Magic. 301
Copyright© 2024 by irish Writer
Chapter 15
Aftermaths in England
“Myra, we really need your cooperation on this. If we can get the Iron Circle to work with the rest of the Magical forces in England and on the continent, I am sure we can bring down this American recreation of the Lambert Clan down.”
“Thomas. I know you feel the strongest of affinity and loyalty to the British Empire, but I am afraid that we are not interested in engaging in a war that we cannot win. We know what Clan Lambert represents to Witches, Mages and Wizards and we are not interested in trying to stop it. And I know that neither of the major covens in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales have any interest either. Nor are we interested in being over-run by it at the behest of some puffed up want to be “Leader of covens in the British Empire”. We have come independently to realize that individual trading with the West is the best path to security, both financial and personal.”
“Myra, that’s not a very positive attitude.”
“Thomas, neither is going up against the sort of forces that Clan Lambert exercises every day. Do you have any idea what it’s like to stand out in an open field, and see two Dragons, Four Dragonets, six Gargoyles and a dozen other assorted creatures standing in two fronts, and looking up to two Power Mages telling us that they wanted to make sure our wills were filled out? And that our remains would be returned as ash, not sauce?”
Thomas blanched at the thought of that. “Dragons? Were they real, or was it an illusion?”
“We didn’t want to find out. That slapper reflected our force wave back on all of us like a mirror. And afterwards, when Hank’s sprite took us to his place in Augusta the following week and we signed treaties and opened accounts with the Caldron, they took us on a side trip to a place called the Arch Park. And we saw the dragons and dragonets and sprites flying about. And Gargoyles moving. Not frozen as granite structures. Living and moving Gargoyles. Except for the three teams he said were “First up for emergency action response”. Those were lazing about the waters in the Fumeral creek. Happily sitting in the sunshine, soaking up power.
“What did he mean by that?” Thomas asked.
“They have teams consisting of a dragon, two dragonets and four gargoyles. All backed up with a Power Mage or Power Wizard. And fill ins with Dwarves, Elves, and other assorted creatures acting as scouts and infantry. With sprites doing their reconnaissance. And the “live fire” demonstrations were enough to make me realize that there was no reason to fight a force that wanted just to trade and visit and enjoy the sunshine. We got those damned iron spikes out of the ground the following week. And the sprites that do deliveries are better behaved then my nieces and nephews. Polite, sweet and you want to adopt them. No, Thomas, we are not going to enlist in your slaughter of Mages in Europe. Because that’s what is going to happen if you decide to go to war with Clan Lambert.”
The conversation went on for over an hour, with Myra painting a picture of irresistible magical force and creatures poised to fly into the rescue of any member of the Lambert Clan, either fae, human, or creature. And her and the Iron Circle and others in the British Isles having no interest in blocking the free travel of Sprites, or any other members of the Clan Lambert. The economic benefits were a close second place to survival. “Not interested, not involved, not contributing, will provide a warning to Clan Lambert of any actions we hear of” was the final word from the Iron Circle.
Which made Thomas’s conversation with Lord Robert Barron very challenging two weeks later.
“What do you mean, she refuses our summons? “Lord Barron thundered to his acolyte. “That witch better damn well appear here. Sir Thomas, I don’t think you understand what this situation has created with our partners. This behavior of witches with this Caldron thing is causing disruption among our aligned friends. We need the support of all English and continental witches if we are going to break these economic constructs that Lamber has built.”
“Lord Robert, I realize that this has caused some problems. I heard enough about it from my nephew about it over the weekend. But the Iron Circle is the strongest coven of witches in England, and they have no interest in another confrontation with Clan Lambert. Nor do the Irish nor the rest of the Welsh. Frankly, the language I heard was that we should let the mainland Frogs and Spicks have their little fit and ignore them. And the Italians are not nearly as powerful as they were seven hundred years ago. There is no interest on the part of even the Scottish to get involved. And the mindset regarding the other far eastern Europeans is even worse. Since the confrontation with Lambert in June, the different covens have exchanged goods and services with this ‘Witches Caldron’ and they have no interest in putting that relationship at risk to salve the feelings of a bunch of ‘Euro Trash’”
“What about rule of Law. Can’t you put pressure with warrants and seizures against these witches?” Robert Barron replied.
“Well, let’s see. We’ve come to the end of the of the twentieth century, with the population believing that witch and witchcraft are fairy tales, and we want to bring this sort of thing out into the open? Did I tell you that the Iron Circle has a solicitor here in London? The Right Honorable Lord Reginald Frank?” Thomas replied.
“The former Justice?” Barron asked, with a shocked expression on his face.
“Yes. On retainer in his retirement. Now wouldn’t that be a complication?”
“How the bloody hell did that happen?”
“Evidently Myra Coswittle is his cousin. She encouraged the coven circles in England and Wales to get a contract for representation of property disputes and all other legal representation with him. For him, it was free money and great food. And for them the advantage is obvious.” Thomas said with a grimace.
“Can we talk with him? Ask that he support warrants?” Barron asked. “Ask about his sense of duty to the Crown”.
“First, he is no longer on the bench. Second, however would we reply to his sort of questioning? The man was a great solicitor and was a very picky judge. He also is knowledgeable of the ins and outs of Covens. And Wizards. And Mages. Every lawyer I have talked with has stories about his digging into the stories to get to the truth. The Queen’s bench had ulcers over some of the questions he posed that exposed solicitor lies on the bench. And he was notorious for sending lawyers, and officers into custody for perjury in his court. Do we want someone like him digging into our affairs?”
“Not hardly. I guess we must wait for this legal mess to clear up with the Constitutional Reform act. That should give us legal authority to take action on a more positive note.”
“I don’t’ think we want to believe that will be all that positive. The mechanizations we have already tried are due to be ‘Reviewed” because of this mess in America. We don’t know what their next administration will bring. So far, we have hit wall after wall with this mess.” Thomas continued.
“Then we must take some other recourse of action. Let’s get together with the French, Russians and German hierarchy and see what we can come up with to counter these assaults and weaken and eventually destroy this evil creation.” Lord Robert Barron said. “We need to reassert the leadership of the Greater collective against this dangerous upstart.”
“Haven’t we tried something like that before? And the Russians are not interested in biting the hands that have fed them. The Cossacks who were interested in the pillage of Clan Lamber were in that invasion. And only one of those is alive and we have no idea where he went.” Thomas said in rebuff.
“Then we stick with the Germans and the French.” Barron replied.
“Most of whom bicker among themselves and cannot lead a party in a whorehouse. Face it, England is the most powerful collection of mages and none of them are interested.” Thomas replied.
Robert Barron sat there, fuming. Somehow, he would get revenge for this action. All the covens in opposition to him should fall before him. Just as they had for his ancestor, the original Lambert. “Perhaps, it’s time to re-engage a Witch Hunter.” Barron thought out loud. Something that had not been done for three hundred years.
Silent Witness
Unknown by either of these two senior Mages, sitting silently in the corner, the Sprite Springtime almost had to laugh. In all the time she had followed these two around, it had never ceased to amaze her at the strange things humans said and did. It was a what Hank called “The comedy of human errors.” Maybe Deamonous could explain. He had been getting better at understanding the strange two-legged creatures of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Humans.
The one thing she knew. Whatever she heard, the people with Helen in the Intelligence Group would listen carefully, and thank her for everything she heard, and saw, and smelled and felt. Which is why she was working so hard to sense everything and not add anything to it when she gave it to the Analysis team.
Springtime reflected on what she had experienced since coming to Clan Lambert from Russia. It was strange for Sprites to be given so much credit by other creatures. None of her sisters were ever demeaned by anyone within Clan Lambert. All of them were really seen as a valuable information source and as critical to the security of Clan Lambert. That made her want even more to pay attention. While she had no idea of what was valuable, she had confidence that others would and would praise her for everything she heard.
There had been a great boost to the Sprites pride, and to their thoughts of how valuable they were. And the Dragon Corp’s respect for them (and promise of protection when called) did a lot of that as well. The New Mantra for all the Caldron’s customers was that “Sprites are polite, sweet, friendly, cooperative and kind. Be nice to them and treat them well. If something or someone scares them, the ones that will come as their protection are none of the above.”
Sprites had learned to take very careful measurements of space in any delivery. Just in case there was a need for any incoming support animals. Fitting a thirty-foot dragon in a living room meant that the living room had to have high ceilings and wide spaces. Dragonets were usually a better fit which is why they were the usual second response. Unless overwhelming force was necessary.
Aftermaths and updates to plans.
There had been some very interesting aftershocks from our English Trip to Salsbury Hill. Some were local. The results of our South American visit had not fully settled in when Paula had her planned picnic to Salsbury hill. The aftermath led to some strange events and rumors.
For starters, the clinical staff in Brazil was surprised to see four humans brought in by Dragon back so early in the morning. Paula’s two children (Norms) were a delight and a new experience for the clinical staff. I heard about this later.
“Wow. I didn’t know that Clan Lambert even had any normal children”. Rajhe said. As chief administrator (an Elf) and physician he had been tending fae, elves, and all manner of beasts since the clinic opened the emergency wing. He was almost shocked to tend to a check of two children and two adults. And a couple of fae creatures as well.
“Our children haven’t yet really expressed as anything yet” Paula said. “But we are keeping watch. We really did want to enjoy playing in England. The area was so amazing. You should visit when we get the political mess settled.” Paula said.
“First, to be honest, I want to visit your clinical place in Albuquerque.” Rajhe said. “I have heard you have some interesting normal people there.”
“We do. And the local tribes all ignore our different appearances. They write it off as ancient lore come to life.” Paula said. “And our impact on the local tribal economy is greatly appreciated.”
“We are working to do that same thing here. I have to admit, going to a dry place would be a change from here.”
“Well, for gosh sakes, come and visit. There are a lot of humans as well as some fae to treat.
Which set up the visitation trips from Brazil to New Mexico. And gave the local tribes even greater exposure to a wider group of physicians. Of all colors and shapes.
Of course, all of this had shocks elsewhere. Some of which we didn’t know about for months. Some of which were more immediate.
The (Coming of the) One Minute Rule.
A short time later, I heard that there was a conversation among several others who also had some concerns about the ambush. For instance, I heard that, at the Arch Park, Deamonous approached the Groundskeeper to ask for advice.
“Aine, I am worried. I feel we need to beef up the wristlets of our Sprite messengers and spies.”
“Ok, Deamonus. What’s on your mind now?”
“I keep checking the crystals of previous encounters that resulted in actions, and I am concerned a little bit about Sprite Fragility.”
“Ok. What is your concern?”
“For instance, In South America, when the three mages captured the sprite, The poor creature was almost totally defenseless. Now we are beefing up these little messengers, but I would feel better if we could expand their protective reservoir. They are a lot smarter at sensing danger then I would have ever given them credit for. But it takes time for them to sense, send the alarm and for us to react. I want to get to a Live Sprite. Not a dead one.” Deamonous said.
“You have come a long way from when you first formed the Dragon Corp, my friend.”
“I know I have. I never would have thought of myself as a defender of our little people but I am. And this mess in England only shows a weakness we had not thought of. We had to depend on a passing Sprite to tell us of the snare that captured Barbara and her children as well as Jeffery. We need to have some Instant alarm whenever there is a sensation of intent against Clan Lambert.”
“You are taking things to heart here far more then you did in the past.” Aine said to his fellow dragon. “This is a very welcome observation, my friend”
“You are the one that said, ‘life here is a learning experience’. And I think that some of the sort of teaching from Hank and his father’s ghost fits this situation. We need to enable armor that will keep our Sprites alive against any attack for at least a minute. We need immediate triggering of alarms BEFORE the person is attacked. Our response to alarm and reaction to being on site so far is less than a minute, with three teams if needed. First team is on location in less than half of that. And our Sprites know it. If we can increase the sensitivity to threat and if we can beef up all of the protections of their wristlets to be survivable until we can arrive and neutralize the danger, I think it will do two things. First, it will almost eliminate the chance of their damage by other forces. My little friends are too precious to risk their defense failing before we can get there in response to a cry for help. And second, it will give them even greater confidence that we care about them.”
“Also, it will increase the feelings among our clan that We Will Come to defend. That line from that song keeps ringing in my mind. “We’ve come to take you home” is our mantra to our people”
Aine smugly smiled when he heard the declaration of ‘my little friends’ “Deamonous, you are sounding more and more like Hank every day.”
“I read his father’s writings. And all of the diaries about him here. And Hank pointed me to the writings of some fellow human named General Hal Moore. The leadership teachings of these people have shown me how to form the Dragon Corp, and how to get maximum performance out of all our people. The loyalty lessons and leadership lessons sink in among all of us creatures even more deeply than even with the Elves, and they had darn near set the standard for it.”
Aine laughed. “Yes, its’s strange how each and every action he has shown us so far is a leadership example. Even when he’s angry he keeps a calm façade. It is scary. So how are you going to sell the idea of increased protection for the sprites?”
“I have an idea for a slogan. “The Magic Minute”. We equip each and every creature in Clan Lambert and all of our Fae with armlets or bracelets that will absorb magic with evil intent that is directed toward them for one minute. We use it to power shields to better protect them. That is one minute from the time that they can sense it and yell for help or alert us to danger. And we continue to train ourselves to respond on site with overwhelming force in that same minute. The clock starts ticking the moment that the Sprite (or any other clan member) feels that they are under attack and asks for help.”
“That’s ambitious. What’s your average response time right now?”
“Since the mess in England, we have made many practices. Two Dragonets, and four gargoyles in support with six elves or dwarves as troops have an average of twenty-nine seconds from alarm to on site with vision of the area. Our longest to date has been forty-three seconds. We rotate out our teams by the clock for eight hours up, and then sixteen hours down. And we rotate them one week on and two weeks off. And we take full advantage of the Sprites in the field and add to their numbers to give to us a full image of the battle zone.”
“And dragons?”
“We have one dragon with each team flying overwatch in shield to provide aerial support.”
“And you want to beef up the Sprites shields to make sure that they are protected for the one minute you feel is the absolute worst scenario to get aid to them.”
“And tell them such. We want them to realize that the Dragon Corp values them as much as Lord Lambert does.”
The discussion went on in this vein for over an hour to formulate the increased shields for the Sprites who were technically not in the Dragon Corp but were in the Witches Caldron delivery service. Which Paula and Jeffery both listened to carefully and agreed to a joint presentation to Natalie at the first Sunday meeting of July. Where it was universally applauded and set as a standard. And another round of scribing of Runes and Spells went into armlets and wristlets of all of the Sprites and other members of Clan Lambert. With an edited announcement presented to Prince Arno for circulation among the Fae. And also, to Sir David for distribution to the Wizards and to Reginald Van Houten for presentation to the American Mage Council. I was totally surprised that Deamonous had thought so deeply about the protection of his friends. The fact that he mentioned it as his idea to Jeffery and Peter and was asking for comments showed how far our Dragon Corp leader had come.
This had an interesting impact on the rest of the community. Pride, and the acknowledgement that the earmark of our success depended on each and every one of us telling the Dragon Corp where we were at all times. It was a catch 22 situation for the humans, who felt that it was almost like telling the parents where they were. But oddly enough it didn’t bother any of the fae. Especially the Sprites. Their “Where we are” spells were a constant “Here I am” alert to the map that the Elves kept in Albuquerque.
August with Dragons. Some unusual new activity.
That doesn’t mean that we didn’t have our own new holidays and traditions within Clan Lambert. One of them was on the first of August. The invasion of Elves, Gnomes and others into Arch Park during the first week of August struck Deamonous as unusual.
“Aine, what are these Elves and Gnomes doing here?” Deamonous asked the Grounds keeper.
“It’s Skin shed day, my friend. The heat, humidity, and my growth encourage my skin to shed, and these are my personal dermatologists to make sure that it’s painless and that the new skin hardens quickly and smoothly. Not at all like those patches you have been showing these last few weeks.” Aine replied.
“You have your skin peeled by Fae, here?” Deamonous asked.
“Of course. And we split the proceeds of sale in half. Dragon Scales in supple shape make excellent leather for Boots, shoes, and women’s handbags. They are sold in high end boutiques around the world. And my new skin is massaged with oil and lanolin during the shedding process so there is no itch or any pain. It feels new and almost “bright” within the sunshine. It slowly hardens and there are no scars from previous engagements. Supple and warm and I like it. This is my annual shed bath.”
The next three days were an education to the entire Dragon Corp. Aine, Brimstone and Brynstan were all massaged with oils, warmly bathed in lanolin and leather softener, and gently had their skin scraped loose along seams between the scales on their bodies. All of the scales were then carefully dried and set in the sun to bake into the leather of their normal composition while the new skin and scales settled on the bodies of the Dragon and Dragonets.
“That’s amazing. And there is value in this?” Deamonous asked.
“We weigh each and every segment, and then we have Yana Marenko grade the leather as appropriate to shoes, soles of shoes, boots, handbags, belts and leather jackets. That sets the price for the raw materials. The elves and dwarves split it in half with me and they divide the remainder among them. Do you want to take a bath and get some cleanup? You’re looking kind of patchy.” Aine teased.
So, Shed Day became The Shed Weeks of August. Of the fourteen dragons, twelve (Including the two Chinese) were able to molt and shed during that time along with thirty of the dragonets. Which yielded a wealth of “Leather goods” that Yana and her ilk worked to sell in Europe, the America’s and the Asian markets. The Chinese and Japanese markets went wild with women’s shoes. (How interesting) and the Europeans went insane over new leather in Men’s boots. Dragonet skin was substituted for “Lizard” in Mexico and the thirst for more was amazing to Deamonous, who’s entire clan was refreshed with fresh skin by September. And the material price led to account balances in the Fae Bank in Brazil for all of the Dragon Corp, which didn’t have anything yet to spend it on.
“This Clan Lambert is really something else.” Deamonous thought to himself. “We are shorn like sheep, and we get the benefit of it. And we are healthy for the process.”
Deamonous wondered what other interesting experiences awaited him in his time here.
“These actions sure beats sitting around being depressed in a Cave.” He said aloud.
Late Autumn in Augusta. Georgia.
All of this was background to my waking up in a soft bed next to a very warm body. Which was not nearly as burdensome as it used to be. Looking to my right, I saw a head of blonde hair that smelled wonderful. Especially in the morning. Of course, I was a morning person, and Karen wasn’t necessarily one all the time. You had to have some enticement to get her moving. Unfortunately, I had a lot of work to do.
“You have that right, Georgia Boy.” The voice in my mind said. “Leave the poor woman alone, she has enough on her plate anyway, getting ready to meet with your federal liaison”.