Silver Hollow (34 page)
“So where to next?” She skipped to catch up and nearly ran into Henry’s solid back once the door clinked shut behind them. “What the crap?”
Amie could feel the anger rising
in her Uncle to a peak she had never seen. For the first time
his nixy awakened with
a force as powerful as the sun. It frightened her, not because she was worried about her own safety, but because she worried what he was about to do in front of their subjects.
“Why
,
that brambling, brimbling fool!”
h
e hissed under his breath. Amie moved around him, hoping to calm his rising temper
,
and her eyes widened. The brief silence was interrupted by a sudden cheer and the familiar sound of a fist impacting flesh. The c
urious c
rowd
had
circled Emrys and his opponent, a rather large hobgoblin from the looks of things. He had
to be the size of Cook at least…
Wait…
it’s
Cook!
Slaine smoked his pipe from his seat on the coach and growled at the air, “Was bound to happen sooner than later I fear
. T
oo much
nixy
in one place for the poor lad.” At Amie’s glare he grinned and added, “Why
,
Alastair be half Sidhe and Hobgoblin, milady,
’
tis why he never was well at gathering all his wits.”
Henry shoved her other boxes into the cab, and Amie added hers to the pile, rushing after him. They hardly had to shove their way through the excitable crowd. Clear
l
y they weren’t concerned for the merlin. “Out of my way! Out of my way! Alastair! Emrys! Gather your wits
,
man!” Uncle seemed confused on whether to step in and stop the fight or absolve this with dignity.
Neither man seemed to notice their mutual employer standing before them. Emrys ducked faster than Alastair could throw his mighty fists
,
and he continuously threw taunts at the larger male.
“Come on
,
even a true
w
ight would have hit me by now! You’re slow and weak
,
Alastair, always were a sodden bushwickle!”
“Say one more thing and I’ll show ye where you can shove your
acornips
!” Cook growled back, dancing on his feet in a curious boxing strut. Emrys laughed and jabbed in moves too polished, as if he already knew his opponent’s next move. Amie had been forced to spar
nixies with him many times, but she had never done much else than wrestle with him. That was her last resort
,
as he called it, if she were in a tight bind. This display was something else entirely, as if he were playing with the usually docile giant.
Alastair roared, “I know what ye truly are, ye nasty Unseelie! Cruel miserable born of a
d
ark
w
ight!” His knuckle grazed Emrys’ jaw and all in the vicinity heard it crack.
Though he should have been bloody and writhing on the ground in pain, Emrys quickly recovered.
“Ever wonder what truly happened to your miserable mother
,
Alastair?” Emrys said maliciously. “Did you ever wonder who helped shove
the
knife in her chest, or why?”
Alastair saw red and screamed, “Bloodletting
w
ight!”
“Gentlemen
,
that is quite enough!” Henry bellowed and the crowd fell silent at the crackle of energy
spilling
from his mouth with the force of thunder. Amie plugged her ears at the rumble and was amazed when neither Emrys nor Cook stopped. Instead Emrys ducked in a blur of movement too quick even for Alastair’s raging strength.
“Cook
,
look out!” Amie gasped when Emrys landed one in the giant’s jaw. Cook’s eyes widened and sought Amie.
“Milady? Master!” He bowed himself in half with a wince.
Amie was too frightened to look at Uncle Henry now. She remembered how scary her father could be if the temper took him. Drustan never actually did anything. It was the look in his face, the flex of his knuckles that told you he
could
,
and this was more frightening.
In a tightly controlled tone the Lord of Wenderdowne and Silver Hollow addressed the two
.
“I had hoped such barbarity was long past us,
Myrddin Emrys
. I thought any
one
employed within my house should keep to the code no matter what cowardly methods were used to draw their grit out!”
Cook kept his head bowed in submission, but Amie saw his scowl deepen and his
eyes flicker
t
o the M
erlin in front of him.
Emrys smoothed. “Come now, Iudicael. You know I never go looking for a brawl!” His wild dark eyes told a different story. Cook’s face tightened when Emrys turned to address Amie. “Milady is not too stirred by such a violent display, aye?” Sarcasm dripped so easily
,
an undertone of his words, most others would never catch it. Unfortunately Amie knew the
Bane of the Va
le
all too well, and so too did Alastair. “If it were not for this half breed I might have—oof!”
Cook moved faster than he had the entire fight they had witnessed, took a sharp jab to the side of Emrys’ face before their master could stop them. Emrys fell in a heap to the ground with a grin on his face. Uncle Henry burst out laughing when Cook shrugged and said, “Got tired of hearing him chad on.”
Amie smiled when the crowd followed Uncle Henry’s laughter, passing along round silver coins to each other in payment for their debts. Slaine cackled behind them.
“Alastair, watch over Lady Wenderdowne, if you are indeed finished with your business this day. I need a word with Emrys. Jessamiene
,
you may have a look around the shops but do nay worry about us. I shall see you at home.”
Henry clasped
a hand on Emrys’s shoulder
and
the two ambled off with the crowd.
Amie was still reeling
from
Slaine’s revelation. Cook was half Seelie? Not that she had seen too much of a difference between her father’s people and Underhill’s, she wouldn’t have known it was possible.
Then again
,
where did you think you came from
,
Wenderdowne?
“Better get a move on
,
milady!” Slaine shouted over to them.
Amie
glanced
back over her shoulder and frowned at the old cabb
ie
. He
looked
up at her as he emptied his pipe into the street and began to stuff it afresh.
“Just a second,” Amie said, eyeing a contrite Alastair. The burly man had yet to raise his head. Though she couldn’t explain it, a part of her felt betrayed, learning secondhand he too was a half
-
breed like her. She wanted to know why Emrys and Alastair hated one another so much. And she wanted to punish Emrys for disliking someone because of what they
were.
Slaine interrupted before she could begin her interrogation
.
“Aye, well, the locals have been peeping out of their windows quite a bit and I’m afraid if we don’t move soon we shall only stir the poor poshumicked creatures to the dithers.”
Alastair straightened his back and frowned at the obscured faces watching them from the dank alleyways. “He’s right
,
you know. They’ll be talking about this till the next solstice and I’ve had enough of my own kin today. What say we go for a drive, milady?”
…
On their way past the last of the village gates, Amie started out of her inner monologue the moment she caught sight o
f
a
familiar figure. Dressed in hobgoblin silks and a veil, it was almost
impossible
t
o identify the gypsy. But there was something in the way her black bobbed
hair gleamed in the sunlight. For a moment Amie had flashbacks of her high school years and making movies with her best friends, the twins.
“Faye?” Amie gasped, startled, when the woman met her eyes briefly and winked.
No way, it has to b
e a look-alike or magic or something!
Her eyes flickered to the figure standing in the shadows of the gate she danced before. An outrageous feathered hat was his most defining feature.
It was quite impossible
to
not
be drawn to the man beneath the flamboyant apparel
.
He
was a blend of Er
rol
Flynn and D’Artag
n
an and when he turned his head to meet her stare, twirling his mustache between his fingers, she gasped.
Whoa…think I’m going to seriou
sly need therapy after all this.
“What’s the matter
,
lass?” Alastair had been glancing nervously from her to the road ever since they loaded up the last goods into his cart. Amie hated when people found out about her parents’ car accident. The looks she received afterward were unsettling and often accidentally patronizing. The looks Alastair was giving her were of a familiar kind, the sort Jo gave her before she dished the details of another failed relationship.
“I know
that man
,
” Amie said
, though she wasn’t sure how
.
The Musketeer
stood against the gate with several other official and shady
-
looking characters. It was difficult to tell who was of the goblin and Seelie kind here. His friends turned to follow his distraction and their faces froze eerily neutral. The man smiled.
Faye’s face was the last thing she saw, a teasing smile on her lips, the same face she made when she knew something Amie didn’t.
Amie
wasn’t convinced yet, but if this wasn’t one of her two best friends in
the entire
world, she was afraid to learn who had stolen her face.
Has to be a Jedi mind trick!
“Milady?” Alastair asked warily.
In a flash, they had passed the outer gate, the man gone from sight and the wide open fields before them. Even with the sun at its zenith the heat only barely warmed her skin. For the winds seemed colder now, the distant clouds darker over the valley. Amie’s stomach grumbled and she realized she had eaten nothing since breakfast. Glancing at Cook
,
she realized he was expecting an answer and nodded.
“I’m fine.” When he continued to watch her between his surveys of the looming trees she grumbled her frustrations. “What?”
“Milady?”
“Why are you acting like I’m about to break? Do you have any idea how frustrating that is?”
His eyes widened considerably. Amie recalled his glory days of rough
-
housing and carousing and realized half of it must be fabricated. Because the giant of a half breed blushed at her words and ducked his head.
“Sorry
,
Jessamiene
.
I just was wondering, after what you saw, if you knew.”
“Knew what?” She watched him try to mask his surprise.
“Why, that I’m half
Seelie
, and it’s a bloodletting curse sometimes.” He growled several unintelligible words. Soon they passed the treetop village and the beast tamers
’
world beneath and under the watch of the enchanted forest Amie felt a kinship with the most unlikely of people.
“I know. Slaine told me during the fight.”
Alastair nodded to himself, and after a pause suddenly launched into a cavalcade of life stories. She attempted to wholly listen since this was the most truth to have ever escaped her friend’s mouth.
He
had grown
up in Silver Hollow, forced to defend his blood status with his fists most of his youth.
He
recalled
the reputation he had developed in
the underbelly
and i
t wasn’t long before his crimes were called to the higher coun
ci
l’s attention. Fortunately, Henry Wenderdowne was the leader of this coun
ci
l and he had known Alastair’s mother. Vouching for the lad himself, Henry took him in.
“I was a right
bushwickled
scrapper, Jessamiene. Can’t believe Master found me. I’d still be on those streets facing the likes of old featherbrains and worse.”
Nudging his arm with her shoulder
,
she threw his old words back at him
.
“I thought there was no one worse than Emrys in the entire Vale?”
