Title: Bred in the Bone (12/?)

Author: Emma

Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Andy Davidson, Toshiko Sato, others

Rating: Starts PG, but hey, it’s got Jack and Ianto in it!

Disclaimer: Oh, please. If I owned them, would I let some of those idiots write the scripts? And if I were making any money off them, would I be where they could find me?

Summary: Andy Davidson must embrace his inheritance in order to protect Jack and Ianto’s daughter Gwen

Author's Note: This is an AU where Gwen and Owen were killed by Gray. So if you want to know why Martha is married to Rhys and Jack and Ianto have a CP and two adopted daughters, you may want to read Evolution first

Author’s Note: The title is shamelessly stolen from Robertson Davies’s magnificent novel. It’s also an old saying: what’s bred in the bone will out in the flesh
Author's Note: This is a little longer than usual, but after all the angst some of you monsters have put me through recently, I couldn't leave Tosh like that! And also Calan Haf is the first day of May.

Part One is here; Part Two is here; Part Three is here; Part Four is here; Part Five is here; Part Six is here; Interlude is here; Part Seven is here; Part Eight is here; Part Nine is here; Part Ten is here; Part Eleven is here

 

            There were tywyl on one of our Paths.

 

            I was a bit surprised at how angry it made me. In the long battle between my grandmother and my father, I had, if I had ever thought about it at all, sided with my father. He believed that the Kingship was a hereditary office reflecting a long tradition of service, not an integral part of ourselves. Now, feeling energy flare around me without a Summoning, I realized grandmother had been right all along. Being the Summer King was not something you did; it was something you were.

 

            Ianto was still semi-conscious, but his breathing had eased. I tucked his cloak around him, making sure he was completely covered, then turned to look for Tosh. I needn’t have worried. She stood calmly, katana at the ready, a faint smile on her lips.

 

            She was going to make a hell of a Consort.

 

            “Tosh!” I motioned her over. “Ianto’s your responsibility. I know my way around the deck better.”

 

            She nodded. Impulsively I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her tight. “Are you going to marry me?”

 

            “Of course I am.” She pressed her lips to mine briefly. “Do I get a crown and everything?”

 

             “You do indeed. Wait ‘til you see it.”

 

            I kissed her again. The roll of thunder overhead made me smile into her mouth.

 

            “Accepted and witnessed,” aunt Achren said with a great deal of satisfaction. “We can celebrate later. Here they come.”

 

            As the cloud reached us we could see it was all debris: dirt, rotting leaves, small rocks. It looked bad and smelled worse. There was a horrible howling coming from it, more like animals being tortured than anything sentient. Achren waved her hand contemptuously and large swaths of it blew away, revealing several dozen tywyl hiding inside. The Small Ones moaned at the sight.

 

            It wasn’t fear; it was horror. The tywyl’s hands had been Bound to iron bars. Where the iron touched, their skin had shriveled away and wisps of greenish smoke wafted up. Blood dripped everywhere. Some were trying to shake the bars away but had only managed to dislocate their shoulders and elbows. Others tried to clumsily wield the bars like weapons and managed to smash into other tywyl. Whoever was doing this wanted them maddened, pushed beyond their fear of sword and magick.

 

            I opened up and Searched, reaching out carefully to scout the edges of the cloud. There was something there, something both human and alien. It prodded at the tywyl’s minds with bolts of icy fire that scoured their nerve endings. Whatever or whoever was driving them was doing something similar to what aunt Achren had done to Ianto, but using the equivalent of a club instead of a scalpel.

 

            The first wave hit us and we slashed away without any finesse. Some of the tywyl seemed to want nothing more than just to be free of the bars and threw themselves sideways at us, perhaps hoping the swords would shear off their hands. Others just swooped down, swinging wildly, smashing into other tywyl in their madness. It was butchery, not battle, but we kept at it grimly.

 

            I took a quick look at Toshiko. She was moving with the elegant precision of the samurai she was, and the space around her was wet with tywyl blood. One of them tried to get under her guard to reach Ianto. The katana sliced down and a head rolled on the deck. I gave her a brief salute which she returned with a smile.

 

            Out of the corner of my eye I saw Achren dodge a clump of tywyl, leaving Angie to deal with them. She jumped to the lower deck. The Small Ones stood back-to-back and were flinging Energy bolts about, aiming for the iron bars; when the bolt hit the iron it traveled downwards along the tywyl’s arms into their chests. Achren pulled one of them out the formation and whispered something. I saw the Small One nod.

 

            Achren started to swing the sword in broad moulinets, faster and faster until the blade was a flashing shadow. I realized she must have been using a form of Summons to move the sword; there was no way her wrist and elbows could pivot so rapidly. The flashes distracted the tywyl and gave them a target. They swarmed her. In the confusion, the Small One took a fast run across the deck and dove over the side, winking out before hitting the water. Someone was going for reinforcements.

 

            Whoever or whatever was driving the tywyl knew it too, because the icy fire became almost visible as it stabbed directly into their brains. The howls became deafening as they launched themselves at us even harder. By now we had to avoid tripping over the bodies that littered the deck. The stench of tywyl blood was making my stomach heave.

 

            Four of them came at me at the same time. Looking into their faces I realized that whatever sentience had been there was lost; they were past even animal reasoning. I used the flat of the blade on the first one, sending him sprawling to the lower deck and the dubious mercy of the Small Ones’ energy bolts. I ducked under the second one, raking its stomach open, and then chopped the third one’s hand off at the wrist. He howled and fled back into the cloud. There was a sound like someone putting chips into hot fat, and his burning body fell into the water.

 

            The fourth one stopped for a moment, almost as if trying to think, but his moment of clarity was short-lived. He flew down at me again, swinging the iron bar up and down in hammering motions. I kept weaving under the blows until I saw an opening and lunged, spitting him on the point of the sword and pinning him to the deck.  He writhed, trying to shake me off, but I held on until he went limp. I pulled the sword free and rested on it for a moment, trying to catch my breath.

 

            And then there was a shot behind me, and my heart stopped.

 

            I turned to see Toshiko slide down across Ianto’s body. The old tywyl who had challenged me at her place loomed over her, a Glock pistol in his hand. It hadn’t been Bound to him; he was holding cold steel willingly. He laughed at me.

 

            “Ah. Young One, you have been blooded enough, I see. Will you fight me now? Cold sharp steel against this?”

 

            I ignored his rants. My mind had narrowed down to that body on the deck. The sound seemed to have shocked the other tywyl back into sanity; they hovered above us, moaning low in terror. This was contrary to everything they believed, everything they held True.

 

            “Answer me, boy!” The old one raised the gun, aiming it at me. “You will give me the one I want. You will or I’ll keep…”

 

            He was silenced by an energy stream that caught him mid-chest and lifted him upwards until he looked the size of a small bird. Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the stream cut off, and the tywyl plummeted down, screaming, to smash against the deck at my feet. I looked at the Small Ones, who broke their Link before saluting me, subject to King.

 

            I knelt next to Toshiko, moving her off Ianto and picking her up in my arms. She was still alive, but I could feel the Energy leaving her body. She tried to laugh. It turned into a cough.

 

            “What is it with me and timing?” She stroked my cheek gently. “I’m sorry, love. I don’t think…”

 

            “No! You are not dying on me, Toshiko Sato!”  But she was, and I knew it.

 

            Angie came to kneel behind me. “The hands of the King have the power to Heal.”

 

            I looked at her, startled. “That’s an old beldames’ tale.” I looked at Achren. “Isn’t it?”

 

            She shrugged. “I saw it work once, but it was an illness, not a wound. She is too far gone, nephew. I’m sorry.”

 

            “Like hell!”

 

            I pushed away Tosh’s cloak and tore her jumper. The bullet had entered right above her heart. I felt beneath her; there was an exit wound, but it felt huge under my fingers. I placed my hands over the entry wound. Taking a few deep breaths, I pushed everything else away, and tried to find the knowledge I didn’t have.

 

            It rose in my mind, clear and cold. I would have to use my own energy and risk draining myself. It should have scared me, the idea of going through life without the ever present hum of primordial Energy in my cells, but I was infinitely more scared of losing Tosh.  Closing my eyes, I started funneling energy into the wound.

 

            It felt like hours were passing. I heard others arrive; my grandmother’s voice, terrified, and my aunt’s, low and rumbling. Angie’s hands were on my shoulders, offering me support. I poured and poured but I could feel the Tosh’s life essence flickering down to nothing.

 

            Suddenly there was another pair of hands on mine. I looked up to see Ianto kneeling on Tosh’s other side.  “You can’t. You’re not strong enough.”

 

            “Fuck that. Concentrate.”

 

            At first there was nothing, and then a second Energy joined mine. Where mine was warm, this was cool. Where mine carried the scent of wildflowers, this carried the scent of freshly fallen snow. It lifted and strengthened mine, and the combination flowed into Tosh’s body, our life essences strengthening hers.

 

            Behind us the Small Ones started singing. It was the Cywydd of the Two Kings, and it hadn’t been heard for two thousand years. It was the first poem sung on the morning of the Battle and the last one sung in the evening. All the hopes of the Tylwyth for order and peace and beauty were carried in it. As it rose towards its crescendo, I felt Tosh’s chest heave as her eyes flew open. I pulled her to me and kissed her and felt her mouth move under mine.

 

            The song transposed into the triumphant Englynion of the Queen of Calan Haf. The Small Ones had given their approval to my marriage.

edited to put some information into the last note and get rid of typo. there's always one I miss!