by A W Hartoin
I kissed his cheek. “Your secret is safe with me.”
“I know.”
“Do you smell something?” I asked, wrinkling my nose.
He smiled. “Wait until we get closer.”
Bentha ran out in front of us, his lip lifted in distaste. “Rare form today.” He waved his sword in front of his face and then turned a corner. Iris and Gerald flew out of sight behind him.
“What is it? Smells like smoke. I thought I was the only kindler,” I said.
“Just wait.” Lrag reached the corner and turned around, giving me a chance to wave to the little wzlot again and about fifty others of various species. The wzlot jumped up and down, yanking on her mother’s hand. Then she blew into her palm and pretended to see a flame there. My eyes watered. Even if I could never come back, at least I had that image to take with me.
Lrag went around the corner, and I recognized a bank of filing cabinets next to a rollup door where a white van was parked. It had the words “Things Past Antique Mall Jarvis Hornbuckle, Proprietor” painted on the side. The van sat haphazardly half in the door, half out. One filing cabinet lay on its side, partly under the van with its drawers popped open spewing paperwork. Letters and invoices swirled around in the cool spring breeze that whistled through the door.
Earl and Stanley stood toe-to-toe in the middle of the mess. They both had on soiled blue coveralls with name badges. But they were wearing the wrong ones. Earl had on Stanley’s set and Stanley had on Earl’s. Neither of them fit right.
“You are so stupid,” said Earl. “It’s no wonder you flunked out of junior college.”
“You don’t know nothing. I went to beauty school. I was gonna be a nail technician.” Stanley ran his hand through his greasy mullet. His nails were yellow and had crescents of black dirt under them.
“Who let you into beauty school? It has the word beauty in it.”
“I can buff me some nails.”
“There is no way. You can’t even back up a truck right. You’re not no nail technician.”
Earl took a long drag on a smoking stick like the commander’s, only huge and white. “I just missed a few classes or I would’ve graduated. You’re the one who got kicked out of junior college.”
“That’s better than getting kicked out of nail school.”
“No, it’s not. Your school wasn’t even a senior college.”
“There’s no such thing as a senior college, idiot.”
“Then why’s there a junior college?”
“Shut up. What are you going to tell Mr. Hornbuckle? He’s gonna pitch a fit.”
“I’m not saying nothing. Stuff falls over. Happens all the time.”
Stanley slapped his forehead. “Stuff doesn’t just fall over. Only you do that.”
“That only happened once.”
“Once a day.”
“What about that cabinet that exploded inside? There was valuable stuff in there. Sure was,” said Earl.
“It just exploded,” said Stanley.
“That won’t work.”
Earl and Stanley started smacking each other and I realized my mouth was hanging open. They were a lot stupider than I remembered. Or maybe it was just because I’d gotten to know Tess and Judd. Tess was nine and I doubted that she thought there was a senior college.
“This could take awhile.” Lrag sat down with me still in his arms. “When those two get going, there’s no getting their attention.”
Bentha brandished his sword. “It can be done. Idiots are no match for me.” He marched off in the direction of the workmen.
“Where’s he going?” asked Gerald as he landed with Iris.
“To try and focus Earl and Stanley,” said Lrag. “It’s like trying to herd cats. Stupid cats.”
“Are they worse, or is it just me?” asked Iris.
“They definitely smell worse,” I said.
“We’ve been working on Stanley to shower more than once a month,” said Lrag. “He’s convinced that his natural scent will attract women. The smoking doesn’t help either.”
“That’s weird,” said Iris. “The commander’s sticks smell kind of good.”
“His sticks are lavender.”
“I wish I had my fire,” I said.
“Don’t even think about it,” said Lrag. “Your priority is to get out of here. Let Bentha deal with Earl and Stanley.”
We watched as Bentha marched up to Stanley and jabbed him in the foot. Stanley had ahold of Earl’s mullet and was spinning him around in a circle, so he didn’t notice.
“Now what?” asked Iris.
“I’ll take care of it. Warriors always know what to do.” Gerald puffed out his chest, handed Iris my earring, and flew off toward Bentha.
“Iris, be ready to rescue our warrior when he gets his wings handed to him,” I said.
“He won’t like that,” said Iris.
“Do it for Eunice. Or rather do it so Eunice doesn’t kill us.”
“She is never going to forgive you for running off with Gerald.”
“I can handle her.”
“I hope Mom can. Eunice has probably been yelling at her since we left.”
I grimaced. I’d forgotten about Eunice and Mom. Going back was necessary, but it was going to be ugly. Eunice would make sure of it.
“Look at Gerald,” said Lrag. “I keep underestimating that pipsqueak.”
Gerald had his ponderosa sword out and was poking Stanley’s leg so fast that his arm was blurred. Bentha was doing the same to his ankle. They were both yelling and, if the expressions on their faces were anything to go by, they were quite loud. Still, it took a good minute for Stanley to notice. It probably took the sensation that long to find his puny brain.
“Ouch!” he wailed. “I am going to kill you dead, Earl.”
“It’s you that’s got my hair,” said Earl, twisting and smacking at Stanley’s hand.
“What’d you do to my leg?”
“I ain’t doing nothing. Let go.”
Gerald paused his attack and looked at Bentha. He nodded and they went back at it. Stanley’s leg must’ve looked like a pincushion, but it still took him awhile to feel the new jabs.
“Holy cannoli!” yelled Stanley. “You’re killing my leg!”
“Let go!”
The two of them danced in a circle, holding onto each other’s heads.
“Are you sure they can see us?” I asked. “We really need to get out of here.”
“I’m sure.” Lrag laid me on the floor. “Come on, Iris.”
Iris laid my earring next to me. “Don’t worry. We can do it.”
Lrag stomped over and in one leap landed on Stanley’s knee. He climbed hand over hand up the human’s body. Bentha saw what he was doing, sheathed his sword, and followed Lrag up. Gerald tried to climb, but his spindly arms wouldn’t support him. He gave me a thumbs-up and flew to join Iris, who was flying around the human’s faces, waving and yelling. Stanley had Earl squealing about his precious mullet and Earl pinched Stanley so many times that he looked like he was covered in mosquito bites.
If I had my fire, I could get their attention in a second. Since Mirielle had dosed me, I did feel better. A little fire wouldn’t take much out of me. It was my gift, after all. I looked at my palm like I had to when I was younger, but nothing happened. Nothing except a dizzy spell and another bout of nausea. Lrag was right, even thinking about making fire made me worse.
I relaxed and watched Iris and Gerald buzzing around Stanley’s head, while Lrag braved the greasy strands of his mullet. Bentha was on Earl’s neck, climbing through a forest of neck hair. That was loyalty for you. I’d climb through Earl’s neck hair for any one of them, but I’d do a lot to avoid it, if I could. Just watching Bentha hack his way through those wiry hairs was enough to make my nausea get worse. Bentha was a true friend.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The floor’s hardness felt good beneath me as long as I didn’t think about the grime and mysterious splatters that
could’ve come from anything. The nausea went away. I relaxed. It was so quiet, which might sound weird considering I’m mostly deaf, but things are loud when I’m looking. I fill in the spaces. I hear pins drop because I imagine what they should sound like.
It was nice to take a break from it all. Lrag would get Earl and Stanley’s attention whether I watched or not, and I decided to enjoy the silence until I found I couldn’t. A cold prickly feeling came over me and I tensed up. Someone was watching me, and they weren’t friendly. I couldn’t say how I knew. It was just one of those things.
I blew out a breath and opened my eyes, heart pounding. No one was standing over me. I looked right, and there was no one there. Then I turned left toward Earl and Stanley. Lrag was slipping around on the top of Stanley’s head, trying to get his attention. Bentha hung from Earl’s earlobe. Gerald and Iris were swooping around and getting no attention whatsoever. None of them were looking at me, but the feeling remained. I pushed myself upright and fought off a new wave of dizziness as I searched for the source of that intrusive feeling. I found nothing until I took a breath and realized it was coming from behind me. I bit my lip and looked over my shoulder.
There he was, standing in the shadows between two filing cabinets. The one-armed horen wearing fresh robes and appearing totally healthy other than the empty sleeve. All the air went out of my lungs and I might actually have squeaked in alarm. I spun around on my butt and got my good leg under me for all the good it did. I was so weak I couldn’t have stood with two good legs much less one. I pulled the earring close. It felt three times as heavy as I remembered.
“Miss me?” he asked, leaving the shelter of the cabinets and drawing closer in that creepy floaty way.
I couldn’t speak. If the horen truly thought they were half god, I could see why. He was ethereal in his perfection. He loomed over me in glowing splendor; only his nasty soul seeping through the lovely exterior ruined the vision.
“No?” He smiled with perfect lips over perfect teeth. “Surprising. I’ve been told I leave quite an impression.”
I glanced at Lrag and Bentha.
The horen put his finger to his lips. “Quiet now. If you call out, only your fat sister and that puny boy will be able to respond quickly enough and I will have to kill them. You wouldn’t want that.”
I swallowed and found my voice. “Lrag and Bentha will come. They bested you once.”
“Alas, they’re wingless and therefore slow. The wood fairies will beat them by far. Would you like to try it? Be my guest.” He made a gesture toward Gerald and Iris so gracious it became obscene.
I couldn’t think what to do. I had no fire. I couldn’t stand up. And worse, the horen was right. Iris and Gerald would get to me first. Even with one arm he was easily better than the two of them combined.
“Lovely,” he said. “So you’ve chosen to protect them. I love it when my prey is so predictable. Makes everything so neat and tidy. But I must admit, you are interesting. Not nearly the opponent we came looking for, but interesting nonetheless.”
“Came looking for?” I asked, scooting backwards.
He came out into the open. All Lrag had to do was look.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” he said. “Your friends are much too busy to notice me. And yes, we did come looking for you, all the way from Europe. The chance to get at you before you were grown was too enticing to miss.”
Please look. Somebody look. He’s big and gold. You can’t miss him.
“Stop looking at them. Look at me. This is the way it was meant to be. Two natural enemies going head-to-head,” he snarled.
“You’re not my natural enemy,” I said, stalling.
“Really? I’m not your enemy?” he asked. “I don’t think you’ve been paying attention.”
“I meant you’re not natural.”
“On the contrary, I’m completely natural. A perfect predator. Horen are the sharks of the fairy world.”
“You’re a freak.”
He chuckled. “That’s rich, coming from you. What could be less natural than a wood fairy kindler? Oh well, you were good while you lasted.” He flexed his remaining hand. The claws glinted in the mall’s fluorescent light. “Tell me this. Has the council voted yet? Have they decided what to do with my arm? I’d really like to know. I was quite attached to it.”
He laughed and I shivered at the cold, empty sound.
“They’re going to kill you with it.” Untrue, but I liked the sound of it.
“They can’t kill me with me. They’ll have to settle for anyone else that gets in the way. I must say, I’m surprised. I thought that weakling, Soren, would turn it into the antidote for our venom. He seems like the type. On the other hand, you’d incinerate half the mall’s population if you thought you could get to me, wouldn’t you? I see it in you. The wickedness. Perhaps I should keep you. A vicious little trinket to keep me company on cold nights.”
His hand lashed out at my good ankle. I swung the earring fast enough to knock his hand aside and his claws struck the linoleum, spraying venom that sizzled and burned into the flooring.
I fell over, gasping from the effort and the fresh, searing pain in my leg. The horen grabbed me by the throat. His claws poked my skin, but didn’t break through. Rivulets of venom flowed down my neck. Cold against my skin, but burning my dress. Tendrils of smoke rose between our faces. Our noses touched, and I felt his intensity like physical heat, but heat doesn’t scare me. I saw his expression change when he caught on to that.
“Do you feel it?” he hissed. “Do you feel anything at all?”
“No,” I hissed back. “I’m the antidote to you.”
His grip tightened. The tiniest bit more pressure and he’d break the skin. I couldn’t survive another dose.
“You’re more trouble than you’re worth.” His nose slipped past mine and his lips pressed against me, hot and moist. “Enjoy the hereafter.”
A glowing red ember appeared next to his blue eye. Then Farue was there, holding a smoking stick.
“Not today,” Farue said. “I do believe we’ll keep her. Unless you’d like to be one-eyed as well as one-armed.”
A tremor went through the horen. “Perhaps one eye is enough.”
“Maybe for a little bug like me, but you’re a horen. Beauty’s part of the package. But if you insist.” The ember moved closer, scorching the horen’s long eyelashes.
He let go and a swarm of phalanx were all over him. They had his arm behind his back before I took a full breath.
“I would have your arms tied behind you, but I guess that’s not possible,” said Farue, twirling the smoking stick between his fingers. “Just truss him up the best you can, boys.”
“You can wrap me in duct tape,” said the horen with a sneer. “It won’t last long.”
“I would take your word for it, except I won’t. Boys, clip those claws, will you?”
The horen paled as one of the phalanx produced a pair of clips from some hidden spot on his abdomen. Another brought out a metal cylinder. It took six phalanx to hold the horen still so they could clip his nails like a cat. Off went each one and a stream of venom flowed into the cylinder. They milked him until he was dry and then gagged him for good measure.
“What are you going to do with that?” I asked.
“Oh, it’s useful stuff. Highly flammable. Toxic. Easy to package and launch. We’ll put it to good use.”
The horen glared at him. Farue’s boys saw the look and put another layer of rope on him. He was beginning to look like an angry sausage. Half of the phalanx formed up into a diamond and the other half loaded him on top of the shells. He slid around with muffled alarm, but Farue ignored him. “Nice little going away present, Matilda. The commander will like it. It’ll be just like Christmas when he wakes up.”
“Can’t you tell me what he wanted? Just between you, me, and the boys,” I said.
“Afraid I can’t. Soren’s still my leader. And you’ll have to trust me that what he wanted you
to do isn’t possible anymore. I’ll take care of it. I promise.”
“I had to try,” I said, putting out my hand for help up.
“Who’re you kidding? You couldn’t stand with the help of a crane.” He chuckled, looked at the smoking stick, and gave it a spin. “Not bad. Doesn’t smell like those human sticks, does it?”
“You smell like the commander.”
“Kinda like he’s here, isn’t it?”
“It is. I miss him.”
Farue blew out the stick and gave it to me. “Keep it until the next time we meet.” He looked up and grinned with all his gleaming white teeth. “About time.”
Earl and Stanley were looking over at us, still red-faced, but no longer fighting. Lrag stood on top of Stanley’s head with each hand grasping a hunk of hair. He slapped the hair down like reins on a horse. “Go on now!”
Stanley shook his head, nearly dislodging Lrag. “I don’t like them golden ones.”
“The horen’s well captured and we need your help,” said Bentha, jumping up and down on Earl’s head.
“I don’t know,” said Stanley. “We’re in a bunch of trouble cause of you all.”
“Come over!” yelled Farue. “We can discuss it.”
Lrag drove the reluctant Stanley over and both the humans squatted down next to me. I sucked in a breath at the huge faces gazing down at me. Just a couple of days with only fairies and I’d already forgotten the human’s tremendous size.
“She’s yellow,” said Stanley. “She ain’t one of them, is she?”
“I told you she’s hurt,” said Lrag. “How many times do I have to say it?”
“The horen got me,” I said.
“Oh, yeah? He got me a couple of times, trying to get me to stomp Soren. Itched like the scabies, but I didn’t turn yellow.”
It was weird to be talking to Stanley. The last time I’d seen him, I’d set fire to his feet, so he wouldn’t load our mantel in the van.
Gerald flew down and hovered in front of Earl and Stanley. “Matilda’s tiny compared to you and she got a big dose.”
Both humans’ foreheads creased. They were thinking, and I half-expected smoke to come out of their ears.
“Matilda? What kind of Matilda?” asked Stanley.
