Chapter 44 #2
Bramble whined and leant into her touch. Avice pulled him in for a hug, wrapping her arms around his broad, muscular shoulders. Her familiar sighed and thumped his tail against the ground, tossing up pollen. She sneezed, and that is when she saw it.
A flash of bone-white amongst the green.
The midwife straightened, her gaze narrowed in the twilight.
Bramble cocked his head at her. What is it?
She rubbed her sore eyes, trying to ignore the dull throb of her head.
Whatever it was, if it even was something, was gone.
Avice waved her hand dismissively. “My head aches. I must just be seeing things. It was a nosey Good Neighbour at most.”
Bramble’s gaze snapped to the bushes. Would you like me to check?
“I would like to go home,” Avice said. “I am exhausted and have much to prepare for tomorrow.”
She rifled through her satchel as they set off through the barley field and into the woods, pulling out the pork pie. She took a big bite and tossed some to Bramble, who gulped it down with a quick snap.
After eating her half, Avice recounted the events of the cottage and her amazement at the rapid healing of Emma.
She then shared the gossip from Matilda, including how the rectory was destroyed, omitting the part about her bargain with the Nightly Neighbours – she did not have the energy to be scolded by her familiar – but still empathising that she believed it meant that Trewoofe and the Underneath would be safe for the time being.
“I wish I could tell him…” Avice said wistfully as they walked home.
She relished the warm evening air. The twilight chorus of woodland birds and crickets serenaded her as they went, and she brushed her fingers fondly over her crystal pendant.
She froze.
The pendant.
Trewoofe’s gift.
He made it for her specifically so she could contact him while he was in the Underneath.
Bramble tossed a glance over his shoulder. Are you alright?
Avice caught up with him, her pendant between her palms. “More than alright.” Excitement bubbled in her chest. “I think I can still speak to him in the Underneath, it was why he gave it to me.”
He would be happy to hear from you, he said, tail swishing as they walked.
Avice nodded, unsure of how it all worked, and simply lifted it to her lips and spoke.
“My King, can you hear me?” she asked, determined to speak to him, an image of her handsome Knucker in her mind.
She took several more strides, a lump caught in her throat as no answer came.
“Little witch, I cannot tell you how happy I am to hear your voice.”
She grinned as his voice boomed up from the pendant. “It works!”
A heartbeat, and he replied, “Of course it works. You must remember that I called for your help.”
She giggled. “Oh, yes.” It had felt a lifetime ago when she found him knocking on death’s door at the base of Knucker Hill. “How is Mary?”
Another pause. “She is well. The Bucca Queen accepted her, and she will grow safely under her care.”
Avice looked up at the tapestry of the canopy as she walked. Cuts of purple twilight dappled through. She smiled at the fluffy red squirrels nattering amongst the blossoms.
“I am so happy to hear that.”
“How is the mother?” Trewoofe asked.
She told him: of the treatment, the magic, how she was uncertain Emma would survive – omitting the kick to the head as she did not want him fussing at her through the crystal – but then she awoke, brimming her life.
She was most excited to tell him the next part.
“There will be no more poison, you and your Faeries are safe.”
“Really?”
“Really!”
“How do you know that?”
“The rectory, the place where they stored the foul oil the iron was mixed with, it was destroyed in the storm, and the substance with it,” she explained.
There was another pause. “It was the iron that poisoned my Kingdom not the oil.”
Avice huffed. “I am aware. But think about it. Iron would just sink, or if it was molten, it would cool and turn solid again once it touched the water. They would have suspended it in the oil somehow to make it flow. If you destroy the substance it is mixed with, it will not flow from the rivers into your well.”
She felt his purr reverberate through the crystal, and it sent a delightful tingle up her spine. “My little witch is clever.”
“Thank you.” Avice glowed from the praise and continued down the path with a spring in her step. “How are Hope and Boarden?”
“I have not had an opportunity to enquire about them. Would you like me to?” he asked.
“It would be wonderful if you could. I am visiting their mothers tomorrow, and it would help them to hear news of their children,” she replied.
Another pause, and Avice worried she may have asked too much of him.
“You have already figured out I have a challenging time saying no to you,” he grumbled.
“I have to use what powers are under my command,” she teased, and then softened. “I am looking forward to seeing you soon, Lord.”
“I feel the same. I miss you, very much,” Trewoofe sighed. “And I have a confession.”
She tightened her grip on her pendant. “What is it?”
“I have not yet slain the Tall One who harmed you,” he admitted. “He has fled Tall-led, and I am tracking him now.”
“It has only been a day,” Avice comforted. “You already saved Mary, and that is remarkable. In fact, you offered life for three children of Lamorna. Lord, you are extraordinary.”
His purr deepened, and the crystal shook in her grip. “I want to show you my home. Once he is dead, will you come with me? If you wish it, you could even stay.”
Before she knew it, Avice stepped through the ward into her garden. “I would love nothing more.”
“You make me a very happy Knucker, Avice.”
Butterflies fluttered in her belly. “You make me happy too.” She let out a dreamy sigh. “Lord, I have just arrived home. I will see you not tomorrow, but the day after.”
“Make sure you rest,” he said. “Sweet dreams. I will miss having you in my arms tonight.”
“Good night, my King.”
She pressed her pendant to her chest, wearing a dreamy smile, as she walked up her garden path with her familiar by her side, ready to turn in for the night.