed on the marble tiles.
“I don’t want to move,” Peter said quietly. “Set a clock for nineteen and a half minutes and I’ll go naked.”
“Won’t airport security love that,” I commented.
“And Dixon,” Jimmy said. “He’s in the first group, y’know.”
I stifled a laugh, badly, as I pulled myself over the lip of the pool, water running easily from the padding I still wore, too tired to shed it before falling into the water. The magic of the Esteleum was working as I pulled the long-sleeved shirt off and dropped it. Peter and Jimmy were stripped to their workout shorts and were drifting comfortably near the steps.
“I’m beginning to hate my sense of obligation,” I muttered as I stood and stretched my aching back, only just now feeling the warmth of healing magic there.
“Leave it!” Jimmy ordered me when I reached down to retrieve my wet shirt. “They want to take care of you, so let them.” I wasn’t sure who was more shocked, me at the order or him at me following it, but the current attendants, Deuce and Truce, were having a party jumping up and down on the pads to beat the water out so they could lift the shirt. They were already soaked, head to toe.
“Come on, hillbilly, if he can move so can we,” Peter groaned as he started up the steps. “They were much harder on him than us.”
“You’ve got to be joking,” Jimmy whined, but started to get out anyway.
I pulled heavily on Gilán as I left the poolroom and felt better immediately. Grabbing a towel as I passed the shower, I headed for the vanity. It was laid out much differently than before, telling me that Ellorn had swept through already and worked some brownie organizational magic on it. Gone were the tiny vials of unknown oils and scents, super strong soaps and strange deodorizing rocks. In their stead were three cologne bottles with liquids of differing colors, a single atomizer, something reminiscent of a roll-on antiperspirant stick, and a recess in the wall with several spouts—a definite improvement.
“See you finally got Ellorn in here,” Peter said, coming in behind me and picking up a comb out of a small cup by the first sink.
“Yeah, looks great, doesn’t it?” I said, still marveling at the difference. Jimmy appeared in the mirror behind us, still drying off. He was building muscle daily now, adding to his already farm-built athletic body. “Damn, First, if you keep it up, you’ll be wracking yourself up every time you take a step.”
Instead of the smile I expected, he winced. “Been there, done that. I kinda figured out that’s why the big bodybuilders don’t mind it so much when their junk shrinks up to nothing.”
Peter burst into laughter, spewing toothpaste foam all over the mirror and counter in the process. He drooled into the sink as he continued to laugh, trying desperately not to choke while gasping for breath. Jimmy and I just stood, grinned, and watched. There wasn’t much else we could do.
“You okay?” I asked once he subsided enough. He nodded, red-faced, while he rinsed off.
“Just wasn’t ‘specting that,” he mumbled, still grinning. “And he’s not the only one who has developed some muscle in the past month.” He nodded at me in the mirror. “And some height. He used to be taller than you if I remember correctly.” Like he had a chance of misremembering that.
“He’s right, Seth. You are taller,” Jimmy said looking me over carefully. “Looks like, maybe, two inches? And you’ve gained a good seventy pounds without an ounce of fat. Are you eating enough for that?”
“I guess, I dunno,” I said, confused. Two inches? How could I not notice that? Shouldn’t it have hurt? “I’m not getting elfin, am I? Are my ears pointed? What color are my eyes?”
“Brown, like always, and no,
your ears look normal,” Peter assured me.
“Why is your eye color a question?” Jimmy asked. Peter and I both turned to look at him in surprise.
“What color are your eyes?” I asked.
“Blue, the same color they’ve always been,” he answered cautiously.
“And the men in the Garrison?”
“Various colors, blue, brown, black. Why?” he asked.
“There was no change in your perspective once the geas was placed?” I asked.
“No, not that I could tell,” he said.
“Huh, well, I guess it’s just us then,” I said. “We see it differently. The only aspect of the geas that shows to us is around the iris of the eyes, like a second iris actually. In the Seelie, it’s a bright orangish-red and in the Unseelie, it’s a bluish-silver. For us, it’s the same blue of the diamonds and frankly, your eyes positively glow with it.”
“Really? Huh. Wish it was real then. That color is a lot prettier than this common as a rock color,” he complained examining his eyes closely in the mirror, shouldering Peter out of the way.
Little Brother, tick tock, Kieran opened and closed a quick Named link, reminding me of our time limit.
“Crap, we’re running very short on time,” I said and poured on some speed. Thirty seconds later and three trips through my closet mirror and we shifted to Darius’ door in freshly tailored suits looking like we’d just stepped off the catwalks in Milan. A brownie answered the door, happy to see us but depressed that her assignment there was coming to an end so soon. Jimmy told her that her family could continue to reside there if they wanted to remain as that apartment’s permanent caretakers. It was likely we would use it again for such guests. Trills of excitement and agreement filled the air immediately, so Jimmy informed Ellorn of the decision. Life on this side of the veil was just too cute.
They’d packed in the intervening two hours. A small CD player sat beside a gym bag and a small satchel near the door. I hadn’t given them much time to bring much. Voices further back in the apartment drew us back to them.
“…thirty-two. I’ve still got you by twenty points! Admit it! I won this one, Dad!” Sean said excitedly as we walked in, pumping his fist in the air at Darius.
Sons (Book 2) Page 82
