When It Falls

by Jan Stryvant

  Arthur nodded, smiling grimly, and pulling a scroll out of the briefcase he'd brought with him, he passed it across the table to Joseph.

  "I anticipated your request, so I took the time to draft a writ this morning. I have others as well, should any of the surviving members of the local Ascendants request one, as well as one for Gradatim.

  "However, I am concerned about this, Joseph. What will the other Ascendants' covens in the rest of the country do, on hearing about this?"

  "They'll seek revenge, no doubt."

  "Exactly, but will they come here to seek it? Or seek it where they live?"

  "Oh, I see your point," Joseph grimaced, "if they come here, it could get quite, well, messy I guess would best describe it."

  "Joseph," Jolene spoke up again, "I think it behooves all of us if you and my uncle take the time to convince the others to not let this get 'messy.'"

  "Well, there is really only so much that we can do, Jolene. Your Sean may have to bide his time when it comes to the Vestibulum."

  Jolene snorted, "After what they did last night, I think it's safe to say that Sean has no interest in cutting them any slack, or bidding his time, anymore. We're not the ones whose actions are going to break the silence, and please understand this: if we have to break it to defend ourselves and our people, we will. It's not like we ever agreed to it. We're only willing to follow the established traditions, as long as we're granted the same courtesies."

  Arthur looked at his niece a little surprised by that declaration, "You agreed to it by being a member of our house."

  Jolene turned and looked back at him, "I'm only in the house at this point because everyone thought I was dead, so they didn't take the time to throw me out of it, you know that, Uncle. If I have to pick sides, well I'm going to side with my husband and my family.

  "And as for the whole 'ritual of silence' and the 'tradition of silence,' well," she looked at the both of them and her voice got a little heated, "if you all think it's so important, you need to get the lycans to agree to it, and they're not going to do that if they're not free. Right now the biggest threat to that silence isn't Sean, and it isn't the lycans. It's the Vesti's."

  Jolene got up, "Now, I'm sorry to be rude, but I think it would be best for me to go."

  Arthur and Joseph watched as Jolene left the room, two rather large men getting up and escorting her out.

  "Very spirited niece you have there," Joseph said with a smile.

  Arthur agreed, "Now you know why she's my favorite. She's right however."

  Joseph nodded, "Yes, she is, and any attempt to try and rein in Sean or his lycans is most likely going to fail. Not that I'm all that willing to try, all things considered. Morgan really has put all of us in a lot more danger than I think even he realizes."

  "Oh, I'm sure he realizes it," Arthur sighed. "I suspect he believes that we'll all side with him, when push comes to shove, in order to maintain the infamous 'status quo' that the Vestibulum believe in so strongly, to help him keep the mundanes ignorant of our existence."

  "Then the man is a fool and an idiot," Joseph said, shaking his head. "Up until now, the lions have never taken a hand in things. Now that one has, well, you can be sure that they all will. That famous 'status quo' of theirs is about to be broken."

  Arthur frowned at Joseph, "What does a lion getting involved have to do with it? And why would the others become involved as well? Seriously, Joseph, I'm aware that they have special significance to the other lycans, but beyond that," Arthur spread his hands in a questioning gesture, "I don't see what all of the fuss is about. Which leads me to asking this: what do you know about them?"

  Joseph shook his head, "Not nearly enough, and most of that is myth, or things other lycans have told us. They are the gods of the lycans, and their numbers are supposedly limited. Normally, they do not get involved in politics or magical power struggles for all that they are viewed as leaders. Sean has broken all of those rules."

  "But he wasn't born one, he was bit and infected," Arthur pointed out.

  "According to my sources, that doesn't matter. Most who are bit by a lion die, those who survive become one in all manner and ways. Some believe it has to do with lions being the first."

  "The first?"

  "The first of the shapeshifters. Legend says that the lions were the first, and that they created all of the other races of lycans."

  Arthur gave a snort of disbelief, "Really, Joseph?"

  "Did you know that a lion can impregnate any women of any race? Whomever they wish? That their offspring can be either the same race as the mother, or a lion?"

  "I thought that was a myth?"

  Joseph shook his head and chuckled, "No, I have talked to one young lady in the Sorceress Guild who experienced it. It's something that no other lycan is capable of, and there are other rumors surrounding lions as well. Everything from being able to grant or withhold a lycan's ability to shift; to their not being bound by the laws of magic or physics."

  Arthur considered that a moment, "Well, that would explain why the others all believe that they're gods I guess, if they've got abilities that the others don't. But bending the laws of magic? Or physics?" Arthur shook his head, "I find that difficult to give any serious credence to."

  "And yet our Mr. Valens is able to create magic items at a pace that no one else has ever witnessed before?" Joseph asked, raising an eyebrow. "Doesn't that concern you, Arthur?"

  Arthur frowned, "How do you know about that?"

  "Ah, so you admit it's true!" Joseph grinned, "We had assumed it based on the number of items that appear to be flowing out of the young man's workshop and into the hands of our local goblin fence."

  Arthur sighed and smiled a little wanly at being caught out. Joseph looked so kindly most of the time that it was easy to forget just how shrewd of a man he really was.

  "Yes, when I met with him to discuss the matter of our lycans, he dumped a bag of those amulets that protect them from silver onto the table. I daresay he's produced hundreds, if not thousands, of them by now."

  Joseph nodded, "Exactly, and if that isn't enough to make you wonder about lions and their perceived abilities, consider this: It's believed that what one lion knows, sooner or later they all know."

  Arthur sat back in his chair and stewed on that for a moment.

  "If that's true, then even if someone does manage to kill Sean, it just means another will start producing those amulets, doesn't it?"

  Joseph smiled and gave a slight nod, "That is our supposition."

  "I think I'm going to be spending the rest of today in conference with the other covens of Sapientia," Arthur said thinking about just what that meant, along with what he'd witnessed the night before. Battle lines were most definitely being drawn, sooner or later the Vestibulum was going to fall and with the proper guidance, Sapientia would once again rise to prominence. Something he'd always hoped to see within his lifetime.

  And, he almost had to smile as he considered it, the price to Sapientia would be very low, all that they had to do would be to grant Sean and the rest of the lycans what they wanted, their freedom. The lycans would bear the brunt of the costs in this conflict, and when the time was right, all Arthur had to do would be to get his compatriots to declare that the rules had changed. He frowned a moment then, they'd have to work to make sure that Morgan and his lot didn't force the lycans to break the silence, that would no doubt cause some issues.

  "Problems?" Joseph asked as he saw Arthur frown.

  "I suspect that keeping the silence is going to become a very difficult task over the next few months. I may even ask for Eruditio's help." Arthur looked at his watch and stood, "I really need to consult with the others, and my counterparts in the other cities. Thank you Joseph for coming, and please do make sure that word of Morgan's actions are spread to those that need to hear them."

  Joseph nodded and standing up, shook hands with Arthur. Joseph had a fairly good idea of what had been going through Arthur's mind while the
man had considered his words, but he was okay with that. Sapientia had ruled the other councils with a much lighter hand than the Vestibulum had been using. Because the Vestibulum with their philosophy of restricting change were now living in the past.

  Thievery Corporation

  "You know," Sheila said in a very soft voice, "Sean isn't going to be very happy with us, if he finds out about what we're doing."

  Peg smiled, "Well, I'll be sure not to tell him. Now, how about helping me with this window?"

  Grumbling, Sheila pulled out a thin piece of metal and started working it between the thin gap in the window frame against the lock.

  "Why me?" she asked.

  "Because you're a fox, and foxes are sneaky," Peg said with a grin. "Plus I know just exactly what all of the training you went through involved. My dad just wasn't buying a sex toy; he was buying a hidden spy he could unleash on the other members of the council."

  Sheila gave a little unconscious shiver, "Ugh, the idea of sleeping with all of those creepy old men on the council wasn't an appealing one, believe me," Sheila made a deft motion with her wrist, then withdrew the piece of metal she'd used to unlock the window and stuck it back into a pouch velcro'd to her thigh.

  "Especially that Charles guy. I don't think I would have survived that encounter," and with that she slid the window open carefully, and the two of them, both clad in skintight black one-piece outfits, slipped into the house.

  "What did you think of my father?" Peg asked, curious.

  "I hated him," Sheila growled softly. "I was just a thing to him. You were the first mage to ever treat me like a person."

  Peg almost jumped when Sheila turned and gave her a quick hug. Peg had learned from watching Sheila with her father that the fox was a master of faking her feelings towards people. Until she actually turned the real thing on you, you only thought you were experiencing the fox's true feelings.

  But once Sheila and Peg had connected, that one night after her father had been particularly hard on Sheila, Peg could tell after that whenever Sheila was faking it. The whole scared and submissive young girl act was just that, an act. Sheila was actually a very confident and sure young woman.

  Except around Sean. Peg had noticed that when Sheila was with him, she was exactly what she acted like.

  "What about Sean?" Peg asked softly as they split up to quickly search the room they had entered. While this room wasn't their target, they were here, so they might as well see what it held.

  "He scares me, just a little," Sheila admitted in a low voice.

  Peg snorted, "With the way you play up to him? Why?"

  "He's a lion. Hell, you married him; you know what he's like. You shouldn't even have to ask."

  "I didn't exactly marry him," Peg giggled.

  Sheila snorted, "You're his now, love. Don't think he won't enforce it, either. Lions are like that. They do what they do, and you don't ever go against one. They got the devil's own temper when they're having a snit."

  Peg snorted as they finished checking the room and went to the door that led out into the hallway. Using a mirror they both peeked under the door. It was dark in the hallway, but then it was well after two in the morning. Everyone was asleep.

  "He's just a young man, hardly more than a boy!" Peg smiled then a little shyly, "Though you're right about the 'being his' part. He's so single minded when he's focused on you. But still, he's sweet! I have no idea what you're so afraid of."

  "What I'm afraid of," Sheila said, opening the door a crack and then carefully examining the hallway for any sort of security. "Is him finding out what you know and ordering me out to do the kinds of things that your father bought me for."

  Peg snorted again, "He'd never do that."

  "To you, no. You're his wife. To me?" Sheila turned and looked Peg in the eyes a moment. "I grew up in a monarchy. I've seen the history of kings and queens, the ruthlessness to get their way, to survive. Lions, love, they're our kings. Sure, we didn't elect 'em, but no one ever elects their king. Sean's still a young one; he's still finding his way. Us foxes, we're not exactly all that keen on being subjects, unlike say the wolves. But that's what I'll become, if I stay."

  "Why are you still here then?" Peg asked.

  "Because I care about you, love." Sheila said bluntly, making Peg blush. "Though now that you've hooked up with his majesty, perhaps I don't need to worry so much anymore."

  Peg put her arms around Sheila and hugged her, kissing her.

  "Sheila, I promise that if there's ever a problem, between you and Sean, I'll step in the middle of it, okay?"

  Sheila smiled and gave Peg a kiss back, "Thanks, love. I already owe you more than I can say."

  "You saved my life, we're even."

  Sheila blushed, surprising Peg. "Time to be quiet. Now, follow me."

  Peg thought about what Sheila had said to her about lions as they carefully, and quietly, made their way down the hallway. The room they wanted was at the other end, and most of the rooms to either side of the hallway they were going down, were occupied.

  Peg had noticed that all of the wolves did in fact treat Sean as if he was their leader, but she figured that was because they did in fact work for him, and had also asked to follow him, after they'd been freed. She'd heard a few rumors about those on the council taking him seriously; for all that he was so young. But again, she figured that was because he was supplying everyone with that protection from silver.

  This was just another one of those lycan things that she was going to have to investigate, now that she was one. At least she and her inner vixen were finally starting to get along. Hopefully she'd even achieve her hybrid form soon. Roxy had been very helpful in coaching her on how to cope with the change.

  Now that she was listening to her advice that is.

  They came to the door then, Sheila moving to the side and allowing Peg to examine it first. While the rest of the house didn't have any sort of magical wards or alarms, both of them suspected that this door would probably have some sort of ward on it.

  Taking her time to inspect it, Peg cast several magical spells on herself that allowed her to see magical auras. The first two revealed nothing, but the third and final one did show her everything that was there.

  Mind spells weren't common among the magic users; they were in fact fairly uncommon. Jolene was the only magic user that Peg knew who not only regularly used mind spells, but who specialized in them. Peg was rather happy that she had some small level of skill there, so she'd gotten Jolene to teach her the spell to view auras from mind type spells just this morning.

  "It's got a ward on it," Peg whispered as she studied the spell. Whoever had cast it, which she suspected was the man inside the room; wasn't all that experienced with this type of work. So it didn't take her very long to figure it out.

  "When we open the door, it will wake him up," Peg said turning to Sheila. "But only him. It won't alert anyone else to the door being opened."

  Nodding, Sheila got out a small black flask and a rag, opening the flask she soaked the rag as both of them wrinkled their noses at the scent.

  "Okay, open it." Sheila said, handing the flask to Peg, who quickly resealed it, and then opened the door.

  Sheila bolted in, using her lycan reflexes to move across the room in a flash as Peg stepped in and closed the door quietly behind her.

  The man in the bed quickly sat up, but before he could say a word, Sheila had the rag over his mouth and nose and held it there, as the man grabbed at her wrist and tried to pull it away.

  A moment later, Sheila lowered him back down onto the bed, unconscious. The woman sleeping next to him never even stirred, it was over so quick. Peg was impressed, she would never have thought of using chloroform, but then like most magic users, her first thoughts were always towards using magic. But she knew using a sleep spell on this mage would never have worked.

  It was truly amazing the things you could learn on the internet these days with the simple use of a google search.


  A moment of applying the cloth to the face of the woman, and then she was out as well.

  "Okay, let's get to it," Sheila said, and as they each pulled out a small black sack, Peg started to loot the room, while Sheila divested the unconscious mage of several fairly potent magical items.

  There were two things that Peg was after. The first were the items that the man was wearing, or had on his desk. She figured she'd let Sean copy them with that strange technique he'd developed. Those would at the very least help her and Jolene improve their magical abilities.

  The second was her mother's focusing necklace. Peg's mother had also been able to use mind magic, unlike Camellia, Peg's sister. So their mother had promised it to Peg, when she was older, but Camellia had refused to give it to her when she kicked her out of the house.

  "So, that's it, huh?" Sheila said coming over and looking at the necklace with its pendant as Peg carefully put it in her bag, and then slung it on her back.

  "Yup. Now, let's get out of here."

  "What is it?"

  "It's was my mother's, she promised me that it would one day be mine. My sister however," Peg nodded towards the bed, "had other ideas after she threw me out of the household and her husband tossed me out of the council."

  Sheila stopped and took a second look at the woman in the bed, suddenly realizing just who it was.

  "Camellia?"

  "Oh come on, you saw the fuss Sorother was making over her. Course she married him, especially now he's the council head. She always was the social climber."

  Sheila gave a little smile, "Well now I don't feel so bad about robbing them."

  Peg rolled her eyes, "Oh please, like you cared before that."

  "Guilty as charged!" Sheila giggled softly, "Now, let's go home."

  Stuck on the Chain Gang

  Rufus looked around at the others as they rode in the back of the truck. It was pretty stuffy and dark back here, but at least it was still spring, and they were going through the mountains, so it wasn't too bad.