HERITAGE

"Hello, Anthony," Esme said with a slightly distant smile. She probably wasn't too happy to see me and I couldn't blame her for that. Presumably, she had work to do and I was interrupting.

I'm an agent of the Men of Iron. That's a position that takes me to many strange places, where I meet quite a few strange people. All too often, those people then try to kill me. I was hoping the current situation wouldn't develop into something like that.

I found Esme in a tavern on the eastern edge of the Ont Sea. The tavern is located in one of those tiny rural hamlets that are primarily inhabited by Folk and Wilder. The locals are farmers, fishermen, and a few crafters. They survive by being unobtrusive.

"Hello, Esme," I said as I stood next to her table. I was being slow and careful. I knew Esme and there was no particular hostility between us, but we were both agents of dangerous and combative organizations and misunderstandings can happen.

Actually, that was part of the reason I wanted to talk to her.

I politely gestured towards the chair on the opposite side of her table from Esme.

"Of course," she said with a smile that seemed genuine. After that, I sat down.

I'd spend more than a few days tracking Esme down. I cannot say that we were friends, but she was my only contact within a deadly rival organization. And I was hoping to convince her to help me.

A tired-looking Folk tavern-girl wearing a simple dress and apron approached us. "Ale," I ordered. The waitress nodded and then headed back to the fireplace-kitchen.

"What do you want, Anthony?" Esme asked reasonably.

"I want to make sure that the people we work for don't find themselves at cross-purposes."

Esme was still for a moment as she stared into my face. "What do you have?" she eventually asked.

"The fighting south of the Ont is causing some unusual items to shake loose," I told her. "A band of Creed were using some old Folk-Ascendancy energy weapons - they're known as light lances. The story is that Blood-Lord troops killed the Creed and captured the weapons. Then your people took charge of them."

By "your people" I meant the Graymalkin. The Graymalkin are the secret and most dangerous arm of the Temple of the Fire Lady - and thus of all the temples of the Three Goddesses. Most of the Graymalkin are powerful telepaths and that alone meant they were to be handled carefully.

Some might say that Esme is a member of the Graymalkin. But in my opinion, a better word would be "slave". Her family situation is unusual.

We fell silent as the tavern-girl put a cup of ale in front of me and I gave her a small coin in return. Once the girl was gone, Esme and I resumed our conversation.

"It would be best if you write off those weapons," Esme told me mildly. "You don't need a confrontation with the Gray."

She was right, of course.

I nodded. "Oh, I understand that, but I was wondering if it might be possible to exchange information. Both sides might find such a relationship beneficial."

"Beneficial how?" Esme asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not the only agent of the Iron-Men out here. I've notified those who I can contact to move on to other missions. But I cannot guarantee that everyone will get the message. Frankly, I think your side has the same problem."

Esme smiled very slightly. She doesn't smile too often. "You remember that my people have excellent means of communication?"

I nodded. "And so does my side. And yet miscommunications still happen, don't they?"

Esme didn't respond, but her eyes were now interested.

"I don't have the authority to help you," she said slowly.

"Can I talk to someone who does?"

And that was how I found myself speaking to Lady Emma of Ashe.

Lady Emma is the second wife of a prominent Blood Lord named Ashe. Lord Ashe used to be a Seeker, but he left that role a few years ago to seek a more traditional path. Perhaps the part he played in such things as the campaign against the Sea Creed and the most recent battle with the Dark Elves left him uninterested in serving unworldly powers. Or perhaps his marriages had something to do with that. He has a family now.

When I contacted Esme, I had no idea I would find myself dealing with such exalted personages. Lord Ashe is the key figure behind the war of annihilation that the Blood of the Ont Sea are waging against the Creed of that same region. But anyone who was willing to take a close look into his recent life knew that Lord Ashe was becoming a great power and Lady Emma was an important part of his personal pack. Perhaps its most important member.

Lady Emma was also a Graymalkin agent. And I had no idea if even Lord Ashe knew that.

I would have to tread carefully.

I found Lady Emma at Fort Oak, which is the major fortification that the Blood and their allies have established south of the Ont. After a series of distracting battles further south, the fortress was put in place and then defended against a series of furious Creed assaults. The fort survived and was yet another distraction as additional outposts were built.

The Creed eventually found themselves hemmed in by a series of encampments that were linked by an old road. That road connected the holdings of the eastern and western Blood Lords, as well as multiple Folk cities. As Blood and allied troops ranged along road, the Creed found themselves under assault from multiple directions.

I knew what was going to happen. The Creed were going to be slaughtered and a vast region freed from their control. Many a Blood Lord - or ambitious younger Blood who wanted to become a Blood Lord - would try to force themselves into that gap. A great victory would devolve into brutal infighting because that is the Blood way. I assume Lord Ashe knew that was inevitable and I wondered how he planned to deal with the situation.

Was it possible that he might...

I shook my head and banished that line of speculation. It was not my concern. But perhaps it someday might be.

Lady Emma was sitting on a bench that was part of a simple and newly built shrine to the Three Goddesses. She was smiling as she watched the energetic antics of a chaotic tangle of children. A trio of young Angels were overhead, flitting above the other children as a brightly colored ball was tossed back-and-forth between the flyers and their groundling friends. If there were rules to the game being played, I couldn't really discern them.

It was a startlingly wholesome scene considering you could still smell the roasted-meat and charcoal stench of huge funeral fires. The siege of Fort Oak had been a grisly affair. I wondered how many of the children playing around Lady Emma were orphans.

Remarkably, more than a few of the children bore the distinctive features of half-Creed. Lord Ashe and the fellow Lords of his alliance have decreed that the mixed-blood slaves of the Creed tribes were to be freed rather than killed out of hand. I found that hard to believe when I first heard it, but now I was seeing proof with my own eyes. The very idea of the Blood choosing a new and less brutal path that deviated from tradition was amazing.

Lady Emma examined me as I approached. Like most agents of the House of Iron, I've received both training and some special equipment that allows me to resist psychic intrusion. But against more powerful telepaths, the effectiveness of such countermeasures are questionable.

I could feel Lady Emma at the edge of my consciousness, testing my defenses. I tried not to take offense. Such things are common with telepaths - and especially the Graymalkin.

"Esme has a high opinion of you," Lady Emma told me. There was a smile on her face that seemed slightly skeptical.

"Honored Lady, I'm not sure I warrant that," I replied after a polite bow.

The Lady made a gesture indicating that I had permission to sit with her. As I did so, a female Yojimbo who was standing behind the Lady unobtrusively edged close. There was something odd about her and it took me a moment to discern what. Incredibly, the Yojimbo seemed to be of the Spider bloodline. That one of them was in Lord Ashe's pack was almost as remarkable as the decision by Lord Ashe to spare the part-Creed that his troops had captured.

I made a mental note to suggest that the Iron should make a deeper investigation of Lord Ashe. Religious and cultural dogma didn't seem too important to him, and he was making decisions that I suspected would be highly effective. He could be even more dangerous than I suspected.

"Esme told me that you have some sort of offer?" Lady Emma said. As she spoke, a servant handed us cups of wine.

I nodded. "By my count, in the last twenty years alone well over three hundred Graymalkin and Iron agents have killed each other on this continent alone. If we expand the geographical and temporal scope... well, we have done a find job of murdering each other."

Emma returned my nod. "You realize that those numbers are tilted in favor of the Graymalkin?"

I nodded. "Yes. In a shadow war, the ability to read minds is obviously a powerful weapon."

A definite twinkle appeared in Lady Emma's eyes. That alone turned her from a most attractive woman to a stunningly beautiful one. "If you are offering me the surrender of the House of Iron, I accept. I think I can find you a place in my retinue as domestic help. Do you have experience as a bath servant? Mind you, I can be most demanding."

Actually, that was rather tempting. The Lady was very good at using desire as a distraction.

"I fear I don't have the authority or inclination to offer surrender," I responded, "and my superiors are probably also not interested."

Still looking amused, Lady Emma shrugged. "Our organizations have been clawing at each other for centuries and neither has triumphed over the other yet. And as you've said, you really don't have that much in the way of authority. Perhaps it's time you made it clear what you want?"

"A peace treaty. But barring that, I'd suggest some level of informal cooperation."

Lady Emma stared at me. "That isn't possible. Both sides want something that we will not allow the other to have. The ancient Folk and alien sorcerer-technologies are anathema for a reason. The world was almost destroyed by them."

"And the worst that the old science did was nothing compared to what the Phoenix has done," I pointed out.

Lady Emma shook her head. "The Phoenix is an alien force that suborns Wilders for its own demonic purposes. We are also its victims."

"But we agree that we live in a world of existential threats? The Phoenix among them?"

"Yes. And so what? That was the truth yesterday, it is the truth today, and it will be the truth tomorrow."

"But the day may come when we will have to use one threat against another?" I suggested.

Lady Emma considered that. Then she nodded. "Again, so what else is new? And given the problem of your lack of any actual authority, what can you do about it?"

That was a most reasonable response on her part. "This conversation is about the future, Lady Emma. Someday our superiors might need to moderate their stance about cooperation. And someday I might have more authority than I do now. At the moment, I want someone in the Graymalkin to know that options exist. I want to open a line of communication. What say you to an offer to depart this meeting as defacto ambassadors to our kind?"

Lady Emma stared at me. "You are either a visionary or incredibly arrogant."

I smiled slightly. "What if I'm both?"

"No argument there. But do you have anything substantial to offer? It seems to me that you need to prove your usefulness."

"There is a Phoenix cult in the region," I said as I finally took a sip from my wine.

Lady Emma froze. The cup in her hand was part-way to her lips and her eyes were locked with mine.

"Would the Graymalkin be interested in cleaning up that mess?" I asked gently.

Graymalkin Inquisitorial war-packs moved through the region, invisibly flowing like water poured into a river. They were unseen and unheard, but death followed them.

Telepathic, telekinetic, and pyrokinetic battles were fought between Inquisitors and cultists. Yet in the end, the common Blood, Folk, and Wilder had no idea what had happened. They either had no memory of it, or there was always a more reasonable explanation for the scattered death and destruction. After all, the Blood-Creed war was still raging.

I was having dinner at a local inn when Lady Emma's Yojimbo - the Spider - appeared out of nowhere and sat down with me. She was glad in simple Ronin armor and had a pair of short-swords in crossed back-scabbards.

"Hello," I said as I carefully put down a gnawed-bare chicken leg. "I assume you know my name. What's yours?"

"Jessica," the woman answered. "Jessica Stace-Parker."

That combined last name had a lot of meaning. I made a few mental connections and it suddenly occurred to me that Jessica might be much more than simply a killer from the Towers of N'Yack.

"Do you have a message for me?" I asked. "Or have you been ordered to kill me?"

"It's a message," Jessica said laconically. "Lady Emma thanks you for your assistance to the Graymalkin. She also says she will remember your suggestion of a larger agreement, but regretfully the time is not right for such a thing."

I nodded. "Please express my respectful felicitations to Lady Emma. And I hope that in the future she will be able to reconsider her response to my offer."

Jessica nodded.

"Have you had dinner?" I asked. "The wine is just passable, but the chicken is surprisingly good."

She smiled at me. That was most charming.

So that's how I ended up having dinner with an ex-Black Widow - something that no sane man would do otherwise.

And one thing led to another.

And she became pregnant.

"Pregnant?" I repeated in surprise.

I was in Delphi and a local priestess of Lady Grey had summoned me to hear a message. It seemed she had received a mind-to-mind communication that involved me.

The priestess was elderly and had the acerbic nature of a woman who had spent her life listening to the inane thoughts of others. The message she had for me was from Jessica via Lady Emma. And the news from Jessica was pretty surprising.

It was about three months since Jessica and I had our night together. And apparently the results were showing.

"But she can't be pregnant!" I objected.

The priestess rolled her eyes. She'd probably heard that before.

"If you have a problem with what you've heard, you'll have to take it up with your lady-friend," the priestess replied in a 'keep me the hell out of this' tone-of-voice.

Then she added skeptically, "Can you afford my fee to send a response?"

Telepathy doesn't come cheap and the Men of Iron really don't pay me much more than food and board. So I certainly could not send a telepathic response. Gritting my teeth, I asked the priestess to direct me to the messenger office of the city's Angel flock.

About one year later...

Thank God the Blood are so free about sexual encounters. So when Lord Ashe's Senior Samurai and some of his troops finally collected me I was sure - well, fairly sure - that I wouldn't be murdered. They just insisted that I pay a visit to his lordship.

Lord Ashe is a most impressive and dangerous-looking man. I plan on being a king someday but being in his presence reminded me that I had a lot to learn.

Lady Emma made a point of attending that meeting. She has an impressive straight face, but I could tell she was laughing at me.

"Have you met our daughter yet?" was the first thing Lord Ashe said to me. And that was how I found out that my child had been adopted by him. Given that Jessica was his concubine, and my absence for the last year, that was his right under Blood law and I had no say in the matter.

"No, my Lord," I replied.

Lord Ashe looked at his Senior Samurai - I swear the woman has a trace of Creed blood - and ordered, "Take him to Jessica and Gloria. And then bring him back to me."

After that, Lord Ashe looked back at me. "We have to discuss the question of your proper support of the child. You're in arrears by several months."

Lady Emma was definitely laughing at me.

"Say hello," Jessica told me with a smile. Then she plopped Gloria into my arms.

I looked down at Gloria and that was enough to assure me that she was actually my daughter - the resemblance to my mother was startling. Then Gloria smiled up at me and I realized that my baby daughter is the most beautiful and perfect girl in creation. It took me a while to tear my gaze away from her.

"When he found out that you were pregnant, was Lord Ashe angry?" I asked Jessica.

Jessica shrugged. "He's a typical Blood about such things. And I'm a concubine, not a wife, so the rules are different. Actually, I gave him a blow-by-blow description of our night. He thought it was pretty funny."

I stopped myself from asking exactly what part Lord Ashe had found "funny".

"He's adopted Gloria, but he insists that you pay child-price," Jessica continued carefully. Obviously, she wanted me to do the right thing and was worried how I would respond. It wasn't about money. It was about character.

I am Anthony Valerian von Doom and of course I would choose the honorable course of action. Another man might have been offended that Jessica even considered that to be a question. However, Jessica didn't really know me, so it was ridiculous to be offended about that sort of misjudgment.

I opened my mouth to respond but then that blasted Senior Samurai butted in.

"That's 'he insists' as in 'you have no fucking choice'," the Senior Samurai - I later found out her name was Raven - added bluntly. "In fact, I just happen to have a formal document with me. All it needs is your signature. It's your choice if you want to sign it in ink or blood. I'm easy both ways."

I took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and reminded myself that the Senior Samurai was doing what she thought was right.

"Doesn't it have to be witnessed by a priestess?" I asked.

Raven's grin was feral. "Lady Emma has said she will take care of that. I'm supposed to tell you that there's no need to thank her."

"How thoughtful," I said dryly.

Then I turned to Jessica. "I agree," I assured her. "But I want you to know that I tried to be responsible. I cast a spell before we went to bed..."

"Good job, master sorcerer," Raven interrupted sarcastically. That really wasn't fair. But given how fertility works for Blood females - it's based on a multi-year cycle - the situation Jessica and I were in must have seemed oddly disorganized to her.

"And I took a contraceptive as well," Jessica told Raven sharply. Raven didn't look particularly abashed. From her point of view we were a pair of sex-addled youngsters who were paying for our foolishness.

She... had a point.

Then Raven seemed to relent. She shrugged and said, "It's as if the Old One and the Goddesses wanted you two to have a child."

That was a bit too Blood-mystical for my taste, but after looking down at Gloria again I was willing to accept the possibility. Could something so perfect be merely an accident?

"I wonder why?" Raven added thoughtfully.

[So am I ever actually going to write the saga of all the children of this world background who come from such an amazing, spectacular, and uncannily diverse set of lineages? I actually don't know, but I've certainly been dropping hints that something is going on.

We'll just have to wait and see.]