Chapter 19

  I didn't stop, of course. But it was sufficiently startling that my hands came together with a little clap and my spell cut through the rest of the collar in an instant. There was a quick flash of light, and the collar dropped away from the dusk fox's neck, falling limply into the grass beneath him.

  The dusk fox immediately relaxed with a little groan of relief, though his muscles continued to twitch spasmodically as the collar's firm control of him faded. "Th-thank you, L-lady Reid…" he gasped in a rough, hoarse voice.

  "You're welcome," I said softly, and stroked his muzzle and ears gently. "Relax now, you're safe and in good hands."

  Indeed, the fairies and gnomes were already getting to work on him, light in various colors pulsing over him, closing up small cuts and healing abrasions. Meanwhile, the gnomes spread a paste of some sort on a deeper gash above the dusk fox's injured leg, and began stitching it shut.

  Then I finally looked up, to find Sparkle - human-sized - standing on the far side of the dusk fox, with Spice and Shine hovering on either side of her, all three of them holding balls of brightly glowing energy in their hands…purple, red, and silver respectively. They were between me and whoever had spoken, so I couldn't get a good look at them…yet.

  I rose, brushing off the knees of my leggings, and carefully stepped around the industriously working healers to get a look at who had so imperiously ordered me to stop.

  Two perfectly mundane-looking young men stood on the far side of the fairy circle and ward line, just before the edge of the woods. They were wearing blue jeans that looked stiff and new, with polo shirts that looked equally new…one in blue, one in gray…and barely broken-in hiking boots. Both were carrying wooden staffs, carved with very familiar-looking runes.

  Both were fair-skinned and reasonably good looking, in a bland sort of way. Blue polo shirt had neatly trimmed short auburn hair and black eyes, while gray polo shirt was sandy blond with blue eyes, his hair longer and tied back in a pony tail.

  Auburn looked a few years older than Blond, but not much older than I was, and appeared to have been the one who'd issued the demand. They were both glaring angrily at my fairies, and were watching Sparkle with obvious unease. I suppose seeing a fairy grow to human size in the blink of an eye would be pretty startling.

  I had a sneaking suspicion they were ICOA. They had the look of arrogant young goons. I made another educated guess that they'd been tracking the dusk fox I'd just freed.

  I walked up on Sparkle's right - Shine slid to the side to make room for me, so that she and Spice were now bracketing us both - and crossed my arms. "Can I help you gentlemen?" I asked dryly.

  Blond nudged Auburn. "Hey, you know who that is?"

  Auburn rolled his eyes. "Of course I do. I saw the dispatch with her picture attached to it, just like everyone else."

  "You know what that means?" Blond asked excitedly.

  "It means we found an entrance to Oakwood Hall that the Council has wanted the location of for a long time," Auburn said.

  "I'm right here, guys," I said, growing both irritated and worried. Dispatches with my picture? And they'd been looking for my clearing? That wasn't ominous at all.

  Auburn pointed past me toward the injured dusk fox. "That fae creature belongs to our Master. You will return it to us at once."

  "Gentlemen," I said in the tone of strained patience that I'd heard Sister Sarah use many times, "I don't even know who you are. I'm certainly not about to hand over an injured dusk fox to a pair of discourteous young men."

  Blond flushed visibly and snapped. "How does she know what the creature is?"

  "Of course she knows what my brother is!" Penny snapped from behind me, a distinctly angry growl coloring her voice. "Do you not see me siting here? Or are you imbeciles as well as ill-mannered."

  "Fool," Auburn hissed to his companion. "Be silent!" He took a deep breath and let it out, then bowed politely to me. "Lady Reid, we represent the ICOA…in fact, our master is a member of the Senior Council. The injured dusk fox behind you is his property, by right of his very important position. You will return the creature to us immediately.

  "No," I said flatly, "I absolutely will not. The dusk fox in question is, by right of vassal agreement, under my family's protection. His clan has been under my family's protection for a little over four hundred years. Your master and his colleagues have kidnapped them from their rightful home. He stays here, with me, end of story. You have no rights or authority here."

  "We have all the authority we need!" Blond said arrogantly. "We represent the ICOA!" He nudged Auburn again. "Come, brother, these wards are pitiful and no fairy ring will stop us from -"

  "Calm yourself," Auburn said. "Lady Reid, my brother - though full of himself - is quite correct. We have no evidence of your family's history with this…clan...of dusk foxes," he said the word 'clan' with obvious disgust. "They are merely creatures to be used. If you will not surrender it willingly, we will take it by force."

  There was something eager in his voice. I was really starting to hate these two.

  "So you threaten to violate the sanctity of Lady Reid's home, and take from his rightful place one who belongs here?" Sparkle asked in a cold tone that even von Einhardt hadn't earned from her. "Do you not see the problem with this?"

  "No," Blond said, "I do not. We do as we're told, and so should you!"

  I made a derisive sound. "Gentlemen - and I use that term loosely - you stand in Faerie, on the edge of land ceded to the Guardian of Oakwood hall. You wish to reclaim an intelligent, sapient being who isn't anyone's chattel but is under my family's protection, as verified by the Law Offices of Summers and Winters, and you've done so in a most insulting way. So let me be perfectly clear: I say thee nay!"

  I guess all those comic books I'd read as a little girl had been valuable after all. And Sister Sarah had said they'd rot my brain.

  Blond was practically steaming now, his face was so red. "How dare you?"

  I felt the energy moving around him even before he lifted his right hand and pointed it at me. The air seemed to crackle around us and I recognized that he was going to cast a spell of lightning before he even opened his mouth to begin casting.

  "Don't do this, guys," I said quickly, realizing too late that in my irritation I'd helped escalate an already tense situation with my words.

  And it was too late.

  "Fulmenos!" Blond cried, and a bolt of brilliant blue-white lighting streaked from his hand toward me.

  I thrust my left hand forward, curled it into a fist, and pushed energy into my shield ring. A kite shield made of translucent blue-white energy sprang out from the ring just in time to intercept the bolt of lightning. It helped that the lightning was visibly weakened as it crossed my wards and the fairy circle…by the time it reached me, the bolt's impact on my shield didn't even make me sway.

  What happened next was absolutely surreal. Have you ever heard a swarm of large insects on the move? The buzzing sound that engulfed me was similar to that, but angry somehow.

  Hard on the heels of that sound came not just a few but dozens of fairies in a rainbow of colors.

  When the Fairies of Oakwood Hall formed in April, there were just two or three dozen of them, maybe forty at most. I had helped their settlement grow, interacted with them, watched them dance and play games at night in the part of the clearing they'd left untouched in front of my windows. And I knew that they were running short of building space.

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  But somehow it hadn't really occurred to me just how dramatically Spice and Shine had swelled their numbers. There had to be more than a hundred of them now.

  And they were furious that I had been attacked.

  I saw Auburn half turn and open his mouth, maybe to reprimand Blond for attacking me, maybe to tell him to run. But he never got the chance to say whatever was on his mind.

  Hundreds of tiny, brilliantly glowing darts of energy slashed in on them from every direction at once. They had no time to defend themselves, hardly any time to even cry out as their bodies jerked and spasmed.

  In moments, they were lying flat on the ground, their clothes riddled with tiny smoking holes, red welts covering them from head to toe.

  "Please tell me you didn't kill them!" I blurted out, rushing forward.

  As I dropped to my knees in the grass beside Auburn, Spice landed on his chest and looked up at me. "They're not dead, Caley," she said firmly. "Most fairies - aside from some like Sparkle - can't muster the power to hurt a mortal individually."

  Penny padded up on the other side of Auburn and met my eyes, her expression showing astonishment as strong as my own. "Disturb not the hive," she murmured. "One sting does little enough, but a hundred…I had no idea fairies could do this much damage."

  Spice puffed up a little proudly. "We can do more, but I knew Caley wouldn't want them killed. That would cause all sorts of problems."

  I nodded and sat back on my heels. "You can say that again. They'll be all right?"

  Sparkle sat down beside me. "They'll wake up in a few hours feeling battered and bruised," she said, poking one of the visible welts on Auburn's cheek. "These'll take a few days to go away."

  Shine landed on Auburn's forehead and stomped one tiny foot lightly.

  Spice nodded. "She's right, we should erase their memories of finding this place."

  I looked up and around, realizing that we were still surrounded by a cloud of hovering, pissed off-looking fairies. Then I returned my attention to Spice. "You can do that?"

  She shook her head. "Not me personally. But Shine knows the ways, and we have a couple of elders in the village who are even better at it than she is."

  I rested my hands on my knees and looked down at them. Could I allow these fairies - my fairies, I corrected myself, wondering if that made me some sort of ersatz fairy queen, a disturbing thought in and of itself…that was a pile of potential trouble I didn't need - to erase the memories of these men from the ICOA?

  No. I couldn't just allow it to happen. But I could take responsibility for it myself.

  I lifted my head and looked at Spice. "Make it happen. They seemed awfully eager to tell their masters at the ICOA about the location of this clearing, and my defenses clearly aren't up to stopping them from doing bad things here yet. It's inevitable that more people will find out about it, but not today. Erase their memories of finding their way here. They never found the runaway dusk fox, they never found this clearing, they never saw me. Then I'll dump them somewhere random in England and let them wake up bewildered."

  Penny nodded a little, her emotions radiating approval. Sparkle squeezed my shoulder gently, she was approving too…but she could tell how difficult a decision it had been for me. I was abrogating another human's will and mind. It made me feel dirty.

  I was doing it for a good reason, wasn't I? To protect all of these fairies, and this entrance to my home. Wasn't an hour or so of memories removed from the minds of two men worth that? That sounded like what Sister Sarah would've called 'slippery slope language.'

  Oh, I was going to be dwelling on this one for a while.

  "Take care of it, Spice, please," I said quietly. "As soon as you're done, let me know and we'll get them inside and moved someplace that's not here."

  Spice nodded. "Shine?"

  I was already rising and turning away as Shine put two fingers to her lips and blew a piercing whistle, the first sound I'd ever heard her make. Just because I'd given the order to do it didn't mean I had to watch. And I had something much more positive to look into.

  I walked back within the circles of our defenses and over to where the strange dusk fox was still sprawled on his side, breathing shallowly. Three gnomes and a few fairies were still working on his injuries as I knelt back down beside him. "How's he doing?"

  The eldest of the three gnomes - the one in the brown coat, who I'd spoken with only a few minutes earlier - looked up from his work. He'd just finished stitching up and bandaging - with some sort of leaves, I noticed - the long gash above the dusk fox's left hind leg. "He's going to be fine, my lady," he said cheerfully. "He'll be stiff and sore for a week or two, but it's nothing that won't heal."

  Penny sat down at the dusk fox's head, then laid down so she was nose to nose with him, and I could feel her relief - and joy - quite clearly. "Thank you," she said softly.

  The gnome smiles warmly. "My pleasure, lass," he said. His voice was warm and kindly, then looked up at me. "We'll set up a shelter for him over by our homes and keep an eye on him, but I expect he'll be up and limping around within a few days."

  "Thank you. May I know what they call you?" I asked politely.

  He nodded graciously, perhaps appreciating the wording of my question. "They call me Basil, my lady. I'm the head of the gnome families who have sworn allegiance to you and Oakwood Hall."

  I bowed my head politely in return. "It's very nice to meet you, Basil, though I wish it could be under better circumstances."

  His smile widened a bit. "What better circumstances are there than saving a life, my lady?"

  That rocked me back a little and I gave it serious thought for a moment, before nodding. "You're right, Basil. Please, call me Caley."

  "It will be my pleasure," he doffed his cap, revealing the top of a completely bald head, and swept it into a deep bow before straightening and popping it back on his head. "I am very glad to be of service."

  "He needs a name," Penny said softly.

  I saw that the strange dusk fox's eyes, deep amber in color, were now open and fixed on her. His muzzle curled into a distinct smile as he whispered, "Found you, sister."

  "Yes you did," she said, bumping her nose against his. "You're safe here, among family."

  He looked up at me then. "It was all true?" he asked. "What our grand-dam told us?"

  "Every last word of it," Penny said firmly. "This is Caley Reid, Guardian of Oakwood Hall."

  "Forgive me," he whispered, "for not bowing, Guardian."

  I smiled and gently stroked his ears and neck. "You're hurt, but you'll heal. And Penny is quite correct, you are safe here. Welcome home."

  He closed his eyes, and to my amazement a tear rolled down his cheek. "Home," he whispered. "That…that sounds lovely."

  "Rest now," I said, my heart in my throat and tears in my own eyes, for I knew precisely how he felt. "Rest, brave one. You're in good hands. And by the time you're back on your feet, I'll have a proper name in mind for you."

  He lifted his head and met my eyes for a moment. The profound relief, joy, and affection in his expression was almost overwhelming to me, as he whispered raggedly, "G-guard your lands…Guardian…I will…I will guard…m-my vow…"

  "Shush," I said softly, stroking his ears and neck again. "Rest."

  Penny echoed my words, and the dusk fox - no longer feeling such a stranger to me - laid his head back down with a relieved sigh. He grew so still for a moment that I felt a jolt of fear for him…then he drew a deeper breath, and his body relaxed.

  "Asleep," Basil said reassuringly, and patted my knee. "Many of our salves include a gentle soporific…deep sleep is nearly as healing as our spells and medicines."

  "Thank you, Basil," I said earnestly. "Thank you very much."

  "I can treat humans effectively too," he said, "if ever you need such services."

  "You'll be the first person I talk to if I do," I replied.

  He looked pleased, then began organizing his kin and the fairies who'd been helping them. In a short time the black and red dusk fox was drifting toward the cluster of mushroom houses, surrounded by his minders.

  Spice whirred over and saluted me. "The memories of our 'guests' have been dealt with, Guardian!"

  I rose and stretched. "All right, let's deal with our would-be thugs."

  It took only a small effort of magic to cast the force spells needed to stack the two gits, one atop the other, and levitate them through the field to my windows. I was accompanied all the way by not only Sparkle, Penny, Spice, and Shine, but by most of the cloud of fairies that had come to my assistance. Occasionally, one or two would fire little bolts of energy into one or the other of the ICOA thugs, but I didn't stop them.

  A few more shots, I figured, wouldn't do much more than had already been done. And I wasn't feeling particularly inclined to stop them anyway.

  As I maneuvered them carefully through the open window, Ken gave me a curious look. "I've been watching, and a few of the fairies kept me informed of what was happening. What are you planning to do? Are you really okay with this?"

  I considered that as I stepped down from the window bench in my bedroom. Then I sighed softly. "I think I need to not be squeamish about defending my home and dependents. We can't keep this entrance to the Hall hidden forever, not with bloody Oberon meeting me here. But the longer we do, the better. I need to improve my defenses here."

  "Perhaps we should consider Spice and Shine's idea to expand your domain with Faerie," Ken suggested tentatively. "But that's a conversation for later. What're you going to do with these two?" He gestured to the unconscious bodies floating by the window, their staffs stacked atop them.

  I pursed my lips. "First…have their memories really been erased?" Sparkle bristled, but I held up a hand. "I mean no slight to Shine and her mentors…it's not something I understand, so I question it."

  Sparkle immediately deflated, and suddenly popped back to her natural size, landing lightly on my right shoulder with a murmured, "Sorry, Caley."

  I smiled. "It's okay. So, yes or no?"

  "Oh, yes, definitely," she said. "Shine is very good at memories."

  I looked at Ken. "How?"

  Ken smiled lopsidedly. "Fairies in particular are very good at memory modification."

  "How else could we stay hidden so well from mortals?" Sparkle giggled.

  "But…you said mind magic wasn't good for…" I trailed off. "Wasn't good for mortals," I finished.

  Ken nodded. "It's one of those strange loopholes in the rules of magic. Just because it's not good for you doesn't mean someone - or something - else can't do it." He nodded at the floating unconscious idiots again. "Now, about those two?"

  "Tell me," I said, "do you have a rough idea of where the ICOA headquarters is?"

  "London," Ken said. "Where else would it be?"

  "Of course," I rolled my eyes a little. Of course these arrogant asses, with their superiority complexes and belief in the rightness of their every action, would set up shop in Britain's capital. I pursed my lips, bringing the geography of Great Britain to mind.

  A smirk that I knew was completely at odds with my usual personality crept onto my face. "I'm going to dump these gormless knobs in an alley. Come on, there must be a door to Newcastle around here somewhere."

  Sparkle giggled and Penny laughed outright.

  The wicked grin that Ken gave me in return told me I was doing the right thing.

  Probably.