Law of Shadows

“A fight with one versus many is not a fair fight, it’s a glorious one.”

- A memory of the Old Ones.

***Carinthia***

I hit the desk in a futile gesture and growl. Expressing my anger feels good, especially since there is nothing I can do about the situation. Why didn’t Eva call me right away? Instead she sends me an email. An email! Who on this world checks his emails every hour? Biting my lower lip, I remember that Paul is the only person who has my number. And that’s only because I have to call him to give orders.

What can I say? I am a private person.

My attention turns to my foot, which I have propped on the sofa to give it some rest. It took longer than expected to heal, especially since I had a complicated fracture. If possible I’ll avoid close contact with rockets in the future.

Even if I had known about Eva’s guests, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything about them. If I face them weakened and injured I might be the one who gets his ass kicked. So paying them a visit right away is out of the question.

What else can I do to avoid wasting any more time?

I get up and hobble through the small apartment. It’s located in the top floor of an apartment building near the lake. I’ve made it my home because of the location and because nobody would expect that I live here. The early sun looks beautiful from the balcony when it comes over the mountains. If the fog billows just right, there is something mystical to the scene. I am just a little miffed about the fact that the humans built a gigantic lookout tower on the mountain. It destroys my view and its form is simply obscene. Whoever designed that thing should be executed.

Upon reaching the weapons’ safe, I open it and study my options. Tetrach Hammon was very helpful once I gave him the right motivation. Apparently the Hammon sisters aren’t agreeing with their clan’s marriage policy. The older one was successfully married off to a British lord. They even cast a bonding-spell on her to make her compliant.

The intention of the spell was to turn her into a docile wife who follows the orders of her husband.

Nobody realized that the she-devil knew about their plans all along. She slipped a few additional commands of her own design into the spell and when her husband tried to seal the deal, she disarmed him. Instead of getting their ally, they got an angry lord without his balls. He ran off without taking his wife with him, so Sely stayed at the main house and was seen as damaged goods from then on.

I myself find such practises heinous since my parents raised me not to do such things. Sadly their ideals didn’t help them in the end.

With our race’s numbers being so low, it’s common to marry the women off to other clans. It’s a widespread practice, though everyone makes his own rules in the end. Because of the created ties between the families, it lessens the possibility of being attacked and at the very least it prevents inbreeding. I guess that’s at least something good about it. Even if my clan hadn’t been wiped out, I would have had to search for a wife among another clan.

The only other choices would have been cousins. I grin. At least that’s no longer an option.

Tetrach revealed that Sely loved her little sister, Annia, and was quite protective of her. Even more so than their own mother, who never dared to stand up to the clan head. So when it was Annia’s turn to be used as a bargaining chip, Sely grabbed her in the middle of the night. They stole some important artefacts by raiding the family vault. Then they fled through half of Europe with a pack of mercs and their own family on their heels.

Once the fae got wind of it, they wanted their own piece of the pie. Two female Old Ones aren’t a bad conquest for their breeding program, though I assume that women who have any knowledge of the fae would rather die than to fall into their hands.

Normally the sisters’ escape would be an almost impossible feat. Every clan has a Veil around their territory. The strength of the Veil depends on the clan, but the fact remains that crossing even the weakest Veil isn’t a pleasant experience. There is a possibility to cross between the Veils of two neighbouring territories as they almost never touch each other. Though it would still mean that someone has to go over hill and dale to get anywhere in Europe.

Most sane Old Ones make one of the big cities their home. So if the person who attempts to flee through highly developed territory like Europe is lucky, then he or she gets to stay in some remote village at most. Not the best place to hide. If a person wants to fall off the grid, then the safest option is to hide inside the biggest, chaotic place he or she can find.

The fact that they are still hiding inside my territory means that they were travelling towards one of the big cities. Maybe Rome? Or they intended to use my territory to jump over to France? Doesn’t sound plausible. Old ones who enter my territory have a reputation of disappearing. That’s why everybody leaves me alone. People go in, but they don’t come out.

So why would they risk entering my territory…

Maybe the mercs had them with their backs to the wall? A lot of the mercs showed up at the same time, so that would be an explanation. They were close behind them and simply followed through the Veil in the heat of the hunt.

And even if Tetrach denied it, his story also answers the question of how the sisters entered my territory without me noticing it. Among the stolen artefacts must have been something that allows them to pass through Veils undetected.

It would explain why their clan is moving heaven and earth to get them back. Not only they themselves are of political value, that artefact is of extreme tactical worth. Up until now I had a lot of trust in the Veil, but I may have to re-evaluate my attitude towards that aspect of the Veil. At least the artefact seems to be a unique item. Otherwise Tetrach and his group would have used one too, instead of charging through my Veil and ringing all alarm bells.

I reach into the safe and choose the same gun I used for the fae. Then I add the longer barrel and a better scope. I am not sure of the situation I’ll face, so sticking to an automatic weapon might not be the worst idea. I like the StG’s concept of consisting of building blocks. I want a small weapon for close combat? Take a short barrel and a large magazine. Feeling more like sniping today? No problem, there are longer barrels and stronger ammunition.

After assembling a weapon with better ranged capabilities, I store it away in a travel-pack. Then I take one of the dreamcatchers which I got from a shaman as a present. He was an Old One who saw the Ojibwe as his people and lived in Canada. For a short while I called him a friend since he shared some of his knowledge. I hobble to the balcony, determined to gather as much information as possible until tomorrow. The dreamcatcher doesn’t only allow me to haunt a target’s dreams. It’s also an excellent spying tool since it enables out-of-body experiences.

Sadly such a thing isn’t of much use in most cases since my range is restricted by the Veil, which works as an excellent shield against magical spying. And I have to know where the target is. Neither of those restrictions applies at the moment, so I’ll make full use of its possibilities.

Once on the balcony, I attach the string on the ceiling and adjust the height. Then I sit down, allowing the dreamcatcher to dangle in front of my face. Drawing a deep breath, I close my eyes and concentrate on the quartz in the artefact’s centre, using it as the focus of my power.

***Carinthia***

***Sely***

“Are you sure that it was the right choice to come here?” Annia asks with a desperate voice while lying on her bed. It’s early morning and she slept only for a short time. Each and every little noise woke her up.

I can’t blame her, as it was the same for me. Closing the curtains to block the sun, I return to her side and study the small room which we got from the vampire. It’s a risk to stay here for too long, but if we get too tired to run or fight then it makes no difference. Better to take the risk now. “The fact that we had the choice to enter this territory, or to fight our way through a hundred fae makes that question moot, don’t you think?”

She nods. “Better dead than being caught by the fae. I am fairly sure that they aren’t hunting us to haul us back to our family.”

I arch an eyebrow, surprised that she caught up on that. “We aren’t dead yet. And we still have options. The question is what we should do about our brothers. I feel that they are close. If we leave this city they will be onto us in no time.”

Annia smirks. “Then it’s good that we got onto the bus and drove in circles for a whole day. They will be mad when they realize that the city is so full of our tracks that it’s almost impossible to track us.”

I ruffle her hair and lie down next to her. “As long as that lord doesn’t show up, we will be fine.”

“I hope you have a plan for him, because I’ve no idea what to do. The little I heard about this territory makes me wish that we never came here,” Annia mumbles.

I snort. “I can take one strong opponent. I am no weakling. And if we believe the reports, then it’s highly likely that he is alone. Something happened in this territory that killed off the local clan. He is the only one who was seen in public in the recent years.”

“But the clanship sent a team of ten of their best to take over the territory. Mom said that they are a group of highly trained elite warriors. If the lord of this territory can make them disappear just like that, then I don’t want to face him. Maybe he is some horrible, old man who is grumpy and angry at himself and the world. What if he is worse than our people?”

Pursing my lips at the thought, I answer, “If we run into either party, then we just have to find a way to play them against each other. Men suck at sharing territory. I am sure that if we get them into the same area, then they will be more engaged with each other than with us. Just make sure that you don’t lose the Horus.”

Annia reaches for the amulet around her neck and nods. “Our escape wouldn’t have been possible without it.”

I sigh and pat her head. “Sleep a little more. We will try our luck in the evening. But we have to be in top condition for it. I can fight our brothers, but I can’t protect you at the same time. If they get their hands on you all of this was for naught. I don’t want you with the same curse as me.”

“I am sorry for being so useless in a fight,” she mumbles, half asleep.

“You are just young. That’s all.” I close my eyes and try to get a little more rest.