"Huh?"
Moira laid down her slice of bread. "Love, not everyone is as oblivious to what goes on around them as you are. And more importantly, Duke Aelric knows as well."
"He said something?"
"He is an elf. He knows."
"Great!" Wiz sighed. "All we need to do is insult Aelric."
"Has he told you he is insulted?"
"No, but you know how touchy he is."
Moira reached for the jam. "Just so. If he were insulted, you would know it. I take it he has said nothing?" She cocked her head. "No? Then it does not concern him and should not concern you."
Wiz grunted. "Anyway I’m going to send June back to the Capital."
"Danny will not like that."
"Then Danny can go back too. Dammit, she’s not supposed to be here in the first place!"
Moira looked amused. "Perhaps not. But do you seriously think you can keep her and Danny apart?"
Wiz considered that. "With a moat full of crocodiles, maybe."
"I would bet on June over the crocodiles. No, love, I am not sure even death could separate those two."
"So I send them both back."
"Wiz, I do not mean to tell you how to mind your business," his wife said in a tone indicating she was about to do exactly that, "but I think that would be unwise for two reasons."
Wiz started to say something, but Moira held up her hand to stop him.
"First, what can Danny accomplish back at the Capital? He needs to be with you and Jerry to be effective, does he not?"
"Yeah, but…"
"And second, do you think anyone at the Capital can control him?"
Wiz thought about that. "Right. He doesn’t listen to anyone except Jerry and me and half the time he doesn’t listen to us." He sighed. "Okay, he stays and that means June stays. But for Pete’s sake will you use whatever influence you have with her to get her to lay off Aelric?"
"I have already spoken to her and I will do so again. But I fear she is even more resistant to direction than Danny. Besides, in this case she has a very strong motive for following Aelric."
"Danny says it’s because she doesn’t trust him."
"I am sure that is true. But I think there is more to it. She spies on him because she fears him."
"And that’s why she doesn’t trust him."
Moira shook her head. "Again, I think that is true in part. But mostly I think she follows him because it is a way to rise above her fear. She somewhat controls the thing she fears, you see."
"Not exactly, no."
"Nevertheless it is so."
"Sheesh! I dunno. This whole thing used to be so simple. There were good guys and bad guys and it was easy to tell the difference. Now…" He shrugged.
Moira reached out and took his hand. "You have managed well enough so far."
"Yeah, but you’d think this saving the world business would get easier with practice. It just seems to get harder and more complicated every time."
"Let us hope this is the final time, love."
"Yeah," Wiz said fervently and squeezed her hand.
"Besides," Moira went on brightly. "There is a positive side to this, you know. You said we needed to do something about June. June is doing something about herself. It is helping to heal her."
"That’s something, I guess."
They ate in silence for a while.
"Moira?" Wiz said at last.
"Yes, love?"
"Do you trust Duke Aelric?"
The redheaded witch considered. "Not trust, exactly. I think that as he says, his goals and ours run together on this thing. Besides, Bal-Simba says he is worthy in this and I trust Bal-Simba."
Wiz hesitated. "You really don’t like him, do you? Aelric, I mean."
Moira paused. "Nooo," she said at last. "I do not like him."
"You seemed to like him well enough when we met him in the Wild Wood."
"He saved our lives in the Wild Wood."
"But you never said anything that indicated you don’t like him."
Moira sighed and bit into her bread and jam. "Liking or not liking an elf is like liking or not-liking a mountain," she said around the mouthful of food. "An elf or a mountain simply is and you must accept that."
"Well, I like him," Wiz said firmly. "And I trust him too."
He turned back to his own breakfast. Just maybe not as much as I used to, he thought as he reached for the butter.
Even for humans, the place was strange looking, Glandurg thought as he crouched on the hill looking down on his enemy’s new lair. It was only one story, even if it did run out in all directions. The stone of the walls looked solid enough, but the place had windows as big as doors! Not a moat or a crenelation to be seen.
Not even a log palisade. He snorted silently. The place was defenseless.
There was a tiny noise in the bushes and Ragnar slithered back into view. Glandurg and the others crowded around him.
"Dwarf-proof!" he said disgustedly. "Whole bloody place is spelled against us."
Glandurg wanted to beat his fist in the dirt in frustration. But it would not do to lose control in front of his followers. "Then we will wait and watch," he said between gritted teeth. "The wizard cannot stay within forever."
Twenty: MEETING BY MOONLIGHT
Unlike the Wizard’s Keep, the small staff at the Mousehole did not work around the clock. By nine P.M. the hallways were deserted and by midnight the place was as silent as a tomb.
It was well past midnight when a shadow slipped into the lobby and paused at the main door. A remarkably well-dressed shadow.
Aelric’s cloak was blue at the shoulders fading to purple and finally to black at the hem. Here and there upon it gems sparkled like stars in fading twilight. As he turned June saw his tunic was dove gray and his hose pure white. He turned fully and she caught her breath and shrank back into the shadow. But his face remained as serene as always and he gave no hint that he knew she was there.
Then liquidly, noiselessly, he opened the door and slipped out into the night. June waited for a moment and then followed, not nearly so graceful but just as soundlessly.
Aelric did not sneak, but nonetheless he moved quickly and gracefully in an odd twisting fashion that was hard for a human eye to follow.