by J. A. Pitts
“Madame will be most delighted you have arrived,” she said, sweeping me down the short hall to a sitting room. Jimmy sat on a rather rickety chair with a television tray propped in front of him and a small cup and saucer set in the center of what had to be the face of Don Adams. I glanced to where Gunther sat and saw the dented face of Barbara Feldon. They were a Get Smart set.
So I watched too much Nick at Night. I’m not sure if they saw the irony. Move along.
Stuart stood behind Gunther, staring out the window, his hands clasped behind his back and his shoulders bunched like he was ready to fight. Gunther looked slightly amused and winked at me when I stepped into the room. Jimmy did not take his eyes off Gottschalk.
“You’ve missed the tea,” Madame Gottschalk barked, waving her hands at the woman who’d escorted me down the fairly short hallway.
“Would you like water?” the young woman asked.
“Yes, thanks.”
She nodded, not glancing at the seething Madame and left the room. No one said a word until the young woman returned with my water. She left the room and Madame began talking again.
“As I was saying,” she started at a rather high volume. “Your people are stirring things up, especially her,” she said, jerking an arthritic hand in my direction. She looked like a goblin or something, squat and fat, with knobbly knuckles and spotted skin. Maybe a toad in a housecoat.
“What have I done?” I asked, having no patience for this type of BS.
She whipped her head around, eyes bulging and her cheeks quivering. For a moment, I thought she was going to spit on me, but she mustered up a throat-bobbing swallow and opened her mouth with a sneer. “Don’t think I don’t know you truck with the dragon,” she said, the anger so apparent that her skin flushed red. “You were supposed to be an ally. You were supposed to be a watcher. Now I don’t know what to do with you.”
“Implying what?” Gunther asked, leaning back in his folding chair.
“You compromise us all,” she crowed, flapping her hands in front of her. “And this one,” she pointed past Gunther to Stuart. “He consorts with the witch.”
Jimmy dropped his head into his hands. I could see the veins in his temple throbbing. I’m sure he had a hint that Stuart and Qindra had met a few times since he and Katie had rescued her before Christmas. I’m just not sure it had been so blatantly thrown into his face.
Stuart didn’t turn around, but he clenched his hands into fists and hunched his shoulders even tighter.
“Just take a breath,” Jimmy said, lowering his hands and raising his head. “We don’t know you folks. We came here on good faith. Do you have information to trade, or do you just want to berate us for our personal relationships?”
Gottschalk took two gulping breaths, looking around the sitting room. A tabby cat strolled across the top of the bookcase to her right, dropped to the arm of her chair, and pushed his head into her shoulder, purring loudly.
“Oh, take their side,” she groused, but scratched the cat behind the ears.
“Look,” Jimmy said. “Did you know my parents?”
Gottschalk nodded once, the breath causing her nostrils to flare.
“Do you have information about their disappearance?”
Gottschalk raised her head to the point she was looking down her nose at Jimmy. “We may have some middling information. What do you have we could possibly be interested in trading?”
Jimmy started to rise from his chair, but Gunther put his hand on his friends arm and leaned forward on his own.
“If you have knowledge of Olivia and Paul Cornett, perhaps it would be a show of good faith to tell us, a gift perhaps, to seal a new friendship.”
Sarah watched him as he spoke. His words were not singsong, but they carried the tone and weight of ritual.
“New friends?” Gottschalk asked, licking her lips. “It only seems fair.” She fussed with the cat a moment, keeping her eyes locked onto Gunther’s.
“And of course,” he continued. “We would offer you a gift in return.”
He looked over at Jimmy who reached between his feet and pulled opened a knapsack. Inside were three items: a scroll, a small dagger, and a necklace of dark stones. He laid each of them on the television tray in front of him.
“Trinkets?” Gottschalk asked. “Pretties?”
Jimmy took a deep breath and picked up the scroll. “This is the account of certain activities which occurred in Minsk nearly one-hundred years ago.” He sat that back down. “They may be of interest to someone close to you.”
Gottschalk’s eyes narrowed, but she only nodded.
He picked up the dagger holding it between his thumb and one finger. The scabbard was plain leather, but worked with some symbols. My runes itched at the thought of them. “This item is reported to have belonged to Rasputin—”
Gottschalk sat forward, pushing the cat aside. Of course the furry prince would have none of that. He arched his back, hissed once, then strutted off the edge of the chair and sauntered to twine himself against Stuart’s legs.
We’d all followed the cat’s progress—all but Madame. Her eyes were only on the dagger.
“And the third?” she asked, the greed eager in her voice.
“A trifle,” Gunther said, waving his hand over the lot.
“It came out of Iceland,” Jimmy said, gritting his teeth. “I don’t know the history of it, nor its importance.” He paused, glancing at Gunther who just nodded once. “This is what convinced my parents to go to Reykjavik.”
My head snapped up, gazing hard at Jimmy. I’d never seen that necklace, and I’m willing to bet Katie hadn’t either. Man, she was going to be livid when she came out of her coma. She and Jimmy had only just begun to fix their relationship after the whole Fafnir’s ring incident.
“Where did you get these?” Gottschalk asked.
“The dagger and the scroll were hidden in a safety deposit box,” Jimmy said, aiming his words to me.
That’s where he’d recovered Fafnir’s ring. His parents had left them three clay statues, each with a secret inside.
“The necklace has been in the safekeeping of others,” Gunther said, looking at me briefly then focusing on Gottschalk. He needn’t have bothered. Gottschalk had no eyes for anything or anyone beyond the dagger.
I caught Gunther’s eyes, and he casually fingered his own necklace—a crucifix. So, his order had been examining the Reykjavik necklace. I wondered what they knew about it and just why the hell Jimmy was willing to give up these three items.
“These are trifles,” Gottschalk said, sitting back and waving her hand in front of her face. “Minor trinkets. What could you possibly want in return?”
Gunther sat back, smiling. Gottschalk and Jimmy had locked eyes and were not budging.
“First we want to know everything you know about my parents, what they were doing, where they went, and how or why they disappeared.”
Gottschalk smiled demurely. “That’s a fair trade.” She rolled herself forward, leveraging her girth out onto the edge of her recliner, her one arm outstretched, reaching for the items on Jimmy’s tray.
Jimmy closed his hands over the tray, blocking her reach.
“Second, we want access to your archives and your people,” he said, unsmiling. “We want to interview them about what’s going on in our area, the dragons in general, and anything else you may have discovered about this region.”
That was too much. Madame sat back with a thump, her face distorted with disgust. “Are you mad?”
“Third,” Jimmy want on, his voice rising to overwhelm her sputtering.
“Third?” she raged, rising out of her chair, knocking over her own television tray, sending a bone white china cup to the hardwood floor with a crash. “You demand too much.”
“Third!” Jimmy cried, rising on his own to loom over the tray with his artifacts. “You will stop following my people, stop attempting to infiltrate Black Briar, and stop spying on us for your sister in Minsk.”<
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Gottschalk sat back with an oomph, her face suddenly pale. “My sister?”
Gunther sat forward. “The scroll will appease her,” he said, his voice like steel. “Baba Yaga is a powerful witch,” he said. I shook my head, trying to make sure I’d heard him right. Baba Yaga of the chicken-legged hut? What the hell?
“She …” Madame gulped once and coughed.
The young woman appeared at my side again. “Yes, Madame?”
“Water,” the old woman croaked.
We waited while the young servant brought forth a tall glass of water, and watched as Gottschalk drained it in one long pull.
She handed the glass back to her servant and waved her away.
The young woman bowed and turned, winking at me as she did so. Damn, I know her from somewhere. I just couldn’t place her. That was going to bug the crap out of me.
“I will send someone to you before the next full moon,” she said, her voice quavering.
Was she scared? Was her sister truly Baba Yaga? And if so, why did Black Briar knowing this frighten her so much?
“Seven days,” Stuart said, his voice a tight ball of pain.
“Quite right,” she said, brushing her hair out of her face and composing herself. “I will send you a report of what we know of your parents,” she held up one finger. “I will have my people stand down, but there is a caveat to that.”
Jimmy frowned. “Such as?”
“We meet regularly, and exchange news, ideas, and plans. That way we may coordinate our activities, share the resources, and perhaps learn more by duplicating less.”
Jimmy glanced at Gunther who shrugged. Then he looked at me for the first time. His eyes were bloodshot. “Sarah?”
I nodded. It seemed reasonable.
“Fine,” he said. “Sarah will meet with you. What else?”
Wait, what? “Um …” I began, but Gunther shook his head quickly and I subsided. Like I needed another job with no paycheck.
“Finally,” she said, “You may inquire of us, anything you wish, and we shall do the same. But we will not freely give up all we have gathered. We do not know if that is a fair trade.”
Jimmy scowled, but nodded. “Fair enough.”
Madame sat forward, her hands out, reaching toward Jimmy.
I stepped forward, picked up the three items, and stepped toward her.
“If I’m to be the lackey here,” I said, grinning down at the old woman, “I’ll listen to your requests and pass on to Black Briar things I feel are worthy.” I didn’t even look back at the guys. Either they agreed, or I didn’t play.
I placed the scroll in her hand, and her eyes lit up.
“Second,” I said, holding up the necklace. “This stays with me until Katie has had a chance to examine it and ask questions.” I glanced back at Jimmy then, and he was absolutely not happy. “No secrets, Jim, remember?”
He nodded stiffly. Stuart turned then, watching me for the first time. I think there was a bit of admiration in his face. That or gas. I was going for the admiration.
“And finally,” I said, holding up the dagger.
The energy signature off that dagger was scary high. It made my whole arm tingle. This was some powerful magic. I looked to Gunther who nodded, smiling.
“You can have this,” I said, sliding it into the jeans of my pocket. “When you put Olivia and Paul’s wedding rings into my hands.”
The room exploded.
“What the hell?” Jimmy shouted.
“How dare you?” Gottschalk started, then sat back as I leaned into her personal space. I was so pissed I could feel the berserker dancing in the background. It wouldn’t take much to call it forth and punch this manipulating old bitch in the face. “I know you have them. Don’t pretend.”
I stepped back. Jimmy grabbed my arm. “What are you talking about?” he asked, the anger and shock bleeding through his words. “Their wedding rings.”
“Later,” I said, pushing his hand off my arm. “Those are my conditions.”
I turned, walked down the hallway, and let myself out the door.
The house erupted into shouts, but I didn’t go back inside. I walked out and sat on the back of Jimmy’s pickup waiting for the fireworks to settle down.
After a few minutes, Stuart walked out of the house.
“Must you always kick the hornet’s nest?” he asked with a grin.
I shrugged. “I don’t like her,” I said. “And I sure as hell don’t trust her.”
He leaned against the truck next to me and crossed his arms. “Pretty sure she’s a witch,” he said. “You sure you want to piss her off?”
“Hey,” I said, poking him in the arm. “We have a better witch on our team.”
He stiffened, suddenly uncomfortable.
“Qindra really digs you,” I said, quietly. “I don’t know what you’ve said or done, but that girl is seven kinds of flummoxed over you.”
“Really?” he asked, turning to look at me.
For a moment he looked fourteen hearing about his first crush liking him back.
“Totally,” I said. “She wants you to escort her to Portland, but she’s afraid you’ll laugh at her.”
He stood up straight, his face very serious. “I would do no such thing,” he said. “She is an intriguing woman.” He looked passed me, his eyes a little unfocused. I turned to look over my shoulder making sure there was no one there and smiled. He was smitten.
“Take her to dinner,” I offered, nudging him.
He focused his eyes on me and smiled a shy little smile. “I was thinking of asking her on a real date.”
I patted him on the shoulder. “Someplace fancy,” I said with a smile. “Let her dress up, pick the wine, gush all over her. She’ll melt in your arms.”
He blushed at that and looked toward the house. Gunther was striding down the path toward us.
“The scroll is the real win for her,” he said to me. “The necklace is untapped. We couldn’t make any sense of it. There doesn’t appear to be any reason this drove Jimmy’s folks to run off like they did. Just makes no sense.”
“And the dagger?”
He sighed and shrugged. “Real as real. Rasputin had it on him when he survived several assassination attempts. Theory is it kept him alive, but none of us were willing to test that magic.”
I cupped my hand over the dagger bulge in my pocket. “Maybe we don’t want her to have this.”
“It betrayed him in the end,” he said. “There are only so many times you can tempt fate. At the end he trusted this would save him and it did not.”
“Was Rasputin a dragon?” I asked. It would only make sense.
“Rumor has it,” Stuart said, causing Gunther and me to both turn to look at him. He grinned and shrugged. “Hey, I may not be in any secondary guilds or anything, but I am a member of Black Briar. I do my research.”
“My demands stand,” I said. “You want me to play along, this is my price.”
Gunther glanced at Stuart and shook his head. “Remember when she was unsure of herself?”
Stuart chuckled. “And how much she used to want to be just like us?”
“I never wanted to be you,” I said, laughing. “I just liked having you both around as mentors.”
They both got serious at that, and they each took one of my hands.
“Our little girl’s all growed up,” Stuart said with a syrupy southern drawl.
“About damned time,” Gunther said.
“How did you know about Baba Yaga?” I asked. “And the dagger? Your order knew Gottschalk would drool all over it?”
“Yes,” Gunther replied. “They’ve known about this Order of Mordred since they first came to town with the gold rush.”
“Gold rush?” I asked. “That’s a long time.”
“And Madame Gottschalk is very old,” he said. “The dagger was truly Rasputin’s. It will help Gottschalk with some political matters back home. She and her sister do not always see eye-to-eye, let�
�s say.”
“You’re the man in the know here,” I said, slipping my hand in my pocket to grasp the dagger. “So, we’re just gonna give her the knife?”
He nodded. “In exchange for the rings,” Gunther said, smiling. “That was quite the surprise. I’m curious how you knew about them.”
“Long story, better told out of earshot,” I said, hiking my thumb toward the house. “I need to head out of here, check on Jai Li. Can you two make sure Jimmy gets out of there alive?”
They chuckled.
“We’ve kept him out of trouble since the early days,” Stuart said. “We’ll be okay.”
I walked over to my bike, and put on my helmet. As I pulled down the street to turn around, I glanced over and saw that Gunther and Stuart had their heads together talking.
I missed them both so much. We needed to get our lives back to some level of normalcy. And in all that, nothing was mentioned about Katie.
It only took me about fifteen seconds to have the bike back down the street to where Stuart and Gunther were talking. They looked up as I stopped the bike and flipped up the face shield.
“Did she say anything about Katie?” I asked over the bike’s idle.
Stuart’s face fell, and Gunther shook his head.
“I’m sorry,” Gunther said, stepping over to grasp my shoulder. “Jimmy asked, but Gottschalk was perplexed. She doesn’t know anything.”
“Maybe she’s lying?” I doubted it, but I had to ask.
“No,” Stuart said, smiling. “She’s not lying.” He glanced at Gunther who nodded. Stuart reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a small silver disk.
“If she lied, I’d know,” he said, handing the disk to me.
I examined the disk, peeling off my gloves. The second I made flesh contact to it, I got a shock that set the runes along my scalp into overdrive. Light exploded from the disk, and I closed my fist around it, damping down the white flare.