Fire and Ice

by Tymber Dalton

  “Hey, she’s special,” Brodey said. “I don’t mean hockey helmet special, either,” he added with a playful wink in her direction.

  “Nice. Thanks.” She grinned, sniffling her tears away.

  “Hey, what’s a big brother to do if not to pick on his little sister?”

  “Just remember I can randomly blow things up.”

  “Uh-uh. You promised me no roasted wolf, remember?”

  She laughed. “Dang, you would remember that, wouldn’t you?”

  “Uh, hells yeah.”

  Wally entered. Lina immediately recognized the immense man despite him now being clad in jeans and a long-sleeved, blue chambray shirt.

  She stood to embrace him and found herself engulfed in a bear hug inside his huge arms. “There’s our girl!” he said in his thick Boston accent. “How ya doin’?”

  “Good, Wally. Thank you again.” She couldn’t help but like the guy.

  “No problem. We stick togetha.” He circled the room, eschewing handshakes for crushing hugs with all the men, and an only slightly less heavy-handed hug for Lacey.

  Jocko blustered into the room a few moments later with a hearty hello and big hug for Brodey. A tall, large, rotund man, his scraggly red hair was barely touched by grey. “Hello, Lacey,” he said with a deferential nod of his head in her direction. Then he turned to Lina and the other men, giving them an appraising look. “And who be ye?”

  “This is Lina,” Brodey explained, introducing everyone else from Lina’s group, too. He already knew Wally.

  Jocko tipped his head in deference to Lina the same as he had to Lacey. “Nice to meet all of ye,” he said. “The Lyalls speak well of ye.” He looked at Kael. “And ye be the dragon that wants to meet with Daniel Blackestone?”

  Kael nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  The older man pulled out a chair and heavily sat. “I can’t say I’m surprised that the cockatrice are coming after people now. Their kind’s been brewing trouble longer than I ken. They’re worthless, they are.” He shook his head. “One of the few creatures worth less than them no-good Abernathys.”

  Lina didn’t have time to ask who the Abernathys were. They all looked at the door as it opened again. Lina immediately pegged the handsome, black-haired, green-eyed man that walked in as a wolf. He held the hand of a red-haired woman who…

  Lina stood. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?” she asked without thinking. She didn’t know if it was her freaky new Seer powers or what, but the woman’s very essence screamed power. Then she recognized her. She definitely was one of Baba Yaga’s sisters. She’d been there at the making of the tablet, even though she looked different then. Her energy, however, was unmistakable.

  The woman looked startled. The man instinctively pushed her behind him, stepping protectively between them. “One of what?” he practically growled.

  Lina shook her head. “Baba Yaga. Whatever she is. You’re one of them. One of her sisters.”

  Both of the newcomers visibly relaxed. He stepped out of the way. “You just can’t catch a break, can you, sweetie?” he teased. “No more undercover work for you.”

  Neither of them offered clarification for that comment. The woman swatted him on the shoulder before returning her attention to Lina. “Babs is my older sister. And who are you?”

  Kael stepped forward. “She’s with us.”

  The man’s face lit up. “Kael!” He stepped forward and embraced Kael. They clapped each other on the shoulders. “How the hell are you?”

  “I’m fine. Everyone, this is Daniel Blackestone. Blackie, you look good. Who’s this?”

  Daniel grinned. “Everyone, this is Callie. My mate.”

  Now Lina knew for sure the woman’s identity—Cailleach.

  “Yeah,” Jocko said. “We’d all long ago figured the boy wouldn’t find someone. Then here he comes, dragging home this poor woman.” He laughed. “He’s lucky she didn’t kill him in his tracks.”

  Daniel looked down at the woman with more than love and affection in his eyes. Lina recognized amusement. “I sure am.”

  Callie pushed him aside. “Back off, buddy. I need to give this woman a hug.” She stepped forward and engulfed Lina in a hug before she could step away. “Thank you,” Callie whispered in her ear.

  Lina returned the hug. “For what?”

  “Long story. I’ll tell you later.” She stepped away, leaving Lina both pleased and confused at the same time. Just like her handshake with Ain Lyall, her hug with Callie left Lina filled with the feeling of gratitude. She was glad all these people felt grateful.

  She just wished to hell she knew why.

  “So,” Daniel said, “what’s going on?”

  They gathered around a table and between them all, told the tale. Daniel looked thoughtful. “So, the cockatrice want the Tablet of Trammel, huh?”

  “Apparently,” Lina said. “Although I have a feeling they won’t get the results they’re looking for even if they do find it.”

  “But we want them to keep looking, don’t we?” Daniel asked.

  She smiled. “Yep. The longer they keep looking, the longer it’ll take them to form an alternate plan.”

  Callie laughed. “Slick. I like you, girlfriend.”

  “Even better,” Lina added, “if we can locate the tablet, we can protect it and then send the cockatrice on a wild-goose chase and try to figure out who’s involved in their plan.”

  Daniel scratched his head. “I haven’t seen the tablet in over a hundred years.”

  “Do you know where it is now?”

  He shook his head. “No. Bertholde didn’t leave you any clues?”

  “Not in the box of stuff she sent. I don’t know if there’s anything at her house. That’s our next stop.” She had brought several of the books to the confab with her. Kael and Zack were translating them for her. She pulled them out of a backpack and set them on the table, as well as the puzzle box and the stone figurines. “We’ve been going through her journals and it’s great background information, but no clues.”

  Daniel picked up the puzzle box. In three quick movements, he opened it and handed it back to her.

  The room went silent. Lina finally closed her gaping jaw and took the box from him. Inside lay a scroll.

  “How the hell did you do that?” she whispered.

  He shrugged. “I made it for her. She told me what size she wanted. Didn’t tell me what she wanted it for. Made it for her, oh, over a hundred years ago.”

  Kael looked stunned. “Well bend me over and frost my bacon.” Everyone stared at him. His face reddened. “What?”

  Zack rolled his eyes. “Yes, he belongs to me. Any questions?”

  Brodey cleared his throat. “Not to interrupt or anything, but can someone please take a look at the scroll?”

  With trembling fingers, Lina removed it from the box. The bleached parchment felt new, not old. Lina laid it on the table and carefully unrolled it. Written in the same hand as the letter from Bertholde, it was in French.

  Jan translated for her.

  Dearest Lina,

  If you are reading this, you have either met Daniel Blackestone, broken open the box, or some third party has intercepted this.

  Although I suppose you might have figured out how to open the box, but that is unlikely since it took me several days to remember how to open it.

  Anyhow, your suppositions are correct. I did exactly as you suspect. (Trust your instincts!) You know exactly what I’m talking about. The answers you seek are exactly where you suspect they are. For obvious reasons, I cannot state all here. You are the sole caretaker now, you and your men.

  Enjoy your journey, and take care to watch your back, as they say. Lacey’s clan will love and protect you as one of their own. Hopefully, you’ve had a chance to talk with her by now. If not, do so immediately.

  I apologize in advance for the squeak.

  (And Andel, you can still go fuck yourself. My, I do love saying that! And yes, he knows I still love him.)
>
  Love to you and your men,

  Bertholde.

  Lina laughed, but the cryptic note didn’t make things clearer. “Okay, so I’m guessing we’ll find the clue to the tablet’s location at her house?”

  Brodey nodded as he read the scroll over Jan’s shoulder. “Yep. And I’m guessing she also means she moved it from wherever it was last hidden, so none of the other keepers know its location.

  “What the heck does she mean by the squeak, I wonder?” Lina pondered.

  Lacey, however, had a wide ear-to-ear grin on her face. “I know exactly what she means.” She looked at Lina and winked. “As soon as you get to her house, call me on a cell phone and I’ll tell you. Any time, day or night.”

  “Why a cell phone?” Zack asked.

  Lacey shrugged. “We don’t know what we’re up against. I wouldn’t put it past anyone to bug her phone. Don’t worry. Even if they ransack her house, they won’t find what she left for you. I guarantee it.”

  * * * *

  Jocko called a brief recess in their discussion to call the server back in for their orders. “While this place is owned by one of our Pack, it still pays to take precautions,” he said.

  Daniel ordered a drink and sat back in his chair with a sad look on his face. Once the server left, he said, “I hate those goddamned bastards.” Lina knew if she reached out and touched his hand, she’d feel a wave of sadness from him.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “They killed my family and half the goddamned village we lived in. Wiped them out. Everyone except me, my sister, and one of our neighbors.” He finished his drink in three swallows. “She’d just started shifting and my parents had asked me to take her out one night on a run. Keep her safe. We got back just before dawn and found everyone dead. The three of us managed to catch up with one of their stragglers, an orc who’d thrown their hat in with them.” His expression hardened. “We finally let him die the next night after we knew we’d gotten all the information out of him. Unfortunately, by the time we got word to other shifter strongholds and they sent reinforcements, the cockatrice had skittered into hiding like the fucking roaches they are.”

  She thought about what Lacey had told her about Andel. “That sounds like a common theme with these asshats. They like to pick on people who can’t defend themselves.”

  “It’s definitely one of their calling cards,” Daniel agreed. He looked into Lina’s eyes, then around the rest of the room. “They thought we had the tablet. They’d found out, somehow, that my father was one of the guardians of it.”

  “But they didn’t get the tablet?” Kael asked.

  “Nope. The tablet wasn’t in the village. Back then, it was never kept anywhere near where the guardians lived.”

  “How did you find out where it was?” Lina asked.

  “They made me one of the guardians,” Daniel said.

  She looked at Lacey. “I thought you said all of them were old?”

  Daniel interrupted. “I’m not a keeper of the tablet anymore. I bowed out when I left Europe.”

  “Oh,” Lina said, mollified.

  Zack opened up the knapsack he’d brought with him and put the book, the figurines, the two knives, and the remnants of the charmed handcuffs Lenny had put on Rick and Jan on the table. “Any of those look familiar to anyone?”

  Brodey said, “Sorry I didn’t think to bring the ones he’d used on Lina with us.”

  Callie held her hand out, a frown on her face. “Can I see those?”

  Zack handed them to her. Now mangled and broken from when Jan and Rick broke the chain before Brodey helped free them, their charmed powers were gone.

  Callie ran her fingers over the marks etched in the silver cuffs. “This looks familiar. There used to be a guy in Brussels who did work like this. I thought I’d heard he died, but this sure looks like his handiwork.” She returned them to Zack.

  “What about these?” he asked, holding the catlinite figurines.

  Lina shuddered at the very sight of them, but Callie took them, turned them around in her hands, and handed them back to him with a frown. “They’re soaked in dragon blood.”

  “See?” Lina said. “I told you they were squicky!”

  Callie thought for a moment. “There was an artisan, also in Brussels, who used to make all sorts of magickal carvings and talismans, if I remember correctly. In the older days, Brussels was a very popular central location for vendors to set up shop who had dealings with fey races.”

  “Fey races?” Lina asked.

  Callie nodded. “Nonhumans. Shifters, that sort of stuff.”

  “Well,” Zack said, “we can make Brussels our second stop after we get done at Bertholde’s house.”

  Chapter Four

  As they awaited their flight out of Bangor to JFK in New York, Lina nervously looked at Zack. “I can’t do this,” she said, tears close to the surface.

  He squeezed her hands. “Yes, you can. We’re all here for you.”

  “But what if I accidentally set fire to the plane or something?” she fearfully whispered. “I don’t want to kill everyone!”

  Brodey sat down beside her and slung an arm around her. “Listen, Goddess girl. Remember how scared you were flying to Yellowstone?”

  She nodded.

  “Remember it was okay?”

  She hesitated, but nodded again.

  “Okay, then. Do you honestly think we’ll let anything happen to you, or let you do anything to anyone innocent?”

  “But what if I can’t control myself?” she whispered.

  Blackie stepped over. “Move aside, guys,” he said, offering his hand to Lina.

  She reached up and took it, then let him lead her off to the side, to stand beside the windows near their gate.

  With his voice calm and low, he looked into her eyes. “I hate to fly, too. I really do. But do you know what I do?”

  She shook her head.

  He offered her a kind smile. “I have a little ritual. When I get to the door, I always put my hand on the outside of the plane and say to myself, ‘Just one more flight, please. If not, it’s a good day to die.’”

  “But I don’t want to die!”

  “I know,” he soothed. “Sometimes, however, things are beyond our control. Right?”

  She finally nodded.

  “Who’s with you today?”

  “Huh?”

  “Humor me. Who is traveling with you today?”

  “Jan and Rick. Zack and Kael. Brodey, Wally, Jocko, and you and Callie. Why?”

  “So the people who either love you, or who care a great deal about you, right?”

  She nodded.

  “You’re surrounded by love. Not many people meet their maker getting to say that. Right?”

  “Um, morbid, but sure, okay.”

  He chuckled. “You’re a goddess. If you’re really that worried, just envision us having a safe, uneventful flight to JFK.” He snorted. “Then pray that Wally doesn’t rip out someone’s throat in hunger if we’re stuck on the runway while waiting too long for takeoff there.”

  That got her laughing.

  “Deep breath.”

  She took one, then let it out.

  “Better?”

  “Not really.”

  He leaned in close and hugged her. He took the opportunity to whisper in her ear. “We’re flying with Baba Yaga’s sister. If you don’t think Callie is going to make sure we land safe, rest assured Baba Yaga most likely will. That alone should comfort you.”

  She laughed, this time taking a deep, relaxing breath. “Okay. I’ll give you that point.”

  “So, better?”

  Another deep breath. “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Good. Just follow my lead and you’ll be fine.”

  When they called for boarding, Lina watched as Daniel did, in fact, pause at the plane’s door and pat the airplane’s skin beside the doorway. Then he turned and sent her a wink before stepping inside.

  “What’s that abou
t?” Zack asked.

  She paused at the doorway and did the same thing. “Never mind,” she said as she stroked the plane’s skin before crossing the threshold and stepping inside.

  Fortunately, the flight went smoothly, and they even landed a few minutes early at JFK. Daniel smiled at her from across the aisle as she waited her turn to get out of her seat and retrieve her carry-ons.

  “Okay?” he asked.

  Lina nodded. “Okay.”

  Callie laughed. “Don’t worry when you’re flying with me,” she said. “Perk of the rank.”

  Lina could only hope she’d one day have that level of confidence. “Thanks.”

  “The only fear you should have,” Brodey softly quipped, “is Wally eating all the food on board before we’re halfway across the Atlantic.”

  Wally snorted as he dragged his bulk out of his seat. “Hey, I resemble that remark, fuzz face.”

  * * * *

  Not only did the “flight across the pond,” as Jocko called it, go smoothly, Lina managed to get a couple hours’ sleep before they landed in Paris the next morning. The attorney met them at baggage claim and faced a few nervous minutes of careful scrutiny from the men in their group, who would take no chances with Lina’s safety.

  Only Zack and Callie stayed back with Lina. “Do you think they’ve grilled him enough?” Lina snarked.

  “No,” Zack said. “He doesn’t seem to have shit himself yet.”

  Callie evilly grinned. “I could take care of that. Although Wally looks like he’s holding his own.”

  Lina laughed. “I don’t think we need to go that far, but thanks for having my back.”

  With Rick, Jan, Jocko, Brodey, Daniel, Wally, and Kael finally convinced the man was, in fact, Bertholde’s attorney, they gathered their luggage and followed him to the large rental van he’d obtained for them.

  Lina wasn’t sure what she expected, but the drive to a small village east of Paris, near the La forêt Domaniale d'Armainvilliers, was beautiful.

  Then they pulled up to a gate in a high wall surrounding an estate. Another car waited there, and the driver and Uncle Andel stepped out. Andel looked aggravated.