Brothers: Legacy of the Twice-Dead God (110 page)

“Damn, Marty, who are you trying to impress?”
I whispered, chuckling, knowing that both Gordon and Felix heard
me. They’d be impressed, and they’d pass that compliment along to
him, too.

A pair of elves followed the first two. This
couple, like the first, were in opposition, Seelie and Unseelie,
but female. The Unseelie was clad in a silver gown that reflected
the moonlight beautifully and contrasted with the coat of her gray
mare that seemed to draw the light in instead. Her hair, long and
black, seemed to flow forward and engulf her face. Her Seelie
counterpart rode a roan mare and wore a dress of deep green with
living flowers of every color as garland around her waist and
bosom. Her red, curly hair was laced with honeysuckle vines but it,
too, fell forward and hid her face from view in the wards.

Another pair of elves cantered through the
gate, appearing from nowhere in the gloom, followed by another pair
of near duplicates. This four showed some impatience, cantering
forward, almost galloping to the outside of their charges. These
elves were males, all showing their faces and bearing the wary
demeanor of defenders. Their only obvious weapons were small
daggers at their waists, but somehow I doubted those were their
only options. And these horses didn’t like having to follow the
man’s pace.

The last through the gate was a wagon drawn
by two draught horses of huge proportions, both chestnut brown. The
wagon was made of a very light colored wood that appeared
completely unmarred by time or travel. Two elves sat ramrod
straight holding the reins together in the seat, mirroring each
other exactly. In the back of the wagon sat a huge cage. Just a
barred cage of the kind you’d expect to see in a zoo with a lion or
a tiger inside. It was large enough to fit a man inside, plenty
large enough, and it made me exceptionally nervous. The cage held a
strong magic in it, but I couldn’t sense what through the
wards.

The gatekeeper peered back into the gloom to
see if any more elves would pop into existence as the train slowly
rambled up the road. Satisfied that no more would show, he
nervously hefted the rifle to his shoulder and pushed the gate
closed.

Marty coalesced in front of us as we watched
the parade of elves progress up the road. “When the first elf
showed up, he requested an audience with ‘The High Lord Daybreak,
Liege Killer, the son of Robert McClure and brother to Ehran.’
We aren’t exactly sure what to make of that request.”

“Yeah, I suppose that’s me,” I projected out
into the wards. “I don’t know what to make of it either. What’s a
‘High Lord Daybreak’?”

“Sounds like a name to me,” Dad muttered
beside me. There were a few muttered agreements around the
table.

“But they’re attributing it to me, it would
seem,” I said.

The riders that Marty sent from the stables
had finally met with the entourage and were turning around on the
road to lead them. The lead rider adjusted his horse’s gallop to
match the herald elf’s horse’s canter. That cut a significant
amount of time from their trip to the Castle.

Everyone at the table got up and started for
the front door, except Dad and us. Dad and I kept eating.

“Aren’t you coming?” asked Gordon
impatiently.

I grimaced. “I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t be
there waiting on them. But y’all probably should, I don’t know.
Their whole arrogance thing gets to me.”

“They should wait for you, yes,” Dad agreed.
“If what you think has happened is right, and I think you’re right.
How things change in a day.” He shook his head in a daze.

“A day?” Kieran asked quietly.

“Ten months for me, but not even a day for
him,” I said, sighing. The frustration of having too much to do in
too little time. “Dad, fill Kieran in on what happened from when
you got pulled into the fight. I’m going to get the Ferrin’s out
front. Mike was a huge part of this and Ian deserves to see it.
I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Zeroing in on Ferrin via the Castle wards, I
jumped directly to the chair next to the sleeping Ian. He was
restless because Marty was poking him, buzzing the room in the
ward. It would have been a lot louder but the room had dampeners
throughout to block outside influence.

“Ee-yon,” I called in a light singsong.
“Ee-yon.” Okay, now Mike’s ‘Yonnie’ made more sense to me. He
cracked his eyes briefly at me and rolled over in the chair.
Seconds later, his head snapped over and he catapulted out of the
chair, his arms around my neck.

“Seth!” he yelled in my ear. “When did you
get back? Are you all right? Did you win? Where’s Mike?” From a
dead sleep to hyper. And I wasn’t that much older than he was, but
I could not do that.

“Well,” I drawled the word, letting the
Georgia come out. “About twenty minutes ago, yeah, yeah, but had
some really weird stuff happen because of it, and he’s down the
hall arguing with a doctor.” Ian looked at me like I was the crazy
one. “What? I answered them just like you asked them.” Appear
innocent. I have a new motto.

“C’mon,” I said, waving my hand out and
standing. “Let’s go find Mike and go downstairs. Y’all need to see
what he helped get me into. It’s a best behavior big deal, okay?
You’ve got to do what Mike tells you and not make a fuss. There are
a lot of important people around tonight.” We walked down the hall
to the common room and were greeted by shouting.

“If we get an All Hands Out, I’ll carry your
sorry ass out myself!” yelled the doctor to Ferrin, clad only in a
loose fitting nightshirt that tied on the side. “Till then carry
your sorry ass…”

I cleared my throat loudly, figuring that
throwing a flash-bang between them might start a fistfight.
“Doctor,” I said calmly and making an assumption based solely on
his willingness to argue with a patient. “The Castle was brought up
because we have visiting dignitaries. Mr. Ferrin played a pivotal
part in making that happen and deserves to be there and in a place
of honor. I’ll bring him back in one piece and without any new
holes.”

Then I wrapped the three of us in portals and
took us away to Ferrin’s room. “You have about a minute to dress,
dude,” I said, pointing to the toga-like shirt he had on and
snickering. “You’re about the see some Elven High Lords and Ladies
come marching up on parade.”

“Whot?” Ferrin said, staring dumbly at me.
He’d barely had time to recognize I was there, much less stole him
away from the doctor.

“Not kidding, fifty seconds,” I said, still
holding Ian’s hand. “You’re only about twenty minutes behind
everybody else. We’re all in the dark about a lot of things and
that includes me. Somehow or ‘nother I got tied up into Faery
politics when I killed MacNamara. And I don’t think it’s gonna be
simple to abdicate. C’mon, hurry up.”

“I don’t know what to wear for this!” he
whined.

“It’s work, idn’t?” Ian asked me.

“Why not?” I said. “Look at what I’m
wearing.”

He grabbed a leather jacket, fairly new, from
the closet and went the dresser for jeans and a tee shirt. I went
ahead and opened a full portal to the dining room, angled away from
Ferrin while he dressed.

“We’ll be downstairs,” I told him. “I’ll
close this when you come through, okay?”

He grunted at me while continuing to dress.
We stepped through to another grunting party. “What’s going on?” I
was getting lots of practice in the falsetto range today. “Who am I
gonna have to separate?”

“Our father is insufferable,” Kieran snarled
at me, cutting his eyes back at Dad, who sat with his arms across
his chest glaring at me.

“What’s going on?” I asked again, getting
very impatient. Checking the progress of the parade, I had less
than ninety seconds to get the Ferrins out there and me back
inside. “Mike, c’mon!” I yelled back through the hole.

“All he’ll tell us is that he punched an elf
then you filled him with arrows,” Kieran answered scornfully.
“Nothing after, regardless of what I say.”

I closed my eyes, shaking my head. “What part
of ‘you’re gonna have to trust me’ don’t you understand?” I asked
my father. He started to say something but I stopped him. “Aink!
Not now.”

Ferrin stepped through the portal finally,
limping slightly. I rushed out the door with Ian, through the hall
and out the front with Mike hobbling quickly behind us. Once on the
steps, I realized reorganization would be necessary. Certain people
felt too highly of themselves. Specifically, Marchand and his
flunky thought they outranked Felix, Gordon, and Bishop. There was
just no way he was going to stand on the same step with me when
he’d disappeared for the last three days. Show up when everything
is done to claim the prize? I don’t think so.

Leaving Ian at the top with Mike a few
hobbles behind, I stepped down and in front of Marchand, shaking my
head. “I don’t think so,” I said to him. “You had no part in this
and I don’t like you.” His eyes got really big with fear as he
started to object. I sent him to the bottom of the stepped
receiving line. He’s lucky he didn’t end up at a convenience store
in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. “Felix and Gordon are here then Bishop
and his entourage. On the other side, I want Mike and Ian, followed
by Harris and his entourage. Leave the center for my family.
Everybody, please remember that this is a diplomatic Elven envoy
under a flag of truce in an unprecedented situation. None of us
know what is going on or how to act, including them. Ian, that
means I may not be talking very nicely to these people. Nothing is
going to happen here, so don’t worry about anything and do what
Mike says. Marty, did you catch that?” He buzzed me through the
wards. “Be back in a minute, then.” Checking on the elves as I
headed back inside, I could see we only had a couple of minutes
before they arrived here.

“Now, what’s your problem?” I snapped at Dad
as I walked in the Dining Room again.

“There are some things that cannot be said,”
he answered gruffly.

“Oh,” I said, his problem dawning on me. I
sealed the room against eavesdroppers. “Well, you screwed up there,
Dad. You did something to me and didn’t tell me about it. Several
things, actually.” I shook my head in aggravation and turned to
Kieran. “The only way I was able to defeat MacNamara was to detach
him from his source of power: the fountain. But the fountain is
truly massive. I could no more contain it alone than the Rat
Bastard could. He let it slip that it required a land to control.
He didn’t know that I just happened to have one handy…”

“The Pacthome,” muttered Peter. Dad’s head
snapped around to Peter. His ages old secret was spoken by an
outsider. I’m sure it was disturbing to him.

“Yep,” I answered, watching Dad. “Here’s
where it gets a little freaky…” I sat at the table opposite them
and recounted the story with added details. Outside the elves were
arriving at the front doors with the harlequin taking the point.
The other elves paired off as they arrived, following the curve of
the drive and sat stoically waiting.

“You laid a geas on a million brownies?”
Kieran asked in amazement.

“I hope so,” I said, a little nervous.
“Otherwise, they’ll be dead when I go back.”

Kieran shook his head and mouthed, “Wow.” Dad
nodded at him while I looked between them, confused.

“Why can’t I see you?” Dad asked quietly.

“It has to do with the kind of magic that
Kieran is teaching me,” I answered calmly. “It seems to sink in at
a different level than all the other magic and it took my aura with
it. It’s the same with Peter and Ethan. I can show you if you like,
but you should know I’ve, uh, … grown.”

“Show me,” he said, adding, “Please.”

I pushed on my aura for him, holding it out
for him to see for as long as he seemed comfortable. He didn’t
react with alarm and shock like everyone else I’d shown my aura to,
but he did seem a little awed and quite pleased.

“You have a Pact?” he murmured.

“Kieran’s,” I said. “Too long a story for
right now.”

“Who is Kieran?”

I pointed to him and Dad turned to Kieran
with raised eyebrows.

“Part of that long story, Father,” Kieran
said with a small smile.

“How long should I make them wait?” I asked,
noticing the parade had turned into a statue contest between humans
and elves.

“Depending on what you’re trying to
accomplish, hours,” Dad said.

“Oh, forget that! I’m not leaving our people
on the stoop for that long,” I said, raising from the table. “They
can play by my rules, then.”

Chapter 62

We took off for the front door in a
V-formation with Dad and Peter on my left and Kieran and Ethan on
my right. In the hall, we heard music beginning outside. As we
stepped out, the music came to a brash crescendo announcing my
arrival. I snickered. Definitely needed sleep, but that just added
to the incongruity of the situation. Marty was playing some totally
ostentatious music while most of us really needed baths. We were
seriously grungy. I was playing diplomat to eight high-ranking
elves in finery I couldn’t even guess the cost of and didn’t even
know what to say to them. I needed to be pissy and here I was
snickering.

I stepped down to the second step while the
others stayed on top looking dangerous and imperious. The harlequin
slid off his mount, keeping his standard perfectly vertical, and
walked to the edge of the moat.

“We seek audience with Daybreak, Liege-Killer
and holder of the Fountain, High Lord of Faery, known commonly as
Seth McClure, son of Robert and brother to Ehran, at the behest of
Her Majesties, the Queens of Faery,” he said, in English in one
long breath while bowing slowly at the waist until he was
perpendicular to the ground. “We bid you greetings, Lord
Daybreak.”

I managed to control the snickering. That did
answer a few questions. I needed to play their game a little,
though, and the truce flag needed answering. Without a word, I took
the steps to the moat slowly, then had the Stone lift me up and
over, holding me aloft, near the top of the harlequin’s billowing
standard. I studied the truce flag a moment, then drifted down to
their representation of my flag and studied it for a moment, then
drifted slowly back to the ground a few feet away. Looking at him
this close and in person, I realized his clothing wasn’t black and
white, but black and silver and it shimmered all over in the
moonlight.