Imperative: A Quinn Larson Quest

by P. A. Wilson

  “Well you won’t find out by standing here. Just follow them and be quiet about it,” Olan said.

  The nightshade boy was skirting the bushes on his way out of the park, his pale skin showing in the street light as he dashed across the street. I could see his left hand was clutching the gold tightly.

  We trailed him to a bus stop. The next bus was due in about five minutes and I said a little plea that he wasn’t going to get on when it came. Any hope of being inconspicuous was out the door if I stepped on a bus with Olan on my shoulder.

  “If we have to get on a bus, so be it. I’ll fly up to the top,” Olan said as if he had read my thoughts. “You get on and stay with the fairy.”

  “Do you think he’s going to get on?”

  “Maybe. Looks, he’s preparing a glamour right now.”

  Olan was right. As I looked, the fairy shimmered and the glamour spell turned him from a three foot nightshade fairy to a four and a half foot blond surfer type. “Do you think the Sidhe is on the bus?”

  “I’m not an oracle. Stop asking stupid questions.” Olan clacked his beak.

  “Okay, okay. It doesn’t seem likely. But if this is going down on a bus, we are going to have a hard time being subtle.”

  The fairy looked up and down the street then crossed. No bus ride for us, I hoped that wasn’t the only good luck we had tonight.

  I followed Nightshade as he continued around the corner of the last building on the street. He was going to a bar that I knew; it would be busy at this time of night. I looked at Olan and he fluttered up to the top of a street lamp. When he was settled, I pushed open the door and stepped into the noisy room.

  I could see a space at the end of the bar but all the tables were crowded with people who were red-faced with alcohol. I slid in to the opening and made feeble attempt to get the bartender’s attention. I scanned the room, trying to look as though I wasn’t. The Nightshade fairy was sitting in a far corner with someone. The lamp on the table was turned low but I saw the telltale lock of fair curly hair and rosy face of a Sidhe. I knew this one — Iain. It would not be helpful to have him see me, so I slid behind a fat man who was shouting at his companions.

  From my position, I could see Nightshade pass the gold to Iain and Iain pass a slip of paper to Nightshade. Good. Now we just had to intercept the paper. It was sure to lead us to the Sidhe waiting for the power.

  I watched Iain leave through a back door. If Nightshade left that way I’d follow and hope Olan figured it out. But Nightshade headed for the front door. I peeled away from the bar when he opened the door and made it outside just in time to see Nightshade running up the street toward home. Olan swooped down onto my shoulder as I passed the street light. “Nice, you seem to be getting the hang of it,” I said.

  He clacked his beak. “He’s going home. Do you think the meeting is tonight?”

  “To quote you, how should I know?” It would complicate things if the fairy wasn’t going to get his reward tonight. I didn’t think we could keep following him for days. “Let’s just see what happens.”

  We tracked him back home where he met his girl in the shadows. She kissed him and I heard a giggle. I tried to slip closer to hear what happened, but the girl handed him a while china jug and he turned and ran back into the dark. “We are in luck.” I whispered.

  It was about two in the morning. Nightshade would have to find and enchant a human before meeting the Sidhe. We would need to get ahead of him if we wanted to interrupt, save the human and get a sample of the potion. A half hour later, nightshade had found a man outside a bar downtown. The glamour he wore now showed a tall thin girl. Olan had ventured a short flight down the alley. He reported back, “There is a Sidhe woman half way down wrapped in a black cloak.”

  I was in favor of the direct approach. “Let’s try to capture her.”

  “Wizard, you are addled. You know there’s no sneaking up on one of them.”

  “But if we try, maybe we can get the potion. If we had a whole dose it would be better. We can do more testing.”

  “What about Nightshade? He paid for the potion. I don’t think they will give him another go at it. That means his family can’t breed.”

  I was surprised at Olan’s concern. “You are worried about the fairy?”

  “I don’t like creatures being taken advantage of. He is only doing this because the Sidhe won’t let him breed. Breeding is no choice, it is a biological imperative. You know that.”

  That’s a new side to the pixie. “If we get the potion, I can take a bit and give the rest to Nightshade. I won’t need much. The trick is going to be getting the Sidhe to drop it.”

  “If I fly into her face, maybe she will drop it trying to protect her precious looks.” He puffed his wings up and tried to look more dangerous.

  It didn’t feel like a good idea to change plans at this point. It would be too easy to lose the human while we attacked the Sidhe. Despite his initial reaction, Olan seemed confident so I pushed aside my concerns and started down the alley while Olan took to the air.

  Nightshade was still working on getting the human into the alley. The man was reluctant to trust a stranger, but it was only going to be a matter of time before he was pouring belladonna down his throat. Olan was slightly ahead of me as I entered the shadows. His flying was erratic; as though he was drunk, but I was sure he could manage the attack.

  I could see the Sidhe lurking in a doorway beside a dumpster. It amazed me that the normally fastidious Sidhe were willing to endure the smell and filth of the alley for a dose of human spirit. She was wrapped in a dark cloak as had Olan reported. The cloak was too small and I could see her hand clutching it around her, the white fingers almost shining against the dark fabric. The hood rested back from her face, framing rather than concealing. I could see she was really young. Her skin was almost translucent white except for the rosy blush of her cheeks.

  Olan swooped at her from behind. She didn’t suspect anything until his claws pulled at the hood, exposing thick spiral curls of strawberry blond hair. Both hands flew up to protect her face. Neither held the vial.

  I rushed forward to pull at the rest of the cloak. I hoped for a pocket, but didn’t get a chance. She saw me coming and spun away as I reached for her. As she did, the cloak swirled open and I saw the outline of the vial in the breast pocket of her blouse. Before I could grab at it she slipped out of arm’s reach.

  Olan flew after her, and I chased her down the alley, but it was no good. After a few twists and turns, I could no longer see even a hint of dark cloak. Olan landed on my shoulder. “Good news, I can fly. Bad news, she’s gone.”

  I could feel it all coming apart. “Can we get back to the Nightshade fairy before he kills the human?”

  “Next right and we’re back in the alley where they were supposed to meet.” Olan lifted off my shoulder and flew over the roof tops.

  When I got there, Nightshade was alone in the alley. At least there was no body on the ground. He looked up as I approached then shook his head.

  “She’s gone. You should go home.” I felt sorry for him. The poor guy was just trying to have a baby.

  “I know. Now I have to find more gold to buy a meeting. Dora will kill me.”

  “You can’t just kill a human so you can have a baby.” I knew it wasn’t worth my breath to try to convince him but I couldn’t resist the urge.

  “Who cares about stupid humans anyway? They just trample around and destroy gardens. Killing them is a service.”

  I hated that attitude. “If they find out we exist they will destroy us. Killing them will bring attention.”

  “I don’t care.” Nightshade stomped his foot. “We want a baby and this is the only way.”

  “No. I will stop the Sidhe and then you can breed without this death.”

  “Stupid wizard, you can’t stop the Sidhe.”

  Olan landed on the cobbles between us. “Let it go, Quinn. He won’t be killing anyone tonight. It is time for a new plan.”
/>   Chapter Nine

  The next night Olan and I were back in Stanley Park looking for another fairy to follow. The park was quiet tonight. Not a human in sight.

  “I am off to scout the area,” Olan said. Since he’d worked out how to fly, he was taking full advantage of the new freedom.

  “Great, you get to fly around and I’m stuck here getting arthritis from the damp and West Nile from the mosquitoes.”

  “Okay, you do the flying around and I’ll wait here.”

  “I wish I could. Go ahead. I don’t think anything will start up here soon. Maybe you’ll find something going on. Try the Lily territory behind the tennis courts.”

  While he was gone I checked the spell lines I’d cast earlier. I had a web of spells attached to everyone I knew. If Iain came into contact with them, I’d hear about it. It was weird that I hadn’t heard anything in the last two hours. Iain wasn’t exactly a hermit. Whatever Olan came back with, we were going Iain hunting later.

  The shadows seemed to get darker; someone had joined me. It felt like my skin was crawling off my back. “What do you want?”

  “Good to see you too, Quinn,” Iain said. “I hear you are looking for me. Or should I say I felt it.”

  “Yes. I want to ask you a few questions.” I turned to face him. He was dressed in a black silk shirt and black leather pants. On him it looked normal.

  “What questions?” He flicked some imaginary speck from his shoulder.

  “About fairies and babies.”

  “Well, the daddy fairy and the mummy fairy love each other very much.” Iain started laughing.

  “Yeah, so I heard. The problem is it no longer results in babies.” I tried to read his expression but he gave nothing away. “You know what’s going on.”

  “You think so?”

  I wondered where Olan was. Iain wasn’t into violence; or rather he wasn’t into doing it personally. I could handle Iain but it would be nice to have back up. “Yes, I saw you at the pub last night with the nightshade fairy.”

  “Ah, yes, that little thing.” He checked his nails and then buffed them on his sleeve. “I can’t really tell you anything, Quinn.”

  “What’s Fionuir up to?”

  “I don’t know. You know I’m not part of the court. I’m not privy to her plans.”

  “Why does she use you to make contact with the fairies?”

  “I am, shall we say neutral? I perform a service for her and she lets me stay that way.”

  “I need to stop her. It isn’t going to be good in the long run. You know someone will have to pay for all these deaths”

  “Perhaps.” He rose. “Quinn, this isn’t going to work out for you if you keep going. Just a friendly warning.”

  “If I don’t, it won’t work out for anyone.” I felt like I was the only one who could see how badly this would end for us Real folk. We call ourselves that but the humans are more real than we are and they were increasing in number while we were diminishing.

  Iain sighed. “Leave it Quinn. You won’t be able to stop her. If she wants to pull power she will. If you try to interfere it will indeed end with someone dying. I like you, Quinn. Don’t be a fool.”

  “I can’t help it. I remember the last time we ignored the humans. You should too. You loved Belinda.”

  “Don’t bring her into this.” Iain spat the words. Even after all this time, the death of his vampire lover stung. “I can’t help you.”

  He spun and faded into the shadows.

  Olan practiced flying all the way home. It took a half hour to make it back and when we got there, I saw someone standing in the shadows beside the door; about three feet tall and skinny, probably a fairy.

  “Olan, get up on the roof.” I shrugged him off my shoulder. “Leave the fairy to me.”

  He landed on the roof of the porch and settled down as I made it to the first step.

  The fairy rushed toward me and I put my hands out to stop him. A nettle fairy can attack with a tiny prick of poison that will fell you in a few seconds. It doesn’t kill, but it can leave you paralyzed for months.

  “Stay there and tell me what you want.” I figured I knew but didn’t want to jump to conclusions.

  “I want you to stop bothering the Sidhe. We need babies, and that is the only way.” The fairy trembled, his green skin flashing dark then pale with emotion. “Please. Stop.”

  I was getting tired of pointing out the long term problem with that plan. Knowing fairies didn’t think in the long term didn’t stop me from hoping they would get it. I told him what would happen.

  “Quinn Larson. You are wise but you don’t have any solution to our problem.”

  I heard Olan grumbling from the roof.

  “What is your name?” It couldn’t hurt to try to make a connection.

  “Stern Greenway, I am prince of the nettles. I have to protect my people. If we don’t breed we will die out. There are precious few of us now. Where will we be in a year?”

  “Fionuir has caused your problem. Did you know that?”

  “It doesn’t matter who or what caused it, the Sidhe have the cure. We will do as they ask.”

  “It’s not a cure. I’m pretty sure that you’ll need to go to them again for the next baby.”

  “So, we have enough poison to kill as many humans as it will take.”

  “And will you teach your children to kill?”

  “We have started already.”

  Olan squawked. I cut my eyes to the roof. I could see his beak and eyes popping over the gutter.

  “That’s a lot of humans, they’ll notice,” I said to Stern.

  Stern threw his arms out. “So we deal with that when it happens.”

  “Why did you come to me?” I knew by the way he hopped from foot to foot that he had something else to say. “Why now? I haven’t been able to do anything to stop you.”

  “We didn’t take the Sidhe up on the offer right away. We didn’t think it was necessary. We have times when we have few babies and times when we have many.” He took a deep breath and I could see he was making up his mind. “But, we were worried. So, I went to see the old lady.”

  The old lady was something of an oracle. No one had actually seen her in centuries. She usually talked through an intermediary. “What did she say?”

  “She said that you would stop the Sidhe but the cost would be heavy. She meant the fairies would die out.” Tears started to fall. “If the fairies go, what will happen to the world?”

  “It might mean something else.” I didn’t trust anything the old lady said. Like most oracles, she gave such open answers everyone interpreted it their own way. “She could mean the cost would be for me, or for the humans, or for Fionuir.”

  “No, it must be us, we asked the question. Why would she tell us about the cost if it had nothing to do with us?”

  Olan landed in front of Stern. “You stupid fairy.” I heard a power I didn’t know he had roar from his beak. “Killing humans will be your ruin. If they don’t retaliate, I will.” Stern bent backward as though caught in gale.

  “But ...” Stern didn’t manage another syllable.

  “If you bring the attention of other beings that protect the humans, you will be crushed. Did you not think?”

  I didn’t move; getting between Olan and Stern was a bad idea and I have strong survival skills. But, I could talk. “Olan, settle down. They are just trying to survive.”

  Stern looked at me then stepped back, trembling. Olan turned to me; I saw thunder and lightning in his eye. As soon as Olan turned, Stern leapt over the railing and disappearing into the dark.

  “Damn you wizard,” he spat. “Now he’s gone.”

  “Yes, and that’s the best way for this to end. He is just one fairy. We need to stop this at the source.”

  Chapter Ten

  Olan flapped back up to the roof. I figured he was going to simmer for a while. If I was right, I would much rather he do it on the roof than in my workshop.

  “Well, goo
dnight.” I pulled my keys out and flicked off the protection spells. As I opened the door, something rushed past me. It wasn’t Olan, too tall, and pink for that.

  I stood in the doorway and looked around. “I did not invite you. Step out from where you are and explain yourself.”

  Nothing happened. My spells should have stopped anyone entering without permission, failing that it should have compelled the intruder to the center of the room. This was not exactly impossible, but it meant there were only a few Folk it could be. To avoid the spells, my intruder must have been here before. When I invite people, it’s for the one visit unless I expressly state it. Olan was a permanent guest so he could come and go as long as I don’t physically lock the door because he can’t manage to open it.

  The other way for someone to be able to enter was if they left enough of their possessions behind them. I was very careful about checking to make sure my few visitors didn’t leave any articles of clothing or belongings. But, it seems I missed one.

  “Okay, come out and we can talk.” I saw a blur out of the corner of my eye and spun, casting a protection spell as I did. A rose fairy smashed against the spell and bounced back, dropping a knife in the process.

  “Wizard,” she spat, picking up the knife. “Drop the spell and fight me fairly.”

  There was no such thing as fair fighting with fairies. When they decided to kill you they didn’t play fair, they played for keeps. I threw a confinement spell around her. Step one was to make sure she couldn’t get back in. “Princess Elizabeth, what did you leave here?” She didn’t speak but I noticed her glance toward a box on my kitchen counter. I tipped the box and found a golden ring in the bottom. “That’s the last time I invite you to my party.” I opened the door and tossed the ring into the yard.

  When I turned back she was hissing and spitting while trying to break the confinement spell. The problem was it bound her like a constrictor, more struggling meant tighter binding. “Stop struggling before you hurt yourself.”