"Yes, we heard. Ice princess. That's really ... uh ... nice.
Morning, Rene. Are you both ready to do a little hermit hunting?"
Rene opened the back door to the cab. Tiffany swept inside
with a regal smile. "I am most anxious to help you, Aisling. I feel it in my
bones that today we shall be triumphant." He squinted at me as I started toward
the back of the car. "Something is different about you today, yes? You look ...
how is it said, like the cat who has eaten all the milk? Have you done
something? Something important?"
Jim barked a short laugh. I ignored the demon and tried to
look a little less like a woman who had spent most of the night being pleasured
to the very tips of her toe-nails and more like one who was professional,
determined, and every inch reliable. "It's 'cat who's licked up all the cream,'
and nothing has happened, nothing at all. Nothing important."
Rene tipped his head as he eyed me even more carefully.
"There is something different, Aisling. I know I am not mistaken."
My hand went to the chains around my neck. Thus far Rene
hadn't shown any signs of caving under the influence of the dratted amulet, but
at last its magic had worked its way through his normally placid temperament. My
heart sank. I was counting on Rene to help me, but if he started acting like all
the other lovesick mortals, I'd have to keep away from him.
"Honestly, there's nothing. Now, if you're ready, we can head
out to the first park. I figure if we split up, we'll cover more ground, so I
cut up maps I bummed from the concierge. Each one of us will take a section of
the park and search for the hermit. Then we'll rendezvous and report our
progress."
Rene still wore a puzzled look as I got into the car,
followed by Jim. The demon stepped on my foot while climbing over me to claim
the window next to the jump seat.
"Whoops. Sorry, Mama."
"Stop it," I hissed, making mean eyes at Jim.
"What was that?" Rene asked, sliding behind the steering
wheel.
"Nothing. Ignore Jim, It's just being a smart-ass."
"Better than being a dumb-ass," Jim intoned, its head out the
window.
"But not as good as an ice princess," Tiffany pointed out,
smiling at her reflection in the rearview mirror.
I heaved a mental sigh. It was going to be a long, long day.
We found the hermit shortly after noon, sharing a pond in the
Budakeszi Wildlife Park with a couple of fallow deer. Jim had been fretting
because I insisted on searching one last park before we had to call it quits and
return to the hotel. I had two more apprentice interviews, and I'd promised
Drake I would attend a clan function with him that evening. It was my first time
to formally meet his dragons, and I was more than a little nervous about the
whole thing.
"But this is a wildlife park," Jim protested, its furry lips
curled as it glanced around the parking lot. I passed out maps to the park.
"It's big. And I don't see any handy food stands."
"We'll search as much of it as we can now. If we can't cover
the whole thing, we'll come back this afternoon, after we get something to eat
and I meet with the Guardians," I promised. "Jim, you search the area
surrounding the big-game enclosures and the wildlife feeding points. I doubt a
hermit would be there, but we shouldn't overlook any potential hiding spot.
Tiffany, if you could take the Z trail and check out the beech forest, that
would be helpful. Rene, do you mind doing the open woodland? I think I can
handle both the pine and the oak forests. We'll meet at the owl enclosure next
to the main entrance in an hour, OK?"
Everyone agreed, and we scattered, Jim's grousing following
me as I headed off to the deepest part of the park. There were a couple of
trails that wound through the acreage of the park, taking the visitor through a
number of environments, the surroundings changing from deciduous trees to
marshland to alpine forest. It was gorgeous, and I only wished I had more time
to appreciate the flora and abundant fauna. As it was, I was about to head back
to the entrance when I spied a little glimmer of water through the dense oak
trees. I left the trail and carefully picked my way through the undergrowth to a
little pond.
A small long-necked, white-spotted deer about Jim's height
lifted its head from the pond, gazing at me with big, liquid eyes that showed no
fear. I've always liked deer, but this one was so elegant, so beautiful in its
purity, it took my breath away.
"Oh," I said softly, freezing so as not to startle the deer.
It blinked impossibly long eyelashes while it considered me for a moment or two,
then turned and slowly made its way around the perimeter of the pond.
A man's voice spoke Hungarian behind me as soon as the deer
disappeared into the growth. I spun around, a strangled little scream emerging
from my throat. "Lord above, you scared me!"
The man was clad in what I thought of as ranger
clothing—khaki pants and shirt, a kerchief knotted around his neck—and his hands
rested easily on his hips. Surprise lit his dark eyes for a moment, then changed
to amusement as he grinned. "You are American? You are tourist?"
"Yes to both," I said, looking back toward where the deer had
disappeared. "Did you see that little deer?"
"Ddmborju."
"I beg your pardon?"
"It is a ddmborju. A female. Her name is Draga."
"Dragon?" I asked, for one moment wondering if the dragon
population in Budapest was unusually high. But a closer look at this man's eyes
ruled out that idea—his pupils were normal circles, not the elongated ovals that
marked dragons' eyes.
"Draga. It means"—his hands swept out wide while he searched
for the word—"darling."
"Very appropriate," I said, glancing around the pond. There
wasn't much else to be seen but shrubs, trees, and a couple of yellow ducklings
floating with their mother at the far end of the pond. "I hate to sound nosy,
but do you come here often? To this park, that is, not just this pond?"
He nodded. "Very often."
"Oh, good. You just might be able to help me, if you don't
mind. I'm looking for a man who might hang out a lot around the park, and I
wonder if you've seen him."
"Hang out?" The man half turned, gesturing for me to go
before him, back toward the hiking path.
"Camp, maybe. Or live in an abandoned ranger's hut or
something. His name is Gyorgy Berto, and he's probably pretty shy around people,
so I wouldn't be surprised if he stays away from contact with the public—"
The man started laughing even before I finished the sentence.
I pushed past a laurel bush and glanced back at him. He smiled. "I am Gyorgy."
I stopped. "You are? You're a hermit?" He didn't look like a
hermit. His hair was short, he didn't have a long, scraggly beard or dirty,
unkempt fingernails, and his clothing, while unexceptional, was reasonably clean
considering he lived in a wildlife park. Not only that, he hadn't shied away
when he came upon me.
"Hermit—that is an interesting name. I prefer erdolako, a
woodlander."
"Woodsman?" I asked, relieved. Given Gy Orgy's paranoia
regarding mail, I had assumed he was one of those people who had retreated
entirely from society, a modem-day Howard Hughes, but without the money. Gyorgy
looked perfectly normal. He was obviously just a man who favored spending time
in the peace of the woods. "Well, I'm very happy to have found you. I've been
looking for a couple of days, and the people who hold your mail had no idea when
you would be coming by to pick it up."
He brushed that away with a flick of his hands, the sunlight
filtering through the trees and dappling his chest and arms. "The summer, it is
so crowded in the city, you know? Tourists everywhere with their constant
talking, constant moving around. They do not sit and appreciate the beauty of
their surroundings. It is too noisy, too busy there now. I will go into the city
when the leaves start to change to red and gold. Not before."
"I know what you mean about noisy and busy, but I've always
felt thai to be part of the charm of a big city, although I admit I really like
staying on Margaret Island. It's so peaceful, a wonderful oasis of beauty
smack-dab in the middle of the city." I pulled the chain bearing the hermit's
amulet from beneath my blouse, happiness filling me at the thought of being rid
of the annoying thing. "I'm from Damian Carson Antiquities. I have the amulet you
bought. I'm sorry I've been wearing it, but people kept trying to steal—"
"Aisling? AISLING? Ais—oh, there you. You must come quickly.
Your demon, it is having a fit of the most large sort!" Tiffany ran toward me,
her lovely face shadowed with concern. She paused to give Gyorgy a smile (shy)
and bat her eyelashes (not so shy) before turning back to me. "You must hurry!
The demon, it is on the ground, writhing about, with much froth coming from its
mouth. I think maybe it is dying."
"Oh, god," I swore, taking off at a run. I glanced back,
yelling over my shoulder to Gyorgy, "I'll be back as soon as I can. Sorry about
this!"
I don't know if he heard me. He was too busy staring at
Tiffany, a stunned expression on his face, his hands hanging limp at his sides
as he looked at her, just looked at her without saying a word, without even
noticing that I had run off. Tiffany, for her part, gave him an extremely coy
glance before turning to race lightly after me.
That he noticed.
"Where is Jim?" I asked Tiffany as she caught up to me. We
reached a spot in the path where it split, one direction leading to the other
side of the park, the other beading toward the main entrance.
"By the feeding area. I searched the beech forest and was
returning to find you, when I heard much barking of a large dog. It is beautiful
here, is it not? There are many wildflowers. They make me smile. I was wishing
more people would come to share the smiles and the wildflowers when X heard the
barking. Although I would have preferred to continue thinking about the flowers,
I thought perhaps it was Jim who was making the noise, and that he might have
found the hermit. But it was not the hermit he found."
"No, the hermit is the man we just left. Don't worry, I'm
sure he won't disappear. We'll find him after I see what's going on with Jim."
"That man was the hermit?" Tiffany asked easily, an insight
that sent a little zing of annoyance through me. There I was sweating and
panting like Jim after the one time I'd made him run with me on the beach, and
she wasn't even looking hot. "Are you sure? He did not seem like a hermit to
me."
"Nor me, but he says he's Gyorgy Berto. I haven't checked his
identification yet, but I don't see any reason for someone to lie about being
him. He didn't seem to know who I was, or even that the amulet was on its way to
be delivered. Which way?"
She pointed to the right. We ran down a narrow, lesser-used
path around the far perimeter of a fenced area. Beyond it, in a bed of ferns
growing in the shadow of an ancient oak tree, lay Jim, groaning and gagging.
Rene was squatting next to the big black shape, out of range of the demon's
vomiting but close enough to put his hand on Jim's back.
Rene looked up when we approached. "Bon. I had hoped when I
saw Tiffany racing away that she would find you."
"All right, Jim," I said, stopping behind it, crossing my
arms as I looked down to where it Lay groaning. "What is it this time? You're so
faint with hunger that you can't stand up anymore? You want me to carry you to
the nearest McDonald's, right? You're—"
Jim's back arched as the demon in dog form vomited violently.
Tiffany made little mewling noises, both of her hands over
her mouth.
My irritation at what I had assumed was Jim putting on an act
quickly turned into horror. The demon wasn't playacting; it was having a severe
reaction to something. Ignoring the slimy results of the dry heaves now racking
the demon's body, I knelt down and put my hands on Jim's head. "Oh, my god, whal
is it? What happened?"
Jim's body shook. I stroked the big black head, using the
drool cloth to wipe away the long tendrils of saliva that hung from its flews,
"I—I—food. Was hungry. Over there."
Rene turned to look at the feeding station. A partially
spread bale of hay sat next to a couple of long wooden troughs holding what I
assumed was fodder for the deer and other hoofed animals.
"You ate something from the animals' feeding station?" I
asked as Rene hurried around the enclosure to enter it. "What did you eat? Jim?"
The demon's eyes rolled back in its head as its body
convulsed again. I swore, looking around for help, for a handy vet to
miraculously appear and offer his services.
Miracles, I have had occasion to note, seldom happen when you
want them.
"
Tiffany, can you take Jim's back legs?" I asked, sliding my
arms around the demon's big chest. "If Rene carries its middle, I think we can
get it back to the entrance. There's got to be a vet who serves the park. Maybe
he can help Jim."
Rene met us as Tiffany and I staggered around the fence. He
stuffed a bulging handkerchief into his pocket as he wrapped his arms around
Jim's sagging middle. "I took a little bit of everything. It is food for the
deer, but it could be poisonous, yes?"