Ch 14
"Did you say not to panic?" Kenzi inquired in a very small voice, "sorry to disappoint, wolfie, I am right in the middle of my five o'clock panic session. You said trust me and I do but you seem not to be handling the sitch very well. But for this Blood King dude we would be packing our parkas at best, and I don't even have a parka."
"Well, I kinda factored him into my situation assessment," Dyson commented with a smirk.
"Who is he anyway? Some unknown dudes keep springing up from thin air and take an essential part in my life," the girl asked.
"Someone I've known for a long time. Someone who carries considerable weight, even with the Ash, and someone who needs me here, in this city and in one piece," Dyson was studiously keeping it vague aware that Trick would ship him off to parts much less salubrious than the Far North if he disclosed his true identity to the nosy little human. "But even his influence has its limits, Kenz. I really messed up when I decided that my life is significantly less worth living without you in it and fessed up to being who I am to you. So, now I have to untangle the knot of my own doing and placate the Ash."
"Will leaving me behind untangle your knot?" the girl asked what she had to ask, her voice breaking as was her heart, "if you just renounce me, will it all go back to normal?"
Dyson shook his head vigorously, "That's not an option for more reasons than one. Let's forget you ever said that"
"Let's," Kenzi agreed beyond relieved. "So, what's the deal with the trials?" she carried on her inquest.
"They'll make me fight and then they'll try to screw with my head," the wolf tried to explain, "I've been fighting for the most of my life, it's sort of my thing, but the head business is freaking me out," he admitted, "mental things have never been my strongest suit."
"Hey, they won't make you solve maths problems or do chemistry tests," the girl said consolingly, "I don't know what his Ash-ism meant by the trial of the will, but for me will is knowing what you hold dearest and sticking to it no matter what. Like telling to yourself: I wanna live no matter what the others think of that."
Kenzi buried her head into his chest and wrapped her arms around him, "I want to ask you to promise that everything's gonna be just fine, and I know that you will promise and that you are not sure of it yourself. So don't promise, just stick to what you hold dearest."
"Who I hold dearest," the wolf gently corrected and clumsily hugged her back with his still restricted arms. His sharpened ears perked to pick up the sound of two sets of footfalls, one of them familiar in their lurching quality. The door creaked and two figures appeared in the room positively crowded by then. Kenzi immediately recognized the short bartender, while the other one – handsome slender dark-skinned man – was a stranger.
"Officer Hale Santiago," the man politely introduced himself casting a sidelong look at the minuscule girl clutching Dyson's jacket in a frightened grasp. "I am your colleague from across the city, the Ash summoned me to secure your human in the meanwhile."
The wolf couldn't help disliking the young man's choice of words regarding Kenzi and his fangs were immediately out accompanied by a warning growl. Sensing tension, Trick stepped in to provide a fuller interpretation, "Hale is a trustworthy noble man who will take care of Kenzi, Dyson. Until the trials are completed he won't let anybody touch the girl."
"I can't say that I understand what you are doing detective," Hale added, "but I give you my words as I have already given it to the way station keeper. I'll guard her."
Dyson slowly retracted the fangs and nodded, "Thank you, officer." He carefully unwrapped the child's fingers from his jacket and stooped to look her in the face tight with worry and fear. "Go with Hale, Kenzi. Be brave and wait for me. I promise I wanna live and no matter what the others think of it I'll stick to my dearest girl."
The wolf took Kenzi's hand and led her up to the dark-skinned policeman who put a hand on her shoulder and directed her out of the room.
"I need another promise, Trick," Dyson immediately pounced on the alone time with his oldest friend, "Whatever happens to me, you'll keep her safe."
"I am risking to lose my closest ally and friend because of her. But if you think she is worth it, I promise," Trick extended his hand to shake Dyson's handcuffed one. A shadow falling across the threshold interrupted them and two guards appeared to escort Dyson to the place of the trials.
At that time Kenzi was led through the corridors by the softly whistling officer. The girl couldn't identify the tune, but oddly enough it seemed to be soothing her raw nerves a bit. Finally coming to the conclusion that the promise of zipping it did not extend to non-Ash representatives of the fae, the girl spoke up. "Where are you taking me? And where is Dyson now?"
"He'll be taken to the glass factory in the outskirts – the usual venue for trials," Hale didn't see why he should withhold information from the girl who had managed to already find her way so deeply into the fae business. "As for you, I'll take you to the way station to wait for the outcome."
"What's the way station?" she asked tilting her curious face up to look at the man. She no longer felt afraid of him sensing a gentleness behind his unflappability.
"A place for all the fae to register at when they first come to town. And also the place to have a drink and to shoot some pool, from what I've heard. It's a tavern called the Dahl", Hale explained with a subtle tinge of regret.
"The Dahl? Hey, I know it, an awesome watering hole. I'm practically a regular there," she stated confidently.
"But you are a human and a minor at that?" the officer was genuinely surprised.
"We've got an understanding with Trick, I provide some local colour for the place, he turns a blind eye if I feel like grabbing a beer with Dyson." Kenzi was feeling particularly imaginative. "Nothing like a bit of exaggeration to break the ice," she said to herself.
"I actually have never seen you there," the girl piled on not letting her confused interlocutor to chew over what she was feeding him.
"It's a bit out of my way, I work in another part of the city," Hale answered almost apologetically.
"You are gravely missing out on all the fun. Come over once this particular piece of red tape is over. Dyson would like to clean you out at pool and the girls are something else," Kenzi ramped up her sales pitch.
"I am not sure detective Thornwood has taken a liking to me," Hale remarked wisely deciding on not sifting too carefully through the girl's stream of words.
"Oh, he will if I tell him how understanding you've been and how much you've helped me," Kenzi smiled sweetly, but Hale's guard was already up. "What are you talking about?
"Take me to this damned glass factory, take me to Dyson," the girl pleaded. "And you can have as many drinks on the house as Trick's generosity will extend to."
"No, I was instructed to get you to the Dahl and that's where we are going," Hale plastered on the most severe expression in his repertory and led her out onto the drive and towards his parked car. Kenzi hopped into the passenger seat and did up her belt with a disarming obedience only to go on the offensive again. "Listen, unless you have a gag somewhere in the glove compartment, I'll talk your ears off. I need to see him, I have to be there. You can't expect me to sit on my ass at the bar while he is fighting for us."
"That's exactly what I expect you to do," the man countered resolutely but his attitude mellowed when he saw huge crystalline tears rolling down her small distraught face and heard heart-rending sobs. "The glass factory is not a place for such a cute little girl. Besides, you can't do anything for Dyson," he added in a much milder tone.
"And what if…" Kenzi hiccoughed through her tears, "what if he doesn't make it? What if that's the last I can see him? Do you want it on your conscience?"
Hale didn't and strictly speaking the Ash didn't specify where he was supposed to guard the girl, the Dahl being Trick's suggestion. Sensing his hesitation, Kenzi went all out drawing inspiration form all dramatic actresses she had ever seen on screen.
"He is my friend, my only very best friend, officer Hale, do you know what friendship is all about? Can you understand how much it means to the both of us," she was looking at him with her marvelous luminous eyes wringing her tiny hands in her lap.
And Hale epically caved. He turned the steering wheel and took the car on the road in the opposite direction from the one previously intended. "The Ash or Trick or Dyson himself – someone is gonna skin me alive for this," he muttered darkly to himself flooring the accelerator.