Obsidian Prince, page 6
"I am very sorry," Liliana said, tightening her lips. She was not even a little sorry Andrew Periclum was dead, but she was sorry his death might cause theirs. "There must be a Challenge to choose the new king. You know this." Somewhere in the pride of North Carolina were the grandsons and granddaughters of her brothers. This was a problem that would affect Liliana’s own family. "I do not know how, but I will help in any way I can."
"Can you tell us who will win the challenge? Who will become the next king?" the brown-haired woman asked.
The spider seer nodded. That was simple enough. She focused her fourth eyes on the results of the ritual combat that would choose the new pride-king. Liliana saw a lot of death. Street violence had already begun to erupt between factions who backed different potential kings. Not just lions. The king of the pride was the arbitrator of all beast-kin disputes, the unofficial leader of all beast-kin. An abandoned hanger on the north edge of Fort Liberty had been put to use as a place for the Challenge. A domed cage made of steel beams welded into triangles was being constructed, as was traditional.
The Challenge had been sacred for centuries before Simon of Nemea was born. It might be older than written history itself. Once, the Challenge had been fought in open arenas, but the dome of triangles had been the place for such things for as long as Liliana could remember. Unlike an arena, the dome could be constructed wherever it was needed. Inside a dome, young lions often fought contests of courage and skill to gain rank within the pride. It was meant to be a place where a lion's strength could be honed and tested.
"I see a huge lion-kin with a claw scar over one side of his face that pulls his upper lip into a permanent sneer. Oh.” Liliana recognized the man who drove the car that nearly ran over Alexander Bennett. Tray Bradley had also witnessed his king’s death, but Alexander Bennett’s subterfuge made it look like a simple accident. “It is Bradley.”
"Tray Bradley," Kazi’s jaw tightened.
The brown-haired woman sank in on herself, as if Liliana had placed a huge rock on her. "Not Tray."
"I am sorry,” Liliana said. “If the paths of the future do not change, this man, Tray Bradley, will rule the lions of North Carolina."
Arel rubbed circles into the brown-haired woman's back. "We'll find a way to fix this, Marilyn. Don't give up."
Liliana looked for a connection between the disheartened woman and the lion-kin who would soon become king of the North Carolina pride. She saw Tray Bradley beating the woman, Marilyn, with his fists until she would have had to go to the hospital or die if she were human. Again and again. The woman never left her abusive husband until she had a baby. For a time, Bradley had been gentle with his wife and new baby. But the boy had barely been toddling when his father aimed a casual kick at him for some annoyance.
Emotionally charged events always stood out sharpest in Liliana's fourth vision. She saw the moment when the cowed expression on Marilyn's face changed as she held her crying baby. She went from terrified to a cold rage. Underneath the battered wife, there was still a lioness.
As Liliana watched, Arel Magoro bundled the brown-haired woman and her tiny son in a coat. They rushed in the rain to her car.
Tray Bradley chased them with a shotgun, shouting threats.
Kazi drove the car. She and her mother helped to get the woman and her baby away from the abusive man.
Liliana nodded in satisfaction. That was how it should be. The pride took care of its own.
"Tray is your ex-husband." Liliana assumed the woman had the good sense to divorce such a horrible man.
Marilyn shook her head in denial. "He wouldn't sign the papers. I was too scared to push it as long as he left us alone. Now ..." She put her face in her hands.
Liliana did not have any wish to see Marilyn's fate if her abusive husband became king. She had already seen what would happen to the two women who helped her get away from him.
"This is not acceptable," Liliana said. "Tray Bradley is even more unworthy than Andrew Periclum was. These are not pride-kings. These men would not know honor if it bit them on the leg."
Arel smiled warmly at her. "Spoken like the daughter of a lion-kin prince."
"Are there no better candidates?" Liliana asked them. "If you could choose the next king, who would you choose?"
"I wish someone like Daniel could become king," Marilyn Bradley said wistfully.
The scowl that seemed permanent on Kazi's face faded into a smile as warm as her mother's. Her aura brightened with gold and creamy white; pride and love. "Daddy would make a great king."
Arel shook her head, face tightening with what looked like anger, but her soul shaded acid green with fear. "That's silly talk. Your father is too old. He could never beat Tray in the dome. He'd get himself killed if he tried."
Liliana tilted her head, considering. She looked into Arel Magoro's past. She saw a huge lion-kin with skin as dark as midnight and muscles on his muscles. The man had been a champion of the dome games in his youth. When young lions of his generation tested their skills against each other to impress the lionesses and gain rank within the pride, he had been the best.
Andrew Periclum lied when he told Doctor Nudd he earned his title. He became king because he was born a prince. The dome challenge was intended to prevent large scale battles when a king died without a clear heir, or a fair portion of the pride did not think the heir was a worthy successor.
Honorable lions throughout the pride supported Andrew Periclum back then because he was the old king’s only son. Liliana remembered one stocky stranger had challenged, but there had been others in the pride who supported that man’s claim. They must have known he had a legitimate reason to question Periclum’s fitness to rule. With the mess Periclum made of the pride’s reputation, that one man brave enough to stand against him seemed heroic in hindsight. Foolish, but heroic.
Daniel Magoro did not call challenge that day. He helped build the dome instead. Back then, he had no way to know that Andrew Periclum would become an unworthy king. If he had challenged then in his prime, many things might have been different. That assumed that Kazi, Marilyn, and Arel’s faith in Daniel Magoro was well-placed.
"If you believe that Daniel would be a good king, then choose a champion who can defeat Tray Bradley to fight for him." The spider-kin wondered why the three women hadn't already done that.
"A champion?" Kazi said, confusion on her face.
"It's one of our oldest traditions," Arel told her daughter. "A champion can fight for someone else that they feel would make a better king. The champion answers any Challenges, but the king rules."
Kazi said, "Like how Tray beat the crap out of anyone who dared to question Periclum?"
"Like that, only more civilized," Arel said. "Disputes are settled in the dome with the whole pride as witness, not with broken kneecaps in back alleys." She turned to Liliana. "It's not a tradition many people have followed. My grandfather told me about it. But if someone wins the challenge now, they want to rule themselves. People think that being a strong fighter makes them good kings."
Marilyn shook her head, face dark. "It doesn't matter. No one can beat Tray."
Looking into the past and the future, Liliana followed Tray Bradley in several fights, from barroom brawls through dome bouts and occasional leg-breaking enforcement for Andrew Periclum. The big lion was a formidable fighter. He was also heavy on his feet and led with his right too often. "I could beat him," Liliana said.
All three women laughed at her.
The spider seer’s ears flushed hot. She hated being laughed at. She studied the three women with her third eyes, wondering what she said that was so funny.
Oh.
They were not laughing at her. They thought she was joking.
"I defeated a Celtic wolf in single combat."
They stopped laughing.
"The wolf became my ally, then my friend. With his aid, I defeated four widow spiders."
Kazi nodded. "I saw the footage of you and the Celtic werewolf killing Lady Fairchilde. What happened to the others? Kristen, Margaret, Stella?"
"The red wolf killed Margaret."
"You're saying you killed Kristen and Stella by yourself?" Kazi looked down her nose at the petite spider seer. "Kristen wasn’t a fighter, but Stella was the best. She trained all the security personnel. I saw you on the dining room camera get thrown through a glass door. Stella went after you but didn’t come back. Did you trick her somehow?"
Liliana looked into Kazi's dark eyes with her own third eyes for a moment, then looked down. What Kazi did not say was that Stella had been someone she admired. "I am truly sorry for both deaths, but they were necessary. Kristen was pregnant. The nest was murdering people to feed her unborn children. She was in the process of killing Pete so I had no choice.” The spider seer didn’t dare look into the past or she would cry. “Stella fought with honor, courage, and great skill. I tried to let her walk away peacefully, but her beloved would not go.” Liliana closed all her eyes for a moment in regret, but she couldn’t have done anything else. She touched her shoulder where her spider-kin nature had faded even the scar from Stella’s worst attack to unblemished skin. “Stella would have killed me if I had not killed her first."
Kazi's nostrils flared for a moment, then she looked down as well. "Was that what you said to her? There was no sound on the video. You held the red wolf back, let her leave without a fight." She swallowed, then looked back up at the spider-kin. "I also saw that red wolf fight. I’ve never seen strength like that, even in a bear-kin."
"He is even better now. I trained him," Liliana said with pride. "I taught him what my father taught me."
"Your father, a prince of the Nemean lions," Kazi said, like she was asking if Liliana was going to stick with that unlikely story.
Liliana nodded. Her father was who he was. Their belief or disbelief made no difference.
Arel asked, "Seer, since this red wolf is your friend, could you ask him to be Daniel's champion?"
"I could." Liliana looked into Pete's future and saw a problem. The assassins from the Order of the Wolfhound were coming for Lou Willoughby in three nights. The Challenge was also in three nights. Pete could not be in two places at once. He needed to be there to protect the defenseless rabbit-kin mechanic.
Arel saw her hesitation but misinterpreted it. "I know Celtic wolves only defend Normals and seelie Fae, but we've put some money together, donations from a bunch of us. We can pay the red wolf. Tell him that if Tray Bradley becomes king, the whole Other community in North Carolina will suffer. There could be a pride war. Normals are bound to get caught in the crossfire."
"Pete is a very unusual red wolf. He will not fight for money. He would be insulted if you offered. He protects whoever is in danger, Normal or any kind of Other, including Fae of either court. His oldest friend is an oak goblin."
All three lionesses had identical expressions of shock and disbelief. "But goblins are unseelie Fae!" Marilyn said.
The spider seer shrugged. "Pete loves him like a favorite uncle. He is a very unusual Celtic wolf. Pete would be honored to aid you because it is right, but ..." She trailed off.
Liliana had warned Janice Willoughby. The rabbit-kin intended to take her children and flee to New Jersey in two days, ostensibly to visit her mother. The spider seer gave her word to her most loyal customer that her husband, Lou, would be safe. The Celtic wolf would protect him. "I will not ask him. The red wolf has other business that night. People will die if he is not where he should be."
"People will die if Tray becomes the pride-king," Marilyn Bradley pointed out.
Liliana nodded. "I agree this is not an acceptable outcome. But Pete cannot be Daniel's champion in three nights, so we will find another way." She said it with confidence, even though she had not yet decided how to make that happen. Liliana was a lion's daughter. This was her pride, too. She would not permit another unworthy king to be chosen.
She had to be careful, though. It was far too easy to make things worse. If Daniel Magoro was not the man these women believed him to be, then she might be responsible for the evil done by the next unworthy king.
The spider seer dove into visions of Daniel Magoro in the past. Solid visions of him in the future did not exist, only vague impressions, flickery with improbability. Those brief images did seem to be good, though. Arel and Kazi smiling. Marilyn raising her son in peace.
Liliana foresaw that if Daniel did become king, since Daniel had no sons of his own, Marilyn and Tray Bradley’s son would be the next king. The boy would grow into his father's brute strength, but it would be tempered by honor and compassion that his pride family would teach him.
From the fleeting glimpses the spider-kin could see, Daniel would be a good king. But she had to be sure. Power could change people. "Mrs. Magoro, I need you to answer a question for me, now." Normally, she didn't ask clients questions, but this was a special case. If anyone knew this lion-kin, it would be his wife.
"What is it?" The elder lioness gave Liliana her full attention.
The spider seer returned that attention with all eight eyes at once. "Is it simply that he is your husband and you love him, or do you believe that Daniel Magoro would make a good king? Is he a man of honor who keeps his word always? Would he rule with a strong will, tempered with a good balance of justice and mercy?"
"Yes." Arel answered without hesitation. There was no trace of doubt anywhere in her mind. She not only loved her husband, she admired him.
Liliana didn't bother looking into the mind of Kazi, Daniel's daughter. With few exceptions, all men were heroes in the eyes of their daughters.
She looked into Marilyn Bradley's mind instead. "Do you believe that Daniel Magoro is the best possible lion to become pride-king?"
"Daniel would be a better king than any I've ever known." There was little hope in the woman's heart. She did not believe that Daniel Magoro could become king. But there was a great deal of longing. Marilyn, the woman whose trust had been repeatedly betrayed by a man who should have protected her, believed in Daniel Magoro. The elder lion had no reason to protect her and her child. He had taken Marilyn and her son in, sheltered them, treated them like family even though it put his own family in danger, because it was the right thing to do. That was the kind of man Daniel Magoro was.
"I will meet Daniel Magoro. I will come to your house tomorrow afternoon, after my last appointment. If he is the man that you all believe he is, I will be his champion."
Chapter 5
Pride And Anger
The three lionesses had a blue SUV that seated eight people comfortably. Arel drove Liliana to the Magoro home the evening after they’d first spoken. She gave Liliana the shotgun front seat. The other two lionesses sat behind her. Liliana felt like a child inside the giant vehicle. It was meant for much larger people.
The Magoro home was at the back of a suburban neighborhood, the only house on the end of a cul de sac. It had a small, neat lawn in front, stood two stories tall and looked like it could house a hundred. Since the land was wedge shaped, she suspected the back yard was far larger than the front. All around it the forest still stood. It appeared to have been made from the logs of the trees that used to stand where the lawn was now. A peaked metal roof sheltered , polished and sealed natural logs that framed huge windows.
Daniel Magoro, a massive man with very dark skin and iron-grey hair cut short, opened one half of the double front door big enough to drive the SUV through. A small, fluffy black and tan dog also met her at the door, barking furiously.
Arel gestured to her. “This is Madame Anna, the seer I told you about that Kazi saw on the surveillance video defeating her old bosses. She wanted to meet you.”
Liliana looked up at the Magoro patriarch, who picked up the dog with the piercing bark, quieting it. “Andrew Periclum was not a worthy king of lions. Tray Bradley will be worse. My father was lion-kin. I am a pride-child. I am not going to permit the pride to have another unworthy king.”
Daniel nodded. “Arel said you might shed some light on what we could do about the situation.”
“You should invite me in, first.”
The big man huffed a deep chuckle. “So I should. Come on in, Madame Anna.”
“I am Liliana. My friends call me Lilly. I might die for you, so, you and your family can call me Lilly, even though Kazi is not my friend. She hates me.”
Daniel looked at his daughter.
She shrugged, lips tight, not denying it.
Marilyn Bradley bid them good night, even though it was early evening. She went straight upstairs as soon as they entered the house. Liliana glanced after her with her fourth eyes. Marilyn was packing. She intended to get herself and her son out of North Carolina before the Challenge. She did not believe that Liliana could win.
The spider seer approved. Regardless of whether she won or lost the fight in two nights, Marilyn Bradley and her son would be safe. The spider seer had already saved two lives and she hadn't even fought the battle yet. Liliana's decision to fight for a worthy pride-king was a good one. If she died, then it was an excellent death. If her father were here, he would be bursting with pride.
Of course, if her father were here, she would not have to fight in the dome against a big lion. He would do it instead. Liliana missed him desperately, but she could not wallow in old grief now.
She walked into the cavernous central great room of the Magoro home and marveled. As beautiful as the house had been from the outside, the exposed beams, the high roof with light pouring in from giant windows edged in beveled glass on either end of the massive central room–made her stop for a moment and stare.
For once, she didn’t have to search for something nice to say. “Your house is beautiful.”
Daniel Magoro spread his arms wide in the middle of the great room, smiling. As large as he was, he fit comfortably into the big open space with plenty of room to spare. “This was one of the first things I built once my business took off. I always hoped we’d have a big family to fill it up.” He shrugged. “Best laid plans. It’s been good to have Marilyn and her boy making it feel more lived in.”
