completely different.
Through a break in the lacy foliage June caught a glimpse of movement in
the glade. Oblivious to the damage to her dress, she pressed herself flat
to the earth and slowly wormed her way forward through the overhanging
ferns.
The moon was high and its silvery light poured into the clearing. Duke
Aelric stood in the middle of the open space and he was not alone. There
was another cloaked figure beside him, nearly as tall as he was. Then
Aelric moved and June saw it was Lisella.
She was near as pale as the moonlight itself and her hair cascaded down
her back dark as the forest shadows. Like Aelric she was wearing a cloak
with the hood thrown back. To a normal mortal she would have been
heartbreakingly beautiful, but June dug her fingers into the soil and
pressed herself flatter at the sight.
Neither of the elves spared a glance for their surroundings. They were
deep in conversation. The liquid tones of elf speech did not carry well,
but June could see clearly enough.
Lisella was speaking quickly, her eyes focused on Duke Aelric’s face.
Aelric heard her out without changing expression and then said something
with a half-smile that made her draw back and bite out a retort.
From her hiding place June watched intently. Normally elves were impassive
or half-mocking when they spoke to each other. She had never seen them
talk together like this.
Lisella faced Aelric square on and said something. Aelric half-nodded, as
if agreeing with her, and then responded calmly. Lisella seemed to have
trouble controlling her temper. She said something short and sharp.
Aelric made a chopping motion with his hand and turned away, as if to
leave. Lisella’s voice caught and held him. He turned back to her. Without
moving closer he spoke firmly to her. She looked at him closely and then
shrugged.
Lisella cocked her head and said something with a mocking little smile.
Aelric nodded.
She arched an eyebrow slightly but he said nothing and stood firm. At last
she nodded and spoke. He bowed formally and she responded with a
half-curtsey. Then she turned and swept out of the clearing. Aelric stood
watching her for a moment and then took the moonlit path back toward
headquarters.
June remained flat on her belly under the ferns for a long time before she
rose cautiously and slipped back to the fortress.
Wiz got an early start the next morning and by the time Danny arrived in
the lab he was deep in his latest project.
“You know your buddy, the elf dude?” the young programmer said as soon as
he stepped into the room.
“It’s elf duke,” Wiz said without looking up from the code he was
debugging.
“Whatever. Anyway you know Lisella, the one you said was trying to kill
you?”
Wiz looked up cautiously. “Yeah?”
“Did you know Aelric’s meeting her here?”
“What? How do you know that?”
“June saw them out in the forest last night. She says it looked like they
were arguing about something.”
“So June’s still following Aelric.”
“You ought to be glad someone is,” Danny snapped. “Didn’t you hear what I
said? He’s meeting with the one who’s trying to kill you!”
“She’s not trying to kill me anymore.”
“She sure wasn’t trying to do you any good when she showed up at the City
of Night.”
Wiz laid down the scroll he was holding. “Look, I don’t know why Aelric’s
meeting Lisella. But right now we can’t afford to alienate him. So tell
June to lay off, will you?”
Danny stared at him, hard. “Man, you’re goddamn blind! You just don’t want
to see, do you?” With that he turned on his heel and stomped out of the
lab.
* * *
In the next hour Wiz got maybe two lines of code written. Finally he gave
it up and went to find Moira.
Moira was in the storeroom, overseeing the stocking of a load of supplies
which had been brought over the Wizard’s Way that morning. While the
servants bustled about, Wiz took her off in a corner and told her June’s
tale.
“A human spying on elves?” she said when Wiz had finished. “It seems