by Jan Stryvant
"If you can swap tags every ten seconds, with two tags you can deal with seventy people in about six minutes," Chad said. "Figure ten, because I'm sure there'll be issues once you get started."
"We'll need more collars," Sean said.
"I thought you had fifteen extras?"
"Collars are harder to switch."
"But you have more of them, so you can afford to take more time," Chad pointed out.
"I suppose."
"Now the hard part."
"Getting in," Sean said.
"Right, getting in. How many allies do you have?"
"None," Sean sighed.
"That's not exactly true, dear," Roxy spoke up. "How many do you need, and what do you need them for?"
"Huh?" Sean said.
"Well," Chad said leaning back in his chair, "Fifteen at a bare minimum. Twenty-five would be a lot better. A show of force in the kennels will back a lot of problems down right from the start. I'm sure they'll listen to Oak; he was one of them after all. But you need to shut the others down so he can speak, before they get started.
"You'll need another, smaller and more skilled team, to go with Sean, to keep anyone from doing anything stupid, while he gets his book back. Not too many people, but enough that most folks will be thinking of running rather than standing and fighting."
"Okay," Roxy said and pulling out her cell phone, she put the battery in it and turned it on.
"Roxy?" Sean asked.
"Yes?"
"What are you doing?"
"Calling daddy, of course," Roxy grinned at him as Daelyn got out her phone as well.
"Why?"
"Cause I ran into him back at Daelyn's last week, and he told me he was the head of the lycan fellowship now, and to call when I needed help. Well, sounds like we need help, don't we?"
"Umm, Sean said and then looked at Daelyn, "and you?"
"I'm calling my uncle; you're family now, Hon. That counts for something."
"Hello, Daddy?" Roxy said.
"Do you think you could meet us at Sawyer's in say, an hour?"
"Thanks, Dad!"
Sean looked at Daelyn as she had the same short conversation with Samis.
"Wow, looks like I finally get to meet the infamous Sawyer," Chad chuckled.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Sean warned.
"Of course it's not a good idea," Chad laughed, "But I bet you can't think of a better one! Let's go."
Sawyer's Antiquities
It was after ten when they got to Sawyer's; using the back door he had told them to use the last time Sean had been there.
Marx met them at the door and escorted them into the same conference room they'd been in before, and then left. Sawyer was conspicuous by his absence but as Roxy's father, Bill Channing was there, Sean wasn't too surprised. Roxy ran over and hugged her father, as Daelyn did the same to her Uncle Samis.
"So, what's this all about then?" Bill said looking at Sean, "And who are your friends?"
"This is Oak," Sean said, "who was a Gradatim lycan up until a few days ago. He's mine now." Oak nodded to Bill and Samis. "This is Chad, he's human, and he's one of my best friends, and possibly the best tactician and strategist in the state."
Bill and Samis both eyed Chad, who just smiled and gave a little wave, looking not at all worried.
"As for why we're here, well Gradatim got their hands on my father's book when they attacked us two nights ago. I don't think they can get past its protections, but trust me when I say that we don't want to give them the chance."
"Why not?"
Sean sighed, "I don't even want to give you a hint as to what's in that book. Once I've finished committing it to memory, I may just destroy it myself. But I need it, to build more of these," and Sean tossed the two silver tags onto the table. "I almost killed myself making those."
"So, that's what all the fuss is about?" Samis said, picking up one and looking at it.
"Yup, that's it, and I know how to make more of them, but I need that book, also," Sean smiled, "I promised Oak I'd free his girlfriend, and I figured, as long as I'm getting my book back, and we're freeing her, we might as well free everyone.
"But if I don't want it turning into a bloodbath, and if I don't want everyone finding out about it, I need help."
Sean spread his hands, "So, can you help me?"
Bill pulled out a chair and sat down. "What's your plan?"
Sean turned to Chad, "That's your cue, Chad."
Chad smiled and walked over to the rather large whiteboard that dominated one of the walls.
"Okay, thanks to google maps and what Oak told me earlier, I have a pretty fair understanding of the lay of the land."
Sean watched as Chad started to quickly sketch out the main Gradatim compound where they had their kennels and where McConnell lived.
"So, this is what I was thinking...."
It took Chad two hours to detail all of the aspects of his plan, and then he spent another hour asking both Bill and Samis about their people, their capabilities, as well as their limitations. Sean hadn't seen Chad look so happy in years, and both Bill and Samis were suitably impressed.
They then called Sawyer into the room and had Chad explain the highlights of the plan to him, without mentioning Sean's book of course. Chad then told Sawyer what they'd need in the way of intelligence up front.
When Sawyer called Chad a gimpy unwashed human, Chad just smiled and asked how much he had to pay the Goblin girls to get by that stench he called an aftershave.
That was followed by a ten minute long insult war, which on ended when one of Chad's more involved insults caused Sawyer to crack a smile.
"You're okay, for a human," Sawyer finally declared, then turned to Bill, "Why don't you just have one of your cop friends spy on the place, Channing?"
"Because too many of them are human, and the ones that aren't would have to explain what they're doing over there. Besides, no one snoops like a goblin."
"Yup, no one does," Sawyer grinned, "So, what's in it for me?"
"How about..." Bill stopped as Sean raised his hand.
"What do you want, Sawyer?"
"What's so important that you're doing this?"
Sean smiled, "If I tell you, I will immediately kill you. Do you really want to know that badly?"
Sawyer sighed, "The trouble with you, Kid, is that I can actually tell when you're not joking. Okay, rumor has it that McConnell has a Durnack's Tooth."
"Durnack's tooth? What's that?"
"It looks almost exactly like this," Sawyer reached into his pocket and pulled out a small green colored knife and set it on the table. The knife, handle and all, was maybe four inches long, and it was curved, not unlike a claw or a beast's fang. The hilt was a little more than half of its length, and the color of it nearly matched Sawyer's skin.
"Any idea where I can find it?" Sean asked.
"Most likely it'll be on him. If not, check his bedroom, particularly the nightstand next to it."
"What is it? Other than a knife, that is?"
"An important Goblin magical item. I'd tell you more, but then I'd have to kill ya'!" Sawyer laughed.
Sean nodded, "Fair enough."
"Now, let me call some folks, and I'll see what we can learn."
Samis got up as Sawyer left the room, "I need to get my people organized. I'll call once we're ready."
"That's my cue," Bill said standing up as well. "I'll have my people at the staging point before sunrise."
"I doubt anything is going to happen that early in the morning," Chad said.
"No, but I'd rather be ready too early, than too late."
"Good point."
Head to Head
Sam Wilston smiled at everyone as he walked into the meeting room, they'd all just returned from Hoise's funeral and several of the other council members had suggested meeting to start going over the list of new members. As several of those now likely to be considered were already firmly in Sam's pocket, he was more
than happy with the idea. Unfortunately the book was still proving too difficult to decipher, but then it had only been a few days since he'd gotten his hands on it.
He'd figure it out in due time, but until then, he needed to continue to build his own power base. Losing Hoise had been a blow, for sure, but Sam had learned a long time ago to never let unexpected events stand in his way.
"Ah, Sam, good to see you," Roger smiled to him as Sam came up and stood by his seat. Once everyone was in the room, Joseph Kinyon closed the door and they all took their seats.
"So, let us begin," Roger said. "We have two openings, and I'm sure you'll all agree that the sooner we start screening candidates, the sooner it will be done. Now as normal, we'll start the nominations from the junior end of the table and work our way up."
Sam sighed and leaned back in his chair. They were definitely going to be here for a long while.
Sean yawned; they were all sitting in a couple of vans a few blocks away from the Gradatim compound. Apparently the council had decided to meet after the funeral for their dead member. There had been some debate over what to do, but Chad had told them that if anything was going to happen, he was certain that it was going to happen tonight.
So Sawyer had put someone to watch Sam's house, and they'd all driven here, a few blocks away, to be close.
Thankfully Roxy's father had made a few phone calls, and any neighbors who called about the suspicious black vans was told that it was a police exercise and to just ignore it.
"Damn, what the hell are they doing in there?" Sean complained. "It's been what, three hours now?"
"Closer to four," Bill Channing said, looking out the window. The sun had set and it was getting dark now. "Thanks for the collar, by the way."
"Eh, not much else to do with my time, might as well make a few more," Sean sighed.
"How the hell are you doing that, anyway? I always heard that those things take months to make."
"Actually, according to my dad's notes, he could make them in about three weeks."
"And you did one in just a minute," Bill said shaking his head. His son-in-law was definitely nothing like he ever would have expected.
"Yeah, just a little something I figured out."
"Is that how you made those 'Silver Tags' of yours?"
"Not exactly. They take a lot more energy, and it almost killed me. I'd try it again, I think I could make it a lot safer if I did, and not kill myself, but Rox and the rest threatened to kill me if I tried it and survived," Sean snorted. "So I told them I wouldn't."
"Wise choice there, Son."
Sean shrugged, "Hard to argue with the ones you love. Harder still when they're threatening you with blunt instruments."
"Ain't that the truth!" Bill laughed. "So have you figured out how to make more?"
"Of the silver tags?"
Bill nodded.
"I have a pretty good idea of what I need to do. Once we get this current mess all sorted out, I'm going to find a nice quiet place and see about getting it done. That is if I don't have to worry about constantly being attacked and fighting for my life," Sean grumbled.
"Sounds to me like you need some help, Son. Might be time to stop trying to go it all alone."
Sean sighed and nodded his head slowly. "I just didn't want to get others involved in my problems. Hell, up until I got my hands on this," Sean tapped the small tag hanging from his necklace, "I didn't even think such a thing was possible."
"Well, now you know that it is, and that you need to make more. Lots more."
"After tonight, they're really going to be gunning for me, aren't they?"
Bill shook his head, "The fine folks who make up the Council of Gradatim are going to be very quiet about the events of tonight. Lest their number one enemy, the Council of Vestibulum, come down here and wipe them out."
"Vestibulum?" Sean said surprised, "I thought the Ascendants would be more likely to do that."
"Yeah, they might, but the Vesti's and the Grada's have been at each other's throats for as long as I can remember. Some say it goes back to the founding of Gradatim, might be, don't honestly know."
The burner phone in Sean's pocket rang then. Pulling it out and opening it up he put it to his ear, "Yes?"
"A group of people just went inside Sam Wilston's house," one of Sawyer's goblin spies was on the other end of the line.
"Humans or lycans?"
"We're guessing humans. Uh-oh, something's going on inside!"
"What?"
"I hear screaming, oh, it stopped. Rather suddenly too, that's not good."
Sean swore, "They killing people inside there?"
"Probably," the goblin said. "Oh, here they come outside again. They got that cute fox gal toy of his, and looks like both of his daughters, they got their hands behind their backs and don't look like they're exactly willing.
"And now they're getting into a couple of cars and driving off."
"Thanks, I guess you're done now."
"Done?" The goblin laughed, "I'm gonna go rob the place, not like anyone's gonna miss it if they're all dead!"
Sean sighed and just closed the phone without saying anything. Not his circus, not his monkeys.
"I heard," Bill said and turned to the others in the van. They were all lycans, the dwarves had all gone with Roxy, Daelyn, and Oak, because they didn't want the lycans there to think it was just another house trying to poach them.
"Get ready; they just hit the Wilston house. Once they get back here, the balloon'll be going up pretty quick."
"Yessir!" they all said and started checking their gear. They were all wearing helmets, masks, bulletproof vests, and were carrying shotguns loaded with beanbags, as well as wearing tasers on their hips. No one was supposed to shift tonight, because if anyone saw what was going on, the excuse of a 'training exercise' would still hold up.
Sean called up his monitor spell and his offensive and defensive frameworks. He'd lead off with sleep spells and some shield spells for the others, but other than that, tasers and beanbags were going to rule the night.
Sean's phone rang again.
"Yes?"
"A car just pulled up in front and a bunch of guys got out, they're dragging two girls and got a third one trailing along rather meekly. She's carrying a small box."
"Okay, anything else?"
"Yeah, they just killed Wilston's lycan driver and bodyguard. Just pointed at them, and they collapsed. Poor bastards, it didn't look pretty either."
"It wasn't," Sean sighed and hung up.
"Guess it's time to go," Sean said turning to face forward in the passenger's seat.
"Looks like," Bill said starting the engine.
The vans behind them started up their engines as well, and then followed them as the slowly pulled out and rolled down the street, the ones with Roxy and Daelyn's team peeling off to head to their target.
"Sam?" Roger asked.
Sam sighed, finally! They'd gone through a lot of people, each of the prior members had at least ten names to suggest, and Sam had dutifully written down all of them, crossing off the ones he knew that he didn't want, underlining the ones he most definitely did want, and putting question marks next to a few that he had never even considered.
"I'm not going to bring up anyone new," Sam said sitting up straight and taking a sip of the water that one of the servants had refilled not that long ago. Thankfully they'd brought a few snacks in earlier, or he'd be starving by now. "I'm just going to list the ones mentioned previously by others, which I agree with, so we can just move on to the next phase."
"Yeah, it has been a long meeting, hasn't it?" Richard Sorother laughed.
"Tell me about it," Sam sighed, "my latest toy had me up early this morning too. Besides, lots of good names here, and unlike the rest of you, I hadn't even considered who to nominate." Sam sighed and shook his head, feigning sadness, "Hoise's death really caught me unawares.
"So, here's who I agree with," Sam said and went down the list, naming all
eight of the ones he wanted to see on the council, the ones who'd been helping him in his own plans for months now.
"Thanks, Sam," Roger smiled, "anyone else?"
"No, that's all,"
"Wonderful, why don't we all take a break?" Roger said getting to his feet. "I have food and some entertainment set up downstairs in the banquet room."
"Entertainment?" Harold asked.
"Oh, yes. Charles is going to show us some of his newest toys, aren't you Charles?"
Sam shook his head and smiled; Charles' toys tended to be short lived and rather viciously dealt with. But such was the fate of most animals; he just hoped that Charles didn't do anything that put him off his food.
Roxy looked at Oak, who nodded. They'd come up on the back of the kennels, which was really just a rather large two story barracks type building. There were red poles placed around it, showing where the kill line was for any lycans who were outside.
The front door had a guard station, with a human guard sitting in it.
Oak had told them that guard duty was considered a punishment, because you had to open and close the door for any lycans that were coming or going, as they couldn't touch it themselves.
Needless to say, the guards didn't treat their charges very well, so most lycans were rather slow to use the door, only going through it when they had to.
Tonight's young man was busy texting away on his phone, with a set of earbuds in his ears. Oak snuck up behind him easily, then grabbing him by the neck he rammed the kid's head into the wall a few times, stunning him.
Roxy then gagged him, but a bag over his head, and they bound him hand and foot.
"This is it," Oak sighed and opening the door, he went in, followed by Roxy and a dozen dwarves.
A man stopped and looked at them, then did a double take.
"Oak! Is that you, Oak? They told us you were dead! That you were all dead! What happened?"
"What happened, Granite, is that they executed us, because we found something that breaks their hold over us," Oak growled. "They don't know that I got away, and now I'm here to free all of you."
