Trickster Noir (Pixie for Hire Book 2)

by Cedar Sanderson

  “I’m glad to meet you all.” She assured him gravely, hoping her amusement wasn’t showing on her face.

  He stood up and threw her a sloppy salute. “We’re at your service, ma’am!”

  “Did Dean tell you what the mission is?” She was curious if they would be willing to go up creatures thousands of times their size.

  He nodded. “We’ll be your eyes and ears in t’air. Looking forrad t’some action, t’boys an’ me. Last time was with the goblin battle with Lom in command. Whee! Some fightin’ there.”

  “Thank you. Let Ellie,” who had unofficially become the team quartermaster, “know if you need anything. We leave here in about two hours.”

  He snapped another salute and the three of them careened off, bouncing off one another with muffled curses, once off the table, and even Dean’s chest, which he endured with a stone face.

  “Have you got what you think you will need?” Bella asked him.

  He nodded. “I’m ready to go. Where are we going?”

  “I suggested that my family meet me in two days in Longview, if they can come that quickly. I will touch base with them once we are above. Oh, and I need Devon again...”

  “Right here,” the boy came around the corner, a scone in his hand.

  “I need to charge this,” she held up her cell phone. “And my options are going above and renting a hotel room, which I’d rather not, or a cyber cafe. My home is a little far to go just now.”

  He nodded, “I have an MGC to AC converter. I’ll go get it.”

  He all but ran out of the room, with Bella calling after him, “What the heck does that mean?”

  “Magic to alternating current, duh!” He didn’t even slow down.

  Bella sighed, “Teenagers make me feel old.”

  This got a short laugh out of Dean.

  “I will go stage everything we are taking. How are you planning to do transport?” he asked.

  “Anything that can be damaged by cold we carry. The rest of it gets wrapped against moisture damage and tagged with ‘come-here’ spells. I’ve already figured out that I can pull items to me from here. That saves us some steps.”

  He actually registered an emotion, showing a little surprise. “You can do that?”

  Bella cocked her head slightly, “You can’t? I’m sorry, I’m still figuring out what I can do with magic. I’d tried it yesterday.”

  “Was that what had you so tired?” His eyes narrowed in thought.

  Bella shook her head. “No, that would be the transport bubble from there to here.”

  Now he did look startled, and had a distinctly admonitory tone. “You’re lucky you didn’t kill yourself.”

  This had not occurred to her, that the consequences for using magic could be so drastic. “Drat. I keep running into that. There are so many things that just aren’t covered in the books.”

  “That one is just...” She could see his struggle for the right words. “Insane. Look, next time ask me, ok?”

  “Sure, if I have time.” She got up, and went to get Ellie.

  Behind her, she heard him mutter, “I thought I was the one with a death wish.”

  She ignored him, knowing that she had already done far more than any Underhill lore said she could. She wondered sometimes if they just hadn’t been trying anything new for so long that they didn’t know what they were capable of anymore.

  Ellie came down to the armory with her, scrupulously avoiding going too close to Lom’s door. His half of the cellars was protected by so many layers of spells, and most of them nastily lethal, that Bella didn’t blame her. She had decided to stage the mission equipment here in her workshop so it wouldn’t be in the way.

  It also gave her an opportunity to speak to Ellie completely alone for a change. Even in the house, Bella was no longer sure that there were no listening ears.

  “While we are gone, Melcar will be here. And here...” Bella handed Ellie a spell, the tiny orb of glowing energy. “If you need me, that’s linked to me, wherever I am.”

  The little elf nodded. Bella had always had trouble reading her face for emotions, with the wood-elf’s craggy skin and the age-lines that mapped her life on her face.

  “I don’t know what the Council is thinking,” Bella went on, awkwardly. “I’m sorry, I wish I had a better clue about all this. With Lom incapacitated, I hate taking off and leaving everything on you and Lucia like this. But what can I do?”

  “You’re doing the right thing.” Ellie held out her hands, and Bella took them, accepting the comfort and support she badly needed at the moment. “You need to go take care of the mission, and he will be in good hands. As I said before, this is the best thing for him, some impetus to get out of bed and not mope himself to death.”

  “He’s not allowed to do that,” Bella growled.

  Ellie laughed. “Let’s get you on the way to above, so you will be home sooner.”

  “Sounds good to me. I’m leaving the door attuned to you, so if you need to come down here.” Bella gestured at her armory, and Ellie smiled.

  They went back to the kitchen, where Devon brandished the cell phone at Bella. “All ready to go!” he announced cheerfully.

  "Terrific," Bella told him. "You still aren't coming."

  He nodded, only a little crestfallen. Good, maybe he understood duty and wouldn't try to follow them. She nodded at Dean and looked down at the table. The sprites all had tiny mugs of something. She looked closer. Surely that wasn't...

  "Whiskey before breakfast?"

  "Och, aye! An w'breakfast, too!" Callum cheerfully informed her.

  Dean intervened. "They don't get drunk. Sprite metabolism is very fast."

  "Ok," Bella let it go, dubious, but she needed them. "We eat, and go."

  Fighting Back

  I awakened to see Devon dozing on the chair. I croaked and he woke up.

  “Water?” he mumbled sleepily and I nodded.

  After a few sips I could manage real words again. “Bella?”

  “She, Dean, and the sprites went above this morning. I think she’ll be fine.” He was trying his best to be reassuring, but I could see the concern in his eyes. Not all of it was for her.

  “Help me get up.” I asked him abruptly. I needed to move, lying here wasn’t going to help her if she needed me.

  “I’m not sure...” Devon glanced toward the door and I could read his thoughts clear as if they were written on his face.

  “No, you don’t need to check with someone. Just give me your shoulder to lean on.”

  He helped me out of bed, and I could feel my muscles trembling just from the effort of standing. Moving my feet in steps was a monumental act of will. I lost count when I had to stop, but we weren’t half way across the room and I was panting.

  “Back t’ bed,” I gasped. He more carried me than I walked, this direction. I realized I must weigh next to nothing with all the time not eating. Maybe eating more would help.

  Back on the bed, I had him put pillows behind me so I was sitting and sent him for food. I was worn out, but not sleepy for a change. Maybe I was getting a bit better. Ellie came back in with him.

  “I’m fine.” I told her. She raised an eyebrow and I realized I must be coming across grouchy, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t happy, and didn’t have enough energy to pretend for social reasons.

  “I can see that. Do you need...” She gestured at the bowl of soup.

  “I can feed myself.”

  I did, too, but it was an effort, and when I had finished the savory lentil stew I was ready to sleep again. I let the tide of darkness wash over me, wanting to rest for once, because I knew I’d be stronger when I woke up.

  I was. We made it all the way across the room, and back to the chair, where I got to sit up and eat my breakfast.

  “Any news?” I asked Devon when he came in as Ellie left with the tray.

  He shook his head. “I know she had her cell all charged, and we’d talked about her renting a car so she could get to Longview,
and she planned to meet her cousins there.”

  I nodded. “Let’s walk.”

  He patiently let me drape an arm on him. I took a painful step, and then another.

  I wanted to rush this. I really didn’t want to take the weeks I knew I was going to need to recover, and I especially didn’t want to face the loss of all magical power. I’d lived with little for a long time, but that wasn’t the same as not having any. I really wanted to just curl up into a ball and make it all go away, but she might need me. Not the kind of princess who needed rescuing, not my Bella. However, we all need back-up from time to time.

  “Devon, can you have Melcar come see me? I know Alger’s off on some Secret Squirrel mission.”

  The boy actually giggled at the squirrel crack, and I made a mental note to tell him to look it up on youtube. But he let me back down into bed, and when I woke up some time later, Melcar was bending over me.

  “I want...” I started to tell him, and he grimaced at me.

  “I know full well what you want. Let me finish my examination.” He pressed a hand in the center of my chest heavily enough to make me say “oof.”

  He poked and prodded and I slowly realized that there was someone standing behind him. My situational awareness was sadly lacking, and I couldn’t get that back soon enough to make me happy.

  “Eh... Do I call you My Liege or Corwin today?” I asked the cloaked king when I got a better glimpse. Melcar had moved downward, and had my legs uncovered. At least I was wearing a nightshirt of decent length.

  “Corwin ought to suffice since you are unable to give me obeisance.”

  I stuck my tongue out at him. Childish, but... I felt a rush of relief that he had come to check on me. I wasn’t in the doghouse with him, even if the Council was out for my head.

  Melcar shook his head at my immaturity, a faint smile on his face. I amused him.

  “I can boost your recovery time.” He interrupted my attempt at witty repartee with good news.

  “Terrific. How fast?”

  “It’s not an instant fix,” he cautioned, “that kind of power drain could kill you, and it might kill me. We haven’t been using any magic in your vicinity, out of concern for the effects, you know?”

  “Yeah. I’m no delicate flower and I want you to stop pussy-footing around.”

  “We’ll try. But it’s still going to take weeks.” He sat on the edge of the bed and Corwin sat in the chair. He looked gravely concerned.

  “Weeks?” I blurted. I needed to be up and out of this house in days.

  “Lom, left to progress naturally, it would take you months, up to a year, to regain your muscle mass and strength. I haven’t been willing to try this before because you were so weak I was sure it would kill you. But I’m seeing you come back from the edge and I’m willing to try. But,” he held up a warning finger. “A very small start, and we stop if there are any ill effects. Got it?”

  I subsided back onto the pillows. “Got it,” I growled at him. Corwin put a hand to his face to try and hide his smile.

  “Can we do it now?” I ignored my king’s amusement at my attitude. Sure, I might be acting like a lovesick kid, but Bella needed me.

  Melcar nodded. I braced, and watched as he gathered a spell in the palms of his hands, like a ball of glowing honey. He laid it on my chest, and I expected to feel something, but it slowly soaked into me, vanishing, and all I felt was sleepy.

  “Ish no... not workin’” I informed him, trying to keep my eyes open.

  He chuckled. “Stop fighting and get some sleep, I’ll check back in the morning.”

  I wanted to say goodbye to Corwin, but my eyelids won their battle to fall like rocks.

  I did awaken in the morning, still vaguely disappointed the spell hadn’t worked. I could only console myself with the knowledge that it didn’t seem to have hurt, either, and I could smell coffee. I swung my legs out of bed and stood up before I thought about it.

  “Holy mother...” I caught myself on the bedside chair as my brain kicked in and reminded me that my body wasn’t up to snuff yet.

  Melcar walked in the door a minute later holding the tray of coffee and implements. “Ah, you’re awake.”

  “It worked! I didn’t think it had, I couldn’t feel it.”

  He eyed me, standing there clinging to the chair and swaying like a tree in the wind. “Would you like coffee?”

  “I need to sit for that. Um...”

  He set the tray down and helped me balance and step around so I could sit. “It will be a while until you have all your facilities again. Yes, you can push, but you must respect your body when it says enough.”

  “Got it. Why didn’t I feel it working?”

  He perched on the edge of my bed. “I don’t know yet. You might have... When Bella pulled the elfshot out of you, she may have stripped out the paths magic takes through you.”

  “Um...” I thought about this. It would make sense, the reaction I had had when I tried to reach for magic. “Permanently?”

  He shook his head. “I have no idea, I’m sorry. Let’s give it time, and see what happens.”

  I knew that saying from him. It meant probably, and he wasn’t going to make a judgment just yet on whether I was crippled for life. No magic... I drank the coffee, and life proceeded.

  I slept and walked, and in between there were meals Ellie prepared to be heavy on fats and proteins to build my body back up again. I lost track of time once more, as I had no schedule other than the demands of my body for sleep. I tried not to think too much about her, as I knew she would be focusing on the mission at hand, not on me. She was a sensible girl, my Bella.

  Team Leader

  Bella stumbled on stepping out of the doorway from Underhill to the human world, and Ewan bounced off the back of her head.

  “Ow!” She put up a hand and rubbed where he’d hit her, with his boots it felt like. “Watch where you’re going!”

  “Och, and when y’grow a foot in front o’me?” He shot back, hovering at head-height, incongruously standing in midair with his hands on his hips.

  Bella sighed and conceded, “I didn’t think to warn you of that, truth is, I’m not used to it myself.”

  “What’s the plan now?” Dean looked around the little glade, ignoring their byplay.

  “We hike down the hill and I call for a car.” Bella brought her mind back to the task at hand.

  He looked up at her. “Got it. By the way, remind me later to show you other doors, hey?”

  Bella felt foolish. “I ought to have asked about that before, but I only know this one and one other, which doesn’t open on this continent, I don’t think.”

  He nodded in understanding, “Nah, you’re learning. And a little fresh air won’t kill me.” Dean winked, and lit another cigarette.

  Bella got the phone out and dialed.

  “Raven?” She asked when the ringing stopped.

  “Who else would it be?” His irascible voice sounded in her ear.

  She laughed. “Well, one of the cousins. You aren’t as alone as you make yourself out to be, Uncle.”

  “Hrmph. Where are you?”

  “We just crossed over from Underhill. We’re in Oregon, down on the coast near Florence.”

  “T’boys are on their way.”

  “Did I tell you where they needed to go? And is Tex flying all the way down?” She was confused.

  “No, and yup.”

  She could hear the amusement in his voice. “Uncle... “

  “Your Folke aren’t the only ones with eyes and ears. Don’t forget that I have resources too, young lady. And I’m not letting them think your family has abandoned you.”

  She hadn’t thought that she was abandoned - after all, they had come when she called for help with Lom, and into a very strange place, at that. Bella suddenly realized that she was once again a pawn in a power display. Raven was ruffling his feathers and looking big in front of the Fairy Kingdom. She sighed.

  “So...” she started. />
  He cut her off. “Get yourself up to Longview. You have transport?”

  “Yes, Uncle.”

  “T’boys will be at the hotel.”

  He hung up, and she stared into space, thinking there had to be more than one hotel in Longview. She would have to call Dan and ask. But not until they were on the road. They still had a four hour drive ahead of them. Bella didn’t even want to think about having the sprites cooped up in the car with them. Dean was bad enough. He got... twitchy when he had to be still for long.

  She caught up with them at the pull out, where the rental guy was shifting from foot to foot outside the little black sedan, and the sprites were nowhere to be seen.

  “I’m Bella Traycroft.”

  She held out her hand and he shook it. “Um, could you sign here?”

  He glanced at Dean and hastily away again. Bella wondered what the fairy had done. She took the clipboard and scrawled where he pointed.

  “Thanks so much, we didn’t expect to wind up here when we started the hike.” She gave him the same cover story she’d fed the rental office, as he handed her the keys. “Do you need dropped off?”

  He shook his head and checked his watch. “No... “

  Another car pulled in, the tires crunching on the gravel.

  “There’s my ride!” He blurted.

  He almost ran to the other car and, as they pulled out, Bella turned to Dean. “What did you do?”

  He shrugged, and she knew she wasn’t going to get anything out of him. Hopefully it hadn’t involved obvious magic. That was what they were here to prevent. He held out his hand.

  “What?” She looked at his extended hand, wondering what he wanted.

  “I don’t ride shotgun. Keys.”

  She blinked at him. “Have you got insurance?”

  He laughed. “Just let me drive, ok? I promise no one will see me doing magic, but I hate being a passenger.”

  She shook her head and handed the keys over. “Where are the sprites?”

  “I sent them ahead. They have their ways.”

  She opened the door, and something else occurred to her, “When was the last time you drove? Do you know how to drive this kind of car?”