Magic. 301
Copyright© 2024 by James McDonald
Chapter 18
Never tell the Groom what he doesn’t need to know
Where the hell had time gone by? My biggest problem with being “Clan Lambert’s Leader” was that there were too many things going on and I needed a briefing deck at every morning to keep up. January, February, March and the beginning of April flew by. My God, I had a wedding to plan for. Or did I?
Fortunately, I had great people in key positions running with their part of the business. People who took the Clan Charter to heart and worked very hard to use good judgement in their decisions and their actions and to never embarrass anyone. And they worked very hard to keep from bothering me with small things.
“They key to any great organization, corporate, political or military, is the ability to put the right people in the right place for them to have impact, and to have the subordinates always have confidence that the orders coming down to them were well thought out, necessary, and achievable with the forces you gave them to work with.”
I heard my father speaking that same speech since I was twelve. At twenty-six, it was the same speech, same timber, and just as impactful on my little ears as it was at twelve.
The announcement in May that we were going to be Handfasted in Tennessee on June 21st, with images of the vistas of the area being circulated to all of the invited guests was seen as a publicity stunt by the Mages in Europe and elsewhere. The offer of Sprites providing “taxicab’ service was seen as a cute invitation by some. Reggie graciously circulated the menu and agenda for the reception afterwards, and the same “taxi service” as extended to guests going from their homes to the ceremony and then to the reception afterwards.
Karen and I were invited to look at the amazing vistas at the site that they had chosen, and we were very impressed. And behind the scenes, our people (Yes, they are Our people.) were working strenuously to make this a seamless success.
And like any other good and intelligent couple, we kept our noses out of the goings on in Brazil, Albuquerque, and the Arch Park in Georgia.
The universal mantra was “Hank, we’ve got this. Don’t worry”.
Karen and I heard some sort of repetition of that at least a hundred times every weekend when we asked questions in our weekly staff meetings. Unknown by us in the wedding party was all of the activity on the defense front. Small things like the defensive runes engraved into the old steel rail spikes that decomposed obsidian into sand and iron dust. Or the runes that prevented the ignition of CFE powders (Copper Fouling Eraser) inside of a steel breech of a rifle or pistol. (It turns out that use of steel rail spikes created an affinity for the steel in the breeches of weapons and allowed the blocking magic to more rapidly neutralize the ignition process.)
This was but part of the complex protection scheme that Jeffery, Deamonous, Aine, and a host of other wily cooperative minds worked on to ensure that our wedding was a time of celebration. Without any “bang”.
Preview of the Vista
“Darling, I can imagine this vista in the spring. A carpet of continuous green flowing behind us and around the river, up to the mountains beyond.” Karen said. “I must be part elf because this reaches to me with a calm that is so vast, and clear, and wonderful.”
“There are many vistas like this on earth, my lady. The sprites have found and captured many visions like this. But we want to show you this one first.” Brimstone said quietly to both of us.
“And the Fae in Brazil are working on building a wonderful Gazebo that can be transported here to act as a frame for you both” Robert said from her arm. “We will capture the moment of your joining for the world to see, clearly framed against the backdrop of this sight of green and of earth and of sky.”
“That sounds amazing.” Karen said in reply.
“It does” I said as well. “Darling, I can hardly imagine anything more peaceful and beautiful then this, except for you. Beautiful, and sometimes peaceful.”
“Hank, I am peaceful. And Quiet.”
“When you are worn out and asleep.” I said in reply.
For which I was rewarded with a massive hit on my shoulder by my wife to be. The woman could punch.
Unknown to both of us, a small group of sneaky artisans were working hard in Georgia and Germany to build a truly magical illusion. Graf Zaftmund was the true wizard of illusion, and he had cheerfully responded to Arno and Jeffery’s request for an image projection to be encased within the confines of a structure with clarity and sense of depth to rival any 3-D projection. And it was visible as a clear object from any angle.
“What are you looking to do with this?” Graf asked.
“We want to project the vision of a Hank’s wedding in real time to all of those who want to see it here in Georgia” Aine replied.
“Why not simply attend?” Graf asked, a little confused. “I thought that the venue was large enough for a large host.”
“It is. But not all of us can attend. Some of us must remain here to charge and to tend to business.” Jeffery replied.
“Well, you do have to have some shade for the images to be clearly seen” Graf continued. “Too much sunlight and the images will fade like ghosts and possibly become indistinct. Much like a movie theater with the lights on.”
“We know. We are working on proper shading of the image circle to minimize that. Still, it should suffice to satisfy most of the viewers.” Jeffery replied.
“Well, just be sure you have enough layline energy to power the images.”
“We know that. And we will.” Jeffery said with a smile.
Later, after Graf returned to Germany, Deamonous, Jeffery and Aine were sitting under the evening sky when Charles the gnome asked if he could make a suggestion.
“What’s on your mind, my friend?” Jeffery replied.
“I know we want to prevent discharge of the weapons at the Handfast. And we are truly making effort to prevent the possible danger to our Lord and Lady. But I wonder why we truly need to seed the grounds around the site in Tennessee. We are setting the stage there with the diversion, and we are encompassing the range in Maryland with both Fire and Obsidian fixed runes. And none but those few of us in the Dragon Corp know that Tennessee is a diversion for those who want to hurt Hank and Karen. Why are we so concerned about Tennessee?”
“Midway, my friend was as much psychological as it was a military success.” Jeffery said. “We know that they are coming to disrupt the ceremony. We know that they have evil intent. We know that they desire to hurt Clan Lambert in the worst possible way. And we know that they have committed substantial forces to this endeavor. And we know that Lord Robert Barron intends to attend the celebration to watch in person for Hank and Karen die before his eyes. What Lord Robert and his friends don’t know is that we know, and we’re taking precautions to thwart that action, and to make those who act in this little disruptive plan suffer total defeat. First by making their weapons fail, and then by sending their bodies to ashes spread across the Tennessee hillside. All while ensuring that our lord and lady have a peaceful celebration to be remembered for their entire lives.”
“But won’t they simply try again some other time?” Charles asked.
“Not if nothing remains of the tools that they tried to use this first time. And then we have more than enough justification to do any “follow-up” activities to make sure that there is no repeated attempt.” Jeffery replied.
The Hills of Tennessee.
The field behind the old Church at Mount Hope in Eastern Tennessee was very green, open and very spacious. With a hard firm soil and slight elevation, it was surrounded by trees and green and a wonderful view. It was an outdoors wonder.
“It’s also an open scene for a sniper team. Or more than one.” Jeffery cursed under his breath. Taking a day off with Deamonous and Kirin (the dragon that had bound herself to Karen) they were looking for a secure place to hold the ceremony that was coming up in a couple of weeks. And Jeffery was not happy.
“The thing you have to be worried about is the fields of fire.” Jeffery said to his large companions. “A good man with a Barrett M82 can sit off a mile away and hit a person sized target. We need to be able to sweep the area for direct fields of fire, and plant artifacts to sense humans. Once we do that, we need to sweep the area starting twenty-four hours in advance. We want to pay particular attention to human forms in the ground.”
“That’s if we have the ceremony there.” Deamonous said. “What if we say we are, but we use here as a trans step to where we really are holding the ceremony?”
“What is going on in your lizard brain, my friend?” Jeffery asked with a smile.
After a year of frequent talks between Mage and Dragon, a certain amount of familiarity had grown between Jeffery and Deamonous. The dragon had great respect for Jeffery’s knowledge of traditional modern methods of warfare. Both knew that surprise was not their friend. And Jeffery had a lot of admiration for the inventiveness of his not quite human counterpart. And both took their self-appointed duties very seriously. Jeffery with the changes that the last few years had brought him, and Deamonous with the evolution of modern dragon hood. And this creature called “Clan Lambert”.
“What if we announce this as the gathering place, put in a landing circle and put up a canopy for the ceremony, and hold the actual ceremony somewhere else?” Deamonous asked.
“Use this as a trans ship platform for the guests and have them step to here and then to where the real ceremony is going to be?” Jeffry asked with a smile.
“Not even that. Set everything up, put patrols around as if it was the actual site, but have the real ceremony elsewhere.”
“I like it. Where would you want to have it?” Jeffery asked.
“We found a place in Maryland. Excellent views, wonderful green, and Natalie said we could rent the place that overlooks a wide scene, we can set up the arch in a single day, come in, hold the ceremony and then move to Reggie’s place in New Orleans for the reception. We advertise this location, but we actually take all of the guests to the other one.” Deamonous said.
“Won’t that put a strain on Dragon Corp resources?”
“Not for a single day. Remember, we have over seventy Sprites now, able to flit with great speed. And being closed for the day, that gives us the taxis for the guests as well as lots of observation assets. And the actual members of Dragon Corp total twenty-nine unattached Dragonets, fourteen Dragons, and eighteen Grass eaters. And of those, Only Kirin and Robert of Lambert are firmly attached to Karen. I didn’t think that Robert would want another beast attached to Karen, but Kirin asked him first and impressed with Karen with Robert’s help. Except for that pairing, and Brimstone attached to Hank, and your lovely wife with her own consort, no one really has an actual count of our many varied friends. We can have decent security heavy at the real ceremony and a significant one here.”
“You didn’t mention the Gargoyles.” Jeffery teased.
“Hank’s Palace Guards are too important as sentinels to be bothered with offensive engagements. Hank has a truly soft spot in his heart for those creatures, and everyone knows that. And their numbers are almost as significant. The fourteen original plus the sixteen we have rescued from the different prisons brings their total to thirty. And besides, they love doing their job with patience and attention to detail that no one else wants to do. Their rotations through the teams are best used when capture is the main event. We don’t do a lot of that anymore”. Deamonous said with a smile.
“I’ve been spending too much time filling gems and draining artifacts, my friend. I did not realize you had that much depth. Hell, that’s an airborne company” Jeffery said.
“It’s a good thing Hank keeps building fumerals everywhere. Else we would be a lot leaner and hungrier. The one thing that is not stretched in Clan Lambert is Energy for us. None of us remember having been fed and exercised so well in our collective history. And that history goes back a long way.” Deamonous said with a smile.
“Jeffery, I will tell you this.” The Dragon continued. “This won’t be like Salsbury Hill. Troops deliberately sitting in ambush there to disrupt this ceremony won’t be taken prisoner. Hank and Karen won’t be on site to restrain us. These people and their arms will be disappearing. I hope you don’t’ mind.”
“Just remember to clean up afterward my friend. Hell, I’ll even come with a mop”
“No need. You would be better to come with a large barreled shop vacume. Remember, ‘Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. If they come here, there’ll be no muss”
The pair then set about placing trigger artifacts to warn of human presence in the most likely sniper nests, as well as locations where an escape vehicle likely would be. Careful analysis of the maps and geography of entire place was mapped out. There is a parking lot to the west of the mountain indicated that an actual attack by a group would have some sort of escape plan, and that some command vehicle would be needed for coordination of the sniper/observer teams.
This could be a number of people. And Jeffery and Deamonous wanted them all.
Diversification.
None of these conversations were brough to my attention while I was busy working on building the business. A typical meeting at the end of March centered around expansion of capture artifacts.
“Hank, we have a motion from the Gnomes to expand our collection activities with artifacts to additional locations and for additional materials.” Natalie said.
“Ok. What particular materials and where?”
“Lithium is beginning to get into the stream for batteries and the use of it in electric devices will probably increase in time. As well as Cadmium, and a host of other exotic metals.”
“You are not suggesting we move away from our Gold/Silver/Platinum standard, are we?”
“Not at all. But our activities on Copper probably should decrease as we look toward more exotic materials that are highly valued. As more and more telephone companies move toward optical fiber, the need for copper is decreasing. Like Lead in ammunition. But some elements, Palladium for instance, are increasing in need. Such as with the use of catalytic converters. It’s almost as expensive as platinum, is rarer and is needed for newer automobile exhausts.”
“What other candidates are there?”
“A whole host of them. Particularly if we can infiltrate electronic recycling yards. Or automobile recycling yards. Pure forms of Palladium sell for almost as much as gold and is easier to paper trail for distribution.” Peter said. “Osmium is even easier to build a paper trail”
“Additionally, diversification into these other markets reduces our attractiveness to legal scrutiny” Natalie said. “We look more and more like a diversified materials company, not just a money dump.”
“Cindy, how are we coming with research into using rune enabled artifacts around salt water?” I asked from inside of the meeting.
“SLOW, boss. We spend so much rune energy fighting the effects of salt in the water that we have minimal duration of mining operations. Plus, unless we get to a very close source of large quantities of material, we don’t get a lot of collection for the duration of the energy supply of the artifact. Fresh water is far better. And the garbage dump idea is good for close encounters with devices, but once things are buried they become an impediment to movement of free atoms. Unless we get there while the stuff is above ground and loose, we have minimal collection power.”
“Well, folks, I imagine we are going to continue working on this train of research for some time. But we need to look for a breakout strategy to make sure we don’t exhaust our money train.” Hank said to the meeting. “What research resources do we need on tap to assist on this endeavor?”
“Not a lot right now. Hank, there is a shortage of competent and enabled people. Witches, Mages and hedge-witches are a small minority of the general population and finding them is a constant task for our HR department. Finding members who are not criminal, or who are able to get involved in the Clan membership are even a smaller subset.” Paula said
“Add to that the fact that we are causing our own worst limitation.” Nancy said. “All of the talented hedge-witches are finding their place in success with their talents. You don’t think that music scores that stick in your mind don’t have any magic attached, do you?”
“And that does not count the street art that finds its way into galleries either” Jerry continued. “Our low powered artifacts give them release of energy of their mind. Their creativity is driven by that, and it finds commercial success.”
“That or strong product marketing of this Internet thing. I swear, I sometimes think that is the greatest and worst element of current society” Peter said. “We never conceived the speed of information and entertainment when we were fighting at Gettysburg. The concept of this sort of speed of information was unheard of before the telegraph. And radio. Television was astounding. And now. I shudder to think of what comes next.”
“Maybe it’s us” Hank said aloud. “Maybe what we can influence in art and science will bring about the next wave of change and well-being.”
“If some idiot doesn’t stand in to ruin it for their own gain.” Carol said quietly.
These were the typical sort of thing that the Executive council of Clan Lambert met to talk about every Saturday. Because Sunday was the Council meetings, they served as a run through of any issues that we wanted to bring to the Over Council meetings and our discussions with Reggie on Saturday evening. During this period, our issues with the European mages had moved to the background, and to some extent, out of sight. Or so we thought.
Scouting Success
“We found it. I have to admit; Clan Lambert surely does like grand vistas for their shows.” Basil Barron said with a screech.
“Where is it? Can you get into range with the weapons you have?” Robert asked.
“Easily, uncle. We’ve already found five hides, four for the teams and one for the observation vehicle. And the command van looks like one of those extended roof delivery vans. The American army is loaning it to us for evaluation. All their latest goodies are included.”
“Are you able to park it far enough away that it won’t be noticed, but still able to capture film?”
“Of course. And the observation road is lightly traveled. We’re just under a mile from where the ceremony is and the parking lot is in clear view. And the area is so lightly populated that no one is going to notice a few idle shots going off.”
“So when do you anticipate leaving?”
“June fifteenth. That will give us time to get down to eastern Tennessee, verify all of the firearms and ammunition, migrate as single teams to the area, and the night of the twentieth we will be disbursed into the hides. The closest is the observation hide that is five hundred yards from the ceremony. The others are behind us at six hundred to seven hundred across a arc of seventy-five degrees relative to the target.”
“And you know where the ceremony is going to be how?”
“Simple. They laid out a set of markers where the Gazebo is to be placed. A fifteen-meter circle with iron pegs to mark its location.”
“You know that they will probably put that up the evening before.”
“Yes, which is why we are getting in place early on the twentieth. And the troops have energy packs for twenty-four hours. Don’t worry, uncle. SAS has been doing these sorts of things since the Falklands.”
“Well, I’ll be in the crowd watching your success.” Robert said with a smile.” I almost wish I could be pulling the trigger.”
A Stronghold Engagement
“Mr. Gibbs, what you are asking for is rather unusual. Normally we hold events at the Mansion.”
“I realize that Mr. Davis. But we need to have a private engagement, and the participants are such public figures that we need to have a private and secluded location, as well as one where we can have the breathtaking views that your western mountain expansion. It is amazing and I can see why you are so protective of it. And we will provide a generous compensation to you and your employees for this event.”
“But you say you will arrange transportation and erect the canopy and all of that in the morning of the 21st and will have all things removed by that evening. Do you have a workforce that can assemble and remove all of that without any damage to our chestnut trees?”
“Yes, I am quite sure we can. Your Aunt Margaret probably told you about our people”.
Davis got immediately alert. His aunt Margaret was one of the members of the family that had some “history”. Wiccan history. An outcast for the most part, Richard Davis still loved her with all his heart. And her stories captivated his imagination as a young boy and memories continued to this day.
“Sir, do you profess any proof to her beliefs.?”
Softly smiling, Jeffery decided to take a page out of Hank’s book. “Here, hold on to this while I make a call, please?”
Davis watched as Jerry held his right hand in front of him and slowly separated his index finger and thumb to about one inch. And the white ball of light grew until it was about an inch in diameter. And illuminated the room like its own lamp. Without heat, the light radiated across the entire room. No seams, no sign of batteries, and no sign of a switch. It just grew between Jeffery’s index finger and thumb. Bright white, hard to look at, and an entire surface of light rather than a beam.
“Here, hold on to this while I make a call to verify funding.” Jeffery said to his astonished host. “It will be there in just a few minutes.”
And thus, the entire western overlook of Sugar Loaf Mountain in Maryland was leased for twenty-four hours on June 21, 2001. The entire mountain was closed for a wedding ceremony. Everyone working for Stronghold was given the day off. With pay.
And the cleanup arrangements were clarified in the contract with a substantial penalty for anything out of place. With photos of before and after.
Davis checked the American Express card for possible limitation and was forwarded to a Specialist who handled the Lambert LLC account. He was told, cheerfully, that “Clan Lambert’s funding was already backed by deposit on account. And unless they were buying all of Frederick Maryland, there was no issue with the credit on account.”
“I guess, Mr. Gibbs, that we have a reservation for the entire west of Stronghold for June 21 of this year. Are there any other arrangements you need from us?”