Silver Hollow (39 page)

“Enlighten me
,
” Amie deadpanned.

Dameri’s lips twitched to a smirk. “Instead
,
let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, before most men bothered to tell time apart from seasons or festivals
,
my father owned a very vast kingdom.”

Amie’s gaze drifted out the window to see Uncle Henry and the white
-
bearded senile old coot dancing the sword dance.

How did they go from Braveheart to Brigadoon in less than five minutes?

“Father was unprepared to lead the army of course,” Dameri said, “so he hired someone who knew the art of warfare better than he, who was rumored to have fought more battles far longer than any man had been alive.”

“Wait a sec, you’re human?”

“Yes,” she said. Dameri’s smile warmed considerably, so her resemblance to her aged father was obvious. “But I do not think those outside would agree. Living over eight of your centuries has changed us.”

“
Excuse me?
I could have sworn you said centuries…”

“Let us return to our tale
,
and perhaps I shall answer your questions another day. Now the one they hired to aid them required a heavy price most men were not willing to
pay
. When the time came and their enemies had been defeated by these strange warriors, they captured Myrddin. Fortunately for them
,
he tends to forget hi
mself every turn of the century.
”

“Um, who are we talking about here?”

“Focus
,
Jessamiene! Learn to listen here.” She pointed to her chest and Amie arched an eyebrow.

“O—okay…”

“My father’s kingdom changed after Myrddin disappeared. No one seemed to know where he was, not even his true love Nimue. Some say she was the one who saved him later. My father was offered a place here to retire after the wars, because he helped the Tuatha. I was just a child when we came. Mother had disappeared a long time before but father never told me what happened to her. I was the reason he came, he says. We soon found everything runs differently here than in the outside.
This
is why those trapped outside the Vale try to get in. It is why humans are not often invited to stay anymore.” Her eyes turned soft as she watched Henry and Arthur call a truce in the orchard. “Henry has helped us more than anyone else, he and Drustan in fact. And it is for your father I have agreed to ally with Wenderdowne one last time.”

Drawn back into her story, trying not to think of the implications of Dameri’s story, Amie smiled and sank back into her chair, forgetting not to slouch. “Well, thanks. I mean, I don’t even know what we’re up against. But it’s good to know we’ve got friends.”

Dameri’s grin hardened as she said, “They have not told you, yet you dare not ask the right questions. Think hard on this, Jessamiene. Emrys will not confess his past to you because he secretly fears the future. Henry will not impose on you to live here because he fears his own happiness. Both these things can only be secured and answered by you.”

“But why is everyone so worried about what I do and don’t do? It doesn’t make any sense!”

“That is exactly the question your father already answered.”

Amie frowned, tried to school her expression into a more neutral zone. They studied one another between bites of scones, until Amie thought of one question she knew Dameri wouldn’t expect. “Why were you in the woods the night you found me? Why even risk your life hunting gremlins, whatever they are?”

For a human, the older woman’s face turned so vicious Amie wondered if she too had mixed blood. With her words Amie understood the value of having Xcalibure for an ally.

“Someone has to keep the infestation in check. Why the curiosity? Care to try something a bit more daring
,
Lady Wenderdowne?”

…

Which
wa
s how Amie found herself stuck at Xcalibure manor the rest of the evening, dressed in Dameri’s battle clothes and watching the rain pour in copious amounts outside the open window, waiting for Henry to give her a lasting reason for what she was about to do.

“Are you crazy?” she pleaded. “In this rain? Are you trying to get me sick before the ball? Not that I’m complaining if you
are
.”

He
nry
paused in the midst of
hi
s
and Arthur’s chess
game long enough to silently impose his opinion.
Clearly, the answer was going to be yes.

Arthur commented with glee, “A party! What mischief is this usurper
?
Traitor in gryphon’s fur!”

Shaking a curious head at his sedated companion, Henry quirked a brow her direction. “And how did you uncover my master plans?”

“I don’t know, because you’re actually crazy enough to let her talk me into this? What is all this for, anyhow? Why am I such a
big
bloody deal?”

Arthur’s interruption was sudden and unexpected, his clear gray eyes softened as he spoke. “None other is lovelier than you, Nimue. For no one so fair exists in the Vale besides my Gwen.”

“I quite agree
,
Hawkeye.” Henry smiled brightly and the lightning flashed to brighten the chessboard. None of the windows and doors had been shut against the oncoming storm
.
R
ather
,
the inhabitants of the strange cottage welcomed it. Elise, the brownie, danced a jig in the halls now, ecstatic, she said, that their flowers might catch an extra bit of water. Dameri had disappeared the moment she left Amie to change. Amie tugged at the black corset-thingy their hostess had thrown at her earlier. It kept everything together certainly but it was too kinky
-
looking for her.

I look like Selene from Underworld. Oh, please tell me
gremlins don’t look like
Lycans
.

Convinced that arguing with Henry was getting her nowhere
,
she turned and walked out of the firelit rainy room and into the hall.

“There ye are! Ah
,
I see the clothes
nixed
to fit you. It must be marvelous to possess such gifts
,
Jessamiene!” Dameri stood between orchard and manor, hands at her hips, dressed in similar battle gear.

Except she gets to wear a skirt and I have to wear this!

Amie was referring to the tight breeches and knee
-
high boots. How she was expected to nix anyone in this was beyond her. Why did the little human princess get to wear something sensible?

And modest...

“Well
,
do not stand there
,
Jessamiene, come! I have acquired the trapper and we have only to depart! He is gathering our supplies as we speak.” Rubbing her hand
s
together greedily,
Dameri
added, “And soon those black
-
hearted devils shall have met their match.”

“Trapper?” Amie
asked with trepidation
.

Please let this be some Paul Bunyan type and not him!

Following Dameri into the stormy night,
Amie
found her speaking from within the folds of her voluminous cloak to a tall hooded figure beside her. Making a bee line for them, she misjudged the distance and
,
trying to compensate
,
ran straight into a strong pair of arms. A low chuckle surrounded and penetrated her and Amie froze, her skin tingling at the sound mingling dread with his words.

“Oh yes,
’
tis I
,
Jessamiene. Not expecting my company this evening? What a pity they forgot to warn ye.”

“Yeah, thanks for this
,
Dameri
. You might have mentioned
.
” Amie lingered in Emrys’ arms because she was tired from fighting him and whatever she thought about him it felt good. But this did not stop her from grumbling while he pulled back to give her the once
-
over.

“Might I remind you I am your protector? I know how things work in your world but here a blood oath has a far more binding effect.”

“Great
. Y
ou’re the one person in the entire world I wish most
not
to be stuck with. You’re the one
,
”
s
he jabbed him in the chest with a finger, “who not only has made my experience here miserable since your arrival, but tried to kill me in the same woods you’re dragging us into!”

“You finished yet
,
love?”

“Don’t call me that! You don’t have the right to call me that!” Amie barked imperiously.

Emrys laughed and called over the top of her head, “Dameri
,
perhaps we should depart, before the rains stop again.”

The smaller woman slung a crossbow over her shoulder and began to check the other weaponry Emrys calmly handed to her.

Amie frowned. “Where are my weapons?”

Emrys chuckled but Dameri answered for them both. “You are not like me
,
Jessamiene. Remember your blood is only half human. Would be too simple for you to trust a sword if you knew how to wield one. As you do not
,
I have chosen to trust in your other abilities. I hear you are quite exceptional.” She winked at Emrys and he ducked his head with a side glance for Amie’s scrutiny.

Finally putting two and two together, Amie said, “You two are friends?” Dameri’s laughter began with a snort and was full of human warmth. Emrys only smiled his usual cocky, sharp
-
toothed grin while his eyes raked over her get
-
up with male appreciation.

“Friends, are we
,
Myrddin? I was unaware.”

“The word friend has less meaning than it once did
,
Dameri.”

…

The forest was wet, black as pitch and even with her heightened senses impossible to tread without Emrys’ constant watch over her. She envied Dameri’s practiced walk in front of them. For a human she had the natural grace Amie was only now coming into.

Wouldn’t mind getting
my hands on her crossbow either.

Gremlins, creatures that continually brought images of the
E
ighties movie and its title character Gizmo, were not fond of sunlight apparently. Dameri had gone on and on about dipping each of her arrows in the dawn before the night of a big hunt. She had forced Amie to help her prepare, while
she
wondered how leaving the steel tips in the grass all day made any difference.

And it’s not like we’re on the Mexican border here either! This place is about as hot as the North Pole.

And here she was now, in the wilderness, with a crazy woman and a man she wished meant so little to her, trudging through the woods on a cold rainy night.

This is all part of the experience
,
Jess.

Why shouldn’t they hunt g
remlins? Back home the folks outside of town often invited them to deer hunt. Amie supposed this was some rite of passage in the Hollow.

Kill a Gremlin, become a woman!

“You aren’t taking this seriously,” Emrys whispered in her ear.

Amie fought the urge to mash her fist into his face. “Neither of you told me how I’m supposed to fight and I’ve never seen a real Gremlin, so what do you expect?”

His hands settled on her hips to keep her from shifting away from him. “Just be on your guard, lass. Nasty devils these be and they are not the worst thing out there.”

Dameri’s patience wore thin. Whipping round
,
she hissed, “Keep it down! Want the whole forest to know we’re here?”

Emrys chuckled low and said, “Humans are so clumsy they’ll know we’re there before were within ten meters of them.”

Amie couldn’t keep her eyes off the trees on either side of them, expecting whatever was watching them to pounce.
It
was
what the panthers did in East Texas, after all, waited until the prey walked right under their tree before striking. Her gaze flickered up to the lowest branches hanging overhead
and she
tensed when she heard the disturbed undergrowth. The sound seemed to come from all sides.

Dameri paused and held up a fist to signal their stop.
She only needed to glance
at Emrys over her shoulder
and
he nodded
before slipping
away. Amie tried not to panic once he melded with the blackness, rubbed her thumb over her ring until it burned a cool fire in her palm. The tiny black clearing in front of them was devoid of faerie lights or anything else comforting. Even the trees and roots twisted more thickly, sharply to ward unwanted guests away.