Mike Shevdon - Sixty-One Nails

Blackbird glanced at me, raising an eyebrow, but said nothing. I touched my hand to my jacket over my pocket and she nodded imperceptibly.

"With a little assistance from Blackbird, I have brought you a gift, Kareesh, which I hope you'll accept." I dipped into my jacket pocket and pulled out the black bag.

Kareesh's eyes twinkled as I held out the bag. "Well, then. What have you brought for me?" She took the bag from me without touching my hand, a courtesy perhaps, then tipped the stones out into her palm. For a moment the stones shone in her pale palm, or perhaps it was only that they reflected more of the available light against the whiteness of her skin.

Looking at her hand I realised she didn't have a thumb. Instead, the outer two fingers lagged behind the others. She dipped into her palm with the other hand and I could see the outer fingers were articulated differently, allowing her to select a stone from the cluster. She picked out the dark red one.

"This one hid from you, I think." She laughed to herself with the sound of rustling paper, holding it up in the light.

I remembered that this was the stone I had almost missed as it nestled into its box. It was also the stone I had been reluctant to touch. She held it up to the lamplight and it gleamed darkly.

"It wasn't meant for you, oh no, but you chose well. Yes, a good choice." The stone vanished into the smock and she used the longer middle finger to stir around in between the others. "And this one, well yes, I should have expected you to be chosen, shouldn't I?" She addressed the orange Tiger's Eye as if it were animate. Then she dropped it back and slid them into the bag again, tucking it under her smock with the other stone. Had she kept the red one apart for a reason, I wondered?

"So, young Rabbit, you have a gift for gifts." She laughed at her own joke. "But you would like something from me, yes?" Her grin broadened and I was treated to a full display of her pointed teeth.

"He needs your help, Kareesh." Blackbird spoke on my behalf.

"His gift has pleased me, girl, as you knew it would, and I offer him something in return, but it is up to him to choose. You cannot choose for him now, can you?" She wagged her middle finger at Blackbird.

"I am glad my gift has pleased you, Kareesh, but I would not know what to ask for. As you pointed out, I am very new to this and I have no idea what you might consider a fair gift in return."

"Ooh, such pretty manners," she teased. "Perhaps you would choose a talisman to wake you in time of danger?"

I glanced behind her at Blackbird and she shook her head, minutely. I was used to negotiating with vendors where I knew what I wanted and roughly what it was worth. This was different. I chose my words carefully, aware we were bargaining, though for what, I wasn't sure.

"That's a fine offer, but what other thing might you consider worthy?"

"I might consider putting a certain girl over my knee and spanking her skinny behind, as once I did, if she helps you again." She was looking at me but the remark was intended for Blackbird. "You know the rules, girl, as do I."

Blackbird gave me a helpless look, but then looked down at her hands to avoid catching my gaze again. I was thinking of when and why Kareesh might have spanked her when she made her second offer.

"Would you wish to know, then, whether there's a grandchild for you? Your daughter's a mite young yet, but a child may not be too far to see."

"How did you know I had a daughter?" I glanced back at Blackbird, who was still staring resolutely at her hands.

"Well there wouldn't be much point in having the sight if I couldn't see the things written plain in front of me, now, would there?" She grinned, her teeth showing as ivory glimmers against her pink gums.

"Another fine offer, Kareesh." I hesitated. She was a canny bargainer and she knew how to tempt a worried father. If my daughter was to have children then that meant she would survive, didn't it? Or was she simply offering to tell me of the potential for grandchildren?

I was tempted but I had more pressing concerns if I was going to see my daughter safe.

"Is there something else?" I asked her.

"Are you sure you won't have the talisman? You may find you need it sooner than you think."

Did she know something or was she just pressuring me? She'd gone back to the first offer before moving on, which in my experience meant there was something else she could offer, though I couldn't tell what it might be. Perhaps in Fey culture, as in some human cultures, it was a matter of honour to try and get the best price for your bargain.

"No, not the talisman, Kareesh, but something else, something I need." I didn't know what it was, but I was now pretty sure she did.

"Well then, young Rabbit. Will you accept the sight of something to help you secure your place in the courts? Something that will soon be needed — not far away, but not easily found, no."

I glanced at Blackbird. She was like stone. What did she mean by the sight of something? Not the thing itself, obviously, but a picture maybe?

"Truly a generous offer."

I wanted to ask her, if I was able to secure a place in the courts whether that meant my daughter could also join with me but I sensed that, as with her other suggestions, the offer was what it was and it would be up to me to judge the value of it.

I looked for a sign from Kareesh that it really was as generous as she made it sound but her inhuman face was unreadable to me in so many ways. Was there a reason she had offered me the talisman first? She'd hinted that I might need it. I had turned down her initial offer almost on principle, though that could be a double bluff.

No, Blackbird had said that joining in the courts might provide safety for me and my daughter for a while. That was why she brought me here. I had to trust her and get what we had come for.

"And one I would like to accept," I told Kareesh.

Blackbird let out the breath she'd been holding.

"That's a fine bargain you've struck, Rabbit," Kareesh remarked.

I glanced at Blackbird and she gave me a tense smile. Clearly there was affection between these two, but there was a sense of tension too.

"Come then gauntlet runner, witness and suspect, evader of traps, bringer of hope. Rabbit, you are well-named, but not for always. Another name will be yours when you have earned it. The sun will rise and they shall fall. So say I."

Blackbird looked at Kareesh and her jaw dropped. I was lost, still trying to follow what she had just said. By the look of Blackbird's face she thought it was significant. I made a mental note to ask her about it later. Kareesh, meantime, continued without pause.

"Here, Rabbit, hold out your hands and, when you are ready, rest them in my palms. You can remove them any time you wish and the vision will end. You might find it easier to close your eyes."

"Will it help?"

"No, but you may find it easier to bear that way."

To bear? That was a strange word to use. I repositioned myself on the cushions so I had slightly more support. I had no idea how long this might take so I wanted to be as comfortable as possible. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"OK, I'm ready."

"No, you're not. But then, no one ever is." She showed me her teeth again and I lowered my hands into hers.

Cold rushed up my arms, clamping my heart and seizing the breath in my lungs. Echoes of the heart attack I had survived earlier flooded my veins with fear. The cold wrapped itself around my gut and pooled in my groin, killing all sensation. My eyes flooded with tears and blurred. I couldn't move to wipe them. Lights expanded and shattered into refracted fragments of delicate snowflakes and rushed inwards. I was blind, cold and numb. I think I screamed.