"Why, I'd be delighted. What were you thinking?"

  "Oh, say dinner, tonight?"

  "Tonight? I think my wife is going to kill me!" Duncan's voice laughed over the phone. "But I'm sure you have your reasons. Tonight, eight o'clock. How many should I be expecting?"

  "Just two."

  "Splendid. We'll be looking forward to it."

  "Thanks Duncan," Kensington said and hung up the phone. Then he dialed the number for Carl's desk.

  "Yes, Sir?"

  "Get something semi-formal to wear, we're meeting them tonight. If you don't have a suit handy, draw on petty cash; don't worry, I'll cover it. We'll be leaving here in," he looked at the clock and tried to compute how long the rush hour traffic would add to their trip, "three hours."

  "On it, Sir."

  Kensington hung up the phone and, staring at it, he wondered how deep a hole he was about to jump into tonight.

  "Vincent, how nice to see you again. Who's your friend?" Duncan Roberts said, meeting them both at the door and shaking hands with Kensington.

  "This is Carl Sykes, he's one of my analysts. Carl, this is Duncan Roberts, the leader of the Council of Sapientia for the North American Continent."

  "Good evening, Sir," Carl said while shaking hands.

  "Please, call me Duncan! Now come, let's go inside; I'll introduce you to my lovely wife, and we can all be seated."

  "Of course," Kensington agreed.

  Duncan introduced them to his wife, Carol, then everyone found their seats and the first course for dinner was served by a young woman in a stylish waitress outfit.

  Kensington looked at the servant and wondered if she was a lycan? He'd never really thought about it before, but now? Now he was curious.

  "You know, Duncan, this is quite good," Carl said as they started in on the appetizers. "My eldest is thinking of becoming a chef, may I ask where your cook studied?"

  "Actually," Duncan's wife blushed, "I made the appetizers, though Jamie, our cook, is making the rest of the meal."

  "Really, Carol?" Carl said, looking surprised. "I was under the impression that, well," Carl shrugged and looked a little embarrassed.

  "Before I got married and ended up here," Carol said, "I used to cook quite a lot. With the way things have been going of late, I've decided it might be best to start learning again. While Jamie swears he'd never leave us, I do think he appreciates my help in the kitchen," Carol laughed then, "at least he hasn't banished me from it, unlike certain other people," and she winked at her husband, who had the good graces to look mildly abashed.

  Kensington silently thanked Carl for the opening. "And just how are things going of late?"

  "Interesting times are here, Vincent," Duncan said. "Very interesting, which of course is the reason for your visit tonight, I'm sure. Though I must admit, many of the others will be surprised your government has caught on so quickly."

  "We do try to keep up," Kensington said, "even if our official policy is to remain uninvolved."

  "A policy I suspect some of you don't agree with, in regard to certain practices, I'm sure," Duncan replied.

  Kensington shrugged. 'It's not my place to speak to those things, I'm only here because of what we've been seeing lately, and it has aroused a great deal of interest among my own superiors."

  Duncan nodded. "Where would you like me to begin?"

  "I think the most pressing question right now is what happened in the mountains west of Reno last night?"

  Duncan sighed and set his fork down, the servant moving in to clear his plate away.

  "In order to explain that, I need to explain a few other things first. You see, the case has been made to the Council of Sapientia that both the financial and ethical cases for continuing to keep lycans as slaves are faulty. After some debate, we were forced to agree with that logic by the evidence shown, mostly from our friends over at Eruditio, though there were some outside influences as well."

  "And?"

  "And we not only freed all our slaves, but as the keepers of the traditions of all magic users, we rewrote our traditions to make it clear that slavery was no longer an acceptable practice, by any of the councils, or any magic user."

  "What about the servants? The cook?" Carl asked.

  "They're now paid, we even have a benefits plan, and they're free to come and go as they wish, even to quit and seek employment elsewhere. Some have."

  "But not Jaime or Selwyn here, thank god!" Carol said with a smile.

  "Then why is there a slave revolt going on?" Carl pressed.

  "Because, unfortunately, we only write the traditions, we do not yet have the power to enforce them."

  "Yet?" Kensington prompted.

  "Since the Vestibulum came to power several hundred years ago, they have always used their greater number of lycans as their key to keeping it. Mainly because the number of their own magic users, as well as their skills in magic, wasn't as great as ours. With their lycans being taken away from them now, however, Sapientia is once more returning to the position of power we have held over the others for over a thousand years.

  "The problem, of course, is that the Vestibulum, as well as Gradatim and the Ascendance, are not willingly setting their lycan slaves free."

  "So others are doing it for them?" Kensington prompted.

  "A polite way of putting it, but yes." Duncan nodded.

  "So, what happened last night?"

  "In a rather surprising move, the Ascendance and the Vestibulum councils in Sacramento banded together to go to Reno and wipe out the man leading the lycans. Even the Gradatim members joined in, though they haven't lost any of their lycans yet. Maybe they thought they'd avoid the issue by helping out.

  "In either case, they were ambushed in the mountains, and the survivors are now being forced to walk home."

  "Survivors? That doesn't sound good."

  "No, it doesn't, and it isn't. The lycans have been trying to avoid bloodshed in this, though it has cost their side greatly to do so. Hundreds of them have died in the last few months, but very few magic users have had to pay that price. Last night was a warning. I've been told by a reliable source that they could have easily killed them all, but chose not to."

  "And the silence?"

  "Is being maintained. The leader of the lycans has been working with us to do so."

  Carl spoke up then as Selwyn was setting his salad in front of him, having cleared the appetizers from the table.

  "What makes lions so special?"

  "They're our gods," Selwyn said, then blushed, glancing over at Duncan. "Sorry."

  Duncan smiled. "It's okay."

  "Gods?" Carl asked.

  Duncan nodded. "Apparently. I'm not so sure I understand it myself. Our man in Reno, along with the local Eruditio leader there, has been doing a good bit of research and investigation into the matter."

  "That would be Sean Valens?" Carl asked.

  "Bravo!" Duncan said, raising his wine glass. "I must say I am impressed. It took us quite a bit longer to realize that he was indeed the man in charge of all of this."

  "But he's only twenty-one, barely more than a teenager."

  "But he's a lion," Duncan told them.

  "And that matters?" Kensington asked, curious.

  "Apparently it matters a great deal more than any of us ever realized. You see, the lycans have a saying: 'What one lion knows, they all know'."

  "That is a curious saying. Any idea what it means?"

  "It means exactly that. They all talk to each other, and they share everything. Just how they do that, however, remains a mystery. The lions also claim the lycans are their children, that they created them, and they have now decided to 'remove them from our service', unless of course they're working for us willingly."

  "That's quite a claim," Kensington said and started in on his salad.

  "It's been driving our scholars mad," Duncan laughed, "however, our friends over at Eruditio are inclined to believe them, and well, to be honest, they do seem to have the ability to back it up."

  "What about their susceptibility to silver?" Carl asked.

  "Apparently Mr. Valens has found a cure for that."

  "What!" Kensington said, looking up from his salad, shocked.

  "He's invented a magical device that, when worn, protects a lycan from all of the effects of silver. I've been trying to get my hands on some for our staff here, but apparently the demand has been outstripping the supply."

  "And it works? You're sure about that?"

  Duncan nodded. "Very, several of our council leaders out west have already bought them for their own staff."

  Kensington nodded, that was definitely something to think about.

  "That went well," Kensington said to Carl as they drove back to the office.

  "Yes, Sir, it did," Carl agreed.

  "Carl, call me Vincent. I'm promoting you to the head of lycan affairs, effective immediately."

  "Lycan affairs?" Carl blinked, there was no such department as 'lycan affairs'.

  "If they're splitting off from the magic users, and they now have a leader, we need to learn all we can about them, and watch them just like we do with the magic users and their councils."

  "Yes," Carl paused a moment, "Vincent."

  "You'll get used to it. Especially once I kick you up a few GS levels. I'll expect regular briefings every Thursday at ten. Let me know who you need on staff, and I'll see about getting you some office space, though that'll probably take a few weeks."

  Carl nodded. "I'll get it organized, Vincent."

  "I'm sure you will." Kensington nodded.

  Carl leaned back into the seat and smiled. A promotion! That meant a raise in pay! Looked like his daughter was going to that fancy cooking school after all.

  Saturday Morning

  Gary shivered in the cold mountain air. Last night had been educational, to put it mildly. It had gotten cold, not below freezing, but not much warmer than that, he was sure. He and Steve had found a good spot to hole up for the night, along with several dozen other Gradatim members, before sunset.

  By the time the sun had set, there were over a hundred of them, and they'd huddled together for warmth. Dave had woken up, and Gary gave him all the food he'd gotten at the last food drop, which had looked even smaller than the previous one. They'd learned their lesson from that last one, however; they took what they needed, then split. Gary had passed the word to leave off eating until tonight, and most of them had listened.

  "So now what?" Steve asked.

  "We keep going, that's what," Gary told him.

  "I can't believe you guys haven't stumbled across civilization yet," Dave said from behind Gary. Gary had to admit it was a lot easier carrying Dave now that he was conscious. A couple of the guys had donated their belts so they could make a harness, which also made carrying Dave easier.

  "We got a lot of 'encouragement' over which way to go last night," Gary grumbled. "I suspect they drove us deeper into the mountains."

  Dave snorted. "There isn't any 'deeper into the mountains' up here. We're not far from Donner Pass, and there's ski resorts and shit all over the place up here."

  "Well we did cross a road that first night," Steve said. "Wasn't any traffic on it, though."

  "We went under a second one too," Gary said.

  "We did?"

  "Yeah, you were carrying Dave at the time."

  "Oh."

  "But we haven't seen a road since," Gary said. "We've been stuck in this valley following the river."

  "It's the American River," Dave said.

  "What? Are you sure?" Steve said, surprised.

  "Pretty sure. It's the only one nearby, and it's parkland all around it."

  "Well at least we know where we're going," Gary said.

  "Yeah, but the highway is a lot closer if we head north. We keep following this, and it's like eighty miles until we get to anything."

  "I don't know if I want to try climbing up those mountains," Gary said, looking to either side of the river valley they were in.

  "Well, eighty is north of us, and Forest Hill Road is south of us. The only question is which is closer."

  "I really don't feel like getting lost in the woods," Steve said. "Right now, we know where we're going, and that there's food up ahead of us. Someplace."

  "Steve's right," Gary said. "Maybe once the hills to either side of us aren't so bad, we can try climbing out. But for now, we'll keep following the river."

  "Why don't we just stop someplace after the next food drop and send someone up the hillside to take a look?" Dave asked.

  "Because there's a lot of people behind us I suspect are getting desperate, and I'd rather not get into a fight with them," Gary said. "They want us fighting each other, and I'd rather not oblige."

  "Who wants us fighting?"

  "The lycans, remember them?" Gary grunted. "Every once in a while, if you're looking up in the hills to either side of us, you'll see one of them, up high, watching us."

  "I wonder why they just didn't kill all of us?" Steve asked.

  "Obviously they didn't want to."

  "But why?"

  "Why don't you go up there and ask one?" Gary grumbled. Talking was not making his job of carrying Dave any easier right now, and he was starting to wish they'd all just shut up.

  "Umm, maybe later…"

  William looked at the food drop as they came to it. It was almost noon, judging from the position of the sun, and from the number of footprints on the ground, a lot of people had been here before them. He was pretty sure it was the Gradatim; they'd been at the back of the convoy, so it made sense that they were in front now. They'd also been the biggest group, and he was starting to suspect they had suffered the lightest casualties.

  "Did they leave us anything?" William asked, panting, as he came up to the boxes. If nothing else, all this walking was definitely taking the fat off. William had been developing a spare tire of late; he figured it'd be gone by the time he got home.

  "They only opened half the boxes," Jerry, who had been walking up ahead, said, looking at them. He turned to look at William as the others milled around. "Why'd they do that?"

  "I don't know," William sighed, "maybe they want to be friends, maybe they don't blame us for what happened, or maybe they realized they don't want to play the game the lycans want us to.

  "Whatever it is, let's be thankful and remember we owe them one. So how much is there?"

  "Looks like enough for all of us," Jerry said. "Four boxes of twenty."

  "Leave one box untouched, and divvy up the rest."

  "You're going to leave some for the Vestibulum?" one of the others said, surprised.

  "I've had enough of fighting and killing," William grumbled. "I just want to go home. The Grads did us a solid, let's try and do the same for the poor slobs behind us, okay?"

  The others grumbled, but they did as he told them. When someone came and offered him food, William shook his head, though he was starving.

  "I'm not carrying anybody, just my own fat ass. Give it to someone who needs it."

  "You sure?"

  "Yeah, I'm sure. We got wounded; the guys carrying them deserve it, not me."

  William noticed that earned him a lot of looks. And while nobody else turned down their food, a lot of the others split theirs with one of the others. When they started walking again ten minutes later, there was almost a box and a half of rations left behind.

  "Will you look at that," Demon said, "I think they've rediscovered their humanity!"

  Hunter snorted. "And people say miracles don't happen anymore. How many of the Vestis are behind them?"

  "Forty-eight. They lost three last night. They're moving pretty slowly. It'll be an hour before they get here."

  "Well, this should bring them around."

  "We gonna keep leaving half? Or cut it back some more and see if we can get them fighting again?" Demon asked with a grin.

  "Let's leave enough for all of them at the next drop," Hunter said. "I wanna see what they do then."

  Demon snickered. "Should we pat them on the head and tell them 'good dog'?"

  Hunter laughed. "Don't tempt me, Demon, don't tempt me!"

  #

  Sean yawned and stretched in bed; it was Saturday, it was late, and he really didn't want to go anywhere. But he still had the tag machine to work on, it wasn't going to enchant itself, after all, and the sooner he got that finished, the better his life would be. If Stewart ended up staying here, though Sean still wasn't sure how Peg had figured out how to turn magic users into lycans when it wasn't supposed to be possible, he'd teach Stewart his tarball trick, how to make lycan collars, and make his own life easier.

  But only if Stewart became a lycan. Because he could then command Stewart not to spill any of his secrets, no matter what.

  'I can do that right?' he asked.

  'For something like that, I could. It's a bit beyond you.'

  'Yeah, but you'd do it for me, right, Dad?' Sean teased.

  'I do spoil you, don't I?'

  Sean shook his head and grinned.

  'So that's a yes?'

  'Seeing as it's in both of our best interests, of course. Might be wise to teach him the tag spells, if he works out.'

  'Considering its capability for abuse, I'm only teaching that to those sons of mine who are lions. It's just too damn dangerous!' Sean thought about that a moment, and suddenly a new concern came to mind.

  'Will my lion sons, or even lioness daughters, for that matter, be able to do magic?'

  'Yes, they will all inherit that ability from you.'

  'That's a relief. How come no other lions can do magic, anyway?'

  'We never had a need for it. Until now.'

  Sean had to agree with that. One of these days he would have to start learning more about the powers he got as a lion. But right now, learning to be a magic user was more than enough.

  Which reminded him, he hadn't checked his abilities in almost a month now. Closing his eyes, he called up the spell that showed him his magical stats and looked it over.

  His physical stats hadn't changed at all. He wasn't really surprised by that, he hadn't been working out, and physical changes always took time. But his mental stats had increased, and surprisingly, his wisdom score had gone up a point! He also had four more points to spend as well. Integration was almost maxed out, but Memory and Reasoning still appeared to be open-ended. He debated between the two of them, but decided to just sit on the points for now.