Free Midnight Frost by Kailin Gow Page B

out of town. It was getting dark, and while a diet of raw fish and meat and foraged berries had sustained us for a few days, we were anxious to have something warm in our bellies for the morrow. This would be the last stop, we knew, before we had to return to Feyland and join the battle, and it was likely to be our last chance for hot food for who knew how long. Thus Cary, tripping over the tables with his long legs, ordered us some cherry blossom ale, a specialty of the region, and we made our way to a table. The tavern was dark, lit only by a few scattered candles, and the room was full of shadows.
    From the corner of our eye we could see the tavern maid, a characteristically buxom young woman balancing far too many cherry blossom ales on her trays, bending over to serve a group of young men – probably fairy, I thought, although they had  - as etiquette demanded – put away their wings. (For my part, I found “sliding” - as Kian termed it – my wings to be an odd sensation, still unfamiliar to me, and had Kian not reminded me of the inadvisability of wearing wings indoors I would have forgotten it altogether).
    “Come on now, Annette,” said one of the fairies. “You know we want more than ale tonight.”
    She rolled her eyes. “I've already told you, Bollo – you can have cherryseed ale or fairyfruit ale. Take your pick.”
    “That's not what we mean, my pretty. How about you take us all upstairs?”
    “Rooms all full, fellows.” She sighed as she placed the glasses down on the table.
    “How about behind the barn, then?”
    “You go on then!“You gn Annette was getting angry. “How about going yourself? Sleeping in the barn like the animals you are.”
    A hand flew out and seized her wrist. “Listen here, you stupid strumpet. We're offering you a good rate, see, so don't play the prude on us. We know what kind of services you sell here!”
    “I'm not interested – let me go!”
    “Two choices, missy!” the other one cut in. “We pay you a fair price, or we take it for free!”
    She gave a scream as one of them slipped his hand up her skirt.
    “Enough!” Kian leapt to his feet, spilling all of our drinks in the process. “Let her go. She said she wasn't interested, boys!”
    “She doesn't know what she wants,” snarled the fairy. “Stay out of it. Now – why don't you, my pretty, sit on my lap...”
    He yanked her down roughly onto the chair.
    “Two choices,” said Kian. “Unhand her – or else I'll do it for you. By order of the Midnight Knight!”
    The bar fell silent amid a few belated gasps.
    “The Midnight Knight, eh?” Bollo grinned. “I thought you were just a nursemaid's tale.”
    “Nursemaid's tales are real, friend. Now I suggest you start believing before I convince you myself.”
    “It's true!” Two unfamiliar voices interrupted us. “He's the Midnight Knight himself!” Two figures came forth. One was tall, pale, ethereal – a blue-eyed fairy with the whitest skin I had ever seen. The other I recognized. It was Pan, the satyr, whom I had met at Kian's lodge long ago. “Now, he doesn't want to dirty his shiny armor, see? Because everybody knows the Midnight Knight's armor gleams the brightest in Feyland. So let's escort you out before he has to get your ugly blood on his breastplate.”
    Before Kian could respond, the fairy and Pan seized Bollo and his lecherous companion, and threw them out unceremoniously into the street, pouring their cherry b lossom ale onto them as a final parting gift, to the applause of the tavern's patrons.
    “See!” Pan cried. “The age of lawlessness and chaos is over! The Midnight Knight is here to stay!”
    “I'll go make sure they're gone!” Cary bounded out the tavern door, with Barnaby jumping at his heels.
    The two came over to me, Logan, and Kian. We looked them up and down, confused by their actions, as they pulled up a seat at our table.
    “Now,” said the fairy, staring straight into Kian's visor. “I may not be able to see