by Jan Stryvant
"That is why I destroyed them."
"What!" Richard said loudly, looking shocked. "How do you know..."
Sean continued, talking over him, "Now, as you don't have any lycans because we took them all, and because you're my brother-in-law..."
"You are not!"
"Camellia's sister is one of my wives," Sean noticed the confused look on Richard's face. "Lions have multiple wives, and Peg is one of mine. Therefore, like it or not, you're family, so you get this warning.
"Understand that if you are still a part of Gradatim twenty-four hours from now, I will kill all of you. We are at war with the Gradatim. We will not stop until they cease to exist. I suggest you leave them now, while you still can. Camellia may have disowned her sister Peg, but I know she would still be sad if I was forced to kill both her and her new husband."
Sean turned and walked away, leaving Richard muttering behind his back a moment, then he yelled. "I thought you said if we left you alone you'd never come back!"
"Twenty-four hours, Richard," Sean said without turning around. "Please don't make me kill you."
Sean walked down to the car and got in it.
"Think he'll listen?" Cali asked.
"He'd be a fool not to," Roxy growled.
"He'll listen," Jolene said with a nod of her head. "I know Richard, he never really bought into the power-mongering bullshit the others did."
"Is there anyone you haven't slept with?" Roxy sighed.
Jolene grinned. "Oh, a couple here and there."
"TMI," Sean said holding up his hand. "Now, let's go home and put together another army. If he cooperates, tomorrow we're heading to Sacramento."
"And if he doesn't?" Jolene asked.
"Then I guess I'm killing him."
White House
The White House chief of staff escorted them into the meeting room.
"Mr. President, this is Director Vincent Kensington of the Secret Service. As you may recall, the government oversight of the magic users and other related issues are primarily under their purview."
"Mr. President," Kensington said with a bow, "this is Carl Mince, he's in charge of the newly formed Lycan Affairs group."
Carl gave a small bow.
"This is Alistair Meriwether, he's in charge of the Magic Users Affairs group." Alistair bowed.
"And this is Duncan Roberts," Kensington continued, "he is the national head of the Council of Sapientia, who are becoming the preeminent magic user's council once again."
Duncan smiled and also gave a small bow.
"Lycan affairs?" the President asked. "I'm not aware of such a division."
"Yes, Sir," Kensington said as they were directed to their seats at the conference table. "I've only recently authorized the creation of the new team, as it has become clear that the lycans, lycanthropes to be more specific, are finally gaining their freedom from the magic users."
"I see, and you suspect their involvement in this terrorist attack in Los Angeles."
Kensington sighed. "There's a war on, Sir."
"A war?" the President said, looking at him. All of the others at the table, several of whom were in military uniforms, also looked at him.
"Sir, many of the magical councils have held lycan slaves for hundreds, possibly thousands of years. Several months ago a werelion started to free them from their slavery. Some of the councils were more than happy to comply with this, such as Sapientia," Kensington motioned towards Duncan, "and Eruditio. Most of the rest, however, reacted rather poorly, and in some cases violently, against it."
"Why was I not informed of this development?"
"Because up until yesterday all of this had been kept quiet. The magic users had been doing what they have always done to keep the rest of us unaware, under their practice known as the 'silence', and the lycans had been doing the same."
"Well, I would hardly call setting off a nuclear bomb outside LA as keeping this quiet! What happened yesterday?"
"The terrorist attack in Portland yesterday was an attempt by members of the Council of Gradatim to kill or capture the lion who is apparently leading this movement."
"And those are the people whose place was destroyed today?"
"Yes, Sir." Kensington nodded.
"And you believe this was in retaliation for that?"
"The lion retaliated on the local Gradatim council in Portland immediately. I'm not at all sure why this happened," Kensington sighed, "but I do suspect him."
"Who is this 'lion', anyway?"
"His name is Sean Valens," Carl said, opening the folder he'd set on the desk before him and passing out an information sheet to the others at the table. "He's twenty-one years old, and has apparently only been a werelion since sometime in March. He's also a powerful magic user, and the son of an enchanter who was assassinated by one of the councils when he tried to help free the lycans some twelve years ago."
The President turned and looked at Duncan. "Just what the hell have you people been doing? Assassinations? Slaves? War?"
Duncan shrugged. "We had no part in the assassination of Mr. Valens' father. In fact, we've been on good terms with him almost since the beginning of this. I must ask, are you sure it was a nuclear device?"
One of the men in uniform spoke up then. "The blast was captured by one of our early warning satellites, as well as picked up on a number of seismographs. While small, we estimate the yield was around a half a kiloton; the speed of the blast, along with the observed light and radiation given off, proves it was nuclear. The reaction team we sent in there also found some residual radiation in the area, primarily alpha and beta particles."
"What I want to know," the President said, "is how this Sean Valens got his hands on a nuclear weapon, if he is in fact responsible for what happened."
Kensington noticed that Duncan was looking very thoughtful.
"Duncan, you have something you'd like to share with us?" Kensington prompted him.
"According to my sources, earlier today the national leadership of Gradatim ordered all of their councils and their members to kill all their lycan slaves, worldwide."
"What?" several people around the table exclaimed, sitting up and looking at him.
"The lions retaliated. Sean blew up the Gradatim headquarters. How he did it, no one knows, but he told us he did, in fact, do it. That he was ordered to."
"Ordered to? By who?" the President asked.
"Apparently Mr. Valens isn't the head lion, which we've suspected since the beginning, due to his young age. But we know so little about them, and what we do know," Duncan shrugged, "often leads to more questions than we have answers."
"Just what exactly do you know?"
"If I may, Mr. President?" Carl asked.
"If you can make some sense out of this, I would love to hear it."
Carl nodded. "First, Lions are considered, by all lycans, to be their gods, because they were the first lycanthropes and created all of the rest. This is a firmly held belief by all lycans, one I have encountered myself.
"Second, from what I've been able to learn, it appears that at some time in the past, according to what the lions claim, they gave the magic users stewardship over the lycans to educate and civilize them.
"Third, the lycans have now been subject to the whims of magic users for over a thousand years, with a fair number of them enslaved by magic users, and these days they are treated as not much more than smart animals. This has led to some incredibly large amounts of abuse by the councils, who often used lycans as disposable foot soldiers in their wars against each other for dominance."
Carl looked up from his notes at the President.
"That leads us to the current situation; the lions have been unhappy with this state of affairs for some time now. As of last March, the lions let it be known that they were withdrawing all lycans from the slavery they were now in, that no lycan could be held against their will, and that they were going to go around freeing them. Needless to say, there has been a great deal of resist
ance by many in the magical community."
"So what changed? Why did they decide to do this now, rather than years ago?"
"Sean Valens has found a way to protect lycans from silver, which the magic users have been using to subject them to their will, and he has been distributing it."
The President looked around the table. "Could someone please tell me why we've allowed this situation to go on as long as it has? I thought the thirteenth amendment put an end to slavery?"
"Actually, Sir," one of the advisors spoke up, "the magical community is considered to be a sovereign nation under the York Treaty, which was signed between the three leading magical councils and the United States at the time of the country's founding. As long as they do not interfere in our affairs, we do not interfere in their affairs."
"I fail to see how that covers lycans, Jeff," the President said, looking back at the advisor. "They're not magic users, right? And I would assume there is some provision in that treaty to keep the magic users from being able to do whatever they damn well please."
"Well, Sir, lycans were considered property, and sadly I believe many bought into the idea that they weren't human, so therefore the laws didn't apply to them."
"I've heard that argument before!" the President said, looking around the table. "Jeff, after this meeting, you get on over to the Supreme Court, and tell them I want them to start deliberations for a ruling recognizing that lycans are human, and that the thirteenth amendment doesn't just apply to humans, and if it looks like they're going to balk on this, we'll bring the DOJ on board and make a case."
The President turned and looked at Duncan. "Do you have a problem with that, Mr. Roberts?"
Duncan shook his head. "Actually, no I do not. Nor do the rest of the members of Sapientia. Same for the members of the Council of Eruditio."
"Umm," Jeff said, looking at the President, "do the justices know about the lycans and the magic users? I know the attorney general does, but after that?"
The President and everyone else looked at Kensington.
"The chief justice knows; beyond that," Kensington shrugged, "some may, it would depend on if they've ever been involved with the FISA court when a sensitive matter involving this came up. Few members of the government are aware of the situation, Sir."
"Jeff, grab the attorney general and go take care of it. Now, back to this Mr. Valens. We can't afford to have someone with access to nuclear devices popping them off wherever he sees fit. What are we going to do about him?"
"I would urge restraint," Duncan said, speaking up.
"Why?"
"Well, first, there is the treaty that exists between my people and your country."
"But Mr. Valens is a lycan, is he not?"
"Before he became a lycan, he was a magic user, and he is a magic user now, one of considerable power, I might point out. That would put him under the clause of the treaty. Then of course, there is this whole matter of him being a lion."
"What does that have to do with anything?" one of the other advisors, George Walker from the CIA, asked.
"Well," Duncan looked around the table and then shrugged, "do you really want to piss off a god?"
"You can't be serious!"
Duncan shook his head and smiled. "I would advise against it. Now if you'll excuse me, Mr. President, Gentlemen, I think I should return home to deal with the issues this event is causing in the magical community before someone else does something stupid."
The President nodded. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Roberts."
Everyone waited until Duncan had been escorted out of the room, then the President looked at Kensington.
"How much of what he said should we believe?"
"Well, Sir, the Council of Sapientia is currently involved in a struggle against the council of Vestibulum to regain control over the magical community at large. Something they lost around the time this country was founded. So they do have their own interests at heart, and this lycan revolt is playing into that."
"So you're saying we need to keep our own counsel?"
Kensington nodded. "Yes, Sir. However, I would like to point out that having the lycans on our side would be a great boon. So I'd advise dealing with Mr. Valens cautiously."
"He just set off a half-kiloton nuclear device outside of LA, I think you can be assured that we'll be dealing with him very cautiously."
Mountain House, Friday Night
Sean sat down and looked around the living room. All of his wives were there, of course, so was his mother, and Philo, Ruth, Maitland, Oak, Hunter, Sten, Granite, Claudia, Boris, and Jorge were there as well.
"Okay, I'm sure you've all heard the news by now?" Sean asked, looking around the room as they all nodded.
"Great. Tomorrow morning, I'm leading an army out of here. We're going to hit Sacramento first and deal with the Gradatim compound there. Then the one in San Francisco, followed by the one in Fresno, and we'll end up in Los Angeles. In each case, we're going to free all the lycans in each of those cities and wipe out the Gradatim."
"What do you mean with this 'wipe them out'?" Boris, the head of the Nevada tiger clans, asked.
"Kill them. All of them. The Gradatim wanted to kill all the lycans? Welp, too bad for them, but we're going to kill them all first."
"What if they should ask to surrender?"
"Then they die," Sean said, looking at the shocked expressions. "Understand, I'm pretty pissed about this, and so are all the other lions. We went out of our way to avoid a war, and well, now we've got a war. Anyone who calls themselves Gradatim is going to die."
"What if they join another group?"
"Then as long as they didn't murder anyone, and actually mean it, I don't care."
"What about the other councils?" Maitland asked.
"We're going to march up to their gates and dictate terms. If they give us what we want, namely all their lycans, we'll smile happily, thank them, and be on our way."
"And if they don't?"
"We'll take our people by force and step on anybody who gets in our way." Sean looked at everyone again. "Note that I said 'step on' and not 'kill'. We'll continue to restrain our activities with the other magic user councils. It's my biggest wish right now that the others see the light and don't put up a fight. I'm hoping what I just did to the Gradatim will have them all in a state of shock so that they'll roll over for us when we show up."
"So what's this army look like, and who are you leaving behind?" Claudia asked.
"My great uncle Maitland is going to be my general leading the fight," Sean said and noticed that Maitland sat up, looking proud. "I currently have about four hundred effective troops here, and another hundred with Chad, who's heading up to Seattle. I'm going to take two hundred of what I have here and pick up all of the troops I left in Sacramento under Art. What I would like from you three," Sean motioned towards Claudia, Boris, and Jorge, "are any troops you can spare, as well as a firm commitment to help defend us here if we should be attacked."
"What about helicopters?" Claudia asked.
"Fresno would be the only place we could use one, I fear." Sean sighed. "San Francisco and Los Angeles are just too congested, with too many mundanes, air traffic, and radar tracking."
"Okay, I can lend you sixty, but I want access to the one helicopter you left behind. I've got crews enough to cover that one, as well as the two at my base."
Sean nodded and looked at Boris.
"I'll send you a dozen. I'd send more, but there really aren't a lot of us up here in Reno."
"Jorge?" Sean asked.
"I've got a hundred and forty-three I can send with you. It won't leave me with much here at home, but if I even tried to hold any of the younger men back, they'd never let me hear the end of it."
Sean blinked. "I had no idea there were that many wereboars in Reno!"
Jorge smiled. "We like to keep a low profile. Normally we're only interested in defense, but that bit about wanting to kill off the lycans in the surrounding area? Wel
l, we got a lot of relatives living in the central valley. We're not about to stand for that."
"Thanks." Sean nodded.
"Ruth, I'd like you to come with us. Mom, I want you to stay here. Roxy, Jolene, and Daelyn will also be staying here to hold down the fort.
"Why them?" Louise asked.
"Daelyn because she can easily call on the local dwarves for support. Jolene because she's the next best healer after me, and offense isn't exactly her strong point. Roxy because she'll be in charge while I'm gone. If we should be attacked here while I'm gone, we'll put Steve in charge of the fight if Roxy thinks she can't handle it."
"Steve Bryson?" Louise said, looking surprised.
"Yes." Sean nodded.
"What are we going to do after we finish with Los Angeles?" Maitland asked.
"I'm not sure yet. We'll either swing through Las Vegas and head home, or we'll hit Phoenix. A lot will depend on what condition we're in, and what the other councils are doing."
"It might be best to plan on hitting Phoenix, sweeping up through Albuquerque, and meeting up with Chad's army in Denver," Maitland suggested. "He could curve down from the north, cleaning up the smaller councils up there along the way. That would put a third of the country under our sway and give us multiple options on where to go next."
Sean thought about that and nodded. "We should discuss this with Chad, but until we're done with LA, it's a bit early to start making those plans."
"Are you sure five hundred fighters will be enough?" Hunter asked.
Sean nodded. "The hardest nut to crack on this was the Gradatim headquarters, and they no longer exist. After that it was Sacramento, and we already put one beatdown on them a week ago. They're not going to be ready for this."
Hunter nodded.
"Any other questions?" Sean asked, and all he saw were heads shaking 'no'.
"Great. Please get your people organized and here as early in the morning as possible. I'd like to hit Sacramento before lunch tomorrow."
"What about the Gradatim council here?" Maitland asked.
