The Frostwoven Crown (Book 4) (41 page)

"I want to talk to you," Garrett said, "Can you come out?"

No answer came from the planters, and Garrett spoke again, in Fae this time, "
Please come up. I would enjoy speak with you.
"

He heard the buzz of fairy wings among the leaves and he frowned.

"
I know you are here. Please, I would speak
." he said in the language of fairies.

At once the brassy-colored fairy lifted from the flowers like an angry hornet, his fiery eyes blazing. He hovered and darted side to side as though he might fly away at any moment.

"
I am friend
," Garrett said, "
Please, we must talk
."

The little fairy darted close enough that Garrett could see the sneer on his face. "I'll talk," the fairy spoke in thickly accented Gloaran, "but, spare me yer butchery o' me mother tongue. Who taught ye to spake it, a boggle?"

"A fairy," Garrett said.

The brassy fairy raised his eyebrows and whistled. "A daft one it was that taught ye then, or yer no fair student at all."

Garrett frowned, thinking better of saying anything in his own defense.

"Come on then," the fairy said, waving for Garrett to follow as he darted into a nearby alleyway.

Garrett sighed and followed the fairy into the alley.

"I'm guessin' the blood drinker sent ye away empty-handed," the fairy laughed as he lighted upon the iron railing of a second story balcony, high out of Garrett's reach.

"Who are you?" Garrett asked.

"I'll not hear you try an' fail to spake me true name, boy," the fairy laughed, "Just call me Shortgrass and leave it at that."

"Shortgrass," Garrett said, "My name is Garrett."

"That I know," Shortgrass said, his wings buzzing, "but what I don't know is how ye came to spake the Wyrd o' Breakin'. That I
would
know, boy. That I am
keen
to know."

"I found it in the tomb of the Songreaver," Garrett whispered, glancing toward the street behind him.

"Jus' lyin' around, unattended, was it?" Shortgrass scoffed, lifting his tiny hands in disbelief.

"What do you want from me?" Garrett asked.

"What do I want?" Shortgrass asked. He lifted his hands again and then jabbed his finger accusingly toward Garrett. "I want to know the Wyrd, ye thievin' shufflefoot!"

"I didn't steal it!" Garrett said.

"Nah, you jus' took it without askin', the same as any other thievin' shufflefoot that e'er lived!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Garrett sighed, "I didn't steal it. I just found where it was hidden and brought it back."

"Give it to me then," Shortgrass said, "an' I'll see that it gets to where it needs to go."

"It's not a word that I can tell you," Garrett sighed, "It doesn't work like that!"

Shortgrass shook his head. "Listen, boy," he said, "I burnt what patience I had left in this sorry life, rottin' in that wee wire cage that yer blood drinker friends stook me in. I've got none left fer hagglin' with ye! Set yer price, an' ye'll have it!"

"What?" Garrett asked.

Shortgrass stood to his full height on the rail of the balcony and pointed at his thin chest. "Yer lookin' at a squire o' the Amber Court, boy," he said, "... low in me fortunes, I know, but me word is me bond. If it's gold ye want, I kin drown ye in the stuff!"

"I don't want money," Garrett said.

"Then what?" Shortgrass said, "Name it an' ye'll have it."

"I just did it to help Lampwicke," Garrett said.

Shortgrass stared at him, uncomprehending.

"The fairy that taught me to speak Fae," Garrett said, "I just did it to set her free."

"You did what now?" the fairy asked.

"I had... I had a friend named Lampwicke," Garrett said, "She's a fairy... I don't know her fairy name. She taught me to speak Fae, and I promised her that I would help her get free of the vampire cage she was in. I found where the Breaking Word was hidden, and I brought it back... I can't even remember how."

"And set her free?" Shortgrass said.

"Yeah."

"The same way ye did for me, back in the slaughterhouse?" Shortgrass said.

"Uh... yeah, pretty much," Garrett said.

Shortgrass brushed back his long coppery hair with his hand, blowing air through his cheeks as he thought about it. He gave Garrett another incredulous look. "An' you've no idea at all how you do it?" he demanded.

"I dunno," Garrett said, "I just sort of... do it."

"
Mother o' Melody
, I'm dealin' with a simpleton!" Shortgrass cried to the sky.

"Hey!" Garrett said.

"No, that settles it!" Shortgrass muttered to himself, "I've got to take him back. The dreamers'll know what to do with him."

"The who?" Garrett asked.

Shortgrass looked up, as if just noticing Garrett again. "Listen close, you great dufflehead," he said, "Yer comin' back with me to the forest, and we're leavin' now."

"I'm not going anywhere," Garrett scoffed, "I've got stuff to do here."

"You
had
stuff ta do here," Shortgrass growled, "Now ya don't. Yer bound to answer the charges o' yer crimes before the Amber Court."

"What crimes?" Garrett demanded.

"You'll find out when we get there," Shortgrass quipped.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Garrett snorted, shaking his head as he turned to go.

"Don't make me put the
cosheili
on ye!" the little fairy shouted.

"Have a nice trip," Garrett laughed as he walked away.

"I warned ye!" Shortgrass cried, and then he barked out a strange phrase in Fae, "
Te vaardre tu cosheili, na'verrden sha!
"

Garrett felt a warm wave of power wash over his shoulders and dissipate into nothingness as it passed over him without effect.

"Didn't work," he called without looking back.

"
Te vaardre tu cosheili!
" Shortgrass cried out again, louder this time.

"Still didn't work," Garrett said as he rounded the corner and stepped back onto the street. He nodded again at the naga girl and turned to make his way home.

Garrett heard a furious buzzing sound and then felt a solid impact against the back of his head.

"Ow!" Garrett said, spinning to face the blazing golden fairy who swayed drunkenly in the air as though the blow had stunned him far worse than it had Garrett.

"Yer goin' nowhere but where I say you go!" Shortgrass roared, shaking his head to clear his vision.

"You're gonna hurt yourself," Garrett sighed.

Shortgrass darted in again like a flash of golden light, striking Garrett in the center of the forehead.

"Ah!" Garrett cried, his hand going between his eyes and stars swirling in his vision.

"Had enough?" Shortgrass mumbled, his light flickering as he circled Garrett in an unsteady arc.

Garrett shook his head.

Shortgrass zipped forward again, but this time, Garrett got his elbow up fast enough to block the fairy's attack.

Shortgrass dropped in a senseless heap at Garrett's feet as the young necromancer danced around, wincing in pain at the impact to his elbow joint.

When Garrett regained his composure, he looked around to see that a small crowd of satyr children had gathered to watch the rather unusual fight. He smiled and waved at them before stooping to pick up the unconscious fairy and then fleeing the scene.

Garrett paused at the door of Warren's house, realizing only then that it was a real door and not the ragged canvas flap that had hung in the doorframe for as long as he could remember. He looked down at his feet and noticed then that the walkway had been swept clean all the way out to the shadowy lane of the subterranean neighborhood. He squinted and held his witchfire torch a little higher, marveling at the fresh coat of paint that now covered the old stones of the ancient house, though its color was impossible to make out in the flickering green light. A warm, honey-colored glow emanated through curtained windows of real glass in the frames where only broken shards and cobwebs had been before Lady Ymowyn's arrival.

Garrett snuffed out his torch and stuck it in his bag before knocking lightly on the door of the house.

The door wrenched open to reveal Warren hulking in the entryway beyond.

"Hi, Gar," the ghoul greeted him, "What happened to your face?"

"I got in a fight with Claude," Garrett said, "Can I come in?"

"Yeah," Warren said, stepping aside to wave him in. "What's that?" he asked, indicating the unconscious fairy cradled in the crook of Garrett's left arm.

"I got in a fight with a fairy too," Garrett said as he stepped inside.

"Evenin' Garrett," Bargas called from the fireside where he lay upon a low cot, covered with an enormous quilt with a patchwork pattern of eggs and hens checkering it.

"Hi, everybody!" Garrett said.

Lady Ymowyn rose from the chair where she had been snapping pea pods for their evening meal. She looked Garrett up and down, her green eyes wide. "What happened to your face?" she demanded.

Garrett touched his fingertips to the claw marks on his left cheek. "Vampire fight," he said, and then touched the tender spot on his forehead, "Fairy fight."

Ymowyn's lips curled incredulously. "I know I said to do something stupid, but, Garrett..."

"I also broke into the temple and almost got turned into a skeleton... oh, Banden's gone now."

"What?" Ymowyn choked.

"No, I mean he left, after the skeleton thing," Garrett said, "He's all right though, but they
did
try to kill us, so I had to go and join the Templars for real, but I don't really like it much. Last night we went outside the city and attacked a bunch of Neshite people, I guess because the roach guy was Neshite, and the High Priestess wanted to question the other Neshite people. The Templar guys wanted me to beat up a bunch of kids, but I didn't do it, so now they're mad at me, I think..."

Lady Ymowyn stared at him with her mouth open.

"
Aaand
I tried to become a vampire, but the vampire guy wanted me to kill this fairy, and I wouldn't do that either, so he said I wasn't ready to be a vampire and kicked me out... um, then the fairy guy wanted to arrest me for stealing the Songreaver word or something, and I wouldn't go with him, so we fought about that, and I... accidentally knocked him out... I was hoping that you could help him."

Ymowyn said nothing, her eyes going to the fairy and then back to Garrett's face. She squinted at him in disbelief.

Warren shrugged. "Made sense to me," he said.

"You wanted to be a vampire?" Bargas groaned, "
Why
, boy?"

Garrett's eyes fell. "I just thought I could be with Marla then," he said.

Bargas shook his head. "No, boy..." he coughed and then coughed again.

Ymowyn leaned across to offer the old ghoul a cup of tea.

Bargas sipped at the cup and nodded his thanks with a pained expression.

"What happened with Claude?" Warren asked.

"He was being a nob," Garrett sighed, "and I told him to stuff it... we started fighting then, and I sicced the zombie rats on him. He scratched my face pretty bad, but I knocked one of his fangs out."

"Really?" Warren asked, his face brightening.

"Yeah!" Garrett said, "But then Klavicus came in and broke it up... He pretty much told me not to ever come back to the vampire embassy again."

"That's not fair!" Warren rumbled.

"No, I think he's afraid of what the other vampires would do if they found out about the Songreaver thing," Garrett said.

"He knows?" Ymowyn asked, stepping forward to take the fairy from Garrett's arms.

"Yeah, he figured it out somehow when he licked me," Garrett said.

Warren pulled a disgusted face.

"You don't want to know," Garrett shuddered.

"Will he tell anyone?" Ymowyn asked, setting the unconscious Shortgrass down on a small mound of napkins on the table.

"I don't think so," Garrett said, "but Mister Jannis, the vampire tailor, figured it out when I was asking him about how to become a vampire... He's gonna tell somebody for sure."

Ymowyn shared a worried look with Bargas.

"Maybe you'd better stay with us for a while," Warren said.

"No, I'm fine," Garrett said, waving off their concerns, "You know, the more I think about it, the more I think I could've taken Claude if Klavicus hadn't shown up." Garrett remembered the splintered broom handle hefted in his hands like a spear. He pantomimed a sure thrust directly at the memory of Claude's stupid chest. He laughed, and a little cloud of frost rolled from his lips.