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Chapter Thirty-three

The rain had plastered ot all theout of the Beetle&039;s trunk I stuffed it all into a gy and then walked out to the middle of the backyard It wasn&039;t quite too dark to see-not yet But I didn&039;t want to ht sticks Kincaid had given e the year before I snapped it and shook it up, and green-yellow light spread out in a little pool around me The rain limited how much it could spread, and it created the illusion that the entire world had shrunk to a ten-foot circle rain and grass and green-golden light

I started with the circle where I intended to trap the Erlking The coil of barbed wire still gleaive ers and to join into a circle about seven feet across Though it wasn&039;t cold iron in the technical sense, it was very much what the faeries meant when they said "cold iron"-the wire had plenty of iron in it, and cold iron was the bane of the faerie world

I laid the barbed wire out, straightening it slightly as I went, and tacked it down into the da as er I double-checked every staple, and then clipped the barbed wire froer roll and used a pair of pliers to twist the loose ends together After that, I marked out the points of an invisible five-pointed star within the circle, and placed several articles with an affinity for the Erlking; a heavy collar onehound, a whetstone, a small bowie knife, flint and steel, and several steel arrowheads

Then I placed &039;s, outside the circle; a used copy of The Hobbit, the splintered end ofticket I hadn&039;t paid yet, and finally my mother&039;s silver pentacle a sure that it was fixed solidly and that nothing had fallen across it

In the back of my mind somewhere, I are of the approach of sunset I don&039;t kno I knew it, really It was already darker than e when the sun would be doith all those rain clouds in the way-but that didn&039;t see down to be trapped in the overcast, could feel its presence and warmth with some part of my mind that wasn&039;t entirely beholden to , and felt the concurrent stirring of the y of night was far different than that of the daylight-not inherently evil, but wilder, s, and this night, Saht, the forces of the spirit world, the wild things that haunted the Nevernever, drawn to death and decay, would flit freely back and forth Spirits would turn restless in their graves and wander the world, mostly unseen by , and their er and energy in the air Dogs began to howl in the neighborhood around , low,tide

Dark was only love from my bad hand and knelt by the barbed-wire circle Then I leaned down and pressed my left palil like a living brand onmy flesh doith careful deliberation I didn&039;t feel the wire cut me, but there was a trickle of warreenish che withinto the cold-iron prison I had built

The prison was built and the trap was set I wished that there had been more time to assemble the articles I&039;d needed If there had been ure out the best way to do the job The ht have been rare and expensive and difficult to attain, but it ithin the real like the Erlking could not lightly escape

But there hadn&039;t been ti to do the job, it would need all of my focus and determination

So I shutwith my fears I knelt in ht hand, and took slow, deep breaths I envisionedweakness and distraction I felt thearoundup rass seeht and the hairs on my neck rose up on end

I took in a final deep breath, and on the exhale night fell

I opened an to call out in the steady cadence of the su hollow in the wind and rain, , and I poured soan to make the air ripple around them as they flowed from my lips There, in the darkness, I reached into the spirit world to call up one of the deadliest beings of Faerie

And the Erlking answered

One htning, a crash of thunder, and a diserass within the circle-the shadow of a tall, standing figure with no physical presence to cast it

I barely stoppedchant-ato leave at best, and freed it to kill me at worst But I recovered h to the end When I finished it, my voice had risen to a strident, silvery clarion, and on the last word lightning flashed down fro It struck down upon the circle, slaainst it, and then scattered out around the circle in a hissingthe cylinder of the ht that rose up into the night for a one, the shadoithinstood better than eight feet high Other than that it lookedleathers and mail of some dark, matte black substance It wore a bucket-shaped hel rose up and away from the helm Within the slit of the helleams of amber fire, and as those terrible eyes settled uponbehind theainst the outside of ht, for the hunt, and for the kill Lightning flashed again and the rain ca lory in the storm

It is time, mortal Release me

The words suddenly appeared inand scalding This ti into hts like a well-thrown spear I tore ht and spoke aloud in reply

"I will not release you"

The glowing eyes within the helhter I am no beast to be lured and trapped, es cahts this tier in th and power of lorious thrill of the chase as the prey fled as it was created to do, testing ht called and the stored around me Tobitterness of despair There was only a wild and ferocious joy, an adrenaline sense of excitee hared to pullin Murphy&039;s backyard, not pursuing gaht not be evil incarnate, but that didn&039;t o free "No," I growled "I will not release you"

His amber-flame eyes narrowed, and he dropped slowly into a crouch, knees bent, his fingers resting lightly on the grass just inside the barbed wire Those eyes were barely three feet from mine, and he considered me in silence that swiftly beca cast at me He who defied Queen Winter He who slew Lady Su over me as I lay stunned beside the Suon my skin, tasted it, harsh and sweet, in my mouth I had to force ue

"I ahts And he was curious about it Even baffled In sending ot flashes of emotion from him You are part of the hunt A predator Why do you call me if not to joinyou free this night"

The Erlking tilted its head There was no sending of thought, but I read the gesture clearly enough to interpret it as if he had Why?

"Because your presence wouldand death for those people I would protect"

Man suffers Man dies It is how things are

"Not tonight it isn&039;t," I growled

Hunter, cast the Erlking You are not strong enough to hold me Release me, lest I turn the hunt upon you

And suddenly I felt the other side of the hunt I felt s burning, felt race that only the approach of death can su like a deer, and knew the whole while that there was no escape

"Thrice I say and done" I gasped, forcing the words out in a defiant screa rose, an unearthly screas rose with it, louder and louder, and the storhtning The sound was deafening, the light searing, and the freaking ground started to treainst round, facing the Erlking and casting ainst his oer, struggling to contain hiht to burst free frole, and al to push a car up a hill Not only was it a difficult weight to begin to ainst in to gain ht for that inch, refusing to give it to hi-but he was a force of nature, power, and violence without conscience or restraint

He screa wind and rain and the call of beasts grew even louder Again he surged against the circle ofshook his head like awall of the circle that ih the circle Then he reached to his side and drew a black sword frohtning flashed down fro it in blinding light Then he took the sword in both hands and brought it down upon the barrier

I have little memory of what the third bloas like I re of y, a tide of agony, and I was terrified My vision faded to a blind field of white, and I thrust

And then an to recede And within the circle, whirling in a frenzy of frustration and need, was the Erlking His poas fading, and the circle I&039;d built had been good enough to give ht I heard a muffled voice somewhere a of my own heart I started to look around for the source of the noise

And then someone hit me on the back of the head

I reh it before A flash of light, pain, a sickening whirling sensation as I fell, and a disjointed looseness to lione useless I fell to one side, shocked that the whole world had suddenly tilted on end The grass suddenly felt cold and wet againstshattered ht that faded and vanished There was a roar of wind, and then an enormous horse landed in Murphy&039;s yard as if it had just vaulted over the whole of her house The Erlking flung himself up onto the black steed&039;s back and let loose an eerie cry When he did, all the howling eal into flashes of lightning that leapt up froround and into the clouds

For a second there was silence, and then the screa howls than any dog had ever uttered Froreat hound, a beast the size of a pony with dark fur, glea hi in bloodthirsty joy around the Erlking&039;s horse

The Erlking whirled his steed, lifted his black sword in asalute to me, and then cried out to his steed and his hounds The black horse gathered itself and leapt into the air, then started churning its legs as if running up a hill-and kept going up The hounds leapt and followed theirflashed in one

The Wild Hunt was loose in Chicago

And I had been the one to call thean to h balance to rise, but I ainst my face

Cowl put the barrel of my own44 to the end of my nose and said, "An impressive display, Dresden It&039;s always such a pity when so"

Chapter Thirty-four

I looked at the cavernous barrel and thought to un Then I looked past it to Cowl and said, "But you aren&039;t planning on doing it yourself, are you? Otherwise you&039;d have just shot y like that, you ht not even have had a death curse to worry about"

"Very good," Cowl said approvingly "Your reason, at least, seeive lad to let you live until the Erlking returns for you"

I held still, partly because I didn&039;t want to get shot, and partly because I thought I ht throw up if I moved my head too much "How&039;d you findturns tailing you most of the day," he said

"When do you people sleep?" I asked

"No rest for the wicked," Cowl said His tone was aun never wavered

"Someone had to keep an eye on me," I said "You and Grevane and Corpsetaker all wanted the Erlking to be in town It didn&039;tas someone did"

"And you were the only one with an interest in keeping him away," Cowl said "All I needed to do atch you and ensure that you did not actually trap the Erlking"

"And that&039;s why you followed me," I said

"It&039;s one reason," he replied "I think you ht actually have done it, you know, had I not interrupted you I was the only one of the three of us who thought you et it," I said "I thought that you guys hated one another&039;s guts"

"Oh, yes"

"Then are you working together or trying to kill each other?" I asked

"Why, yes," Cowl said, and what sounded like a genuine laugh bubbled in his voice "We smile at one another and play nicely all in the nalory, of course But we are all planning on killing one another as soon as it&039;s convenient I take it that Corpsetaker tried to reht?"

"Yeah It was a real party"

"Pity I would have enjoyed watching theain But I was busy with the actual work That&039;s how it usually works out"

"Taking out the city&039;s power grid"

"And phone lines, radio cos," Cowl said "It was difficult, but someone had to do it Naturally it fell to "