UC:Fates Act5 Part3
“And the rest of the daughters of Yemel, the Kimer, are to be bound as the others are. We have no real concern for the boys, or the girls out of the correct age range.”
“I...” Thomson says stunned.
“Never!” Kimer shouts.
“If this is the price of empire, then I Barbara of Kimer accept.”
“If this be the price all our survivals, then I Lauren of Kimer accept.”
“There is no choice Clan Mother.” The third girl says trembling, “I must accept as well. So long as my keeper can be Marc, my childhood and closest male friend, then I Sara of Kimer also accept.”
“Why?” Thomson and Kimer both demand.
“Because war is here. Donalson reaches for Dest. If, when, Dest falls, they march on Michelson which will mean them fighting with or merging with us.” Sara states. “I am sure my cousins would agree this is necessary.”
“Also,” Barbara says with a smile, “So long as we are collar bound we are safe. Even if the Legents clean house in our clans, say because you decide to seek the Blood Seed for yourselves to defend your homes or lands, they won’t touch the possessions of the Hearth Holders. Yet, if they clean the hearth holders house for some reason, it will not spill back onto you. This isolates and protects us both.”
“You are people not property.” Kimer interjects angrily.
“Mother Kimer, this is the price of empire. Do you honestly think it is coincidence that both surviving threads of Emel are currently all girls. Even we know that bomb on the lake was intended for the peace summit between the Familydoms when the combined Donalson Dest Kallows alliance marched on Michelson. None of us are women yet, none of us are mature, if this had happened on time, as the bomb in your house tokens would have timed it, we would just be mature, barely adult if we had already graduated.”
“That would have put us all fresh adults trying on the power of Blood Seed out of necessity, that can’t be coincidence. If leashing us now prevents even part of that, we are a small price to pay. Our mothers can after all have more daughters and they can have more children in our stead.”
“But you have done nothing wrong.” Kimer yells.
“Yet they grasp what you do not.” Legent Amina says entering.
“They see the price of empire for what it is.” Legent Anna states flatly following her.
“We know now that the attack you fear would have started with all of you girls of Emel a few years from Majority.” Legent Amina says sadly.
“The war would have reached your shores as you reached Majority.” Legent Anna continues, “The legacy of Kimer would have been revealed in desperation and war, with no time to prepare, that power, so promising, so tempting, would have killed you all, destroying the last vestiges of hope. Also ending the resistance to Donalson so they could inherit the lands intact and so profit.”
“The only reason Nicole survived her first usage of Blood Seed is because of the training done to her mind and body by the Hearth Holders. Without that center and learning of self control, she would have immolated herself. Yen should have died, yet the bindings of the Hearth Son were as strong as the call of death so now she stands between.” Legent Amina says sadly. “Sien is bound as well and the children are correct. Even if you summon the BloodSeed yourselves Mothers of Yemel and Kimer, then lost yourselves in it and we were to clean house, we would not reduce the possessions of the Hearth Son.”
“They are our daughters, not someone’s property.” Kimer says flatly.
“The Hearth Son is going to do whatever he does, impeding him will only bring you pain. He is already stronger than you are Mothers of Yemel and Kimer. His strength is growing by the moon and may come to match the Blood Lords by the last moon of the year. Yet he is in many ways still a child in spirit. He does not yet comprehend the import of the power he wields, has not looked beyond his own horizons.” Legent Amina says softly.
“The Hearth Daughter is the only reason we haven’t interfered yet.” Legent Anna says just as softly while looking them over, “As for him? His knowledge grows faster than his comprehension. She keeps him in check when he pushes too far, too fast. It is the risk of losing those he is responsible for that holds him back from pushing further and faster. She provides him the balance that keeps him sane.”
“The Hearth Daughter sent Nicole and Yen out as equal parts reward and punishment. They were to be her eyes and ears, they were not intended or equipped to fight. The Hearth Holders will ensure that their tools are equipped to fight now. What they did, what they can do now, is just a by product of the Hearth Son binding them, not something he intended at all.”
“Releasing the Blood Seed was an accident?” Kimer asks in a whisper.
“He edges toward understanding what it is, hence potentially giving the full power of a Blood Queen to a male, undiminished.”
“That would be in the words one of our historians and advisor, ungood.” Yemel gasps.
“Yes.” Legent Amina replies sadly, “It was the emergence of a true in his own right Blood King that prompted us to act before.”
“So what you are really saying Legents.” Kimer begins, “Is that you may, if you must, clean our houses if we get out of hand, or you may clean his house, but you will not clean all unless all are involved?”
“Yes.” Legent Anna replies sadly, “Assuming the move happens in isolation, you may lose one or the other, but you won’t lose both. Your house, the Yemel, have kept their words and their bonds. Though you the Yemel have kept the knowledge alive through your oral traditions, you have not striven for the forbidden fruit. Beware of passing on what you keep, beware of not. To share is to pass on that responsibility, to hold it is to ensure its loss if something happens to you.”
“We are your insurance and your sacrifice Clan Mother.” Lauren tells her.
“What are they asking her now?” Lucas asks Brenhar who is listening in to Brenna being questioned by her kidnappers for the seventh straight day.
“They’re back on how many nights a week do you take her from the Captain of my guard.”
“How many local spies have we located now?” Lucas asks.
“From watching the comings and going when and where you said to.” The head of the peace keepers for the Capitol, Colonel Sortes answers, “We have identified thirty three individuals reporting to the same individuals who took Brenna.”
“I can’t believe Donalson has so many people reporting in.” Brenhar says horrified, “Some of those people’s families have been here for generations.”
“I just wish we had a better idea of the interior of the building where Brenna is being held for the assault on the traitors.” Colonel Sortes observes.
“Do I have permission Lucas?” Brenhar asks.
“Can we drop this? You are the Heir, do your job.” Lucas replies annoyed.
“Thank you dear, I just wanted to be sure.” Brenhar laughs.
“Colonel come here.” Brenhar says a moment later.
“Yes my lady?” He replies as he moves to her reclining chair unable to not stare as she wipes herself below.
“Put your head where I can reach it, lower your personal shields and close your eyes.”
“My lady?” He asks.
“Just humor me.”
“Yes ma’am.” He answers hesitantly though he complies.
“This may tingle.” Brenhar tells him and he has a fleeting impression of the white bliss of humblement before he is back.
“Kind of.” Colonel Sortes answers sitting as his balance fails for a moment.
“Now close your eyes and concentrate on Brenna.” Brenhar tells him.
“Yes ma’am.” He answers her after taking a moment to study the effects the obvious effort had on her.
“Envision yourself sitting in a chair with your hands bound behind your back and focus on the phantom tug you will feel.”
“Wow.” He whispers in awe a moment later as he sees what Brenna sees, “How?”
“Seed Magic.” Brenhar answers, “I used a trace of my seed Magic on you to link you to Brenna so you can see, hear and feel what she does.”
“See, hear and feel?”
“Yes.”
“This will take some getting used to. How long will this last?”
“A day, two, five at most.”
“Incredible, I can see them. I know some of these voices, no wonder you have played this so close to the vest, some of those men work in this very building.”
“Make good use of that gift.” Brenhar says sitting back tired, “And say nothing to anyone about it, under no circumstances can you tell anyone. That secret is worth more than many lives.”
“Yes ma’am.” Colonel Sortes smiles, “I know just the way to make use of this.”
“We received word to get home.” Lisa tells Charles where they are resting in Dest.
“What’s up?”
“Some kind of a summit.” Lisa answers miffed, “They wouldn’t say more. They are waiting on us in Ericson.”
“Do we have a home there yet or are we still using that big barn where you used to store things and play?”
“I like that barn.” Lisa whines in obvious play.
“How is Lucas’s experiment going?” He asks changing the subject before he loses.
“Well, but he let it get kidnapped.”
“Why?”
“I think he wanted to identify all the agents of Donalson he could.”
“They let him play spy because as an outsider he could innocently investigate or accuse anyone?”
“The Mothers are getting devious.”
“About time.”
“Yes.” The man said looking up from his desk when King Donalson walked in.
“We have located the Land Mothers Thomson, Michelson, Kelsini and Yasan.”
“Finally. There is little time to strike before the solstice.”
“Then we are in luck. They are all in Ericson, we can strike in four or five days.”
“The Hearth Holders are on their way home, they arrive in four days.” The man replied to King Donalson, “Attacking after they reach home would be insane.”
“They are just two people, no matter how strong, they are not Legents.”
“King Donalson,” The man says with patience and a knowing grin, “There are worse things than Blood Seed or a Blood Lord, or even a Blood Queen. Go ask your advisors from the Kallows what it means that he is now the father of two children that he gave on purpose at a time and place of his choosing.”
“They have spoken of it. They whisper darkly about lost arts.”
“Ask them to spell out their fears.”
“They have refused.”
“What have they told you about what was done to Irena?”
“More whispers. They know it was Blood Seed, but they have whispered darkly about something being different about even that.”
“What of the Wipe traders? Have they done anything suspicious?”
“No.” King Donalson answers, “They just want to be gone. They heard about an underground market here for such, but as closely as they have been guarded, contact has been impossible for them.”
“The boy in charge, what of him?”
“Young man really, he appears young but it is just a charm. He has two women, they also appear to be little more than girls, but that is also a charm, and both are Seed Magic controlled. The work is amateurish, but thorough, they are well and truly bound to him. The older one was obviously done first, it is more heavily laced in her and she has little real awareness beyond his bed. The younger one is fully aware, she knows she is bound and controlled.”
“Interesting.” He replied, “She knows she is controlled?”
“Yes. My guess, and of several of my analysts, is that he took over after something happened to the old owners. Given what happened with one of the old guards trying to kill him, it might have been an attempt to take over by force.”
“Likely, however has anyone asked how he knew how to use Seed Magic like that on someone still aware?”
“Sien, the younger one who is aware of being bound explained that.”
“She did?” He asked.
“Yes. She was a book keeper on contract for debt. She had to accept the boy binding her on his uncle’s orders or be restricted to the Uncles place in Ariza. The uncle bought her loan debt from a private financial institution. Apparently she had taken a loan to start a sewing house, then after her business collapsed when trade our direction began drying up year before last, she went broke.”
“She allowed herself to be Seed Bound to get out?”
“His uncle likes variety, and likes it interactive if you understand my meaning.” King Donalson answered with a grimace followed by a knowing grin.
“So he practiced on the first, then bound her? With her coerced consent?”
“Yes and yes.”
“Begin allowing some leakage, messenger boys for the houses or other traders and the like. Let them trade somewhat, but keep careful track of who they talk with, it is still possible they are spies for Dest.” The man ordered.
“Unlikely.”
“Agreed, yet why did they come here of all places after Dest?”
“She answered that by accident.”
“She did, how?”
“They heard about the underground market for wipes in the illicit houses here.”
“I understand now.” The man laughed, “They make much profit making it easier to buy her way out of binding, and his Seed Magic will protect her from being taken by accident. Wise, then it would appear the idea to come here came from her, not him.”
“We traced the shop she opened.” King Donalson said with a grin, “The uncle took it over, if she manages to buy her freedom it goes with her, she could get released anytime by giving up interest in the shop. He staffs it with Wipes he is storing, or who have lost their looks. Low volume, but good work.”
“Offer to buy the wipe Irena.”
“We did, they offered a trade. Said if she really was a palace wipe, they wanted nothing to do with her so they offered to trade her. They figured if we were interested, they could get fed while here and some extra guards in exchange for simply signing her over to us.”
“Unanticipated. They want extra guards?”
“Said they wanted them so no one here would try to accost them looking for information on Dest they don’t have.”
“Rotate the trusted men out, replace them with bribable then watch the men and them, I want to see what happens when they realize how closely they are not watched now.”
“I know just the unit to use, and I can tell anyone who questions me that I am looking for a present to present to someone.”
“Seriously sir.” One of his men asked Colonel Sortes, “How do you have this good of a layout on the kidnappers lair?”
“Trade secret of being an officer.” Sortes laughed.
“No, seriously sir, how?”
“I can’t tell you. The source is above my pay grade, I was only informed because this operation effects other ongoing operations in the city.”
“Other operations?”
“There are several other operations underway, though none that require an assault.”
“Where?” The first speaker asked firmly then paused as he and Colonel Sortes both grunted in shock and pain. Sortes as he felt his mind attacked from a dozen directions at once, his main attacker as he abruptly paled when the attacks failed.
“What is the mean...” Colonel sortes is demanding reeling from shock then stops cold when the crossbow bolt stops his thoughts forever.
“What was that for?” The first speaker demanded, “We needed him humbled.”
“It wasn’t going to work.” The shooter said defensively.
“I was trying again.”
“So were several of us, it wasn’t working.”
“Lucas!” Brenhar yelled so he would hear her in the study.
“Yes dear.” He answered laughingly, “I would be happy to get you something to drink.”
“Later. Colonel Sortes is dead.”
“What? How?”
“Over in the Tactical offices of City Security and unless the building collapsed on him, that Coup attempt you have been suspecting either has or is about to begin.”
“Now what?”
“Now we thank Chaos that the Hearth Daughter is a paranoid bitch.”
“You know, the longer this goes on, the less paranoid I’m thinking she is and the more I am thinking she just has better foresight.”
“My Mothers decided that a long time ago.”
“So how does this play out?”
“I am going to be a good Heir and protect my child, you are going to be a good Consort and protect my Familydom.”
“Look, we both know I’m token.”
“The Upper House named you my regent if I’m incapacitated, do it.”
“Are you nuts? That’s a coup.”
“I’ll inform the Upper House and seal this place. Go save my people,” Brenhar pleaded, “please.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, Go!” Brenhar says smiling though tears ran.
“I’ll tell them I am humbling you to keep the stress on the baby down.”
“That’ll give me a free hand with Brenna.”
“Brenhar of Michelson.” Lucas starts in formally.
“No Lucas.” Brenhar shouts desperately, “Trust me, it may be better strategically, but politically and tactically I must remain collared. You know strategy and I bow to your knowledge of that, but this is politics.”
“My job is to have this child, your job is to ensure that I live to have it. No one can know the true source of the power.” She continues coldly.
“But I’ll have to use Brenna as a weapon.” Lucas replies just as coldly.
“I’ll be there, I won’t fight a thing. Even if something happens to me, my people will live and so will my body and hence my child, all else is secondary.”
“Nobody in, nobody out until I return.” Lucas orders the guards as he leaves.
“Mirror,” Brenhar says watching Lucas’s retreating back, “I would speak to the upper house.”
“One moment please.”
“Excuse me.” A messenger says poking his head into the meeting chamber of King Donalson and the man who guides him.
“Yes.”
“The coup in Michelson just kicked off.”
“Why?” The man demanded.
“We don’t know much yet, but what we do have indicates that half a bell after they had gotten the last of the information we needed from the body double, Brenna. Colonel Sortes was meeting with the assault teams of the city peace keepers when something happened.”
“A half bell?”
“Just enough time for...” The man observes then stops with surprise on his face, “Tell them to decapitate the snake.”
“They already are. The Heir Primus is secluded, her personal guard unit are with her in chambers and they are simply killing anyone who approaches without prior arrangement.”
“Then who is running the counter coup?”
“The Consort. He has assumed his role as Brenhar’s regent due to her incapacitation. Being as she is with child, her priority is the survival of the child, so he is acting for her.”
“How are the defenders handling that?” King Donalson asked with a laugh.
“Well apparently.”
“What?” Both men ask stunned.
“There was concern about him being cuckolded, but a fort or so ago he killed a woman in court who was convicted of killing a pregnant woman.”
“Ruthless.”
“The worst part was he did it while the woman’s husband was watching, then cut her palm to prove she was dead, blood pooled but did not flow.”
“As I said.” The man said, “Ruthless.”
“After the husband had left his wife’s body because the Consort told him if he ever saw him again he would kill him as well, the woman got up screaming about what had happened while she lay dead.”
“Ok, so they will follow him.” King Donalson said white faced.
“Are you done with me yet?” Brenhar asked through Brenna as painful lessons of precision and power at the Hearth Son and Daughters hands morphed her shields to push the angry men around her away.
“Crazy bitch.” One of them yelled pulling a knife and Brenhar felt a click in her mind, then she was free to act, to do whatever it took to preserve her child.
“Once upon a time, yes.” Brenna said standing as the chair she was tied to crumbled from shields used to cut rope and wood, “I’m not as crazy as I once was though.” She continued on speaking, watching the men try to find a way around the shields she was projecting around herself as for the first time in her life Brenhar really pushed herself. Not the push in the fight at the school not anticipating a real fight, but pushed knowing she could feel death here if it came to that. It wouldn’t kill her exactly if Brenna died, but she would feel it all the same and she wasn’t looking forward to that, especially since it might affect the baby and that realization started another process deep in her mind.
“Sound the alarm.” One man yelled as he ran for a doorway.
“Too late.” Brenhar said calmly while in her head a series of locks holding knowledge and theory bound against an uncertain future released.
“What in Chaos name?” A man demanded and Brenhar started there.
“Goodbye.” She said watching him crumple dead as for the first time in her life, Magic flowed in her eyesight.
“No wonder.” She continued mumbling while ignoring the men around mumbling as they struggled to breach her shields that were vastly stronger than they had any reason to suspect they might be, “It is obvious now how he did it, I was outclassed, hopelessly so.”
“If I hadn’t challenged him he might never have matured.” She observed calmly as she focussed on another man while using the power of the Michelson Vale for shields, unknowingly drawing on that ancient power. Deposited into by generation after generation of the trees her ancestors had seeded with there own seed, nurtured by their droppings; thus linked by blood to her line, it answered eagerly.
“You can die now.” She said grinning as she repeated Lucas’s trick from court again.
“So can you.” She said pointing at another after the first collapsed, then giggled watching them run away from her like scared rabbits as the second man fell, then more, and more, and more.
“Ok people.” Lucas shouted at the great hall, silencing the men and women collected therein. They represent all of the known loyal forces left in the castle. No one was sure how many they faced, but given that some of the people attacking them had been here for up to seven generations. Loyalties were being questioned everywhere, which had its desired effect of threatening to divide them, “I know why I’m here. I’m here to do everything humanly possible to keep the Heir Primus and her Child safe. I know I’m an outsider with a questionable title. What I want to know from you is do I help here or do I go kill people trying to kill my future wife?”
“How is it you are here with that questionable title you mentioned?” An older man in a general’s uniform asked.
“I am here in this Familydom with Brenhar because this is where the Hearth Daughter placed me. As for being in this place with my questionable title, talk to your upper house. My only question is do you want me here doing my purported job, or do I get to kill people?”
“How did she know this was coming?” He demanded.
“She didn’t. I’m here to ensure the life of Brenhar and her child. My orders from the Hearth Daughter are to preserve both, Brenhar tells me to preserve the child first.”
“Are you or are you not her keeper?”
“I am.”
“Then don’t you tell her what her priorities are?”
“Though I am her keeper, I would never unless I believed the mother represented an immediate danger, come between a mother and her child.”
“You keep saying her child, is it not yours?”
“The child she bears is the Hearth Son’s. She is collared for Intent to Kill, Collateral Murder, and for the return of the one she killed that the Hearth Son brought back.” Lucas answered wanting this situation under control but needing them understand where he stood as well.
“A lucky accident for them.”
“No accident. The Thomson Second Heir, Muren, is also with child, his again, on purpose.”
“Will the Heir Primus’ second child be yours then?” A man asks staring hard at Lucas, “I ask so that we actually know what we are fighting to preserve.”
“That is her and my wish both.”
“Then let us begin.” The general laughs, his mind made up, “With keeping you together, and alive.”
“There is what?” Land Mother Michelson demands of the messenger.
“There is a coup being attempted in Michelson, much as happened in Dest.”
“Is the Heir Primus safe?”
“Yes. The Consort is acting as her Regent, he basically locked her in her room with her guards and said to kill anyone who tries to open the door.”
“I am starting to wonder how qualified we all are to rule.” Thomson said sadly.
“If we can miss such as this in our own houses?” Michelson asked, “To miss it happening in Dest is one thing, I can understand that. To miss it at home though.”
“I hate to repeat history.” Thomson offered.
“Agreed.” Michelson quipped, “And I am beginning to wonder about that former heir of yours. Can we communicate down there?”
“There are mirrors aplenty, all of them clean. Each repaired by the Hearth Son personally and altered to show if someone could be listening in.”
“I am getting the idea that standing in front of the Hearth Daughter is like trying to stop a train by putting your hand up and ordering it to stop while standing on the tracks.” Kelsini asks.
“Yes.” Thomson agrees.
“Only hopeless.” Michelson quips as they adjourn to retreat to a secure location.
“I thought you said you had accounted for all the children of Yemel?” King Donalson demanded of the man while reading the latest dispatch from Michelson detailing Brenna’s escape by the fleeing survivors of it.
“I did. I have accounted for them all, including the line of Kimer I told you I discovered.”
“Then how did this body double Brenna kill my men with what looked like Blood Seed.” King Donalson demanded shoving the dispatch at the man, “Just like Lady Nicole of Dest, she laughed at them and they fell down dead.”
“Those shields are not Blood Seed,” He said after reading the dispatch, “That is the power of the Michelsons. There is no way she should be able to survive using that power, wait, this is Brenna not Brenhar, impossible, she is no blood of theirs, she can’t use that power, only the Michelsons can.”
“What power of the Michelsons?” King Donalson demands.
“An old project, not due to mature for another two centuries, even then they will require support to survive it.”
“What kind of power?”
“Something to keep the Blood Lords in check if they cropped up again.”
“It just killed over a dozen highly trained men. All armed with Magical and shielded Techist weapons, as well as they themselves being shielded in every manner we could.”
“Bring me everything you have on the Hearth Son.” The man demanded in a quiet voice.
“Why?” The messenger asked.
“I need it in three piles. What we know. What we think. Then what is giving the analysts nightmares that they have not even dared write down before this. I want their personal notes and questions.”
“What are you looking for?” King Donalson asked concerned by the fear he sees creeping into the Man’s face.
“I suspect you won’t need to worry about the coup much longer.”
“Why?”
“To quote out of context ‘Your men are already dead.’” He answered with hollow eyes looking at something no one else in the room could see, a moment long long ago when he had seen that very line used, as he finally understood what smith had really meant.
“This is a cozy place.” Kelsini remarked looking around the tomb of Lisa’s mother.
“How fares it?” Michelson asks the image appearing in the mirror.
“Good and bad Land Mother.”
“Titles later, answer me.”
“The regent Lucas is out with some men clearing the palace one wing at a time.”
“I thought he would be looking after the Heir Primus.”
“So did we. However, he decided that searching for attackers to end the attack instead was a better use of his time. This is big and a total surprise. It is obviously a long time in planning. Were it not for Lucas we would have no single focussed voice with you both, Land and House Mothers alike, in attendance there. Asking Brenhar to ride herd on the upper and lower houses through this when she is with child, especially as big as she has gotten so quickly, would have been too much, possibly led to too much dissention.”
“Who? As though I need to ask.”
“So far everything we have captured leads back to Dest.”
“It is false information you were intended to find.”
“That is our impression as well. The information is scattered the wrong way and all says the same thing, each place in it’s own way. We are not quite losing though, so far they control about half the palace security and the full fast response forces.”
“Any idea what happened yet?”
“Little, but I’m afraid I must take responsibility. After the meeting where Sien enforced truth I relaxed because we had located the traitor, a clan elder trying to preserve family.”
“There is no shame.” Michelson replied, “You will find this is a generational attack, you had no way of detecting it.”
“Then how did she?”
“The Hearth Daughter?”
“Of course, I am having trouble given what is happening, continuing to hate her.”
“I did at one time,” Michelson admitted. “I hated her for keeping our Heir in humblement, then collaring her like an animal. Then even more for domesticating her and making Lucas not just keep her as a domestic servant, but use her like one as well.”
“Not anymore I take it?”
“Hard to hate someone when every step they take, even those that stomp your toes painfully, helps to preserve and protect you.”
“I have to admit that I no longer consider that young lady quite so paranoid. I would however like to know how she managed to see this.”
“So would we.”
“I have to go.” He responded holding up a note, “The Regent just got cut off by an undetected team, they seem to be able to find us well before we can find them.”
“They have Magic detectors then.” Michelson told him, “Just like the troops at Camden.”
“Were on it.” He replied and the mirror showed her aged worried face once more.
“They have the Regent cut off.” The messenger told King Donalson.
“Excellent, how long until you take the palace itself?”
“A bell at most.”
“Be careful of the Regent.” The man says walking up, “Like the Hearth Daughter he is a strategist, a planner. If he is cutoff it may be on purpose.”
“Understood.” The messenger replied and headed off to send a dispatch to that effect.
“Now how do those work?” Lucas is asking himself as he extends his senses to locate not the troops around him, but their Magic detectors.
“You can always surrender you know.” A man says dropping a combat class cloaking spell and stepping into sight in the garden where Lucas stands alone, thinking.
“And you can eat shit and die.” Lucas responds concentrating on the bright spots he had used in court, without intent to reverse them.
“You can jushh...” The man starts to respond then slurs his words as his body goes slack and falls to the ground.
“Better.” Lucas mumbles absently as he compares what he felt from the cloaking spell with other things, narrowing the range of what he is searching for.
“Corporal Ferin.” Brenna yells toward the shuttered guard house across the street in the warehouse district where she had been held until an eighth bell ago.
“State your name and business.” Ferin yells back.
“I am Brenna.” She yells remembering to assume her persona for this part, “I am a purchased concubine, the Heir Primus bought me for the Consort to fill in for those times when she can’t.”
“I’ve heard of you.” He yells back unwilling to reveal himself given what has been happening at the palace, “I heard you had been kidnapped.”
“I was, now I’m not, I need to know the status of things. I am to report to the Regent in the water gardens.”
“Why?”
“I freed myself but I need to know which route is safest.”
“The Sync wars never ended did they?” Charles asks Lisa as they speed toward home on the train.
“No.” Lisa says after thinking for several moments, “This is too many moves too fast. Someone is panicking, making mistakes and trying to cover them up with more fast moves.”
“But why are they moving so fast all of a sudden?”
“Will the collar be enough of a regulator for Brenhar to survive?”
“I think so.” Charles answered, “I didn’t design it for this kind of usage, but it should work. The feedback from the backlash of that much power should cause her to withdraw reducing the power she can draw on. That would tend to keep the power usage within what her body can use.”
“This was supposed to happen years from now.” Lisa observed with eyes fixed somewhere distant, “All of this was supposed to happen in rapid succession, after the meeting between Thomson and Michelson that the Humble Bomb would have gone off at.”
“Which means someone capable of coordinating on a generational level across multiple Kingdoms, Familydoms and clans.”
“That screams Legent.”
“Yet if it were they would say so.”
“Therefore we are looking at someone like the Legents, yet still afraid of them.” Lisa said pulling her mental picture together, “Someone strong enough to challenge one of them, yet smart enough to evade them all. We are after a slightly too weak for straight up battle strategist.”
“We have to go back to the archives at Centerversity.” Charles said flatly, “We need information and we know the Legents keep an eye on the place.”
“Agreed.”
“We should stop and look into this mess at Michelson.”
“Lucas can handle it.” Lisa said flatly, “By now he should just be putting the pieces together and understanding what we showed him.”
“Finally.” Brenhar murmurs softly as she, still in Bren, reaches the Reflecting Pond central to the layout of the city. This pond tops the slight hill the central government buildings sit on affirming that the government serves the people and the land, not stands over them. Where in the past great edifices have towered over people from the tallest hills around to show supremacy. Now, reflecting ponds top capitols instead, completely denying government the ability to tower over the people.
“I forgot how cold this is.” Brenhar says feeling the chill as Brenna slips into the pond filled by water from an aqueduct then pumped up the hill by wind powered pump too simple to fail even around magic. Allowed to overflow, the runoff is used to provide water for the scattered city parks by a warren of pipes. Heading for the platform covered by a hand span of water in the middle, then seating Brenna where she wants her, Brenhar withdraws to pass a message to Lucas that she has reached the pond. Once back at the pond, she begins letting she and Lucas’s stored Seed Magic loose in the water to spread to the parks scattered throughout the city by way of the drain pipes that lead to the fountains in them.
“Chaos take I hope this works.” Lucas mumbles to himself as he feels the Seed Magic Brenhar is distributing to the parks reaching out. It takes many hearts but eventually he feels a familiar tingle spread over a larger area and knows he has found the magic detectors.
“Are you ok Sir?” One the guardsmen who had attached himself to Lucas asked seeing a sudden change in him.
“I need a map of the palace with grounds and a map of the city as a whole.” Lucas orders as his eyes refocus on the world around him.
“This way.”
“I didn’t expect this before a couple of more Solstices.” Lucas mumbles annoyed as he follows the man out with his growing crowd of personal armsmen forming a cordon.
“They have men in all these places?”
“Yes General, they do.” Lucas answers.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes General Gerin, I am sure.” Lucas replies eyes wandering over the maps then his hand darts to move one of the symbols on the map from one room to the next.
“They just moved?”
“Yes sir. However I don’t know that this is all of them.”
“Just give me what you’ve got.” General Gerin smiled, “I’ll deliver the rest.”
“Hearth Holders.” Brenhar sends out as strongly as she can, not from Brenna still sitting in the pond, but from inside herself, from the white room of Humble Bliss that she has found she can access through the ring marked Fates.
“Yes Brenhar.” They answer appearing.
“There are too many, they are too well prepared.” Brenhar tells them, “They are more prepared for us than they were for Dest.”
“What do you need?” Charles asks.
“Permission and information.”
“Ask.”
“What is the Valley of the Michelson trees?”
“A foil to the power of the Blood Lords, and it’s complement.”
“Explain, and hurry.” Brenhar orders, not noticing that such is her faith and belief that what she is doing is right that the collar is not restricting her at all.
“The Valley is the next step after the development of Blood Seed.” Charles tells her then stops while she thinks a moment.
“Are you telling me my entire family. My clan, is a breeding experiment?” She asks grasping some small part of the picture Lisa has assembled.
“Yes.” Lisa answers sadly, unwilling to let Brenhar know how surprised she is that she caught it.
“This is almost exactly what they did in Dest.” Brenhar says frustrated.
“Accounting for conversion of forces from a Techist assault to a Magist, it is identical. Just like the Mirror fragments were.” Charles tells her.
“I can see the pattern now, you must heave seen it before now Lisa, why didn’t you warn us?”
“I saw the attack coming yes, but I thought it years away. The structure said I had time and saying anything would have tipped my hand before I knew who or what I was fighting.”
“At least this way you can tell your own Familydom.”
“No I can’t. I have to leave them to their own devices.”
“Why?”
“My only advantage right now is whoever this is either doesn’t realize I’m a threat, or underestimates me greatly.”
“Yet you see deeper into this, what is it?”
“We can cover this later when your Capitol is safe.”
“No.” Brenhar says flatly, inside somewhere she is surprised she can be this blunt with them, “This effects everything, tell me now.”
“Ok.” Lisa laughs, “Everywhere I look I see almost the same deviation from normal, when I look at events over time given what the Legents showed me, it shows me the same patterns are happening in our society. This leads me to your Familydom, which is different.”
“Out with it.”
“Yes ma’am.” Lisa quips with laughing eyes, “Given the number of patterns that are repeating I looked at the changes in those patterns. I then worked them forward and backwards both. The Blood Lords themselves were the definitely the result of another breeding experiment.”
“And?” Brenhar asks suddenly quieter.
“I see the same basic baseline shifts in your families structure of Magic that I see looking at Nicole, Sien and Yen.”
“We, the Michelsons, are the new Blood Lords then?” Brenhar asks.
“Essentially. However, you have to remember that the Blood Lords are supposed to have developed the Collars like you now wear. I know they had to be developed over time because even with centuries of refinement notes to go by it still took several tries to get them correct. Yet they simply appeared for Blood Lords.”
“Then we are freaks because someone is making us this way?” Brenahr asks horrified.
“Not freaks Brenhar.” Lisa tells her.
“Your Magic is different Brenhar.” Charles tells her, “There is a progression from coarseness to fine grain looking at others compared to your family. The Yemel are somewhere in between. It took me time, but I managed to translate the Magic I see in you to match me, it made me many times stronger even before I started learning to use that new strength.”
“You’re serious, there is someone out there using us a breeding stock?”
“Yes.” Lisa told her with sympathy.
“Now listen carefully.” Charles says next, “You don’t want to call on Blood Seed directly. You need to use normal magic to initiate or drive it.”
“That is basically what Nicole and Sien said. Yen was always kind of withdrawn, seemed to loath herself, perhaps she feared what she felt was coming.”
“The weight of history bore down on her.” Charles said seriously.
“Oh, like being an Heir Secondus one day, then your sister dies in childbirth along with the child, making you Primus the next with no Secondus and absolutely no warning?”
“Exactly. Now you should be able to control Blood Seed easily.”
“But we aren’t related to the Blood Lords.”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s technique not blood. They have a predisposition for it, not ownership.”
“Oh.”
“Now what you will need to do if you want to survive is follow directions carefully.”
“Yes sir.” Brenhar replied.
“As you experiment you will find how to use Magic to drive Seed Magic. Once you have that, then use the Seed Magic to drive Blood Seed. Once you have that, then you use the Blood Seed to drive the Michelson power. You can call on small amounts directly, but you will hurt or kill yourself if you push to far.”
“Stages like when knitting.” Brenhar laughs, “Same basic stitch used over and over, each layer providing the foundation for the next.
“Exactly. Stick to brute force simple things for the Michelson power for now. You need to practice to use it safely.”
“I touched upon that power earlier, mostly by accident, it liked flowing and kind of hurt, then I felt it pull away.”
“That was the collar.” Charles told her with a smile. “It is acting as a flow regulator.”
“Regulator? Like a rule enforcer?”
“More or less. In this case though what it means is when the amount of power you are using gets strong enough to hurt you, the collar pulls you away from yourself. The more complex of a thing you do, the less power you will be able to safely push.”
“So just accept the collar and I should be fine?”
“I believe so.”
“Then once I have this power I will need to be collared for my own safety won’t I?”
“Probably.”
“So we, the Michelsons, are Blood Lords?”
“More like Blood Lords round two.”
“Did they, who ever they are, really make the Blood Lords also?” Brenhar asked with an odd tone.
“I believe so.” Charles answered quietly.
“Then the Legents will come for us as well one day?”
“That’s part of what I’m trying to prevent.” Lisa said grinning.
“Why do you fight so hard to save me?”
“Because you are worth saving.”
“Did you know of us being someone’s cattle when you had him give me this child?”
“No, I was just trying to save your Familydom to act as a shield against Dest. Everything I knew at that point said Dest was the problem, not part of the solution. I have had to adapt my plans as I have gone and as I have learned more. I did what I did because it was fast and dramatic. I knew exactly what impact it would have. I knew no one would stand in your way having a child at your age and that it would stabilize your Familydom, helping preserve mine.”
“I prefer being your tool to who ever has been using us. At least you will tell me when I am going to be bred further, and why.”
“Thank you; I think.”
“One day soon you will have to truly show me how you see Magic, not just these hints.”
“I think we can do that.” Charles agrees with a grin.
“Is the reason we never saw this coming because we were designed to fall when pushed this way back when the Michelson Familydom was founded for this breeding program?” Brenahr asked.
“Yes.” Charles answered honestly.
“That not only irritates me, it pisses me off. I’m lucky though, I have a whole coup’s worth of volunteers to help me work some steam off.” Brenhar said laughing as she planned her steps.
“Excuse me Sire.” The messenger said interrupting King Donalson and the man where they studied coup progress on maps.
“Yes.”
“A few gross of hearts ago we received two dispatches almost as one. The first confirmed the body double had escaped, the second that she had been found at the reflecting pond seated on the public speaking platform as though waiting for an audience to address.”
“Good to know where she went.” He replied, puzzled why anyone would occupy the one place anyone was guaranteed to be able to speak freely, in the middle of a coup when it would do no good at all. Especially since the water in the ponds was always frigid, limiting the time any one person could speak. More than one person having been known to collapse from numb feet after all.
“We just received a third, she is surrounded by a shield so no one can reach her. The weird part though is that she is sitting in the middle of the pond directly on the platform, and it is dry even though the pond is full.”
“She sits behind a water displacing Shield?” The Man asks aghast.
“Yes. Nothing gets through, not people, not rocks, not arrows, not guns. I had the last checked again, guns are not blowing up near her, they fire properly, but do not penetrate.”
“Are there any other odd reports? Things not directly mentioned, things they were afraid to mention because they sounded insane?” The man asked gray faced.
“Yes.” Was the nervous reply.
“And?”
“Some of the men report hearing humming or singing, coming from everywhere, and nowhere.”
“King Donalson.” The man said formally, “If you have any people or other resources you value there, I suggest you get them out in a hurry.”
“Why?”
“The coup is about to fail.”
“How?”
“That Power of the Michelsons I mentioned, it appears to be seven generations early. The Hearth Holders must have not only noticed it, but found a way to regulate it.”
“Could the Legents have helped?”
“No, they and I both believe the best way teach a child to stand and walk is let it fall down while it is still to small to hurt itself falling. You cushion the fall then encourage them to stand back up and try again. Interfering at this point would be favoritism, not their style, even in the beginning they didn’t play that game.”
“How long before this Brenna makes her move? Whatever it is.”
“By my best estimate she will begin not long after you start seeing standing waves on the surface of the pond.”
“Come my pretties, come to me.” Brenhar sang out loud through Brenna.
“The Regent asks if you are ready?” She hears in her own ears in bed though her attention is primarily in the fountain.
“Yes.” She answers with her own mouth though watching the pond, “Ask him where I start.”
“He says the Magic detectors are becoming annoying.”
“Two gross of hearts.” She answers checking on the spread of her Seed Magic.
“Aren’t you concerned with events back home?” Yemel asks Michelson in the Tomb of Lisa’s Mother in the Hearth Hold of Ericson.
“We are a fifth of the continent away, we can do nothing from here.”
“You leave your home in the hands of a boy.”
“I leave our home in the hands of the tools of the Hearth Daughter. It is obvious this was designed to topple us in case the Land or House Mother survived the bomb, it is just a back up plan.”
“Just?”
“Remember, nearly a third of the palace forces were turned and over half of them on duty today were those turned troops. They are ready for anything and everything we might do. They have studied us for generations, we can not surprise them, yet the Hearth Daughter has surprised them twice in a row now. First at the lake here, then at Dest.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.” Yemel admits.
“You place a lot of trust in our former Heir Tertius.” Thomson says grinning.
“Us standing is in her best interest. She sent two observers into Dest, neither were intended to do anything but observe and report. Yet look how they did, do you honestly think she would fail to prepare an Heir Primus for a coup she must have seen coming?”
“No, not a chance.” Yemel says with an odd look.
“Tell them.” House Mother Michelson orders.
“Are you sure?” Land Mother Michelson asks.
“Yes.”
“Alright. This is private you understand, but we Michelsons have been getting stronger by the generation. However, really using that power has become hazardous. When we tap into it, it does something to us, it hurts us when we use it. It also leaks even when we aren’t using it, which is what has been killing so many of us over the years. I surmised and asked the Hearth Holders about it and they confirmed, they believe the Collar Brenhar wears will serve to control that power allowing her to use it safely.”
“No wonder you aren’t concerned about your capitol being under assault.” Yemel gasps.
“Excuse me Sire.” A messenger said interrupting.
“Yes.”
“We have news from Michelson.”
“What kind?”
“Their Magic detectors just blew up.”
“In the palace?” The man demanded
“All of them in the city.” The Messenger answered with a gulp.
“So there is a way to regulate it.” The man observed more curious than mad.
“The power of the Michelsons?” King Donalson asked shocked.
“Yes.” He answered absently lost in thought, “That wouldn’t be full power mind you, but it would make a nice test run for calibration.”
“Just calibration?” King Donalson asks aghast.
“Yes. Obviously they found some new way to control it, interesting.”
“I am beginning to wonder if you really can plan.” King Donalson says accusingly.
“It has to be the Hearth Son.” The Man says staring at the map, “Have your people drop their weapons and go civilian. Without betraying equipment, they have good odds of escaping into the crowds who will flee the fighting or of simply going home and waiting it out. It is likely that this Lucas or Brenhar herself will order an end to things once the opposition dissolves. They can’t afford a hunt for ghosts at a time like this. Brenhar will help ensure we lose the support of those abandoned today even if she can’t locate them individually. She can do so by simply declaring pardons for those who decide be loyal subjects now, so we will not be able to do this again.”
“How long until she does something else right now though?” King Donalson asks frightened.
“Given that spell covered about a square league against shielded equipment.” He pondered, “She will be doing a mind binding of those she can identify were near the magic detectors in about half a bell I would say. Though it may be as long as a bell.”
“How did she do it?”
“It’s simple if you understand the underlying principles, doing it on that scale though, now that is impressive. The effort should have killed her, yet she somehow did it through the body double, doubly impressive that is. Since Brenhar, as powerful as she is, is at best an instrument, this must be the work of the Consort, he may be nearly as much fun as the Hearth Daughter.”
“Fun?” King Donalson demands.
“At least I know now it can be managed, that means some of my smaller projects in the Kallows may be able to bear fruit sooner than anticipated.”
“How so?”
“She sent two tame blood lords still in school into Dest as eyes and ears, how would you like war trained ones, several gross.”
“Several gross? I could walk over Dest in a week with that kind of power.”
“Then today was worth it.”
“How? We lost a lot of people and will lose even more. Some of those families have been there for five or more generations.”
“I now know the answer exists and the basic form it takes. That tells me what kind of questions to ask and the best part is I don’t need to use the deep archives at Centerversity. Now that I know where to look, I need only ask a Mirror.”
“When?”
“Would autumn equinox work for you?”
“I can work with that.” King Donalson laughs, the thought of matching war trained equivalent of Blood Lords against the children armed by the Hearth Holders bringing glee, “A fortnight till Solstice then three moons, I can’t wait, but I will, happily.”
“What are your names?” Charles asks the girls the Land Mothers present at the barn where their temporary capitol is when he and Lisa got home to Ericson a day after the attempted coup in Michelson is over.
“We are Barbara, Lauren and Sara.” Sara replies pointing to each in turn.
“Do you know what blood line they say you are?”
“Yes.” Barbara answers, “They say Kimer is Yemel.”
“Do you know what they want me to do to you?”
“Yes.” Lauren answers, “They want you to collar bind us.”
“Do you accept what is to come of your own free wills?”
“Yes.” Sara answers.
“I am told you have a request concerning your Keeper Sara.”
“Yes sir.”
“And?”
“I know what a Keeper is for.” She answered looking down then back up at him, “I was inspired by what I saw the Hearth Daughter doing. When I heard about the collars on Brenhar and the others I decided to know everything about them.”
“Then you know what a keeper can do?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And I choose to have a friend as my keeper.” Sara replied looking him in the eye, “I know he will be able to command me, and in more ways than just to his bed. Yet I also know that you do not leave your tools or possessions defenseless. I have learned at school, yet I know you can show me much more than they can.”
“Can you trust this friend?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I have had him humbled and he has had me humbled. We did that several years ago so we could both quit wondering about it.”
“Have you been together as yourselves?”
“No. We have traded off. Neither of us really thinks of the other that way and trading off humbling kept our parents convinced were doing more than we were so neither of us would be told to shop around as vigorously as many are.”
“What?” Mother Kimer demands.
“Wise.” Charles laughed.
“That would have saved me trouble if I had thought of it.” Lisa admitted with a laugh.
“Then I’ll tell you what.” Charles tells her but looks at them all, “You choose whether you are sacrifices or recruits.”
“Sacrifices or recruits?”
“Yes. If you are just a sacrifice I will simply bind you, if you are a recruit then I will also teach you.”
“Recruit.” All three girls reply almost as one.
“I take it the biggest concern Kelsini and Yasan have is the power of the blood of Emel, of which admittedly only the minor house Yemel remains, running loose in the lands?”
“Yes.” Kelsini and Yasan answer.
“Then girls the next thing you have to do is get your shields up and be ready to attack me and defend yourselves.”
“What?” They ask but shields appear.
“Good. Now attack, full force, hold nothing back.”
“Why?” Sara asks.
“Because I want you to understand something.”
“Are you sure?”
“Arcanum.” Charles declares as shields form around him, “All three of you, attack now.”
“Quisco.” All three holler at the same time.
“Nice.” Charles observes as the force hits his shield and it flares for a moment, “Again.”
“Quisco.” They shout this time and it has even less effect, not a bit of movement is seen, Charles is still standing where he was and looks unimpressed.
“Magus Nam Absena.” Charles says firmly with a hand flourish as though casting a spell and all three girls shields simply dissolve.
“What in Chaos name?” Sara demands, the first to be able to speak, “What happened, my shields, my Magic, my powers, they’re just gone.”
“What did you just do?” Clan Mother Kimer demands.
“I took their powers.” Charles stated and watched them. Michelson and Thomson looked on giving nothing away. Kelsini and Yasan simply stared. Yemel starts to say several things but nothing is said.
“We accept all three into Ericson if they wish.” Lisa says into the silence watching the three girls gulp and look like fish out of water as they tried to process a world without Magic.
“We are going back to school to finish the year and take our tests.” Charles tells them, “Barbara and Lauren should come with us. Sara should go home and recruit the boy she wishes as her Keeper.”
“How?” several of the Mothers whisper.
“Use them wisely.” Michelson says smiling.
“I suggest you take all three with you, Sara can recruit Marc at school.” Thomson tells them.
“You touch at the edge of acceptability Hearth Son.” Legent Wilhelm says entering.
“They need to understand not only that there is a difference between power and force, but what that difference is.” Charles answers.
“Lucas has started to make sense of the puzzle games you left him.”
“Good.” Lisa answers pointedly not staring at the Mothers, instead staring at Legent Wilhelm.
“Excuse me Legent.” Barbara says into the silence.
“Yes.”
“If they teach or even show us how to use Blood Seed will we have to remain in Collars for the rest of our lives?”
“Yes. Though there is some wiggle room on what collared means exactly, as the Hearth Holders have discovered for themselves.”
“Then what is our fate?”
“Be smart, emigrate to Ericson as the Yemel survivor Sien may yet do. Nicole is already bound in and for Dest.”
“Are we to be property just because of who we are?” Lauren asks.
“Is Brenhar of Michelson property?” Legent Wilhelm asks.
“I don’t think so.” She answers, “Is it true you watched the world fall?”
“Yes. We are the original Legents.”
“What happened?”
“Technology so advanced it seemed like magic malfunctioned and let real Magic leak in.”
“If we go to Ericson and our families don’t relearn the Blood Seed, will you leave them alone?” Sara asks.
“Yes.”
“If we accept the collars of our own free will can we then learn freely of everything since the world will be safe from us?”
“Yes, but why do you ask?”
“Because war is coming. Donalson attacked Dest, an ally. Then what is happening in Michelson as a result of what appears to have been a coup attempt. I intend to be in a position to defend my family when war marches our way.”
“I will warn you now what Lucas and Brenhar have discovered for themselves and the rest are still delving into. That is that the Hearth Holders believe in pushing their people.”
“How many people were we able to salvage from Michelson?” King Donalson asks his aide.
“Out of a total of five hundred seventy five in the capitol, we lost one hundred and three when the Magic detectors simply exploded. We lost forty one in the fighting and another dozen or so from the body double. We got thirty three people out total, the rest are trapped, turned or hiding.”
“You saved that many?” The Man asked joining them.
“Yes.”
“Not bad, not bad at all. How is the investigation into the Wipe traders going?”
“We actually managed to locate another specialty house, one we didn’t know about that is.”
“Helpful.” The man answered.
“Sorry.” The aide gulped, “Everything we have so far holds up. They have sold about a third of their stock, haggled hard too. One of the houses looking for fresh stock pushed too hard for information about Dest so they asked the guards to please not let anyone from that house in again.”
“Interesting, and the stock?”
“We have purchased seven of them so far, five were from Dest, all taken before the coup attempt as far as we can tell.”
“Before?”
“Yes. The Kallows people were able to get a few bits from them. The indications are that the full pens were those already wiped by this Nicole and the guards simply sold them off for a profit that went straight in their own pockets.”
“Greed and Sloth, always nice to find; In the enemy’s camp that is.”
“Agreed. How many of the remaining would be of interest do you think?’
“Most.” The aide answered after considering his options and consulting notes, “However I believe it might be best to simply take them all off their hands eventually. We can disappear them if need be.”
“We would need so many?” King Donalson asks.
“The more witnesses the better.” The Aide answers, “If any of them retain anything at least.”
“As for disappearing them.” The Man says looking at the King, “If they are nothing then we waste a potentially valuable resource since they can obviously return to Dest safely and we might be able to put people with them. If on the other hand they are spies, they will be well equipped. Imagine one or more of the Hearth Son’s or Hearth Daughter’s pets actually prepared for a fight.”
“You come up with the most pleasant thoughts sometimes.” King Donalson grimaces.
“A miss is a good as a mile.” The woman laughed talking with the Ghost holding Camden pass.
“A mile?” Yen asks.
“Sorry, I guess you would say league now.”
“You are a very odd person, nothing like the other Legents.”
“I am not a Legent Yen of Emel, daughter of Yemel of the romni.”
“Romni?” Yen asks.
“Yes. Your people were bred from a group called the Gypsy by outsiders, though they called themselves Romany.”
“You say it more than one way, why?”
“Because they did as well. You yourselves are a hybrid of Romany, Abbo and East Indians, it took centuries to make you.”
“I can see it you know, the pattern to the Magic the Hearth Son sees.” Yen replied deflecting, discussing how your family was bred like cattle is an uncomfortable thing.
“He and my daughter are doing well. They will soon have more pawns.”
“You mean more of us to use as weapons and leave leashed like dogs.”
“Collared, and each of you is worth a great gross of soldiers, they though are worth a greater gross.”
“What happens when he finally gets mad and lets loose for real?” Yen asks.
“A lot of people are going to die if Lisa can’t stem the tide of his hate and his rage.” The woman answered sadly.
“Do the Legents know you are alive?”
“You just accused me of being one, make up your mind.”
“Only to gauge your reaction.” Yen answered, “You are stronger than even Wilhelm, Only Simon or Arie might be able to stop you if you moved.”
“Calling Legents by name now?” She teased.
“They stop by to talk a surprising amount.”
“You keep it peaceful and quiet here, that is valuable.”
“Milady.” The doctor examining Muren interrupted, “I must protest keeping this a secret.”
“You have your orders doctor.” She replies coldly, “I tolerate these constant examinations only because there is cause for concern.”
“There is concern because you are behind Brenhar of Michelson and as large already even though she is progressing distressingly fast.”
“And I know why.”
“You do?”
“Yes. If word leaks of my true condition it will cause many problems.”
“Celebrations you mean.”
“Problems doctor, nothing but problems.”
“I feel like taking a sledge hammer to the Donalson King.” Legent Amina said in observation watching from a distance as the deviant trade product, the wipes from Dest, were purchased clumsily, one by one for interrogation, hopefully without the traders realizing the government was buying them.
“I understand Mina, I really do.” Legent Kara agreed, disturbed by some further aspect that bothered her but defied words giving her nothing to say about it, “However you have to remember that this is the world we made. Were it not for the promiscuous world we forged that this trade is a byproduct of, our species would be gone.”
“I know, I just don’t have to like it. We battled for so long to stop this trade before the fall.”
“Then to have to use it is sickening. However we do have a bright spot.”
“I know, the queen bitch of the abyss managed to have a daughter somehow.” Legent Amina laughed, “And given what she has been doing I don’t see any need for a blood test.”
“No, definitely not. However there are actually two good things.”
“Two?”
“Yes. One, Brenhar is on proper schedule, looks to be about nine months, maybe ten, to pop.”
“Excellent, better than the fifteen they put up with now, it would be nice if this passed on to their descendants.”
“And Muren isn’t having a baby.”
“She’s not?”
“No, she having twins.”
“Checkmate.” Amina laughed with tears of joy forming, “He did it! He solved it! I told you the Amish would come in handy one day.”