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Every tool except the goddess of mischief and ruin.
Despite my mounting fears, I slept hard that night. No dreams. No nightmares. Only sleep. I rose with the sun, feeling marginally better than yesterday.
Needless to say, I wasn’t looking forward to sundown.
I spent the morning with Matilda in the parlor room, discussing yesterday’s events. She told me about the scout she’d injured (not Reginald), and I told her about the Morrigan’s revelation.
“I should have suspected,” I continued. “When I first told you about The Corporation, you told me to pack my bags and leave town immediately. I was surprised you were eager to see me quit so easily. It was unlike you.” And then she’d killed the djinn, Solomon, to save me from The Corporation. All part of her assignment from the Morrigan.
Matilda turned her face toward the roaring fire. “Are you angry with me for my deception?”
“No.”
Her shoulders sagged with relief.
“You’re no longer obligated to look after me. The Morrigan said their agreement to protect me has reached an end.”
The Night Mallt kept her focus on the flames. “Do you really think I’d abandon you now, in your hour of need, especially when I am the reason for it?”
“I don’t blame you.”
She met my gaze. “I’m with you to the end, cariad, whatever that end will be. I may not have chosen the arrangement to look after you, but I choose you now, and every day thereafter.”
It was hard to hear, that level of devotion. Part of me still felt like I didn’t deserve it.
She patted my hand. “Enough talk. It’s time to assemble your team. We have much work to do.”
As far as teams went, mine wasn’t too shabby. Kane, Josie, the Arrowhead wolves, Gun, Camryn, and a few mages from the guild who’d voted in favor of helping me. I didn’t contact Madame Thea about the axe throwers. Matilda felt we should stick to those we could trust. An axe thrower might decide the white stag was too tempting a target to resist.
I started with a call to Gunther. “Are you ready?”
“I’ve already selected my outfit. It’s Brokeback Mountain meets Return of the Jedi.”
“Brokeback Mountain has gay cowboys, so I get that reference. Why Return of the Jedi?”
“They fight the Dark Side in a forest, surrounded by misfit creatures, which is basically what we’ll be doing later.”
He agreed to continue the phone chain with the mages, while I called Kane and West and asked them to do the same with their respective cohorts.
I felt a rush of warmth when Nana Pratt and Addison revealed that they’d prepared a variety of fruit and finger sandwiches to take to our team members.
“Food is fuel,” Addison said, shoving a backpack into my hands.
“Snacks will be important to keep up your energy levels,” Nana Pratt advised.
I wasn’t sure there’d be a convenient time to scarf down tuna on rye while fighting for our lives, but I appreciated the gesture, nonetheless.
We gathered our weapons and the snack pack. Claude climbed onto Matilda’s shoulder, her own gnarly parrot. Dread coiled in my stomach as we exited the house. My parents had left their home one day, unaware that they would never return. That they would never see their loved ones again.
I turned around to wave at Ray and Nana Pratt, who hovered together on the front porch. Unsmiling, they returned the gesture. They were worried.
So was I.
The mare awaited us at the gate. Matilda stopped to push against the fencepost and stretch her calf muscles.
“I’m out of practice,” she said by way of explanation. “It wouldn’t serve me to suffer a cramp in the middle of battle.”
“Ooh, there’s an idea. Maybe we can trigger a leg cramp in Vortigern. Those are both painful and debilitating.”
