Free Black Knight 02 - Back in Black by John G Hartness Page B

and a feast appeared in the blink of an eye. Fruits in all colors of the rainbow, vegetables that looked like nothing I'd ever seen before, and a roasted flamingo appeared from nowhere. Literally from nowhere. Milandra clapped her hands, and food just appeared .  
     
    I sipped a nice red wine while the mortal types ate, and after the first course dishes had been cleared away, I coughed slightly and said "Your Majesty? I hate to bring this up, but what exactly did you mean by 'invasion?' We certainly have no plans for invading your...uh...realm." I finished lamely, deciding at the last minute that referring to the place as FairyLand might not be such a good idea when talking to the Fairy Queen.  
     
    "Well, of course you have, vampire." Milandra replied brightly. "You..." she indicated Sabrina with a fork "have come into my realm uninvited, armed with weapons, as ludicrous as they may be..." I looked at my daggers self-consciously, and then decided she must have meant Greg's nightstick. Milandra gave me that quirky smile again, just a quick upturn of one side of her mouth, and went on "and you arrived in the company of two of the Sanguine, who you must know are bred as assassins, and one of my knights, whom you have obviously made a prisoner."  
     
    I couldn't process most of what Milandra was saying because I was still hung up on the word "assassins." Apparently here in FairyLand vampires were not uncommon, and we were used as assassins. I raised my hand tentatively, and Milandra nodded towards me. "Um...Your Majesty, I think we have a little bit of a misunderstanding."  
     
    "Obviously, vampire. For I cannot fathom what affront I have made to the human realm to warrant this ill treatment."  
     
    "Um..." I hate it when I get tongue-tied, but I was really in uncharted waters here. "Your Majesty, we're not assassins. I mean, we are vampires, that's pretty obvious, but we didn't come here to kill anyone." Which might not have technically been true, but since I didn't know who we were going to try to kill, I figured that bit might best be left unsaid.  
     
    "Then why have you come here, mortal?" Milandra turned to Sabrina, who apparently had been elected general of our invading army when I wasn't looking.  
     
    "We are investigating a series of troll attacks in our world. Otto - um - Octavian led us to believe that you may be able to help us find out where the monsters are coming from, and why they are attacking changelings." Sabrina said, with a glance to Otto, who nodded slightly.  
     
    Sabrina went on "My...a member of my family has been attacked, and we must find out why these trolls are hunting down these young men before anyone else is hurt."  
     
    Milandra looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "Well, human, while it is little concern of mine what happens in your land, I understand the importance of family." I managed not to choke when she said that, and she flashed a quick grin at me that I was pretty sure only I caught. Obviously the capricious little queen wasn't nearly the dim bulb she played. I hate dealing with women that are smarter than me. Which is most of them, if I'm being honest.  
     
    The queen continued, "we have no dealings with the trolls in House Armelion, but I may be able to summon their master here for a...conversation, if that is what you desire."
     
    Something about her tone made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and looking over at Otto I could tell that there was something going on here that was most definitely not being said. Did I mention I hate smart women? Sabrina didn't catch whatever warning tone I was hearing, and just replied with "Yes, Your Majesty, we would like that very much."  
     
    "Well, human," Milandra paused as though and idea had just occurred to her. "If it is a boon you seek from the Queen of House Armelion, then it is a boon you shall have." She was smiling way too much for me to feel comfortable, and then she dropped the other shoe. "Once