Ironbound by Mel Sterling

Author:Mel Sterling
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780997139198
Publisher: Mel Sterling

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Dragger slouched half in, half out of the bright green hedge when Hunter arrived at Sparks's house in the gloaming, mounted on Shagfoal, whom he'd glamoured to look like one of the motorcycles the humans rode. The drizzle and drip had wet Dragger from toothy muzzle to sodden tail, and the kelpie couldn't have looked more pleased unless he'd been in the river and come up with a maiden in his teeth.

"She is within?" Hunter asked, knowing the answer.

Dragger nodded and tore one of the leaves into tiny bits. The sharp greenness of the scent reached Hunter's nostrils and reminded him of the Queen's ivy, though this scent was moister, less harsh. Everything came back to the Queen. Once he conquered her, he could put her out of his mind.

"I've come to take Sparks back to our home for tonight. You may go now. Report to me once she is safe inside the mound and abed."

"Abed." Dragger snorted. "I've seen her bed in there. It's—"

"Let me remind you, you're here to guard her and report to me, not to examine where she sleeps."

"And let me remind you who found her in the first place. She was mine, the way the birch girl was mine. Both were stolen from me. I think I deserve a little consideration. Where would you be without a smith for your tamed and harnessed Half-made—"

Hunter wrapped his fist in Dragger's forelock before he even knew he was going to lay hands on the kelpie. Dragger bared his teeth in pure hatred, but he had no choice but to follow where Hunter's hand took him: straight to the ground, where Hunter put a foot on his neck and a hand on his belt knife.

Behind them, the door to Sparks's smithy slid open. She stood in the darkened doorway, slim and slight in leggings, boots and a long tunic, and utterly furious, hissing her words. The wisp sputtered and fizzed beside her and she pushed it gently back inside out of view.

"Are you both so stupid that you'll fight in my yard where anyone might see? All we need is a neon sign blazing away, magical creatures here, come and see the show!" She pushed the door wider. "And get that horse inside out of the rain."

Hunter let Dragger get to his feet. "Remind me why you're my second in command. Remind me why I don't put Red Tod there. Because right now I'm thinking that would be wiser of me."

Dragger's eyes dropped, but he said nothing.

"Prove your worth. Do as you're bidden."

The kelpie melted through the hedge toward the street side of the yard and vanished.

"You told me yesterday I could not bring Shagfoal inside your home."

"Not in the middle of the night, with him terrified and kicking the place down. But it's raining, and he's injured, and I want to look at that shoulder. There's something wrong with him. You've been using magic on that wound, and I don't think it's working well enough."

Amused,

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