Jack, the giant-killer (11 page)

“And how many of them will belong to Gyre the Elder?”

“Who knows?” Jacky replied with a shrug. “But you said yourself that they wouldn’t do anything when there’s lots of people around.” She eyed his plate of pastries. “So eat up and let’s get going.”

Finn looked down at his plate. “I’m not hungry anymore.”

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” Kate said while they were getting a bag for Finn’s pastries. The hob was still sitting at their table, staring morosely out the window.

“It’ll be okay,” Jacky said. “I think he just likes to build things up.”

“He didn’t build up those guys back at your apartment.”

Jacky frowned. “No. But we’ve got to wait until tomorrow morning to leave anyway and it doesn’t matter which way we go back to your place—there’s the chance that the Host’ll be watching us no matter how we go. It’s tonight at your house that’s worrying me—not getting there. Thanks,” she added as the redhaired girl behind the counter gave her the bag with Finn’s pastries in it.

“We could have a party,” Kate said.

“What?”

“A party. Tonight. We’ll invite all the bruisers we know and have all sorts of protection.”

Jacky laughed. “We don’t know any bruisers.”

“Then we’ll just have to meet some.”

“I think you’re almost serious.”

Kate winked. “Maybe I am,” she said as they returned to their table to collect Finn.

By day, the park across from the Gruagagh’s Tower was a different place. There were no bikers, no giants. The Rideau River moved slowly along the south side of the green. Dried reeds rustled in the breeze. The swans were gone now, but flocks of ducks floated close to shore, hoping for handouts. There was a football game in progress as they entered the park’s Bank Street entrance. The teams were short—only five men to each side—but what they lacked in numbers, they more than made up for in enthusiasm. On the path by the river two women with strollers were walking. A jogger moved around them onto the grass as he passed and soon left them behind.

“That’s the Gruagagh’s Tower,” Jacky said,

pointing it out. “The one with the back yard all overgrown.”

“It looks deserted.”

“I think it is—except for him.” A big shout came from the football players as one team scored a touchdown. “And there are your bruisers,” Jacky added with a grin,

“I think I’ll pass,” Kate said. “Can we walk closer to the house?”

“Sure. Only don’t expect to see much from here because…“ Jacky paused as Finn plucked at her shirt sleeve. She shifted her jacket from one arm to the other as she turned to him.

“We can’t stay,” he said urgently.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. I just feel it in my bones. There’s a glamour lying thick and deep here, just waiting to snare us.”

“A glamour… ?”

Jacky looked around as she spoke. The day, the park and the people in it, all seemed so ordinary. But then she remembered what had been waiting for them in her apartment, and last night’s mad flight from the biker flooded her mind. God, she could be so stupid. What was she doing, bringing them all here when she knew—she
knew
—how real the dangers were? It was as though ever since the attack in her apartment, she’d decided that they’d won the war. But all it had been was one small engagement.

“Which way should we go?” she asked.

“Back the way we came,” Finn replied. “Come. Quickly now.”

Jacky nodded. But it all felt so normal still. Her pulse drummed, but there was nothing that she could see that she could even pretend was a danger to them. The women with their strollers were almost out of sight. The football players had just begun a new play. The quarterback pumped his arm and the ball went spinning, a high, long pass in their direction. The ball was caught about twenty yards away from where they were standing, the man who caught it grinning with pleasure. His teammates worked to block the ladders that were coming in from either side. And then—

Then it was too late.

Before Jacky could turn, before she could put proper use to the swiftness stitcheries that Finn had sewn into her sneakers, they were upon her. At the last moment, their forms shimmered. They were collegeaged men and bogans at the same time. The foremost man threw the football aside and hit her hard, scooping her up under his arm. Her breath went out of her in a whoosh at the impact. Her jacket, with the redcap in its pocket, went flying from her grip.

“Got her, got her, GOT HERRRRR!” her captor roared.

There was no more attempt at disguise as the bogans charged through the park, their captive held fast. They cheered and shook their fists in the air. Kate saw Finn go down as he tried to rescue Jacky, and then a bogan fist smashed into the side of her head and sent her spinning.

She tried to rise, the whole world turning dizzily around in her vision, but another of the creatures stopped long enough to kick her in the stomach. She buckled over, bile rising in her throat. When she finally pulled herself up to her knees, the park was eerily empty except for herself, Finn who lay a half dozen paces away from her, and the blue jacket that Jacky had dropped.

Kate crawled towards Finn. Every movement of her head brought tears of pain to her eyes. Her stomach felt as though something had ruptured inside. When she finally reached Finn, it took all her strength to turn him over. A trickle of blood escaped the corner of his mouth and he was so pale that she was sure he was dead. His face had almost a greyish cast to it and he lay so still…

She brought her cheek down to his face and held it there until she was sure that what she felt on her skin was his breath. So he was alive at least. But Jacky…

She looked despairingly in the direction that the bogans had taken her friend.

What in God’s name could she do now? She looked back at Finn, but he was in worse shape than she was. There was no one she could think of that she could go to with a story this weird. The police would think she was nuts. God,
anybody
would think she was nuts. Slowly she got to her feet and stood swaying. She’d get the jacket. And then she’d—God, it was hard to think—then she’d what? Her gaze fell on the unkempt lawn of the Gruagagh’s Tower. Then she’d make
him
help her. She started for the jacket when a voice stopped her.

“Fools.”

She turned slowly to find Crowdie Wort’s forester regarding her.

“Moon and stars!” he cried. “What possessed you to return here? Surely you’d at least guess that they were waiting for you?”

Kate decided to ignore him. Step by careful step she made her way to the jacket, picked it up. She saw the redcap sticking out of the pocket and plucked it out, putting it on as she turned back. Arkan Garty’s glamour fled him as the redcap settled in place. He was no longer tall and no longer… human. His skin was a reddish brown, his head narrow and more a fox’s than a man’s. The jeans and jean jacket he’d been wearing had now become some weird tunic and trousers that looked as though they were just leaves and feathers and bits of fur all stitched together.

“Did they tear out your tongue, girl?”

Kate took a quick breath to settle the drum of her pulse. It didn’t do much good. There was a weird light in the forester’s eyes that seemed to say that he was capable of anything, but surprisingly, she wasn’t afraid of him.

“What… what do you want?” she asked.

“I was charged to watch out for you.”

“Well, you didn’t… do such a good job, did you?”

The lights flickered dangerously in his eyes. “If you’d kept to safe ways—” he began, but Kate cut him off.

“Did you see where they took her? Where they took Jacky?”

He shook his head. “I lost them on the Laird’s Road—but they left a trail that I can follow. It’s not easy to miss the stink of a bogan and a pack that big will be easy to track. I came back to see if you needed help.”

“And… now?” Kate asked, wishing her head didn’t ache so. “Are you going after them?”

“That’s for Crowdie Wort to say when I bring news of this afternoon’s work to him.”

Kate nodded, then wished she hadn’t moved her head. She looked at the forester and thought of what Jacky had told her—how none of them would help the Laird’s daughter. Instead they left it up to someone like Jacky who wasn’t even close to their match in magics and strength. Anger boiled up in her.

“Well, go bring him your news,” she said softly.

“And then crawl back into whatever hole it was that you came from. You and your people seem very good at arriving after the fact. And then you talk the talk, real good. But me—when I look at you—all I see is a snivelling coward.”

As she spoke the last words, she slipped on Jacky’s blue jacket. From the look on Arkan’s face, she knew that its stitcheries were working for her as well.

“Little hob spells won’t help you against the Unseelie Court!” he cried. “Don’t you think that we’d
want
to help our own Laird’s daughter? But the Giants’ Keep won’t be breached by strength alone and the Wild Hunt will track down and kill anyone who tries. The luck’s gone out of us—just as it’s run out for your friend. Moon and stars, if there was something we could do, we would. But the Host outnumbers us five to one and they have the Hunt!”

“Screw you too!” Kate called to him as she started painfully across the park towards the Gruagagh’s Tower.

“Come back! Crowdie Wort will want to talk to you.”

Kate glanced back to see him testing the air with his nose, looking for all the world like a dog casting for scent. Scent! She pushed herself to move more quickly. The jacket might hide her from his sight, but it wouldn’t do anything about her scent. And she didn’t dare let him take her back to this Crowdie Wort—whoever
he
was—because the Host had Jacky now and if she didn’t do something about rescuing Jacky, no one would. Arkan and his people would let her rot in the Giants’ Keep the same way they did their own Laird’s daughter. Clutching her stomach, she broke into a halting trot, aiming for the Gruagagh’s Tower.

When she reached the hedge at the back of the Gruagagh’s yard, she paused to look back again. Arkan had guessed her destination and was coming for her at a swift lope. She turned quickly and made her way across the overgrown back yard, reaching the Gruagagh’s door at the same time as Arkan did. He grabbed at the air around him, but Kate pressed close to the door and hammered on it, then dropped to her knees so that Arkan’s arms cut the air above her head. Open, she told the door, but it was too late. Arkan’s hand brushed her shoulder, returned and grabbed her, hauling her to her feet.

“You
will
come with me,” he told her. “Moon and stars, girl! It’s for your own good. The Gruagagh’s not to be trusted.”

Kate brought her knee up into his crotch and he doubled over, losing his grip on her. She hadn’t been sure what kind of equipment a being like Arkan had between his legs and was happy to see that he had the same weakness as an ordinary man. She backed up against the door, flinching at the wild look in his eyes. His gaze raked back and forth across the small back porch, vainly looking for her.

“Damn you,” he said from between clenched teeth.

“I’m not the enemy.”

Before Kate could reply, the door opened behind her and she tumbled backwards. Strong hands caught her and set her back on her feet. She looked up, and up, and there was Jacky’s Gruagagh looking down at her from his height. Apparently the jacket’s properties didn’t work against him. He gave her a long considering look, then turned his attention to Crowdie Wort’s forester.

“And who is the enemy?” he asked softly. “The untrustworthy Gruagagh, perhaps?”

The change in Arkan was immediate. Kate could see the fear fill him.

“Oh… oh, no… your reverence…”

For a long moment the Gruagagh simply stared at Arkan, then he said: “Bring the hob here to my door—

and gently.”

Arkan nodded quickly and backed away. When he reached the bottom step of the porch, he turned and bolted for the park. Kate was sure he was going to just keep on running until he’d put as much distance as he could between himself and the Gruagagh, but he surprised her. When he reached Finn’s still form, he lifted the hob up into his arms and hurried back.

“They mean well,” the Gruagagh said to Kate as they watched Arkan return with his burden. “But these are hard times.”

“I… I suppose. It’s just… I don’t know. I’m not really sure who’s who and on what side just yet. Jacky’s told me everything she knows, but that doesn’t seem like a whole lot.”

“Jacky,” the Gruagagh breathed.

Arkan reached the porch just then and the Gruagagh took the hob from him, cradling Finn in his arms.

“Go back to Crowdie Wort and spill your tale,” he told the forester. “And mark you don’t forget to say a word or two against me while you’re telling it.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t, your reverence.”

“Not much you wouldn’t,” the Gruagagh said. He turned and motioned for Kate to close the door and she did, getting a small sense of satisfaction out of seeing the fearful look that was still on Arkan’s face as she shut the door in his face. But then she remembered why she was here, and where here was, and who here belonged to. Jacky said she’d liked the Gruagagh, but he seemed downright scary to Kate. Who was to say he
could
be trusted?

“Will… will Jacky be all right?” she asked. Laying Finn down on the windowseat, the Gruagagh lifted the hob’s eyelids, one by one, to examine the rolled-back eyes. Only then did he glance at Kate. He seemed to consider her question for a long moment, but rather than answering it, he turned back to the hob again, making no reply.

CHAPTER TEN

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Kate found the Gruagagh’s Tower to be just as strange as Jacky had described it. Wherever she looked she got the sensation of things sliding out of sight just as she settled her gaze in their direction. Ghostly furnishings that were here and then gone. And in the darker corners, there was movement of a different sort. She thought of rats and spiders and moved closer to the windowseat where the Gruagagh sat beside Finn. But when she looked at the Gruagagh’s grim features, she found little comfort there.