Page 60 of Ryld's Shadows
When they reached the stable yard, Kai went into what Hank thought of asboss mode, clipping out orders at the stable hands, snapping at them when they stood and stared. Poor things didn’t often have to deal with exacting bundles of drow mage often, that was obvious.
The end result was that they were mounted and off into the woods in under ten minutes, Kai back on the sleek, black mare, and Hank on his lumbering but willing draft horse.
“We don’t need a guide?” Hank asked as they passed under the tree line.
“I remember the way.” Kai gave him a meaningful look as they rode side by side. “It seemed obvious to me that pixie-aelfe relations aren’t the best here. Our chances of having anyone speak to us are increased, I’d venture, without some arrogant young aelfe buck along.”
“Good point. Just don’t get us lost.”
Kai huffed in annoyance. “My sense of direction is—Oh. You seem to be teasing me.”
Hank shot him a quick grin. “I’d say we know each other well enough by now, don’t you think? You don’t even knock when you come into our room.”
“Yes. Ah. I do apologize again.” The tips of Kai’s ears darkened in embarrassment. “I realized belatedly that I might be interrupting…something.”
In some ways, Kai and Ryld were more similar than they realized, especially in their ability to hyper-focus and lose track of the rest of the world. Though Hank had to chuckle at thatsomething.
They rode mostly in silence, both of them on the lookout for anything out of place in this mostly idyllic wood. Good as his word, Kai got them to that first pixie hut where he stopped his horse.
“We should leave the horses,” Kai suggested softly.
“Is that a good idea?”
Kai gave an uncomfortable shrug. “Perhaps not entirely. But horses are both a symbol of wealth and a tool for intimidation. We need to walk in.”
“All right. Backtrack a bit?”
They left the horses in a little glade off the road and walked back to the edge of Pixieland. An oppressive sense of dread hung over the whole venture, and Hank hoped mostly that they didn’t end up having to hurt anyone if things went wrong.
They passed that first hut, then the second without incident. As they reached the larger gathering of huts and caravans, though, more pixie faces peeked out of doors. More threadbare curtains twitched. The trilling calls in the trees started up as they had the first time.
Then Kai did an odd thing. He strode to the center of the encampment, right in the middle of the road, and sat down.
Hank felt awkward standing there alone. The pixies were about the same size as Ryld, on average. Maybe a little smaller. It made him feel like he was looming even though he wasn’t near anyone. He debated joining Kai, then decided it was probably best one of them stayed on their feet and took a couple steps to the right where he could lean on the side of a shack and keep an eye on things. He didn’t have to wait long.
A pixie man came striding out into the road and stopped in front of Kai. His iridescent wings were standing upright and stiff, like his posture. He wore his long red hair pulled back from his forehead, the rest flowing loose around his shoulders. Hank had seen plenty of pixies before but hadn’t spent any significant time with them up close. They all had a certain sharpness to their features, high, sculpted cheekbones and large eyes. A beautiful people, really. Even when visibly angry.
“What’s your business here, elf?” the pixie man in front of Kai demanded.
Kai turned his hands so they were palm up, a gesture that indicated both a lack of threat and a desire to meet. “I am not from here. From Elvenhome.” He nodded toward Hank. “My friend and I come from AURA, on the other side of the continent. We would like to speak to anyone who has grievance. Some of the things we have seen on our visit have left us more than disturbed.”
The man snorted. “What does a drow know of our troubles? The aelfe come for the women and gambling. The drow come for sport. The goblins come to take our children. They all go back to their places, and so should you.Pixielandis no place for your kind in the light of day.”
“I have no interest in buying or taking sex, as the case may be.” Kai remained calm, his voice soft. “No interest in gambling or insport, whatever dreadful thing that means. I see you and your people living too close. Too many in this small territory. I see you living desperately, struggling to feed your children enough. I have been to the orphanage and have seen far too many pixie children kept by stringent human rules. I have watched as they sent a pixie mother away in tears. What goes on here? Why have these things happened?”
There was a murmur and rustle in a rough circle around them as some of the pixies who had been watching from their homes came closer, watching and listening to the spectacle.
“The orphanage can go burn in a pit of tar and waste.” One woman’s voice rose above the murmurs.
“Liars and thieves,” another added to a general round of agreement.
“They promise food and a better life, but once you sign their infernal papers you never hear from the child again.”
“Tell me about these papers.” Kai raised his voice just enough to be heard by the crowd. “What do they have you sign? Are all the children given willingly to them?”
Everyone started talking at the same time until a sharp whistle cut through the chatter. A man who could have been the brother or maybe father of the first one who had approached Kai, strode up and the crowd scattered, retreating into their hovels and disappearing down rough carved streets.
“You need to leave. Now,” the newcomer said.
