Anne Kelleher - Silver's Edge

“But—” she leaned forward, and once more he felt the scorch of her stare “—I didn’t come here just to tell the Queen about the goblin. I’m here to find my father. I won’t go back until I find him.”

Her obstinacy was like a brick wall. He couldn’t take her to Court—that in and of itself would cause such an uproar, he would never hear the end of it. It would most assuredly end all his hopes of regaining his command. What could he say to convince her? He cast about. She cared passionately about her father. Maybe there were others for whom she cared just as deeply. “What about the others—the other people—”

“What others?”

He spread his hands. “The others—the other people in your village? Don’t you care about them?”

“Not the way I care about him,” she shot back. She leaned forward and for a moment he thought she would leap over the table. “You don’t understand. The other people in the village, in our district, they all know about my mother. They all know about me. They think I’m tainted somehow. My father raised me to be a blacksmith just like him, and they think that’s odd, too. So no, there aren’t any others. I have no one else in the world. He’s my whole life. I am not going back without him. Dead or alive.” She raised her chin and he groaned inwardly, even as something deep inside him recognized a kinship with her.

He knew what it felt like to stand on the margins of all that is acceptable and accepted. But he had to make her understand that this crisis was greater than even her need to find her father. So he leaned across the desk and met the fire in her eyes with as much calm assurance as he could muster. “I see that your father means a great deal to you, maiden. But there are more lives than his at stake. You must go back and warn the mortals of your village. If the magic of the Caul has indeed broken in some way, the people living nearest that lake are in utter danger. And time runs differently in our two worlds. You’ve spent but a few hours here by my calculation, but a few days or more could’ve run in Shadow. Guards must be set about the lake, armed with weapons tipped in silver. For if even one goblin somehow fell into Shadow, living or dead, it is possible that more will find a way there. And they most likely won’t be dead.”

He watched the realization of the truth in his words dawn across her features and war with her own desire. “But my father—”

“Was he wearing silver?”

“Of course. Everyone does. No one ever takes it off—though I did, so I could get in.”

“Then it’s still extremely unlikely that he’s here, maiden. A magic as great as the Caul cannot simply fail all at once. Even the magic here within the wards that hold the border—a much different sort from that which made the Caul and not as strong—it fluctuates, but does not fail.” At least, he thought, he hoped great Herne would see that it wouldn’t.

“But if a fluctuation in the—the Caul’s magic has let a goblin into Shadow, is it not possible that despite the fact my father was wearing his amulet, the silver wasn’t enough to keep him out?” She pressed on relentlessly, arguing with a determination the most exacting Lorespinner might envy.

The force of her logic, fueled by the intensity of emotion, was inescapable. Much as he would prefer to deny it. He sighed and shifted in his chair, crossing and uncrossing his legs. “You force me to agree. Such a possibility—that at the moment the goblin fell into Shadow, a mortal slipped into Faerie—does exist. So I will order the scouts who escort you back into the Shadowlands to search for him, once they see you safe across, and alert all the patrols from now on to search as well. And if your father has not fallen into the Wastelands, I’m sure we’ll find him. But much as you wish to stay and search for your father, I tell you, your people are in danger. You must make them understand they must act to protect themselves immediately. Samhain is approaching in Faerie, the time when the veils between our worlds are thinnest. If the Caul is failing in some way, the goblins may break through on Samhain, and nothing here will hold them back. Whatever defenses you can mount will have to come from your side. Surely your father would not want you to leave your people so vulnerable?”

To his relief, Nessa sat back. She lowered her eyes. Thank Herne he’d found a way to get through to her. A last-minute check with the captain of the guard—an inquiry into the fate of the scouts—and he could be off. Then she raised her chin, and straightened her back, and this time, when her gaze collided with his, he saw a renewed fire that made him groan inwardly. “There’s something else you ought to know.”

He cocked his head. “Say on, then.”

“No. I won’t tell you, unless you promise to help me.”

“Help you how? I’ve already promised to help you, maiden. My troops are in utter jeopardy out there—and I have duties and responsibilities—”

“Is it not your duty then to hear what I say? I’ve done you a service by coming here—I’ve risked much—you’ve said it yourself. Now you know about a problem you wouldn’t have known otherwise.”

He slumped back in the chair, assessing her eager face, her shrewd eyes, and resisted the urge to wipe his brow. “I shall instruct my soldiers to search for him, maiden.”

“Then I’ll leave and not tell you what else I know.”

“What else you know about what? Maiden, these are troubling, difficult, dangerous times we live in. I don’t have time to play games with you.”

She folded her lips and turned her head away. Exasperation boiled through him. No wonder the sidhe were warned to avoid mortals. This up-and-down rush of feeling was dizzying, disorienting. He slapped his hand down on the desk. “What is it that you want?”

“I’ll go back and warn my people, so you can go to the Queen and take this news to her. But I want to come back. And when I come back, I want you to help me.”

Deny her, shouted the voice of what he knew to be common sense. But something made him hesitate, and think, for just a moment, of what up to now had been unthinkable. The mortal was most likely dead. The odds were great that by the time he’d returned here from the Court, the mortal’s body would’ve been found—either here, by one of the patrols, or in Shadow. It may even have been found already. How likely was it he would have to actually help her search? It was a reason to visit the Shadowlands—a reason to visit a smithy—possibly even to see a mortal smith at work. One quick glimpse, he thought, a turn of the glass or two was surely all that was required to fill the void with some image of the father he’d never known. And the girl—she might be filthy, but she had acted bravely, and while she was clearly motivated only by a desire to save her father, she had undeniably performed a great service. How otherwise might they have known that the power of the Caul had failed to keep a goblin out of Shadow? She deserved some reward.

So he leaned forward and spoke softly, quietly. He had to be careful. There was far more at stake than either of their fathers. “If you go back, just as you say, and warn your people, and promise to wait for me to come for you, I’ll help you search for your father, after I see the Queen. But you must be patient—remember that time does run differently and I must get leave from my commanding officer. But I give you my word that I will come myself, if you give me yours you won’t come back on your own and you tell me everything you know.”

“Agreed.” Her eyes filled with tears, but she spoke with a simple dignity befitting Alemandine herself.

She was not at all what he had been led to expect. He wondered suddenly what sort of human her father was, to have raised a daughter of such determined character, and who her mother was. She’d been lost in Faerie, the girl had said. Did that mean she was still here? But there was no time for idle speculation. “Well, then?”