“Our liege Wrexham was to meet with him last night,” the faerie said. “When he didn't show up, we searched for him. We found signs of a struggle on a side street nearby.”
“So why are you bothering us?”
“You and your oddly-dressed friend were the last ones to see him that we know of.”
“Hey!” Beth said.
Michiko sighed. “We're both friends of his. Why would we want to kidnap him?”
“You humans are bizarre, irrational creatures,” Cantwick said with a sneer. “What other race would wear such ridiculous clothing?”
“I like these bunny slippers,” Beth said.
“Well, we didn't do it,” Michiko said. “He's not here.”
“In that case,” Cantwick said, “there will be no objection to us searching this place?”
“You're darned right there's—” Beth started to say. Michiko grabbed her arm and shushed her as the faeries started their search. They were quick but efficient, and though they checked every nook and cranny, they refrained from digging into Beth's belongings any more than necessary. All the while, Beth fumed.
After the search, the faeries held a quick conference in the living room, then turned towards the women. “So Puck is not here,” Cantwick said.
“Told you,” Michiko said. “Did you have fun poking around her underwear drawer?”
“I tire of you, Earthling,” the faerie said. “And your lunatic friend.”
Something inside Beth snapped. She stormed up to Cantwick. “And I have had it with you and your attitude!” she shouted, jabbing a finger into his sternum. “And this oddly dressed human lunatic wants you out of her apartment now!” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Michiko grinning.
The faerie smiled unpleasantly. “Perhaps you should come with us,” he said. “Our liege may be interested in you and your second sight.” He lifted a hand; Beth quickly stepped back.
Michiko snapped her staff in front of Cantwick, blocking his way. “I'm pretty sure you're not her type,” she said.
Cantwick lowered his hand with a scowl. He turned and opened the door; his companions followed him out as their seemings reappeared. “We'll be watching both of you,” he said as Beth shut and locked the door behind him.
“There's a disgusting thought,” Beth said with a smile. “So, Michiko, do you really—”
Michiko had pulled a smartphone from her pocket, and was holding it by her ear; she held up her free hand, and Beth stopped mid-sentence. She stood in silence for a minute. “I just called Puck,” she said as she hung up. “No answer, but I missed a call while I was in the shower.”
“When did you take a shower?”
“While the coffee was brewing. Let me check my voicemail.”
Michiko dialed another number. As she listened, her eyes narrowed. “Beth,” she said, “you should hear this. I'll put it on speaker.” Beth nodded and moved closer.
“Hello? Monkey Queen?” the voice in the message said. “My name is Tierra. I'm a friend of Puck's. Something happened last night. I think he's been kidnapped. I didn't know who to call until I remembered he gave me your number in case of an emergency. And I'm worried that the kidnappers may have seen me. Please, Monkey Queen, help me.”
Michiko turned the speaker off and put her phone away. “So the faeries weren't lying?” Beth said.
“No. And I don't know what kind of danger he's in.” Beth could hear the concern in Michiko's voice. “Puck's my friend too. I need to talk to Tierra. I need to find him.” She reached for her staff.
“Don't you mean, we need to find him?” Beth found herself saying.
“Huh?” Michiko turned back to Beth.
“Michiko…” Beth swallowed. “I'm still not sure I can handle any of this. I'm not ready. I don't know if I ever will be. But if a friend of mine is in trouble, I'm not going to sit around and do nothing. I'm going to help.”
“Does that mean…?”
Beth nodded. “I'm in. I don't know if I can help you save the world, but I'll help you find Puck. After that, we'll see.”
“Partners, then?” Michiko grinned and held out her hand.
“Partners.” Beth shook hands with Michiko and smiled.
“Yaaay!” Michiko pulled Beth close and gave her a big hug; she was too startled to react. “We need breakfast, and we'll have to eat on the way,” Michiko said as she let go of Beth. “I'll grab something while you're in the shower. Muffins okay?”
“They'll be fine,” Beth said. “But don't you need to change?”
“This first.” Michiko lifted her staff, and it quickly shrunk to the size of a small flashlight; she slipped it into her pocket. Then, she whistled, and suddenly her clothes changed; she was wearing a baggy yellow sweater and black jeans. “Don't blink and ruin my seeming!” she said with a grin.
“I'll try not to,” Beth said as Michiko opened the apartment door.
“And you need to wear shoes!” Michiko said as she left. “No bunny slippers!”
“Oh, you're just jealous!” Beth shouted as she closed the door. She could still hear the Monkey Queen's laughter, and she couldn't help but smile.
Chapter Four
It was a nice Saturday morning, not too foggy or warm, and the streets were uncrowded as Michiko and Beth walked along, munching on blueberry bran muffins. “These are yummy!” Michiko said.
“Yeah. That coffeehouse always has good ones. Fresh, too.” Beth sipped her coffee. “Did you know the Professor is allergic to blueberries?”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Last semester, I went through a baking phase. I made a batch of blueberry muffins, and I gave him one. He took one bite and swelled up like he was stung by a bee. I'm surprised he's still talking to me.”
“Are you sure it wasn't just your baking?” Michiko said. Beth blew a raspberry at her, and she laughed.
“So, why were those faeries so concerned that Puck was kidnapped?” Beth asked. “He's just a college professor.”
“He is now,” Michiko said, “but he used to be kind of a big deal back in Faerie.”
“How big?”
“He was a royal advisor to half a dozen Dukes at one time or another.”
Beth whistled. “I had no idea.”
“He doesn't like to talk about it much.” Michiko took a long drink of coffee and added, “Puck kept moving from court to court. He really wanted to try to make things better for everyone in Faerie, but none of the Dukes would listen.”
“That's why he came here?”
“Part of it. There were also rumors surrounding his departure. Wrexham may have planted some of them.”
“Got it.” Beth finished her muffin. “Hey, how much further do we have to go?”
“Not too much.” They were out of the town center now, heading up a hill towards the woods that surrounded the town on three sides. The redwood trees were sparse on the outskirts, but they were more numerous and taller the further out one went from town. “Puck told me that Tierra had a small cottage out here,” Michiko said.
“Did you try calling her back?”
“I did, while I was getting breakfast. She didn't pick up.” Michiko paused, then added, “I don't blame her. She sounded scared.”
Beth was quiet for a minute as she finished her coffee. Then, she looked down an unpaved trail set well off the road. She could see a small white cottage surrounded by a low picket fence near the trail, mostly concealed by trees and bushes. “Do you think that's it?” she asked.
Michiko nodded and put a finger to her lips. “The front door's open,” she whispered; she snapped her fingers, and her seeming vanished. “Follow my lead.” Beth nodded back.
They moved quietly down the trail until they reached the cottage. Michiko carefully stepped up to the open door and peered inside. “I don't see anyone—” she started to say.
“Michiko!” Beth shouted. “Over here!”
The Monkey Queen turned and saw three young men coming around the side of the house. T
hey were wearing jeans, black vests over t-shirts, and bandanas, reminding Beth of extras from 1980s gang movies. One of them was dragging a petite woman who wore a long flowery dress. His hand was covering her mouth, but it slipped, and the woman shouted, “Help! Help me!”
Michiko pulled her miniaturized staff from her pocket; in half a second, it had grown back to its normal size. Beth stared at the thugs, reminded herself to look past the surface, and blinked.
The seemings wavered, then vanished. They were disguising a trio who were neither human or faerie. They were shorter than humans, with red scaly skin, spiky black hair and taloned fingers. Their ears were big, their eyes were wide and black with red pupils, and their mouths were filled with sharp teeth. They wore black robes with swordbelts, holding blades with thick, black hilts, buckled in place. The woman they were abducting was a faerie, gray-haired and dark-skinned, with the same pointed ears as Wrexham's men. “Goblins?” Beth said; the trio seemed to be fuzzy, like they were out of focus.
“Hobgoblins,” Michiko said as they noticed her. “Okay, boys,” she said to them, “trick or treat is so over. Let the lady go, or no candy for you.”
“Monkey Queen!” one of the hobgoblins said, pointing at her. “This is none of your business. Back away.”
Michiko twirled her staff. “Or what?”
The hobgoblin reached for his sword. Before he could pull it from its sheath, Michiko had covered the twenty feet between them and struck his arm with her staff. As he yelped with pain, she spun around and hit another hobgoblin in his stomach; he crumpled over, gasping for breath.
Michiko stared angrily at the last hobgoblin, who was still holding the faerie. “It's no fun when they fight back, is it?” she said. “Go ahead. Try something. You'll be sorry.”
The hobgoblin threw the faerie to the ground and ran off, his comrades scurrying after him. Michiko ignored them as she knelt by the woman. “Are you all right, ma'am?” she asked.
She nodded. “Thank you,” she said.
“You're welcome. You're Tierra, right?”
“I am. And you must be the Monkey Queen.”
“My friends call me Michiko.” She grinned. “That's my partner, Beth McGill.” Beth smiled and waved. “Need a hand?”
“Yes, please.” The faerie took Michiko's hand and got to her feet.
“Beth?” Michiko asked. “Did you see where the hobgoblins went?”
“I saw them going back down the trail,” Beth said. “They stayed clear of the house.”
“Let's go in, then,” Michiko said. “I have an idea about who, but I'm still hoping I'm wrong.”
Tierra's cottage was sparsely furnished, but there were chairs for all three of them, and reheated herbal tea helped to restore the faerie's strength. “I can't thank you enough, Michiko,” she said. “Those hobgoblins, they just burst in and grabbed me!”
“I know.” Michiko patted Tierra's hand. “But how did you wind up all the way out here?”
“Well…” The faerie stopped and looked at Beth.
“You can trust her,” Michiko said. “I do.” Beth smiled.
Tierra nodded. “I haven't been here long,” she said. “I just came here a month, month and a half ago. I was tired of all the arguing and fighting back home. I just wanted peace, and to get back to nature.
“I had heard that Puck could help me get settled in, so I went to see him. He was so nice, so helpful. He found this little place for me; I was worried that it was a bit out of the way, but he was sure it would be fine.
“I was supposed to meet him in town last night; I wanted to treat him to dinner to thank him to all he had done for me. We were going to that Thai place, down on Leiber Lane.”
“Not Wonderland?” Michiko asked. Beth raised an eyebrow, but kept quiet.
“I really wanted to try Thai food,” Tierra said. “Puck was happy with that.”
“He would be,” Beth said. “He loves spicy food.”
“What happened when you got to the restaurant?” Michiko asked.
Tierra shifted in her chair. “I got there a bit early, so I waited outside. After about half an hour, I was starting to get worried, so I took a quick walk around the block to see if I could find him. As I did, I glanced down an alley. That's where I saw them.”
“Them?”
“It was a group of four people. I wasn't sure what was going on at first, but then I saw Puck. He hadn't seen me, but it looked like he was trying to get away, and the other three were holding him back. One of them saw me, and he looked so angry! I turned away and ran.
“I went straight home, and tried to call Puck again and again, but he didn't answer. I finally called you, and I thought it was you when those men came by, because we don't get a lot of humans up here.”
“Tierra…” Michiko looked into the faerie's eyes. “Those hobgoblins who were trying to abduct you? Were they the same ones you saw with Puck last night?”
After a long moment, Tierra nodded. “I'm scared,” she said. Her hands shook. “I'm scared that they'll come back for me.”
“We need to get you somewhere safe,” Michiko said. “Beth and I will need to leave soon. When we do, we'll make sure the hobgoblins are gone. Then, I'll call a friend, an Emigre named Windsor. He'll get you to a safe house for a few days.”
“How will I know it's him?”
“I'll tell him to say 'Michiko and Beth sent me' when he gets here, and not to mention 'Monkey Queen' like the hobgoblins would.”
“I could stay with her,” Beth said.
Michiko shook her head. “We don't have any time to waste,” she said. “I'll need your help to look for clues.” She turned back to Tierra. “Lock your doors when we leave. Call me if anyone who isn't Windsor tries to get in.”
“I will.” Tierra swallowed. “Please, Michiko, find Puck.”
“We will. Count on it.” Michiko smiled.
Michiko and Beth failed to turn up any sign of the hobgoblins in a quick search around Tierra's cottage, to their relief. As they finished the search, Michiko made a quick phone call. Beth wasn't close enough to hear it clearly, which only whetted her curiosity.
“All done!” Michiko said as she hung up. “Let's get back to town.”
“Where to?” Beth asked as they started back down the trail.
“That Thai restaurant. We need to start looking for clues.”
“Didn't Tierra confirm that the people who attacked her were the ones who she saw with Puck?” Beth said.
“She did, but we need proof if we're going to confront the hobgoblins.”
“Okay. So, what are hobgoblins doing here? On Earth?”
“They're Emigres,” Michiko said. “Like Puck.”
“He's not a hobgoblin.”
“No, but they both come from the same place, and for the same reason—to get away from Faerie.
“It all goes back to the coming of the True Millennium. Before magic was closed off, there were several interdimensional portals between Earth and Faerie, and even a few between Earth and other worlds. They're known as 'auldgates'. The closing of magic caused all those auldgates to close as well, but now that magic is returning, they're starting to reopen. The first was one that opened about thirty years ago.”
“And where was that one?” Beth asked.
“Oh, about half a mile or so back up this trail.” Michiko grinned.
“That's when Puck started teaching at Cooper!” Beth said. “Does that mean what I think it means?”
“Yep! He wasn't the first through when the auldgate reopened, but he was the first to stay. He told me once that he had heard about Earth for decades, and he decided that this was a good place to go when he left Faerie for good. Word got around and since then, even though the Courts have tried to stop it, there's been a trickle of people migrating here ever since. They call themselves 'Emigres'.”
“It's not just faeries, is it?” Beth asked as they approached the town. “Hey, don't forget your seeming.”
Michiko nodded and
whistled softly, and she was again wearing her sweater and jeans. “No, it's not. There's a pixie and gremlin settlement, a dwarven community, and a few brownies. And others.”
“Including hobgoblins.”
“There's a smallish group here. They tend to keep to themselves.”
“So what's so bad about Faerie?” Beth asked. “Why would they want to leave?”
“Well,” Michiko said, “Faerie is split between the Courts, which is where the faeries live, and the Outlands, where everyone else lives. The Dukes at Court usually split their time between intrigue, infighting and harassing the Outlands, with the occasional war to break up the tedium. A fair number of people there get fed up with everything and sneak over here, and some come here after getting in trouble or being exiled. Some of them try to blend in with human society, some stay in their own communities, and some try to live on their own.”
“And Windsor? And Wonderland?”
“Tell you about both later. We're here.” They had reached Leiber Lane and the Thai restaurant. “There should be an alley nearby.”
“Several, actually,” Beth said, “and not all of them pretty and well-lit. It's not the nicest part of town.”
“Got it,” Michiko said as they headed down a side street. “And I see what you mean.” She pointed at the entrance to a narrow alley up the street. Yellow “caution” tape had been put up across the entrance, and three policemen were standing in front of it.
Beth grabbed Michiko's arm and pulled her back. “Don't tell me you're on their most wanted list!” Michiko said with a grin.
“Not yet, I hope,” Beth said, “but there's something wrong here.”
“How so?”
“Their uniforms. They're not what the police here in town wear.”
“You're right.” Michiko's eyes narrowed. “Move back down the street. When I drop my seeming, see what you can see.” Beth nodded and backed away slowly, keeping an eye on Michiko as she walked up to the policemen.
“Good morning!” Michiko said. “What's going on, officer?”
“Police business,” one of them told her.
“Oooh!” Michiko said. “What happened?”
Of Introductions and Abductions Page 3
