“I can offer ‘absurdité’ if you’d prefer me to move you in French,” she said.
This provoked him into a patriotic scowl. Her took a step closer to her. She tossed back a loose strand of hair and stared him down (or, more accurately, up, since he was some four inches taller). The air between them crackled with a magic considerably more potent than that which was exploding pebbles on the road beyond.
“Er, excuse me.” Algernon’s thin, shrill voice crept into their taut silence.
They both snapped their heads around to glare at him, and he squeaked, leaping back. “Don’t hurt me! I only thought you should know…”
“What?” Gabriel demanded.
“Er, the people have left.”
Glancing around, Elodie saw the tourists disappearing into various buildings. A raindrop struck her face with a sudden, tiny burst of cold, followed immediately by another. The storm cloud was going to break open at any moment.
“I’m finding shelter,” she declared haughtily. Snatching up her ER kit, she began to stride along the road. Some fifty yards away stood a large brown building, lumpy with old, weathered rock, capped neatly by a slate roof from which bulged two smoke-wreathed chimneys. A white picket fence encompassed its small, exuberant garden. A wooden sign hanging above its door depicted a sheep holding a beer mug in its mouth, which suggested the premises were an inn or perhaps a brewery. Quite frankly, Elodie felt excited about either of thosepossibilities. She quickened her pace. Gabriel followed, Algernon close behind.
None of them noticed a trio of elderly women half-concealed behind a hedge, watching them closely.
“So the servants of the old Queen come, tempest-tossed and bringing shadows with them,” one remarked in a crackling voice.
“What?” said the other two, staring at her. “Why are you being weird, sister?”
She bristled. “I’m talking about those scientists. I didn’t expect the Home Office would actually send someone to manage the disaster.”
“It’s damned annoying,” another added. “I’ve been making a fortune from these tourists.”
“I do like the girl’s knickers though,” said the third. General murmurs of agreement followed this.
“So when shall we three meet again, sisters? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?”
“Er, what’s wrong with in the house, Betty?”
“Hey, is that a cow flying over by Lew Jones’s cottage?”
“Well, damn. Looks like someone’s getting steak for dinner tonight.”
—
The building provedto be an inn named the Queen Mab. Its lobby glowed with luxuriant, red-gold light from a peat-burning hearth fire that promised warmth, coziness, and slow death from carbon monoxide poisoning. The geographers could not enjoy it, however, for the proprietor stood in the doorway, barring their entry. “You’re joking!” he said with a laugh. “You want three bedrooms?”
“Two, if that’s all you have available,” Elodie said, “since I’m sure the gentlemen will be happy to share a—” She stopped, noticing Gabriel’s scowl. “Three bedrooms, please.”
“I don’t even have one that I can offer you, lady. I’m full up. So’s the Taliesin’s Harp, the Pendefig Dyfed, and the Gwalchmai fab Gwyar’s Golden Tongue.”
“A village this small has four inns?” Elodie said with surprise.
In response, the innkeeper took a brochure from a table beside the door and handed it to her. Elodie stared rather bemusedly at its image of sheep dancing on a rainbow above a plum orchard.
Dôlylleuad!!
For a Magical Vacation!
You’ll See Stars!
Disclaimer:neither the Dôlylleuad village council nor associated service providers shall be liable for any injuries, up to and including concussion that results in seeing stars, due to being struck by thaumaturgic forces and/or airborne cattle.
“Oh dear,” Elodie murmured. Obviouslythiswas what Motthers had meant by “another problem.”
“We’ve got tourists coming out of our ears, what with the Magical Extravaganza.” He gestured with a flourish when he said this, like some kind of used carriage salesman. But his expression was implacable. “I can’t help you at all.”
