Brothers: Legacy of the Twice-Dead God (108 page)

“I don’t know what that is,” I said, not
diverting my attention. “And if you’d been teaching me since I was
younger, I’d be a lot further along than this.”

“desoan denari elish is one of the first
elven languages,” Dad said, putting his hands on my shoulders and
leaning in closer to read the fine green flowing script. “And don’t
preach to me. Your mother and I have very good reasons for keeping
you out of this world.”

“This is the first language, but desoan means
‘twice’ so that doesn’t make sense,” I told him. “And thanks to a
combination of Lucian’s magic, St. Croix’s torture, and your Pact
spell, Mother is in an infirmary at the Cahill’s in a coma.”

“What?” he shouted at me, twisting me around
to face him, shocked at what I told him.

“Not now, Dad. I’m busy. Give me a few more
minutes, please,” I said and calmly turned back to the geas in
front of me. Dad moved to jerk me around again, but the Stone
slipped a shield around me before he could get a grip on me. He
slid off, jerking awkwardly and starting shouting obscenities. The
Stone obliged with a sound baffle and dampened him out after a
moment. Now if it could do that to whoever was beating on the
wards, maybe I could concentrate and get this finished faster.

A minute later, I stepped back and reviewed
the simple geas. That’s exactly what it was, too: simple. It looked
very similar to Shrank’s but it lacked both directives and yield.
Basically it said, “Do as I say. Period.”

“Shrank, can you read this?” I asked the
pixie, waving at my very first attempt at a geas.

“Mostly, Lord Seth,” Shrank said. “It is
very… elementary, but it should work for a month, maybe two. They
will need more guidance than this for the future, though.”

“Mostly we’re worried about tonight, Shrank,”
I snapped. “This should allow them to connect to the land for now.
Then we’ll talk to Kieran. See if he knows what to do, because I
don’t have a clue.” Rubbing my hands across my face and through my
hair tiredly, I finished with, “Get everybody together, I guess.
Let’s get this done.”

Shrank turned in the air and let out a long,
shrill whistle. The ground around us shimmered like rising heat and
thousands of tiny faces appeared looking up at me. Dad had quieted
by that time, listening to Shrank and me, and now was once more in
awe of the number of brownies and fairies in front of him.

As one the entire group chorused, “Greetings,
Lord Seth,” in perfect English.

I smiled at them. “Hello, everyone. I’m very
happy we were able to save you from that Rat Bastard and I hope you
all live long and happy lives. I am… unprepared for this so we will
have to do this again in a short time. I apologize for that and
hope this is not too uncomfortable for you. With that in mind,
let’s get this done, shall we?”

Again, as a chorus, “We thank you, Lord
Seth.”

Shrank was all eyes and dropped jaw. I
noticed but was in a hurry now with sunset mere moments away.
Reaching out for the ward, I pinpointed every Fae being in the land
instantly and found all but Shrank without a geas, as expected.
Racing back in my memory and picturing Kieran by the oak tree
before entering MacNamara’s circus, I started moving and
replicating the magic he’d done. Replicating it three hundred
forty-eight thousand, nine hundred and ninety two times. I didn’t
have to count; I just knew. And that was just the number of brownie
clans. Oy. Then I spread it out to every one of them. Over a
million had passed through the portal, somehow. Damn.

Dad watched intently as I worked the geas. It
was an old magic and it took quite a bit of my concentration to
push that much power out to so many tiny places. I tried to be
gentle, but how could I tell for sure? There were over a million
tiny spheres of luminous cobalt blue energy surrounding each fae,
slowing as the geas took hold and showing the sphere to be three
bands spinning randomly. Kieran’s were three bands of gold. Mine
were different. Mine were two bands of gold surrounding a band of
blue.

I leaned back in the grass, panting, once the
final rings snapped into place. There was a collective gasp from
them then they stumbled around dizzily for a few minutes, giggling
happily, slowly disappearing into the surrounding woods. They
stayed clear of the fences, though, and out of the compound. I
understood the dizzy part. I was plenty dizzy myself.

“Shrank,” I said, drawing his name out really
long and slow. “Take a look at these carefully. They don’t look
like Kieran’s.”

“It is entirely possible that they would
appear different to you and not to me, Lord,” trilled Shrank. “But
I shall try my best.”

Dad sat down in the grass beside me. “That
was… amazing, son,” he said, quietly. “Never seen the likes of it
before. How long have you been studying behind my back?”

“Behind your back?” I asked, turning to look
at him, incredulous. He didn’t know. “What is the date?”

“January seventeenth,” he answered, eyebrows
coming together in suspicion.

“It’s early November, Dad,” I said. “You’ve
been missing for over ten months. And I’ve been studying, if you
can call it that, for under two months.”

“Ten months?” he repeated. “Two months? St.
Croix must be having a shit fit by now.”

I snorted, saying, “He’s not a problem
anymore.” Glancing past him, I noticed the gates to the compound
again. They lacked the power they showed the first time I saw them,
that sense of impending doom they had at first. Curious, I stood up
and moved closer to look.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked,
following me to the gate.

“With the help of Lord Kieran, and Masters
Ethan and Peter,” squealed Shrank, finally returning from
safeguarding the other Fae. “Lord Seth dispatched Mr. St. Croix
some time ago.”

“It wasn’t the first time I killed anyone,” I
muttered. “But it was a… disgusting feeling… to kill your own
grandfather.” I looked at him, directly in the eye. “To kill anyone
really. My count’s over hundred now, cuz of the war. I try not to
count, but when you can remember every face on every man, it’s hard
not to.”

With one finger, I pushed on the gate. It
swung easily forward, almost inviting us in. I stepped over the
threshold and felt no difference between inside and outside the
fence, but I could clearly sense the wards. The feeling of
omniscience, of knowing where everything was, still existed. In
fact, it extended well beyond the fence to include the wooded areas
surrounding us. And it was growing! Centering around a small
orchard of citrus trees at the southern tip of the house, long
ranges of rain forests began sprouting into existence, or at least
into awareness to the wards. It was fascinating to watch, and
scary. How viable would this world truly be?

“Oh my freaking God!” I said. “I’m in control
of a freaking world!”

“What?” Dad asked. He had followed me through
the gate, looking it over as he went, confused by it. I’m there
with ya, Dad.

I stared at him, utterly frustrated.

“Dad, there is so much that has to be done
all at the same time that you’re just gonna have to trust me for a
little while,” I said and opened a portal to the Castle.

I dropped us directly into my mother’s room
and said, “Unlock it.”

“Olivia!” he gasped as he ran to her
side.

I brushed against my brothers’ auras to let
them know I was here. They were outside a ways, on the hilltop
they’d designated as their headquarters. And all terribly worried
and frustrated, probably about me.

Little Brother?

“Yes, Kir du’Ahn, I’m here,” I called through
the link he’d created. “Unharmed, but in the infirmary. Could you
and the guys join me? I have a surprise. And ask Gordon and Mister
Bishop to meet with us shortly in the dining room? I’m
starved!”

While I watched Dad searching and probing
Mom, I glanced down at myself and noticed my hands weren’t broken
anymore. I remembered the broken bones, some bruises and
contusions, from the battle, but now saw no traces of any injuries.
Pretty damn lucky, but I still felt like I could sleep for a
week.

You will tell us what is going on. He was
trying to sound imperious and demanding. It didn’t work.

“Are you kidding? I’m begging for help,
brother!” I told him, laughing as I closed the connection. Dad had
pulled himself together long enough to open his lock on her memory.
I started tugging pale blue energy from one of my batteries and
forming the field out in front of me. Slipping in beside him, the
field fit perfectly onto her aura and melded easily into the bends
and twists of her magically-tormented mind. Now I could do
something without being counteracted. Now she could heal. For the
first time in close to a year, I felt like I could relax.

I felt Kieran, Ethan, and Peter appear in the
common room just down the hall from us, startling the attendant
there.

“Dad,” I said, still pushing pieces of Mom’s
psyche around. “There are three men coming in that you need to
know. I consider them family—brothers—and you will notice a
familial trait, sort of. It’s a simple relationship with very
complicated people all of whom you already know, sort of.” I stood
up and grinned at him for a second then went back to finish
smoothing out any rough spots, adding in the sense of comfort and
relief at finally being at home again with everyone I love. She’d
lost so much weight, but she could get better now.

“The first is Peter Borland,” I said as Peter
rushed in, looking first to me, then to Dad as he stood to face the
door. It was good that Peter was first since Dad knew him in some
way. He knew Peter’s dad well from what I’ve recently learned.

“Mr. McClure?” he said, surprised. “He found
you!” Peter jumped at him, swinging his arms around his chest and
squeezing the breath out of him.

“Peter,” Dad said, barely, while trying to
inhale.

“Don’t worry, Dad, it only gets weirder,” I
chuckled, pulling away from Mother. She pulled in a deep breath and
rolled away from us slightly, just sleeping. It’d been months since
she’d just slept.

Ethan finally made it into the room. “Who did
you just say?” he asked, stopping the second he saw Dad standing
there. “Dad?” He launched himself at my father, grappling him in a
hug that caught Peter’s head under Ethan’s biceps. Tears streamed
down his face in honest emotion and I honestly didn’t care who he
was happy for.

“This is Ethan,” I said, wondering what kind
of psychological damage this was putting on Ethan. “Ethan is going
to take some explaining. At the moment, you could consider him… a
lot of me. Come on, guys, you’re freakin’ him out. He doesn’t
understand. He thinks it’s January.” I felt Kieran in the doorway
behind me as I pulled Ethan and Peter away from Dad and made sure
he was breathing again. Dad didn’t have a problem understanding
Peter at all but he was suspicious as hell of Ethan. I have to
admit it, though. He hid it very well.

Ushering Peter and Ethan toward a corner of
the room with a sink I said to Dad, “And of course, you know
Ehran.”

None of them had expected me to walk in with
Dad. I hadn’t. So chaotic auras were the order of the day and
getting a decent understanding of what anybody was feeling right
then was damn near impossible. That was certainly true with
Kieran.

“Ehran? Is that you?” Dad whispered hoarsely,
his green eyes searching his son’s face and racing over his body
trying desperately to reconcile what he was seeing with his
memories. And what he wasn’t seeing.

“Father?” Kieran asked.

It was kind of sweet in a Nineteen Forties
kind of way. How neither of them wanted to make the first move. I
got over it pretty quick.

“Yes, Dad, this is your son, Ehran. Yes,
Ehran, this is your father, Robert. Now hug and get it over with.
I’m hungry.” They both turned and scowled at me. I just rolled my
eyes and washed up.

“What the hell happened?” Peter asked
quietly, still wiping a damp cloth to some of the larger abrasions
on his forearms. “You sent us back then were out of contact for
close to six hours. You had us scared out of our minds.”

“Did you see what he did? The elf, did you
see what he did to his people?” I asked in a whisper. I have no
idea what I looked like when I said it, but Ethan looked positively
disturbed by the question itself.

“Not exactly,” Peter answered. “I saw
something that I found… nauseating? Then I saw them start to fall,
like puppets with their strings cut. Then we were on the hill
across from the command tent.”

“He ate them,” I said, my voice hoarse and
thick with disgust. “I really don’t want to say that again.”

“I don’t understand,” Peter said softly.

“He broke the geas,” Kieran said. “Stole
their lives in the backlash. Vicious. That would explain Race
Traitor.”

“It’s been forty years,” I said, with mock
aggravation. “You two stand there like you don’t know what to say
to each other. Mother will probably sleep for four to six hours.
I’ll come back after supper and a nap.” I looked to Peter and
Ethan. “Would either of you care to join the newest Lord of Faery
in a late supper?”

“You would not believe what he just did,” Dad
said to Kieran.

“Actually,” Kieran said, laughing, “Yeah, I
probably would.” They’d opened a line of communication instantly
through me. Go figure.

Peter was still beat-up pretty bad. “No one
would see to your injuries?” I asked him angrily.

“He wouldn’t let anybody near him long
enough,” Ethan answered for him. “We’ve been trying every trick we
know to get to you. Even Named Summoning didn’t work. You were
blocked behind something extremely powerful.”

Dad and Kieran spoke quietly in front of the
door, probably still about me, not that I was listening. They were
starting to piss me off.