‘Do as he asks, boy, do as he asks, it’s not done to make such as he is wait for their mercies, you know that.’
Teazle looked back at the boy. He looked at the dwarf with suspicion, a slow conviction growing on him and then when he had
the dwarf’s attention he glanced at Lila. ‘You have to pay me if you want me to serve.’
The dwarf, an old man, bearded and clothed in green, glared fiercely at him with a yellowing eye. ‘Don’t test my patience
boy.’
‘Don’t “boy” me, granddad. You want me to serve. So you give me my favour.’
The dwarf stuck his thumbs in his belt and frowned, pushing his lips forward. He tapped his heels on the floor but he wasn’t
wearing any boots, only striped socks, and this looked comical. Teazle wasn’t fooled by appearances however. He knew what,
if not who, he was facing down.
The dwarf surveyed Teazle and then the entire scene. The book bonfire burned with ordinary fire now. The dwarf flicked a finger
and the fire went out. Smoke rose in ugly clouds. He flicked a finger and the smoke vanished. He blew out between his lips
and flapped them with a horsey sound, his attention coming to rest on Lila’s motionless body. He narrowed his eyes and peered
sideways at Teazle.
The ghost boy waited patiently meanwhile.
‘Love,’ the dwarf said with a snort, ‘you would hold a soul to ransom what’s already waited lifetimes for peace, for this,
would you?’
‘I am no slave,’ Teazle replied, folding his arms. He knew the fire and smoke were demonstrations of what could easily happen
to him. ‘You pay me for all our service, old man. You pay us good.’ He drew both the swords easily.
The dwarf eyed him, turning his head but not his body. ‘You threatening me?’
‘Preparing to defend myself.’
‘You know what my name is, boy?’
Teazle shook his head. ‘You know mine, I expect.’
‘I do. So put your sticks away.Though they’ll do for me when the time comes, it ain’t now.’
‘I thought you wanted me to finish this sad story?’ Teazle looked at the elf ghost, which gave him a distant kind of smile.
‘It’s your duty, Lightbringer. Do this and the last of your demon days are over. Then you will be free to choose.’
‘Free to serve,’ Teazle said.
‘Aye but free to choose a name,’ the dwarf assented. ‘They call me Mr V. That help you any?’
‘I heard it,’ Teazle said. ‘I still won’t do it, unless you bring her back.’
‘Not my power that one,’ the dwarf said.
‘You were sent to see this finished. If he lives on, it’s not done. I think that the geas isn’t paid out. Is it?’ Teazle asked.
He rested the swords’ points on the ground and leaned on them.
The dwarf took a snorting breath and puffed it out with blown cheeks. ‘Damn junkie elf forgot to call Miss Arie too. So there’s
another loose end. What a goddamned mess.’ His gaze darted suddenly to Teazle and it was slitted and gleaming for a moment.
‘Is she for the chop as well?’
‘Well now, she’s what you might call the full house,’ the dwarf said. ‘If she’d been here I don’t doubt you’d have grabbed
her and he’d have killed her. Leaving her alive’s trouble indeed but killing her in cold blood . . .’ He turned to the ghost
boy. ‘This creature’s right. You’re one short of the number. Surprised the others let you take them.’
The elf ghost Wrath looked up at the dwarf and shrugged. ‘Dead’s forever and nobody pays. Some stories need ending. Others
might have twists and turns worth leaving in. When I die, the whole is ended. No geas. Except yours, old man.’
‘Hmmm,’ the dwarf muttered. ‘Do you expect me to kill Arie with my own hands then?’
‘You did not when you had the chance before.’
‘Eating’s not my business,’ the dwarf said, but he looked deep in thought. ‘Killin’ neither.’ He looked darkly at Teazle.
‘And now held to ransom, both of us, by this pipsqueak invention here. Death asks for
life, for love.’ He turned to Teazle again. ‘Why’d’you love her, boy? She’s not your type.’ He pointed at Zal’s body. ‘Him
was the one. Not you.’
Teazle looked down from his greater height, leaning on the swords. ‘That’s my business. Pay me, or we’re done here.’
The dwarf scowled even deeper. ‘And then what? You go rampaging until someone stops you in your petty vengeance?’
‘It won’t be petty,’ Teazle reassured him.
‘You must not leave me,’ the boy said then to Teazle, his face serious. ‘My existence here in this plane is anathema and anathema
will be the end. Anathema is the cracking and soon nothing will hold.’
Teazle glanced at the dwarf. ‘Hence your geas, Mr V? This is your duty, to ensure the survival of the worlds? Then I know
you rightly. I want her,’ he hesitated for a moment and then pointed across at Zal, ‘and him too.’
The dwarf sighed. ‘Very well. I grant your payments. Don’t bloody ask me anything again, though?’
‘Summon the King and Queen,’ Teazle said, smiling without humour. He straightened and flipped both swords up into his hands.
He put away the yellow blade and stood waiting.
The dwarf clicked his fingers three times and two people appeared beside him. One was a tall elf with white-blond hair and
a dog, the other a small, black human girl with messy dreadlocks. Both looked surprised. ‘Deal’s good,’ Mr V said. He turned
to the ghost boy. ‘Bless you on your way, lads.’
‘Goodbye,’ said the boy.
Teazle gave the dwarf one last, long look that promised much if this did not go well, and then stepped forward and cut through
all the enchantment that held Wrath to that or any world.
There were no lights, or explosion or sound.
Wrath disappeared, Teazle put the sword back in its baldric.
Mr V looked up at Sassy and at Ilyatath. ‘I’ve got a favour to ask you,’ he said to them both.
Behind them they heard a scrabble of claws and a yawning sound as Malachi rejoined the world of conscious things.
‘Wha’ did I miss?’ he said, trying to get up.
‘Nothing,’ Teazle said, rubbing his chest as if easing a slight twinge and smiling at Mr V.
Lila stood on the doorstep, flowers in hand. She’d been there five minutes and they were starting to wilt in the noon heat.
Finally she knocked. She heard the footsteps and the creaky board and the opening door pulled her through into a hallway that
smelled of paint and garlic.
‘Late,’ Max said through a mouthful of something, turning to let Lila show herself in.
She went through into the kitchen and looked around in surprise.
‘Tiles,’ she said.
‘Yeah well, they were on sale,’ Max said dismissively, and gestured at the table. ‘Sit down.’ She took the dying roses out
of Lila’s hand and put them into a vase.
Lila sat down obediently. Zal and Sassy glared at her from the other side of the table, pointedly. She cleared her throat.
‘You can stop worrying, Max. He isn’t coming for you.’
‘Who isn’t?’ Max turned around and leaned on the sink, hands wet from the water. ‘Oh. Ilya. You can say his name, you know.
Well, he came for everyone else.’
‘Not everyone,’ Lila said, reaching for a piece of garlic bread.
Lila opened her eyes. She was still in the library at Delatra. She felt like someone had run the mains grid off her for a
few hours. In front of her the body of Sandra Lane was cold and silent.
She could barely move. With effort she pulled her hands in front of her. She saw human skin, and her own fingers and thumbs.
She pushed up to sit, a slow and painful business that made her head spin. She heard whimpering but it was the elves that
Xaviendra had enslaved, hiding in the stacks.
‘You sit still now,’ said an unfamiliar, business kind of voice and
she felt a hand on her shoulder. She saw a dwarf standing beside her looking concerned, his chubby hand patting her with
fatherly ease. ‘You’ve had a big scare.’
She looked around for the others. Everything was black. Then she realised everything was coated in ash and soot. ‘Who the
hell are you?’
But the dwarf had gone off and was busy pulling at a sack. She saw that it was Zal. Beside him a beastman, all fangs and claws,
was on his hands and knees, panting in a fixated, self-controlled manner. Malachi.
‘Don’t . . .’ she started to say but then she realised that under the dwarf’s persuasion Zal was moving.
‘Fire, I said it didn’t I? I said it. Fire is the path I said,’ the dwarf was muttering as he hauled Zal into a sitting position
and began to pat his hands. ‘One good turn deserves another, don’t it, boy? Come on now. Come back to Mr V.’
The wind howled and Lila winced. She looked for Teazle, or a sword. Nothing.
Under the dwarf’s ministrations Zal began to babble, ‘Does it stand for Value?’ she heard him say, his cracked lips smiling.
‘Is it Vain-glory? Is it Visible?’
‘No no no, ’t’ain’t none of those,’ the dwarf said briskly.
Zal opened one eye, looked for Lila, saw her and let it close again, lying flat. ‘Vermiform.’
‘No.’
‘Vanquish.’
‘No. I wish it were though, lad. There. You’ll be right now.’ The dwarf moved back and dusted off his hands. He glanced at
Lila and for a moment his eyes might have been slitted and glowing gold, his skin a scaled green. Just for a moment.
‘And it’s definitely not Unloyal,’ Zal rasped.
‘That was just a cover.’
‘Nice.’
‘Rather have me eyes.’ The dwarf stood back and surveyed them. ‘You’ll do. I got to go.’
‘Wait,’ Lila held up her hand. ‘Are you . . . Mr V, the dragon?’
‘It’s possible,’ the dwarf said. He lifted an imaginary hat. ‘Good day.’
She saw him walk out of the doors. Her head hurt. ‘Zal?’
‘Still here,’ he said and groaned.
She dragged herself across the floor to him and lay down beside him. He felt warm, and solid and alive. Mal lay down with
them and they all slept for a short time. This time when Lila woke she saw light, very bright. ‘Teazle?’
But then she heard a dog bark and the figure that came towards her from the light wasn’t the demon but a tall elf with blond
hair. His clothing was white and his face was younger than she’d ever seen it. ‘Ilya,’ she said, realizing what this meant.
He crouched down beside her and she reached up to him and saw her arm, suddenly translucent, fading as she watched it rise
towards him. To her surprise he pushed it back down and held his hand out towards her. His eyes were clear as crystal; she
found them compelling to look at, so pure . . .
‘Lila,’ his voice brought her back to the moment. She looked at his opened palm. A single snowflake lay there and then there
was a smaller, darker and more impatient figure bending next to him.
‘For heaven’s sake!’ Sassy said. She grinned at Lila and gave her a thumbs up. ‘Look, you found my mirror!’ She held up a
pink plastic compact with a white daisy printed on the back of it, which Lila had picked up in the empty land beyond Last
Water just before they were flung here. ‘How did you do that? Lost for ages it was. Anyway, what he means to say is that you
can go back if you like.’
Lila peered slowly at Sassy. Yes it was the same girl.
Sassy flipped the mirror shut and slid it into her jeans pocket as Lila watched. Lila looked at the snowflake in Ilya’s hand.
It hadn’t melted. In the crystal surface she saw her young self, her father, her mother, Max, the dogs, Zal, but they were
just fragments. At the heart of the flake something shone with a steady, cool light. ‘Am I . . . dead?’
‘Surely,’ Sassy said. ‘I mean, if you want to be. But who’d want that?’ She reached down and picked something off Lila’s destroyed
clothing with interest. It was a small card from a tarot deck of the elves, but Lila recognised it – Queen of Cups. ‘Like,
aces win over queens any day, right?’
In the girl’s fingers the card moved, the colours changed, the picture redrew itself and became a single shining cup, overflowing.
‘Ace of Cups. Look at that!’
‘Is this . . .’ Lila began, realising her mouth wasn’t moving and that confused her. ‘Are you . . . ?’
‘A one-time offer,’ Sassy said. ‘Yes. But no strings attached, ring my heart and hope to lie.’ She made a circling move with
her hand
over her chest. She grinned at Lila, an unstoppable, toothy curve. ‘I won big today. Big.’
Lila could see around them all, she realised. She saw herself from above – a crumpled, broken, blackened shape. Zal beside
her, not much better but breathing, only sleeping. Beside them Malachi also lay. He was prostrated flat on his belly in front
of Sassy like the worshipper of an ancient god. Ilya knelt at their heads and the single snowflake from the soulfall lay in
his hand.
‘Come on,’ Sassy said, getting to her feet. ‘No more games. I promise. Only on your terms anyway. Probably. What do you say?’
Lila looked away from the challenging gaze of the faery queen into Ilya’s clear eyes. She thought of the flicker of a possible
future that she’d seen a moment before – a phase gift courtesy of the quantum flux.
Under her cheek she felt Zal’s heart beating.
Lila listened for a few moments to its steady rhythm that paced out the measures and the memories and bound them briefly to
the world.
What else could she say?
‘Yes.’
‘Of course strange things can happen to people who’ve crossed over,’ Sassy’s voice was saying. ‘They don’t always see straight.’
Malachi growled something.
Lila frowned and crossed her booted feet on the table, looking at the cards in her hand. ‘Stop trying to cheat, Sass, I count
cards you know, and you ain’t got no fours.’
Sassy stuck her tongue out. ‘Where’s that angel got to?’
‘Here,’ said Teazle’s voice from the kitchen. He emerged, looking very much like his old self, Zal trailing him carrying both
their drinks and saying, ‘Yes I did go back for her, what, you think I was gonna forget and leave her on that island for the
rest of her life?’
‘The dragon should have gone.’
‘Yeah, he should have but librarians weren’t his thing, apparently.’
‘It’s your go,’ Lila told Teazle.
They sat down with the rest of the group. Teazle pulled his hand of cards out of his sleeve and looked at the betting. ‘I’m
out.’
‘Me too.’ Max threw her hand down carelessly and picked up her beer before getting up to go outside onto the decking. It was
early evening and the temperature was blissfully cool. Cicadas burred. Below them and across the lake the glittering lights
of Bay City were bright and the moon was full and low over the sea.
In the middle of the table, amid scattered plastic chips and inside a pool of spilled whiskey, a grass doll held court, its
own tiny set of cards in hand. ‘Myeh,’ it said. ‘I see your pathetic four and raise you ten. Eat that, shortcakes.’
Zal pushed all his remaining chips forward. ‘I’ll see those cards.’
‘Me too,’ Sassy said, pushing her stake in.
‘Out,’ Malachi muttered, tossing his cards onto his chair as he got up. He smoothed his sleek fur and became cat to curl by
the log fire.
‘Hey, Lila,’ called Max from the deck. ‘He’s here.’
Lila got up, flipping her cards together and putting them face down on the table. She pushed her stack of chips forward to
the grass doll. ‘Seeya,’ she said, and went to answer the door just as she heard soft footsteps on the stairs leading up from
the drive. As she passed Teazle he got up too, a man getting off his chair and a wolf as he started walking beside her, one
step behind. She put her hand on his head. ‘It’s all right.’
He still followed her as she picked up an oblong parcel from the kitchen counter and then went to open the door before the
knock. She found herself facing Sarasilien in the porch light, the moon behind him like an onlooker. Moths circled above him
and then, casting dust, blundered off into the darkness. For a moment they just looked at each other.
‘I said she didn’ wanna see ya,’ said a voice from behind Sarasilien’s back, and there was Mr V in his socks, sitting on
the porch rail.
Lila smiled and stepped back, holding the door open, ‘Come in.’ She left it open and padded back into the candle and firelight
of the house’s big interior in her bare feet. Teazle’s claws tacked on the wooden floor as he followed them all, circling
around. He sat down pointedly in the middle of the rug.
At the table the grass doll began laying out its cards.
Sarasilien and Zal shared a look, of recognition and wariness. Lila held the gift-wrapped object out to Sarasilien. ‘For you.’
Mr V slipped past them and took a beer off the side table on his way to the fireside. Their only recliner was free and he
climbed up into this and sat there, producing a pipe from somewhere and beginning to fuss with all its tools and accessories.
Sarasilien took the present and looked at it awkwardly. It was clear that after the invitation he’d expected to find Lila
alone, but since everyone carried on regardless of him and Lila was watching him expectantly he eventually pulled off the
blue ribbons and carefully undid the seals on the glittery paper. He stared at his present for a few minutes, holding the
cheap frame with his fingertips and then looked at Lila over the top of it with a puzzled frown and the smile of someone who
detects a joke but isn’t sure where it’s being played.
‘It is a picture of dogs, in a bar, playing snooker.’
Lila nodded and her smile at him was shy. ‘Nobody in this family ever had any taste. I thought you’d be needing it.’
His expression became unreadable and he was about to speak but
she waved him off with a sniff and then beckoned him to the table. ‘Look, card game’s finished. Let’s see who won.’
‘. . . the Knight of Barbarians and the King of Diamonds!’ the grass doll said triumphantly. ‘I think that concludes the—’
‘You haven’t seen Lila’s cards,’ Zal said, putting his hand out and slapping the table just as the doll reached towards the
large pile of chips.
‘Right . . .’ Sassy said, leaning across to turn Lila’s cards face up. ‘And look. Six of Furies, Three of Elves, Nine of Dragons,
Nine of Fools, Ace of Conundrums, Prince of Dark Gods, Ace of Blind Walkers, Ace of Ruins, Ace of Spades. Charmed Flush. She
wins.’
The doll stamped a fraying foot. ‘Hell’s teeth have no fury like a damn bad hand!’
‘Pay up,’ Lila said. ‘You promised one question, one answer.’
‘Yeah, yeah,’ it flung itself down in its whiskey slick. ‘Shoot.’
‘Who are you?’ Lila asked before anyone else could speak, although they’d been thinking of questions every night for months
just in case they ever got to win.
Suddenly every eye in the room, even Mr V’s, was focused on the table.
The doll lay back with its head on its arms and wiggled its feet as if swimming in a luxury pool. ‘Heh, always the easy ones,’
it said, and cleared its throat. It raised one arm and made a few conductorly sweeps of its malformed hand. In a rich and
husky voice that made the whiskey shimmer it began to sing.
‘There may be trouble ahead . . .’
Then without pause, the white wolf opened his mouth and sang, ‘But while there’s moonlight . . .’
‘. . . and music . . .’ Zal added, looking startled.
‘. . . and love . . .’ Lila sang, equally surprised.
‘. . . and romance . . .’ Malachi purred, batting at his own mouth with his paw.
‘Let’s face the music and dance!’ sang the doll in its stolen voice, leaping up and bowing deeply around to everyone. It laughed.
‘I da Hoodoo. Hoo you? Hm? Hoo you? One answer, one question. Debts paid and rest laid. Adios, Maestros!’ It leapt up and
fell apart into shreds and pieces of old, drying grass.
‘Nat King Cole,’ Lila said, sharing a look with Zal who returned her gaze with affection and remembering.
‘Dar loved Nat King Cole,’ he said.
‘Who doesn’t?’ Malachi sighed.
Sassy was looking at the grass pile. She poked it with her fingertip. ‘Never saw it do that before. Usually you have to pull
its head off.’
A rich smell of pipe tobacco furled across the room just as a car pulled into the driveway.
‘Not too late am I?’ called a loud, male voice as feet came stamping up the outside stairs. There was a chink of bottles as
a case of beer was put down and then they saw Temple Greer come in, accompanied by the nearly silent grey form of Bentley.
‘Never too late,’ Zal said, and hooked Teazle’s chair by the leg to offer him a place at the table. ‘I’ll deal. Poker your
game?’
‘It is now.’ Greer sat down and took an inventory of all the faces around him. ‘You wouldn’t know anything about these vigilante
reports happening all around town now would you?’
Lila shrugged. ‘No.’
He peered at Sarasilien but the elf just raised his eyebrows and showed Greer his picture.
Greer winced. ‘What the hell is that? Dogs?’
‘Playing snooker,’ Sarasilien said. ‘In a bar.’
‘What’ll they think of next?’ Greer looked at the grass, the chips, the drink. ‘Come on then, let’s see what you’re made of.
Who’s in?’
In the end only Mr V did not play. He said that cards wasn’t his thing.
Later there was music, and food cooked by Max, and the moon fled across the sky and slipped behind the sultry veils of clouds
at the horizon. Zal and Lila found themselves overlooking the city and the stars, Teazle at Lila’s other side in his most
human form, his tail almost hidden in his robe.
‘Three never works out,’ Teazle said conversationally.
‘Three’s the heaven number,’ Zal replied.
‘Three’s the charm,’ Lila said. ‘Let’s get married again. Only this time, we stay here. I mean, it’s not like we’re ever in
at the same time anyway. Zal has his music. You’ve got . . . what you do. And I . . .’
They both turned to her and asked at the same time, ‘Yes, Lila, what is it that you do?’
‘Me?’ she shrugged, made an innocent face. ‘I mess around with bikes.’ She pointed down to the driveway where, next to the
inert forms of the taxis parked there for various return journeys, sat the unearthly form of a genuine original parts-made
V-Rex.
‘Just one seat,’ Teazle said, admiring the machine.
‘Yep.’ Lila held up her hand and the keys jingled on her finger. ‘One seat, one key, one ring, one ride.’ With a smooth motion
she put her hand to the porch rail and hopped over, landing silently on the drive some thirty feet below where she turned
and hollered up to them, ‘But I’ll let ya ride it if you’re sweet to me!’
They saw her spring, light as a feather, into the saddle. She turned the key and the thing growled into life with a deep bass
tremor that made the porch support vibrate.
‘She looks like a faery on that thing,’ Teazle said, referring to the fact she was wearing only a short sundress. Her bare
legs and arms were pale in the porch light. She flicked her wrist and the monster roared.
‘You’d better thrash it before I crash it!’ Zal yelled down to her.
‘See you in the morning!’ she called back and blew them kisses with both her hands. ‘Byeee!’ and all the way down the mountainside,
through the woods and into the city they heard her roar.