Dragonslayer's Return (Spearwielder's Tale #3) 7

Diane had never seen Gary's face so twisted with rage. He meant to finish Geldion - she knew that he meant to plunge the spear deep into the helpless Prince's throat.

"The quality of mercy is not strained," she said suddenly, grabbing at a desperate thought.

Gary glanced sidelong at the unexpected remark, and his sudden confusion halted his progress. A small line of blood began to run from the side of the penetrating speartip. "Shakespeare?" he whispered incredulously.

"It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven," Diane stubbornly went on, closing her eyes and trying to remember the lines. "Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes." She looked up and relaxed a bit, seeing that Gary had eased his grip on the spear.

"'Tis mightiest in the mightiest!" came a cry from the door. All three, Gary, Diane, and even Geldion, turned to see Mickey enter, disheveled and banging the dust from his tam-o'-shanter. "And suren it becomes the throned monarch better than his crown." The leprechaun paused to take in the scene, then nodded in satisfaction. "Yer father might be taking a tip from the Bard," he remarked to Geldion.

"The Bard?" Diane whispered, trying to sort through the illogic. She turned a confused glance on Gary. "How does he know about Shakespeare?"

Gary mulled it over for a moment, then chuckled aloud, remembering what Mickey had told him about others of his world passing over into Faerie. Mickey had claimed that J.R.R. Tolkien had obviously come over, else where would he have learned so wondrous a tale as The Hobbit? Could it be that some of Shakespeare's work, possibly something like A Midsummer's Night Dream was more than an imaginative piece of fiction?

"Don't ask," Gary said to Diane, remembering that they had more important matters to tend to. Gary looked fearfully to the area under the loft, where Kelsey had struggled to prop himself up on his elbows. Never relinquishing the trapping pressure of the spear on the Prince, Gary continued his scan, all about and back to the door, where Mickey was straightening his disheveled and dusty clothes.

"Where have you been?" the man demanded.

"Them two was better at seeing through things than I figured them to be," the leprechaun explained casually. "And where are they now?"

"One's down the well, th'other's running back for Dil-namarra," Mickey replied. "And I'm thinking that we should be on our way."

By this point, Diane had retrieved the key and let down the wounded TinTamarra.

"What are ye meaning to do with him?" Mickey asked Gary, indicating the Prince.

"I guess he's coming with us," Gary replied.

"Kill him," came a reply from under the loft. Kelsey limped out, one hand pressing tight against his lower back. "Geldion would have shown us no mercy, and deserves none! We are wounded and weary, and will not have an easy time of getting back to Tir na n'Og with him in tow."

It was truly a horrible moment for Gary Leger. Kelsey's logic was solid, but Gary couldn't imagine finishing off the helpless Prince. Yet what might Gary do if Kelsey decided to walk over and cut Geldion down? He looked down to Diane, whose expression was unyielding.

"Don't you dare," she warned.

Gary growled in frustration, retracted the spear, and roughly reached down and pulled the much smaller Geldion to his feet. "Not a bit of trouble from you," Gary snarled into the Prince's face.

Gary looked over to see Kelsey glaring at him. The elf said nothing, though, just moved to the pile of equipment and once again began donning his suit of mail.

Gary pushed the Prince past him, prodding him for the door, but suddenly Kelsey was there, his sword snapping to a stop just an inch from Geldion's already bleeding throat.

"No!" Diane and Gary said together, thinking that Kelsey would kill the man.

In response, Kelsey held up a curious bandolier, strung one end to the other with hammers. "Geno," Gary whispered, recognizing the belt.

"Where is the dwarf?" Kelsey demanded.

Geldion smirked as though he had no idea of what Kelsey might be talking about.

Kelsey belted him across the face.

"I ask you only one more time," Kelsey said sternly, his voice deathly even and controlled. "I will have an answer, or I will have your head."

"When did the Buldrefolk become the concern of the Tylwyth . . ." Geldion began obstinately, but his words ended in a groan as Kelsey slugged him again.

"Stop it!" Diane demanded, coming up beside them, dragging TinTamarra, who was leaning heavily on her shoulder.

Gary held her back, knowing Kelsey better than she. He understood the unlikely friendship that had developed between the elf and Geno, and knew that neither he nor Diane could stop Kelsey in this matter. Geldion would speak, or Kelsey would kill him.

The Prince stared long and hard into Kelsey's golden eyes, matching the elf's intensity. Then Geldion nodded to the side, to the area under the loft. "In a hole," he spat. "Where dwarfs belong."

Kelsey moved under the loft and soon found the wooden slats of a trap door, pinned under a huge cask of water. With great effort, the elf picked the cask up on its edge and rolled it aside - and found that the trap door had been chained and padlocked three different ways. Not waiting to see if Geldion could be coerced into producing any keys, Kelsey called to Gary to give him the mighty spear. Diane immediately had a sword poised near the Prince, and with a nod to her, Gary moved under the loft and handed over the spear. Three hits later, all the chains were free.

Gary took note of the elf's frantic movements, further confirmation of the bond that had been forged between Kelsey and the surly dwarf. Kelsey grabbed the rope for the trap door and took a deep breath to steady himself - like Gary, he feared that Geno would be in tough shape, perhaps even already dead.

Up came the door - Geno was nowhere to be seen.

Kelsey dove down to the floor for a closer look, but the pit was only a few feet deep and a few feet wide, and encased in bare and solid stone. A bit of water had gathered at the bottom of the hole, but it was only an inch or two deep, and concealing nothing but more stone.

"He is not in here!" Kelsey growled at Geldion.

The Prince seemed honestly perplexed. "Impossible," he protested. "The pit is solid stone."

Kelsey and Geldion kept up their banter, accusations flying fast from the angry elf. Gary joined in as well, even promising Geldion severe consequences if he did not produce the dwarf.

Mickey was not so judgmental, though. More wise in the ways of the Buldrefolk than the others, and more wise in their tricks, Mickey believed that Geldion's incredulity was sincere. He calmly walked under the loft and pushed past Gary and Kelsey, peering knowingly into the hole.

"Come along, Geno," he called softly, tap-tapping the stone along the pit's side with his huge pipe. "We've not the time for games." Mickey's face brightened an instant later, when he noticed a small crack running along the wall of the pit. He tapped his pipe in that spot and called for the dwarf again.

For a moment, nothing happened, and then suddenly the ground began trembling so violently that Gary thought they were in the midst of an earthquake. Across the bam, near the opposite wall, the flooring planks broke apart and the earth erupted - and out hopped Geno, covered in dirt, his wrists and ankles tightly and heavily shackled, though he had bitten through one of the wrist chains and had done considerable damage to the other.

He shook his head, launching a spray of sand and roots, and spat out a stream of munched pebbles. Then he spotted Geldion, and no chains in all the world could have held him back. He half ran, half hopped across the barn, bearing down on Diane. To her credit, she held her ground until the very last moment, then fell aside. Geno leaped high into the air, tucked his stubby legs under him, and slammed down atop the Prince.

Kelsey was on him in an instant, Gary and Diane helping as much as possible. The elf finally wrestled Geno off Geldion, a break in the action long enough for Gary to reason with the dwarf that Geldion would make a valuable prisoner.

Geno stood trembling and staring at the battered Prince, on the very edge of an explosion. "Get these off," he growled, lifting his shackles toward Geldion.

The obstinate Prince snorted and turned away.

Geno rolled his tongue around in his mouth, digging out another pebble he had pinched between his cheek and gum. He spat it with the power of a high-end BB gun and it bounced off the back of Geldion's head, nearly laying the Prince out flat.

"I told you to get these off," Geno said as the outraged Geldion spun about. "Now do it," the dwarf warned, "or my next spit-stone will be a piece of your crunched skull."

Not a person in the room doubted Geno's claim.

It was Mickey who relieved the tension, the leprechaun, an expert lock-picker if ever there was one, rushing over and quickly freeing the dwarf of the shackles.

"Don't ye kill him," Mickey whispered to Geno as he worked the locks. "He's the treasure that'll stop the war." Kelsey apparently did not agree. As Mickey freed the dwarf, the elf stalked over to Geldion, his sword dangerously close to the Prince's neck.

"Easy, Kelsey," Gary remarked. "We need him."

Kelsey turned to Gary, his expression both angry and incredulous. "You have taken command of the actions of the Tylwyth Teg?" the elf asked.

Gary thought the question utterly stupid, and was too surprised by it to answer. "You have become quite the hero," Kelsey remarked.

Gary winced and Kelsey turned away.

"I do all right," Gary answered suddenly, to Kelsey's surprise, and to his own. The elf stopped but did not give Gary the consideration of turning to face him squarely. "I've more than my share of luck and better friends than any man deserves!" Gary answered anyway.

Kelsey remained silent and still for a moment, then walked away. Gary didn't know what to think. He understood that Kelsey was frustrated and afraid - afraid for Tuna n'Og and all his world.

Diane was at Gary's side then, her arm in his, lending him support.

By the time they had donned their armor and left the barn, two more of the Connacht soldiers were up and in tow. Kelsey forced Geldion to carry the wounded TinTamarra, and Geno walked only a stride behind the Prince, telling him how much he liked the Tylwyth Teg, and promising him all sorts of pain if the elf should die.

Kelsey led them to the west, farther from Dilnamarra and farther from Tir na n'Og. They were a sorry-looking troupe, to be sure, even though Gary's shoulder, knocked back into place during the battle, was already feeling somewhat stronger. They encountered only one Connacht patrol, a group of five, who surrendered at Geldion's command (since Geno was nibbling on the Prince's ear at the time).

That night, they camped along a hedgerow. The Connacht soldiers were put in a line, with grim Kelsey and TinTamarra, who, like Gary, was fast recovering, walking a tight guard. Geldion was not with them, though. He was farther along" the makeshift encampment, speaking with Diane, while Gary, Mickey, and Geno lay back on the grass not far away, staring at the stars and the occasional rushing cloud.

More than once, Kelsey came up near to the group and shot a dangerous glare Geldion's way. It was obvious to the others that the elf would have preferred to leave the Prince dead in the barn.

"Not a good time," Mickey remarked after one of Kelsey's visits, in effect apologizing for Kelsey's behavior. "I thought he wanted me here," Gary asked.

"So he did, and does," Mickey replied. "He's just afraid, lad, and with good cause."

"What has she to say to that Prince?" Geno put in, motioning to Diane and Geldion. The dwarf had been cordial to Diane, and actually glad to see Gary again, and so his words did not sound so much like an accusation.

"She's just looking for information," Gary replied.

"Aye, that one's a thinker," Mickey agreed. "Suren she's asked me more in the short time I've known her than yerself has asked in all yer three visits to Faerie!"

"She's your wife," Geno grumbled. "She cannot be too smart."

Gary elbowed him hard in the ribs, but if the stonelike dwarf felt it at all, he didn't show it.

"I been meaning to ask ye," Mickey put in. "I heared ye calling me many the time. What made ye want to come back so badly? I mean, I've heared yer call before, now and again, but the last day, ye just wouldn't stop."

Gary, still rubbing his elbow from the contact with the dwarf, wondered how he might explain his emotional turmoil, how he might tell them about the loss of his father and his frustrations with Real-earth. These two had played such an important role in Faerie, how might Gary convey to them his sense of utter helplessness to change the bad things, in his own life and in the world around him?

As it turned out, Gary didn't have to say much. As soon as he told about his dad, both Mickey and, unexpectedly, Geno were honestly sympathetic. Geno even told the story of how he had lost his own father - to a mountain troll and an avalanche.

"But being here won't get ye away from the grief, lad," Mickey was quick to warn. "Not-a-thing can get ye from the grief."

Gary nodded, but he wasn't so sure that he agreed. He felt better just being in Faerie, despite the desperate situation surrounding him. He felt again like he was part of something larger than himself, like his potential death, or even the death of his father, was, after all, a very small part of a grander scheme. Far from making him feel insignificant, though, that knowledge made Gary feel invulnerable.

He lay quiet, looking at the enchanting canopy of Faerie's nighttime sky, looking at the eternal stars and the endless, rushing clouds.

And feeling as though he was truly a part of them.