“Whew-ee!” Horace exclaimed, untangling himself from Hinrika’s silk-stockinged leg. “Now ‘dat were close! Lookit me, I’m shakin’ like a leaf, I am.” Horace fished out a small pewter flask from his pocket and took a healthy slug. I watched as his tennis ball sized Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he guzzled the fiery brew.
I checked for my cats. Fraidy looked a little dizzy but was otherwise okay. Same for Shade.
“‘Clipsy?’ I called, scanning the bodies for my kitty. I saw him, sitting in front of Portia, staring rudely into the woman’s face. Portia reared up. “Who is this cat?”
“That’s Eclipse, Portia,” I said. Curious as to why they were looking at one another in such an intense and odd way.
“Well, get him away from me,” she said standing. “Damned thing’s giving me the creeps.”
Verdantia Eyebright stood, brushing sand from her emerald green flowing dress. The beautiful faery’s head jerked to a spot beyond the headland of the dunes. “Look!” She pointed to the top of a distant cliff, cloaked with tall, dark evergreens. I swiveled my head to where Vee was pointing, and above the trembling treetops a plume of billowing smoke stretched up into the afternoon sky. Flashes of red and orange shot through the thick, gray haze, showing the heat of the blaze. “David’s there,” I whispered, grabbing my broom. Fraidy still clung to the thatch. “Sweetie, if you want to stay out of danger, I suggest you tag a ride home with Portia. I’m sure she’ll drop you off, no problem,” I said, gently shaking the broom to release my clinging cat.
Fraidy, his body flattened to the shaft of the besom, shook his head. “If it’s dangerous where you’re going, then I’m going too,” he said, digging his claws into the wooden handle.
“Me too, boss,” Shade said, hopping onto the broom.
Eclipse broke his peculiar gaze from Portia and jumped onto my broom.“If the chief’s in trouble, I want to be there to help.” He wasn’t asking for permission. I looked at the others, most still in various states of collapse. Portia Fearwyn flicked a finger at me from her spot on the sand. “Go,” she said. “We can meet later, and we can all share our news then.” She squinted at the smoke and flames on the horizon. “Maybe we’ll be getting some solid info about the Wyrmrig later on.”
She suspects Jyldrar too.
“Millie … she’s looking after the other cats back at the Angel. Do you think you could --”
“Go,” Portia said again, her voice sounding tired this time. “I’ll swing by the apothecary and let Millie know where you are. And I’ll tell her to come out to Gaunt Manor this evening for a Custodian meeting.”
“Thanks, Portia,” I said, swinging a leg over my ride.
“He’ll be fine, don’t worry,” she said, reading my mind.
“Thanks again,” I muttered, and pushed off toward the raging fire above the Mwyrden Cliffs.
“It doesn’t matter what you thought, Hat, you shouldn’t be here,” David said, already turning his back on me and walking toward Spinefield.
“Anything?” David asked his sergeant.
“Not hide nor hair of him, chief.”
My friend ran a soot-blackened hand through his hair, leaving a trail of dark ash through his white streak. I could see the distant flames dancing in the chief’s steely blue eyes. “Very good, Spinefield,” he said, “Keep looking. Call out more men, if you have to. I want men on the coast, and I want them to stay put until the suspect comes out of hiding. Jyldrar has to be somewhere.” David looked out over the burning forest, raising a hand to shield his eyes. “And make sure the fire crew has access to plenty of cold water.”
“Will do, sir,” Spinefield said, turning to give instructions to a couple of constables close by.
David turned to me. “Don’t look at me like that, Hattie. This is a crime scene, and in case it had escaped your attention, there’s a blazing inferno going on behind us here. It’s dangerous.”
“Oh, I get it,” I said, jamming my hands on my hips and squaring up to my friend. “You’re just trying to get back at me for me not wanting you to come to Cathedral, right?”
“Don’t start on that now,” David said, shaking his head and looking up at the sky.
“Well … what’s going on then?” I challenged. “Of course I’m going to come out and find what’s happening and make sure you’re okay.”
David looked at me for the first time since I got there. His blue eyes were bright but they held barely concealed secrets. I saw the pain in my love’s eyes. Deep, churning pain. I felt a piece of my heart fall away as I wondered how long my friend could hold his act together.
He shook his head again. “Come here,” he said, reaching out for my arm. I let my body go loose in anticipation of him holding me, but I didn’t move. I stayed rooted to the spot. David tugged my arm gently again, but this time the chief crossed the expanse between us. He pulled me into him. My body turned to liquid as the heat of David’s chest burned through to the front of my body. He buried his face in my hair, and let his breath warm my scalp.
“Just … just stay safe, okay?” He said, squeezing me tighter.
“You too,” I said, returning his embrace.
I could have stayed in his arms forever. I could have happily stood there, in my friend’s competent and robust embrace until my time was up, I swear.
But my phone vibrating in my pocket took us out of the moment. The chief pushed me to arm's length while I fished out my cell. I looked at the call display.
“It’s Midnight Hill,” I said.
“Maybe Sparky’s found some stuff in the banking files?” David suggested.
“Or the ‘payload’ files,” Eclipse added.
I answered the call and waited patiently for Cressida Dreddock to come on the line. I could hear the orderly shouting at the old witch to come down from the end of her bed, and that if she wanted to behave like a bird, then he would personally see to it that she had a bowl of bird seed for her evening meal.
Cressida came on the line. “Hello?”
“Hello, Cressida? It’s Hattie Jenkins.”
“Yes? How can I help you?”
I looked at the chief and my cats and rolled my eyes. “Cressida, you had the asylum call me, remember?”
“Oh! Yes! Hattie, well, do I have some news for you,” she said, her voice tapering off to a conspiratorial whisper.
“You have some news about the Red Orb Program?” I asked, hopefully.
“No, this is the Bank of Alchemy file I told you about. Sparky got in this morning. I’m giving you the most pressing, and juicy intel from the drive right now. Of course, you and the chief will be more than welcome to scour the whole folder at your leisure, but I thought you might want to know about this little gem first.”
“Shoot,” I said, wanting to keep the crazy witch on track. I put the call on speaker phone so that everyone could hear.
“So, there’s a massive payment set up to go to the Unseelie Court. Well, specifically into Ankou’s account, I mean, but anyway … it’s weird because this upcoming payment isn’t only dated, it’s also time stamped. And what’s weirder? Well, only two minutes after the payment is released into the Unseelie Court’s account, it is set up to be redacted! How about that, huh?” I could hear Cressida’s breathing quicken on the other end of the line.
“Wait, so you think Shields is going to transfer funds and them immediately pull them? So he’s tricking Ankou? You’re certain?”
Cressida giggled. “It’s all in there, m’dear. Sparky’s uncovering the lot!”
“But how can he even do that? Wouldn’t that directly contravene bank protocol or something?”
“Hattie, dear, Shields’ family owns at least half of the Bank of Alchemy. I’m sure the governor holds sway over many of their protocols.”
David waved his hands in front of my face. “Ask her when. Ask her what the date and time are for the deposit and the subsequent redaction.”
“I can hear you, CPI Trew,” Cressida said in a sing-son
g falsetto. “And your answer is tomorrow. Tomorrow at five p.m is when the redaction will go down. Exactly when the Bank of Alchemy closes, so there will be nobody there to assist should Ankou want to shout at some poor bank clerk for his missing funds.” The old witch cackled. “He’s a very naughty governor, our Gideon, yes? Very naughty indeed.”
I think the mad witch said something else, but none of us were listening. We stood, in a loose circle, staring at one another in utter disbelief.
“Tomorrow? Like, as in tomorrow?” Shade said, his face aghast.
Eclipse’s face was neutral, but he uttered: “Um, that doesn’t sound like a workable timeline for us.”
I clicked ‘end call’ and looked at David. “We need to go see Ankou. Right now.”
“Was just going to say the same thing,” he said. “Only I didn’t bring my broom.”
I straddled my ride and waved a hand in front of me, signaling the expanse of vacant broomstick. “Your chariot awaits, sir.”
David hopped on and grabbed the front of the besom, and, without a word, the cats hopped onto the back. I turned my head back to look at them, each of them appraising me with watchful faces. Goddess, these silly animals melted my heart sometimes.
“Guys, we won’t need you on this trip. I want you to make your way back to the Angel. Go and be with your brothers and sister. There will be a message from Portia waiting for you telling you what time to be at Custodian HQ. David and I will come straight there after we’ve spoken to Ankou.” They looked at me but didn’t move from their respective spots on the broom handle.
“Guys, c’mon, I mean it.”
“Um, boss, I think you might be forgetting you can’t actually get into Mag Mell without cats like us,” Shade said.
“Oh. Right.”
David turned and arched an eyebrow. “‘Cats like us?’”
“He means the faery kind.”
“What? Oh … yeah, right. The Cait Sidhe.”
“Did you forget how important my furry crew are, Mister?” I joked. I slid a hand to David’s side and dug my fingers in playfully. His torso shifted beneath my palm, his muscles firm and yet so fluid with his movement. My breath hitched in my throat for a second, and I fought with myself to let the breath out naturally; in one even outbreath. The panting won over almost immediately. Pretty embarrassing. Nobody wants to be on a broom stuck behind the man they love, panting in his ear like a puppy who loves unconditionally, obediently and pathetically. Am I right? Whatever your answer, please know that I gasped all the way to Mag Mell.
“Whatever you’re selling, I’m not interested,” Ankou said, waving a bored hand at us as soon as we were brought before him.
“Ankou, you’re about to be conned. Big time,” I said, putting my hands on my hips and jutting my chin toward the Unseelie King.
“I’m well aware of that,” he said dismissively. “You think I was born yesterday and that I haven’t had dealings with guys like Shields before? I know the governor’s a crook, and I know he’ll want to pull a fast one on me when it comes time.” He fidgeted in his throne, and muttered. “You damned Mystery cat,” he said, eyeing ‘Clipsy suspiciously. “I knew you were sneaking about in my affairs.” He turned away, preferring to focus on his beloved orchids-in-recovery instead.
“Then why are you still agreeing to store and deliver his dragon then?” I said.
Ankou spun toward me.“Do you have any idea how much Black Diamond will be worth in twenty years time? Do you?” The Unseelie King slid his portly frame off his regal chair. “You don’t get it, do you? These gems come only in limited supplies. Once the last stone is mined from the Glimmer Mountains, that’s it. No more Black Diamond. Cathedral is the only place in the world that these gems exist.” He looked at me with something approaching regret, and shook his head. “You poor fool. These gems are going to skyrocket, and you’re going to be very sorry you didn’t jump in while the going was good.” He swept his arm across the expanse of his throne room, and whispered: “Yes, my Court will benefit greatly from my business relationship with Mr. Shields.”
Shade coughed. “Dude, you’re making a mistake,” he said. “Let me lay this out for you … you know, tell you what’s going to happen. You can decide from there, cool?”
Ankou pursed his lips and tugged on his chin for a second. “You’re family,” he said. “I owe it to you to listen.”
Shade nodded and smoothed back his whiskers. “You’re going to deliver the dragon to Shields. The beast you’ve been holding for the governor for … what, months now?” Shade didn’t wait for Ankou to answer. “So you do this solid for the Warlock Chief -- you store his dragon, right? Then you deliver his dragon when the time is right. I’m guessin’ the governor’s gonna let you know when?” Ankou nodded silently. “Well, it all sounds like a smooth plan, I’ll agree,” Shade continued. “Only, as soon as you get that dragon through the portal and you think you have your funds deposited, the governor is going to slam that portal shut and react your precious money.”
Ankou stared at my cat, his right eye taking on a nervous twitch. “What does that mean, ‘react?’”
The Unseelie King’s head swiveled to me. “What does he mean by that?”
“He means redact,” I said, folding my arms.
“Oh. Okay, well, a redaction … yes. I guessed that it might be something along those lines,” the Unseelie King said simply.
Shade looked at him, his expression amazed.“Cuz, dude,” Shade tried again. “Did you understand what I just told you? You’re going to give Shields what he wants AND not get paid for it.”
“Yes, cousin, I understand. And if you’ve been listening, your intelligence is no surprise to me. I figured the governor would pull a sneaky move, and I guessed it would involve the portal. But that’s okay because I have a mechanism in place on the gateway. So, let’s see, how is this all supposed to go down?” Ankou steepled his fingers and paced before his throne. “I’ll open the portal between Mag Mell and Burning Peak. Shields will hand over the Tiamat Stone … because he doesn’t want it getting into the wrong hands and run the risk of another dragon to contend with. Once the Tiamat is safely delivered to Mag Mell side, Shields will release the funds.” Ankou paced on the spot, still pulling on his pudgy chin. He chuckled. “The governor will, of course, pay attention to all the small details. He will be gracious enough to ensure I have the time to check my funds have been deposited. Once I’ve confirmed their successful delivery to my account, I will hand over the dragon, upon which point I will close the portal, and our transaction is done.” Ankou paused. “At least that’s the way it’s supposed to go down. But I guess the governor is going to pull back the money at some point between delivery of the dragon and the dropping off of the Tiamat Stone. Hmm… what to do, what to do,” The Unseelie king mused, more to himself than anyone else in his throne room.
“It’s obvious what you should do,” Fraidy said, taking a tentative step toward the noble faerie’s chair. “You should pull out. Tell the governor ‘no deal.’ It will save lots of lives. Mine and yours included, probably.” Fraidy’s eyes locked onto Ankou’s. “Cousin, it’s all over if this dragon is delivered. It. Is. All. Over.”
“Ain’t happening,” Ankou said, averting his gaze from Fraidy’s challenging stare. “Sorry, cousin, but no can do. I have some great ideas for the money I’m going to make.”
Shade brought his paws to his heart. “Bro, you’re killin’ me here. Can’t you just buy some Bitcoin? I hear people are makin’ a killin’ on the crypto right now.”
Fraidy let out a long, slow hiss before raising himself to full height. “He’s killing EVERYONE!” He shrieked, his fur electrified. I don’t remember my dear kitty ever having looked so terrified.
Ankou’s brow straightened. His eyes clouded with a kind of dark fury as he cast each of us with a baleful glare. “I don’t recall you making an appointment to see me today. I don’t know what kind of flop-house you think I’m running here, but you can’t just
drop by unannounced and lay your guilt trip at my feet. You can all leave. Now. And don’t come back without having scheduled an appointment.”
David shook his head, and put a hand on the small of my back to steer me out of the drafty court. The chief looked over his shoulder. “You’re making a mistake, Ankou. You’re about to fall on the wrong side.”
Ankou bent forward in a sardonic bow. “Chief Para Inspector Trew, I believe what you mean to say is that I’m about to fall on the only side. It is you who will fall afoul of all this trouble. You can chase about the isles seeking your dragon, but it is all in vain. And your vanity will see your precious isles burn to the ground.” Spittle flew from Ankou’s mouth as he spat out his venomous words. The cats looked at the Unseelie King silently, their faces utterly crestfallen.
“Come on, guys,” the chief coaxed my cats gently, reaching down to brush each of their sad faces. “This isn’t a battle we’re winning,” he said. “We have to find our own way to stop this madness.”
“But we don’t know who the Wyrmrig is!” Fraidy said, looking at the chief with pleading eyes.
“No, no we don’t, buddy,” David confessed. “But it doesn’t mean we won’t.”
My cat said no more, and in total silence, we all walked to the broom. I wondered how much David believed in his statement that we still might find the Wyrmrig in time. It seemed highly unlikely, and I’d never say it, of course, but I couldn’t help but think we’d lost this significant battle too. Were we facing end times in the Coven Isles? Could Shields be stopped this late in the day, what with the governor so far holding all the cards while the Custodians held none?
The Angel and the Dragon Page 15
