Chapter 9

An Unusual Sunday

Sunday’s Clan Lambert meeting was not the norm. For starters, Hank preempted Natalie in bringing the meeting to order and was chairing it this time. Then there was the addition of Helen, Carol, Jerry and Karen to the normal core group of five members consisting of Natalie, Paula, Jeffery, Peter and Hank. Others in attendance were of course Robert (with Karen) and Brimstone (with Hank). Lech was off in the corner, watching from his parrot perch.

“First, Helen, have we captured any further information regarding the Anglo-American requests for Redaction of Members of Clan Lambert?” Hank asked.

“Nothing formal yet. We do know from some communication from Sir David that there is apparently a Thomas Heatherington in England who is exploring the use of the Anglo-American anti espionage act of 1952 for the “Mutual Redaction of parties guilty of espionage against either country”. This act was the result of the gang of three British double agents that worked for the Soviet Union. One of whom was Kim Philby, the first secretary of the British embassy in the US.”

“Has he defined any targets?” Hank asked.

“He apparently is basing a lot of this on Queen Elizabeth’s orders for the execution of all members of Clan Lambert in 1534. He is stating that the “Illegitimate Clan has perpetrated continual actions against the interests of Great Britian and Nato from its subversive operations that have lately relocated to the American South.” Helen said.

“So, we are supposed to be a five-hundred-year-old subversive secret organization? Like the Freemasons or the Illuminati?” Hank asked.

“That’s what this fellow from the Crown Prosecution council says. And he wants to have us extradited to England to stand trial. Of course, there is no mention of actual charges other than the nebulous requirements to comply with the queen’s orders. And the justification for extradition is the 1952 agreement on the handling of subversive persons.” Helen said.

“So, what do we know about the US Reaction?”

“Well, the undersecretary for foreign relations is a leftover from the previous administration and he’s taking this seriously. So far as getting into the information loop. I think this is something we might want our Federal Liaison to look into.” Helen said.

“Ok. That’s on my plate for tomorrow. What documents do we have?” Karen asked.

“Very little. Evidently, they are bypassing mail in favor of electronic communications. And I am not that up to speed on finding out what all can be sent electronically beyond phone calls.”

“Perhaps we can get the guys from PARC to look into how we can magically enable communications monitoring.” Hank said. “Put that on their agenda when they get here next week.”

“They are already here. They are having a few culture and creature shocks right at the moment, but we can see how well they can find a way to help with this information capture.” Paula said.

“Paula and Jeffery, you have that. You are entertaining those guys anyway.” Hank said.

“I want to bring up something,” Karen said.

“Karen, if it’s what I think it is, that’s my next item on the agenda.” Hank said.

“Deamonus talked with you?” Karen said.

“Yes. And he made an interesting and intelligent proposition that I would like to charter for Clan Lambert.” Hank said.

Looking around, Hank saw that he had creature and human attention. “Deamonous is one of the larger Dragons that we liberated from Alaska. And he brought to my attention that there are a number of Fae creatures that are large, powerful and yet have no real mission within the Clan, or even within the current world. He has a proposal, and it is pretty well thought out.”

“I am not so sure” Karen said. “There is a lot of risk with this.”

“True but I don’t think that the risk of their involvement is as great as the risk to one of us. What he proposes is to have the five unlanded dragons and ten of the unpartnered Dragonets form a Corps. The goal is to be able to fly into support other clan members who are under attack. They would be bound by the second law of the Charter, and would stop the aggression, transport the injured, and secure the area if needed after hostilities are terminated. They would act as a group in support of any and all Clan Members and their Familiars whenever and wherever they are attacked. Actually, I think this is a good idea, in that it provides them with a mission until they can be partnered, as well as giving Dragonets, Sprites and Grass Eaters and all of the rest of our Fae members immediate support if they come under attack. Which I happen to think is a good idea.”

“This is what Deamonus came to talk with me about yesterday” Jeffery said. “He wants to get my aid in formulating responses to attacks on any of us, and then work the scenarios in practice. He is a pretty sharp fellow, His book on tactics is a little dated, but he has a strong understanding of combat, and he listens. He picked my brains for over two hours trying to learn what conventional modern tactics are when in opposition to Clan Members and what sort of counters he can use to prevent loss of his peers.” Jeffery said.

“He does have a grasp of what he feels his mission would be. And I admit that it makes some sense.” Hank said.

“My only concern is that you have problems hiding a Dragonet, and no way in hell can you hide a Dragon.” Karen added “When you commit a Dragon to a combat role, you pretty much have taken all of the deniability away. It’s hard to hide one once it’s made its appearance. You better have a good reason and make sure you clean up the mess.”

Paula laughed at that statement. “You just have to make sure you contain the mess so you don’t have to clean it up.” She said. “There, I said it before any of you could pick on me.”

“I think that shield containment should be one of the first things that we help to teach all of this group. Brimstone can be an instructor and help all his fellows learn to do the burn the right way.” Hank said.

“Treat them the way we did at the Arch Park. Wrap em, cook em, and ship them home in plastic bags and cans.” Jeffery said.

“What do we do about the Familiars’ that are already attached?” Peter asked.

“Absolutely no change in current human/fae relationships. This would be a Power add on as a response to any aggression. And when a Fae becomes a Familiar, he would be dedicated to that person, and no longer in the tactical group.”

“Hank, when you say it like that, I remembered a point that Deamonous had when he talked to me. He said that some fae like Robert were susceptible to becoming overpowered. But that they could be the point persons to guide the response teams. How well does that work?” Karen asked.

“The few times we have had practice, it’s worked very well. But that brings up the next point. We need to schedule time for all our familiars to work with this group to practice the tactics and responses that they need to safeguard all of the clan membership. And the Familiars are key to the success of this.” Jeffery said.

“Why?” Natalie asked.

“Ok. If you are attacked, Lech will be involved in the counter as well as requesting the aid. You will be first and most involved in your own personal defense. Lech in your case would be sending the alarm first and then the description of who was the attacker. That description would be the first step in determining what the response team would be.” Jeffery said. “Sending a Dragon to fight a street thug is kind of overkill. But to fight a Mage from Europe is not necessarily a bad match.”

“Who is going to run this Corp?” Natalie asked.

“I kind of left that in Deamonous’s hands. I asked that he check with Jeffery to use as a coach in modern warfare, and I probably should have him talk with Peter about criminal actions and how to respond, but for the moment, I am going to leave it in his hands, as supervised by Paula and Jeffery to make sure he understands the world of today and how to best train his people to respond.” Hank said. “I see this as a chance to provide an overpowering reaction force to anyone attacking a Clan Lambert member and provide a mission to some honest and earnest fae seeking to have pride in themselves.

“You are really in favor of this idea?” Peter asked.

“Peter, think about how nice it would be when you are doing your investigative work, and the knowledge about you that, If you are attacked, the response will be overpowering.”

“I guess this means that Reggie is not going to get any Fae Forces to help him in his house in Louisiana this term.” Natalie said.

“I don’t know about that. We probably have a couple of Dragonet’s we can loan him while keeping a cycled core across all of those that are not bonded. And he is not averse to having some Sprites staying with him.” Hank said. “We already have a couple of Gargoyles that cycle through there, don’t we?”

“Are we going to put the Sprites and Gargoyles in line for support? Will they be able to press the panic button and get dragons in response?” Helen asked.

“Absolutely. They are clan Lambert. And this is a response for Clan Lambert members.”

“The next Conclave is going to be real interesting. “Paula said.

“That’s no joke.” Natalie said.

“Brimstone, Lech, Robert. What do you think of this?” Paula asked.

“I have known Deamonus longer than any of you.” Robert said. “In the caves, he was the one that tried to cheer up his fellows. He fought the depression harder than anyone. When he talked with Karen and I he said that “It is not the place of any creature to usurp the place of any Familiar”. I sensed the truth of his statement. He then remarked at how, even if powered by amulet, I could be overpowered in a long fight. He is right on both cases.”

“I agree with my smaller friend” Brimstone said. “Even though I am empowered with this necklace, I can eventually be worn down. The idea of a strong team coming to assist me in my role to defend Clan Lambert and protect Hank gives me some greater confidence.”

“I can only say that, as Natalie’s familiar, I will feel a great sense of security when this is in place. Even with the ring on Natalie’s finger, the idea of massive force coming to protect us is a comfort. Better to have it and not need it.” Lech said.

“Natalie, should we draft a single page charter for Internal Clan advising the formation of the Dragon Corp to support and defend our members?” Hank asked.

“Single page, mission statement, and Chain of command. Who do they report to? UGH. Me I guess” Natalie said.

“There shouldn’t be much work. Jeffery and Peter will be coaching and keeping Deamonus on his toes, so you won’t be involved in much. I will have Brimstone and Brynstan do the coaching of some of their bags of tricks to them to bring their effectiveness up. And I will get Bedlow to start to work on collars and plates for all of them that are up to the same level as Aine and Brimstone.” Hank said.

“Any other new issues?” I asked.

“I have one, if I can bring it up.” Helen said.

“Sure.” I said.

“Hank, we are doing great guns on the opposition and threat research operations we have here. We accumulate a mass of written documents and are able to copy, file, and then refer when we start to evaluate activity against us. We have had some remarkable success. But it’s all document stuff and often it’s after the fact. Lots of things are taking place in this new internet that is growing by leaps and bounds and not all of it is in context or print form that we can track. Can these Hedge Witches, with their experience in this new world, help us? Can we ask them for some guidance in this new immediate media?”

“Paula and Jeffery, what do you think. You have greater contact with these west coast people. Is there some way we can imbue their work to do what we need for Helen’s threat assessment teams?” Hank asked.

“That is a tall order for a couple of hedge witches. But their knowledge might help us to accomplish this. And if we can find a way to get some commercial value out of it, we may even be able to have it as a service to sell to others. Not just Mage community.”

“We would need to have it do constant searching. Once we put it in place we would have to power it and keep it’s engine running. We could call it a Search Engine.” Paula said.

“Well, I see that this Internet will have impact on us being able to detect threats in advance. Jeffery and Paula, I want you to work with these guys and get some ideas from them on what we can do to find this sort of thing. If they become members of Clan Lambert, Let’s see if we can interest them in taking some of this work on and lighten Helen’s load a bit.”

Natalie took note and we went onto other minor things, like Thanksgiving planning. But it was clear to me that these were some things we needed to pay attention to. We were going to move to a more formal footing for defense of our membership, and any one we associate with. Some of our friends were not necessarily “Clan” members but were close associates. And we needed to provide some cover to them too. People like Chief Hotawa, or Doctor Atkinson. Or Even Pat. People who others might strike to leverage us. And I don’t think I would like that to happen. Better to have it able to do so, and not need to.

“You are paraphrasing. I like it” that voice whispered in my ear. Thanks dad.

Not so bad a Monday.

“Good morning, Mr. Webster.” Karen said with a smile as she apparated in his office.

“Good morning Karen. I have to say that there does seem to be some interesting activity afoot regarding your and my employer.” William said. “By the way. How is it that Tiffany’s credited my account for the amount of the necklace rental plus insurance that we had for the Gala we went to in August?”

“I was told that since they were renting her Neck for the presentation of a salable product that it was of course complimentary. They have had orders for two since that Gala.”

“Did you know about this?”

“I can’t say if I did.”

“I notice the use of your answer, young woman. Ok. So there are a couple of things that I should brief you on from within my organization” Webster said. “Last week, our senior partner in New York reached out to me regarding the services I was doing for H. Lambert and Co. Apparently the London office has a client who is interested in making a capital investment in your little operation. When it came to the attention of the senior partners that H. Lambert had some seven hundred million in escrow in banks in the US, Bermuda, Brazil, and other “banking islands” in the Caribbean, it generated a partner notification memo. Which got some interesting results. Biggest thing was that your company is entirely nonpublic. That means that the SEC has almost no leverage on any operational discovery. The same stuff you were sent out to find is not visible to the public eye.”

“Oops. Well, does that complicate things with you and your employer?”

“Not really. I know you are not doing any overt violation of American Law, and this thing with the English isn’t actionable by us. What do you know about the English side of this?

“That’s what I am supposed to to talk with you about.” Karen said. “We had mentioned that there were some apparent drives for information and possibly redaction of Americans who happened to be members of Clan Lambert. We believe that British SIS is involved in some sort of external operation. Looks like the old SIS / CIA partnership is being recooked. Only this time they want to bring members of Clan Lambert to British soil and then do the trials there. And under the 1952 treaty agreements, they feel that there is some sympathy for this among Department of Justice.”

“Damn it. I have not been out of there for a year and already they are backsliding into the old Anglo-American partnership. That shit bubbled up when the Falklands got kicked off and it almost crippled American overseas credibility in Latin America.”

“Yep. Different administrations, same administrative state.” Karen said.

“Do you happen to have a name?”

“On the British side? Yes. A Thomas Hetherington and he’s with the British Crown Prosecution Service. We don’t know yet who he’s talking with in Justice.”

“I’ll nose around a little. I may want to reach out to you later this week. How do I get in touch with you?”

“Marigold. Get her and tell her what you need.”

“Ok. Now what else is on the pot?”

That kicked off an hour of discussion of housekeeping issues, and plans for thanksgiving. Karen agreed that the weekend would be left alone and would pay a visit to William’s home office the Monday after Thanksgiving. And both left with a remarkable sense of peace.

Dragon Lessons. Tuesday Afternoon

“Aine, I have a problem, and I need some guidance.” Deamonus said.

“Is it about the conversation that you just finished with Lord Lambert?” Aine replied.

“Yes. Did you hear?”

“No. I find it’s never a good idea to listen to private conversations. Paragraph four of the Charter.”

“Unintended conversation leads to gossip. Yes, I remember that one. It was a bit of an adjustment. But so was the guidance I got just now.”

“If you feel comfortable you can share it. So long as there is no statement of another.” Aine said.

“Lord Lambert has come to me and verbalized his disappointment about my choices of reliable sources of information. He seems to think that all Clan Lambert should be considered valid and competent sources of information, regardless of species.”

“And you felt that this was not accurate.”

“How can a Sprite see and assess a threat to Clan Lambert? Have you ever talked with one?”

Dragon’s don’t laugh often. But when they do, it can be heard for miles around and is often taken as a sign of anger. But the creatures who visited Arch Park were familiar with Aine’s sounds and only wondered what had tickled his funny bone this time. Usually, it was at the sight of some foolish action on the gaming field. This time, it took Aine almost a full minute to recover.

“Deamonus, look around you. How many Sprites to you see at this time?”

“Too many.”

“Not at all, my friend. We have fifty-three in Clan Lambert, counting the new births lying in the cocoons in the trees. And these simple creatures fly about combining flowers, harvesting fruits, trimming grasses, finding and grinding seeds for food and drink here with a total openness and a constant delight to any other Fae member who wants to ask of any service. They are the UPS of Clan Lambert, taking items magically around the world. They deliver artifacts to Mages and Wizards, take artifacts to Albuquerque to be refurbished and cleaned, and they see and hear everything. They adhere to the rules of gossip as strongly as any other fae. But they see things. And they hear things. And the things they have seen and heard are reported to the Clan leadership if there is any sign of anything of distress.”

“And they know the difference?” Deamonus asked.

“Far more then you would think. They have helped find and recover lost items, and they have reported Mages violating the Mage Council rules to Peter, who then passes that information on to the American Council for follow up. They have uncovered several different threats to that Council in the last five years, and Reggie has remarked to me and others that they are invaluable eyes and ears in the magical world. They are the perfect Clan Lambert Fae in that they just report. No Judgements.”

“The ones I knew before didn’t have the intelligence to understand the difference between a threat and a treat.”

“Well, two of them were smart enough to find the shielded opening to the cave you were imprisoned in. And they were the scouts to find the place where Lord Lambert was able to land and bring about the actions that freed you. I agree that sometimes we have to train them about what to see and hear. The big thing you must realize is that Sprites have no “filters” in judgement. They see, they hear, and they report to you anything that can fit the definition of what may be a threat. It’s up to others to evaluate the level of that threat. Not the justification of the report. All reports are valid. Lord Hank once told me “Police can respond to a hundred calls for service but only make a single arrest.” That is the value we have with our small friends’ eyes, ears and noses.”

“But what if the information is of harmless nature, or is intended to be a trap to ensnare one of our responders?”

“That, my friend, is why you are training your people to anticipate and assess as they arrive. Do you want to have a failure to request support to result in the downfall of Clan Lambert?”

“How do we learn to separate the facts from idle chatter?”

“It takes time. And you provide guidance on what you find to the person who made the report. Sprites chatter among themselves. They strictly apply the “no Gossip” restraint on any other fae, but not among themselves. Notes of a correction get around very fast. And notes on bad treatment fly faster among them. Remember. It’s always a learning experience and we all benefit from anyone’s mistakes.”

“I have heard that entirely too often. How do we expect our membership to learn if there is no punishment for mistakes.”

“I never said there was no punishment. All that must be said is that you have let down Lord Lambert in the decision you have made, so now you learn from it, and remember it and don’t make it again. For this membership, that is punishment enough. Don’t you feel embarrassed when you make a mistake that is public? Don’t you feel you have let down your clan when you do?”

Dragons are not supposed to blush. But if you know them well enough, you can see the embarrassment that Draconus felt when he thought about that. “Aine, I am so glad of your experience. Gaining it must have been a painful experience.”

“Sometimes. But often it’s rewarding to have some small creatures come up to tell you something that they have seen and ask if it’s important. Like the path laid out six years ago by the invaders that intended to come and steal from us. Knowing exactly what was on that path led to proper alignment of defense. And you know how that ended.” Aine said with a smile.

“Catsup?” Deamonus said with a smile.

“Not at all. The phrase now is “Ashes to ashes, Dust to dust. IF they come through here, Housekeeping will fuss.” The damn elves came up with that one several years ago when Brimstone learned to encapsulate in a shield before burning the contents.”

“Yes. He taught that little trick last week. It takes more energy, but it speeds up cleanup. We never worried about cleanup in the sixteen hundreds.” Deamonus said.

“True. But today, we must be the unseen. We are never seen coming, never seen going, and never leaving evidence of our presence. That little Dragonet trick struck awe in the court of the Elves. As well as with the Mages in both Europe and America. And Deamonus, no one in those groups knows of your existence yet. I expect that when that fact circulates among those groups, the respect quotient will increase considerably. It also inspires confidence in every member of Clan Lambert, and all who are associated with it. You know of the affiliates?”

“I know of a few. The clothing lady, Yana Marenko, and the artist lady Emily LaFontaine. I assume that the Dwarves, Elves and Gnomes who work in the retail and other places who are here on loan are also associates.”

“Actually, those people are all Clan Members. Even the Elves and Dwarves who are here for a “rotation” in some of the craft shops are members while here. They have signed a copy of the charter and taken it with them. While they wear our Clan Insignia, they are Clan members. And they take that seriously.”