Pixie Noir (Pixie for Hire Book 1)

by Cedar Sanderson

  “No,” murmured a now fascinated Bella, “I didn’t know.”

  “Well, it goes back to great-great-grandfather, who was the groom of Queen Tansy. Pixies have always been in the service of the fairy court, but it doesn’t mean we are servants, you mustn’t think. Anyway, even your grandmother Lavendar had a Mulvaney in service, although he was our great-uncle or something.” Margot waved a hand dismissively.

  I broke in before my sister could continue. Bella was looking interested, but the footman had slipped a note into my hand, and I needed to pull her away.

  “Bella, if I can pull you away... Margot, I promise you may see her soon, but we must retire early this evening.”

  Mother, reminded, backed me up. “Oh, certainly do take her, Leroy, her first evening, poor girl, she must be exhausted.”

  She took Bella’s hand in hers and patted it gently. “Sleep well, m’dear, and do let us know when you are up to receiving, tomorrow.”

  Bella stood carefully, aware of her wings, I realized as she moved gracefully away, saying, “So very nice to meet you.”

  Chapter 20 - Princess Maize

  She walked at my side to the door, and once we were well out of the room and in the deserted hall, she heaved a deep sigh.

  “Thank you,” she murmured softly enough for no-one to hear.

  “I figured you were beat and ready to retreat, but I’m afraid we have one more stop before our rooms.”

  “Oh?” She stopped and looked at me. I shook my head.

  “Nothing to worry about. Just the last princess, who was indisposed, but asked to see you, anyway.”

  “Why are they so anxious to meet me?” she asked plaintively, again walking with me.

  “Well, think of it this way. One, you finally arriving means the process begins. Two, now they know what the rival looks like.”

  “I’m not a rival!”

  “They don’t know that. Also, you’re the dark horse. Underhill is like a small town in some ways. They all know one another, or at the very least, of one another.”

  She ran her fingers through her hair, knocking it loose. “Drat,” she said, stopping to twist it back up hurriedly. I watched, enjoying the little show.

  She gave me a dirty look. “You were having entirely too much fun tonight, mister.”

  I laughed. I couldn’t help myself, it just came out. Bella screwed up her face... and then burst out laughing with me.

  “I must have been a sight,” she finally got out, between whoops. “The country girl in the ballroom.”

  “No, no...” this sobered me right up. “You were magnificent. You even won my mother over, and that is a very rare accolade.”

  She blinked at me. “But she was so nice.”

  “That’s the point. She wouldn’t have given you a second glance, but you... you’re something special, and they all saw that tonight.”

  “Oh.” She took a deep breath, and I could see her mind kick into high gear.

  “It’s not a bad thing, Bella.” I pointed as we rounded a corner into a dustier corridor. We had left the main hall some time ago. “And here we are.”

  I knocked at the door, and after a moment it cracked open just enough for me to look down and see a suspicious eye glaring up at me. “Lom, and Princess Bella, here to see Princess Maize.”

  The door swung the rest of the way open, revealing a dimly lit room, and obscuring the body of the person opening the door. I stepped in and looked around it at her. She was hunched over the handle, still, her shoulders angled toward me, her long, curly white hair flowing over them and hiding her face entirely.

  “Don’t be afraid,” I assured her. “Where is Princess Maize?”

  “I’m here.” The voice came from a bundled form on the couch. I turned to her, and Bella followed me into the sitting area. It was similar to ours, rugs over hardwood floors, and enough seating for a half dozen people to gather.

  “I’m Bella,” my girl said gently. “Are you all right, Maize? Why weren’t you at the party?”

  The girl on the couch burst into sobs. “B-because I l-look awful!” she wailed. Bella sat on the couch next to her.

  “What happened?”

  I decided to stay back, she seemed to have it well in hand.

  “I g-got a note, and I went to see what was happening, and... and.. this happened!”

  She threw back the blanket dramatically, revealing a swollen and blotchy face.

  “Oh, dear,” Bella sounded distressed, and I leaned closer to see. Maize’s face was covered in small weeping blisters. Bella raised a hand and Maize flinched back.

  “Oh, don’t touch me... it hurts, and what if it’s catching?”

  I appreciated the sick girl’s caution. “Have you seen a healer?” I asked her gently.

  She nodded. “Granny Jenny had the king’s personal healer come to see me. He said it was a spell, and we would have to wait until it wore off.”

  “A spell? Triggered when you got to where the note said to go?”

  She nodded glumly. I went on, trying to keep my anger at her foolish behaviour from creeping into my voice. “And what did the note promise you?”

  She curled up even more, but at least refrained from covering her face with the blanket again. “A love spell.”

  I blinked, uncertain I had just heard her correctly, and made eye contact with Bella. Yes, she had the look too, the “Oh, dear god, the next generation...” look.

  “For the King, I’m guessing? Did you know the Queen is a political position, not a marriage, right?”

  She sniffled. “I thought it would help.”

  I rubbed my face. Bella patted at the blankets covering Maize’s shoulders. “Ok, can I please have the note?”

  “I- I don’t know...” she hicupped. “Granny Jenny?”

  The woman with the wild elf-locks crept into view and held out a folded notepaper. I took it. “Thank you. Are you this child’s caretaker?”

  “Am not a child,” Maize protested weakly. I ignored this.

  Jenny nodded. She still wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Keep her safely in her rooms. I will have the Majordomo send someone to stand guard.”

  “Oh, no...” Maize tried to sit up, whimpering a little. “How embarassing, I don’t want...”

  “Someone tried to harm you, this was not just a prank, my dear.” Bella cut in. “There are bad things hunting the princesses, Maize, it’s not just you.”

  The young fairy’s eyes got very wide. “Oh, no. You think... someone wanted to hurt me badly?”

  Bella nodded. Maize started to cry, silently. “We won’t let anyone get to you. Lom and I are going to find out who is behind this, and make sure they can’t hurt anyone else, I promise.”

  Maize nodded mutely, still crying. Bella stroked her hair. “You will be better soon. And you will be beautiful at the next party.”

  This did get a response. Maize whispered, “I like your dress.”

  “I’ll come help you get all dolled up when you’re ready to be out. Now, you think about that, and Lom will take care of the bad guys, that’s what he does.”

  I hid a smile. I was a very unlikely hero, and it was making me feel weird to have the two women looking at me like that. I looked around for Granny Jenny, but she was out of sight again.

  “We will check on you tomorrow.” I assured the girl. Bella stood up.

  “It was nice to meet you, Princess Maize.”

  The girl sniffed and tried a watery smile. “Thank you for coming.”

  Back out in the hall, I looked at Bella. “Teenagers. Such a wonderful word, with so much connotation. You know it’s a recent invention, don’t you?”

  She laughed. “You’re not saying reckless youth is a recent phenomenon, surely.”

  “No, I’m not.” I replied ruefully, thinking of a few things I’d rather stayed forgotten. “Want to go check this out? I’m thinking that there might be traces of the spell still lingering, and with the library, you might be able to...”

  “H
m...” she looked distracted for a minute. “Yes, I think I should be able to see something. I’m game to try, at least.”

  “First, let’s set up that guard. And...” I looked back down at the note. “I think you will want to change into something more practical. This is liable to get dusty.”

  “Oh, thank you. First great idea I’ve heard all night.”

  “Sarcasm will get you everywhere, Princess.”

  I sent her to our rooms with a footman, and returned to Maize’s rooms with a guard. There was no answer when I rapped at the door, but when I knocked a second time Granny Jenny opened it a crack.

  “She’s sleeping!” she hissed at me.

  “You have someone watching over you, I wanted to let you know. If there is anything you need, just send a message to the majordomo. You have message spells?”

  “Why would I need message spells?” She opened the door a little wider, and I could see her drawing herself up straighter. She did a very good job of looking down her nose at me despite being a head shorter than I.

  “Because you’re human?” I returned, amused.

  “How do you know that?” she demanded.

  “Long practice.”

  “Do not tell anyone...” she pleaded.

  “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Now, do you have message spells?”

  She nodded, and shut the door in my face. I sighed, and wondered how long she had been Underhill, and where she had come from. It wasn’t relevant to tonight, though, but it made me curious. Humans Underhill were uncommon, and it had a difficult history of interaction with the world above. I made a mental note to come talk to the old woman again.

  Less than twelve hours at Court, and I was already working on a suspect list, and clues. Making progress. Now to collect my sidekick and take a look at that clue. I made another mental note to never call Bella my sidekick out loud. I did value my hide in one piece.

  Chapter 21 - The Lower Halls

  Bella was in her beat up jeans and a well-worn t-shirt when I got back, lounging crossways on a chair with her booted feet dangling and her eyes closed. From the rapid movement of her eyes behind the silken lids, I guessed that she was not asleep, but consulting the library. I let her be, and went to change out of the dressy clothes.

  She opened her eyes when I came back out of my room. “I think I know what to do, now. It’s like... magical DNA.”

  “Or fingerprints. Either way, I appreciate the help. I could do it, but...” I made a throwing-away gesture of frustration at my own inability to perform much magic. She nodded.

  “I’m just happy to be able to help. It would really suck to have to sit in my room while you were out there having all the fun.”

  I raised an eyebrow - maybe both of them - at her. “You do know this gets dangerous. You remember the troll, and the roc, and...”

  She laughed. “Yes, but sitting still won’t help me feel better. And,” she patted her hip, “it’s not like I’m unarmed.”

  “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not going to turn down help. Now, let’s go. I’m thinking we’re going to be up late enough as it is, and I don’t want to wait until morning.”

  “Yes, sir,” she stuck her tongue out at me, standing and stretching. “I’m ready.”

  The note’s directions took us into the long-abandoned gallery of portraits, in the oldest part of the halls. Court, the sprawling complex that rules Underhill is... underground, mostly. Especially the ancient parts of it, covered under a grassy hill called a tor. Some of the newer parts resemble a fairy tale castle, but that was the part in use, and we were headed further in, and deeper. Bella drew closer to my side as we got into the darkened halls that way.

  “How long since these were used?” She asked, looking at tapestries that hung in shattered strips. I knew from experience that the old silk would fall to dust at a touch.

  “I think when my mother and father were young... before I was born... this was the part of Court that was all the rage. See, every new generation seems to feel the need to expand, or improve.”

  “Fairies are like humans, then.”

  “Pretty much. I’ve spent more time than most in both worlds, and there are a lot of similarities. But differences, so don’t assume the Folke will react the way a human would.” I cautioned her.

  She nodded. “It’s awfully dark back here.”

  “The elf lights have all burned out and no one bothers to replace them.” I explained, pulling a spell out of my pocket and activating it. The globe of light that popped into being bobbed up and floated over our heads. It would follow us for hours, until I put it away, or it burned out, which I didn’t expect to happen on this short expedition. “Is that better?”

  “Much, thank you.”

  “Not too much further. The halls go back quite a way, but I don’t think Maize would have been willing to go in deep, there are rumors of nasty things taking up residence back there.”

  “Any truth to it?”

  I shrugged. “I haven’t been asked to take a look. I have a long list of bad guys to check out, and if you haven’t noticed, there is only one of me.”

  “Yeah, about that...” she started to say something thoughtfully. I interrupted her.

  “Take a look at that...” I’d seen it before, and now the hackles on the back of my neck lifted.

  She looked where I was pointing. “What? I don’t understand.”

  “Little tracks, in the dust by the wall.”

  “Too big to be mice.”

  “Right, and not the right shape.”

  She bent down to get a closer look. “Like tiny bare footprints. What made these?”

  “There are a couple of possibilities. One of them is very unpleasant. Keep your eyes and ears open, and let’s make this fast.”

  We had been strolling leisurely and chatting, unworried, but now I was on high alert. There was no real reason to suspect goblins here, almost in Court, but the way things had been going since the death of the Queen, I wasn’t going to discount it entirely. I picked up the pace, and she kept up with me well. It was nice to have a partner.

  “In here.”

  The double doors to the hall stood open, and we stepped silently into the vast, dusty emptiness. On the walls there were paler patches where paintings of ancestors had once hung, and every so often there was an abandoned portrait of some poor soul so obscure they had been forgotten here. I waved my hand, sending the light globe gently spinning out in a flat spiral. We could see where Maize’s steps had disturbed the dust, and then a starburst pattern where they ended, and retreated in a crooked pattern toward the door.

  “That’s where the spell detonated,” I observed. “Can you see anything?”

  “It would be more of a ‘feel,’” she pointed out. “And I think I need to be closer.”

  I tried to circle around the dusty footprints to preserve them, and we got to the edge of the starburst pattern. “Not too close, in case it still lingers.”

  She nodded and crouched down, closing her eyes. I turned and looked around the room, which was not fully in the light. The corners were full of moving shadows to match the still-circling globe. It was not a pleasant sensation to try and watch. Bella was mumbling to herself. I suppressed the urge to ask her to hurry it up.

  She stood up and dusted off her hands, even though she hadn’t touched anything. “I have a good feel for it. If I feel it again, I’ll know it.”

  “Good. Ready to get back?”

  She looked at me. “Why, Lom, I believe you are nervous.”

  “Yes.” I didn’t bother dignifying that with an explanation. She was looking over my shoulder. “What?”

  “Come look at this, and bring the light.” She set off toward the near wall. I stifled a curse, and followed her.

  “Lom...” she stopped under the oil painting of a man, done at least four centuries ago from the style, and stared up at it. I stared, too.

  “He looks like you.”

  He did, and I knew why. “My great-gre
at grandfather, I believe.” I looked for, and found, the plaque on the wall.

  “Alonzo Mulvaney. Founder of my family,” I read and commented.

  “Why is he still hanging in the dark, then, and not at your home?”

  “Well, my guess would be, my mother. She doesn’t talk about it, but there was a scandal.”

  “Oh.” She fell silent, still staring up at him. I had to admit the resemblance was pretty strong. I had other things on my mind tonight, though.

  “Bella. We need to get back.”

  “Can we take...” she waved at the picture. Since it was a full-length portrait of the man standing with his hands on the rein of a horse, and enclosed in an ornate gilt frame...

  “No. That thing weighs as much as you do. And why do you want it, anyway?”

  “It’s sad that he’s all alone here.” She brightened. “Oh, I know!”

  I felt as much as heard the scurry in the shadows at the far wall. “Bella...”

  She waved her hands in an intricate pattern, and the portrait vanished with a soft glow of light and a popping noise.

  “What did you just do?” I demanded, distracted by the feeling that we were no longer alone.

  “Sent it back to your house.” She looked at my face for the first time, and her smile fell away slowly. “What is happening?’

  “Move toward the door quickly, but calmly. Don’t run, and get a spell ready.”

  She matched me stride for stride, a trick, since her legs were shorter than mine. She didn’t look around, but I could see her eyes were alert. The shadows behind us roiled, like silt in a pond, disturbed by something moving under the water. I still hadn’t gotten a clear look at it, but I was trusting my instincts, and every hair on my neck was standing up and shouting danger. We were three levels under the Court, and it was just the two of us. We needed to move fast.