Chapter 30

The next morning, Quinn arrived at Anna’s to find the place in chaos. Her carefully tended garden looked like a tornado had passed through. Row after row of carefully tended lavender was uprooted and scattered, as were the vegetables and tomato plants. He found her kneeling beside a stand of lilies that were smashed flat.

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes and pointed. A Thumbelina-sized sprite lay broken among the lilies.

“They killed her. She tried her best to protect her lilies, poor thing.”

Saria is not going to take this well. The sprites were her kin.

“Who did this?”

Anna ignored the question. “They had no call to do this,” she said dully.

He asked again. His voice was harsh and cold as ice. “Who did this Anna?”

“Two mother-damned boggles. You can see their tracks all over the place. Something must have stirred them up. They are like weasels. When the frenzy strikes—they destroy for the joy of it.”

Anna cocked her head, then strode to the ancient lightning-struck cedar. Her arm shot out as quick as a snake and came up with a small hob dangling from her right hand.

“Look what I found stalking here. This hob is a spy for sure.” she sang in fluting low-alfar, “it can’t keep its nose out of other people’s business. It will get its nose cut off someday. Might be today. Might be it is the being that did all this damage.”

“Not spy,” it piped, and squealed as she gave it a shake. “Did not do this bad thing. Curious about the new Keeper is all.”

“Good morning Singer and Song bless you, Master Hob,” Quinn sang politely. “Do you ken what I am?”

The elf peered at him with near-sighted eyes, then his greenish-brown face filled with terror. He nodded jerkily in Anna’s grip.

“Yes, Master, you are the Vísdómur’s Shadow Walker. Please Master, don’t kill me.”

“Talk truth then, O Hob and tell me. Have you seen the interlopers who violated this place?”

“Singer and Song bless you, master,” the brownie took a deep breath and shook himself loose from Anna’s grip, gave her a glare and brushed the twigs and leaves from his green fur. He bowed deeply to Quinn.

“There were a faerie. Very tall. A male. It whispered and whispered. The two boggles, they howled and howled in a fury. They are the beings who tore up Mistress Anna’s grove. The tall faerie had a mangled hand.”

“My thanks,” Quinn sang. “If you ever find yourself in need, you may call on me.”

The brownie scampered off into the forest, but not before stopping at the edge of the undergrowth and finger signaled an alfar curse at Anna.

“He will look to take advantage,” she grumbled. “The hob folk are nothing but disgusting tricksters. It is never a good idea to encourage his kind.”

“I know him and he recognized me. He wouldn’t risk a lie. Wait here, Anna. I’m going to have a chat with those Boggles.”

Quinn slid into the underbrush without a sound.

The Boggle’s camp was not a pretty place. Set in a meadow surrounded by ancient cedar trees, it was strewn with scraps of bone and fur from the prey they trapped. The Boggles were goblins, the largest and most vicious of the species. They were omnivore hunter-gatherers. Intelligent enough, Quinn knew, but given to violent mood swings because of the mushrooms adults and young consumed as an intoxicant. The clan had an easy life, the Opari teamed with ready prey and thousands of edible plants.

Quinn stepped into their meeting circle, sat down and waited for the tribe to return from their daily hunt.

A triumphant hooting heralded the clan’s return, which ceased abruptly as they spied Quinn sitting calmly in the comfortable space reserved for their chief.

The chief, its skin gray and hair white with age, stepped forward.

“We eat you soon, human.” He grated in low Alfar. “First though we play pain game with you.”

“Sligurd, do you recognize me, “ Quinn sang softly.

“I do not know you human. How you know Sligurd of the Ninth Clan. You dare to trespass?”

Quinn sighed and loosed the dragon whip. The whip flared out and snapped around the chief’s neck.

“Sit down, Sligurd. Tell your clan to step back.’ Quinn sang louder now. “Goblin, I asked you once. I ask you twice. Do not make me ask you thrice. Do you know what I am.”