“Elves just want to have fun,” said Puck.
“How did you get Carrys Galloway to be your Somnambulist?” said Molly, moving in beside me to show that she wasn’t going to be left out of anything.
“Their Majesties knew all about her pact with Mab,” said Puck. “Elven magic made it possible, so of course they knew immediately the pact was broken. And they took advantage of her. It’s what they do.”
“They?” I said.
Puck shrugged. “Family. You know how it is . . .”
“Well,” I said, “now she’s free of you, and your Game. She’s coming home with us.”
“You presume . . . ,” said Titania.
“Yes,” I said. “I do.”
Oberon smiled briefly. “And we admire that. But don’t push your luck, Drood.”
“How could you pay off debts owed to Heaven and to Hell, and other Principalities?” I said.
“Because elves are old,” said Oberon. “We have Pacts and Agreements that go back further than anyone else.”
“It is a small thing,” said Titania, “to barter what we owe, and are owed.”
“All this?” I said. “For a Game?”
“We’re easily bored,” said Puck.
“How long have you being running this Game?” said Molly, scowling. “Playing with people’s lives?”
“What is Time to an immortal?” said Titania.
“Enough fun and games,” I said. “The Big Game ends here, and now.”
“This Game,” said Oberon.
“All Games,” I said.
“You lack the power or authority to enforce such a thing, little Drood,” said Titania. “We are ready to indulge you over this Game, because you have brought something new into it, and we do so love to be entertained. But you do not dictate to us, Drood.”
“You think I’m afraid of you?” I said. “I faced down Mab once, in her own Court!”
“Yes,” said Puck, “but she was crazy. You can’t hope to stand against us.”
“Perhaps not,” I said. “But I think I know someone who can.”
I reached out through my torc, calling out to my family . . . but not to my handler, Kate.
Ethel! I said. Come to me! I need you!
And she came, drawn to my torc. She manifested in the rose garden in her usual soft red glow, suffusing the whole world with a new, invigorating sense of life and good humour. Oberon and Titania cried out together, shocked and outraged.
“You dare?” said Oberon.
“How can you be here, in this place?” said Titania.
My Drood’s torc is made of strange matter, Ethel said calmly. And that is my physical presence, in this reality. Where it is, I am! Nice pocket dimension; love what you’ve done with the place . . .
“I will see you destroyed for this intrusion!” said Oberon.
Really don’t think so, said Ethel. Eddie, I need your armour.
I armoured up, and she concentrated her presence around me, her red glow sinking into my armour until it shone like a ruby. It glowed so brightly that everyone had to turn their heads away, including the elves. Oberon and Titania were the first to turn back, forcing themselves to face me. Puck hid behind them. Or perhaps he was just getting out of the line of fire. The King and Queen of the elves spoke a single Word together, and all the huge standing stones surrounding the rose garden went shooting round and round in a great circle, speeding faster and faster.
“This is our world,” said Oberon and Titania, speaking together. “Our Game . . . The rules are what we say they are. Do your worst, Outsider. You cannot fight a whole world.”
Oh, stop showing off, said Ethel.
I raised my ruby-red arms, and her power surged through me. I glared at the stones, and they slammed to a sudden halt. And then they disappeared. And then the old buildings, and the elven statues, and the rosebushes . . . and King Oberon and Queen Titania and Puck began to fade away too.
“Stop!” said Oberon. “We surrender!”
“We defer to you, and your power,” said Titania. “Restore us and we agree that the Games are at an end.”
“Even immortals must bend the knee to a living god,” said Puck.
They stopped fading and became clear and solid again. I armoured down, the ruby glow already fading from my armour. Ethel’s rose-red light disappeared too, as she returned to Drood Hall. She wasn’t one to wait around and crow over her victory; she’d made her point. Oberon looked at me thoughtfully.
“You win the Game, Drood. In the only way that matters. Your obligations, and those of your companions, will be taken care of. Because the elves, at least, understand honour.”
“Though if you ever do find out who and what your Ethel really is,” said Titania, “and why she’s staying with your family . . . you may come to feel differently about her.”
“What a terrible thing it is,” said Puck, “for mortals to fall into the hands of a living god.”
“We return to Shadows Fall,” said Oberon. “Do not trouble us again.”
“My lords and ladies, our revels now are ended,” said Puck. He dropped me a quick wink. “Be seeing you . . .”
And just like that, they were gone. And the rest of us were standing in the open grounds of Drood Hall.
* * *
They were definitely the real thing this time. Full of life and energy and happy, familiar noise. I hugged Molly to me, picking her up off her feet and swinging her around. She laughed and kicked her heels merrily. Charles and Emily looked about them, smiling. The Somnambulist was still snoring quietly. I set Molly down again and she clung to me happily.
“What happens to the Shifting Lands now?” she said. “Who’s to stop the elves, or anyone else, from making use of them again?”
“The Shifting Lands are gone,” said Ethel. “I’ve taken care of them.”
“How?” said Molly.
“I ate them,” said Ethel.
“Never ask her questions,” I said to Molly. “Even when you do understand the answers, they’ll only upset you. Right, Ethel? Ethel?”
But she was gone, not even the faintest trace of her red glow remaining. Molly frowned.
“That’s it?” she said. “No one’s going to punish Oberon and Titania and Puck for everything they did? For all the people who died in their Game?”
“We put a stop to the Game and sent them home humiliated,” I said. “For elves, that’s a real punishment. Sometimes you have to settle for what you can get.”
Emily and Charles were looking at Drood Hall. Standing close together, arm-in-arm. It was hard to work out the expressions on their faces.
“Home again . . . ,” said Emily. “It’s been a while.”
“Wonder what they’ll have to say to us after all this time,” said Charles.
I couldn’t help but grin. “I can’t wait to find out.”
Carrys Galloway’s head came up with a snap, and her eyes shot open. “Oh! Hello! I’ve just had the strangest dream . . .”
“Me too,” I said.
Shaman Bond
Will Return
in
DR. DOA
Looking for more?
Visit Penguin.com for more about this author and a complete list of their books.
Discover your next great read!
From a Drood to A Kill: A Secret Histories Novel Page 41
