by Jan Stryvant
Once that was done, he took off a piece of armor and carefully went over it, repairing it in the manner Maitland had showed him, using magic. He then put the piece back on and started on the next one. Sean had no idea how long this burst of mana would last, but he was determined to take advantage of it before it stopped.
When he finally finished repairing his gear, he looked around once more. The mana was still flowing, interestingly enough, so Sean built a simple spell that would keep track of when it stopped and started back up. Checking his gear one last time, Sean took a good look around, then shifted back into lion form, and continued on his way. The feeling he was heading towards didn't seem any stronger than it had before, so he had no real idea of how long or how far he'd be following it.
That done, he thought about the girls for a while, and hoped they were all okay. He really needed to take the time to figure out a way to let them know he was still alive, but not until he was someplace safe. He just hoped they didn't do anything stupid. Like he had.
#
Den Brune En sat upright in her chair and looked around. Something felt different. Something she hadn't felt in so long that she had no real idea what it was, or where it was coming from. Just that it was something familiar, something important to her.
This wasn't the first time she'd felt it; that had been a good many days ago, several months she reckoned. Then there had been that other feeling, like someone was watching her. Scrying was rare in the lands around here, but she still had the means to fight it. Since then, nothing had disturbed her beyond this uneasy feeling she was getting every few days now.
"Brune En," Første said, entering her chamber, "Fjerde's patrol has returned with some news."
"Please enlighten me," Den Brune En said with a sigh. "What has Fjerde discovered?"
"Lord Ansigt is no more," Første said with a smile.
"What?" She blinked, surprised. "How can that be? He had a great number of smaller houses gathered around him!"
Første shrugged his shoulders. "No one knows. A storsindet gate opened on his estates at the hellige spot he was using. He set messengers to gather allies. One of them was returning when they saw a blinding white light, which was followed by a thunderclap most loud. When he got there the next day, everything was destroyed, and the tar of the dead covered everything."
Den Brune En pondered that a moment. The gateways only opened in specific places here, the locals having figured out how to make that happen many tens of thousands of years ago. How many of those places you held often determined your status. Lord Ansigt had held two full sets. One for the storsindet gates, which were the largest and longest. A second for lille gates, which were the smallest.
Lord Ansigt had been pressing his troops through each gate as it opened, whenever one of his hellige spots caught a gateway. He'd even built his castle near one of the spots that was fabled to pull in the most storsindet gates. The other lords were all doing the same, with few exceptions. Everyone knew there were large concentrations of food near the gates, millions apparently, and the demon kings who ruled here had used that knowledge, as well as their own personal powers, to strengthen their alliances and increase their armies.
But until now, there had been very little success. Den Brune En smiled to herself. Apparently the 'food' in this hunting ground had learned a great deal about defense and wasn't that keen on the idea of being eaten.
"So what are the others doing about it?" she asked.
"They're putting together raiding parties to see who can get there first and hold it for themselves."
"What's the rush? Wasn't that the first storsindet gate his large hellige attracted?"
"Because his lille hellige has had five openings, and that was his storsindet hellige's third opening. He's had more than anyone else."
"None of which he's had any success with," she pointed out.
"Ah! But two from a recent passage just came back into being. They told a story of making it to a fantastic place where the food was so plentiful that it lived high in the mountains in cold places, because the warm ones were too crowded. The said they had feasted well until one of the empowered ones appeared and cast them out."
"And people believed this tale?" she asked, skeptically.
Første nodded. "It was clearly evident that they had eaten well, and eaten recently. They are offering to show others where they got their food, if someone were to take them through again."
"Do they know where the lang tid will open?" she asked, frowning.
"Not yet, Brune En. They know when, of course, but right now the speculation is on the lands of Lord Ansigt, because of the number of gates his helliges have managed to attract."
She nodded slowly. "Keep me apprised of the situation."
"Does this mean we will be going through?"
Den Brune En chewed on her lower lip a moment as she thought about that.
"Having no hellige of our own, it will depend mainly on what the others are willing to allow."
"With the difficulties all have been having so far, Brune En, I would think any lord would be happy to welcome your sword arm to their host, considering your reputation."
"Perhaps, Første, perhaps."
#
Jolene found herself standing in front of an old and familiar door. Shaking her head, she sighed and stepped through.
"Jolene!" Marx said as she looked around the almost bare floor. "What are you doing here?"
"I needed to stretch my legs, Marx. I needed something a bit more familiar in my life for a few minutes. Between the kids, the war, and Sean's disappearance," she shook her head, "I needed a few minutes to myself."
"Yeah, but why here?" Marx asked.
"Because Sawyer's the oldest friend I've got?" she said with a sad laugh.
"That's pretty bad, if you ask me," Marx replied in a whisper.
"Jolene!" Sawyer called from the front of the shop as he noticed her. "Come on up here! You bring any pictures of the kids?"
Marx blinked, and Jolene shrugged and walked to the counter.
"What, no nasty rejoinders now that Sean's not around?" she asked him.
Sawyer snorted. "The kid would kill me, and we both know it. I'm also not one to kick people when they're down, unless they deserve it, and you've never deserved it.
"So, got any pictures?"
Jolene smiled a little wryly. "I got pictures. My kids, Cali's, Roberta's, Roxy's, Dae's, and even Deidre's."
Sawyer chuckled. "Well, let's see 'em. Glad you caught me before we left. We're heading out to Carson City after the sun sets."
Jolene nodded as she got out her phone and called up all the photos on it. "Roxy told me." She paused a moment then, and looked up at Sawyer. "Tell me, tell me truthfully, do you really think Sean's coming back?"
"I've been covering the bets of every single person who comes in here saying he's dead. Same for all the ones my bookies are picking up. If Sean don't come back, I'm gonna lose about ten million dollars, Jolene. So yeah. I think he's coming back."
Jolene smiled. "Thanks, Sawyer. Now, let's start with Cali's, because I know you want to see hers first."
"Well, they are royalty!" Sawyer snickered.
Jolene had to admit, coming down to Sawyer's had been the right thing to do. He made the right noises when he looked at the pictures, and he teased her just enough to keep things light. She was just finishing up when Sawyer's phone rang.
"Excuse me a moment," he said and spoke a few minutes in goblin to someone on the line before hanging up.
"Well, I better get back," Jolene said. "Almost feeding time for the twins."
Sawyer nodded. "Sure, sure. By the way, tell Roxy that my cousin called back about the ammo. He said it was old stuff made specifically for those guns, but it didn't work well, so they moved on to something better. That's why he gave it to me for free. He was never able to sell it, and it was just taking up space."
Jolene nodded. "I'll tell her."
"Bye, Jolene!"
&
nbsp; Jolene waved and gave Marx a hug when she got to the door. "Take care of him, okay?" she whispered.
"Hey, he's my meal ticket! I have to!" Marx laughed and showed her out the door.
After Marx closed the door, he turned to Sawyer.
"Honestly, Boss, do you really think we'll see him again?"
Sawyer snorted. "If he doesn't come back, we're all screwed. But he tamed Jo, and any man that can handle that woman ain't gonna have no problems with any djevels."
"And here I thought Roxy was the dangerous one."
Sawyer laughed. "Shows what you know. Roxy will just kill you. Jolene there? She'd destroy you, your hopes, your dreams, and everything you ever made."
"I guess that explains why she comes here!" Marx said with a grin.
"Hey, I only do it for money. Until Sean came along, she did it for fun."
Jolene was just walking up to the house when a taxi pulled up to the door and a man got out.
"Ah! Jolene, right?"
Jolene looked him over; he was middle-aged, probably late thirties, about six-foot tall, with blond hair and a fairly athletic build like Sean had.
"You are?" she asked slowly.
"Adam," he said and smiled at her, "the new lion the First sent over here before Roxy figured out some new and interesting way to kick his ass."
"Oh," Jolene said slowly, thinking about it. "Well, come on inside and I'll introduce you to everyone."
Adam nodded and followed her up the stairs. "How are your son's doing?"
"Well, they're doing well."
Opening the door, Jolene led him to the living room.
"Did you know Sean?" Jolene asked.
"Not really, we only met once."
Adam and Jolene stopped as they came into the living room, where Roxy and the others were gathered, as well as Oak and several of his staff and the leads of most of the combat teams.
"Jo, who's your guest?" Roxy asked.
"This is Adam. He's a lion." Jolene said.
Just then Adam shifted into his hybrid form. He wasn't as tall as Sean, but he was still an impressive sight.
"Hello, Roxy, Daelyn, Cali, Roberta, and Peg. I see you're all even more lovely than Sean said. I'm here to help out until he gets back. We lions didn't want anyone to think we weren't thinking of you, it's just that Sean's done such a great job here, none of us thought anybody was needed. But we all heard the rumors flying around Washington, so I was sent here so the mundanes wouldn't panic.
"But we all know Sean's fine and will be coming back, right?" Adam said with a smile, looking around.
Roxy and the girls looked at each other, and then the others, who all seemed to be nodding and smiling.
"Great! I'll leave the rest of you to it, but if I could speak with you for a few moments, Roxy? In private? You could bring me up to speed on what I need to know, and then I'll just take it from there. Gotta make sure when Sean gets back that we can make him proud, right?"
Roxy heard several people agreeing with Adam, and the smile he had on his face got even larger.
"If he thinks he's horning in on us," Daelyn muttered, "Maxwell and him are gonna have a loooong talk."
"Yeah," Roxy whispered back. "What do you say we nip this in the bud?"
"Girls," Roxy said, standing up, "why don't you all join me and Adam in my office? So we can tell him everything he needs to know to help us out."
"Awesome!" Adam said, still smiling. "I can't ask for anything more than that!"
Roxy rolled her eyes and led them all out the back of the house, across the small open area, into the building she had her office in. Opening the door, she strode in and around to the back of her desk.
Turning around, she nodded at Jolene, who closed the door as Peg, Cali, Roberta, and Daelyn—who was fingering her hammer—stood around him and looked at him.
"Listen, I don't know who..." Roxy started but Adam interrupted her.
"Can anyone hear us in here?" Adam asked, looking at her with furrowed brows.
"No! Like I'd let anyone see us reading you the...!" Roxy stopped as Adam suddenly just dropped into one of the chairs and gave a heavy sigh.
"Thank god," Adam sighed, and then shook his head. "I'd hoped to meet all of you in private first. Look," Adam said, "I'm here because you needed somebody. You needed a lion who could look good, put on a bold front, and tell people what they want to hear and shake their hand.
"I'm not here because I know anything about fighting a war; I don't. I also suck at leadership."
"Wait, what?" Daelyn said, looking at him dumbfounded. "If you can't do any of that stuff, why in the hell are ya' here?"
Adam snorted. "Because they could spare me?"
"Then what good are you?" Peg asked.
Adam sighed and stood up, then he smiled and suddenly looked the complete picture of leonine confidence.
"Why hello there, Peg. Have I told you just how many times Sean has talked to me about you? And all those wonderful things he's said? Why I tell you, your Sean is a real lucky man to have you!"
Peg blinked. "What are you, a politician?"
Adam frowned. "Now, now. There's no need for insults. I'm a con man!" He grinned and then frowned. "And they told me to get my ass up here and con everyone into thinking that they'd sent you one of their best." Then he dropped back down into the chair.
"There are lion con men?" Jolene said, blinking.
Adam shrugged and smiled a little lopsidedly. "I'm an F3, all the good jobs were taken."
"What's this F3?" Cali asked.
"Third generation. The First and his littermates are the F1s. Both of my parents weren't F1's, so I'm like the least powerful. I'm also one of the youngest; I was ten when the die-off happened, so?" Adam shrugged. "Wine, women, and a lot of song. Which as you know, doesn't come cheap."
"Oh, great," Roxy sighed and dropped into her chair. "We ask for help, and they send us Cal Worthington."
"Who?" Cali asked.
"Famous used car salesman," Roberta whispered back.
"I don't know," Peg said, "I felt it when he was putting the moves on me there. I mean, I've seen some good ones and heard a lot of great lines..."
"Try me," Jolene said.
"Huh?" Adam said, blinking.
"Schmooze me, like you just did with Peg, but I wanna feel the full effect."
"Umm, you sure? You know Sean will kill me for anything even close to hitting on you, don't you? If the First doesn't get his hands on me before then."
"Get up and give it your best shot, Adam," Roxy growled. "Jo's a mind mage. If anyone can gauge your power, she can."
Sighing, Adam got back on his feet and took a deep breath, and then just like that, he looked all suave and cool again.
"Hey there, sexy," he said with a soft deep voice. "Sean told me you know how alllll the muscles work. Now don't you worry yourself, little honey, we'll have ole Sean back to you and putting you through your paces in no time!"
Jolene took a step back and blinked. "Whoa. He's good, I actually felt that."
"Well of course I'm good!" Adam said and grinned. "I'm a lion! I've probably bagged more gals in bed than anyone else out there! Even the First! If it's cheap and easy! I've been sleazy! Good thing we can't catch VD, or I'd have died of that more times than I've been killed by jealous husbands!"
Roxy shook her head, but couldn't help but grin at that.
"Okay, so we know he can hit on girls. Why is that important?" Roberta asked.
"Because we need a figurehead, we need someone to convince the politicos and the other lycan leaders that we've got this under control. We already have Chad and Maitland on the military front, and the rest of us have been handling most everything else."
Adam nodded. "That's pretty much what the First was thinking when he told me to get my ass up here. You tell me what to say, and I'll go out there and say it. Everyone sees this big buff handsome lion out there with all the answers, and they figure that even though Sean's gone, we're still gonna win this
thing."
"Wait a moment," Roxy said frowning. "If you can still talk to the First, why can't you talk to Sean? I mean, isn't he still in his head or something?"
Adam shook his head. "No. When Sean went through the gateway, the First got kicked out. He's no longer connected to Sean."
"Then how do you know Sean's still alive?" Jolene asked, suddenly nervous.
"Because he's not in the lion realm. We can tell he's still connected to it, so if he was dead, he'd be there."
"But..."
Adam held up his hand. "I'm not the one to be asking any of those questions. I've lived a very shallow and enjoyable life. Dealing with things like that requires a lot more scholarship than I'm capable of."
"We need to take him to see Arthur and Joseph," Roberta said.
"Why?" Roxy asked.
"If he can get by those two, he can get by anyone. Consider it a test fire. He passes that, he's good, and we do like he said."
"What if I don't pass?" Adam asked.
"You get to go looking for Sean," Roberta said with a nasty smile, "personally."
"Damn, Sampson was right about you!" Adam grumbled.
"You know Sampson?"
"Well, yeah, he's my dad."
"He's very disappointed in you, isn't he?" Daelyn snickered.
"That reminds me, I need a couple of girlfriends."
"What?" Roxy said. "Why?"
"Because if I don't have them, everyone is going to think I've picked up for Sean in the bedroom along with everywhere else." Adam shuddered then. "You have no idea just how pissed off my Mom will get if she thinks I did something like that."
"And of course, Sean would kill you," Roxy said with a nod. "Okay, Jo and I will go over there with you tomorrow. Dae, you're driving." Roxy looked at the clock. "We got a good six hours to go over how to deal with them, and fill you in on a few other things."
"Who are we gonna fix him up with?" Daelyn asked.
"Oh, don't worry, I know just the person," Roxy said with an evil grin.
It's Never Been Like That
