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Chapter 25

Keeper House, Emory, Washington

The wildflowers that dotted the meadow in front of Keeper house were in full fall bloom. The apple and pear trees were fully fruited. The peaceful beauty of the place had been interrupted this day by a legion of guardians who were carefully searching for clues to fully understand what had happened here.

Anna, the hedge witch, had come upon the wolf killed corpse of the young witch when she had come to collect Jeffery for his lessons. After hearing the tear-filled accounts of the two traumatized youngsters. She called Althea, collected the two children and left for her home trusting the others to do their job.

Althea Hayden was barely holding herself together as she and Birdey Penrose reviewed the scene.

“We were responsible for keeping that little girl safe. The mother only knows what Lachlan Quinn will do when he finds we’ve failed. Whatever was the Alpha thinking to sanction this. This is a full escalation of our conflict. He can’t possibly gain anything.”

“Bah, the boy will do nothing and good riddance to the shifter girl. Althea, surely you must realize that the alpha has done us a favor.”

“What favor? You know how precious children are to us. Violet was my niece’s youngest daughter. What am I going to tell her mother? That I sent her daughter to her death. You and I taught that girl her first spellcraft. The Alpha has declared war and war he shall have.”

“Althea,” Birdy’s voice was calming. “There is no need to go there. I’m sure Violet’s death was an accident. The Alpha assured me…”

Althea turned to face the other coven queen. “When were you talking to the Alpha?”

Then a terrible suspicion hit.

“What have you done, you stupid woman?” Her voice held a note of rising hysteria.

“I did what was necessary to protect the covens,” Birdy Penrose’s voice was smugly triumphant. “Sister, you know as well as I do that the Red Queens will sanction us severely if they find we have trained a shifter.”

“You sacrificed one of our own acolytes to do this thing. Did you think of that?” Althea was trying desperately to hold on to her temper in the face of this monumental, willful stupidity.

“That was regrettable, but I did what I thought was right. That shifter needed to be back with her own kind.”

“He will kill her. She is the last of the old alpha’s line. Did you stop to think what the Keeper’s boy will do to us?”

“That boy will do nothing. The Alpha assured me he was damaged—a shadow of what those monsters trained him to be.”

This was too much. Althea was filled with an explosive mix of terror and fury. She stepped forward, slapped Birdy as hard as she could. Birdy fell to the ground in shock. Althea stood over and screeched, all reason lost.

“You miserable, stupid, stupid woman. You have killed us all. That boy as you call him, single-handedly destroyed an entire Dökkálfar Forge in one night. A hundred fully mature Sidhe warriors. Have you ever heard of a human successfully fighting even one? Do you imagine forty-three women will prevail against his vengeance?”

“Bah. He is a mere mundane. We have a hundred spells and hexes to stop him.”

“Birdy, are you suddenly senile? Have you forgotten? The Vísdómur warded him. You’ve seen the glyphs on the boy’s back. He is immune to our spell craft.”

The other woman’s face showed sudden uncertainty.

“Wait, I knew that. How could I have forgotten?”

Both kastamonu escort women paled as the realization hit.

The Manna Surge they had been fearing had begun.

“The bounty of manna has corrupted you, you old fool.”

Birdy lowered her head, knowing full well what was coming.

“Forgive me my friend, do what you must to protect us.”

Althea stepped away and took a deep breath. Years of self-discipline took hold. She calmed herself. Muttered the spell.

And her oldest friend fell dead.

The covens cleaned their own house.

Chapter 26

Tavern District, Oldtown

Quinn had long made it a policy to never sleep on any of his missions in Oldtown. The truly dangerous beings who dwelled there generally avoided each other, but it was a good practice to not take unnecessary chances. He knew he could function well for up to three days without sleep, longer if he could find a safe place to meditate. The Troll Women had thought it a ridiculous indulgence for him to have to go offline for six to eight hours out of every twenty-four in order to be efficient. So they taught him some esoteric meditation techniques to fix that.

As soon as he left Elisabeth’s Inn, he picked up a tail. The small female goblin was good. Most would have missed her. She gave herself away by one too many anxious glances. She was unlikely to be alone. Quinn made a note to himself to see if he could spot where her partners lurked.

A tail was good news. He was closer to his goal.

It was near evening, and he remembered there was another place to gather some gossip about his betters. He crossed Market Street and ducked down an alley that led to Northmarket’s red-light district. Small Meg’s bordello occupied a prominent corner.

He walked up the stairs, nodded to the doorman, and threw open the door.

“Honey, I’m home,” he roared. “Where are my girls?”

There was excited squealing, and seven identical brown-eyed green-haired sirens, along with three voluptuous succubae, came tripping down the stairs.

“Treats, Lanlan? Did you bring treats?”

“I might have treats for good girls.” He reached into his pack and pulled out his ever-present M there was easier prey to be found.

He smiled an inward smile when he saw that his shadows still followed. Now there were four of them—highly professional, too.

They made their move in a particularly foul den down on the river that bordered Oldtown’s west side.

The tavern had a sign with a crudely drawn fish leaping out of water. When he walked in, Quinn immediately spotted Zeba the Healer, the youngest of Troll Women, in one of her personas as a buxom human bar girl.

“What will it be, handsome?” she shot him a saucy wink.

“Ale,” he answered with a scowl.

What were the Vísdómur up to now?

“Here you are, handsome,” she said cheerfully, then she whispered, “They’re going to come for you. Try not to get yourself killed. As amateurish as you have been lately, we are surprised you haven’t tripped and bashed your own brains out. There was no need to show off to the vampires.”

Quinn nodded guiltily. She spoke the truth.

He sipped his ale and chatted casually with an aged female human named Gert. She had sat down next to him, and was trying out her half remembered flirting skills, trying to get him to buy her one more ale when a tiny green eyed female pixie with a tiny baby swaddled kayseri escort in a dirty blanket sidled up to the bar.

“Please master, could you help my baby?” she held the blanket open for him to see its tiny wizened face.

The tiny thing gave a weak cry.

Quinn leaned in to look.

The pixie casually reached up and darted his neck. Rough hands grabbed him as he instantly crumpled.

The last thing Quinn saw was Zeba shaking her head in disapproval at his ineptitude.

He groaned.

Then blackness.

Chapter 27

The Desolate, Oldtown

Quinn came to face down on a mattress that smelled of mildew. The sound of a baby crying overlaid the rumble of several deep voices arguing.

“Shut that cub up for mother’s sake,” a harsh voice shouted in trollish. “I can’t think with all that noise.”

He lay quietly while he accessed his condition. Except for the odd bruise and a headache, he was in good condition. He marveled he was still alive and took a moment to berate himself. His haste was making him take too many chances. His only excuse was that he’d been a half a bubble off center ever since the sight of the mind ripper in Althea’s office.

You better get your shit together. You’ve used up all the luck you’re ever gonna get.

The Other added to his self condemnation by signaling a strong sense of disapproval as it came to the fore.

I know I know. Quit nagging.

They merged

His senses expanded and set about feeling out the environment. He uncovered a whole new layer of disagreeable odors. The cool, dry air was redolent with odors of cooking and urine. He tasted a faint taste of salt. Quinn knew instantly where he was.

Down in the Desolate.

All right, this is what you wanted. Let’s see if we can make some progress.

Quinn tested his bonds. Only his wrists tied. They don’t know who he is; they must think they’ve captured an old woodworker.

Embarrassing dumb luck.

“I know you’re awake, old man. I can see your breathing changed,” a harsh voice growled in trollish.

Quinn willed the Other away and rolled over with a theatrical groan.

A hunchbacked troll with one arm glared at him. Two orcs stood at his back. The small goblin who had been following him and tiny pixie who had stabbed him sat on the floor in the corner cuddling the crying baby.

“Masters, I don’t understand. Why have you abducted me? What could you want with a poor worker of wood?”

“Well, human, you’re worth a good deal of money to us. I don’t know what you did, but Goldeneyes wants you and will pay good coppers for you.”

Quinn sat up and tried to decide what to do. He knew he could find Goldeneyes easy enough. But he knew he needed a guide to get out of the catacombs if he didn’t want to waste a ton of time stumbling around trying to find his way out. The place was a veritable labyrinth.

He looked at the pixie in the corner who gazed speculatively back at him. The baby keeps its little whimpering cry.

She was the brains of the outfit.

Quinn flexed his arm.

The dragon’s razor instantly emerged with a shriek and snapped out two finely calculated blows to the foreheads of each of the orcs.

The floor shook as they fell.

It snapped out once more and encircled the troll’s throat.

“Be you still, troll,” Quinn grates in guttural trollish. “I don’t want to harm you, but I will take your head kıbrıs escort if you move.”

The troll blinked. Stood as still as a statue.

Quinn looked at the pixie and the goblin who were gathering themselves to run.

“Mistresses, hold you fast. I will not harm you or your group further, but you must hold fast or I will have to take your life. Do you ken?”

Wide-eyed, the pixie settled back and waved at the goblin to join her.

He stepped up to the growling troll, who was working himself in one of his kind’s famous rages. Quinn held his left wrist up to the being’s eyes.

“Look at the mark, my friend. Do you ken?”

The troll’s ruddy features paled. He fell to his knees and put his head to the floor and started singing his clan’s death song.

“No need for that friend. Stand up and tend to your associates.”

Quinn stepped over to the pixie female, reached down, lifted the blanket, and peered at the baby.

“How long has he been crying?”

“Since last night.”

“Let me see to the babe. I have some small skills.”

The pixie looked at his face and nodded uncertainly.

Quinn gently picked up the tiny thing.

The Other came to the fore. They merged once again. His black gaze turned inward and he listened to its heart and felt for fever. To Quinn’s surprise, the Other came further out of its lair deep in Quinn’s personality and began a rumbling crooning.

The healing rune on his shoulder flared white.

The baby fixed its eyes on Quinn’s eyes, gave a tiny sigh and slept.

“He has a fever and is malnourished. How have you been feeding?”

“Not well lately. It has been a dry spell for us since my mate died. That’s why we’re down in this place. You were going to be our big score. Goldeneyes has offered a gold for your capture. A gold!” She seemed to marvel at the vastness of the reward. Then she frowned and spoke bitterly. “I know why the reward was so high.”

The troll had the two orcs conscious. The three of them clustered behind the pixie and eyed Quinn warily.

Quinn saw they couldn’t figure out why they were still alive. They suspected this was some sort of cruel jest on Quinn’s part.

Quinn gave them a smile and reached into the pack and fished out three rolls of pennies and handed them to the pixie.

“I want to hire you. Here is one hundred fifty coppers. I need you to do a task or two for me. Do we have a bargain?” Quinn looked in turn at all four beings.

A calculating look flickered across the goblin’s face then changed into blandness.

“Now, think you carefully on it, my friends before you agree. Do not think to cheat me. I will have your oath on it.”

The five looked at each other wordlessly.

The pixie swore their pledge.

“Do you know Edie, the Northmarket Healer?”

The Pixie nodded.

“Go to her with the babe. She will have medicine for you and the babe. Medicine that will freshen your breast milk. You have spent too much time down in the Desolate away from your trees and flowers. That is the cause of your and the babies’ illness.”

He pointed to the goblins. “Does Goldeneye’s clan still lair at the edge of Eastmarket.”

“Aye Master.”

“Do you know of the being called Wraith?”

He watched the pixie’s eyes widened. Then her expression turned to stone.

Quinn smiled again. “Mistress, I know you are an assassin and, from the way you handled me, a gifted one. I wager you know her. All I need is for you to find her and give her a message. Tell her to contact Longshanks through Mr. Whisker’s folk. I know she is in trouble, but she is too stubborn to ask for help. She’s been like that since she was seven years old, but first I need you to guide me out of here. I need to have a chat with Mistress Goldeneyes.”

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