Pixie Noir (Pixie for Hire Book 1)

by Cedar Sanderson

  The Hunt was in a full rout, now, the mounts running away with the riders even if they were not themselves spurring on the steed. Only the Huntsman, holding a disc of magic before him like a shield, was not moved. She sent tendrils after the fleeing men, and turned most of the energy on him. Lom screamed, a primal sound ripped from a throat that had been abused and torn from earlier screams. She looked down at him, and in her distraction, the Huntsman made his escape, slipping out of the smoking entryway in a clatter of hooves that slowly died away. The only sound in the hall was Tex’s voice.

  “What. The. Sam. Hill just happened?”

  Chapter 42 - Cogito Ergo Sum

  I opened my eyes, disoriented and wondering if I were dead yet. No... I felt. I could feel the poison flowing out of me like water through a broken dam, pouring through a channel in my chest. The pain was easing with every second. My eyes came into focus and I could see Bella. Not the fake one who had tried to kill me, but mine, standing over me like some avenging war goddess, her hands full of eldritch fire, and her wings vibrating frenetically. I took a second to admire that tight, curvy ass so conveniently on display, and then realized what she was doing as she suddenly made a scooping gesture and pulled the last of the elfshot magic out of my body.

  I couldn’t help it; my back arched and pulled up off the hard surface I was lying on, leaving me on head and heels, and screaming. I couldn’t stop it, it just came out and kept going... the pain was unbelievable, and then, like a switch, it was gone. I collapsed and tried to catch my breath.

  When the stars that had filled my vision when my blood pressure spiked finally ebbed, Bella was kneeling beside me, holding my face in her hands and crying softly. I tried to talk to her, to tell her it was all right, but I couldn’t make words, just noises. She disappeared from view, and Melcar’s face came near me. He laid a hand on my forehead, and with gentle fingers got me to open my eyes fully so he could see into them, then continued to examine the rest of my body.

  After a few minutes I closed my eyes, but I could still hear voices. Sometimes they were close enough to make out what they were saying.

  Melcar’s voice, “He’s much stronger. Pupillary reaction is back, pulse is stronger and faster - it was almost imperceptible before.”

  Someone else, “Can we move now?”

  Bella, now, “I thought I had killed him...” she was definitely crying. I opened my eyes again, and tried to move my head so I could see her. She was standing right next to me, and I thought what a fool I had been to be taken in by the skin wife’s illusion. She was dirty, her hair was flying all over, and her jeans had gotten a jagged rip in the leg. I didn’t see blood, so hopefully she was uninjured. She turned to look at me and I saw the blood then, all down her front. I tried to reach for her, to find out if she was all right.

  “Lom...” she bent over me, and I managed words.

  “You... all right?”

  She looked down at herself, where I had managed to put the back of my hand on her chest. “Oh. Yes, I’m fine, that’s...” she choked up a little, “yours. We’re going to take you home now.”

  “Good.” I wanted to tell her she was beautiful, that this was better than the white dress and golden sunshine, but my eyelids were heavy and I needed to rest them.

  I could still hear them talking, and now they were all close. I could feel hands, gentle touches, and then I felt the bubble pop up, and I gasped for breath, feeling my whole body twitch as the magic tingled through it.

  “He can’t take it!” that was Bella, a note of terror in her voice.

  Alger broke in, “Keep us going as long as you can. We don’t know how many of them are coming, and we know they want us all dead.”

  I wanted to agree with him, but my shaking wouldn’t stop, and the world filled with sparkles before blackness again.

  I woke up in my own bed, weaker than a newborn kitten, but I would have known that stain in the corner anywhere. I stared at it for a long time before I dared try and turn my head. I ached. No sharp pains, but I knew I had a fever from the detached flying sensation, and I really didn’t give a damn. Where was Bella?

  Alger was asleep in the chair by my bed, lanky legs stretched out in front of him, and bearded chin down on his chest. I frowned. This was not the person I wanted to see right now.

  “Bella?” I tried to ask, not certain if I could make a word happen. My mouth tasted like I had been kissing a ghoul.

  He startled awake. “Ah...” He sat up. “So good to see you’re back with us. Hang on, don’t try to talk...”

  He brought me a cup of water with a very prosaic and human flexi straw in it. I mused on the incongruity of that item, but it made drinking from a prone position much easier. He slid a careful arm under my shoulders while I sipped.

  I tried to speak again when he set the cup down. “Where is Bella?”

  That time he understood me, and the wrinkled old face broke into a smile. “Sleeping, m’boy. We made her go to her own bed, she’s been in that chair more nights than was good for her.”

  “How long?” I asked him, suddenly aware that I was slowly healing, and shivered as I remembered the blood I had vomited on the skin wife...

  “Six days since we got back here. We were only in the tower for a few hours, although it seemed like days.”

  I wanted to hear all about that, and how they had come to find me, much less rescue me. I had so many questions, there were so many loose ends... Bella walked into the room, and none of that mattered.

  She came and perched on the side of my bed gently, then leaned over and came close enough I could feel her breath on me. “How are you?”

  “I feel like an elephant ran over me, then backed up and had another go, but I’m alive. And you aren’t wearing white.”

  “What?” Her brow wrinkled in confusion.

  “I’ll explain later. Right now, could you do two things for me?”

  “Of course.”

  “Kiss me, and ask Joe to come see me.”

  She lit up with a smile that made my breath catch, and pressed her lips to mine. It wasn’t the deepest kiss I’d had, but it was the sweetest one I’d ever been given. I closed my eyes, afraid the tear would slip out, and when I opened them, she had left the room again. Alger was still sitting in the armchair, grinning like a loon. I couldn’t bring myself to growl at him, I was feeling pretty happy myself, right now.

  “Alger, can you get mother? And I require you, Lord Alger Mulvaney, to summon a quorum of the Lords of the Kingdom.”

  He got very still for a moment, his whole face sagging oddly, and then raised an eyebrow. “That is not a title I care to lay claim to any longer,” he told me stiffly. “Is that a command?”

  I tried to shake my head, regretted it, and gritted out, “yes, it is,Lord Alger.” I needed him to catch the clue, and not argue with me. I was too tired to argue.

  He stood up and went to the door, opening it and looking back at me with an unholy combination of joy and fear that I had become unhinged. I feared that, too. I drifted in an unpleasant haze of pain. I didn’t want to fall asleep. Ellie pushed past Alger, who stepped aside to make room for the tray she was carrying, then left the room.

  “Are you up to some food?” She set the tray on the bedside table, and I could see a couple of bowls, one steaming a little. Even better, was that a cup of coffee?”

  “I’d try.” I wasn’t sure, but the idea of it sounded wonderful.

  She had me propped up on pillows and I discovered to my dismay that I couldn’t yet feed myself without making a mess, when Joe came in. He stood, hands on hips, and eyed me for a long moment.

  “You look dead,” he pointed out, pulling a straightbacked chair away from the table and flipping it around before straddling it.

  “You look good, too.” I managed. Ellie held the coffee cup for me to take a last sip.

  “Am I here to exchange insults with you? Not that I mind, it’s better than what I thought last time I saw you.”

  I di
d manage a shaking of the head, now. “Josiah ap Colcannon ys Myrtle, I request and require a full audience with his Majesty Trytion ap Malise ys Wallflower. As I am invalid, it is incumbent that he succor me here in my desmesne the day after tomorrow at noon.”

  He blinked, but his face didn’t show anything. “I shall inform him of your request...”

  “Calling in all my chips, Joe. This one’s important.” I stopped. I wanted to tell him that he was a pillar of strength in an uncertain world, and one of the few people I really trusted, but I was too tired to say more. He stood up and came to the side of the bed. Ellie took the tray away, silently.

  “I’ll bring him, Lom. But you need some rest before you tackle... whatever this is.”

  I nodded slightly. He was right. I felt frustrated, but it was like opening a tap and having all the energy drain out of me to do anything at all. He put a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Get some rest,” he repeated.

  I obediently closed my eyes, and heard his footsteps as he went to the doorway. Odd how he was usually so silent, but I could hear him this time. I fell asleep, again.

  For all I knew, my room was Grand Central station - yes, I’ve actually been there. They had an infestation of goblins in the lockers, and... but I digress - while I was sleeping. I was really out of it. I awakened sore, grumpy, and a dry as the desert.

  I tried to sit up, and a slender hand pressed into my chest. “Here.”

  A straw at my lips got me to stop fighting and take a long sip. “M’Bella?” I managed when I could speak. My eyes were still not working right. I blinked, and the image resolved. She smiled.

  “Ready for your public?“

  “My public? I was to be wakened at ten, the audience isn’t until noon.” I felt a fleeting sense of fear, that I was losing my grip more than I’d thought at this point.

  She shook her head. “They all showed up early, and from the level of gossip, you would think this was the event of the century. Intrigue and fear in equal measures. What have you done?”

  I had decided to take my life in my hands, since it looked like there wasn’t much of it left, anyway, and make something right with my last acts. My life was feeling like it had all been turned on its ear. “And the King?”

  “Consuming Ellie’s sand tarts at the moment.”

  “Tell her I’m sorry?” I realized I had invited people to the house without warning her. We never had company.

  Bella chuckled. “She’s in seventh heaven, in the kitchen with Margot and women I’ve never met, all of them gossiping like magpies. And the King is enjoying her food. What more could she ask for, she said.”

  “Bella...” I wasn’t sure how to ask her what I wanted. She waited patiently with a smile, holding my hand. “I’m going to do something brash,” I paused awkwardly.

  She raised an eyebrow. “And this is different how?”

  “I mean... this could result in my being banished from Underhill, or beheaded.” I took a deep breath and winced. Sore ribs. “But best-case, it could mean I can finally ask you about something I’ve wanted for a long time.”

  “Do what you need to, Lom. I’m your partner, no matter what.”

  “Yeah. That’s really good. I don’t understand why, but it’s good.”

  She chuckled. “Are you ready?”

  “Please send Alger and Devon in. I will see you when it’s time for the audience.”

  Alger walked in with that look on his face. He still wasn’t sure if I had lost my mind in that dark cellar. “How do you plan to fit that Horde in here?” he growled, looking around.

  “I don’t. I need your help and Devon’s to dress, get me downstairs, and then prop me up.“ I was thinking I’d be damned if I met my fate flat on my back. Maybe Martin had rubbed off on me.

  He parroted back at me, “Dressed? Downstairs. Standing? Are you insane, boy? Doing this might be survivable if you stay in bed, maybe out of the nightshirt into a proper shirt, but how the devil do you expect to get down the stairs and stay alive?”

  “That’s what transport spells are for.” I snapped. “And not just a shirt. There are full formal court robes in a chest in the closet.” I remembered who had made them, and then sealed them in there, after I let her know that dream of hers was not shared with me. For once, the memory was not wholly bitter. “As for holding me up, my East India Company Cane, and Devon’s strong arm.” I got a grateful glance from the boy, whose eyes were wide as he tried to figure out what his crazy uncle was up to. The cane would be a statement by itself, topped with a harpy’s talons, clutching a bird’s egg ruby. Gaudy, but effectively gruesome.

  “Full robes...” Alger eyed me. “Alonzo Mulvaney lost the Family that privilege. Why... oh.” I watched with a small amount of amusement as I saw the mental gears mesh. He knew what my late wife had been like. He remained standing, irresolute, for a moment longer, and then threw his shoulders back and marched off to the closet.

  When he returned carrying the small chest I kept expecting him to set it down, rub his hands together, and cackle, from the way he was grinning. I did hear him mumble “bout damn’ time,” as he was unpacking.

  He stopped and turned to me. “You sure about this, boy? The audience goes against you, they will strip you of everything and pitch you to the Wild Hunt.”

  “The Family is done paying through the nose for something none of us now living, not even you, were involved in. I have paid in my blood for this...” Unfortunately, this fervency brought on a coughing session. Devon caught me as I swayed, and I regretted having tried to stand up so soon. I thought I was going to hack up a lung, and I had given up smoking when Kipling died. I wouldn’t let him put me back in the bed, though. I did accept the coffee with plenty of cream that Alger offered.

  When I could stand upright again, Alger popped the robe on me, and after I was fully garbed, flicked his fingers and it all stiffened.

  “What the hell?” I couldn’t move, except my head.

  “Minor spell, m’boy. Relax, they will hold you up without you killing yourself stnading.

  “Oh...”

  Ellie popped her head in the door. “They are in place...” her voice trailed off, and I knew she had registered what she was seeing.

  Ellie swept an approving glance at me, from head to foot. “Right, I’ll just get myself down in the kitchen and make sure everything goes smoothly.” The proud look on her face, and set of her shoulders as she pulled the door closed behind her, told me that at least one member of my household was behind me all the way.

  Alger transported us downstairs in a bubble, a breath-taking experience for me, again. I was trying not to think about the consequences of having lost my magic entirely. I wondered how long it would take me to die, like this... The first Lord entered the room, and I focused on the charade before me.

  The startlement at my dress was something to behold. Win or lose, I was damn glad I had finally decided to do this. The King entered last.

  He paced forward to stand in front of me when I did not come to meet him.

  “You summon me, like a commoner?” his voice was low and grating. I could not read his face.

  “I was unable to leave my home due to illness, suffered in line of service to you. I have right of redress.”

  “Ask ye.” His voice was cool, his face aloof. I cleared my throat.

  “King of Western Court, Lord of high from Tree to Sea, Corwin Trytion Malise ys Wallflower, I demand my rights as Duke High Tor, Marshal of the East. For too long my family has suffered for a deed none living committed. With the death of the Low King at the hand of the House Mulvaney, I declare the debt from the affair of the red cloak paid, and demand restitution of the lands and titles to the members of my house, and the return of suzerainty to the people of my lands.” My voice broke, and I had to gulp for breath before I went on. My vision was tunneling don, onto the still face of my King. I was aware of a general rustle of movement in a room full of people. The world had narrowed down to the two of us. I didn’t know w
here Bella was, and fought down the urge to look for her.

  “I also demand the record of Alonzo Mulvaney be expunged, and my rightful place on Council as Duke Mulvaney be recognized. We have served in humble reckoning for long enough, and have proved that we are faithful to our King.”

  He stood like a storm cloud on the horizon. I hung trembling in the support of my robes. I couldn’t say another word, it was all I could do not to pass out, and even that would come soon enough whether I wanted it or not. I had the Council as my witnesses, not that they loved me, or would care to see the name Mulvaney amongst them again, but this was properly done... and still the King was silent, his bushy grey eyebrows drawn slightly together as he stared at me in thought. I must look like death warmed over.

  Bella materialized on the other side of me, gliding up on silent footsteps, and taking my hand. I turned my head slightly to see her solemn face, with her eyes fixed on him, and her hand in mine a significant gesture. I looked back at the King, and saw in his eyes that he had decided.

  “Lord Mulvaney, Duke of Elleria Tor, Keeper of the Royal Horse, Learoyd Otheris, I hear you,” he said. She squeezed my hand, and I imagined the look on her face as she accessed the Library to try and make sense of this. He stepped forward and took my hand. “We account you a faithful subject, harmless...” I tried not to let a giggle slip out, “and acclaimed here in the sight of noble witnesses, to be a House free of stricture. The debt has been paid.”

  He dropped my hand, and then stepped near. “Get well, Lom. We need you,” he told me gruffly, then straightened and left the room abruptly, leaving an audience of gaping noblemen in his wake. It took a moment for the bubble of surprise to burst, and fill the room with a loud clamour. I closed my eyes. I had won. I could feel the dizziness pass through me, and knew I was going to faint.

  “Out!” Alger’s voice boomed over my head. “He’s been close enough to death to spit in its eye, he’s earned some peace and quiet!”