hounds stood up suddenly on their hind legs, and all of them were immediately elves. No transformations, no shape-shifting; just the dropping of a glamour. They were all smiling, and not in a good way. Which is pretty much what you’d expect from an elf. They smirked at one another and sneered at me, but it was still hard for me to take them too seriously . . . because they were all dressed in the height of Elizabethan fashion. Tights and doublets and thick pleated ruffs. Probably because that was the last time anyone had taken elves seriously. They all wore enchanted weapons at their sides. Glowing swords, and axes, and wicked daggers. I thought about the Colt Repeater on my hip, and then thought better of reaching for it. At least until I had a better idea of exactly what was going on here.
I folded my armoured arms across my golden chest and stood as tall as I could. “I should have known!” I said loudly. “You do so love to play games, don’t you? So, whose little elves are you? To whom do you owe allegiance? Queen Mab? Or King Oberon and Queen Titania? Are you of the Sundered Lands, or Shadows Fall? And I feel I should point out that Mab is quite definitely dead. And this time she won’t be coming back.”
“We serve no one,” said the elven lady; in a cold, harsh, thrilling voice. “We are all of us independent agents here. Free spirits, rogue elves.”
“Ah!” I said, as a sudden insight hit me. “That’s what you’re doing here, in the subtle realms, so far from the Courts . . . You’re on the run! You’re hiding out!”
“What’s that to you?” said the elven lady, smiling slowly, like a cat with a mouse caught between its paws. “What can it matter to you who we are, and who we once were? Do you think knowing such things will save you?”
“Do you really think you can kidnap a Drood and get away with it?” I countered. “To take on one of us is to take on all of us. And even Oberon and Titania in their place of power would hesitate to anger the entire Drood family.”
“We are elves! We dare anything! Especially when your precious family doesn’t have a clue where you are . . .”
I thought about mentioning Ethel, and then decided not to. You never know when you might need a trump card, or information to bargain with.
“There are long-standing pacts in place,” I said carefully, “Historical promises and agreements, made between the Drood family and elven royalty. Or can it be that you no longer acknowledge these pacts? Have the elves of this place forsaken honour?”
The elves standing around stirred angrily, only to fall still again as the elven lady glared quickly about her.
“Your family made those agreements with the old Courts, with Mab and Oberon and Titania,” she said. “We have all of us renounced those Courts, and are no longer bound by anything they may once have agreed to.”
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s try something else. What am I doing here? Why bring me to this place, so far from anywhere?”
“Show me your face,” said the elven lady. “It has been a long time since I have seen your face.”
I was pretty sure I’d never seen her before, but I armoured down anyway. I could always bring it back if I needed it. But the moment my golden armour disappeared into my torc, and I stood revealed before them, a great roar of surprise went up from the elves, and the elven lady looked at me with something very like shock.
“You’re not Jack Drood!”
I had to raise an eyebrow at that. “Never said I was . . .”
The elven lady scowled at me dangerously. So did all the others. I glared right back at them. Never show any sign of weakness in front of an elf. They’ll only take advantage.
“What are you doing, driving Jack Drood’s car?” said the elven lady accusingly.
“I’m Eddie Drood, Jack’s nephew,” I said. “He gave me the car.”
She shook her head slowly. “You . . . are Edwin, son of Jack’s sister Emily? The last time I saw you, you were just a babe in arms.”
“What?” I said. “You knew me, as a child?”
“Yes. And here you are now, grown to a man’s estate.” The elf lady shook her head slowly. “How many years have passed, back on Earth?”