“I should have seen that from the first.” He glanced at his time piece, then helped me off my stool. “Alas, I cannot escort you all the way home. I have a commitment to my patroness. She is old and I must check on her dig each night. But I can escort you past the dangerous places. Perhaps we could go out for a formal date? Dinner at Erandia perhaps?”
I was fading fast. The adrenalin from my jog away from Alric was wearing off. But the word Erandia caught my attention. Only the finest restaurant this side of The Hill.
“That would be lovely.” I held my hand over my mouth at another inopportune yawn.
“Excellent. And on the way home, you must tell me about the things you’ve found.”
The walk home was awkward. For some reason I felt the need to babble about the findings, such as they had been, at the dig site.
Marcos kissed me goodnight three blocks from my home, then vanished into the darkness.
It wasn’t until I was at my door that I realized I had not spoken of the room Thaddeus and I had found to anyone.
Chapter 28
The next morning, the faeries were fighting over some rocks when I went into the kitchen for breakfast. Worst of all, the rocks were scattered all over my kitchen table.
Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the best housekeeper, but dirty rocks on the kitchen table were a bit much even for me.
“I don’t care who gave you those. I want them off my table.”
The girls didn’t even look up but kept arguing.
“Now, or I will take them and give them to the squirrel family.” I had been using the faeries’ recent issues with the squirrels a lot recently, but it was about the only thing that got through to them.
Worked this time as well.
“You no give to them. These are mine!” Garbage, being herself as usual, took advantage of the distraction of my threat to roll the rocks around to her side of the table.
“Mine!” Leaf squeaked as she tried to pull one away from Garbage’s arm.
“Yours!” Crusty looked around confused, then yelled, “Mine! I mean mine. Um, which is mine?” She slipped down to the table with a forlorn frown. Even sober, Crusty confused easily.
“Mine.” Ignoring the tiny hands trying to pull them away, I scooped the rocks into an old bag. “These go into your castle and they stay there.”
“But—”
I cut Leaf off before she could try and change my mind. “Nope, your castle, or the squirrels. I don’t want to see them.” I looked all three in the eyes. “Ever.”
Garbage came forward looking as contrite as she could. Being the most belligerent of the three that wasn’t much.
“I has sorry about mess. We take treasures to castle.” She dropped her head, then looked up quickly. “Promise.”
I scowled at all three faeries. I didn’t have time to deal with this, having slept in a bit longish. But I didn’t want them to know that.
“Are you sure? Because I can take them to the park…” I held out the bag that held the rocks as I let my words fade off.
“We take! We take!” Crusty couldn’t stand it and bounced forward grabbing exactly one third of the stones out of the bag. The other two were a split second behind her. Amazing how quickly they could evenly divide them up all of a sudden. All three girls were in their castle before the bag even settled.
The dig site was suspiciously quiet. Considering the way I’d found Thaddeus the day before, not to mention the attack on me the first day, I approached the site with caution.
I still didn’t have anything in the way of weapons. I had no real skill with the mundane kind and couldn’t get the license for the magical kind, but I did stoop down to grab a thick branch from the ground. It hadn’t been down there long and still had a healthy heft to it.
Holding my club out a few inches in front of me, I cautiously walked into the clearing.
The lean-to was just as it had been the evening before, everything clean and put away. It looked completely undisturbed.
Considering Thaddeus was one of those wretched early-morning people, my level of worry went up a few notches. Had they grabbed him before he got to the site itself? Sure, there were guards, but there were very few during the day. None of them had even noticed anything odd the day I was shot at by those arrows. Nor when the syclarions grabbed Thaddeus.
I went a bit further in, getting close to the entrance of the dig shaft. Nothing. I didn’t want to start shouting for Thaddeus if someone had him. More importantly, if someone had him and was looking for me.
Thinking that I might be able to find something to use as a weapon in the digging supplies, I went back to the lean-to.
A tiny letter sat in the middle of the table, held in place with a rock.
It was in Thaddeus’s elegant script. He needed to work on some things in the city, so he would not be onsite today but I should continue exploring the stairwell.
Adrenalin fled my body and I dropped into a camp chair. All that worry for nothing. Why couldn’t he have just sent a note to my house? He had more than enough money to afford a courier.
With a sigh, I re-read the note. I grabbed some gear and marched down the trail. I didn’t want to look at more stairs. Well, I might later on, if they led to more rooms. But the fact was, we had access to a room right now. Maybe he meant to say explore the stairs and the room. Surely he wouldn’t be so cruel as to leave me hanging around a potential treasure trove all day and not be allowed to look?
By the time I reached the dig I had re-read the note a third time. I even held it up to the light to see if there was any hidden evidence of him saying I could start on the room.
Nothing.
Of course, that wouldn’t stop some diggers. Most of the time, patrons stay out of the dig and we’re allowed to go forth and look through whatever we want. Unfortunately, Thaddeus being on site, and him making a big deal out of appreciating the finds himself, meant that I really couldn’t go around his wishes.
I crumpled up the note and shoved it deep into my pocket. Here I was worried sick about the man and he didn’t even have the decency to let me look at the room.
I was starting down the stairs when a dart of color burst past my head.
Fearing another barrage of arrows, I flattened myself and started to crawl down the stairs.
High-pitched laughter that could only come from tiny faery throats was my reward.
“Is silly big thing.”
I looked up to see the purple faery hovering around where my head had been.
“You look for things in dirt?”
I almost ate dirt at how good her common was. I had a feeling she understood me two days ago, but after seeing her cousins, I didn’t think she could speak common.
Yet here she was just two days later sounding like one of my girls.
“You startled me.” I slowly rose to my feet. I was impressed with her new boldness as well, but didn’t want to scare her off with any sudden moves.
“You friend of us, not hurt you.” The emphasis on you was clear. Did the faeries have something against Thaddeus? But why? Yesterday it was clear they’d been trying to help him.
“What about my boss? The other one with me two days ago?” As I spoke I carefully pulled out a bit of rock sugar from my pocket. The faery frowned when I mentioned Thaddeus but smiled and pounced when she spied the sugar.
“He is …off. Not sure, but off. He with boom.”
Now that got my attention. The girls had mentioned a boom as well, but nothing else connected to it. Even without having the slightest idea what the event was, I had to figure anything referred to as a ‘boom’ couldn’t be good.
“Did he cause a boom?”
The faery looked up from licking her sugar. The look on her tiny face was akin to one someone would give the village idiot. “No. Maybe. Don’t know. But he and boom…” She shook her head and went back to her sugar.
There was a boom coming. That my new boss might or might not be related to. And t
he only beings who knew anything about it were faeries.
I wondered briefly if Alric’s affinity to the small beasts extended to understanding them.
“More?” The faery stuck out both tiny hands. Luckily, based on the last two days, I’d started carrying a fair amount of sugar on me. I held out a larger piece.
The purple faery swooped in and grabbed it. She hung in midair, flapping her wings to stay aloft. “You no like others. You boom too.”
Oh crap, I was going to go boom? I really needed to find out if Alric could understand the faeries. Although part of me really didn’t want another reason to drag him into my life further. I’d finally convinced myself that it wasn’t his kiss that had me all worked up, it must have been Marcos. That still didn’t mean I wanted Alric around me.
Not to mention knowing him, he’d find out what the faeries knew then tell me something completely different.
“Elf knows. You different.” The little faery grinned and took a bunch more licks of the rock candy. “But elf not know why different. We do.”
Elves? Did she mean real ones? Or something about the dig. If there were any elves left they’d managed to stay out of society for almost a thousand years.
“Elf who? Where?”
“Elf know, not as smart as us.” Clutching her candy, she circled my head a few times. “I come back later day. You have more.”
She was gone before I could ask anything else. I didn’t even know what to call her, but I doubted she’d come back even if I knew her name.
With a sigh at the unfairness of a world where I couldn’t get a straight answer out of anyone, I went back down the stairs and continued my job.
***
The visit from the frustrating purple faery had been the highlight of my day.
All day long I moped about not being able to work on the room. It became an obsession as I trudged past it with the small finds I took up to the top. I even went so far to see if I might be able to widen the hole enough to stick my head in without making it look like I’d done that same thing.
All in all I was tired, depressed, and annoyed by the time I went home.
The only thing that even kept me moving was that Marcos and I had a date. A real date, not a running into each other drunk at the pub date. I couldn’t even remember the last time I was on a real date. My missing and unlamented ex-boyfriend hadn’t really liked going where money had to leave his wallet.
The thought of my date lifted my spirits so by the time I reached my house I was almost feeling optimistic about life again.
A voice interrupted my pleasant thoughts and sent my mood scurrying back down its hole. For a moment I thought it was Nirtha, then I remembered I was still on call for murdering her. That thought shoved my mood further down the hole.
“Hey, pretty digger girl, just the person I waited for.”
I rolled my eyes, my left foot frozen on the step going in my front door. I just wanted to get home, relax, and get ready for my date. It had been so long since I’d had one I wanted to relish getting ready for it.
“Hi, Zirtha, I didn’t think I was late on any rent?”
“No, no. Can’t I just come in to see how things are? Yes, we chat, you and I.”
Zirtha bustled past me before I could even react and she was in my home before I could stop her.
“So how have things been? Good? Good?” She buzzed around my living room, clearly looking for something. “Where are your little friends? I was hoping to see the wee ones.”
“The faeries? I have no idea.” Actually I had a pretty good one. They’d taken off in search of Alric like bears after a walking honey tree. But the gleam in Zirtha’s eyes told me I shouldn’t tell her that. In fact, maybe it was just me but her eyes seemed to be red tinged around the rim.
“They are not here.” She cocked her head then stood perfectly still in the middle of the living room. From the late afternoon sun hitting her, I could see dust motes landing on her. And landing. It took me a few moments before I realized that those weren’t dust motes, but raw magical energy. Being magic numb I couldn’t usually see such things. Which meant she was pulling in such huge amounts that even I could see it. A magic user would probably be blind by now.
I thought about asking her what she was doing, then common sense kicked in and I made my way quietly toward the door.
But not quietly enough.
“Oh no, it wouldn’t do for you not to be here. I am sorry that I couldn’t get your friends. They would pop so nicely.” My movements had taken me away from the front of her, so I didn’t notice her face until she turned.
Zirtha’s eyes glowed red, not a welcoming healthy red like a friendly fire, but more like a gaping pit to hell. But her eyes weren’t as bad as her mouth. Her lips had gone thin and were now covered in spidery blue veins. They no longer covered her teeth which unfortunately had now grown larger and jagged. Teeth definitely designed for shredding.
I ran for the door and got it open an inch before the handle was ripped out of my hands by an invisible force.
“No, just because the appetizers aren’t here, doesn’t mean the main course can’t be taken care of.” She hadn’t moved but her presence seemed to fill the room. I found my limbs growing heavy and my mind dulling. Somehow she was poisoning the air around me. I started swaying, then dropped to my knees. I fought back to my feet but didn’t think I’d stay there long.
“See, I was ready to let you just go and sit in prison, waste of fine meat I thought, but I was fine with that. I kill her, you out of way, all good.”
Zirtha floated closer, no longer walking, and her feet at least two inches off the ground. “But you wouldn’t stay put. Had to go sticking that nose where it didn’t belong. Not that it will reduce the taste, you see, even nosey people have wonderful tasting noses.” Her accent was gone now too, but that was the least of my worries.
Reaching up, I frantically pulled on the door, but I couldn’t get the handle to budge. The air around me had become heavy and dense as if she was pulling in too much magic in a small space. Or it was the weird odor she was sending out—like rotten oranges buried under a pile of drunken dregs. My vision doubled, then tripled as my eyes swam with tears.
The thing was, I knew all of the known races in Lindor. I knew all of the known races outside of Lindor. I didn’t know what in the hell she was. I was going to be eaten by a cannibalistic dust bunny.
My limbs could no longer hold me, and I slid down against the door. Unfortunately I had a wonderful view of my impending doom as Zirtha marched toward me.
“But whhh….” My mouth gave out as well. Lucky for me my eyes and my brain were both still fine.
“But why? Is that what your last words were? What an epitaph. I’d say it would be fitting for your gravestone, but alas, no one will be finding enough of you to bury. Like so many other diggers, you’ll just wander off. Another vagrant lost to time.” She drifted to the ground, her eyes glowing brightly in the growing gloom of the room as she moved closer. “I don’t know why, and I don’t care. I was hired to keep you out of the ruins. So far I have failed. My employers do not approve of failure, however they not specify how I kept you out of the ruins.” Her tongue worked its way out of her mouth, its thin black tip covered in barbs.
My legs stuck out awkwardly, landing where they did when I lost muscle control. She stooped down and picked up my foot. I was terrified yet oddly grateful that I couldn’t feel anything as she lifted it to her mouth.
An instant later the door behind me rattled as an explosion of gravel hit it.
A stream of color that flew out over my head clarified that. No gravel was involved, that was the sound of a few hundred faeries hitting the door as they all tried to fly in through the girls’ tunnel at the same time. The first wave had flown past Zirtha and were coming back around. I thought I could make out my three faeries, but since they were all covered in war feathers it was hard to tell.
A tiny gray faery dropped in front of me. Short gray fu
r covered her, and she had a long twitching tail. I’d never seen a flying cat, but this one looked like it. A mini flying cat with faery wings. And a thin crown.
“You stay. My people take eater. I guard you.” She was fierce, the tiny cat-faery, and I had no doubt she meant what she said. But somehow I didn’t think Zirtha would even notice her tiny body as she swallowed us both.
But the stream of faeries kept coming.
Zirtha batted them at first, but didn’t seem concerned. However within moments there were hundreds of tiny bodies flying around her. All armed with sticks. Immediately the old Zirtha appeared. Her eyes changed color, her lips and tongue went back to normal.
“Hello, my little friends…” She held out her hands, suddenly filled with sweets.
As if commanded by an unseen general, the fifty faeries closest to Zirtha charged forward and stabbed her with their sticks. It shouldn’t have done any damage, the sticks were little more than pins.
But judging by the look of pain and fear that flashed across Zirtha’s face, the faeries had some tricks up their tiny sleeves.
As the first wave backed off, another wave of one hundred darted forward. This continued until the entire swarm had hit her repeatedly. Zirtha tried to fight through them to me but the bright wall of wild faeries held her back. She tried to call in spells but something about the faeries was canceling all magic. The room was clearing of the heavy magic feel and the nasty smell, and I had a feeling I could move if I really needed to.
The little gray cat-faery rose up about a foot into the air. She didn’t say anything, but all of the faeries turned toward her. Her staff was larger than the other faeries’ and more solid. She raised it high above her head, then an odor of fresh flowers flooded the room. It must have come from Queen Mungoosey, for that surely was who floated above me. What the smell of flowers and her motions meant I had no idea. However the wild faeries knew. So did Zirtha.
The Glass Gargoyle (The Lost Ancients Book 1) Page 22
