Brightly (Flicker #2) (47 page)

He wasn’t suggesting it out of the kindness of his heart, Lee suspected, but because he could tell the situation was dire and thought they would pay dearly for his help. He was right on both counts.

“The first thing,” the dwarf continued, “will be to set a price.”

Filo drew himself up straight and looked steadily at the dwarf. “Name it.”

Chapter Twenty-Five:

“You,” said the dwarf, pointing to Lee. “Come out here, so I can see you better.”

Lee hesitated. “Why?”

“I think you will pay.” He drew something from his belt: a heavy-looking knife with a dark stone blade. The blade glinted dully in the sunlight and Lee suppressed a shiver. She knew that faeries often liked to deal in blood, bone and flesh. Those things were all filled with magic, with energy. “But I have to see you first. Then I will name my price.”

When she moved to exit the ward, Filo grabbed her arm. “Let me,” he said to the dwarf, apparently thinking the same thing as Lee. “I’ll pay.”

The dwarf shook his head. “I have no interest in you. Only her.”

Lee tried to pull away from Filo. “It’ll be fine.”

“No,” he said, squeezing her arm. “Nasser would kill me if I let you.”

“It’s not up to Nasser,” Lee said, and yanked free of his grasp. She took a short breath and stepped out of the ward, feeling the magic wash over her skin in a warm wave as she passed through. “All right. What do you want?”

Beckoning, the dwarf said, “Come here. Where I can see you.”

It was a moment before she realized what he wanted. Then she knelt on the ground before him, so their eyes were level. Though she was hyperaware of the knife in his hand, she knew what she was willing to offer. She would give her blood if he asked for it. Her hands were shaking, but she would give whatever he wanted. Whatever would keep Nasser alive long enough for them to get out of this place.

Again, she asked, “What’s your price?”

He reached for her face with long, knobby fingers. Lee stiffened, but she didn’t close her eyes.

The dwarf seized a fistful of her hair.

“This,” he said, rubbing it between his fingers. “I want this.”

“My
hair?
You want my
hair?
”

“It is very beautiful. It shines like metal, but it’s soft as thread.”

Lee’s heart pounded, not with fear, but with dizzying relief. She would’ve given him anything, and he asked for her hair. She hoped her relief didn’t show on her face. That might make him jack up the price.

“You’ll take us directly to your wife if I give you my hair?” she asked, slowly and clearly. “All four of us? And you won’t lead us astray or try to harm us in any way?”

“Yes.”

“Give me your word.”

“I swear it. I will bring you directly to my wife and cause no harm to you or yours.”

“It’s a deal,” she said breathlessly, turning around and sweeping her hair over her shoulders to give him better access. “Take it.”

The dwarf gathered her hair, winding it around his hand and pulling it taut, hard enough that she winced. She didn’t see him raise the knife, but she felt the spine-tingling resistance as the rough edge of the stone blade sliced through her hair.

When it was done, her head felt oddly light. She reached up, touching the choppy ends of her hair, which now fell to just below her ears. She looked over her shoulder and saw that the dwarf was gazing greedily down at her hair, which was gathered in his hands. He stuffed it into a pouch hanging from his belt and sheathed the knife.

“Well?” he asked, looking up at them. “Are you coming or not? It isn’t far.”

The three of them scrambled to roll up the sleeping bags and shove everything into their backpacks. Soon, everything had been squared away. For half a minute, Filo and Henry bickered quietly about how to carry Nasser.

“If we do it that way,” Henry said impatiently, “we’ll mess his leg up even more. Here, help me with him. I don’t want to jostle him around too much.”

Henry knelt and then, together, they hauled Nasser’s limp form across Henry’s shoulders. With little difficulty, Henry straightened and carefully adjusted his grip on Nasser. Lee was surprised, then impressed. Nasser was six-foot-four, several inches taller than Henry, and much of his weight was lean muscle. He probably weighed a bit less now, after days of barely eating with a high fever, but he couldn’t have been easy to lift.

“All right,” Henry said. “Let’s go.”

Lee was never sure of the passage of time in the cavern, but it felt like they had been walking for less than an hour when they arrived at the base of a low hill deep in the woods, across the river. Thorn bushes and pale toadstools ringed the hill, and a small, wooden door was built into its side.

Their guide rapped his knuckles on the door. A moment later, the door swung open, revealing a dwarf woman standing inside. The room behind her was too dark to see.

She didn’t look as old as the man who had led them here, but her forehead was lined with deep wrinkles and her earth-brown hair was streaked with silver. The tips of pointed ears were visible through her hair. Her clothes were clean, and though her skirt and blouse had a few small patches, she had obviously taken care to make sure they matched the original fabric as much as possible.

The two dwarves spoke together in Old Faerie for a minute, so rapidly that Lee only caught a handful of words. Finally, the woman scrunched up her face, sighed and pulled the door open wider, beckoning them inside with a wave of her hand.

The door was so small that Lee had to bend to fit through it. Filo helped ease Nasser down from Henry’s shoulders, and they carried him in together, cautiously, like he might snap in half if they weren’t careful.

Lee didn’t know what she’d expected the interior to look like, exactly, but she was fairly certain she hadn’t expected it to be so cozy. She was in a large, circular room illuminated by clusters of glowing crystals placed in alcoves along the walls. The ceiling was low, but she could stand up straight, while Filo and Henry had to duck. On the left side of the room stood a simple bed heaped with dark blankets; on the other side was a wooden table surrounded by little stools. Everything was small, scaled down to dwarves’ size. Another door was built into the opposite wall, presumably leading to other rooms, dug deeper into the hill.

“Put him over there,” said the woman, in accented English. She gestured toward the bed, then frowned as she took a second look at Nasser. “That will never work. Put him on the floor. It’s just the same. Oh, I cannot believe you, Eirnin.”

Lee spread one of the sleeping bags on the smooth, hard-packed earthen floor. As gently as they could, Filo and Henry placed Nasser on top of it. The woman peered down at him.

“Your husband said you could help him,” Lee said.

“To know, I have to look at him first,” the woman replied coolly. She bent her head and sniffed, then grimaced. “I can smell corruption under his skin. Where is it?”

“His leg.”

Muttering in Old Faerie, the woman peeled back the bandage that covered Nasser’s leg. She let out a low hiss of disgust and leaned back. Even Lee flinched. The lower part of his right leg was a swollen red mess, oozing pus. Worst was the unmistakable smell of decay.

Lee dropped her voice. “Can you do anything for him?”

“What is wholesome to fey can be poisonous to humans. The remedy strong enough to purge him of infection would probably kill him in the process. But,” the woman allowed, “I can slow the infection, hold it back. I can keep it from killing him, for a little while.”

“How long?”

“I cannot promise more than one day. He is very sick.” She exhaled sharply through her nose and shot a look toward her husband. “Eirnin, I sincerely hope you did not open our home to a crowd of humans for
free
.”

“Of course not, Berrach,” Eirnin replied. “I told them you would name your own price. They can pay it or walk away.”

“Before we make any deals,” Filo said, “remember that we’re looking for crystals and salt, as well. We would pay you to look after him while your husband acts as our guide, and we would buy salt from you.”

Berrach raised her eyebrows. “Salt? Ah, I see. You need to open the way back into your own world.” When the three of them stiffened, she laughed. “You are not the first humans who have come this way and found it difficult.”

“Will you bargain?” Filo pressed.

“Yes,” said Berrach. “I will look after this human and keep his condition from worsening for one day. In exchange, I ask…”

She turned, looking them over with dark eyes. Then she grabbed Lee’s chin in her hand and jerked her close. For a moment, Lee was too stunned to move. She found herself staring into the fey woman’s eyes. Berrach tapped each of Lee’s cheeks.

“These,” she said. “I’ll take these.”

When Berrach released her grip, Lee frowned and leaned back. “What?”

“The spots.”

Lee blinked, bewildered. “My freckles?”

“Just a few. Will you give them?”

“Do I have your word that you’ll keep him alive for at least one day, and cause him no harm, and give him back to us when we return?”

“Yes. You have my word.”

“Then we have a deal,” Lee said.

Berrach reached into the folds of her skirt and withdrew a small, translucent crystal. She pressed one rough, cold edge of the crystal to Lee’s cheek. The crystal grew warm and Lee felt a weird
pulling
sensation, but no pain. Berrach touched the crystal to four other spots on Lee’s face. When she finally lowered it, Lee ran her fingertips over her own face, but she felt no different. “Is it finished?”

“Aye.”

Filo looked to Eirnin. “And you? Will you bargain?”

The dwarf nodded. Then he reached up and brushed one finger across two thin, faded scars that ran parallel down the side of Filo’s neck. “What made these?”

“Talons.” Filo looked confused.

“And who did you allow close enough to make them?”

“What do you mean?”

“This isn’t the work of an animal. The wounds weren’t deep. They weren’t meant to kill you, just hurt you. Whoever did this had to be very close, and I’ll wager you had to hold very still, or they would be much worse. So,” Eirnin concluded, “who did you allow to hurt you like this?”

“My old master,” Filo admitted. “She did it.”

“How long was she your master?”

“Since I was a child.”

“She raised you?”

“More or less.”

Eirnin’s eyes gleamed. “I will take them. Give me those scars, and you have my word that I will guide you to the crystals and back again, as quickly as possible, and cause you no harm. Will you give them?”

Filo hesitated. His hand twitched, lifting slightly, like he wanted to raise it to his neck. Finally, he nodded. “I will.”

As soon as he spoke, Berrach pulled out another translucent crystal and handed it to Eirnin. This time, Lee got to see the process. She watched Eirnin touch one side of the crystal to Filo’s neck. It glowed faintly, as if lit from inside, and the two scars faded away, as if they had never been.

“What do you want them for?” Lee asked.

“There is power in pain,” Eirnin said simply. “Energy. Now we have a piece of it. We can turn it into light. We can turn it into anything.”

“I see,” Lee said slowly, though she didn’t, not really. She couldn’t imagine what power they thought was in her freckles, but she didn’t think it was a good idea to mention that. “What about the salt? What’s your price for that?”

Berrach shook her head. “All in good time. You humans are always in such a rush. We will bargain for that when you return.”

Lee frowned. “We can bargain for it right now.”

At that, Berrach narrowed her eyes. “Are you giving me orders now, human?”

“No,” Filo said quickly, squeezing Lee’s arm in warning. “She’s not.”

“You have your payment,” Henry reminded them. “It’s time to uphold your end.”

“That it is,” sighed Berrach. “Husband, take them.”

Nodding, Eirnin beckoned to them and started toward the door. Lee followed him, but before she ducked through the little door again, she hesitated, looking back at Nasser. Berrach had given her word that she would look after him, and since faeries were physically incapable of lying, their word truly was their bond. Still, it felt wrong to leave him.

In the end, though, Filo grabbed her by the arm again and tugged her out the door.

Eirnin led them deep into the woods, always at the same brisk pace. They trekked for hours, until all the trees seemed to blur together in Lee’s mind, until the forest seemed endless and she was no longer sure of the way they’d come. Now and then, Lee heard rustling among the trees, but whenever she looked, it was always a rabbit or a fox crouched in the undergrowth, watching Henry pass with bright eyes.