Hullvardr cocked his head to one side.
The Holly King continued. “There is a mortal in London who requires the services of a good and honest clerk. He looked after me for more than a decade. Arguably, he saved my life. I left him rather suddenly, and since then he has remained bereft of aid.”
“Is this how you would have me repay you for teaching me your letters?” Hullvardr asked.
“In part,” said the Holly King. “I should think I’d be somewhat in your debt afterward, depending on how long you remain with him. And should you agree to clerk for him, he would pay you in mortal coin besides.”
Hullvardr had little use for mortal coin. If it would repay the Holly King for his lessons, however, and grant him a boon besides, it seemed a worthy quest to undertake. “I’d be honoured.”
The Holly King’s smiles came but rarely. The one Hullvardr glimpsed after accepting his offer glimmered bright as sunlight glinting off a rushing stream.
The lessons of letters changed afterward. A whole new set of symbols emerged, representing the numbering of things. Tomes ruled with lines—ledgers, the Holly King called them—filled withnumbers as Hullvardr took instruction on how to move them from one column to another, and when they might change, and when they must remain the same, and why.
“It’s mostly copying,” the Holly King explained. “Taking down figures and scribing out multiples of leases and wills and contracts and what-have-you. The rest of it is valeting, which is easy enough, though it may bruise your dignity.”
Hullvardr assured the Holly King he didn’t consider such work beneath him. The Holly King appeared relieved. He told Hullvardr how the mortal preferred matters; most of it was what Hullvardr already did for himself, and he hardly minded doing it for another.
After this came lessons in how to blend into mortal society. A great deal had changed in the mortal realm since Hullvardr last visited. More intricate rituals of greeting and conversation had emerged. And a great many alterations in costume had occurred. Hullvardr had some experience with this, having seen how the Holly King garbed himself and having the honour of watching the Oak King divest him of his garb at Mabon. He had never yet worn it on his own frame, however, until one morning he arrived in Blackthorn Briar for his tutoring and found the Holly King awaiting him with an armful of vestments.
“I took the liberty of a quick dip into Rag Fair,” the Holly King explained, hanging the garments on willing blackthorn vines that grew out of the briar wall for his purpose. “Butcher is of a like height to yourself, I believe, and what fits him may fit you. Would you care to try them?”
Hullvardr needed no further urging to strip out of his shirt and breeches.
The Holly King’s eyes went rather wide. He cleared his throat and turned his head to take down a shirt rather like the one Hullvardr had just thrown off.
With the Holly King’s assistance, Hullvardr slipped into his new wardrobe. The sheer number of layers felt a little overmuch, but fairly comfortable overall, and from what he could glimpse of himself in the hand-mirror the Holly King held up for him, he thought he cut a rather dashing figure. The Holly King likewise declared it suited him. Yet he did not seem quite satisfied.
“Butcher told me that the Hidden Folk have ways of disguising their more… distinctive characteristics,” the Holly King began.
“Glamour, you mean,” Hullvardr replied with a smile.
“Indeed.” The Holly King hesitated as if he feared giving offence. “May I see it?”
Hullvardr, eager to show off his power to the Holly King, called upon the strength within him to spin a gossamer guise around himself. His horns and tail vanished from view. His legs seemed to straighten; from his trouser-cuffs, stockings and boots appeared instead of hooves. He abandoned his dappled blue coat for something like the Holly King’s own skin, though less freckled pale.
“Will this do?” Hullvardr asked, taking secret pleasure in the Holly King’s evident wide-eyed astonishment.
“Quite well, I think,” the Holly King replied, still staring.
Hullvardr beamed.
“You will require a pseudonym,” said the Holly King. At Hullvardr’s confused glance, he added, “A name other than your true one. One which might pass without notice amongst mortals. ‘Hull’ will do well as a surname. Have you any idea as to what given name you might prefer?”
“Sven,” Hullvardr replied. Many mortals he’d delighted had borne that name.
The Holly King appeared likewise pleased. “Very well, then—Mr Sven Hull.”
Hullvardr bowed in the mortal fashion and followed it up with a hand-clasp, to the Holly King’s continued approval.
“There is one point more, however,” said the Holly King.
“Name it,” Hullvardr replied.
Still, the Holly King hesitated. “While I know it’s possible for you to feed without doing any harm to mortals…”
“Preferable, even,” Hullvardr added.
The Holly King nodded and went on. “What becomes of you if perchance you find no willing mortals to feed upon?”
