“He was a grand old man.” I rasped, my voice shot from the fighting and screaming, and from the unshed tears.
“Proud to have fought with him,” was Ash’s eulogy. He deliberately turned away from the scene, and I followed his example. “Henry was the only other death. Daffyd has a nasty gash on his calf, Melcar sent him up to Court already. I think almost everyone has cuts and bruises, even with the protection spells.”
“And everyone has to have that looked at, no matter how minor.”
“You, too, Lom.” He scratched his jawline. “I need a bath.”
“Thank goodness for magical water heaters.” I started to hobble for the far side of the Hall, where another group was gathered around something. “Go see Joe and get that bath. Thanks, Ash.”
He headed off toward the dais. I continued on, only stopping to pick up a stick to lean on as I walked. I still had the sword in the other hand, I had forgotten it entirely. I stopped and fixed a transport spell to it, and sent it to the workbench in my armory. With my stomach heaving, I tried not to look too much at the floor as I maneuvered my way toward Dean, an unknown man... and Alger. When had he showed up?
His clothes were clean, and his long hair slightly damp, leading me to guess that he had been good and not returned until after I’d given the all-clear to Joe. He was poking at something on the floor. I clumped up to them, too tired to be quiet, and not wanting to surprise them anyway.
“What did you find?” I leaned on my stick and looked at the mess on the floor. That was red blood. Who had been injured here? Alger flipped a layer of soaked cloth off a lump, and I realized I had been wrong. “That’s a fairy. And not one of ours.”
Now I bent closer, and could see that the head was still wearing odd goggles, probably enchanted to allow him to see in low-light conditions. He’d been struck in the torso with at least one .50 calibre bullet, and eviscerated.
“That explains a lot. They had a boss.” I straightened back up, feeling that muscle and several others in my back grab all at once. I think I yelped, because Dean was suddenly at my side lending me an arm. I glared at him. “I suppose you’re fit and chipper.”
“They’ll never kill me.” He grinned, showing all his teeth in something that was not humorous.
“I don’t suppose they will. Myself, I just feel old.”
I straightened the rest of the way and he stepped back. Alger bustled past us. “Come on, boys, let’s see what else is hidden in this mess.”
I exchanged raised eyebrow glances with Dean, then shrugged and followed the old man at a snail’s pace. Joe intercepted me after a short time, and I went with him with great relief. I didn’t know how long it had been since we’d made that initial charge into the Great Hall, but it felt like days, even though I knew it could only have been hours at most. I needed to rest before I fell down.
Melcar’s crew manhandled me through a decontamination process that left me wrapped in a robe and being handed a plate of protein-rich food. I wolfed that down, making myself stay on my feet and walk the length of the long room that had been commandeered for the purpose, checking on everyone. I knew that the after effects of today’s work would stay with them for a long time. Even for me, it had not all been in a day’s work. I might never see some of them again, but I still felt a responsibility for them.
I returned my plate, and found the guy in charge. “Do you need me for anything?”
He shook his head, “No, I think you are supposed to get some sleep, sir. Joe said to make sure you didn’t push too much. Want a transportation spell? He said you might need one.”
I hesitated, wondering how many of them knew just how limited I was, magically, then decided it didn’t matter, tonight. “Yeah.”
I stood still and felt the bubble form around me, then collapse. All I could see was my bed... I staggered for it, shedding my robe and falling... Into nothingness of sleep.
I don’t know how long I slept. I rose and fell in and out of consciousness a couple of times, just enough to know I was alone, and safe, then back under again. The last time I did this, I could smell coffee. I swung my feet out of the bed and sat up carefully, my entire body screaming in pain. I felt like I had been beaten with sticks. Not little ones, either. Naked, I started to go into the other room, only belatedly realizing that I was not alone when Bella looked up from the couch and reacted to me.
“Oh, shit.” I heard myself say as I turned as fast as I could and shut the door behind me. I leaned against the door groggy and wondering if I had really seen her there, smiling at me, or if that had been another fevered dream.
There was a light knock at the door, I could feel it send gentle vibrations through me. “Lom?” Her voice was concerned. “I can leave, if you’d like.”
“No! I don’t want you to go... just, let me find something to put on. I’m moving slowly.”
“Are you ok?”
I grunted in pain as I tried to get the robe off the floor, and heard the door open behind me. “Bella...” I protested weakly, then she was there, picking the robe up and holding it for me. I let her help me into it, and then wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close. She stiffened, and I let go as fast as I could. By Oberon’s Beard, I’m an idiot. Why did I think she would want a broken down old warhorse?
“I’m sorry...” I told her hurriedly, “just after battle, and I don’t know what got into me. Juices are flowing, I suppose.” I felt like I was babbling, and backed away as quickly as I could, into my dressing room, ignoring her plaintive, inarticulate protest.
Chapter 31 - Jenny the Morris Dancer
I came out fully dressed, stalked into the sitting room and grabbed a cup of coffee. She was sitting at the table, and looked up at me, her wings drooping. She held out a hand, and I wasn’t sure what she wanted.
“We will talk later,” she promised, dropping her hand when I didn’t acknowledge it, and I walked out the door clutching the steaming cup. I’d screwed it up. She was, so far as I knew, a virgin. Certainly by the standards of Court, she was extraordinarily loyal, and I guessed she was a one-man woman. She didn’t need me, she needed a nice human man who could give her stability, a family, and a normal life. I needed to get some space, and stop tripping over my tongue every time I was around her. The last thing she needed was me... I stopped outside the door to the small throne room, taking a deep breath, clutching my empty coffee mug, and mentally folding her, with all the emotions tied to her, into a compartment in my mind and throwing away the key. Duty called, and that was my life.
I took a deep breath, and opened the door. They could banish me from Court. Alaska had possibilities I’d like to explore, with Raven and his kin. I wouldn’t mind that, a forced retirement. I walked in to a room full of people seated at a conference table. They all looked at me, and I felt the aches of the day before as I stared back at them. I’d done my job, and lost two of my men. Now, I had to explain to the King what had happened to his friend Martin, and a young fairy with a future cut short. I took my seat at the opposite end of the table from the King.
“Good morning, Lom,” he greeted me warmly, his face sternly belying his tone of deep affection. “Are you well?”
“Well enough. Majesty, I would like to apologize...” he cut me off.
“Lom, you did well. You took a team of men that had never worked as a unit, and wiped out a goblin infestation that outnumbered you more than ten to one. You fulfilled your duty faithfully, under daunting circumstances, and furthermore, rescued ten poor souls who had lost all hope without you. Now, let’s discuss what I’m going to ask you to do next.” He offered the table a humorless smile, baring his teeth. “Because we all know the reward for a job well done is another, more difficult task.”
He went on, while I tried to catch my breath. “As some of you know, Lom had been looking into the mole in Court who was responsible not only for this infestation and the Trolls, but for the attacks on the princesses traveling to and in Court. He sent me some of his results before goin
g goblin-hunting, and I asked Joe to delegate that to someone competent.”
He looked at Joe, who nodded and looked at the man next to him. A fairy I was unfamiliar with, he stood and delivered his report in an even tone. “The two persons of interest were investigated to see if motivation could be found. In the case of the man, no motive could be found other than a vague jealousy, but he is also certain his daughter will be the next queen, so I discounted his ability to try and destroy the Court, for that is what this is.
“If the Low Court, or the dark court as I think of them, could gain ascendency by making it impossible for us to fulfill our charter by having both a reigning King and Queen, then they could gain the power to break our wards here at Court, something they came close to doing with the goblins. Before the room was cleansed with fire, it was found that the goblins had come in through cracks in the floor of the Great Hall, doubtless having happened after the abandonment of that area, and as we never considered it vulnerable, it was unwarded and unguarded. That is no longer the case for any outlying parts of Court.”
He took a sip of water, and kept talking. “The other person of interest was difficult to assess, as so little was known about her. It took me two days to determine that she is, in fact, able to use magic, although I do not think it originates with her, as she is human.”
A little murmur ran around the table. Humans were so uncommon Underhill we sometimes forgot that any lived with us, much less that they could do magic when taught. The feeling tended to be that they were sentient pets. I disagreed, but then, I wasn’t here often.
“She was found to have in her possession spells of enough sophistication that they can only have originated with the Low Court. We have detained her for your Majesty’s questioning just moments ago, in anticipation of this meeting.”
When I walked through the doors, in other words. We all turned and looked at the doors as they opened, and two guards walked in, supporting her between them. She was as limp as a rag doll, but I felt no pity toward her. The poison of her ambitions was murderous and cowardly. They brought her to stand before the King, and let go of her arms. She slid to the floor and huddled there. He looked down at her is disgust.
“Stand up, woman!” he ordered, his voice a deep growl. She shook, but stayed with her head hidden in her arms. “I won’t ask again.”
She slowly stood up, but kept her face hidden behind her wild white elf-locks that had been the first thing I noticed about her. I wondered how long she had been using them as a shield against scrutiny. Our culture revered the elderly, those who had enough centuries to be wise. This human had played upon that, and her seeming service, to worm her way into the Court.
“Look at me. I want to know who you are.” His voice was still cold and stern, almost remote.
She shook her head, and he nodded at a guard, who reached over and tipped her chin up so her face was revealed. He studied her for a long moment. “I know everyone in Court, and somehow I have not seen you, these many years. But I do know your face, or I did when it was young and comely. You were Jenny, the Morris Dancer who came with bells on her feet and hands to dance for us and make us all laugh and wonder at the skills of your troupe. You came many times, although the others changed. How does it come that you are here, and trying to overthrow Court?”
She twisted her chin out of the guard’s hand and spoke for the first time. I was surprised at the volume, having only heard her barely more than whisper before.
“I was seduced by the decadence of the Court,” she rasped. “Young, and beautiful, and then discarded like a broken toy. I could not go home again, I had been here too long, and was trapped. It took me decades to find one who would teach me how to use magic, but I was treated like dirt.” She brushed her hair back and shook a finger at all of us. “You think you are so superior, being able to call on magic for every little thing. But I have caused your destruction, and then I will be where you sit, in a Court who does not require you to be a fairy to hold any power!”
She had been manipulated. Low Court saw humans as animals, fit only for the toy she felt like. But she had been an infected splinter we had never even noticed, festering for many years. She might have felt like her heaven had become hell, but it was by her choices.
“Are there others, who feel as you do?” the King asked, his face unreadable.
“In your rotted Court, I have acted alone.” She raised her chin higher. “I was helped from outside when I needed resources, but it is I who have brought you low.”
The King contemplated her for a long few moments, while she glared around the room at each of us. I wondered what he was going to do next. He looked straight down the table at me.
“I will grant Jenny’s dearest wish,” he spoke gravely. “in compensation for her mistreatment, and to keep her humanity intact. Lom, will you do me the honor of escorting Jenny home?”
It took me a moment to process what he was truly saying. Not where she had been living, but above...
“Yes, your majesty. May I have an assistant?”
“Of course. And if you please, be it done immediately, I would not prolong her distress any further.”
I stood and bowed slightly, then gestured at the guards to bring Jenny, who was looking bewildered. She did not understand what she was being given. I followed them out the door, hearing the King say behind me before it closed, “now, the problem of the Oriental Court...”
I spun a message spell off my fingers and felt a wave of relief that he had not asked me to be in on the discussion of the other Court. I needed time to absorb what I had done, and what I was about to do. I might still feel numb, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t looking to the future.
We stood and waited until Bella arrived, dressed in jeans, flannel shirt, and boots, looking slightly confused. “Lom?” She slowed and looked at Jenny, defiantly erect in the guard’s grasp.
“Come on, I’ll explain on the way.”
I murmured to her while we waited for the transportation spell to reach our destination. I’d ordered two so I would have a moment to tell her what was happening. It popped, and I looked at the elegant arch, with the shimmering door between the elaborately carved columns. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I do. I have something to prove, and Lom... You do too much alone.”
I turned to the guards, who were holding a wide-eyed and struggling Jenny. “Time to go home, Jenny the Morris Dancer.”
“No!” She shrieked, as I clamped onto her arm with both hands. Bella followed my lead on the other side, and we had to almost pick her up off her feet as we went through the door. The change was an old familiar bone tingle, and I let go of Jenny’s arm. Bella sighed deeply and opened her eyes, almost absently releasing Jenny as well. I looked up at her and felt a ripple of amusement that died as I looked at Jenny.
She was stumbling forward into the dewy grass. The sun was up, but it was early morning here, on Earth. There were birds singing, somewhere. Jenny sank to her knees and put her hands to her face.
“What year is it?” she whispered.
“It’s 2013, unless there has been a time slip since I came through.” Bella responded quietly.
“Over two hundred years...” She slumped forward onto the grass, her body decaying as we watched, then crumbling into dust and partial bones.
Bella shuddered. “Even knowing that was...” she didn’t finish.
“She asked to come home.” I felt no emotion about it. She had been granted a merciful death, while my men had died in pain and terror.
I turned to Bella. “Did you bring what I told you to?”
She pulled the items out of her pocket. “Wallet, cellphone, and passport. But why?”
Chapter 32 - Bella’s Choice
Bella looked steadily at me, standing in the sunshine with the breeze in her hair and the bones of our enemy at her feet. I waved an arm at the grassy field.
“There’s a road that way,” I pointed, “And you can be in Alaska under Raven’s protec
tion before Court knows you are gone. Who are they going to send after you, me? Funny how that works, I just won’t be able to find you. You’re free, Bella, run.”
She still looked at me without speaking, and I was too tired to try and interpret what she was thinking. I turned away from her and walked toward the door back into Underhill.
“Lom.”
I kept going. I hated goodbyes. I hadn’t gotten to say any to Martin, or Henry, but she at least had happiness and a future.
“Lom, look at me.” She had a very firm note in her voice, and I reluctantly stopped.
She touched my shoulder and I looked at her. “I don’t want to stay here. I can be useful to you.” She tapped her head. “The library, remember? And I know I’m not... well, we work pretty well together. I was hoping to talk to you about a partnership.”
“You want to come back Underhill?” I felt like I was thinking through molasses.
“Yes, and work with you, if you’re interested. I...” She touched my arm again, softly. I could feel the warmth of her fingers as she looked down at me. “I thought we were friends. You swore fealty to me, but I want to release you from that. I don’t...” She bit her lip and looked away. “I know this is bad timing, I’m sorry about that. I just feel like I’m needed, back there.” She pointed at the door in front of us.
I sighed. “I can’t stop you. You know how to pass through the door, and you are certainly powerful enough to not need me.”
She frowned at me. “You never answer my questions.”
“Bella, I can’t. Not... not right now. I don’t know, I’m tired and my brain is running about half speed.”
“Then let’s go home.” She took my arm, tucking her hand into my elbow, and we walked forward together.
Pixie Noir (Pixie for Hire Book 1) Page 22
