Mike Shevdon - Sixty-One Nails

"Nobody knows we know about it, though, do they?" I pointed out.

"Claire knows some of it, now. But she's in as much danger as we are."

"Then we have to make it clear to her that she's not to mention this to anyone."

"I don't think she would anyway. Secrecy is her default position."

"What about Kareesh?"

"She can't be certain and anyway, she started all this. I'm sure of it now. I'm just not sure what we're supposed to do about it."

"Can we leave it as it is, pretend we don't know?"

"And what about the consequences? What happens when the barrier falls and the Seventh Court come through to settle the score? And even if I choose to stand aside and let that happen, you can't. This is where your vision leads. You bargained for a gift, Rabbit. You gave her the stones and in return she showed you your future."

"There are many futures. You said so yourself."

"Yes, but in the one she showed you, you survive. You're able to see it because you survive. It wasn't some random sequence of images that she showed you. It was your own future. Who knows in how many other futures you are killed, or lost, or eaten."

"Eaten?"

"I don't think the Shade outside your bedroom door wanted to tuck you up and read you a story."

"So I have to carry on."

"You're taking a terrible risk if you don't."

"I'm taking a terrible risk if I do."

"But the vision tells us you survive."

"For now."

The discussion was put on hold as Claire returned with the address.

"This is where they lived about one hundred and fifty years ago." She offered Blackbird the slip of paper.

"A hundred and fifty years is a long time. Do you think they'll still be there?" Blackbird handed me the address. It was a farm near a village called Eardington in Shropshire.

"They farm the land paid for by the Quit Rent. That's why they're there. They've been there since twelve hundred and something, so I doubt they will have moved. If anyone knows how to fix the knife, it will be them."

"We're grateful for your help, Claire, but you mustn't tell anyone we've discussed this. Your life may depend on it," I told her.

"What do I tell the police? They'll be here in half an hour." The nervous edge was back in Claire's voice.

"Tell them about the calls. Tell them what you knew before we came, but don't mention anything about the Quit Rents ceremony unless they ask. As far as they're concerned it is just an official duty of the office."

"And what about Jerry?"

"The Remembrancer?"

She nodded.

"I'm sorry, Claire, but I think he's probably dead."

Her eyes filled and she turned away, fishing a rumpled tissue from her jacket pocket and removing her glasses to dab at her eyes. "We don't know," she said. "There's still hope."

"I suppose there is a chance that he's just delayed or something," Blackbird admitted, though the sour note in her voice told me she didn't believe this herself, "but you must prepare for the worst."

"I'll do what I must," she told us, replacing her glasses after her moment of weakness, squaring her shoulders.

"The bad news is that if the Seventh Court find out it's you and not the Remembrancer that ensures the continuity of the ceremony-"

She folded her arms as if a chill had suddenly taken her, looking from Blackbird to me. "Then I'll be next."

Claire stood in the office, her arms held tightly around her. Despite her years of service, the reality of her role was only just hitting home.

"We have to go, Claire," said Blackbird.

"What can I do?" she asked.

"Maybe you could stay with some friends until this blows over?"

"I can't leave the office. What about the police? What about Jerry?"

"I don't think he's coming back," she suggested gently.

"What if they come here, after me?"

"Don't be here. They don't know you're involved and we won't tell them, but if they figure it out or if they get it from Jerry…"

"He wouldn't tell them."

"He may not have a choice. He won't be able to lie to them."

"I can't leave."

"There's no one to be clerk for, Claire. Either he comes back from wherever it is he's gone to or…"

"Or what?"

"Or he doesn't. You have to make sure the ceremony happens in either case. Otherwise things will get worse, not better."

"There are arrangements that will need to be made."

"Then make them. We'll be in touch when we know whether the knife can be fixed. In the meantime don't take strange phone calls and spend as little time alone as you can."

"I don't have anyone I can… That is…"

"Don't go where you're expected to go. Find somewhere else, someone else. Don't be alone."

"I don't have anyone…"

"Then find someone."

Blackbird's words came out harsh, but well meant. Claire's expression clearly said it wasn't as easy as Blackbird made it sound, but she simply nodded, accepting the principle.

"You need to take this with you." Claire retrieved the dark wooden box with the knives from the side table and passed it to Blackbird who accepted it reluctantly.

"Take care of yourself," Blackbird advised, slipping the box into her shoulder bag and zipping the bag closed so it wouldn't fall out.

"I'll try."

Blackbird ushered me through the outer office and into the corridor.

"Will she be OK?" I asked Blackbird.

She didn't answer my question, but marched ahead, out of Claire's earshot, leading the way down the steep stairway. She was down the steps and halfway across the entrance hall towards the exit before she spoke.

"Claire will be fine until the Seventh Court work out it's the clerk that's keeping the ceremony going, at which point she won't be fine."

We pushed through the exit gate across from the security station and stepped back through the entrance into the afternoon sunlight.

"We need to get the knife fixed before they work it out," she said. "At the moment they think they've won. They've eliminated the Remembrancer and they think the barrier is breaking down."

"It is breaking down."

"If the ceremony is performed successfully with the proper knives then it will reinforce the barrier. Meanwhile, the Council will realise that we know what they've done."

"The Council?"

"The rulers of the courts form the High Council of the Feyre. It's where they resolve disputes between the courts and discuss issues that affect them all. It doesn't have any powers over the individual courts. But if they entered into an agreement with humanity then they did it together. No single court could speak for all of them."

"We still don't know for sure that's what they did."

"Yes we do."

"We know they needed humanity to make the barrier, but we still don't know what the deal was, do we? Let's say humanity agreed to perform the ritual and carried it out for eight or nine hundred years. Why? What's in it for them? They don't even know the Feyre exist. Even Claire only knows part of it."

"That's the point, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"That's the deal. Don't you see?"

"What are you talking about?"

"It's all around us. Humanity goes its own sweet way while the Feyre sit back and let them. That was the deal, coexistence in return for security, peace in return for maintaining the barrier."

"You're guessing."

"Only partly. I've sat and listened to Kareesh's tales of how it was before. I know that when they first encountered humans, the Feyre made sure they knew whose land they were in. They hunted them, kidnapped their children, terrified them and murdered them in their beds. By the time the Feyre had finished with them they were literally afraid of the dark. Something changed, though. I always thought it was because there were so many humans and the Feyre were dwindling. No matter how many humans the Feyre scared off there were always more. Now I know different. This is what changed. They made a deal and they will know we have found them out. They won't like that. We could make some very powerful enemies."