Ill Met by Moonlight

by Mercedes Lackey

  Just ahead, the aisle they had been walking down debouched into an open area. It was not very large, perhaps as large as two great halls, but five other aisles also opened into it, and around the sides were not more booths of merchandise but platforms upon which various acts and entertainments were being displayed.

  Elizabeth cried out with delight and darted ahead. The rest of her party followed, but not urgently. The acts had plenty of watchers, but the open space was not crowded and Elizabeth could be seen plainly. Harry caught up with her as she watched a set of tumblers, who were performing really phenomenal acts of levitation. He was surprised to see that she looked faintly disapproving.

  “They cheat,” Elizabeth said, when he asked what fault she could find with the act. “They are using magic to add to their balance and the height they can leap. I think without that help they would not be as good as some tumblers I have seen in the World Above.”

  Harry raised an eyebrow at her. “You object to magic?”

  Elizabeth laughed and tugged Harry toward the next stage. It held a magician who was creating waterfalls of sparkling color, which then ran away onto the audience’s shoes, dying them.

  “Ugh,” Harry said, as his modest brown boots turned bright yellow and twinkled. “I wonder how long it will last?”

  Farther along an ogre was displaying feats of strength, and Harry stopped suddenly to watch him. “Hmmm,” he said, gesturing Mechain and Elidir closer. “You two should think about ways to bind a few such creatures to our service. Their strength might be useful in uncovering some of the hidden ways.”

  “Having an ogre take service with us would be easy.” Elidir remarked. “Keeping it from falling into the power of that which whispers to us in those accursed lost hames and domains would be far more difficult. I would think twice—Harry, where is Elizabeth?”

  Harry caught his breath and whirled around, but Elizabeth was in sight, about halfway across the open area, and Denoriel was not far behind her. All three breathed sighs of relief. Elidir opened his mouth to continue what he had been saying, and a sudden rush of laughing nymphs and fauns almost knocked him down and whirled Harry and Mechain around. They all pelted off toward the center of the area where they began to dance in little groups, laughing and singing.

  “I don’t like that!” Mechain said.

  “Oh, they don’t mean any harm.” Harry laughed.

  “No, Mechain’s right,” replied Elidir, frowning. “They are all sucking sweets.”

  “Is that harmful?” Harry asked.

  “No, but it makes them very wild and excited. No one in a market will sell fauns and nymphs sweets because, meaning no harm, they can be destructive in their wildness.”

  “Elizabeth!” Harry exclaimed.

  He could not see her among the whirling figures and Denoriel seemed to have disappeared too. Harry and the two older Sidhe started forward, but were buffeted aside—Harry actually being knocked to the ground—by a troop of goblins all crying, “Dance too! Dance too!” and capering around so wildly that the three companions were driven apart.

  When she was first surrounded by the laughing, singing nymphs and fauns, Elizabeth laughed heartily. They tugged at her and pushed her slightly, but there was nothing at all threatening about the touches. None of the creatures was much larger than she, and they were all obviously being playful. Only there were so many of them, and they were just tall enough to block her view of her companions.

  Elizabeth tried to turn around so that she could find Denoriel, who had been a few steps behind her, but suddenly the gay laughter of the nymphs and fauns changed to little shrieks. All of them stopped dancing and gathered closer together, then began rushing past her, dragging her along with them.

  When the crowd had nearly passed her, Elizabeth again attempted to turn around, but her arms were seized. She cried out and pulled hard to get loose. The grip on her only tightened and she realized that it was not any nymph or faun that had seized her. She looked up and from side to side and cried out again.

  Two mortal men—from the round ears and round-pupilled eyes—had her by her arms and were dragging her along in the midst of the rout of nymphs and fauns. They were both short but very strong. When Elizabeth tried to set her feet and not move, they simply lifted her up by the arms so that her feet did not touch the ground and carried her.

  She shrieked for Denno and for her Da, but her voice was lost in the noise the nymphs and fauns and goblins were making. Then one of the men said, “Shut your mouth,” and slapped her lightly. Terror and rage strangled the cries in Elizabeth’s throat, and she saw with a shock that they had worked their way out of the group of nymphs and fauns and were rushing down one of the aisles.

  “I need my hands free,” one man said.

  The other grunted agreement and lifted her up. Elizabeth tried to roll out of his grasp and cried out, but the man only tightened his grip on her thighs and pushed his arm under her neck so he could clamp one hand over her mouth.

  Elizabeth was so frightened now that she felt weak and dizzy. There was no one to cry to for help. The aisle was not lined with booths but with shops where business was done within doors. A few beings looked at Elizabeth being carried along, but they did not seem to care. Beside that, the men were moving so swiftly that there was really no time for anyone (or anything) to interfere.

  By the time Elizabeth’s paralysis of fear was reduced enough for her to kick and squirm, the man who was not carrying her had turned into a narrow alley. Her captor followed, grunting as she almost wriggled out of his arms. Elizabeth worked her lips back from her teeth and bit hard. The man carrying her shrieked, and the one in front turned.

  Elizabeth saw that the man who had led had an amulet in his hand. She screamed as loud as she could for Denno, for Da. The man advanced threateningly, hand raised either to strike or cast a spell, and Elizabeth suddenly remembered her protections and cast a shield around herself.

  The man who was carrying her cried aloud in shock as his arms lost contact with her body and another desperate twist pulled her out of his grip. She fell free, but so heavily that she was stunned and could not spring to her feet and run. She stood at bay, panting with rage and fear, but she saw she could not have escaped anyway. One man was ahead and one behind. They closed in on her. Elizabeth screamed and screamed, but the shield muffled her voice and no one was in the alley. The few back doors to shops were closed.

  The men tried to seize her, but their hands would not grip. The one with the amulet tried to strike her; she felt the pressure of the blow, which pushed her back into the man behind her. The blow did not hurt, but the man behind pushed her forward so fiercely that to save herself from falling she ran a few steps on the way they wanted her to go. He laughed and pushed her again.

  Elizabeth tried to strike back, and she did hit the man who had been ahead of her but he only laughed and stepped aside and shoved her when he was behind to make her run forward again. The next push was so hard that she fell. Both men laughed. They scooped her up—-they had already worked out that they could not grip her but they could lift her shield and all—set her on her feet and pushed her again.

  Now Elizabeth began to run ahead as fast as she could. Being shielded, knowing her abductors could not touch her reduced her panic so she could think. She realized she was going where they wanted her to go, but she hoped she would get there far enough ahead of them that she could see some way to escape.

  The move took the men by surprise and she forged ahead. Both men shouted; she could hear them pounding close behind her, but even renewed fear could not lend her more speed.

  And suddenly, ahead, there was a black wall.

  She was trapped.

  Elizabeth could only shriek with terror.

  Chapter 26

  Denoriel had been whirled round and round by the playful nymphs and fauns. At first he laughed and let them have their way with him, but then, when he realized that he was being separated from Elizabeth, he began to push them away
. The fauns pushed back, butting him with their blunt-horned heads; the nymphs draped themselves around him, hanging on his neck, kissing him all over his face. Denoriel strained upward, looking wildly around for Elizabeth’s red hair. A nymph slid down his body and embraced his knees. A faun slammed into him from behind. Denoriel fell forward and a dozen frolicsome creatures piled on top of him, laughing and singing snatches of song.

  Heaving and rolling, Denoriel struggled to get rid of his playful tormentors, but he was not having much success until the laughter changed to little shrieks of fear and they all leapt off him and began to rush away. Denoriel climbed to his feet and bellowed for Elizabeth.

  She was nowhere to be seen.

  And in the next moment, Harry, Mechain, and Elidir rushed toward him shouting that they had lost sight of her when the fauns and nymphs had raced into the area. He felt his throat close with fear.

  First they spread out to look for her, afraid she too had been knocked down and hurt. The search did not take long because all except Harry could sense Elizabeth’s aura—which was strong for a mortal. She was nowhere near. Harry sprinted off to ask the performers if they had seen anything. The magician, who spent a lot more time looking out at his audience than performers like tumblers, remembered the red-haired mortal who had enjoyed his display and left a coin in his box.

  “She was caught up in the riot of nymphs and fauns.” He shook his head. “Curse whoever gave them those sweets; they have cost me half my performance time.”

  “The girl,” Harry urged. “What happened to the girl?”

  “Oh, yes. The redhead. She went off arm in arm with two males—maybe mortals. They were not tall enough to be Sidhe.”

  “Where did she go, in God’s name?” Harry took a gold coin from his purse and held it up. “I will pay you well to tell me where she went.”

  The magician grimaced. “Down one of the aisles—sorry I can’t say which one. Believe me, I would if I could.”

  “Which side? You should be able to guess that. Farthest from you or nearest?”

  “This side, I think.” He gestured. Harry threw the coin and he caught it. “But I must tell you the truth; I was not really watching her. I was watching the goblins chasing the fauns. I cannot be sure where the girl went.”

  It was something. There were only three aisles on the side to which the magician gestured. They could discount the one that opened almost behind him; he would have remembered that. Only two to examine. Elidir and Mechain down one; he and Denno down another.

  “Oh, I will get her back.” Harry heard Denoriel say as he reached them. Denoriel’s face was utterly colorless, his eyes blind with guilt and horror. “I will go at once to King Oberon. He will order that Elizabeth be brought to him or he will send out a Thought seeking her—”

  “No!” Harry, Elidir, and Mechain cried in chorus. “Even Mother Dannae could not guess what Oberon would do to you.”

  “What does that matter?” Denoriel said harshly. “I have failed in my trust. Elizabeth is lost!”

  “No, she’s not!” Harry cried, catching at his arm. “Denno, don’t be a fool. I almost know where she was taken.”

  “What?” The green eyes cleared.

  “It has to be down one of those two aisles. The magician saw it. He said she went off arm in arm with two males, not tall enough to be Sidhe. I suppose they were holding her by the arms. She wouldn’t have gone off arm in arm with strangers.”

  “Seized in the rout. Oh, those accursed, brainless—”

  “Someone gave them sweets,” Mechain said, darkly.

  “Then it was all planned.” Denno hesitated, then shook his head. “Why waste the time? We don’t know how far down any aisle they took her. We don’t know whether they turned off. No, I’d better go to Oberon at once.”

  “Why?” Elidir asked, laying a hand on Denoriel’s arm. “No one will hurt her. Oh, in days or weeks, if she has been taken by the Unseleighe, they will try—”

  “The Unseleighe want her dead!” Denoriel cried, suddenly beginning to shake.

  Mechain patted his shoulder. “If the purpose was to kill her, it is already too late to go to Oberon. They only needed to take her outside the market, which they must have reached already, and do it. But then why go to the trouble of such an elaborate scheme? It would have been easy enough to wait in the place where transport is kept and shoot her with elfshot when we left the market.”

  Denoriel was as white as snow. “If she is dead—”

  “Not dead.”

  All three spun around toward the harsh voice. Behind them was a goblin, a goblin clutching a very satisfied-looking kitten that was licking a paw and applying that to its whiskers.

  “Not hurt,” the goblin continued. “Not intended and not by those who took her. She is a valuable prize. They went out by the Orbis Gate.”

  “Where?” Harry cried, emptying his purse so he could hold out a handful of gold. “Where did they go?”

  But the goblin did not reach for the gold. He raised a peculiar-looking rod. Denoriel shouted and threw himself physically in front of Harry. There was a faint buzz, a faint blue light … and the goblin was gone.

  Denoriel spun around and grasped Harry to him. “Are you all right? Did that set off your wound?”

  Harry hugged Denoriel and shook his head. “You’ve got to stop trying to protect me,” he muttered, rubbing his face against Denoriel’s neck. “I’m fine. I don’t think that was a weapon.”

  “No, indeed,” Mechain said. “It was something like a Gate, a portable Gate. It took him somewhere. And that’s what happened to all the things in his booth. I saw him wave his hand over the counter while we were all looking at the mirror, and then he and everything else was gone.”

  “Hmmm,” Elidir remarked, frowning. “I thought that all movement inside the market was supposed to be on one’s own. I will have to speak to the management—after we have recovered Elizabeth. The Orbis Gate.”

  “I do not remember an Orbis Gate when I was coming to the market,” Mechain said.

  “Nor I,” Elidir agreed.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Harry said, impatiently. “It has to be down one of those aisles. You go down the left one. Feel for Elizabeth and ask as you go along if anyone saw a red-haired girl escorted by two men, and ask for the Orbis Gate.”

  Accustomed to acting on Harry’s ideas, the two Sidhe started for the aisle to the left. Harry turned to Denoriel who was still white-faced, and put his arm around his friend’s shoulders.

  “Come on,” he said. “If we find the Orbis Gate, you can read the termini. If we have to we can go to each one in turn, but maybe you’ll even be able to feel which one has been most recently used.”

  “But if she is taken—”

  “What if she is?” Harry said, his lips pulling back from his teeth in what was not a smile. “Once we know where, we can get up a nice little hunting party. All the Sidhe in my hunt would be thrilled to be asked along. And we might not even get into trouble for hunting in an Unseleighe domain. Likely we’ll even be able to get permission from Oberon to retrieve Elizabeth.”

  Denoriel blinked and nodded and he smiled, too—but his teeth suddenly looked very long and very sharp. “Hunting. Yes. We will go hunting.”

  Suddenly Harry chuckled. “And we won’t even need to tell Oberon. We can ask Titania’s permission.”

  Denoriel took a deep breath and struck Harry lightly on the shoulder. “You are getting too full of mischief, my lord. If you plunge Underhill into a new conflict between our rulers you are not likely to be thanked.” He sighed. “Better to go hunting in Unseleighe territory without any permission. Very well. Let us see what we can find.”

  They struck—if not quite gold—silver almost immediately. Only a few yards down the aisle, a tall Sidhe just coming out of a shop nodded when they asked about the red-haired girl with two men.

  “Yes. I did see them although only for a moment. I was inside the shop and could not get out in time, but I thought t
hat the girl-child was being taken unwilling.” The Sidhe looked faintly troubled. “Of course she was mortal, and the men pulling her along were mortal. I did wonder from whom she had tried to escape. A Seleighe Sidhe I am sure, since she was unhurt and spirited.” He shrugged. “I thought I might try to discover whose slave she was and offer a price for her since she seemed unwilling to stay with her present master.”

  Harry flushed slightly. “She was not a slave at all but given special permission to visit Underhill by Queen Titania. She was reft unwilling from our company.”

  “So?” The Sidhe sucked on his lower lip. “I am sorry I have no more to tell. It was but a passing thought and I was not interested enough to follow.”

  “I thank you nonetheless,” Denoriel put in. “We know we are on the right track now. Did you come by the Orbis Gate?”

  “No. I never heard of that, but I suppose it is one of the Gates within the market. My elvensteed awaits me at the main Gate.”

  “Again our thanks,” Harry said, and bowed.

  The Sidhe inclined his head and continued on his way. They went on down the aisle asking on both sides. Twice more they got nods of recognition, but both beings—another Sidhe and a being with a scaled head, a ruff of feathers around its neck, and folded wings—claimed that the red-haired girl was now being carried.

  “She began to fight them, I suppose,” Denoriel said, his voice catching. “Pray Dannae that they do not hurt her.”

  Harry looked white to the lips, but he shook his head. “They won’t. Mortals down here are under some Sidhe’s orders and that Sidhe went to a lot of trouble to snatch Elizabeth. Whoever has her wouldn’t dare hurt her.”

  But they could not meet each other’s eyes. Both now believed they knew which of the Sidhe would think it worth so much expense and trouble to abduct Elizabeth. To everyone but Vidal Dhu Elizabeth was no more than a red-haired mortal child, a child too old to be of interest to Titania and too young to be of interest to Oberon—not worth snatching. And only Denoriel’s half-sister and brother could recognize her or give a description of her to abductors.