Page 150 of The Knucker King

He curled around the trio, pressing them into his flank in an affectionate hug. “I will not be cross with you,” he promised. “I am only sorry that you felt that you could not tell me. What happened?”

She took a deep breath. “I made a bargain with the Nightly Neighbours, to stop the priest from being able to poison the healing waters again. I pulled power from Ashling so I could call them through the blizzard.”

The Wisp peeked out from behind her. “We did it for you, Lord.”

“You did that for me? And my Faeries?”

Avice nodded. “To keep you safe.”

There were no words to express his gratitude, so he squeezed them tighter in his coils. Avice leaned into him, warming his scales, as she rose and fell with the pattern of his steady breath. They stayed like that for several heartbeats, and Trewoofe had never felt more grateful for his little family.

His ears twitched as the dusk chorus of songbirds petered out and gave way to the steady chirp of nocturnal insects within the garden and woods beyond. Their tune was accompanied by the clicks of bats swooping overhead and the scream of a vixen calling for her kits.

Trewoofe had already lingered longer than he intended. The ruthless drum of his instincts pounded at him to continue his hunt and kill the Tall One who had hurt his soul-bound. He gently extracted himself from the embrace and turned his head in the direction of Knucker Hill. Avice stared up at him, the shine of her bright brown eyes in the dark was nearly enough to make him change his mind and stay.

“Little witch, I must—”

“Continue the hunt,” she finished for him. “I will be ready at tomorrow’s twilight.”

Trewoofe tickled her collar bones with the forks of his tongue. “Nothing will stop me from bringing you down into my Kingdom tomorrow.” He flicked his gaze from Bramble to Ashling. “All of you.”

55

Chapter 55

Avice

The following afternoon, Avice sat cross-legged under one of the apple trees in her garden. She was contentedly threading Trewoofe’s gift, making a handsome shell amulet for his horn. She held it up for Ashling to see – who was perched on the rim of her hat – and he let out an approving chime.

“Lovely!”

“What do you think, Bramble?” she asked.

Her familiar responded with a loud snore. He had fallen asleep in a bed of calendula and chamomile blooms while she had been crafting. Avice chuckled and shook her head. She was about to put the finishing touches to the piece when she felt a light weight on her thigh. She glanced down to find the Pillywiggin Princess there. Avice smiled tenderly as she played with the remaining shells piled in her lap. The little Good Neighbour still wore her purple cloak and held her ruined wings haphazardly behind her back.

“Good afternoon!” Avice greeted.

The Pillywiggin scrabbled around and showed her a particularly pretty pink shell. “Bargain,” she squawked.

“I can hear you.” Avice blinked in surprise. “How can I hear you?”

The power from the ground hummed its way up her spine as she sat. Her tattoo twitched and writhed, but it did not hurt. In the past, whenever she had pulled power from the Good Neighbours, it left her exhausted and aching.

Is it something to do with what I can feel from the earth?

The Princess stomped her foot and the shells clattered loudly.

“Bargain!”

“You can just have it,” Avice replied. “A gift.”

“No,” she insisted. “First bargain. It is important.”

“Alright, alright.”

Avice scanned her garden, searching for something she could ask the Princess to fetch for her. She finally landed on her belongings piled neatly under the eaves. She had, in her enthusiasm, packed and repacked her medical satchel, stuffed some clothes in a sack, and filled another bag with a variety of fruits from her garden.

“Fetch another mulberry for me and place it with the others.” She tipped her chin in the direction of her bags.