Naming Day (Jake Underwood Book 1) (19 page)

“They killed him.” That was all she said for a moment, then a sob that sounded like animal’s moan filled the air. “They killed him.” She kept repeating over and over as she collapsed to the ground. Marty and I both hurried to her side.

“Who? Who’s killed who? What-” Our voices over lapping each other and our questions confusing the issue. Dalia looked up, her face racked with pain and eyes glazed with tears.

“My Father! He is dead, they killed him because I ran…in my place…It is my fault. He called to me, asked my why? Why had I betrayed him. He is dead.” She buried her face in hands and I caught her up in a hug and held her tight to me.

“Listen to me Dalia, it isn’t real. Nothing you heard out there is real. It’s all distorted memories or our fears thrown back at us. It hasn’t happened and it won’t. Your father might be in trouble, but he’s not been executed, not for this anyway. He’s too powerful a noble for that. Even if he was charged, there is no way that a trial could have been held and sentenced carried out. Think! It can take months for the Court to move against a noble of his rank.”

“Maybe it wasn’t the Court. Maybe it was someone else, like Count Trellsor!” She wanted to believe me but she couldn’t.

“Your father is a noble of the fourth circle. That makes him a pretty important individual. It would take a powerful force to get through his personal security and his magical defenses. He’s not dead.”

I would like to think that if I hadn’t been occupied with Dalia, I would have heard them sneaking up but the truth is that they caught me flatfooted and wiped from our crossing of the area around the temple mound. They were waiting for us and we walked right where we they wanted us.

“Yes. Listen to Mr. Underwood, my dear Dalia. Your father is very much alive and well at the court. Of course, you have broken his heart with your faithlessness, but what can you expect of someone conceived of a bitch whelp from the Court of Dawn.” Jeryn Callisandra stood there, flashing his overly toothy smile. Around him stood an array of black leather clad figures, bristling with weapons and attitude. The Black Watch had caught up with us at last.

“Yes, do listen to Mr Underwood.” I can’t think of single time that I saw a more self satisfied, smug look on anyone’s face. He was positively beaming and while that was disturbing in itself, the fact that behind him stood the team that had attacked the house was downright terrifying.  “I think that it might be a good idea for everyone to drop whatever weapons they might be carrying. Oh yes, I do. Some of my companions are quite upset with you and would like nothing better than an excuse to search you, rather forcefully I imagine.” The Ogre grunted and I noticed that he was still wearing the armor I had shot up less than 24 hours ago. Damn, those bastards are tough.

“Do what he says Marty.” Marty nodded and dropped the Uzi he was carrying and reached inside his coat and pulled out his 9mm by the hilt and gingerly placed it on the ground. I followed suit and dropped the three guns I had been carrying on the ground, but I kept the knife that was strapped to my wrist.

“Now Dalia, my dear, I want you to very carefully pick up all those nasty weapons and bring them to me.” Dalia’s eyes were wide as she gingerly picked up the guns and brought them to the smirking Callisandra. She cowered before him and quickly retreated. “That’s very good my little dupe. Run back to your friends.” Dalia moved back over to Marty and me and stood between us. 

I looked at the three figures standing with Callisandra and I knew that our straits were dire indeed. The ogre I had put nine slugs into was standing as tall as ever, slightly smiling. I could still see the tears in the hardned leather vest that he wore. Ogres were tough bastards, no doubt about it. The only way to put one down was to enough damage to tear him limb from limb. An uzi might do it, if you unloaded 2 or 3 clips into it. A nine would never do it.

The elf I burned removed his helmet and I could easily see the damage I had done. The side of his face was sunken in and twisted into a mass of scar tissue. One of his eyes was fused closed with melted and red suffused flesh. Part of the skin on his cheek was burned away and you could see what was left of his lower jaw showing through the tear in his cheek. I think that the most disturbing aspect was the contrast between the unscarred side of his face and the ruin that my iron cross had caused. The elf stepped forward, and raised a wicked looking blade and moved towards us. He’s gaze was fixed and the menace was palpable as he raised the blade.

“Now that will be quite enough, Serlish. I know Mr. Underwood has done you a disservice, but there will be no killing, at least not for now.” The elf, Serlish I figured, mumbled something, probably a threat but it was hard to understand what he said. Still, I got the message clear enough. He stepped back, but never quite lowered the blade.

“How’d you find us anyway?” I was genuinely curious. I wouldn’t have thought that this place was common knowledge so I was interested in how he had tracked us.

“Dalia of course. She told us exactly how to find you.” He smiled.

“Lies! I have not spoken with him since I fled the court! Do not believe him, Jake Underwood, I would not betray you!” she looked at me with pleading eyes and it made my heart break. She was so innocent in many ways.

“Don’t worry about it Dalia. He’s just yanking your chain. I know you didn’t tell him anything.” I sized up the smiling Callisandra. “Some kind of tracking spell, maybe something based on blood perhaps?”

His smile increased and he bowed. “Very good Mr. Underwood. Very good indeed. A pity you didn’t think of it sooner. You could have had it removed. That would have made all this much more difficult.” I cursed myself. I should have considered the option. I could have at least given her the once over to make sure she wasn’t tagged. One of the problems with Magic is that there are so many ways for it to be used that it isn’t always easy to tell exactly what’s being done.

“I’m glad that I could be of service.” I considered our options and they weren’t good. Maybe if I could get him to chatting I could think of something that I or Marty could do to get us out “What the hell is all this about anyway? If you wanted Dalia dead you must have had many opportunities to do so over the years, why all the complications?”

“To be honest, despite her annoying presence through the years, she posed no real threat to me or Lord Klaris. She was only a distraction for Lord Klaris. I did not give her much thought until her star began rising at the Court of Twilight.” His face clouded as he discussed Dalia. He really did hate her.

“Ah. You were afraid that her usefulness would eclipse yours?” I mused.

“Exactly. I have served him loyally for years and he just can’t see how damaging she could be to his image and his power. Worse, he wouldn’t care! He would throw it all away for a slip of girl from the Court of Dawn! His liaison with her mother was bad enough, stupid bitch that she was, but his indulgence of his daughter was just too much. He would deny her nothing! Nothing!” He was almost frothing at the mouth and I realized that he wanted to tell someone, to rant about how unfair it all was. I was just the lucky audience. Joy.

Beside me Dalia was stunned by what he said. I think that she knew intellectually that he hated her, but to hear it spoken so plainly and with such vehemence took her by surprise.

“I could see her worming her way into his confidence, representing him at various ceremonies and rituals. Nothing big you understand, but each time a little of my utility was being sold away to his whore’s daughter!” Dalia tensed, as if to spring at him, but I held her back. Jeryn might be lost in his hate but the strike team with him wasn’t and Serlish was just waiting for a chance to kill someone, Me first, but Dalia shortly thereafter.

“Okay. I can see why you might hate her. But why bring me into it? It just seems like a needless flourish and risky besides.”

“Obviously it wasn’t too risky, because here we both stand, with all my goals in sight.” I acknowledged the touche and he went on. “I knew of her family at the Court of Dawn, including her uncles’ dalliance with a mortal, in other words you. I also knew of the disputes that you have had with the court over the years and the delicious irony of having a member of her own family rape and kill her would punish them quite nicely. Lord Klaris is already unhappy with her treatment by your family and this could easily lead to a blood feud. There will be plenty of opportunity for a competent man to move up at court.”

“So this was all a plot to rid yourself of a unwanted rival and blame it on her mother’s family, my family?” I was a little confused but not that surprised. Like many of the things that the Fey did it was hopelessly intricate and filled with garnishes that added nothing but trouble to the execution of the plot.

“The plan was simple. I, the devoted servant, would discover everything, too late to stop the tragic event, but in time to punish the guilty. Quite neat, isn’t it?”

“Not really. If all you wanted was to involve me with Dalia to provide a suitable victim for Dalia’s father to blame, why did you involve Count Trellisor and why did you have Kevin killed?”

For the first time, I saw Jeryn Callisandra looked confused. He looked at his hit squad and then back at me. “Who’s Kevin?”

“Kevin Unglunblasch, the goblin bartender at the Silver Tree. I saw members of the Black Watch, an elf, Ogre, dwarf and one other take his head. Sound Familiar? That almost describes your buddies perfectly with you filling in as the unknown fourth.”

Something was wrong. Jeryn was looking at his hit squad and they were looking back at him. I suppose it’s possible that he could be a better actor than I gave him credit for, but I would swear that he was as dumbfounded as I was to see him guarding the Nasoni Temple mound.

              “You don’t know what I’m talking about do you? Now that is interesting, isn’t it? There are players you don’t know about, aren’t there?” I was smiling. Confusion to my enemies!

              “Be quiet, you annoying man!” Callisandra called over the dwarf and they walked away from where we were standing. I strained to hear what they were talking about but I couldn’t catch much. The dwarf and Callisandra were conversing in low tones occasionally punctuated by gestures that indicated that there was more going on than I was hearing.

As much as I would like to have taken advantage of this confusion, the Ogre was watching us carefully and Serlish was practically begging for an excuse to pay attention to us and me in particular. I declined to be entertained by him. The ogre walked over to me and poked me in the chest with a finger the size of a baby’s arm.

              “You shouldn’t have shot me. I hate getting shot. It’s very annoying and it can take days to work the slugs out, you bastard.” The ogre was calm as he made his point using his arm to hit the same points on my chest that my nine millimeter had on him. He smiled a huge smile punctuated by his tasks and stepped back. I was hoping that he was done, but he had more to say.

              “I was hoping that I would get you, but Serlisch has a better claim than me. I get the other mortal, though. He looks like he could be tasty. At least he will be once I get through tenderizing him. Humans can be a little tough. “ He smiled again, showing that there were no hard feelings and laid his hand on a knife that looked like it might have served as a short sword for a just about anyone else.

“I hope I give you gas, you bastard!” Marty always did have a way with words. He was pissed. I was a little surprised by how easily Marty could stand there and insult an Ogre that was almost twice his size. Marty was obviously handling his introduction to the world of the Fey better than I would have. But more importantly, Marty suffered from that lamentable trait that many shorter people suffer from, an intractable desire to get in the faces of anyone taller than they were, if only to prove that they weren’t intimidated. You don’t get much more intimidating than an Ogre and Marty was having none of it. He moved forward with speed I should have been surprised at but wasn’t.

I might not have been surprised but the Ogre was. Now, Marty in no way, had the mass to shove the Ogre aside, but he certainly was more than willing to give it a shot. I don’t think that Marty could have taken him, despite his pugnacity. I would never find out, because at that moment the Ogre’s head exploded into a cloud of blood, bone and brain.

I was stunned for a moment, but that was a reaction I shared with nearly everyone around me. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, things started happening almost at once.

Jeryn Callisandra and the dwarf reacted quickly and dropped to the ground and tried to find cover. Splinters of stone flew up as fire from the woods beyond began to rake the rock that they had hidden behind. They began to return to fire to the woods and glanced over to us as if they couldn’t decide where to shoot first.

The Ogre’s headless corpse stumbled backward, as if Marty’s shove had not only knocked him back but taken his head off as well. I didn’t want to think of the caliber of weapon that could decapitate an Ogre and I certainly hoped that it wasn’t aimed at me. I wasn’t taking any chances, I pulled Dalia down as gunfire erupted towards Serlisch.

He moved with all the grace that I had always seen in full blood Fey. Like flowing quicksilver he found a hollow in the ground to conceal himself as the staccato crackle of gunfire peppered his position. He was pinned down there. I could see him cast glances back at us, hoping that he would get the chance he needed to take revenge on the man who had ruined his face.

I found myself on the ground, crawling for cover. Unfortunately, we were unarmed and that is a terrible thing to be in the middle of a gunfight. It appeared that the fire that was mainly a suppressing fire to keep anyone from moving. Correction, it was keeping Jeryn Callisandra and his crew from moving. Whoever the group in the woods was, they weren’t shooting at us, just Jeryn. They had taken out the Ogre first and in that I found myself in complete agreement. I’m not saying the rest of his crew wasn’t dangerous, but an Ogre is a nasty piece of work and taking him out would have been my first choice as well.

I was wondering who exactly was out there when fire irrupted from the top of the mound and the low ruins that perched there. I couldn’t see anyone up there but there had to be. I could see the spurts of flame that shot out of the automatic weapons and streaked towards the woods. It looked like someone else had taken up a hand.

Marty crawled over to me and grinned. “I thought you said this place wasn’t used! It’s busier than Grand Central station at rush hour, for god’s sake!” Whoever was up on the mound was ignoring us for the moment and was trading fire with whoever was in the woods. I was hearing short controlled bursts from both sides and that told me that whoever these jokers were, they knew what they were doing.

Meanwhile, Jeryn Callisandra troupe of bastards were pinned just as we were. I had tried a move forward to where our guns lay, but a burst from up top the mound put an end to that. If I stayed where I was, fire from the top of the mound couldn’t hit us, but The guns were fair enough out in the open that an attempt to grab them was likely to be fatal. Stalemate. It wasn’t dark yet but it would be soon. My guess was that as soon as it got actually dark enough someone would make their move. The guys in the woods could make their rush and the troops on the mound could move down and do whatever the hell it is that they wanted. Hell, by then maybe Serlisch would get his chance to put the chop on me. I decided that by the time the sun set I needed have a better plan than cowering at the base of the hill hoping that everybody out there would kill each other for me.

I pulled Dalia around to where I could see her face in the gathering twilight. She was scared and obviously had good reason to be. It was reassuring that despite her fear she wasn’t shutting down. She could still function, that was what I needed.

“Dalia, listen to me. We’ve got to get the hell out of here and I’ll need your help to make it happen” A short burst from the gloomy woods directed towards Serlisch thudded into the soft earth of the mound behind me showering us with dirt. If we stayed we might get killed as easily by accident as on purpose. We wouldn’t be any less dead if it was intentional or not.

“How? If we move we are likely to be killed by one side or the other. I do not think we can make it back to the car under fire and with all those voices calling out to us.” I could see that she was actually more afraid of the whispers than she was the bullets and I couldn’t really blame her for that.

“You’re right. We can’t make it back to the car. But at the same time , we can’t stay here. It’s only a matter of time until someone gets lucky and actually manages to shoot us. It looks to me that everyone is basically ignoring us here at the base of the mound but that situation is time limited. When it gets dark they will be able to make a move. We need to be gone by then.” Marty was more exposed, although he was shielded by the Ogre’s body. I couldn’t see him too easily, but I knew he could see me, so I waved him over and was rewarded by seeing movement towards us. Stray shots from above pocked the ground around him as he worked his way toward the mound.”

“Again, How?” Dalia was exasperated and it showed.

“We can’t make the woods, which if I am reading the situation correctly, is full of people who are not shooting at us but at whoever is on the top of the mound and Jeryn’s bunch. We don’t know that for sure, but it doesn’t matter anyway. Our basic problem still hasn’t changed. We have to get to the Bright Kingdom and now is just as good a time as any to go. We’re right against the mound. If we open a gate through the Veil, it will be right behind us and we should be able to slip through.”

I saw her work though my words and as realization hit her I saw an actual smile cross her face. The idea of leaving everyone fighting over nothing appealed to her. It certainly appealed to me.

“Here’s what we’ll do. As soon as Marty gets over here, we’ll brief him on what we are going to do. The thing will really come down to timing. We need this happen when all our friends make their move, at nightfall.”

Marty had managed to get close to us. There was only a small distance to clear and I could see that he was carrying something and that it was making it harder for him to move. He made a dash across the open space as a gun from the top of the mound spat at him, throwing little clods of dirt into the air. When he plopped down next to me he grinned.

“How could you throw a party like this and not have any party favors? Luckily for you our Ogre friend brought plenty for all of us.” He started handing out a some small daggers, well, small for an ogre is pretty man sized for us. It wasn’t much, but it felt better to be armed, even if it was only a dagger.

“What else did you get?” I could see Marty had a bundle under his arm.

“Nothing. He had a purse attached to his belt but I couldn’t get it free. This isn’t the best time to be looting bodies.

“Agreed.” I filled him in on my plan and he nodded. It would be tight. As the last rays of the dying sun filtered through the trees, the gunfire had nearly stopped. Occasionally, a shot would be snapped off at a supposed target. It looked to me as if everyone had decided it was a waiting game. It wouldn’t be a long wait, ten minutes at the most.

“Be nice if we could get the guns, or least some of them.” He point to towards the weapons that Dalia had dropped at the spot where Jeryn Callisandra had been standing. I agreed with him but couldn’t see a good way to get them.

“How about when she opens the gate? I’ll grab ‘em and make a beeline for the gate. I feel better if the only people who don’t have guns at this gunfight were better armed.” His eyes searched mine and I nodded. It was risky, but getting the guns could only help.

“Okay,” I said,  “ But you better let me do this. I’m quicker than you.”

“The hell you say! Doesn’t matter anyway. It has to be me. If you get shot, I’m not going to able to protect Dalia on the other side of the veil. If I get shot, while a tragedy of Homeric proportions, you’ll still be able to function, albeit unarmed. It’s got to be me.” His logic was unassailable as it was uncomfortable. I didn’t like asking my friend to take a risk I couldn’t, but at the same time I couldn’t leave Dalia alone to face whatever waited over there. I knew I could count on Marty to do whatever he could, but He would fail and she would fall.

I nodded. There really wasn’t any choice. “Okay, but here’s how we’ll do it.” I called Dalia closer so she could hear above the sporadic gunfire. “As soon as it gets dark, I‘ll give Dalia the signal and she’ll open the gate. It should be flashy enough so that everyone out there and up there will be distracted. At that instant, you rush forward and grab what you can. Without stopping, you turn and run as fast as you can for the gate. If you can’t get to the guns, don’t worry about it. We’ll handle whatever comes up. Dalia, as soon as I give the word we all hit the gate. Once Marty and I are through, I want you to smash the gate closed. Don’t let anyone else through and don’t leave any traces that can be followed. Got it?”

She nodded but looked troubled “Will they not just open the gate and follow us?”

“Not right away. They’ll have to settle who has control of the mound. Jeryn and his crew could probably do it, but they won’t get the chance. Because once Marty and you are through, I’m going to use this on the passage between worlds.” I opened my shirt and pulled out the cross of iron that I had fashioned. I could feel where it had ridden next to my skin, leaving a burning rash. I may not suffer burns the way a full blooded Fey would, but it still made me uncomfortable.

Dalia visably recoiled. “That is iron. It is forbidden to carry that through a gate!” I looked at her and smiled.

“Yeah, it is forbidden. But I’ve got rules of my own and the number one rule is that Mrs. Underwood’s little boy does what it takes to survive, damn all rules!”  She slowly nodded.

“How does that help us? I thought you said we couldn’t take any iron through?” Marty seemed a little puzzled by my about face.

“I said we shouldn’t and we’re not supposed to. But actually, I won’t be taking it through, or at least not all the way through.” I turned and saw that the sun had almost set and long shadows covered the sparse scrub between the forest and the mound. It wouldn’t be long now.

“I don’t get it.” Marty had a confused look on his face, a look that I seldom saw there.

“By dropping an object of iron during the passage through the Veil he will ground the Veil, disrupting it, possibly tearing it.”

“That sounds ‘Bad’.”
              “It is indeed “Bad” Marty. The iron will twist any rituals used near it and a gate will not form. No one will be able to follow. It’s not something a full blooded Fey could try, for obvious reasons. That is the most likely event. But there is another possibility, it could tear the Veil and in this spot that could be worse than anything that might happen to us on either side of the Veil. If the Veil were to tear, the forces of the Adversary could come through. They are drawn to this place and if a tear does not draw them quickly, it will draw them surely.” She paused “Even if a tear does not occur, the Veil will be chaotic and unstable. It would take many months to cleanse the area and settle it enough for a gate to be opened safely. “

“We’ll either be safe of dead by then. We can deal with the consequences later, first we have to survive.” It was almost dark and I knew that it would only be a few moments before someone made a move. I decided to steal a march on them. I signaled Marty and Dalia to begin. I interspersed my body between Dalia and whoever might be looking, hoping to hide what she was doing.

Either someone out there saw what was going on or they decided to move on their own. Just as Marty erupted into action I heard movement from above. It was near dark, but the Fey have excellent night vision. Dalia pressed her hands against the mound and began to chant in a very low tone. I couldn’t hear her words, but I knew what they were. She was opening the gate.

A low rumble coursed through the hill and the ground beneath her hand began to ripple like waves on a still pond. The sickly looking sod parted, a drape of grass and dirt, revealing a milky glow. The white light came out of gash in the mound that was about 5 foot high and 3 foot high. The light was a beacon to anyone who was watching, but there was nothing to be done for that. We had to open the gate. I only hoped that it would distract attention away from Marty. The rumbling stopped and I could hear a low humming sound that I always associated with a temporary gate. Dalia turned to me and nodded and I noticed that her face was flush and beads of perspiration dotted her brow.

“Go on! Get to the other side and keep the gate open!” I shouted. She looked confused, unsure what to do. She didn’t want to leave us behind. “Go! I have to be the last through. I’ll bring Marty and as soon as we’re through, close the gate!” She didn’t look happy, but she went.

At my signal, Marty had leapt into the darkness and I could barely make out his movement in the darkness. There was fire from above and I could see the muzzle flashes as slugs tore into the ground about two feet in front me. I suspected that was just about as far as they could suppress their fire from the top of the hill. There was answering fire from the woods, directed at Jeryn Callisandra and his crew as well as the interlopers on the top of the hill.

Marty had reached the spot where Dalia had dropped the guns. I could see his silhouette as he searched in the deepening darkness. If he had been Fey, he probably would have seen them. Even as a human he would have found them if he had been given a little more time. But time was the one thing that he had run out of.

I wasn’t positive where the bullet came from that hit Marty in the back. I think it was from the top of the hill but it could just as easily been a stray from the woods. I had, by this time, worked out that the guys in the woods didn’t want to shoot me or any body with me. They’d had plenty of chances to do that in better light. Most of their fire had been directed at Jeryn Callisandra and whoever was on top the hill. Those guys had kept the troops in the woods from crossing the cursed open ground around the mound, None of that mattered to Marty who jerked and spun with the impact of the bullet.