Trickster Noir (Pixie for Hire Book 2)

by Cedar Sanderson

  “I had fun!” Tex, his head level with her waist in his almost prone position, got the top of his ever-present ball cap thumped by Bella for that crack.

  “Fred, can you check in with our mystery friend?”

  He nodded, stopped hovering over her, and headed toward the woods. Bella looked at Dean. “Shall we?”

  “Needs must,” he agreed, and they started down the steep hill. It was slippery, and rough going, and Bella was glad she hadn’t brought the MGL with her. She was too tired to use more magic than she strictly needed to at this point, and it looked like Dean was keeping her company, or maybe reserving his strength, too.

  The stench of half-cooked ogre, in the open, was no better than the cave had been. Her eyes started to water. It smelled like burning tires, not cooked meat. At three paces from the nearest body she stopped, reluctant to get any closer.

  “I was thinking we dump them on Tower Baelfire.” She told Dean, resisting the urge to hold her nose.

  “‘On’ the Tower?” He smiled slightly, “What a brilliant idea. From a considerable altitude, say? Pour le encouragement les autres?”

  “Indeed.” Bella gestured, and the ogre vanished with a faint pop. There was still blood and bits of... Tex had been rather overenthusiastic, hadn’t he? Anyway, there were chunks on the mossy ground. They were going to have to figure out what to do about those. She wasn’t sure the local scavengers would have the stomach for anything that looked and smelled like burnt rubber.

  Dean made the other one go away, and by unspoken consent they approached the cave shoulder to shoulder. There was a remote chance - very remote, Bella realized as she looked down the reeking hole - that a survivor still lingered. For once, she wanted her wings.

  “I’m transporting us down, I don’t want to climb, and you need your weapon.” Dean looked at her, and she pulled her MGL from the hilltop to her hand. Magic was taking a bit of effort, she noticed, which wasn’t something she’d felt before. She really had pushed herself a bit far.

  “Ready.” She slung the weapon, wincing as it hit the bruises she had gotten earlier falling on it.

  It felt odd to her to be in someone else’s control, Bella had gotten so used to doing it herself, with the seemingly unlimited power she could tap. He held them above the ground and thinned the bubble so they could see out, but not fully dropping it. She made a note to find out how to do that. The cave was very black.

  They stood there waiting for a long moment, hovering, and then he sighed. “I doubt it will smell any better this time, but try not to throw up, you need that food energy.”

  “Great. I’m ready when you are.” Bella wasn’t happy about it, either.

  The bubble grounded and popped. He’d been wrong, it did smell better. Or maybe she had built up an immunity to it. Not that it smelled good, just that she didn’t immediately want to lose her guts. The propane bottles were intact, but scattered.

  “Let’s drag these into one place?” She suggested, walking gingerly. The floor was littered with debris, most of that was freshly fallen, but Bella also knew she had been too tense earlier to have noticed it. Now it was also still smoking, and she was wary of flare-ups.

  He touched one gently. “They’re still hot. Tag and I’ll flip them all out at once.”

  “Got it. There ought to be six bottles all together.” Bella lit an elf globe and set it drifting overhead. With the soot-blackened walls, the cave was even darker than it had been the last time she was in here. She coughed, feeling her lungs aching with the smoke and foul air.

  “I only count five...” He pointed at the rockfall front door to the nest. “One must have gotten sucked in there.”

  She nodded. “Time to go get that mess dealt with.”

  Bella was afraid of what they would find in the nest itself, so when Dean shook his head, she was faintly relieved.

  “First,” he flicked a hand, and the five bottles went away. “Let’s go above and get some fresh air.”

  Bella staggered as his bubble touched down and popped a moment later out in the cratered hollow. Dean caught her elbow and she shook him off. “I’m fine. It was just nasty in there.”

  She coughed again, hiding her face in her sleeve, which was filthy, she noted distantly. The mission had gone according to plan, which meant she could go home. But Grandma Lavendar had taught her to clean up her own messes, and this one was sure enough a mess. Bella looked up the hill and saw that Dan and Tex had a little fire going.

  “Are we settling in?” It was more or less a rhetorical question, but Dean answered anyway.

  “Don’t see why not. If you haven’t noticed, it’s getting dark.”

  Bella hadn’t noticed, she was having trouble focusing on anything further than the next task. “I can just...”

  “No,” he interrupted her firmly. “You can’t, and we’re not going to let you. A night in the woods isn’t going to hurt any of us.”

  She sighed. “Let’s finish this, then.”

  “I’m not even sure about that. You’re about to fall on your nose.”

  Bella glared at him. She would be fine. He sighed. “I don’t envy Lom. Come on.”

  Instead of bubbling them back into the cave, though, she came out up on the hill where one of the tarps had been converted into a slanted shelter, both so that it would shed any ran, and reflected the heat of the small fire. Dan pointed at the ground tarp.

  “Sit. Stew will be ready in a bit.”

  Bella subsided into a heap on the tarp, feeling the heat soak into her bones slowly. She hadn’t realized how cold she had gotten.

  “I’m sorry,” She sighed and spoke loudly enough for him to hear. Tex was out of sight, Dean sat cross-legged on the other side of the fire, while Dan tended the food. Fred was standing with his back to them, gazing out into the gathering dusk. “I’m being a baby.”

  “No, you’re overtired is all.” Dan handed her a water bottle. “You haven’t done anything like this before, have you?”

  “Well, last summer I spent three weeks...”

  He raised a finger to stop her. “You’re great in the woods. But this was a battle.”

  “No, I haven’t done anything like this. And I am still getting used to magic, and finding my limits,” she admitted grudgingly. The water tasted good.

  “No one got hurt. You did good.” He handed her a canteen cup with stew in it. Made from moose jerky and wild greens, by the look of it. She knew she’d had a little food in her bag, and it didn’t surprise her that the guys had been able to pull a meal out of what they carried. Bella had noted the miner’s lettuce on the hillside herself, out of long habit in seeing the wild edibles around her.

  “Just needed doing,” she mumbled into her cup, thinking about what she could have done better.

  “Finish that, and get some sleep.”

  Dan finished serving them, and took over Fred’s sentry position. Bella dutifully ate and accepted the blanket Dean produced from somewhere. The very idea of using magic herself at this point made her shiver. She was asleep almost before curling up on the tarp.

  When a hand on her shoulder woke her with a gentle shake, the moon had risen.

  “What?” She sat up, instantly alert. Fred held a finger to his lips. “Oh...”

  She crawled out of the shelter, careful not to disturb Dan, who was next to her. Tex was on the other side of him, she noted, and Dean was rolled up in a blanket on the far side of the fire, where he had sat earlier, but she saw the glitter of moonlight on his eyes and knew he was feigning sleep, at least.

  “Gary wanted to talk to you,” Fred told her in a low tone when they were far enough away from the camp. “Sorry to awaken you.”

  “No, it’s ok. I want to respect his need for privacy.” She stretched, and sighed. “How far?”

  “I’m right here.” Gary stepped out from behind a big tree.

  “Indeed you are.” Bella hoped she had hidden her startle when he did that.

  “My family would like to thank you,
and offers to complete the cleaning and removal of remains.”

  She blinked. “It’s not necessary...”

  He shook his big head lugubriously. “With the missing hiker, there are humans all over. We are concerned they may find...” he gestured at the hollow below them.

  “Where it looks like a battle took place, and there are still human bones.”

  He nodded.

  “Last thing you need is a crime scene, and forensics. Last thing I want, for that matter.” Bella sighed and looked out into the moonlight forest. The few breaks in the thick foliage meant that bars of white light reached down like fingers to the mossy ground, black in the night. It was achingly beautiful, and menacing, as she knew what was in the shadows.

  “Do you want Dean and I to take care of the remaining physical... debris,” she altered her word to keep it more detached than remains, or bones. “In the morning, and leave the rest to you all?”

  He hesitated, and looked around a bit.

  “Would you like some time to consult?” Bella asked delicately.

  Gary shuffled his feet. She knew he had to be a very young member of a very small tribe, and making decisions on his own couldn’t be easy.

  “No... They are hoping you will be gone as soon as possible. Very uncomfortable with you here. You are... dangerous.” He admitted that last with wide eyes.

  Bella nodded. “Yes, we are, but,” she raised her voice a little. “Not to you and yours. We will not interfere with you in any way, as long as you do not menace humans. If the sprites are willing, you can always call on me personally for assistance. I give you my pledge.”

  She stepped toward him, holding out her hands. He reluctantly held out one of his own, and she shook it. “It was a pleasure knowing you had our back today, Gary. Your family is safe, and we will be gone within the hour.”

  He smiled and bent down to engulf both her hands in his. “You have done us a service, little princess, one we will not forget.”

  He stood back to his full height, towering over her, and nodded slightly at Fred before turning and slipping silently into the darkness. Bella silently turned toward the dull glow of the fire. Dean was sitting up.

  “Time to get out of here, I think.”

  “I for one could go for a hot shower.” Fred quipped.

  They broke camp quickly, Dean and Bella making it easier by stowing the gear magically, Bella in her armory Underhill, Dean wherever he called home. Bella wondered if he even had a home, he seemed very alone in life.

  Bella found that the few hours of sleep had paid off, and magic ached like a sore muscle, but didn’t actively hurt. Now, that was a lesson worth learning. When she bubbled them back to the vehicles, it was false dawn. Dan drove them back to the hotel, Dean leading the way in the rental car. Bella decided she was going to shower, and sleep until she woke up. Then she was going to go out and find a whole cow for all of them to eat. Or at least a restaurant with really big steaks.

  Aftershocks

  Bella pulled the curtains tightly closed on the window in her room, shutting the morning light out, and then fell into the bed. It was good to be clean, but even better to be on a mattress. As she fell into slumber, she remembered that she should check the laptop again, but she was too sleepy...

  When she woke up the first time the room was dark, and she staggered into the bathroom, grateful for Dan’s foresight in not having her share a room with anyone. She hadn’t worn anything to bed, and she didn’t feel like putting anything on, when she was going to lie right back down. The warmth of the blankets sucked her right back down into sleep again. Dammit, she still needed to check in. After this sleep cycle, she thought and faded out.

  Dan shaking her shoulder had her flailing and all but jumping out of the bed. She grabbed the sheet just in time. “Dammit! Don’t do that!” Bella yelped. “Out! I’m up, believe me.”

  He left the room, a little wild-eyed, and she wondered if he’d expected to find her in footie pajamas like she was a little girl. Sometimes her cousins seemed to have forgotten that she’d grown up.

  Avoiding the pile of muddy, still-wet clothes, she gestured and pulled an outfit from her wardrobe Underhill, testing her magic. This morning she was still slightly sore, but the rest had helped a lot. Pulling on the soft, worn blue jeans reminded her that she really needed to do some personal shopping while she was in Longview. This pair had seen better days, and she only had two pair to begin with, Underhill. Shopping, perhaps even venture into Portland before heading home.

  She stopped to savor that thought. When had Underhill become home, not a prison? When he’d first taken her through that door, she had wanted nothing more than to get out. Now she was counting the moments until she got back to him.

  The door to her room opened and Dean walked in, closing it behind him.

  “Doesn’t anyone knock?” Bella protested.

  “I’ve got ten minutes, I’m told. So be quiet and listen up. Not only could you have killed yourself yesterday, you could have killed your team. You can’t take care of everyone at once. If you had passed out while the fight was still on, what then? If an ogre overran Tex’s position? What about in the cave, leaving me to get you out and the ogres to all come out at once with no magical defenses while we were distracted?

  “You aren’t practical, you think with your heart...” he poked his fingers into her chest, and she rocked back on her heels, shocked at being touched, and the dressing-down she was getting. “And if you don’t learn to let your team do their jobs, trust them, and yeah, if something bad happens, own it, then you aren’t going to be able to do this. I think you have the makings of a good leader, Bella, not just for a team going after the rogues, although you’d be great at that with Lom. Some balance for him.”

  He stopped and took a deep breath. “I’m never gonna be able to say anything like this to you, Underhill. But here, today, I’m your sergeant and you’re my green louie, you understand that concept?”

  Bella nodded, and he went on, his voice low and hard. “When you’re Queen, you gotta be ruthless. You can’t let them use anyone as levers against you. Figure out the right thing, and do it. Sometimes people get hurt, but that is part of the job, and they accept that when they get into this. Do you hear me?”

  “I hear you, Dean. Why are you...?”

  “You got potential, kid. Me, all I ever wanted was to live fast and leave a pretty corpse. Done it once, with a changeling.” He grinned suddenly, and she knew where she had seen that elfin face before. “Sure, I’ve got a death wish. But I don’t want to die stupid.”

  He turned and walked out, leaving the door open behind him. Bella stared into the other room, where the other men were carefully not looking at her. They had heard most of it, she was sure, Dean hadn’t been loud, but very firm and the walls were like paper.

  Dan cleared his throat. “I, um, needed to check with you. Are we checking out or staying another night?”

  “I don’t see any need to stay, and if anyone starts asking questions about the cave explosion...” she shrugged. “And you guys need to be paid and get home.”

  He nodded. “I’ll go deal with the front desk,” he pointed at the others in turn. “Tex, gear, Fred, are you ready?”

  The black haired man nodded, still not looking at Bella.

  “Bella, Raven wanted you to call him,” Dan said.

  “Dean, I’d rather return the car and do our transport,” Bella looked at him. “I don’t see the need to drive back.”

  He nodded, a tiny smile showing only in his eyes. “Fine by me.”

  She handed the keys to him, and he left. She figured he had a plan for getting back to her.

  Bella dialed Raven. “Hello?”

  “I hear you did a good job, all tidy and no one hurt that wasn’t supposed to be.” His raspy voice sounded in her ear as she walked toward the stairs, carrying her bag. Everything else she had dropped magically in a heap in her armory. It was going to be a mess, but at least she didn’t have to carry
it. She would clean it all before returning pieces to Lom, too.

  “I suppose, Uncle. I think I could have done better, and we didn’t get here in time to save a hiker.”

  “Broken eggs can’t be healed, girl. You could have taken longer, too.” His voice was oddly gentle.

  “I just hope that if I have to do it again, I have more time to plan, and... Lom. I didn’t want to just jump into this without him.” Bella stopped on the landing and leaned against the wall. “I wasn’t ready, Uncle, and it’s a miracle no one was hurt. I need more training, and I need him to teach me.”

  “He is healing?” The old bird’s bright curiosity was in that simple question.

  “I think so. The message I got was encouraging. But if he’s lost his magic...” She didn’t know what to say or think about that. She had just found hers, but she knew without having to ask he would not accept being a kept man.

  “If he has, bring him to me, girl. Broken wings might not mean he needs to be grounded.”

  “Thank you, Uncle.”

  Raven, she thought, would bully Lom into getting better quickly.

  “It’s not a favor, chick. I need to have both of you fully functional. I have a job for you, both of you.”

  “What?”

  “What do you do? Gun for hire, with magic? Pixie noir?”

  Bella laughed. “I suppose, and do you have a Maltese Falcon that you need finding?”

  “Sort of. It’s not here, anyway. When he’s ready, you come here, ok?”

  “Aren’t you going to tell me what it is? And, Uncle, I don’t know what the Court will let me do, or not do. There’s a lot of people that really don’t like me being Consort-elect. I don’t want to be Queen, but I’ll be darned if I’m going to let them push me out for their own purposes of controlling power. There are good people who don’t deserve that.”

  His raspy cackle sounded in her ear. “Good girl, put up a fight. Don’t worry, I’ll make it right when he’s ready for it. We can take some time, just not too long.”

  “Oh, that’s really helpful,” she was speaking to a dead phone, he’d hung up. She stared at the display for a long moment with unseeing eyes. “What are you up to, Uncle?” Bella muttered.