Martin Millar - Lonely Werewolf Girl (59 page)

"Pardon?"

"Daniel. You know, human, floppy hair, friends with Kalix - "

"Yes I know who you mean," said Malveria, sharply. The Fire
Queen hadn't been expecting this, and wasn't sure how to react.

"So can we come to a sensible new boot agreement?" said Vex,
happily.

"You bothersome girl. Did I tell you to do this?"

"Absolutely.
Stop making Daniel feel like a worm,
crushed and broken
. Your very words. Or something like that.
So I slept with him. His confidence has consequently gone through the
roof. Or probably, I didn't actually wait around the next morning but
hey, he's got to be feeling happier about life."

The Fire Queen was temporarily confused. In truth, she didn't
really know if this accorded to her plans or not. The ultimate aim was
to make Moonglow jealous but now Malveria was not so sure that a
liaison between Daniel and Vex would do that. Malveria felt a great
wave of dissatisfaction. It was hard to credit that she, the mighty
Fire Queen, could ever be uncertain about a plan for breaking a human's
heart. It was a sign of how distracted she'd become by the matter of
the Sorceress Livia's celebration, with its attendant clothes anxiety.

"So, about the boots?"

"I'm not certain that you deserve any boots, my unsatisfactory
niece."

"Unsatisfactory? After giving Daniel the time of his life?"

Malveria leaned forward and glared at Agrivex.

"I doubt very much that you provided him with the time of his
life."

"I did too!"

Malveria continued to glare.

"Well, okay, maybe not the time of his life," admitted Vex.
"Because, you know, I was wanting to get back to cable, and maybe
Daniel was a little upset when I started reading the TV guide before
he'd finished. But I maintain I carried out your instructions and
definitely deserve new boots."

Malveria frowned. She wasn't at all sure that Vex hadn't made
everything worse. Still, she had carried out her instructions, albeit
rather late.

"Very well. You may have the boots. But only after you
describe to me everything that happened."

"Okay," smiled Vex, pleased to be getting new boots. "Well
first of all we were interrupted by Kalix - "

"Kalix? Did she want to watch?"

"That's what I thought," said Vex. "But she ran
out the room looking miserable so I guess she didn't."
The Fire Queen was interested. "Tell me everything."

162

The Fire Queen might have been even more worried had she been
able to eavesdrop on the conversation between Princess Kabachetka and
the designer Zatek. The Princess was making one of her frequent visits
to Zatek's fashion house, where the entire production line had been
turned over to ensuring that Kabachetka was fabulously dressed at
Livia's celebration. Zatek was pleased with his designs but worried by
developments at Thrix Fashions.

"I'm finding it impossible to get an accurate view of their
preparations."

"How can that be?" said the Princess. "The Hainusta spells
I've provided you with are powerful enough to penetrate anything the
Enchantress might use to hide her work."

"She's placed a lot more defensive charms around the building.
Even when I get through them, I'm not sure I'm seeing Thrix's latest
designs."

"They have to be there. The Enchantress must already have made
many clothes for the contemptible Hiyasta Queen."

Zatek agreed, but repeated that he hadn't been able to find
them.

"I'm sure the designs I saw there weren't really Thrix's
latest. For instance, in the storage room where Malveria's new outfits
are usually kept, there was a violet dress."

Kabachetka looked up sharply, immediately suspicious.

"Impossible. Violet was last season's colour."

"Indeed."

"The Queen is trying to trick me," exploded Princess
Kabachetka. "To make me arrive at Livia's in violet. As if I would make
such an error!"

Kabachetka became thoughtful.

"So where," she wondered, "are her newest clothes?"

Zatek didn't know.

"There's something blocking me from finding them."

Kabachetka paused while she examined herself in the mirror.
Zatek had made an evening dress for her of pale yellow silk and it was
a splendid item. The Princess clicked her fingers and several more
mirrors magically appeared, giving her a view from every angle.

"This matter needs thought," she said, after approving the
dress. "However, if my plans are successful we will not have a problem.
I have met with Sarapen MacRinnalch. He is at war with the Enchantress.
And, by extension, with Malveria. So I will provide him with sorcery
which will enable him to crush the Enchantress. Then we shall see who
is the best dressed at Livia's birthday celebration."

163

Thrix was feeling the strain. She sat in her office deep into
the night, trying to come up with original ideas for Malveria's
clothes. The moon was full but Thrix remained as human, suppressing her
werewolf shape in order to work more easily. It was hard making
sketches and working a keyboard with werewolf paws. As far as Thrix
knew, she was only the second MacRinnalch ever to be able to suppress
the change. Old Minerva, her sorcery teacher, had taught her a long
time ago.

Thrix was reasonably satisfied with her designs for the first
three days of the event but had made minimal progress on days four and
five. As for Malveria's servants, Thrix still wasn't happy with her
efforts, and cursed all handmaidens and page boys for being so
difficult to dress.

There were now only four weeks till Livia's celebration.
Malveria had to be ready by the fourteenth of next month. It was a
tight schedule and there were other matters that demanded Thrix's
attention. Milan and New York were crowding in on her time, and there
was the day-to-day business of running her fashion house. Ann was
working hard to protect Thrix from outside distractions but even so,
there were some things that couldn't be delegated.

Thrix wished she could have delegated the task of protecting
Kalix. That seemed to be hers whether she wanted it or not. She had
warmed to Kalix a little after her rescue of Dominil but even so, Thrix
couldn't bring herself to love her young sister. Kalix was so sullen,
so hostile, and so troubled. The Enchantress believed that people
should work hard, put their lives in order, and make something of
themselves. That was the way to deal with your problems. Sulking and
depression never got you anywhere.

Then there was Zatek. Thrix could feel the prying eyes of his
sorcery attempting to scan her office, her storerooms, even her
computer. The Enchantress and the Fire Queen had placed the strongest
spells of defence they could around Thrix's offices but the sorcery
Princess Kabachetka had provided for Zatek was so difficult to deflect.
At least the clothes were safe once stored near Kalix.

'And who knows what Kalix would do if she found out I've been
sleeping with Gawain,' thought Thrix. She put her hand to her brow and
swept back her golden hair with a frustrated gesture. Yet again she had
found herself in bed with Gawain. Thrix couldn't understand it. No
matter how strongly she told herself not to do it, it just seemed to
happen.

'I don't even like him that much,' Thrix told herself,
angrily. 'And he's not that attractive.'

She knew this wasn't really true. Gawain was attractive.

"But that shouldn't be enough reason to keep sleeping with
him," muttered Thrix. She dreaded her mother finding out. If Verasa
ever discovered that her eldest daughter was now sleeping with the
banished Gawain, her reaction did not bear thinking about.

The Mistress of the Werewolves had called today to inform
Thrix that she'd expelled Sarapen from the clan. Thrix wasn't sure what
she thought about this. She supposed there were good reasons. Verasa
held Sarapen responsible for the deaths of Baron MacAllister, Talixia,
and now Gregor, Markus's bodyguard. Then there was kidnap of Dominil,
and the assault on the twins, all of them members of the Great Council.
And Verasa blamed him for inciting the new Baron MacAllister to invade
MacRinnalch lands, leading to many deaths. The Enchantress didn't know
if Verasa's actions were legal, in terms of clan law. She didn't much
care. Whether they were legal or not, it would only lead to more
violence.

Verasa mentioned another matter which was rather puzzling.
Apparently Hiyastas had been sighted in Colburn Wood. It was hard to
believe that the fire elementals should have been there, but there had
been more than one report of their presence.

"Do you have any idea why that might be?" her mother had asked.

Thrix had replied in the negative, but her mother, knowing of
Thrix's friendship with Queen Malveria, pressed the point.

"I really don't know," protested Thrix.

"Colburn wood is sacred to the clan, dear. We can't let it be
overrun with Hiyastas."

"Perhaps it's just a false rumour?"

Verasa didn't think so. Eskandor, captain of the castle guard,
was a reliable witness, even though he still lay wounded in the castle.
Which led to another piece of news. The Mistress of the Werewolves had
decided to promote Markus to captain of the castle guard, placing him
in control of the MacRinnalch forces.

"Isn't Markus currently incommunicado, suffering from severe
trauma?"

Apparently he wasn't. According to the Mistress of the
Werewolves he'd made a very swift recovery.

"I spoke to him today and he's in excellent spirits."

Thrix wasn't completely convinced about Markus's spirit but
she was keen to get back to her work so didn't pursue it. Her mother
wasn't about to let her of the phone so easily, and went back to the
unexplained presence of Hiyastas in Colburn Wood.

"They're not friends of the MacRinnalchs and they're not
welcome there. Fire elementals are very untrustworthy creatures. What
if they set fire to the Wood?"

"The Hiyastas can control their fire, mother," said Thrix.

"Doesn't your friend the Queen regularly burst into flames
over minor fashion disappointments?" asked Verasa.

"She sometimes flickers a little," admitted Thrix, and wished
her mother would drop the subject. "But I'm sure none of her subjects
would visit Colburn Wood."

"Well Eskandor swore he caught a glimpse of one of them
filling a flagon of water from the spring." Verasa's voice rose in
annoyance. "The spring water is used for the MacRinnalch whisky. It's
not to be stolen or polluted by Hiyastas."

"I doubt the Hiyastas are distilling their own whisky. They
generally prefer wine."

"Don't be flippant dear. The pure water of Colburn wood is a
valu-able resource. Your grandmother used to speak highly of its
rejuvenating properties."

As soon as Verasa said this the Enchantress's heart sank. Of
course. The rejuvenating properties. It would take a lot of sorcerous
power to transform the water into a suitable potion but Thrix had a
good idea of who might be interested in doing just that.

Thrix applied herself to her work. Suddenly she sensed someone
penetrating her defensive spells. She half rose, ready to defend
herself, before catching the aroma of jasmine. She relaxed.

"You are working so hard, darling Enchantress," said Malveria.
"You are working hard, yes?"

"I am."

"Excellent." Malveria smiled. "Are we up to day five?"

"I'm still on day three."

Malveria frowned.

"Oh. Have we solved the vexatious problem of the handmaidens'
attire? Which must be glorious but not as glorious as my own?"

"No."

"The page boys?"

"I'm still working on it."

Malveria's frown deepened.

"I understand that the contemptible handmaidens of Kabachetka
are already boasting of their new finery. My own handmaidens are
starting to fret."

Rather wearily the Enchantress tried to reassure the Fire
Queen that everything would be ready on time. She pointed out that
recently she'd had a lot of other things to attend to. This didn't go
down well with Malveria.

"Can't you concentrate on me?"

Thrix became slightly irked. To listen to Malveria, a person
might think that Thrix Fashions was deliberately neglecting her, which
was surely the very opposite of the case. Thrix had rescued Malveria
from fashion hell, but the Fire Queen seemed to have forgotten this.

"I presume you have spent no time sleeping with Gawain?"

"What do you mean by that?" responded Thrix, sharply.

"I mean you may make more progress with the fabulous costumes
if you were to spend less time in the arms of Gawain. Really Thrix, one
understands the need, but you must not let it interfere with the
important things in life."

Thrix was becoming more and more annoyed. Here she was, up
alone in the middle of the night, working on Malveria's clothes, and
Malveria herself was criticising her. Not only that, she had the nerve
to meddle in her love life.

"If you didn't drop in here every five minutes I might get
some work done," said Thrix, quite harshly.

"If I didn't drop in here every five minutes you would no
doubt be spending all your time in the embraces of Gawain."

"Malveria, I don't even like Gawain! And what does it have to
do with you anyway?"

"Nothing at all," declared Malveria, rising an inch or two
from the ground. "And I hope you have a splendid time with the young
werewolf while I am facing disgrace at Livia's."

Thrix stood up. Not liking the way Malveria was higher than
her, she levitated eight inches from the ground, and they faced each
angrily in mid-air.

"You'd be facing disgrace every day if I hadn't started
dressing you properly."

"And you would be out of business long ago had I not poured
money into your coffers," replied Malveria, which was true enough to
wound the Enchantress.