Sons (Book 2)

by Scott V. Duff

  “Another floor? That’s another ten rooms, at least,” Davis said.

  “Eight,” confirmed Nil. “With two more bathrooms and a supply closet.”

  “Would you care to see it? Nil’s quite proud of the work Zero and he put into it,” I told him. “We can spare a few minutes if you want a quick tour.”

  “A tour? Before the changes are made? How is that possible?” Davis asked.

  “I have a model at home they’ve been working on,” I answered, somewhat coyly.

  “Well… yes, I’d like to see it,” Davis said, his curiosity getting the better of him, looking over his car at the house. I shifted the three of us over, leaving his car where it sat in England. The newer version of the house was much taller and wider and since I kept us at the same distance, the house sort of exploded in front of him. We caught him as he lost his balance and fell backwards.

  The Throne Room suddenly came alive with activity. From the south entrance, thirty huri couples with eighty-three children turned for the front door. From the north entrance, a troop of twenty Guardsmen surrounded by three dozen brownies, all chatting amicably at the same time. And coming in from the front door was another group like the first, about twenty families with fifty-two kids and another twenty adults tagging along. Of course, I was paying attention to Ryan, who couldn’t decide what to pay attention to.

  “Seth, where are we?” he whispered, his eyes wide in shock.

  “In front of the mock-up of the house after the changes,” I answered, nodding toward the house. “It’s in my Palace so the brownies could work on it.” Just as suddenly as the room filled with people, it fell to silence as soon as I started talking. Everyone was still quite a distance away. Ryan was trying to look everywhere at once again.

  “I’m not sure what’s more interesting here,” he said, dumbfounded and looking at the walls at the moment. “This is a lot more ostentatious than Peter’s apartment, but still very masculine and understated, very you in personality, I think. Are those more of your huri?”

  “Yep. Looks like a group coming in and two groups going out,” I answered, looking back at the three groups now standing stock-still and waiting patiently for… something. Then I got it: Ellorn’s problem had spread. I lifted my voice so everyone in the room could hear, and said, “Guys, we all live here together. If you stop what you’re doing just because I’m in the room, you won’t get much done. If I have reason to stop you or want privacy, you will know, trust me. You can go on about your business.” A sharp pang a disappointment fired through the geas as they politely started walking again. The Guard and brownies were the first to start talking but in quieter voices. They were all just being nosy, apparently, wanting to see what his High Muckity-Muck was up to.

  I don’t think I let out enough stress last night. Maybe I was too clever for my own good or maybe the sheer amount of loot was just… so staggering. I had to stop myself. This was my day off, as much as I got one in the last two months, and I needed it.

  “Nil, would you take us on a brief tour of the house, please?” I asked, guiding Ryan in that direction, even as he turned over his shoulder to watch the parade of huri and ransé and brownies in the distance.

  “Happily, Lord Daybreak,” he said, taking Ryan’s hand and commanding his attention. It was a brief thing, a dominance of wills, that made Ryan’s head snap around to Nil angrily, but instantly lose that anger to his bright blue eyes and happy little smile, almost effusing innocence. “Right this way, Mr. Davis, and I’ll tell you anything I can about the changes we’ve made. First the entry patio is larger so that it can accommodate larger groups and be more useful.”

  A small girl appeared at the edge of the house and waited patiently, like she wanted to be recognized first. She had dark green hair and wore silks similar to Kieran’s, but her eyes were all mine. Nil opened the front doors wide, smiling hugely as he swept his arm back inviting us through to the foyer.

  “You noticed, of course, the house has increased in size, both in width as well as height,” Nil said smoothly as they entered.

  “Lord Daybreak? May I have a moment, Lord?” the girl called nervously, now at the steps of the patio.

  “Sure,” I said, then turning back to Nil and Ryan, I said, “I’ll catch up in a minute, guys.” I jogged down a few steps and sat in front of her, drinking the little huri in. She looked like she should have been a sea nymph of old legend: deep green hair, bright green eyes, even pale green freckles on her cheeks. No, that was make-up, cute, though. “What can I do for you?”

  “Well, sir, I’m Naught,” she said shakily, terribly nervous. “I have the duty period after Nil which starts in less than an hour. It appears that you’re about to leave Gilán again, and I was wondering if you would mind if I joined early so that I would not miss my time to serve my Lord.”

  “Your timing’s a bit off there, isn’t it?” I said archly. “Nil has another two hours before he’s supposed to leave.”

  “Yes, Lord, but my duty period starts earlier,” she said earnestly. “Reporting in, daily briefings on Palace affairs, that sort of thing, Lord. Saun Ellorn was quite busy implementing changes when I passed through. It was having quite a curious effect among the administration.” She shook off the thought as if it bothered her. Her explanation sounded feasible though. Sort of.

  “All right, as long as Nil doesn’t mind,” I agreed, but I wasn’t planning on sending Nil home exactly on time either. I got up and headed for the house. “Come along, then. You’re the first girl in our group, so we won’t know how to act. Probably we won’t change much, so I hope your sensibilities aren’t too delicate. My brothers are a heathen bunch.” Ryan was admiring the floor when we walked in.

  In fact, Ryan was on his hands and knees, examining the sigil for Clan McClure as if he had a high-powered microscope aimed at it. It was a rather peculiar stance to kneel in.

  “Nil, Naught is asking to join early so she won’t miss her window of opportunity when her time comes,” I said rather blandly, squinting and canting my head to the side at Ryan. “Do you have any objections to her joining us as an observer until then? She was anxious that perhaps she would suffer a similar wait to you this morning.”

  “No, Lord,” Nil answered, seemingly entranced by Ryan as well.

  “Ryan, what are you doing?” I asked slowly.

  “Oh, Seth,” he muttered and looked up, grinning. “This design… It’s fabulous! At a guess, I’d say it dates back about four thousand years, maybe more. How does it relate to you?”

  “That’s the symbol for Clan McClure, Ryan,” I said, feeling a bit of familial pride at his excitement. “And I believe my father has family records that date back further than that, but I haven’t seen them yet.”

  “How old is your family?” Ryan asked, getting off the floor and brushing his pants off. The Archdruid stone attracted his attention next, before I could even formulate an answer. “What’s that?” He pointed at it.

  “Kieran wanted a representation of Archdruid in the foyer, too,” I said, turning and looking back. “We didn’t know any symbology, but this felt accurate enough for what I do. The stonemasons did beautiful work there.”

  Ryan grunted, studying the inset circles as if they held some secret in their depths. “I think you underestimate your understanding, Seth,” he said quietly. “Well, Nil, shall we carry on?”

  And he did, a whirlwind tour that still took longer than I wanted, but I learned about the house, too. Frankly, it was huge. Rows of offices on the second floor and Nil insinuated even more in some of the outbuildings. There’d have to be some in the warehouse, anyway.

  “Ryan, would you care to use an office and suite here for the time being?” I asked since we had so many extra rooms. “I mean after Tuesday, of course, at least until you get other clients than us. It’d get you out of that hotel and also give you more time to devote to your… studies.” He didn’t hesitate in responding.

  “Thank you, Seth, I’d love to,” Davis sai
d, smiling graciously. He tried to hide his relief behind a calm façade.

  “You’re welcome, Ryan,” I said. “Bring your stuff by Tuesday morning and someone will get you settled into one of your liking. Now, let’s get going. Big shift coming.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Lt. Col. Brian White lived somewhere in Ohio, but I didn’t want to just go barging in and I didn’t want to have to search all of Ohio either. Sgt. Morton dropped the pair of them at the Cleveland Airport, so that really wasn’t much to go on. So we dropped by the Pentagon first, to get a contact number.

  “Good morning, Sgt. McNeely,” I said gently as we approached her desk. Startled, she stood bolt upright, slamming the book she’d been reading closed.

  “Lord Daybreak!” she said loudly, clutching at her ample bosom. She stood up tall and proud, remembering our brief discussion the other day. “I’m sorry, you startled me. How may we help you today?”

  “This being Friday, I thought we were expected,” I said with raised eyebrows, clasping my hands behind my back. “Five from your side should be in attendance: Harmond, Barnett, Thorn, Hanson, and Dominick.”

  “I wasn’t aware of that appointment, sir,” she said, trying desperately to seem unphased and unafraid. “Let me find them for you.”

  “Start with Thorn and Hanson, please,” I said mildly, leading my entourage toward the chairs. McNeely got busy on the phone while I plopped down in a chair. Nil and Ryan paced quietly in front of me while Naught sat on the edge of the chair next to me, facing me.

  “Naught, were you in the gymnasium when I gave the speech to the Guard about what to call me in public?” I asked her. “I know Nil was there, but I don’t remember if you were.”

  “Yes, Lord,” Naught said, her hair glistening brilliantly as it flipped back and forth when she nodded.

  “Where are we anyway, Seth?” Ryan asked, finally sitting down beside me.

  “Pentagon,” I muttered, already bored. “I do a lot of waiting. I suppose that explains our reputation for impatience and I’ve encouraged that reputation since the last time lost my temper at being stonewalled.”

  “You think they’re stonewalling you now?” he asked, eyeing the sergeant by stretching his arms and legs out and discreetly peeking over his arm.

  “No,” I said assuredly. “At least not the first four on the list. They think I won’t be back until Monday, but that all hinges on the fifth man and whether he’s provided his part.”

  “Excuse me, Mr. McClure?” McNeely called from a few feet away. “Cpt. Thorn asks if you would kindly speak to him on the phone for a moment, sir, please?” She was nervous and showed it, wringing her hands then swinging them back toward her desk repeatedly.

  I rose up slowly, saying, “All right, if it’ll speed things up some.” When I went for the phone, I wasn’t thinking and moved with a quickness. McNeely had barely turned around before I snatched up the handset and jabbed the only blinking light on the right. “Cpt. Thorn?”

  “Mr. McClure? Thank you so much for accepting a phone call,” Thorn said as obsequiously as he could manage. “We thought you had given us till Monday before you returned.”

  “Before you have anything to worry about, yes,” I said, plopping down lazily in the sergeant’s desk chair. “But Mr. Dominick has a deadline to meet today.”

  “Oh,” Thorn said. “That might be a problem. He’s dead.”

  “Really? That answers a question or two,” I said, thoughtfully. “Proves me wrong, though. When?”

  “Sometime between four and five this morning, near as we can tell right now,” he said. I couldn’t tell if he was being intentionally evasive, but I had Ryan and two assistants to worry about so I didn’t want to push it right now.

  “All right, we’ll talk about this on Monday then. Decide what to do about his part. I don’t suppose you know your elven envoys?”

  “No, sir. I didn’t know that we have elven envoys,” Thorn answered.

  “You do. You’re Accorded. I’ll find out.” Somebody should know how to contact the elves. “Whoever is replacing him should attend as well, as cold as that sounds.”

  “I’ll see to it, Mr. McClure,” Thorn said.

  “One last thing, then,” I said. “Would you kindly give Sgt. McNeely permission to give me a contact number for Lt. Col. Brian White, please? I’d like to visit Sara today and I think a little warning would be nice.”

  “Oh, yes, Mr. McClure, I think we can provide that,” Thorn said, almost relieved. “He’s actually requested a meeting at your convenience. I don’t know the other people involved, though, so I was waiting for you to come rather than contact you.”

  “I’ll talk to him and see about anyone else,” I said noncommittally.

  “Thanks, Mr. McClure,” Thorn said again. “We’re investigating Dominick’s death now and we’ll know more by Monday. Now, if you’ll just pass me off to Sgt. McNeely, I’ll have her give you the contact information you want.”

  “Till Monday,” I murmured, pressing the hold button and standing up again. McNeely was there to take the phone from me and I wandered back around the desk slowly. Catching a glance at my motley colored assistants surrounding the somewhat staid-looking Ryan, I said, “I probably should’ve done this already and they’ll probably want us to wait to see her. With little notice I don’t mind that, but as soon as they start playing games with me, we’re outta there.”

  “Here you are, Lord Daybreak,” Sgt. McNeely said, coming around the desk holding a card out with her handwriting on it. “The information you wanted.”

  “Thank you and please, call me ‘Seth’,” I said smiling broadly.

  ~ ~ ~

  My only jump point into Ohio was the Cleveland airport. I rented a car and drove into town before I called Col. White. It was a cool November day in Ohio. Winter was announcing itself with icy mornings and leafless trees, not exactly what I was used to in Georgia. That reminded me I needed to look into the seasons on Gilán—the tilt of the planet—before winter snuck up on us, too.

  Once we were away from the airport and moving into the city, I called Col. White. Thorn was right about him wanting to meet me. White also asked if Sara’s parents and her therapist could be present when I saw her again. I thought that would be more of a stipulation instead of a request so I agreed easily, knowing there would be another shoe dropping somewhere along the line. Explaining that he’d need about an hour to get everyone together, he gave me an address that was far more than an hour away from us, in another city. I needed a map.

  “You know, I’ve dragged a few of you around through time zones rather casually,” I said after disconnecting. “Would anyone like something to eat? Not promising much in the way of haute cuisine by what’s coming up the road.”

  “May we, sir?” Nil asked excitedly, pulling on the back of my seat and slipping out of his shoulder strap. “Some place with mashed potatoes and grits?”

  “Grits?” Ryan asked. “Why grits?”

  Nil blushed, so I told on him. “He’s heard First and me talking about the food on this side and he’s eager to try the things he’s heard about,” I said, grinning. “I can’t guarantee either of those unfortunately. There’s an upscale steakhouse of some kind, a large mall, so a food court—no, forget that. I’ll just pick something.”

  I really should have been paying attention to where I was, but while I was talking, I was just driving aimlessly. Choosing a restaurant by my usual standards, we pulled into a place called Denard’s, local, well kept, and clean, with an air to being established some time. The hostess and soon-to-be waitress didn’t bat an eye at the colorful huri as she led us to a large table in the back section of the restaurant. Maybe she did bat an eye, we were the only party on this side of the only real wall divider. It might have been suspicious if it weren’t for the sigils above the door.

  The four of us read them as we passed through the doorway. It was a simple peace bond with wards against theft and vandalism on either side. Curious, how I seem to
be drawn to these places now. None of it was particularly strong, but I didn’t think they intended it to be more than a friendly warning.

  “May we have anything, Mr. McClure?” Naught asked from behind a giant menu.

  “Of course, Naught, provided you can manage to call me ‘Seth’ for a few hours,” I said grinning. She giggled shrilly. I guess there are some things you can’t change.

  The waitress came back with glasses of water and started taking orders. She wrote three pages in her little book before I stopped Naught from starting on the second page of the menu. Her excited eyes overloaded the size of her stomach by far more than she knew. Asking her to skip to Ryan, I moved around the table between Nil and Naught and started a high-speed conversation about what they wanted and how hungry they were. Basically they both wanted to experiment and try everything. I talked them down to more reasonable amounts with promises of future trips out.

  Letting them order for themselves, I settled back in my chair and watched. Eager as school kids, they were sitting on the edges of their seats when the waitress came back around from Ryan. Nil smiled up at her and started ordering.

  “Nil!” I interrupted quickly, laughing. “Slow down there, man. I doubt the lady is trained as a stenographer to auctioneers.”

  Blushing and smiling, Nil said to the lady, “My apologies, ma’am, I forgot myself for a moment.”

  “That’s quite all right, young man,” she said with a smile that reached her jaded hazel eyes. “That was mighty fast, too! Faster than any actual auctioneer I’ve heard before. Pretty cool. Have you decided now?”

  Nil proceeded to order still far too much food for what looked like a fifteen-year-old that weighed about a buck fifty. That he was in actuality roughly twenty-seven—sort of a guess at these translations, worse than “dog years”—and weighed in at more like two-forty. The huri have very dense muscle and bone tissue. When she moved to Naught, the huri knew to speak slowly and ordered like we agreed, still far too much for one person, but not three pages worth.

  “I’ll just have coffee and… scavenge from the plentiful leftovers,” I said before she could move from Naught. I spread my hands at my bright-haired subjects, smiling. She grinned back at me, in some way understanding. Maybe she thought I was the father of upstart teenagers. Neither Nil nor Naught acted rebellious. Grinning at the thought, I pushed the whole idea away as the waitress, who introduced herself as Michelle, left after promising to return with drinks and starters momentarily.