Chapter 93

Ketty looked radiant in the way that expectant mothers often do and Niras looked proud, almost fit to burst.

“How long?” asked Morgana before glancing at me. “Shut up, John.”

“Yes, my Mage,” I chuckled.

Another 7 months yet,” Ketty admitted with a smile. “He knew?”

“He did. Apparently before you did, though kept quiet about it,” Morgana replied.

“I thought you were my friend, John?” Ketty asked rhetorically with a woeful expression, followed by a grin.

“You wouldn’t be the one getting it in the neck from all these ladies here, particularly if they thought you wanted to surprise Niras,” I chuckled.

“Ah...” she giggled.

“So I said nothing and now get the blame from my Mage for not telling her,” I chuckled.

“And us too, John,” added Róisín.

“See, can’t win no matter what,” I said with an exaggerated sigh and a grin.

“Sometimes it’s best to say nothing,” Ketty chuckled.

“I would have said something, if there were an issue, my lovely friend,” I admitted.

“That I do know,” she replied with a grin.

“Do you know what sex it is ... shut up, John,” chuckled Morgana.

“No, we’re going for a surprise,” chuckled Ketty who then glanced at me and laughed out loud.

“He knows, doesn’t he?” she giggled as Niras grinned.

“Yes, he does, but if he blabs he’ll be in for a world of pain,” Morgana replied also with a grin.

“That secret is locked away until you are ready to tell the world,” I chuckled.

“No buying anything until after the birth either, John, because I know you’ll opt for blue or pink stuff,” Róisín admonished me with a laugh.

“Yes, dear,” I chuckled.

“So who’s the big guy?” Niras asked looking at Tu’tar.

“Bodyguard and friend now,” I chuckled.

“I am Tu’tar of the Mazdani,” Tu’tar introduced himself with a half bow. “Any friend of John and Róisín is under my protection.”

“Oh wow! You do have nice friends, John,” Ketty giggled and moved forward to grasp Tu’tar’s outstretched hand.

“It’s also good to see you again, Ketty, Niras,” Jude interjected.

“Hi Jude, been reading up on you,” Niras chuckled.

“Occupational hazard,” Jude replied with a grin. “Took a little while to get the boss to suspend the memory rules for you and your good Lady too.”

“I can’t imagine why,” Ketty giggled, making Jude grin infectiously.

“Had to fall back on the ‘who’s going to believe them’ argument,” he chuckled.

We all grinned, though we all knew better than to delve deeper, there were some things Jude simply wasn’t allowed to discuss, mostly to do with what he did and although we expected he’d be polite when saying no, there were other forces out there that were far less polite. That said, he apparently could tell Morgana, though she wasn’t saying either.

“So how are things progressing on the Sidhe planet?” Ketty asked.

“Verenestra is slowly increasing her control without our aid, though we have troops constantly on standby to assist her forces if necessary,” Morgana replied.

“It all seems too easy with the Sidhe force withdrawing,” Ketty said with a slight frown.

“They can’t teleport because of the blockers we’ve set up,” Morgana explained. “That means they have to assemble on the mainland where we can see them coming and we have a series of fixed defences in place in all the obvious landing grounds.”

“Can’t imagine they aren’t planning something,” Ketty mused.

“It’ll be along the lines of breaking our anti-telepath screens,” Morgana agreed. “Anything else is either too subtle for their warriors, or would do too much damage to the planet.”

“Too subtle?” Ketty asked with a raised eyebrow.

“The Sidhe haven’t developed over the last couple of hundred thousand years, unlike mankind,” Jude explained. “For far too long they used their mental powers to fight any foe, but slowly but surely lost ground as mankind developed. Hence your average Sidhe is not terribly smart, just good at illusions and encased in, until man invented iron armour, what was pretty good protection against essentially an already beaten foe.”

“Some of them are pretty good,” I added.

“The Daoine Sidhe, yes,” Morgana admitted. “But they won’t endanger their pretty hides until either they have to, or think they’ve already won. They’re terribly risk averse.”

“So what’s the difference?” Niras asked.

“We think, and Verenestra suspects we’re on the right track, that the Daoine Sidhe are the noble class of the star travelling Sidhe, the others are the equivalent of serfs; hence a Daoine Sidhe gets better training from their parents and clan simply to remain on top of the pile. When the bulk were lost to Azurana few new Sidhe were born and the few remaining Daoine Sidhe clustered around the new courts and wouldn’t train up a new nobility, or breed a new one come to that,” Morgana explained.

“Ah, they tried to maintain a balance of power,” Ketty nodded

“We believe so, though even Verenestra would admit Sidhe court politics are murky and Byzantine to say the least,” Morgana chuckled.

“I would have to say that on the balance of probability, those who were left were mostly the ‘lesser’ of the Daoine Sidhe and, having gained a lot more power, were reluctant to relinquish it,” Ketty mused.

“I believe you’re correct, Ketty,” Jude agreed.

“Is that an official ‘you’re correct’, Jude?” Niras asked with a chuckle.

“I couldn’t possibly comment,” Jude replied with a grin and a wink.

“It’s not like the Sidhe are sure either. Their records, such as they are from that era, are rather sketchy and it’s for certain Titania isn’t going to tell,” Morgana chuckled.

“Older you get the more dirty little secrets you have,” I said with a blank face whilst carefully not looking at Morgana.

“You are so going to pay for that one, John,” Morgana said sternly before breaking out into a grin.

“True though,” chuckled Jude.

“Speak for yourself,” Morgana giggled. “Besides, I believe you know all my dirty little secrets.”

“What dirty little secrets?” he asked.

“Ooh, good answer,” Róisín laughed.

“Centuries of practice,” Jude chuckled in an aside.

“Gods, I love it when you lot have the time to call,” a grinning Ketty added.

“Well, we need to keep an eye on Tír na nÓg until everything is in place, but it’s nice to get away and relax too,” Morgana replied with a gentle smile.

“Already had an offer to babysit from your latest girlfriend, John,” Ketty giggled.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” I mock growled.

“She seems to think so, as does Imelda,” Ketty giggled. “Told me all about your desire to turn her armour transparent.”

“Ye gods!” I sighed. “It’s a conspiracy.”

“Only got yourself to blame for leading the dear child on,” Róisín stated with a straight face then spoiled the effort by giggling.

“I find her rather refreshing,” Morgana chuckled.

“You don’t have her as a stalker,” I replied with a wry grin.

“True,” Morgana laughed. “Though you may as well accept the situation, as she’s clearly chosen you and the rest of your ladies have agreed.”

“Got to persuade me to say yes yet,” I chuckled.

“And that’s hard?” Róisín asked with a grin.

“With Jukar, it could be,” I chuckled.

“Ooh, a challenge,” Róisín grinned ever more nastily.

“Up to you to persuade me,” I replied with a smile. “Don’t think you can bully me into it either.”

“Me? Bully?” Róisín sighed in anguished tones.

“Yes, bully,” I chuckled.

“How is Jukar getting along?” Morgana asked.

“Still at the setting fire to herself stage,” Brianna replied.

“Makes you wonder how the early Mages managed,” I mused.

“Painfully,” Morgana chuckled. “With me, I struggled to do anything as Merlin wouldn’t deign to show me anything at all, save a few healing spells for his first daughter.”

“I’ll be seeing him next week,” Brianna announced.

“Anything in particular?” Morgana asked.

“No, not as far as I know. His implant frustrates him, if only because he doesn’t know it’s there,” Brianna chuckled. “Loegrian technology is very reliable too, so it’s not likely unless he’s ‘rescued’ that he’ll ever figure out what we’ve done to him.”

“Put into Null, sedated and an Artello special,” I mused.

“Yes, means the guards generally can use their powers around the prisoners now,” Morgana agreed.

“Edward is up for review next month,” Brianna added.

“Still too soon, unless he’s very persuasive,” Morgana noted.

“At least he has a chance of rehabilitation,” Abi chuckled.

“True, unlike Merlin or Elymas,” Morgana agreed.

“No chance whatsoever?” Brianna asked.

“None. Too many Mages overly bitter about the pair of them,” Morgana replied.

“You don’t seem to be and you’ve got more reason than most, my Mage,” I added.

“In the end, I was instrumental in taking them down, that was revenge enough for me,” Morgana replied. “Others in Hermes old faction see the pair of them as a constant reminder of just how wrong they were.”

“Surprised they didn’t demand an execution,” I mused.