Page 52 of Ryld's Shadows
Kai turned to Hank with a belated thought. “Youcanride? Apologies, I should’ve asked.”
“I can. It was Dad’s mule, mostly, but I’ll manage.” Hank eyed the draft horse with poorly hidden concern. “Though he’s a big fella, isn’t he?”
“As suits your warrior heritage. Remember that all draft horses were battle steeds once.”
“Not making me feel better, Kai.”
The guide was another surly youngster—where did she keep finding them?—and the ride pleasant, through one dappled grove after another. For most of the morning they stayed on a fairly well used path that was wide enough to be a road. After about an hour they turned off onto a smaller, less worn trail that was a little rougher riding but still not difficult. Sometime around noon Kai was thinking they had to be nearing the edge of Elvenhome when their guide said, “Once we’re through Pixieland it’s only a short way to the highway. That marks the west boundary of Elvenhome. Kent City and the orphanage are about two miles travel from there.”
“You won’t be coming with us?”
The young aelfe rolled his eyes. “I’mnot going out into human territory. That’s all on you.”
Lovely. Kai was on the verge of asking what the youngling meant by Pixieland when he spotted the hovel. At first, he assumed it was some sort of equipment shed of cobbled-together bits of scrap plywood. But he had the uncomfortable feeling eyes watched them from within, through the badly joined pieces.
A few yards farther on, though, there was another, this one of mixed material—old tires, cement blocks, more wood scraps. And then another…and another…
“Hank.” Kai reined his horse over to walk beside the draft horse. “What do you think we’re seeing?”
“Nothing good,” Hank murmured and nodded to a curtain doorway of rotted material. “It’s pixies. Look.”
There was a woman standing just inside the doorway. Her small frame was sparse on flesh even by pixie standards. She watched them with wary eyes, one hand on her hip. Two small faces peered out from behind her, awe and envy warring with caution on their faces.
Kai spotted a wagon with a round hoop top. A pixie man sat on the wood steps leading up to the door, his expression too was wary, and more hostile. A pixie woman leaned one hand on the wagon. She wore a pair of shorts and a gauzy scarf over her shoulders that did nothing to hide her breasts. Her wings were up, spread out as if on display, and she smiled invitingly at them.
More children, dogs and goats ran around beside the dirt road, and more shacks and wagons spread out.
Kai turned his horse’s head to go speak with one of the women, but Hank shot a hand out and caught his bridle.
“Don’t. Kai…let them be. We need to keep moving.”
“But this is dreadful,” Kai whispered at him. “The children are filthy. They’re living in shacks.”
Hank threw a meaningful glance at their guide. Yes, yes, of course.Hewasn’t at all shocked and kept his gaze straight ahead as they rode through.What’s happening here?
They kept going. Kai kept looking, trying to get an idea of the size of the…encampment? Village? It was hard to say. The trees obscured a lot. He had a sense he was only seeing the surface of something larger. At the first trill, he was uncertain if it was a bird, but when it was repeated, spreading back into the woods around them, the fine hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Their guide dropped a hand to the short sword on his saddle and picked up the pace.
While Kai couldn’t decipher the trills, he knew coded communication when he heard it. He imagined the pixies telling each other disparaging things about the wealthy elves riding through. Or perhaps it was more sinister. In his experience, pixies didn’t naturally tend toward violence, but they certainlycouldin the right circumstances. Pixie bands did have warriors, after all.
Feelings of imminent ambush aside, they crossed through the pixies’ territory and emerged soon after into sunlight at the edge of the woods. Their guide pointed them in the right direction and vanished back into the trees without a word.
The shoulder of the road provided enough room for them to ride side-by-side, which they did in silence for several yards.
Finally, Hank cleared his throat. “You all right? You look a little gray.”
“Distressed. I am distressed.” Kai waved a hand back in the direction ofPixielandas their guide had so sneeringly called it. “What in all gods of earth was that?”
Hank gave him a sidelong look. “You’ve never seen a slum before?”
“Yes, of course. But Idid not expect one here!” Kai took a breath and lowered his voice. “Within the demesne of Elvenhome. Right under Jessamine’s nose. I don’t understand it.”
“Guess you’d have to ask her. Probably happened because of a lot of different things. It’s not usually just one thing that builds a place like that.”
“True enough, my brave friend, but one needn’t…” Kai shivered, fighting back the visceral distress. “One needn’tleavethings that way.”
Hank seemed of the verge of saying something but stopped.
“I hope you’ve gotten to know me well enough to speak your mind, Hank. What are you thinking?”
