Bones Of Contention: The McKinnon Legends - The American Men Book 3 (25 page)

His position as King Reagent was everything except exciting with eighteen-hour days filled with paperwork, meetings with other world diplomats, and heavy decisions. Leading a race of people was hard work, especially in light of the fact that new treaties were being drafted daily with the other countries in an effort to recognize the Maji as a lawful government and to legitimize their race as one recognized under the Global Species Bill Of Rights. It was a bill he was very proud to have been an instrument and driving force to pass. He also had the influence of the McKinnon family name backing it as well, not an entirely bad position to sit. Their name and political clout carried a lot of weight.

Recognition was slow, but progress was being made. Through DNA the Maji, as well as other less desirable creatures, were proving to be quite human in origin. Darwin’s theory was right about evolution. He had just gotten the origins of the species wrong. Neither the human nor Maji evolved from the apes. The humans and Maji evolved from each other and were still evolving for that matter, both born from an even older race. They were different branches of the same family tree.

“Jacob, I really need your help.” Josh explained what was happening and how he felt Jacob could assist. He left nothing out with the exception of his deep involvement with Jamie and his part in driving her away. That was personal.

“The Sidhe Fae, huh?” Jacob paused. “Well, the Maji can ill afford a war with them. Our numbers as a people are still too decimated. And after twelve thousand years of relative peace with mankind now is not the time for the Fae to begin war anew with you guys either. What are the Fae thinking to stir up trouble after all this time? It’s crazy,” Jacob wondered aloud understanding that a war of the races was a no win proposition for any concerned. Each had their strengths and weaknesses, making a war senseless. He corrected himself, for he understood aggressive war never really made sense yet it happened all the time.

Josh agreed. “It is crazy, but I do not believe it is all the Fae, only a rogue band. I have been in contact with the exiled queen of the Fae,” Josh offered up hoping it would make a difference.

“Brianna? So, she is still alive after all this time.” Jacob was surprised the fabled queen was still alive and more so that she would finally come out of hiding. Jacob only knew of her by legend possessing a reputation of being as fearless and cunning as the Fae themselves. She had managed to enamor and tame one of the most powerful beings ever to walk the earth -- a Titan.

She was thought to be as mystical as the creatures she supposedly fled. Legend held that when she fled and locked herself away from King Kronos, he was so distraught that the earth shook for days and caused destruction on mass scale. Many continents suffered earthquakes, mudflows, tsunamis, and flooding. There were documented geological records and written accounts  of weather patterns shifting all over the world. Because of these perceived natural disasters, famine and disease began to run rampant across Africa and other continents. Landscapes changed as forest and fertile lands dried up, becoming wastelands and shifting sand dunes. Whole civilizations were wiped off the face of the earth. Could it be possible that for over three thousand years she had walked the earth with a daughter who was half mortal and half immortal?

“Yes, it is true and it was a hard story for me to digest, but it places a lot in perspective.” Josh thought back on the conversations he had with Jamie.

He thought about her unusual gifts and wondered about the origin of his own family’s roots. If what Brianna said was true about the Treaty of the Sidhe Fae, then magic was the sole property of the Fae. It did not make sense to him how that could be true considering what he knew to be fact of the McKinnon ancestral line. There were all kinds of unusual gifts floating around in his family’s genetic pool.

“Jake, I need your help. And whether you wish to keep it quiet or not, Brianna told me you are more than just the king of the Maji, you are the fabled Beast Master.”

Josh waited as Jacob remained silent.

“Sara has confirmed it, Jacob. She told me how you called her beast forth to save her life.”

Jacob sighed heavily. Josh was right; he did have dominion over the Maji and lesser creatures, but it was not as simple as all that.

“I have seen it in you, Jake, now that I understand what I was seeing. You cannot deny you have dominion over all magical creatures and animals here on this side of the doorway.”

“What you are asking me to do, Josh, is illegal under current law and custom. And even though I am technically not bound by the Treaty of the Sidhe Fae, the Maji have always respected it just the same. What you ask is the equivalency of slavery, basically stripping them of free will,” he said, tossing his pen down on the desk and then rubbing his forehead. So much for a diversion to rejuvenate him, he thought. This was not what he needed, yet he felt the pull out of loyalty and obligation. Some days it was not good to be the king. This was one.

“These are desperate times, Jacob. Twenty women have already died in unimaginable pain, a sacrifice to some ancient goddess.”

“Sanguine,” Jacob whispered the name of the goddess he felt most certain the sacrifice was offered. One did not speak her name loudly for several reasons, but mainly out of fear of summonsing her. It was not so much he believed in the gods and goddesses of the supernatural world, it was just good practice not to denounce them outright.

“I would think it would be justifiable for you to call your powers forth.” Josh was wondering if he would be able to protect Jamie from the same fate as the other women. They had all died horribly. All were sacrificed to a goddess whose name translated into cheerful or happy. It must be a sick joke, he thought. He just could not understand the connection there between blood sacrifices and the goddess named after of happiness.

“If I call my powers, not only would these Fae be bound to my powers, all would. Only the creatures with the highest level of cognitive ability would be left to their own free will. And even at that, if there is a weak constitution, any creature, human or otherwise, will not stand a chance. You’re an intelligent man, you can understand how it works, Josh.”

“Perhaps there is a way to channel it?” Josh was grasping for anything to persuade him.

Possibility, Jacob thought, but still illegal. Even more so, it was going against his moral code of conduct.

Josh knew Jacob held high moral standards and would never take advantage of his abilities, but Josh also acknowledged that these were neither normal times nor typical circumstances. They were on the verge of war with a people as old as the hills themselves. Based on his conversation with Jamie’s mother, the Sidhe Fae were a people in possession of powers and abilities that he could not even begin to understand. They were kept in check simply because King Kronos was still in control, demanding compliance of the treaty.

However, he did know that the rogues would not hesitate to utilize any means at their disposal to gain the upper hand. His training had taught him if you are reacting to a situation, you are losing. First, action was the only way to maintain and keep the upper hand in any confrontation.

Josh continued to push. “If this band were not rogues and hell-bent on civil war and the death of the rightful heir then I’d say you are right, but they are a rogue band and definitely hell-bent on the death of their rightful king’s heir.”

Jacob sat in silence, digesting the situation in which he now found himself ensnared, and pondered the seemingly lose-lose situation.

“Still I can't do it, Josh.” Jacob shook his head in disbelief.

The disbelief was not that Josh would ask him to help. That part made perfect sense to him, and it was flattering to know Josh would trust him as an ally in such a monumental task. No, the request was not what was giving him pause. It was the fact that he was actually considering the situation dire enough for his intervention on a greater level.

Josh sensed his hesitation. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Jake, but laws, whether magical, physical, or legal of the Underworld do not hold water here on this side of the portal. That much I do know. The treaty is the law here. And once you get them back where they belong, then the king can deal with them. Can we look at this as a policing action or basic immigration violation to send them back?”

As a general rule, humans and Maji did not interfere in the political affairs of the other creatures. Jacob pondered how most modern men and women were blissfully ignorant of the fact there was even another dimension to this earth. The only reason the Maji were now mainstreamed and accepted was solely based on two facts.

First, Dr. Sara Reed, a brilliant doctor and scientist who also was half Maji, had developed strong antibodies against some pretty nasty biological components used in biological warfare. Those synthetic antibodies were patterned after the Maji’s genetic resistance. It won her the Nobel Peace Prize.

Second was her genetic research and findings of the close family relationship to mankind. They were both Homo sapiens. The World Court had ruled favorably, giving them the equal standing with mankind. Both were considered top of the food chain. It was a decisive victory and one that had opened the eyes of the world. Given the genetic similarities, the human body tolerated the antibodies patterned after the Maji, and disease was declining at a record rate. Again, the same family tree just a different branch.

Until recently most humans did not want to know and preferred it that way, pushing aside the beliefs and understandings of generations long past, who understood and embraced the oddities of this earth. It was a simpler time. Jake sighed inwardly bringing himself back to the conversation at hand.

“So, Josh, answer this: How exactly do you fit into this potential civil war between the rogue Fae and their king? Why should you care about the political goings on of the Fae?” Jacob was very careful to sidestep Josh’s questions about their legal involvement.

“That heir also happens to be the woman I’m in love with, and according to her mother, I’m some sort of descendent of the ancient guardians and protector of this treaty. Don’t ask me what that is supposed to mean. All I really know is I cannot stand by and watch her be ripped apart by two opposing forces and just do nothing about it.”

Ahh, Jacob thought. He supposed wars had been waged for far less than love, only there was one small problem to Josh’s plan.

“And what is that?” Josh asked getting more frustrated by the minute.

“Technically, Josh, the Fae and the other magical creatures belong here just as much as we do. The Fairy people dwelled here hundreds of thousands of years before either modern man or Maji races walked the earth. For all we know we are the descendents of the Fae.”

“That’s total bullshit, Jake,” Josh scoffed. There was no way modern man was descendent of the Fae. He was not being biased or racist. He just understood from the conversations with Queen Brianna that the thinking and actions of the Sidhe were far removed from the behavior of the human race. There was no amount of evolution that would facilitate a change in a species to such a magnitude or that drastically.

The Fae were otherworldly.

If Brianna were correct, and he had no reason to believe she was wrong, the Fae are a banished sect from another world entirely. Much as the late British Empire used Australia as a penal colony, the Fae were banished and exiled here on Earth as the undesirable elements of an unknown planet called Glantuss Prime. She had no idea how long ago their people had first arrived.

“Well, maybe it is bullshit, but without that treaty, this is their realm, Josh, as much as ours, more so, if you got down to it.” Jacob was convinced that only time would tell if coexistence was possible. Humans were very possessive and alpha in their thinking. So were the Maji. It only stood to reason as they were very closely aligned genetically speaking. The only issue Jacob could see was the Maji were in danger of extinction. They were highly endangered and could end up disappearing off the face of the earth and joining the Neanderthal in the anthropological history books as a species that once was. As a people, they could not afford to be anything other than submissive and hope for the best over time.

“Possession is nine-tenths of the law,” Josh growled, making Jacob's point, “and from where I stand we hold the high ground in this turf war. The treaty does exist even if no one on this side, until recently, remembers its existence.”

Jacob was very familiar with the terms of this treaty the Fae signed with the humans thousands of years ago. This Earth-changing treaty was brokered by the Wizards' Council of Nine between the Ancient Greeks and the Fae. The terms were granted by the three Wizards of Atlantis and defended by their faithful Brotherhood, who were thought to be a vanished sect of warrior scholars. They were brilliant and secretive, possessing gifts of their own which one might call unusual at the very least. Brilliant and secretive they were, but extinct, they were not. However, he was not going to share that with Josh just yet. He would share when the time was right. For this piece of the puzzle to be delivered, he needed to be face-to-face.

In Josh’s mind the law was the law. This issue was black and white. He did not give a damn about the treaty unless it suited his purpose. Right now the terms were to his favor in protecting Jamie and eliciting aid for her safety. He did not care from which direction that help was garnered.

“Tell me, what does the treaty say about any act of violence or aggressive behavior toward Sidhe-human mixed children like Jamie?” He did not wait for Jacob’s comeback. “I’m betting it states that a deliberate act of aggression will be met with like force. I won’t start it, Jacob, but I swear by my God, if this VanDarious, or whatever he calls himself, so much as comes close to my woman except to kiss the ground on which she walks, I’ll see that I finish it.”

Jacob heard the slamming of Josh’s fist into what could only be a metal door from the resounding metallic ping he heard coming through the phone.