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Everyone remembers their first decapitation. I certainly remembered mine. How could I forget? My whole life changed the day I met my mentor, Alasdair, a bounty hunter with a talent for fire that was almost as hot as he was.
Of course I noticed him. I was divorced and had a pulse. He was fair game, at least in my mind, where he lived rent-free with those broad shoulders and a Scottish accent that made me swoon.
I kept my thoughts to myself though. I’d only been a bounty hunter a few weeks and while I didn’t know all the rules, I figured best to tread carefully lest I make things awkward with my trainer.
In the meantime, it never hurt to do a little window shopping, and he was a whole lot of yum, when he wasn’t busting my ass for daydreaming.
“Are you with us, Nora?” Alasdair asked, nudging the headless body with his boot.
“Sure am. Just, uh, studying the body,” I replied, getting my head back in the game.
Good save, Nora.
Who didn’t like to start their day with a freshly murdered corpse in the woods? Normal people. I’d been one, up until a few weeks ago. The last few weeks of training with my mentor had put paid to normal.
I liked to think I had come a long way since I first saw Alasdair lop off a troll’s head in front of me. This time, I hadn’t vomited once, yet, which was definite progress. Though as my stomach churned, I realized I should probably lay off the Greek yogurt for breakfast in this profession. Some things looked far better going down than coming back up. These were the sorts of practical advice they ought to give on the first day of training as a bounty hunter. Alasdair didn’t worry about such trivial things.
I’d seen a few corpses in the past couple of weeks; this one was an oddball though.
The body before me was headless, and definitely not a troll. What’s more, we hadn’t done it, and as far as I knew, we were the only bounty hunters in town.
Our mystery corpse was humanoid in shape but from the intricate brown and gold armor, I had the sneaking suspicion it was Sidhe. Summer Court, to be precise. The delicate metalwork reminded me of Naerine’s, though the armor before me was even more ornate than hers had been.
Of course, I hadn’t been paying close attention to her armor on account of the fact she’d been trying to kill me at the time. What had become of Naerine? She had retreated into the Otherworld, staunching the blood flow from a gunshot wound in her stomach with one hand and clinging to life with what had appeared to be sheer willpower.
This body was slightly bulkier, a man perhaps, but that was difficult to tell through the armor. I didn’t have a large sample size with which to compare the body. I’d seen five Summer Court Sidhe in my life. Six now, counting this one.
The head would have been a useful indicator but whoever had done this seemed to have taken it with them. I was forced to draw what conclusions I could whilst attempting to hold on to my breakfast.
Alasdair was clearly awaiting my observations, and I didn’t want to make an ass of myself. He would wait until I shared my thoughts, and then inevitably correct me. It could be a little irritating, particularly because I still didn’t have a clue what I was meant to be looking for. Bounty hunters took heads; we didn’t reattach them.
“I still don’t know why you dragged me all the way out here to show me a corpse,” I said, stalling while I tried to come up with an answer. “If you’ve already collected the bounty, why don’t you just burn the rest of it like you did the troll?”
“I didn’t collect this bounty,” Alasdair replied, resting his hands on his hips. “When the police told me hikers had found the body, I figured you might have done it.”
My hand went to my chest. “Me? I have only collected one bounty. The Red Cap. I’ve not gone rogue on you. Check with the Old One if you don’t believe me.”
“There wouldn’t have been a bounty to claim.” Alasdair stroked his beard. “As the Sidhe haven’t transgressed any of our laws, it should have been permitted to move freely through our world. This one was not. I thought perhaps it had come for you.”
I shook my head. “Nope, never seen it before in my life. And I’m not doing any moonlighting, particularly where the Summer Sidhe are involved. Things were bad enough when Naerine left. I’m not going to give her any reason to come after me again.”
“Well, that is both reassuring and troubling at the same time,” Alasdair replied, scratching the back of his head.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because everything would make a lot more sense if you had done this in self-defense. The fact that you have no idea means that someone else not only killed a Summer Sidhe in our stomping grounds, but they were brazen enough to leave the body here.”
“Which means they want it to be found,” I replied as I stooped over and examined the body.
I took great care not to touch anything. If Alasdair had thought I did this, it was safe to say others might draw the same conclusion. The last thing I needed was to have the body covered in my fingerprints.
“Can you feel it?” Alasdair asked.
I kicked myself. I’d been so busy processing the grisly sight before me, I hadn’t yet tried to analyze any arcane traces that might remain. Magic tended to leave its own imprint where it collided with the mortal world.
I closed my eyes so that I could focus better. Ever since the fight with the Red Cap, my powers had been changing, or more particularly, something within me was changing. I was learning to use what I’d never realized was there.
My gifts had outgrown the “fridge hands” I’d always believed was the extent of my talent, and I was still coming to grips with what that meant for me.
No sooner had I reached out with my mind than a resounding coldness surged through me. It was like brain freeze but my entire being was filled with it. The sensation reminded me of my own power, but it lacked the familiarity and oneness I felt when I drew on mine. It certainly wasn’t my power, but it was a good likeness if that was what the killer was trying for.
I opened my eyes. The body’s pale skin wasn’t simply from lack of a tan. I pulled a set of latex gloves out of my pocket, slipped them on, and flipped over the Sidhe’s hand. There was a bluish-black tinge to the complexion on his fingers. It was as if someone had used Winter’s magic to expose him to freezing temperatures, or perhaps freeze him entirely.
It couldn’t have been a natural occurrence. The Sidhe’s own magic should have prevented him suffering any adverse effects of inclement weather. The Sidhe were masters of elemental magic, the same magic that made our world function.
There was no way a Summer Sidhe of any skill was going to freeze to death. Particularly not here in southeast Queensland. We didn’t get the name, The Sunshine State, for nothing.
“He froze to death,” I said. “Magic was involved. Plenty of it. I can still feel the lingering trace. Not subtle at all. It’s familiar, but different to mine. I don’t know how to explain it.”
“And you don’t know anything about it?” Alasdair asked.
“Nothing at all,” I replied.
“You’re certain?”
His persistent repetition of the question was wearing on me. I knew that he was testing me, and the only reason he had to doubt me was that he knew what many didn’t. I was half-human, half-Sidhe, and a scion of the Winter Court no less.
I had kept from him the exact nature of my heritage. I didn’t think I would win any friends in this deadly new world by broadcasting that my father was Oberon, the King of Winter himself.
I had put together enough clues from everyone’s reaction to me to know to keep that to myself. But Alasdair had learned that I was part Sidhe, and it seemed he was trying to work out for himself just what that meant.
I knew from my own research and from discussions with my mother that the Sidhe couldn’t lie, which put them at the other end of the spectrum from humans for whom lying came all too easily.
It certainly explained the natural aversion I’d always felt to the practice of lying. I’d always preferred the truth, though speaking it had gotten me in trouble. At least it had until I’d had the good sense to discover what tact was.
My mother had warned me that in dealing with the Sidhe one must always understand that, while they cannot break their spoken bond or utter a lie, they will happily obey the letter of their word whilst completely ignoring the spirit of it. Therein lay the danger, and the reason so many normal people got ensnared by them. Humans weren’t nearly as considerate with what came out of their mouths.
I could almost see the cogs turning in Alasdair’s mind as he tried to determine whether or not I was lying to him. I figured that was why he’d brought me here with no explanation, and it was why he continued asking, even though I’d given him an answer.
I stood up and peeled off my gloves. “I thought we were past this, Alasdair. I thought that after the Red Cap, you knew where my loyalties lay.”
His expression was like a slab of granite, hard and unreadable. “I trust you, Nora Byrne.”
Hearing my name on his lips sent a shiver down my spine that was totally at odds with the frustration I was feeling. “It certainly doesn’t seem like it.”
“I just wanted to hear you say it,” he replied, meeting my stare. “In time, you will learn that an abundance of caution is what keeps you alive in our profession.”
I broke eye contact and turned back to the body, changing the topic before the moment got any more awkward between us. “Do we know who he was? Or why anyone might want to kill him?”
Alasdair shook his head. “Without his head, it’s no easy task to identify the body. And I don’t want to risk rummaging through what remains of his possessions lest the Sidhe consider us to have defiled it anymore. The Sidhe don’t take kindly to those who would desecrate the bodies of their kin.”
From my experience with the Sidhe, they didn’t take kindly to very much at all.
They. I still thought of the Sidhe like I wasn’t one of them. I might be a royal scion, but I wasn’t going to let that define me. The better part of me was human; nothing was going to change that.
Alasdair was right though. They would be upset enough with whoever had cut off their comrade’s head. The last thing we wanted to do was be caught rummaging through its personal effects.
“The Sidhe tend to keep to their own realm,” Alasdair said, “but of late, we have certainly witnessed a surge in their activity here. And not just the Sidhe but also the other creatures that call Faerie home.”
“Why do I feel like you’re about to blame me for this?” I asked.
I didn’t miss the corners of his mouth perking up into a smile behind his coppery beard.
“I think one accusation per day is more than enough. While we don’t know why it’s occurring, it’s important to note that it is, so that we can search for the underlying cause. Perhaps it is you, a half-sidhe living among mortals like a normal. Perhaps they are drawn to you.”
He paused.
“Or...?” I prompted.
“They’re up to something else entirely and we have absolutely no idea why they’re here. That bothers me even more.”
Alasdair had history with the Sidhe. That much was clear to me, and had been since the day we’d met. I’d put it down to the Red Cap killing his trainees but the longer I worked beside him, the more I was starting to think there was something else behind it. Something I hadn’t yet managed to pry out of him. I figured now wasn’t the time for it, so I made a mental note to circle back to it later. Perhaps when he was feeling a little more talkative.
“Here I was thinking you were concerned about my well-being,” I replied, trying to affect my best damsel-in-distress voice.
Alasdair placed his hands on his hips as he surveyed the scene. “I just can’t win with you, woman. When it’s about you, you’re upset that I’ve jumped to a foregone conclusion. When it isn’t about you, you’re worried that you’ve been left out.”
I nodded, smiling a little. “I’m a woman. That’s my right.”
“A right pain in the ass,” he said. “Besides, I watched you kill the Red Cap and cut off his head. If they’re coming for you, I fear for their well-being.”
I beamed with pride. Compliments from my mentor were hard won, but his approval in that moment shone through in every word. Inspiring fear in the Sidhe was an ideal he could get behind.
We hadn’t talked a great deal about the Red Cap. I suspected Alasdair’s memories of the Winter hunter were still too raw. After all, he had lost three trainees to the deadly creature. I imagined that seeing the Red Cap meet its fate was a conflicting moment for him. Part of him would have been delighted that his students had been avenged, and part of him, that Scottish stubborn streak that ran down his spine, would be disappointed he hadn’t landed the killing blow himself.
No doubt seeing my powers manifest in earnest had also forced him to confront the reality of what I was, or at least, what I was born as. Part of me hailed from Winter, and that was inevitably causing him some consternation.
Over the past two weeks, the Old One and Alasdair had been seeing to my training, but something gave me the impression that they were dragging their feet. I felt like we ought to be working night and day, lest Naerine Oaksidhe return and try and make good on her threats. I needed to be able to protect myself, and I was still hugely unsure of myself, or the extent of my powers. In spite of that, neither the Old One nor Alasdair demonstrated any urgency, content to gradually initiate me into the Camp and my new profession.
Alasdair turned his attention to the body. “I suspect from his armor that this Sidhe was a Glade Guardian.”
“Glade Guardian?”
“Yes, it’s a title. They’re nobles of the Summer Court, normally tasked with protecting one of the Summer Queen’s more important domains. The real question is how he came to be here, and without a retinue. Seldom do these nobles go anywhere unprotected.”
“Could the killer have summoned the Glade Guardian here?” I asked.
The Otherworld journal had spoken volumes about the importance of knowing a Sidhe’s true name and the power that gave one to summon them. Of course, summoning any creature from the Otherworld was a dangerous prospect. Once summoned, should you be unable to contain the creature to your will, it would likely kill you for the affront.
“It’s possible,” Alasdair replied, scratching at the dirt with his boot. “Though, to do that, they would have needed to know the Guardian’s name and been confident enough to summon a Sidhe of such power. Clearly, they succeeded, which makes them all the more dangerous.”
I looked down at the body of the dead Glade Guardian. “Are we certain whoever did this is our enemy?”
After everything the Summer Court had tried to do to me, I wasn’t entirely convinced that whoever did this needed to be stopped.
“Well, they have broken the law, for one,” Alasdair said, “and the fallout from this will inevitably affect us. If they are willing to contain and kill one of the Summer Queen’s chosen vassals, it is safe to say they probably didn’t do it for our benefit.”
“What makes you so sure?” I asked.
“Well, for one, I’m pretty sure they’re trying to frame you for the murder. Which means...” Alasdair motioned with his hand for me to finish his thought.
“The Summer Court is going to come looking for revenge,” I whispered.
More particularly, they were going to come looking for me.