Pixie Noir (Pixie for Hire Book 1)

by Cedar Sanderson

  I trudged down the steps as she dismounted and held out a hand for the attache case. Silently, she tied it down to the rear of the seat, then remounted. With a deep sigh I gathered my temper and climbed on behind her. I had never ridden on one of these before. Motorcycle, yes, horses, many wheeled vehicles, but this was completely different.

  Bella shouted over her shoulder, “hang on!”

  This was getting to be a pattern. I held on tightly to her waist and couldn’t see much of anything as she accelerated around the cabin and toward the woods at an insane speed. Peeking over her shoulder, I could see the narrow trail she was heading for.

  The forest in this area was made up of conifers, black and thickly crowded in the dim light of the moon and stars. Only the reflection of that light off the snow kept it from being pitch black. If we had a headlight on this thing, she hadn’t switched it on yet. The light level dropped the instant we slid into the trees, and Bella lit up the scene with a brilliant headlight. I really wished she hadn’t.

  The feel of the snow under my butt was different, here, and as she took us around a curve it felt disconcertingly like water as we sank into it. I held on tighter, frustrated at being out of control. I couldn’t even see any further than the trail, now the light was on and disrupting my night vision. I closed my eyes, and opened up my Sight. If it was all I could do, at least we wouldn’t zip into an ambush.

  For the second time that day I found myself with my face in someone’s shoulder. This day was just getting worse and worse. I didn’t dare think about the ways it could be worse, actually. These things had a way of coming to be.

  It’s not that I am superstitious. I’m a magical being, but I don’t believe in greater forces manipulating our lives. We’re too small and the world too big. Well, Bella was important enough to mobilize the forces of the world I knew best, the one hidden in the shadows of the human world. We peek out around the edges, but daren’t come out too far, lest we all be cut off.

  Humanity has never dealt well with outliers. We may have magic, in its various forms, and at one time, before the rise of technology, we had enough power to worry them. Now, they could and likely would wipe us out. Those of us they didn’t keep as pets.

  Bella hit a curve at a wild speed and I clutched tighter at her middle. With all the layers in the way, I couldn’t tell if I had waist, or something further up. Not that it mattered... I couldn’t appreciate it anyway. Damn my life. Up until this morning it had been all beer and skittles, or at least monster hunting with the occasional threat of death by dismemberment, and the rare evening by the fire with my pipe. Now I had a fairy princess to protect, and no way to do it. Until I got her safely back Underhill, into the thick of the conspiracies and politics of Fairy, shifting like quicksand. Dammit.

  She shouted something over her shoulder I didn’t catch. I opened my eyes, releasing the Sight and re-engaging with the visible. My eyes teared up and I blinked rapidly to clear them. She was slowing down, and the reduced wind chill helped me get my eyes clear.

  We were on the bank of the Tanana. She slowed almost to a stop and pointed. I understood that she was warning me it was about to get rough.

  “Ok!” I shouted into her ear, and we tipped over the bank.

  I leaned in the same direction she did. Same principle as balancing a motorcycle. The ice on the river was rougher than I had expected, and she slowed down as we crossed. I had a chance to look around.

  The moon had fully risen, and it was almost bright as day now that we were out of the thick forest. It was a world of black and white, with shadings of grey. The river ice that had looked smooth from high up on the bridge earlier today was revealed to be as cracked and ridged as a crocodile’s skin. She slowed even further.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m listening. When the water flows under the ice, sometimes it leaves hollow places that just have a thin skin over them. If I hear cracking, we change course.”

  “Wouldn’t going faster be better?” I wondered if she could hear the concern in my voice. I felt like someone had just dumped a bucket of that ice down my back.

  She’d heard it. I could hear the laughter in her voice. “You mean like the idiots that try skimming over open water? We wouldn’t know how big the hole was, and on this surface we couldn’t go fast enough to make it, more than likely.”

  We were almost all the way across. I could see the trail opening in the trees above us, and the bank was shallower on this side. I breathed out... and then gulped for air as the ice gave out under us.

  We were in freefall for a fraction of a second, just long enough for her to squeak in terror and me to tighten my grip on her. Then the machine hit bottom with a crunch. We had dropped perhaps three feet. I let go of her and stood up. Yep, I could see out of the top, we weren’t down far. She had let go of the throttle and the engine was idling.

  Bella looked up at me. “We’re stuck?”

  The way the pocket was shaped, it looked like it. Sheer ice, layered and banded with sediment, it curved ahead of us. I looked around. It was very beautiful. Where the headlight was shining into the ice I could see faint blues and cloudy whites. It wasn’t a perfect circle, rather a sort of pointed oval shape. And there was no way to drive out of it.

  “We’re still about five miles from town?”

  She nodded at me. Wrapped in her warm layers, only her eyes showed, but I could see her worry. It was night, it was very cold, and we had no chance if we had to walk into town. I looked up toward the distant bridge. It was only a half mile at a guess, but our enemies were expecting us there, and no guarantee of a neutral passer-by.

  “Shut it down.”

  “What?”

  “Turn it off. And get off, and stand over there.” I pointed at a spot well away from the machine.

  She didn’t hesitate now, hopping off as she shut the engine down. I walked around the front of the snowmobile, kicking at the ice. It was really solid. The top edge curved in a little at neck height, where it hadn’t broken when we fell in.

  “Ok, let’s get you up there.” I turned to her and waved her to come over.

  “What are you doing?” she asked nervously, but obediently came to my side.

  “I’m getting us out of here. Do you need a boost?”

  “We cannot walk to town,” she told me flatly. Then Bella accepted my cupped hands and I gave her a gentle hoist. She scrambled up and stood looking down at me. I decided I had better start explaining. This was a good time to start teaching her, before the bad guys really caught up with us.

  “You know why the Folke are different from humans, right?”

  She peered down at me. I grabbed the front of the snowmobile and pulled upward. Heavy, but more awkward than anything, especially with a hot engine. I really didn’t want to burn myself, that smarts.

  “We have special powers?” She sounded hesitant, like she didn’t quite believe it.

  “We do. Magic, Bella,” her name tasted strange, rolling off my tongue. I would think about that later. “Magic that is linked to who and what we are.”

  I heaved upward and got the machine up over my head, the skis on the edge of the hole. I ducked out from under it. She had backed off from the edge a little.

  “Are you using magic now?” she sounded a little nervous now.

  “A little. Pixies are also quite strong. I don’t have full access to my magic, I’m an earth being. All this ice is...” I tried to decide how best to describe how it felt. “Muffling my magic.”

  I looked up. She was near the edge again. “Back way up, the machine’s coming up.”

  She retreated to safety, and I got to the rear of the machine and breathed deeply. I reached out with my senses and could feel the resonance of the thin layers of sediment trapped in the ice. That was all I could access, the ice under my boots kept me from tapping into the earth fully. It was enough. I heaved upward, and the machine caught a little on the ice, breaking more of it as it left the hole and landed above me with a
crunch.

  “Heh.” I panted. “Not bad for an old man.” Bella hadn’t heard that, I realized, she was still way back from the edge. I grinned and looked at the ice layers. Using the sediment as toeholds, I got up and out faster than I’d hoisted her up.

  Her eyes were very wide. I couldn’t see their color in the moonlight.

  “Ready to get going again?”

  She nodded and approached the machine slowly. “Lom...”

  “Yeah?” I waited for her to mount before I climbed on behind her.

  “What else can you do?”

  “Lots. And yes, you have magic. I will teach you how to access it once we get somewhere and settled.” I answered her unspoken question and evaded having to explain too much about my abilities.

  “And is mine... earth magic?”

  “No, Fairies have air magic. Some of them also have an affinity for fire.”

  She nodded, which I felt more than saw, and gunned the engine. We were off again. I hoped for a smooth ride into town. Now, I had other things to worry about. We couldn’t just swing by her place and pick up her travel documents. I didn’t even know if she had a passport. I wasn’t going to ask her about it now, though. We were back up to her favorite speed level: insane, and that was going to make talking impossible over the whine of the engine.

  The trail broadened a bit here, and we were now riding on a trail that was beaten down by other snowmobiles, it no longer felt like water under us. She did something I didn’t think was possible and opened the throttle even further. I went back to my safe position behind her shoulder and pondered her reactions while I opened my sight again. This close to town, enemies were more likely.

  Bella hadn’t said anything about being afraid, but her need for speed was telling me loud and clear she was worried, and feeling unsafe out here in the woods. I didn’t really blame her. This had to all be a shock: the Troll, my revelations, and now a pell-mell flight through a frigid winter night. I may have impressed her with my snowmobile toss, she was impressing me with her fortitude. All this would come at a cost, though. I was worn to the bone from my magic use earlier, and she was going to hit the end of her endurance eventually.

  Properly grounded - literally, that is, bare feet to the earth - I could go on almost forever. I had come close to my limits once, and it had kept me alive through a Hunt that would have killed anyone, anything, else. But on the ice, with only a little sediment to draw from, I had drained my own reserves. I hadn’t told Bella that because she didn’t need to know. Not where my weaknesses were, only that I was a lot stronger than she would have been.

  What it meant was that I was going to need to rest, soon, and refuel. Hopefully there would be food at the airport. We zipped past a house, making the sled dogs tied in their yard start barking uproariously. She didn’t even turn her head. I could see the dim glows of their life, seven of them, then we were turning. I kept my eyes closed. She knew where we going, and I needed to See more than watch the road. So far, only ordinary lives were visible.

  She turned again, and I guessed that we were following a road now, from the feel, and the corners rather than curves. We must be getting close, there were more people around, although we were moving fast enough I was just registering and letting the glows pass, like the lights of oncoming traffic. When the really bright one showed up directly in front of us, like a lighthouse beacon, I opened my eyes quickly.

  Breaking out of the Sight can be a little disorienting. For all the times I have had to do it in a hurry, it has never gotten any better. I opened my mouth to shout a warning at her, and then realized she was slowing. We were at the airport.

  “Bella, wait,” I spoke into her ear, sure she would hear me now. She came to a stop, just outside a small building with the grandiose sign “Tok International Airport” over it.

  “”What is it?” She turned to look at me as I let go and slid off.

  “There is...” I wasn’t sure how to explain it. The door opened and two men walked out. One was wearing brown coveralls, the other was in a parka and jeans. Both were heavily bearded, something I had come to expect of Alaskan males.

  “Bella. You ok?” The shorter one, still taller than she was by six inches, which meant he towered over me, hugged her. “Uncle sent me to wait for you, I was beginning to worry.”

  She hugged him back and I thought I heard a small sigh, before she gestured at me as he let her down.

  “I’m fine. A bit bruised. This is Lom, he’s been helping me.”

  She looked at me, then. “Lom, this is my cousin Mark, and Tex, who isn’t a cousin, but might as well be.”

  Mark surveyed me with dark hazel eyes as he took my hand briefly. Then I looked up at Tex, who had to stoop a little to shake my hand. He was taller than her grandfather, a skinny rake of a man in greasy coveralls.

  “You’re our ride out of here?” I surmised, and he grinned.

  “Yup, sure am. Come into the warm, though, like to freeze my...”

  “Tex!” Bella interrupted. An old-fashioned girl, that one. But inside sounded good. Maybe there would be food, too.

  I followed the girl in, content to let the men wait chivalrously for us to go in. They may also have been assessing me for threat, not that I gave a damn at the moment. I’d seen that Mark was of Lavendar’s blood when he’d hugged Bella and their lifeglows were identical. I was safe, for values of safe. In the building was a large waiting area, a universal design and decor, and on the counter where tickets were no doubt sold from, were two large pizza boxes.

  I headed for them. Mark grabbed a stack of paper plates and handed Bella and I each a slice of pizza.

  “Fast Eddie’s Mad Trapper Pie.” He announced cheerfully. I didn’t care what it was called, I needed it. I was already taking a bite.

  It was good. Spicy - my mouth was already burning, but hot and greasy and perfect. Mark watched me eat, and slid another piece on my plate before I could even ask. I was most of the way through that piece before I remembered what I needed to ask.

  “Bella, have you a passport?”

  She looked startled. I guessed it hadn’t crossed her mind, just like it hadn’t really sunk in that she was leaving home.

  “Yes, but...” she turned to Mark. “It is in my cabin, and I don’t know how we will get it. Some clothes and things would be nice.” She looked back at me, a pleading expression. “And the cat. Who will feed him?

  Mark snorted. “Rasputin will feed himself. Nothing short of a wolverine would take that mangy excuse on. As for the rest of it, let me make a call.”

  I interrupted. “Whoever goes needs to use caution. And I need to get my case off the snow machine, dammit.” I had completely forgotten it in my need to get food in my system. That wasn’t good. I could not let my guard down like this.

  I got up; when had I sat down? I couldn’t remember. Tex materialized. “Hey, settle back. Here’s your briefcase.” He set it down next to me. “You’re looking a little peaky. Guess you needed to eat.”

  I knew he hadn’t tried to open it. If he had, there would be some melted snow outside. The elaborate tooling on the case was for more than decoration. I patted it and went back to eating.

  Mark handed me another slice on a fresh plate. I sighed and intoned. “Bless you, my son.”

  He snorted. “I’ll call Dan to get her things. I think you met him this morning.”

  “Is it still today?”

  Bella laughed. “I need to talk to him, Mark. He’ll need my combination.” She made a face. “And I will change it when I get back, just so you all know!”

  Mark adopted an expression of abused innocence while I watched the byplay with amusement. They were more like siblings than most cousins. I went back to eating while they talked to Dan on the counter phone.

  Bella came and perched on the arm of the dilapidated couch I was sitting on when she was done. “This won’t take long. Raven told Tex to take us to Haines, when we do leave.”

  “Where?” I was surprised at how ma
ny feathers the old spirit was sticking into the pot. Bella must be something special to him.

  She nodded. “Exactly. It’s unlikely your, um, cohorts, will know where it is, either.”

  “Not my cohorts.” I felt utterly tired, now, but the warm glow in my stomach was soothing my unsettled humor.

  “What are they then?”

  “Yes,” Mark joined the conversation, sitting across from me. “I’d like to know, too.”

  “I told Bella earlier, she has an inheritance from her grandmother. I know, she’d like to be able to decline it, but that’s not an option. These people are going to come after her, no matter what. And they will use you - her family - as leverage to get to her.”

  “Yes,” Bella broke in, “I’ve accepted that. But who are ‘they’?”

  I rubbed my face. This was not going to be easy. I wasn’t supposed to tell Mark, an outsider, anything. Oh, hell, he is Lavendar’s blood.

  “Look, Fairy, the world Underhill, is broken into two courts. Just like in the stories.”

  She wrinkled her nose, an expression I was finding rather endearing. “Summer and Winter? Low and High? Grandmother’s stories were always changing.”

  Mark nodded at this. “She didn’t tell me the same stories as Bella, but I learned very young the value of sitting still and being quiet.”

  “Always a useful skill,” I told him, still trying to marshal my thoughts. “Summer, Winter, light, dark, good, evil... No one quite knows how it happened, but over the centuries each court has become a magnet for certain personalities. It isn’t always linked to bloodlines, of course, although there are certain families who are always Summer, or always Winter. Lavendar was Summer court, and thus you you are, Bella.”

  Mark got up and brought the pizza over and put it in front of me. I nodded my gratitude as I took another piece, and went on.

  “For some time now, Summer has been on the wane. Nothing overt was ever done, but Winter would prefer that Summer stay out of the way, so it was assumed that certain accidents... weren’t.”