Free Drink Down the Moon by Charles DeLint Page B

Kelldee, who was taking the body to Puxill right now in hopes of finding a fiaina to claim it, and wasn’t it a shame
     
    Oh, don’t tell him too much, Kate wished at her friend.
    She stepped up her pace so that she was walking abreast of them.
    “So where’s Lochbuie?” she asked in a pause of the conversation, speaking quickly before Jacky could launch into something else.
    Cumin’s eyes appeared to narrow for a moment, but then he smiled and Kate wasn’t sure if he’d actually looked angry just then, or if she’d projected that on him because of the way she was feeling.
    “Far east of Kinrowan,” he said. “Though not so far as the sea itself. I’m on a trip to Gormeilan, you see
    .”
    The rest of the way back to the Tower, Kate kept the Gruagagh talking about himself. Jacky didn’t interrupt, but whether that was because she understood what Kate was doing, or because she was simply interested in what Cumin had to say, Kate didn’t know.
     

Seven
     
    Leaving their instruments in the hollow hill, Johnny and Jemi returned to the riverbank. The mists were thicker now. The night had grown still quieter. The flat stones shifted underfoot as they walked, the rattling sound loud in the stillness. When they paused by the water’s edge, the sound continued. Johnny wasn’t aware of it immediately, but Jemi turned her head quickly to look behind them.
    “Faerie,” she murmured.
    Johnny turned then as well to see three small ponies soft-stepping across the stones. Two had riders, the third a long bundle tied across its back. Jemi’s hand crept to Johnny’s arm, her fingers tightening painfully as she clung to him.
    A half-dozen yards from where they stood, the ponies stopped and their riders dismounted. The foremost was a fat dwarf with a dark beard and darker hair. The other was taller and smooth-shaven. The dwarf cleared his throat.
    “Are you friends to Puxill’s Pook?” he asked.
    “I am,” a voice said from behind them before Jemi could reply.
    The tall, ebony-skinned figure of a naked woman stepped around them to face the dwarf. Water glistened on her skin. This’ll be Loireag, Johnny thought. Before the woman could speak, Jemi let go of his arm and pushed her way in front of the woman.
    “I’m Jenna’s sister,” she said.
    She shot the kelpie a quick glance. Loireag briefly touched Jemi’s shoulder with the long dark fingers of one hand— a feathery touch that was gone almost before it was made— then returned her attention to the two Seelie faerie.
    “My name’s Hay of Kelldee,” the dwarf said. He frowned, then cleared his throat again. “Oh, it’s bad news I have for you tonight.”
    While he spoke, the other faerie was loosening the bundle from the third pony. Tenderly he laid it on the ground and Johnny had a sudden premonition. He started to move towards Jemi, meaning to comfort her, then froze, abruptly aware that there were more than just the five of them abroad tonight.
    They came from all sides, slipping from the forest and through the field, sidling from the river behind them, dozens of strange beings, not one quite the same as the other. There were little men no taller than his knee, with twigs and leaves in their hair, their arms and legs like spindly roots. Pale-skinned women with wet-green hair, dark eyes, and sinuous bodies. Rounded little men with grey beards and wrinkled faces. A woman with the face of a fox and a long bushy tail.
    Some were tiny, others taller than Johnny. Some he could see clearly and wished he couldn’t; others were hidden in shadow allowing him only brief glimpses of narrow pretty faces, all those he wished he could see better. Towering over them all was a nine-foot-tall troll, his hands hanging below his knees, his back stooped, his eyes glittering.
    Johnny found it hard to breathe. His chest was a tight knot and there was a sour taste in the pit of his stomach. The crowd of creatures pressed closer, encircling them. They filled the night with