“’Tis the way it must be, Tzader,” Daegan argued right back. “You cannot go with me. This may not be a brief journey.” That was better than admitting out loud that this team might not return. He had to tell Tzader of the possibility, but now was not the moment.
Tzader kicked a chair in Brina’s solarium. “I’m tired of Evalle being screwed six ways every time I turn around. She deserves to be happy with Storm.”
“Agreed, but that won’t happen until we find her.”
Furious, Tzader swung to face Daegan. “What about that damned stone he stuck on her? Doesn’t it work?”
Sighing, Daegan explained all of what had happened.
As the truth sank in, Tzader’s normally rich brown skin turned a sickly color. “They ripped her chest open?”
“Yes. That’s why I don’t believe she’s in the human realm, but there are many places she can be. Before you start on me about the Medb being at fault, I am considering all possibilities including Macha, but someone expects us to default immediately to those two. We can’t make a mistake by jumping to conclusions or we might lose Evalle.”
Sounding more like the Maistir who had watched over North American Beladors before Daegan showed up to take control of Treoir, Tzader said, “We need to eliminate everyone we think isn’t behind this so we can be sure where to hunt.”
“Good point.”
Turning a steel-eyed gaze on Daegan, Tzader ordered, “You need to go to a Tribunal and make them pull in Macha, Maeve and ... anyone it might be just to rule them out. Or to finger the guilty.”
Daegan stroked the short beard he’d allowed to grow. “The coalition does owe us at this point, in return for Beladors rejoining the agents of VIPER.”
“Damn right. I wouldn’t suggest you going there, but Quinn told me the way you gave them a smackdown. So you’re good to go, right?”
“Is that an order, Tzader?”
Catching himself, Tzader said, “Sorry. I’m not used to staying behind.”
“I understand, but there is no one I would entrust with Brina’s safety, the future heir’s safety and the entire Belador power base, but you. As great a warrior as you are, I am the one who has to lead this team. I’m the only one who can teleport a group anywhere.”
“I know.”
“When did you two intend to tell me about Evalle?” Brina asked, storming into the room and looking like the warrior queen she was even at seven months pregnant.
Tzader muttered, “Fat’s in the fire now.”
Daegan opened his arms. “Come here, niece.” As he hugged her, he said, “’Tis bad manners to eavesdrop, niece.”
“I don’t care about manners when one of mine is in danger,” she replied and stepped out of his embrace, then moved to Tzader’s side.
Her future husband kissed her head. “I was going to tell you as soon as we were finished here.”
“I should be in this meetin’.” Then she flinched and twisted to the side.
“What’s wrong?” Tzader demanded.
“This child is practicin’ for battle.” Shaking it off, Brina placed a hand on her side and asked, “Can you find Evalle through dream walkin’?”
Tzader’s face lit up at that thought.
Unfortunately, Daegan had to douse his hope. “No and please do not dream walk while I’m gone. I was able to come to both of you in the dream world before I escaped TÅμr Medb, but no one knew I could reach out that way at the time. Now, anyone who dream walks could be waiting for me, or you. If I were killed or even captured, there would be no one to teleport our team. If anything happened to you in the dream realm, that would leave Brina unprotected.”
“You’ve a good point, uncle.”
Anxious to get moving, Daegan said, “I must see Garwyli before I go. I will get word to both of you as soon as I know something.”
“Daegan?” Brina said, stopping him from teleporting away.
“Yes?”
“I refuse to have a weddin’ without everyone and I mean everyone.”
“I will do my best, niece.”
“No, you will bring her back,” Brina clarified, but her words were more worried than demanding.
“I won’t return without Evalle.” Daegan teleported to the center area of the castle where the entrance met the hallways. For some reason, that seemed to be the best way to find the old druid as opposed to jumping around to hunt him.
“Garwyli! Where are you?” Daegan shouted, adding power to his voice.
The old guy stuck his head out of a doorway halfway down the hall on Daegan’s left. “Ya coulda just walked ten more steps, dragon.”
“Only if I knew you were there.”
Shaking the white head of hair that fell well past his shoulders, Garwyli muttered as he stepped out, then tottered down to Daegan. He was missing his cap, but he wore his standard robe. His white beard reached his waist.
“What ails ya, dragon?”
Ignoring the way Garwyli liked to address Daegan, he asked the druid, “Are you making any headway with my family’s history?”
“Some, but not so much I would be ravin’ about it. We have few history books here and none I would call more than random scribblin’. I do have an idea of where to search next, though.”
Daegan didn’t have time for one of Garwyli’s long-winded visits. “You haven’t determined who might have freed Lorwerth from Anwynn or how he showed up in Atlanta with Laochra Fola warriors, have you?” His uncle had been sent to the underworld realm, and he shouldn’t have had any way to escape. Someone had bargained to take him out.
“Not yet, but Lorwerth was your father’s bastard brother, right?”
“Yes.”
“In thinkin’ on that, plus the fact that Laochra Fola were created at the same time as the Belador warriors, it comes down to one simple point of origin.”
“What are you saying?”
Garwyli’s thick white eyebrows lifted. “That knowledge had to come from someone who knew your family history. Start by lookin’ at those who were around when your father still lived.”
Daegan knew this, but he hadn’t really focused specifically on that since so many preternaturals in today’s world were a threat. But the old druid made sense.
Based on that, it had to be Macha or Maeve. Both would have that history. Add Cathbad to that list, as he’d been around then, too.
Lifting a wrinkled finger, Garwyli said, “While I’ve been ponderin’ your past—”
In a rush to get out of there, Daegan cut him off. “Do you have anything else that might help me find a missing Belador?”
Garwyli stopped short at that. “Who?”
“Evalle.”
“No.” The old druid looked shaken. “What can I do to help?”
“Nothing unless you can think of another enemy capable of teleporting and who would do this besides Macha or Maeve.”
Shaking his head, he said, “I wish I did.”
After the stories Daegan had heard about Evalle and how she’d been misused by Macha, Sen, and others, he wondered if she had any idea how many people stood behind her now.
“I have to go, druid. Please lend a hand to Tzader in watching over my niece and her bairn while I’m gone.”
“Of course I will. I have more to tell you—”
“And I do want to hear it, just not yet. I’ll return as soon as I can.” Daegan teleported away before Garwyli could say another word.
Back in Atlanta, Daegan called out telepathically to his second-in-command. Tristan, meet me immediately.
Daegan? Where are you? What’s going on?
Daegan gave Tristan his location on the roof of a building in a run-down part of downtown Atlanta where they had met before. No tall buildings stood close enough for anyone to see them blink in and out of sight.
In the next fifteen seconds, Tristan appeared with a shirt slung over his shoulder, hair askew and zipping his pants. Yanking the T-shirt over his head, he ran his hands through his tawny hair, taming it a bit.
“Sorry to disturb you on duty,” Daegan said in a wry tone.
“First of all, I didn’t shirk my duties. I traded with Evalle. She owed me.”
“Sadly, that may be the other way around now.”
Tristan hooked his thumbs in the belt loops on his jeans. “Why? What’s up?”
Daegan filled him in.
“Fuck me. Storm is going to kill me when he finds out she took my place last night.”
That would not help anyone and it brought up the question of whether the attack was meant specifically for Evalle, or for any gryphon.
Daegan ordered, “You will not share that with Storm. He’s got a lot to deal with right now without you two tangling. We all need to work together.”
“Got it, boss. I’m in no hurry to say a word about that to her mate.”
“Our team will be entirely voluntary,” Daegan made clear. “Are you saying you do volunteer to join us?”
“Well, yeah.” Tristan scrunched his shoulders up, looking uncomfortable. “First of all, I’m your guy. You call. I’m there. In addition to that, Evalle would be jumping to the front of the line for me. I’m not giving her any less.”
Here was the young man Daegan had made his Rí Dtús, better known as a right-hand man in this era, but Tristan was so much more. He just didn’t realize it.
“What are we doing now?” Tristan asked, sounding ready to go on attack.
“Our next stop is visiting a Tribunal.”
“You’re really a downer today,” Tristan grumbled. “Are we going to piss anyone off?”
“Most assuredly.”
Tristan grinned. “Fuck yeah, let’s do this, world-beater.”
Daegan shook his head at the irreverent young man who had yet to truly understand his potential. As an ancient being, Daegan wasn’t much for technology, especially when he could normally reach any of his people in the local area telepathically, but Storm was not a telepath as far as Daegan knew.
He instructed Tristan, “Before we go, send a phone message to Storm for me.”
Tristan dug out his phone. “You mean a text, right?”
Ignoring Tristan’s correction of his terminology, Daegan hurried through a message explaining where he was headed and that it would be a brief meeting.
Tristan typed so fast his fingers blurred. He tucked the phone away and crossed his arms. “Ready for takeoff.”
In the next minute, Daegan stood in knee-deep grass at the base of a mountain in North Georgia. “Sen. I have a request.”
Tristan appeared and asked, “Can he hear you out here?”
In answer, Sen shimmered into view and demanded in a surly tone, “What do you want?”
Daegan got straight to the point. “I wish to speak with a Tribunal.”
“When?”
“Now.”
Daegan fought not to smile at the appalled look on Sen’s face. The VIPER liaison did not care to be challenged.
Too bad. Daegan didn’t care what Sen thought.
“I’ll ask if they’ll make a time for you, but they’re not seeing you this very minute,” Sen said, taking a threatening pose with his hands loose.
Daegan made no action of acknowledgement. Instead, he told Sen, “You have one minute to arrange a meeting. When I leave, so will my Beladors and all of our support for VIPER. Be sure to relay that when they finally decide upon a time.”
Sen blinked out of existence without another word.
Tristan asked, “Think he’s doing what you asked?”
Daegan had no idea. He’d been broken out of TÅμr Medb while still cursed as Maeve’s dragon throne, and this new world he’d rejoined had proven to be a curious place. People did not always act as if they understood how close to death they stepped.
Power belched out all around them as Sen appeared.
Tristan pinched his nose. “Ugh. Don’t do that so fast. The majik stinks.”
Sen sliced a look at Tristan that could cut a man in half. Then he told Daegan, “The Tribunal will see you, but they warn that it had better be worth doing it on short notice.”
“What are we waiting for?”
In the next instant, Daegan and Tristan were deposited in the familiar Tribunal setting he recalled from his first visit. Same circular plane of grass beneath their feet. Same endless sky that surrounded them, similar to the glass cover on a snow globe, an odd trinket he’d found in Atlanta.
And the same raised dais with three entities standing upon it.
Unfortunately, one was Loki, the god who lived to create turmoil in all worlds. He had probably only agreed to support Tribunals for the sheer fun of causing chaos.
Next to Loki stood Justitia, goddess of justice, wearing a gold blindfold and simple gown, but holding a set of scales to one side. Assuming the blindfold meant she would not be able to know what happened around her would be foolish.
Daegan had heard plenty about her as a child.
Tinkling sounds came from a lyre Hermes strummed while staring off at nothing with a bored expression. Easy to understand, with the boring music this god played endlessly.
Why was he even in a Tribunal?
He belonged in a king’s court as unnoticed entertainment for guests wandering around. Hermes had the face of a god, but he could not hold his own with others like Loki.
Speaking of the trickster god, the last time Daegan had met him in this location Loki had been in a jovial mood. Loki had enjoyed his power play until Daegan pointed out that none of them knew his powerful mother, whose identity he intended to keep secret.
Had been sworn to keep secret.
“What is the problem, dragon king?” Loki asked, no patience evident.
“One of my people has been kidnapped in a brutal fashion. I wish to question Macha and Maeve to see if either was involved. Doing that here where they are unable to lie would save everyone time.”
“We are not expected to provide for interrogations,” Justitia replied, but Loki lifted his hand to request the floor.
Just as Daegan had heard, Justitia missed nothing. She turned her face to Loki with a sour expression on her lips even though she couldn’t see his hand. She returned to facing forward and Hermes kept plucking away at his strings.
Loki asked Daegan, “Why should we provide this service for you?”
“Upon VIPER’s request, my Beladors have returned to support the coalition’s enforcement for the past ten days. From what I understand, the Beladors have provided the largest number of warriors for many years. For that reason alone, my request should be met with the respect it deserves.” Allowing a moment for his warning to get through, Daegan continued. “More than that, the time is coming that preternaturals will face exposure to humans. When that happens, you will need us more than ever.”
“Too late,” Loki countered. “There are reports of humans using their phones to film strange events at two vehicle wrecks in downtown Atlanta. Sen tells us the Beladors are at fault for this, yet you come here demanding our aid.”
Tristan murmured, “Sorry.”
Daegan would have preferred to be informed on that point before arriving here, but it changed nothing. VIPER would not hold Beladors responsible for incidents out of their control.
They had Sen to clean up things.
Daegan asked, “If that is so, why did your liaison not wipe human minds and destroy electronics that could be replaced? Seems you have the answer to that issue standing here with us.”
Sen’s power flushed out hard.
Daegan ignored him, keeping his attention on the three gathered on the dais.
Rather than respond to that question, Loki said, “We are busy. What do you want?”
“To locate our missing Belador.”
“Who is it?”
By the sly look in Loki’s eyes, Daegan knew that the god had been well informed of who was missing. “Evalle Kincaid. If Macha and Maeve play no part in this kidnapping, then they should have no problem saying so.”
The irritating god made everyone wait during a long moment of decision simply to insult Daegan, who would never waste time posturing frivolously with Evalle’s life at risk.
Casting a smirk in Daegan’s direction, Loki said, “Macha refuses to join us. She did ask me to pass along her pleasure at hearing Evalle is captured. Maeve said Cathbad is unavailable and she refuses to join us without him present even though I assured both her and Macha they would face no penalty for agreeing to attend.”
Daegan wanted to crush that god. He had not given leave for Loki to allow those goddesses the freedom to come and go if either had committed this crime.
Remaining here would only cost valuable time. Daegan said, “I have a Nightstalker actively searching for details on this kidnapping. He requested that no handshakes be shared with Nightstalkers in Atlanta until he ferrets out every piece of information we need. My Beladors have been ordered to comply until I say otherwise. I suggest you warn others associated with VIPER to also not interfere, as I will be informed immediately.” That wouldn’t guarantee VIPER stayed out of his way, but agents with any survival instincts would not want a dragon breathing down their necks.
In closing, Daegan said, “Loki, Justitia and Hermes, thank you for the meeting. I will not forget your aid.”
They could take that at face value, or read between the lines and hear his anger over their lack of support.
Smiling as if this had turned out better than expected, Loki said, “You’re welcome, dragon. Does this mean you’ll be gone for some time hunting for the gryphon?”
Daegan gleaned Loki’s meaning.
This group of entities thought they saw an opportunity?
Offering a warrior’s face in return, Daegan said, “I’m often gone overseeing my Beladors. They are a power to be respected, especially considering our telepathic abilities. My people can reach me anywhere and anytime should they need me.”
No exactly true, since even Trey McCree, the most powerful known telepath of the Beladors, could not reach beyond the human realm to a different one other than Treoir.
Daegan doubted Loki believed his bluff, but it might buy him enough time to hunt Evalle and return to the castle before someone teamed up with Macha or Maeve and Cathbad to invade Treoir.
If they made that mistake, they would all pay dearly.