Red Skies

by Jan Stryvant

  "Ahem," Sean said, and they all looked back at him. He couldn't help but notice that some of them had very surprised expressions on their faces.

  "I'm a magic user," Sean said and then simply conjured a ball of fire to appear floating above his hand. "So by the treaty, I can pretty much do whatever the hell I want here tonight. I suggest you keep that in mind as the night progresses."

  "But you can't be a magic user!" Lewis blurted out.

  Sean looked at her. "Why not?"

  "Because you're one of them!" She nodded at one of the werewolves.

  Sean laughed and shook his head. "I'm not exactly one of 'them', as you put it. I'm not a werewolf."

  "But you are a lycan!"

  Sean nodded. "Yes, I am. I'm also a magic user, and have been since long before I became a lycan. But we'll come back to that."

  Sean looked around the room again and dismissed his ball of flame. "Now, as I revealed before, the five I mentioned had been possessed by demons."

  "I find that hard to believe!" Markston rebutted.

  Sean sighed and shook his head. "Scheckley, Conway, did either of those men ever strike you as the type to murder someone in cold blood and then just hide their bodies in their own homes?"

  "What, what happened to him?" Scheckley asked in a soft voice.

  "Well, it's nice to see somebody cares." Sean sighed and then shook his head. "We're not sure exactly how it came about. Conway's friend Jared was taken first. After that, the thing that took over after it had taken control of him took your friend, then the others."

  "But, why?" Warden asked.

  "Because in the next few months the United States—hell, all of North America, as I understand it—is going to become the front line in a war, as the demons invade in an attempt to conquer this plane."

  "You're insane!" Markston said.

  Sean shifted into his lion hybrid form then, and snarled, causing them all to flinch.

  "No, I'm the emissary of the lions, the gods who created the lycans, and I've really had just about enough of your shit. The president is on board; he's seen what's going on, after a member of his cabinet was suborned by a devil and tried to murder him!"

  "Walker?" Warden asked and then swore softly when Sean nodded. Conway and Scheckley suddenly turned very pale.

  "Why, why didn't he attack us?" Conway asked. "Joe and I met with him often."

  "Because the building the Congress meets in is warded against most devils and demons. If you were possessed, you'd never be able to set foot in there again."

  "But Walker was able to go inside!"

  "Walker wasn't possessed, he went willingly." Sean growled, "Walker was a traitor. Now," Sean continued, "I want to know why the hell you're still trying to overturn the president's executive order? The people pressuring you are dead; I should know, I killed them. We have more than enough dirt on you, why are you still in league with demons?"

  They all started talking then, and Sean just let them run as he listened. It took them a couple of minutes to organize themselves, without consciously seeming to do so. It was a fascinating display of a group of politicians all working together to try and sell someone a load of bullshit. Their excuses all came down, eventually, to having to toe the party line now that it was set, and staying true to the people they represent, and how they really weren't being bribed.

  "Enough," Sean sighed and raised his hand. "I get it, it's politics and you're all a lot more worried about your own skin than the country or the people you're hired to represent.

  "Well, guess what? That's all about to change. Tomorrow, you're all going to start talking to the press and tell them that, after further consideration, you've had a change of heart, or that you were mistaken; sell it anyway you want to, I don't care. But you're going to tell everyone that not only are you no longer opposing the president's order, you're going to introduce a bill on Monday that explicitly backs the president's order and makes it law.

  "Understand?"

  "Oh yes!"

  "Exactly!"

  "I promise you, I'll do it!"

  They all agreed, one after the other, until Markston spoke up loudly.

  "You can't seriously believe I'm going to listen to a crazy man who kidnapped me!"

  Sean couldn't help himself, he laughed.

  "Senator Markston, thank you for your honesty. Damn, I know the others are all lying to me," Sean noticed several of them looked embarrassed then, "but let me be one hundred percent honest with you, as you've earned that, at least, for being honest with me.

  "I'm not asking any of you, I'm ordering you. As a lion, as a god of the lycans. As your god."

  "But we're not lycans!" Lewis blurted out.

  Sean smiled slowly and looked up at the eight werewolves who were standing, one each, behind the chairs.

  "Bite 'em!" he ordered.

  #

  Steve was on the floor laughing, having fallen out of his chair, while Terri, Roxy, Jolene, and Daelyn looked at him very unappreciatively. Peg was snickering, loudly, behind her hand. Sean had just told them about last night's little meeting, finishing up with what he'd done to them.

  "I don't see what the issue is, we had a problem and I solved it," Sean said with a frown. "Now they have to do what we tell them to. They have no choice. I've taken the bill Steve had drafted up, gave it to them, and told them they either do as I told them to, or come Monday, I expect them to leave public office immediately and go live in the woods as a hermit."

  "Really, now!" Roxy complained. "You turned that bunch of scum into wolves?"

  Sean shrugged. "I can't waste any more time fighting this their way. So I just changed the rules."

  "You mean you cheated!" Steve laughed.

  "Did one of the other lions tell you to do this?" Daelyn asked.

  "Like that 'First' guy you have to take orders from," Jolene added. "This almost sounds like something he would do."

  Sean shook his head. "Nope. I came up with this one on my own. But they all agreed with me, after I'd decided it was the right move. We have a war coming; we need to get everyone ready for it.

  "I mean, think of all the things we've done, things I've done." Sean grimaced as he spoke. "I didn't kill anybody last night; I didn't even ruin their lives. Yeah, I made them into werewolves. Yes, they'll have to do whatever I or one of the other lions tells them to. Oh, how terrible. It's not like these folks were shining beacons of morality. There's a reason the demons went after these particular folks, and I suspect it's because they could be bought."

  Roxy sighed. "Still, I find it a bit galling that the very people who were trying to keep as second-class citizens, or worse, are now one of us."

  "But that's what makes it so funny!" Steve said, still laughing. "They're now the very people they wanted to keep down! They're the targets of their own ignorance! It's classic! And the best part about it is, if they don't fix it, and fix it now, when they're finally exposed, they'll be run out of office! They're gonna work harder on this than they did on getting elected in the first place!"

  Peg smiled and nodded. "I bet you a year from now, they'll be using the fact that they're lycans and that they took this brave stand for all lycans as part of their re-election strategy."

  "Without a doubt!" Steve agreed, still chuckling as he got to his feet. "Who'd you make their alpha?"

  "Granite," Sean told him.

  "How much does he hate you?"

  "A lot." Sean sighed and shook his head. "It wasn't the fairest thing to do to him, but I needed someone at the top of the organization, or their egos would have been hurt. I would have picked you, but you're both new to this, and you're not wolves."

  "Thank god we dodged that bullet!" Terri sighed.

  "So what are your plans now?" Steve asked, getting up off the floor.

  Sean looked at Roxy, Jolene, Daelyn, and Peg, and smiled.

  "Well, I sorta promised my mom that we'd have a wedding after we finished with Mexico, and guess what? We're finished with Mexico."


  Roxy got to him first, but only because she was the fastest. To say that the girls approved would have been a massive understatement.

  "So we're going home?" Roxy asked when they finally let him come up for air.

  Sean nodded; he was on his back on the floor, he'd lost his sense of balance at some point during their little bout of glee.

  "So you're just going to leave me and Granite to deal with those congressmen?" Steve asked, sounding a bit concerned.

  Sean shook his head. "They're sending another lion here, actually a lioness, to take over handling them, and to help you out with your work."

  "They're sending someone to help?" Roxy asked.

  "About damn time," Daelyn grumbled.

  "Yeah, her name is Tisha; she's cute as hell, looks to be eighteen, but is actually about ten thousand years old."

  Terri gulped. "Did you say Ten thousand?"

  "Yup, the number that follows after nine. So don't let the 'cute naive girl' act fool you, she's none of that."

  Steve shook his head. "Didn't they have anyone younger? Less experienced? More gullible? Easy to manipulate? You know, like you?" Steve asked Sean while grinning at him.

  "Nope, fresh out, Buddy. So you'll just have to make do. But don't worry; I've warned her extensively about you. So she knows when there's a problem, she's to call me first, rather than trying to take you on herself so she doesn't get fleeced."

  Steve sighed. "Just make sure you invite us to the wedding, and have it on the weekend so we can be there."

  Sean nodded. "I will, don't worry."

  Just Gazin'

  "Sean, what are you doing in here?" Louise asked, walking into Sean's shop, where he was currently finishing up another tag machine.

  "I'm hiding," Sean told her.

  "You? Hiding? From who?"

  Sean snorted. "Who do you think? They're going crazy in there. I told them I'd wear whatever they gave me to wear, and suffer through whatever kind of ceremony they all decided on. Other than that, I want nothing to do with any of their insanity."

  "Oh, come on now, Sean, really!"

  "Mother," Sean sighed, "I was asked to pick which shade of white I like the most, from a selection of twenty-six shades of white that all looked the same to me. I'd go in there and put my foot down and make them behave, but I was warned against it."

  "Oh? By who?"

  "The other lions, and that specifically includes the lionesses. The threats of what they'd do to me if I messed up the girls' fun were interesting, as well as epic."

  Louise laughed. "You're kidding me!"

  Sean shook his head. "Nope. Lions are into weddings. Don't be surprised if a slew of them suddenly show up at the last minute. I'm actually starting to suspect that several lionesses have been calling the girls up and giving them suggestions to 'help' them out."

  "Why would they do that?" Louise asked, giving Sean a curious look.

  "Because I'm considered 'royalty'."

  "What? How'd that happen?"

  "I'm the adopted son of the head lion, Mom. So I get all the fun that goes with it."

  "Well, that was nice of him."

  "He didn't adopt me, Mom; I adopted him, and well," Sean shook his head and grinned foolishly, "it stuck."

  "Sean! You didn't!" Louise laughed.

  "I like him, actually; I think we kinda grew on each other. So, have they at least decided on a time and a place yet?" Sean asked.

  "Saturday, so everyone can be there. Sometime after sunset, as well, so it won't be too hot."

  "I guess that means we're outside?" Sean asked.

  "They were a bit worried about how many people are going to show up. So it's going to be a big building that opens at one end."

  "So, Claudia's?"

  Louise smiled at him, "They're worried that might not be big enough."

  Sean put down the piece he was working on and looked up at his mother. "Where are we having the wedding?"

  "In a hanger," Louise admitted.

  "A hanger? At an airport?" Sean shook his head. "Whatever."

  "At least it's nearby."

  "Wait, the only place nearby..."

  Louise nodded. "The Reno-Stead airport, on the National Guard side."

  "We're having a wedding at a military base?" Sean blinked. "How in the hell did they manage that?"

  "Well," Louise looked a little embarrassed, "the president did accept his invitation, and everyone thought that would make security the easiest."

  "Mom! They invited the president?"

  "He did seem like such a nice man, and he seems to like you..."

  "This was just supposed to be a nice, simple, enjoyable wedding! Dammit! I'm gonna..."

  'Don't even think about it, Son. There are half a dozen lionesses out there, and they'll lynch you in a heartbeat if you even try.'

  Sean could tell the First was laughing at him.

  Sean shook his head and sat back down. "Mother, could you please lock the door on the way out? I think I've just decided to become a hermit."

  "Oh, it won't be that bad, Sean."

  "Maybe, maybe not. But in any case, you can tell them that the groom is incommunicado until the wedding. Well, except for Uncle Maitland, I still want him to teach me the basics of Faerie magic so I can figure out how the enchantments on these swords work."

  "I'll be sure to let him know you want to talk to him," Louise said and, coming over, she gave her son a hug. "Don't fret so much, Sean. Every girl wants a big, fancy wedding, and you've got six of them, so you shouldn't be surprised that it got a little out of hand."

  "It hardly sounds like 'a little', Mom."

  "For most people, it wouldn't be. But for my son," Louise smiled, "I'm honestly not sure it'll be big enough."

  Sean hugged her back. "Thanks, Mom. I'll get through it."

  Less than an hour later, Maitland showed up.

  "You wanted to see me, Sean?"

  "Ah! Yes! I've been going through the enchantments on one of the swords, and honestly, I'm having a hell of a time figuring out the magic."

  Maitland smiled. "How far have you gotten?"

  " I figured out enough of one to realize it's supposed to balance energy levels throughout the length of the sword, though for the life of me, I can't figure out how it works, or what those big blank spaces are in the spell."

  Maitland nodded. "Why'd you start with that one?"

  Sean shrugged. "I just picked one at random, I wasn't able to tell what any of them did. To me, they're just a bunch of spells sitting there."

  "You picked a good one to start with. The 'empty' spaces, as you call them, are reservoirs. Their purpose is to hold the energy the blade absorbs as it strikes any magical or enchanted artifact."

  "So they're batteries?"

  Maitland shook his head. "We don't do things the way the humans do. A reservoir is nothing but a big, empty space that power flows into and out of. The rate at which the power flows is controlled by the size of the pathways. Otherwise, like water, it tends to find an equilibrium."

  "That makes sense," Sean agreed. "But how do you create these spaces? To me, they just look like large null areas."

  "You don't, they're already there."

  Sean looked at him. "Huh?"

  "How do you create a reservoir?"

  "You build a dam."

  "And if there isn't a river there?"

  Sean shrugged. "Build something like a pool."

  "Exactly, you're not building what goes in the center, the actual reservoir, you're building what goes around it, what holds it in."

  "Then why doesn't it show up like that in the spell?"

  "Because, my Nephew, Faerie spells are based off of geography. We're a people of lands and maps, pathways and directions. We don't view spells as a series of steps that take place to create a desired result. We view them as a place, and we build everything on that place. Our spells are tied to the shape of the object, the way the things that make up the physical object are tied together."

>   "So they're like a painting? Or better yet, a model?"

  "That's an interesting way to think about it," Maitland said, cocking his head and considering what Sean had said. He then picked up the sword lying on Sean's workbench.

  "This sword is made in a specific manner. At its core it's a regular sword, though the minerals used are a bit more complicated than your usual iron. Once it's complete, we put several layers of other compounds over the base.

  "But once that's finished, we take the sword and thread our magical spells through it, on each of the different layers, the spells on each layer with a specific geography across that layer, which, when joined to the others as they're stacked on top and fit together, provide the functions we want."

  "So each layer, or spell, by itself doesn't work. They have to all be stacked one atop the other to work?"

  Maitland nodded. "But they have to be crafted so that, as they stack on the different layers of the sword, they 'match up'. Some parts of the spell will lie on similar parts of other spells on the other layers so they can interact properly."

  "So it's like a multilayer computer motherboard!" Sean said, dropping into his chair.

  "A what?" Maitland looked at him.

  "It's the main part of a computer," Sean told him. "Much of it is fairly simple, but it's done in layers, which are then sandwiched together so they can do hard things using simple methods and techniques. But if you don't put them together the right way, it won't work."

  "Ah!" Maitland said and nodded. "Just so! Most of our magical spells and enchantments really are fairly simple, it's how you place them and stack them that matters."

  "Cool! So how soon can you teach them to me?"

  Maitland looked at Sean in surprise. "Why would you want to learn?"

  "Because the wedding is on Saturday, it's Wednesday, and I need to do something to keep my mind off the insanity of my wives planning our wedding."

  Maitland laughed. "That's as good a reason as any, I guess. But I don't know how much I can teach you in just a few days."

  Sean shrugged. "I have a very unorthodox method for casting magic. Yours seems equally strange. If nothing else, it'll be fun."

  Maitland nodded and recalled that Sean had apparently taught himself how to cast and enchant in an incredibly short span of time. "Then let's get started.