Free Ritual Magic by Eileen Wilks Page B

to sleep again. Bring her to my lair.
    Sam wasn’t going to do this at the hospital?
    I will need the protections at my lair. This will be a lengthy process and will leave me incapacitated in important ways. You do not see the ramifications. The Great Enemy is aware of me and at least some of my actions against her.
    Dr. Babbitt finally finished. It was Paul’s turn. He surprised Rule by saying only that he was out of his depth and would support whatever decision Edward made.
    Susan was up next. She wanted to allow Dr. Babbitt to treat Julia with antianxiety drugs here at the hospital and to bring in other experts, get more opinions. While she talked, so did Sam.
It is reasonable to assume our enemy will be aware that I am partially incapacitated. Whether she can pass this knowledge to Robert Friar is unknown, but even if she cannot, his Gift will suggest to him that this is a good time to strike.
    Shit.
    Susan finished by emphasizing the need to have more information before making a decision. Deborah stood and began meandering through a teary account of an event from Julia’s childhood.
    I speak to you now in your dual capacities as Lu Nuncio of Nokolai and as second-in-command of the Shadow Unit. You are aware that I monitor my territory in ways unavailable to those who are not dragon. You are not aware of various defenses I have in place, or of the matrixes I have established to alert me to sudden shifts in the probabilities. While I am treating Julia I will be unable to monitor my territory, any magical defenses outside my lair, or those matrixes. I will pass to Li Lei the monitoring of my territory. I do not explain the mechanism, which would be meaningless to you, but the senses involved in such monitoring are ill suited to her current form. She will change to her other form and she will be at my lair. I expect the procedure to take between fifteen and twenty-two hours. She will need to eat far more than usual during this period. She tells me she would prefer deer—whole but skinned, as she dislikes the hair, and freshly killed. You may leave the antlers on. She enjoys gnawing on them. Two small deer should do. The carcasses should be left immediately in front of my lair. Arrange this.
    Ah . . . all right.
    Deborah finished by surprising Rule. After wandering through various tales, ending with the story of how Edward and Julia first met, she sniffed and said that of course they would allow the dragon to do what he could for Julia, and she for one was very grateful to him.
    If you consider any debt to be incurred for arranging for the deer,
Sam informed Rule,
that is between you and Li Lei.
    There could be no debt where Madame Yu was concerned . . . although finding, killing, and skinning two deer might take awhile.
    I recommend haste.
    Deborah’s husband, Feng, profoundly disagreed with her. No one should be allowed to go messing around in his sister-in-law’s head, however good their intentions might be, and how could a dragon know enough about human minds to tinker with them, anyway? He continued to say much the same thing for some time.
    I also wish the use of Cullen Seaborne. Note that I make no request of you and will incur no debt. I offer you the chance to act in defense against our common enemy, Robert Friar, by providing me the use of your man. You can agree to this, in your capacity as Lu Nuncio of his clan?
    He could, but why Cullen?
    I wish to pass to Cullen Seaborne the monitoring and control of some of the magical defenses in my territory. He will not be able to carry all of them, but I judge him able to accept those sites I deem most vulnerable to attack. He will not be damaged by this task, but he will be incapacitated both during and afterward. I estimate that he will be unconscious for at least twenty-four hours and is likely to experience depletion for two or three subsequent days. If you agree to this, understand that I will not allow him to retain full knowledge of my defenses. I may