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From that day to this, the Svartálfar and Ljósálfar have hated each other The dark elves have held peaceful if rather tense talks with the Æsir and Vanir, and they have traded ith the dwarfs of Nidavellir and with the denizens of J&ouine, they have found employment as assassins But in Álfheiivable treason and regicide

When Manannan fell silent, I prompted him to continue "Go on," I said

"That’s it"

"What? That can’t be it!"

"That’s all I was told I can tell ye it’s more than h Centuries of war and rivers of elfin blood, battles that lasted for three od shook his head "No The Álfar despise the Svartálfar as traitors but refuse to go to war on their own kind Between you andcorrupted in the sa-to-mist trick seems like a fabulous plus, but they make awfully messy corpses The Álfar think it unwholesoh price to pay to exterminate traitors who are otherwise doin’ no harm to the realm"

"Which realm?"

"I misspoke No harm to Álfheim"

"Yeah Tell me more about that trick of theirs What is the ‘Gift of Sen"

"Hey, look at you busting out the modern words!"

He scowled at me "Not all o’ the Tuatha Dé Danann believe the mortals have nothin’ to offer us"

"I’ tiht be?"

"Theories abound, but the Svartálfar refuse to discuss it and no one has delved deep enough into their realm to see it They e chaoing on deeper inside, no one knows"

"Sounds like North Korea Can’t believe one of the Álfar told you this though It wasn’t exactly flattering to their king"

Manannan nodded "They are nothing if not an honest people"

"So if this story is true, it means the dark elves aren’t inherently evil"

"No They are a proud people and will not hesitate to kill, but they seek no lands beyond their own and have no wish to dominate others"

"You’d never know it from the way people talk about the they’re creepy as hell--because if your body turns to tar, you’re fking creepy, right?--but I’m frankly shocked to hear they don’t want to destroy us all They need to get a good PR guy"

"What’s a PR guy?"

"They’re kind of like the old Greek sophists who played ords until you believed up was down PR guys get paid to make people believe that a pile of shit is an investment in soil fertility Professional liars"

"Ah!" Manannan’s expression lit with comprehension "They are politicians?"

"No, they’re smarter and less pretty They advise politicians"

"Oh Well, I thought ye should know the dark elves are seeking ye"

"I appreciate the thought It is bizarre Two years ago, you say? I wonder what set the after ht have an answer"

I had a possible answer; thanks to a certain rendezvous six years ago, three of the Norse gods kneas alive One of them could have let slip the truth, intentionally or not But since I had no way of knowing, I just shook my head "No But it’s one more enemy to watch out for I’d love to see that et ye a copy"

"You are kind Might you have a place in the castle where I could perform a divination in private?"

"What sort?" Manannan asked Some of the old Druidic divination rituals could beanimals and all I had never favored those methods: Truth stained with blood is not so savory as truth arrived at without the forfeit of life

"Just wands," I reassured him

"Oh, sure" He waved a hand dismissively "Not a problem"

"There’s one other od doesn’t have a ho pursued by Loki Do you think the Tuatha Dé Danann runted and s right now It’s fine with me, if ye vouch for his character"

"I do"

"Then I can’t see too many objections if he has our support I’ll send a faery to Brighid right away" He dispelled the binding of the air around us, gathered up his cloak ofup to the tower In our huot dressed, I retrieved my pack, and Manannan showed me to a room where I could perforuest bedrooold I withdreands fro on my question: Where and when could I best bind Granuaile to the earth? I cast the wands on the floor in front of me and interpreted the pattern they made; diplomatically, in the company of others, I would call the result less than satisfactory Since I was doing this in private, however, I winced and cursed as I ht if someone were to pluck out my short ’n’ curlies with a pair of tweezers

I perfor out every wee drab of vagueconclusion was that there was not going to be any better time or place than at the base of Olympus in the near future Whatever it was that had disrupted all the tethers to Tír na nÓg in Europe would re time, and every minute wasted noas another minute Granuaile would spend unable to defend herself--at least froer or faster than a hu to start running into plenty of such beings; Brighid’s gag order aside, I knew very well that as spreading even now: That bloody Druid was still alive

Chapter 6

Oddly enough, Manannan’s news about the dark elves relaxed me somewhat I didn’t have to wonder anyet me Still, after we bade our hosts farewell and shouldered our packs once , I felt confident enough to show Granuaile a few highlights of Tír na nÓg before we shifted back to earth

"The land of eternal summer is also the land of the dead, but fortunately the dead tend to keep to themselves"