Chapter 9
For a pregnant moment, all was silent, the wind and snow swirled around both Alexandria and the Warden. Then a hunting hound howled, and Alexandria cast her gaze upwards, up the mountainside.
An umbral animal, vaguely reminiscent of a wolf, crouched, staring straight down. Its claws gouged into the solid stone as it crept down towards them, belly pressed against the crags.
"I suspect," Alexandria murmured just loud enough that the Warden and her little pixie companion could hear, "That they have already found us."
The pixie tugged at her hair, hiding within, sparing just a moment to inform Alexandria in a very frightened voice, "It's her!"
Her. Said with emphasis. She doubted it was the dog, even though she supposed it could be, possibly. More likely this was the hound master behind the hounds, the hunter behind the dogs.
The hound itself seemed to notice that Alexandria had noticed it and froze, claws sinking deeper into stone. The stone itself sprouted grey lichen which curled around the claws as if it was some kind of sticky winter version of sundew.
Her own hubris directed her next statement, a hubris which she recognized and disregarded in the same thought, "Warden, lead these thralls to safety, I will speak with our hunter."
The Warden's eyes shifted, following her gaze upwards towards the still and silent hound, crouching on the cliffside, watching them with dark eyes.
He swallowed, hand grasping for a weapon that was not by his side. He glanced at her, then and nodded, seeming to steel himself, "I will owe you for this."
The words seemed to hurt him, he almost looked like he would like to retract his statement as soon as the words left his lips. Second thoughts, perhaps. Alexandria regarded the whole interaction curiously from the corner of her eye. Based on both this statement in conjunction with her earlier interactions it was clear that oaths, promises, and perhaps debts seemed to be somewhat more culturally significant then she had first suspected in this new world.
She allowed a half-nod, sparing a quick glance away, to look over the thralls, "take one of the guns."
The Warden nodded, placed a hand on one of the thrall's shoulders and tried to guide her away.
"My, my, so quick to depart with the prize?" a low, almost unpleasantly sibilant voice, carried softly to them.
Alexandria spun, gazing further up the path, a tall pale woman stood, half concealed by the swirling winds. Her garb was a simple blue dress, which seemed carved from exquisitely crafted ice. Her hair was the color of blood and seemed to shimmer softly, drifting in a different gentle breeze than the gale currently buffeting both the Warden and Alexandria. Her eyes were a vibrant green, inhuman and slitted down the middle like a great cat.
She smiled and her teeth were both too white and too sharp at the same time.
"Leanansidhe," The Warden breathed out the name in a half-horrified whisper.
The newly named Leanansidhe cocked her head, revealing a stereotypically pointed ear. A pale and pointed ear that wouldn't be out of place on a fantasy elf. If the Gaelic name, slit eyes, and appearance didn't give her away as inhuman, the ear certainly did. Still, it turned out it was a name that Alexandria had heard before.
"The Muse?" Alexandria questioned, slowly floating forward to be between her and the thralls. She could dimly hear the shift of snow, the sound of claws on rock as the hounds circled. They treated the sheer rock walls as if they were nothing, claws easily finding purchase as if they were mountain goats.
The Leanansidhe smiled, a cruel nasty smile, that whispered of twisted thoughts, "On occasion."
"Big, big, meanie," Alexandria's little pixie whispered. The Leanansidhe seemed to hear that even at their current distance, and her eyes darted to the side of Alexandria's head, to the hanging hair which the pixie was hiding behind. Still, the Leanansidhe kept her smile. Alexandria wished that the Warden knew Protectorate hand signals, or that she had a sub-vocal radio to communicate with her ally of convenience.
The way the Leanansidhe held herself spoke of confidence, and the way her eyes flitted over the broken Red Court's body without a pause, revealed that she at least knew of some of Alexandria's capabilities and chose to confront anyways.
Either she was overconfident or knew something that Alexandria did not. A hidden trump card. Alexandria was further discomfited by the similarities between this Leanansidhe and the Siberian. They moved with the same predatory grace. The same kind of almost animalistic hunger peered out from their eyes.
"Your… interaction with Jenny Greenteeth did not go unnoticed, Library of Alexandria," the Leanansidhe lilted, moving closer across the piled snow. She left no marks behind, even though her feet clearly touched the snow's surface.
Alexandria shivered slightly, not from the cold, but from the way her name was said. The intonation, the emphasis, it was as if she had said it herself, the same tone, of whimsical longing, and hidden will. It was her name.
Yes, Alexandria realized at that moment that she had probably been correct. Names did hold some kind of power here. Something almost intangible.
"The Red Court claimed they ventured here with Winter's leave," Alexandria said authoritatively, trying to regain some of her balance. The Leanansidhe of legend was sidhe, and most likely Unseelie at least according to the poet Yeats. Unseelie were traditionally the dark elves or of winter's get, the coldest and darkest time of the year.
The Leanansidhe smiled beatifically, a short immaculate breath out blew a strand of wavy red hair from her face. Even that slight fleeting imperfection was enough to enhance her beauty, "They are simple creatures, taking my Queen's inaction as evidence of permission."
Her eyes shimmered, almost appearing a pale yellow, "There impudence has been rectified."
There was a lot to unload there. An unspoken acknowledgment that she, the Leanansidhe, did, in fact, belong to Winter, and that Winter was, in fact, a country, which also had a monarch. More explicit, the rest of the vampires were dead. Alexandria spared a glance at the looming hounds, closer than before. Or they suffered a fate worse than death, consumed by beasts.
"I see," Alexandria nodded shallowly, reorienting her gaze back towards Leanansidhe, "and if I desired safe passage through this land, Winter, for these companions?"
"My, my," The Leanansidhe smirked, pink tongue licking red lips, "It would behoove you to make a deal, mayhaps."
"Why should I deal with you and not your Queen?" Alexandria asked, her mind already working through what kind of power this creature in front of her seemed to have, "Or I could force you to let us pass."
"A deal would be kinder to you," The Leanansidhe smiled then, as cold and nasty as before, "Or you might find secrets you hold dear revealed, child of Eden's Garden."
The warden beside Alexandria, who was already breathing shallowly, in the beginning stages of a panic attack, choked, turning to look at her with wide eyes.