CHAPTER 20
The Americans went home for the winter, so father and son finally dueled in Europe to avoid exposing the Boy Wonder.
Tommy waited until Billy finished his final kill of the day at the Budapest Arena. Billy, perceptive as always, became alarmed upon seeing his facial expression and stopped applying a wand to his nasty shoulder wound.
"An elite English unit ambushed your father coming out of Global Bank in Frankfurt. Cousin Lloyd gave him up for ten lousy kilos. Before dying under torture, which we recorded for you, we learned that Lloyd has no idea who you are or he’d have sold you out for a thousand times as much to the Mongols. Doctors and healers are doing what they can, but his wounds are severe."
"The queen ordered this?" the twelve-year old needed to know. He couldn’t believe it. They just celebrated his birthday a few weeks ago at his mother’s grave.
"They tricked Prince Richard into returning to England, then jailed him in his own castle. Only the queen could authorize that."
"Why kill my father?" Billy demanded.
Tommy shrugged. "To flush you in the open to remove a rival for the thrown?”
“But I wouldn’t take the crown even if they tried to give it to me.”
Tommy looked so sad. “But did you ever tell them that? You could have renounced your claim years ago.”
Billy never thought of that. “My dad’s gonna die because I didn’t renounce the throne? Seriously?”
“Prince John would have killed you anyways,” Tommy lied with as much sincerity as he could fake.
They arrived a few hours later at the hospital. A dozen grieving English quads guarded his room. Billy found his dad slipping in and out of consciousness.
Billy could not put his grief into words. They had talked about this for years, unsure who’d be watching who die, but Billy still didn't feel prepared. His father had been teaching him government, politics, and economics. The more he learned, the more he learned how much he still didn’t know.
When his father woke, Billy could tell he knew he was dying. "Billy, you’re the last of my line. Promise me that you’ll procreate soon so our line doesn’t die out. Given the life you chose, you must assume you’ll die young.”
“I promise.”
William coughed as a broken rib scratched a lung. “You’re the Baron now, so take credit for what I’ve done so they’ll continue to think the Baron is middle aged."
Billy needed to know something. “How many in that cemetery actually died fighting Mongols?”
William gasped, then chuckled. He beamed proudly at his son. “I could never fool you.”
“Well, some of the gravestones are older than Genghis.”
“We ruled the kingdom of Bohemia until we accepted semi-autonomous rule under the Holy Roman Empire, which was really fifteen hundred kingdoms barely governed by the Kaiser. An ancestor named Hildred wanted to become independent by breeding her own air force. She, her siblings, and dozens of cousins mated with powerful quads. But, by the time the children became parents themselves, she instead fought the Khan. There’s no video, but family lore says she died attacking Genghis Khan himself.”
“One more reason to make him suffer.”
“That’s the spirit!” dad said smiling, so pleased with his son, before looking miserable again. “But it was a total disaster. Rachel Richthofen could blast with her boot wands like you and Genghis, but rather than keep that secret, the family bragged that it finally had someone who could out-duel the Khan.
“Genghis had Subodei wipe out the whole area. Everyone. Almost a million innocents died because of us, so keep that guilt in mind the next time you wonder if you’ve gone too far. Rachel only survived because she had flown off to see this prodigy who got her pregnant. Genghis wanted to send a message, so they made the men watch the Mongols rape their mothers, sisters, and daughters before torturing the males to death. It took them months to rape thousands of women and girls. Not just our family, or even just quads, but those they knew were innocent. At least we don’t let our troops rape or torture.”
“We screwed with Genghis a lot, though,” Billy admitted.
William laughed so hard it hurt, which reminded him that he didn’t have much time. "I died the day I lost your mother. It has been so hard to live without her. Only your company kept me going. I still can’t believe how well you’ve turned out. Your mother says you made up in quality what was denied her in quantity.
“Don’t be like me. Don’t ever fall in love. Love is not just a choice, but a decision. At some level, you decide who you fall in love with. So close your heart because people you care for will die before you, and probably because of you. Find someone worthy as your primary mate, but assume you will lose her as I lost mine.
“You chose your life, so embrace it completely. You are among the few who live life on your own terms. Most people are cattle who never rise above their petty appetites and circumstances, while you’re the solution to the greatest problem humanity has ever faced: never-ending world war. I want you to do what needs to be done to end this madness.”
"Yes, father," Billy said between tears.
"You’re the best damn son I could ever have asked for. I can't imagine a better life than the one you and your mother gave me." He paused to sip some water. "You must help your grandfather become king. Your mother would have wanted that."
"I will, father."
“I sent our latest super wands to our bank branch in Dublin. That’s how that traitor found me. Our next marathon division should arrive soon. Use them wisely. If you lose too many to battle or disease, then no one else will ever follow you.”
“I understand.”
“Do the hard things that no one else can do. People will either call you a hero or a murderer, but you’re just a soldier, and a soldier’s job is to kill the few to save the many. It’s what you’re good at. It’s what you were born for. Make no excuses, but don’t pretend you’re something you’re not. Don’t let anyone make you weak. Especially a woman. Stay strong and finish the job of returning Mongols to their historical irrelevance. Now take ownership of my Millennial Wands. My parents would have been so proud that I developed a twenty-five meter wingspan. I could probably beat Genghis Khan himself. When I had him trapped in that steel box of his, I almost did.”
“Why didn’t you, papa?”
“It’d have been too merciful. That mass murderer had not suffered enough. I want him to see his family die, his people die, and his empire die. I want everything he cherishes taken from him. I want you to break him like a sucked wand. Come to my grave and tell me when you have finished that ruthless monster. Every Mongol you kill saves a dozen innocents. Every Mongol is complicit in a crime against humanity, so destroy them as you would a cancer. Do to them what they’ve done to half the world, and wish to do to the other half.”
"I’ll make them pay, dad.”
Something bothered William. “I was born in Prussia, but I never thought I’d die in Prussia.”
“So you were finally wrong about something!”
William smiled so hard that Billy could tell a laugh was trying to escape. He closed his eyes like that, still smiling, his hand on his son’s shoulder until it went limp. William sunk into unconsciousness, then stopped breathing. Billy sensed his soul leave the room like a wand losing its owner. It literally felt colder. Or maybe it was just Billy who grew colder inside.
Billy buried his father next to his mother in their ancestral home. He looked at the thousands of ancestors who died fighting the same damn war, looked at his own open grave, then swore he’d finish it. He promised his mama he’d help her dad, then told his father, “I’m gonna kill the bitch who murdered you.”