Prompt: Slave to Time. Whether present or mentioned, real or fictional, slip a clock into today's entry.
Part of my Magical Creatures AU, set sometime after Stubborn Creatures
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
"Now!"
I dove away, closing my eyes to avoid harming his chance of escape. The next moment found myself alone but for the clock in the shadows.
Good. Why and how a troll had come to London I had no idea, but the young pixie stood no chance. Better for him to send help than risk himself.
Though that still left me with a human-eating predator and a maze of alleys. The troll's thick stench wafted around the corner to make me hurry the opposite direction, scooping up the clock as I went. Whoever Newt found would use the device to locate my position. I simply needed to survive long enough for someone to find me.
A task that became infinitely harder when I had to protect someone else. Footsteps sounded beyond the next fork, then one of Holmes' contacts crept to the corner, probably investigating the noise.
"Run!"
He started but recognized me the next moment. One glance behind me sent him sprinting the other direction, hopefully to get far away from here. I lingered only long enough to be sure the troll followed me.
Though not long enough to let it spy me. Trolls hunted primarily by scent, and close enough to see was too close to survive. Only a magical could defeat a troll. I raced around three corners before a strange wall caught my attention. My amulet warned of a collection of magic nearby.
Then the wall ahead rippled to send nearly a dozen half-transparent sylphs rushing over my head. Their absence briefly revealed an archway, and I reflexively lunged through the opening. Sylphs would never protect something or someone that would do another harm. If the small guardians had agreed to hide this archway, then whatever lay behind might be willing to help me.
"Doctor!"
Five nisse lunged to their feet on my entrance, but the one I recognized from the Pole needed only a moment's eye contact to catch the word I had shoved to the front of my mind.
"Betina, get the children to the hold. Robin, tell your grandfather there is a troll outside and to stay in his room. The sylphs have already attacked. Have you a weapon, human?"
I displayed my revolver. "No magic, though, and my bullets won't penetrate its hide."
"Use these." A packet arced through the space between us, opening on contact to reveal ten cartridges that made my amulet pulse in warning. These would utterly destroy an unwary human.
They might help defeat a troll, though. A nod served as thanks as I exchanged my bullets for his, and he led the way out the door and back into the alley.
Flickering, glinting sylphs harassed the creature clearly driven mad by hunger and strange surroundings. Dodging the large hands that tried to swat them from the air, bursts of magic pummeled the creature from all sides and easily confined it to a large intersection. The winged guardians could eliminate the danger, given enough time.
We did not have time, however. Already, the sound of battle had drawn attention, and unknowledgeable humans would only get hurt. I took advantage of my height to lodge one of Leon's bullets in the troll's shoulder. The creature barely flinched despite the green blood that streamed from the wound.
"Go around!"
Leon charged straight on, his own bursts of magic protecting my path as I ducked around the edge of the alley. An opening put another bullet in its hip, but my next shot produced an explosion—thankfully just in front of my barrel rather than in it—that sent me back several feet. Whatever magic he had imbued in these bullets, my very human revolver could not fire two so closely together. I would have to be more careful.
Three sylphs coordinated an attack on the troll's eyes while two more did something to make it trip. My weapon cooled to let me fire at its back, but Leon used the creature's struggling to aim something at its head. Running footsteps behind me heralded an approaching witness as Leon's attack hit.
Several things happened at once. The creature flinched, then roared a challenge. One of the sylphs did not quite manage to evade a flailing hand. Another left the archway to check their fallen comrade. I tripped but fired from the ground, this time hitting the creature's ankle.
And the footsteps became a familiar pattern.
"Watson!"
Only the sylph's presence prevented me from voicing one of the more creative oaths I had learned at the docks. Holmes should not be here. Relatively knowledgeable or not, he knew nothing of fighting magicals and would only get himself hurt. I needed a way to keep him out of the fight.
Such as the sylphs denying him access. My amulet registered a flare just before a transparent, shimmering wall appeared not five feet in front of my friend. He barely skidded to a stop before he ran into the barrier, terror and worry alternating as he glanced between me and the troll. A distracted thought noted that I had never described the original owner of the selkie's bridge.
"Watson!"
Not that I would try now. With Holmes safely away from the danger, I focused on putting Leon's bullets to good use. A second hole in its shoulder impaired the limb, and I avoided its thrashing to throw a convenient piece of scrap into its path. It tripped into Leon's next attack, but only when nisse and sylph attacked simultaneously did the creature let out a low keen. It abruptly sank to the cobblestones, where another burst finally turned it to stone[A2] .
"Stubborn bugger." Leon crept closer, one hand out as if ready to catch a bouncing ball. Only when stone started disintegrating did he relax his stance. "Unhurt?"
"I am fine," I promised, subtly shifting my weight off my bad leg. The scar did not appreciate impacting the cobblestones. "Thank you for the help."
He waved the thanks aside. "Do ye want me ta take care o' him?"
A gesture referenced where shock had frozen Holmes in place, but I quickly shook my head.
"No. He's knowledgeable." Amusement at Holmes' worry did not quite reach my expression as I pulled the pixie's clock from my pocket. "Someone else is bound to show up eventually, though. Someone magical. Let them know all is well?"
He willingly claimed the tracker. "Cert'nly. Didje catch tha pixie's name?"
"Only that he lives near here. He was young, probably underage, though I don't know exactly when that is for pixies. If someone can find him, he should probably be checked by a doctor. He looked close to panic by the time I gave him a chance to leave without the troll following."
"I'll find 'im," he nodded. "You get on home. Betcha have some stories ta tell. Yon detective looks mighty worrit."
He did, though stunned probably defined that expression just as well. Describing the many creatures of the magical realm did nothing to prepare for the sight—and smell—of a large, insane troll in a London alley. I doubted either of us would sleep for a while.
No matter. He was due for another lesson, anyway, and a few pleasantries returned Leon's remaining bullets and thanked the sylphs. Only when the others had left did I finally focus on where Holmes stared at me. Worry, fear, shock, and more than a little concern warred to make me adjust my initial estimate.
More than not sleeping for a while, I doubted I would find myself alone anytime soon. Not after Johnson had sent him to where I battled a troll. I sighed and let him fall into step with me, hoping he at least saved the discussion for the flat.
Of all the possible results of Holmes discovering the magical, I still preferred endless questions over callous rejection.
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