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Chapter Twenty-one

Mouse and I took the Beetle out of Chicago proper, following the lake north out of town For once I wished I had an autoood hand and one good leg is not fun In fact, it&039;s the next best thing to i more than I should have, and the discoht about the painkillers in my pocket, and then blew them off I needed to be sharp When all of this was over, there would be time to muddle my head with codeine So I drove, and swore under ears, while Mouse rode along in the passenger seat with his head usually sticking out the

By the tiodh the cloud-veiled western sky still glowed the color of campfire eravel and stubborn weeds that kept trying to grow up in the road&039;s smooth center It led down to a little dead end where soh It was a popular spot for local kids to hang out and ial substances of one intensity or another, and there were empty beer cans and bottles scattered around in abundance

Mouse and I left the car up on the road, and walked rowth to the shore of the lake At one point on the shore, a little spit of land forher than the surface of the water

"Wait here," I told Mouse, and the dog sat down at the end of the spit of land, watchingaround at all the little sounds Then I walked out onto the spit to its end, and a cold wind off the lake swept around rimaced and leaned on my staff, out at that point of land where earth and water and skyout the pain of ether my will, then lifted my face to the wind and called out, quietly, "Leanansidhe An it please thee, come hither and hold discourse withinto the words, and they reverberated with power, echoing fro theround upon which I stood

Then I waited I could have repeated oing to come, she would If she wasn&039;t, no ae hercold droplets up froht me the sound of an airliner overhead, and another the lonely whistle of a freight train Distantly, so out several tie Beyond that, nothing stirred

I waited In time, the fire faded from the overcast sky, and only the darkest tones of purple were left on the western horizon behind ht that but before I could actually turn around, there was a swirling in the waters near my feet, and a slow spiral of water spray spun up froht The spray rolled up and away fro at the feet, bare and pale, and rolling up over a oas belted with a woven silver rope, and a slightly curved, single-edged knife of soh it

When the spray rolled up over the wo wealth of copper and scarlet curls, her wide feline eyes of a and somewhat pleased with herself, in absence of the ani, pale throat, features of heart-stopping, cold beauty, canted eyes greener than any color to be found in the natural world, and long, silken hair of purest white, bound within a circlet of what looked like rose vines surrounded in glea ice, beautiful and brittle and cruel

Behind me, a deep-throated snarl burst forth fros, mortal," said the faerie woman Her voice shook water and earth and sky with subtle power I felt it resonating through the elements around me as much as heard it

My ht I leaned on my staff to help s, Queen Mab I do beg your pardon It was not my intention to disturb thee"

My head shifted into panicked, quick thought Queen Mab had coood Mab, monarch of the Winter Court of the Sidhe, the Queen of Air and Darkness, was not a very nice person In fact, she was one of the els and ancient gods I&039;d once used ht to look upon Mab as she unveiled her true self in a working of power, and it had colike Grevane or Cowl or the Corpsetaker She was far older, far cruder, far more deadly than they could ever be

And I owed her a favor Two, to be exact

She stared atand silent moment, and I didn&039;t look at her face Then she let out a quiet laugh and said, "Disturb me? Hardly I aed to take upon myself It is no fault of thine that this suhtened up slowly and avoided her eyes "I had expected odmother to come"

Mab smiled Her teeth were small and white and perfect, her canines delicately sharp "Alas The Leanansidhe is tied up at the odmother was a powerful member of the Winter Court, but she couldn&039;t hold a candle to Mab If Mab wanted to take Lea down, she certainly could do it-and for soht spurred on a protective instinct, sory Yes, Lea was hardly a benevolent being in her own right Yes, she&039;d tried to enslave me several times in the past several years But for all of that, she was stillto her angered me "For what reason have you detained her?"

"Because I do not tolerate challenges to my authority," she said One pale hand drifted to the hilt of the knife at her belt "Certain events had convinced your goder bound byotherwise"

"What have you done to her?" I asked Well It didn&039;t sound like a question so hed, and the sound of it cah bounded around the waves and the earth and the winds, clashing against itself in a manner that made the hairs on my neck stand up and my heart race with a sudden apprehension as I felt an odd kind of pressure settle over rittednot to sho harshly it had affected me "She is bound," Mab said "She is in soer froes who rules Winter, she will be restored to her station I can ill afford the loss of so potent a vassal"

"I need to speak to her now," I said

"Of course," Mab said "Yet she languishes in the process of enlightenuide you"

I frowned "You locked her away so her prohty flickered through Mab&039;s eyes "Promises must be kept," she murmured, and the words made wave, wind, and stone tre uponthem"

"Does that mean that you will help ive you what she ht have spoken to you were she here in flesh, rather than in proxy" She tilted her head slowly to one side "You knoizard, that I iven to you"

I eyed her warily It was true that the high Sidhe could not speak words that were untrue-but that wasn&039;t the sa the truth Most of the Sidhe I hadin allusions and riddles and inferences that would underhly that they er lies than if they had si the word of one of the Sidhe was an enterprise best undertaken with extraordinary caution and exacting care If I had any choice in theI could do but forge ahead I still had to find out eant Keo, and that odmother Mab was simply more of the same risk

A lot e," I said, "about the one known as the Erlking"

Mab arched an eyebrow "Hiodmother knows some little of him What would you know of him?"

"I want to knohy all of Ke up all the copies of the White Council&039;s book about hiine would truly rattle Mab&039;s composure, but that sentence apparently came close Her expression froze, and with it the wind came to a sudden, dead halt The waves of the shore abruptly stilled to a sheet of glass beneath her feet, dilow of the city skyline in the distance and the last shreds of purple light in the leaden sky

"Kemmler&039;s disciples," she said Her eyes were deeper than the lake she stood upon "Could it be?"

"Could what be?" I asked

"The Word," she said "The Word of Kemmler Has it been found?"

"Um," I said "Sort of"

Her delicate white brows rose "Meaning what, pray tell?"

"Meaning that the book was found," I said "By a local thief He tried to sell it to a man named Grevane"

"Kemmler&039;s first student," Mab said "Did he acquire the book?"

"No," I said "The thief used y to conceal the book, in order to prevent Grevane fro"

"Grevane killed hiuessed

"And how"

"This y, you called it Does it yet conceal the book?"

"Yeah"

"Grevane yet seeks it?"

"Yeah Him and at least two more Cowl and the Corpsetaker"

Mab lifted a pale hand and tapped a finger to rich, lovely lips the color of frozen orgeous to the eye and distracting as hell I felt a little dizzy until I forced erous," shedeadly company, mortal Even the Council fears them"

"You don&039;t say"

Mab narrowed her eyes, and a little sraced her lips "Impudent," she said "It&039;s sweet on you"

"Gosh, that&039;s flattering," I said "But you haven&039;t told "

Mab pursed her lips "The being you ask oblins as I am to the Sidhe A ruler A , and swift He wields dominion over the spirits of fallen hunters"

I frowned "What kind of spirits?"

"The spirits of those who hunt," Mab said "The energy of the hunt Of excite will call those spirits into the forreat black hounds, and ride the winds and forests as the Wild Hunt He carries great poith him as he does Power that calls to the remnants of hunters now passed on frohosts," I said "The spirit of hunters"

"Indeed," Mab said "Shades that lay in quiet rest, beyond the beck of the ht and the stars at the sound of his horn, and join the Hunt"

"Powerful shades," I said quietly

"Specters ht and almost merry as they watched et as , so that it would stop pounding enough to le of wizards whose stock in trade is enslaving the dead to their will is interested in a being whose presence calls up powerful spirits they couldn&039;t otherwise reach" I followed the chain of logic fro in the book that tells the child," Mab said "So clever for one so young"

"So what is it?" I asked "Which part of the book?"

"Your god wider, "has no idea"

I ground ether "But you do?"

"I am the Queen of Air and Darkness, wizard There is little I do not"

"Will you tell ue to her lips, as if savoring the taste of the words "You should know us better than that by noizard Nothing given by one of the Sidhe comes without a price"

My foot hurt I had to hop a little bit onwhen my balance wavered "Great," I muttered "What is it you want?"

"You," Mab said, folding her hands prihthood yet stands open to you"

"What&039;s wrong with the new guy?" I asked, "that you&039;d duain "I have not yet replaced h he is," she purred

"He&039;s still alive?" I asked

"I suppose," Mab said "Though he very much wishes that he were not I have taken the tith the error of his ways"

Torture She&039;d been torturing hieance for his treachery for more than three years

I felt a little sick to ht consider it an act of ive your debt to me and answer all your questions freely"

I shuddered Mab&039;s last Knight had been an abusive, psychotic, drug-addicted, ot the job because of those qualities or whether they had been instilled in hiht was a per it for life-though there would, of course, be no pro that life would be

"I told you once before," I said, "that I&039;ed, wizard," Mab said "You know the kind of power you face in Keht, you would have strength far outweighing even your own considerable gifts You would have the ithal to face your foes, rather than slinking through the night gathering up whispers to use against them"

"No" I paused and then said, "And no ed one shoulder, a liquid motion that drew own "You disappoint me, child But I can wait I can wait until the sun burns cold"

Thunder ru leapt from cloud to cloud

Mab turned her head to watch "Interesting"

"Uh What&039;s interesting?"

"Powers at work, preparing the way"

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked

"That you have little tiain "I ht to preserve your life Know this, e bound within the Word, they will be in a position to gather up such power as the world has not seen in many thousands of years"

"What? How?"

"Kerew distant, as if in memory- "a madman A monster But brilliant He learned how to bind to his will not only dead flesh, but shades-to rend them asunder and devour theth that allowed hiether"

I added two and two and got four "The heirs want to call up the ancient spirits," I breathed "And then devour thereen eyes alloith intensity "Kemmler himself attempted it, but the Council struck him down before he could finish"

I sed "What happens if one of his heirs is able to do it?"

"The heir would gain power such as has not been wielded by mortal hands in the memory of your race," Mab said

"The Darkhallow," I said I rubbed at ht Halloween They all want to be the one to od"

"Power is ever sweet, is it not?"

I thought about it some more I had to worry about more than just Kemmler&039;s cronies Mavra wanted the Word, too Hell&039;s bells If Mavra succeeded in oddess, there wasn&039;t a chance in hell that she wouldn&039;t obliterate me at the first opportunity "Can they do it without the Word?"

Mab&039;s mouth curled up in a slow smile "If they could, ould they seek it so desperately?" The wind began to stir again, and the lake began to resued in a ame I should be disappointed were I deprived of your service"

"Then get used to it," I said "I&039;ht"

Mab tilted back her head and let out that nerve-searing laughter again "I have time," she said "And you mortals find life to be very sweet Two favors you yet owe me, and make no mistake, I will collect One day you will kneel at ed, dark waters whirling up in a snake-quick spiral, for a waterspout that stretched froht into the darkness abovebuckled and I fell to one knee

Then, as suddenly as it began, the gale was gone The lake was calh tree branches sparsely covered in dead leaves There was no sign of Mab

I grilanced back at Mouse, as sitting on the shore, watching y eyes

"She always has to have the last word," I told him

Mouse padded over to me, and I scratched his ears a couple of times while he snuffled at me He looked warily out at the lake

"One problem at a time," I told him "We&039;ll handle Mab later Somehow"

I walked back to the Beetle more slowly than ever, and Mouse stayed within a step or two the entire time The adrenaline faded and left ht to stay awake all the way back to an to fall

I had just gotten ho snarl I spun and wavered, then plantedover

Out of the darkness and rain, a dozen or more people suddenly loomed into view All of them walked toward me, steady and unhurried

And all of them marched in step with one another

In the distance I heard the low, ru bass stereo

Behind the first group came another And behind them another By then I could see the eyes of the nearest-e eyes in sunken, deathly faces

My heart lurched in sudden terror as the zombies closed in on me

I shaainstdown my wards so that my own security spells didn&039;t kill me onfrom between his bared teeth

"Thomas!" I screamed "Thomas, open the door!"

I heard a noise, close, and spun around

Mindless faces appeared at the top of the stairs leading down toht at me