“Never mind me. Just go, Brendan!”
A long, triumphant howl froze his blood. He spun and looked down at Kim. She was backing toward the metal steps.
He looked to the doorway they’d entered from. At first, he could see nothing in the dark mouth of the corridor. Then he heard a wet snuffling, huffing sound. Shadows separated themselves from the greater darkness, and poking snouts sniffed tentatively into the room. Satisfied, the creatures edged into the light. The Kobolds had found them.
64 Kitsune Kai is a Fox Spirit renowned in the Faerie World. Japanese Fair Folk tend to be shape- shifters, capable of taking animal form whenever they choose. Kai is one of the most powerful of all Japanese Fair Folk.
65 Lesser Faeries are tiny relatives of the Fair Folk. They vary in shape and appearance but they often resemble tiny animals or birds or even fish. They survive by pretending to be members of these mundane species. Lesser Faeries are far more numerous than Fair Folk. No one knows exactly how many of them there are in the world because they refuse to sit still long enough to be counted.
66 Any person who strikes a bargain with a Lesser Faerie becomes their Boon Companion for as long as the bargain lasts.
DOWN THE TUBES
Four of the creatures faced them. Brendan had been expecting fantastical beasts but they were more like the hyenas he’d seen at the zoo: large dogs with the colouring of pit bulls, dark brown with lighter brindle stripes. Saliva dripped from their gaping jaws as they stood panting on the concrete floor. They raised their muzzles and their nostrils flared. Brendan had never seen dogs with eyes like these, yellow as topaz and glinting with intelligence. They bared their sharp teeth, saliva drooling in thick ropes from their underslung jaws, and growled deep in their chests as they sighted Kim and Brendan.
“Far enough,” Kim’s voice rang out. She raised the stick above her head. “Just stay right there.”
As one, they howled, a deafening sound that echoed off the concrete walls of the room, drowning out the sound of the pumps. The howl decayed into a series of sharp yaps that sounded like laughter.
“I’m warning you,” Kim snarled. “One more step and you’ll regret it.”
Brendan gasped as the coats of the dogs began to ripple and flow. As one, the dogs reared up on their hind legs. Before Brendan’s astonished eyes, the dogs transformed into bipedal humanoids. They were all dressed in furs, roughly sewn together into garments. Tall triangular ears flicked back and forth at the top of their flat skulls. All of them had long noses with wide, flat nostrils. Feral yellow eyes glared at Kim, warily watching the stick as it circled above her head.
They suddenly began laughing, a harsh barking sound that set Brendan’s teeth on edge.
“Ooooo! She’s got a stick!” one cackled.
“Oh, how terrifying!” another howled.
The Kobolds began to yip uncontrollably, rolling on the floor and nipping at each other.
“Laugh your heads off, if you like,” Kim said evenly. “But if you come any closer, you’ll regret it.”
One of the Kobolds shook himself and got to his feet. “Oh, we ain’t going to come any closer,” he snarled. “We was just told to find you, corner you. The mistress will be here right quick to take you in hand, my darling. But you do look very tasty…” He licked his lips with a long pink tongue.
“Out of our way!” Kim demanded. “Now!”
The Kobolds cringed at the sound of her commanding voice. They were part dog, after all. Brendan began to think they might have a chance, but then he heard Orcadia’s icy voice.
“I don’t think so, Ki-Mata.” Orcadia sauntered into the room, looking cold and beautiful in her midnight leathers. The Kobolds scampered to her side. She absently scratched each of them behind the ears as though they were harmless puppies rather than intelligent beings.
“Dear girl, you’ve led us a merry chase but it’s over now. Greenleaf was a nuisance but I sent him off with his tail between his legs. Now I have you. You can’t escape. Let me have him and you may go back to your clan. We don’t want conflict.”
“Are you joking? Conflict is all you’ve ever wanted,” Kim spat. “He is my responsibility until I get him to sanctuary. I intend to accomplish my task.”
“Foolish girl. You’ll never make it to the Swan.” Orcadia’s tone darkened. “You are literally out of your element. Forest magic has no place here. Your tricks won’t work here. Look around you.” Orcadia waved a hand at the sterile room, concrete and metal lit by harsh fluorescence. Wires ran along the walls. “Not a single growing thing for you to manipulate. Your discipline is not suited to this place. That stick in your hand is exactly that-a stick. Now hand over the boy before I become impatient.” She laughed again.
“You’re as out of your element as I am, Orcadia. There’s no sky above you, or hadn’t you noticed?”
Orcadia smirked. “The Humans have been so kind as to bring the sky to me.” She raised an elegant finger and a crackling bolt of blue fire arced from an electrical wire passing along the ceiling above to dance upon her fingertip. “Handy, isn’t it? The game is up.” She sniffed. “Or are you expecting the boy to help you?” Her icy eyes focused on Brendan, and his heart quailed. “He may have gifts but he has no idea how to use them. He’s as helpless as a baby.”
Kim stood poised in readiness. Brendan sensed his friend’s uncertainty. He had no idea what the two Faeries were talking about, but he got the feeling that what Orcadia said was true. Kim needed help.
Maybe he had lost some basic survival instinct. Perhaps he’d finally lost his mind. Whatever the reason, he felt the same kind of anger and frustration that he’d felt when Chester held the Murderball over his head. He was tired of helplessness. He was tired of running. He was tired of being spoken about as if he weren’t there. The anger overcame his fear, and he stepped out of the hatchway.
“Listen, you weird, crazy… crazy woman!” He couldn’t think of anything more articulate. “I don’t know who you think you are,” Brendan said, growing louder and more confident as he spoke. “I don’t know who you think I am. I don’t care. This is over right now. I have had it with running! I’m done! So you just take your stinking, drooling… dogs and get out of here!”
The Kobolds howled with laughter and began their yapping mockery anew. Brendan expected Orcadia to laugh in his face. The effect on the woman was completely unexpected.
“Ugnh,” Orcadia grunted, as if she’d been struck. “Ugnnnooo! How? How can he…?”Orcadia took a jerky step backward. Then another. “He’s Compelled me? He has the Voice of Command? How?” She took another step back. Her arms went out and gripped the concrete doorframe as though she was made of metal and a giant magnet was pulling her back into the corridor. The Kobolds stopped their racket and stared at their mistress in whimpering confusion. Their eyes flicked back and forth between Orcadia and Brendan. They didn’t know what to do.
Brendan stood with his mouth open in shock. A wave of dizziness swept over him. He felt leaden and fatigued. “What’s her problem? Why is she…?” The look on Kim’s face stopped him. Kim was looking at him with undisguised amazement. “What did I do?”
“You Compelled her,” Kim said, mounting the steel steps. “But she’s trying to resist it.”
“Compelled her? I don’t understand.”
Kim looked at Brendan with what might have been a grudging respect. “You’re a bag of surprises. You have no training but it would appear you have some raw talent. You did the same thing with Chester on the school steps today. Remember?”
Brendan recalled the stricken look on Chester’s face and the way the bully had run off without a backward glance. “Are you kidding me? I did that?” He looked at Orcadia, who was straining against some invisible force. “Me?”