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She was lying down—and whatever she was lying on felt reassuringly solid. Soft, comfortable—but solid.

And there was a scent in the air, a familiar smell.

Roses!

When she opened her eyes, she saw...she was lying on what seemed to be a couch in some sort of...rose garden? A bower?

Certainly, two of the most beautiful dark red blooms she had ever seen had twined themselves in such a way that their damasked petals were nearly kissing her cheeks as she lay there, and it was their heady aroma that she was most aware of.

Helena sat up. She stared at the bewitching flowers, their scent taking her back to mellow afternoons spent in the garden outside her sitting room at Ishtarways. Occasionally her stepfather found the time to visit for a an hour or two, and she remembered once weaving a crown from the daisies and placing it on his head, laughing in delight at how silly he looked and he laughing with her...

She swallowed, bringing herself back to the present. Torren was not here, and she was very far from Ishtar. There had been a bird, cawing. She'd fallen, and someone had reached out from the mist and drawn her to him. He'd rescued her, and Ness hadn't. Ness promised she'd be watching, but she wasn't.

And then he'd told her to sleep, and even though Fiona herself had instructed Helena in the art of protecting her mind, she had obeyed completely, with no reservation. She felt her stomach lurch. By the Serpent, who was that man? Where was she now?

Helena raised her eyes and looked around.

She was, in fact, laying on a couch...or a reasonable facsimile. "Mission style" might have been the best description, with a wooden frame and overstuffed brown leather cushions on the seat and the back. The frame itself had swirling designs of stars and constellations and planetary bodies, and seemed to have been...grown...into its shape rather than fashioned. The cushions seemed roughly tanned and stitched, probably hand-made from deer hide. Very, very dark deer hide, unless there was an even worse attempt at dyeing it.

Still, it was completely out of place here. Helena was lying in the middle of a bower, with roses growing all around. It seemed a natural glade, about thirty yards in diameter, and thick forest surrounded the glade on all sides. The trees themselves were huge, their branches reaching and twining together far over her head, but she could see that the sky was dark and shadowy, an eternal twilight. A black squirrel ran up a branch nearby and scolded her from its high position.

About five minutes later, Helena could see movement past the treeline, pale shapes that were silent...unless sound was dampened in this place. Two strange, elongated dogs with white fur and black markings and socks trotted into the bower and sat just inside its border. They were followed by a man riding a milk-white mare with a golden star on her forehead; it seemed the same man that had pulled her up earlier, but subtly different. He wore mail of scaled silver leaves, for one thing, and his skin was a little darker and his teeth white and even. But his ears were still a little pointed and his eyes were still dark and emotionless. He had a long-hilted curved sword at one hip, like a katana, and a shorter sword at the other. A knife was sheathed in his boot, and he wore a horn on a golden chain around his neck. There was an oriental-style bow and a lute strapped on the mare, near the saddle.

[casting: Sting]

He guided the horse into the bower slowly, and stopped a good distance away from Helena. Definitely out of arms' reach, and deliberately so. But he did dismount, after a moment.

"You recovered faster than expected," he said in a laughing tenor voice, "I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, not after seeing you fight."

Helena didn't smile back. She felt far from laughing herself. "Where is the man I was fighting? Why did you rescue me? Who are you? Is this Tir?"

The man apparently had enough mirth for the both of them. "Such an inquisitive Seelie," he said, "and unappreciative, too. Very well. I...am the Hunter, and the Hunted. On your side, you would call me Thomas. And no...you are in the Dark Forest, on the Other Side. You are Seelie, right? I saw how you changed your clothing and shifted your place to come back with that man."

Helena cocked her head in puzzlement. Changed her clothing? Shifted her place? "I'm not Seelie. But I am most definitely appreciative. Thank you."

"And the man? Is that who you mean, not the guard you stabbed in the neck? I let him fall, of course. I wasn't hunting him." Thomas made a face. "Too old and ugly."

That did elicit a fleeting smile from her. "Does that mean you're hunting me, Thomas?" she asked smoothly, her eyes not leaving his face.

"Of course I hunted you! Why not? You intrigued me. And I have caught you! Granted, this is not the way I normally go about things, but since the Dreaming City is gone... and we are here... time is short. The end is near."

"What end?"

"My end, certainly. It is the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh year. It is... inevitable. Even here in the dark of the moon, the Dreaming City has gone. I am... trapped. Your end? Possibly. That decision would be out of my hands, between you and the Fairy Queen."

Thomas looked Helena over, a look that had not the slightest trace of innocence. "For centuries, maidens have come to the Dark Forest to pick the magical roses therein. They brought gifts, or they paid my price. But now.... now, I am the Hunted. My time is short. One more chance for lust and pleasure before I am found. I made that decision, when the Dreaming City was fading around us and you were to fall to your death. I did not give you a rose. I gave you precious life, instead. Come, let us enjoy the pleasure of our bodies in the time that remains to me."

Helena considered things briefly, her eyes not leaving Thomas's face. A night of sweet pleasure seemed an easy payment for her life, and he was nothing if not intriguing. The corner of her mouth turned up wryly. "Will you take your armor off first?"

"It would be unpleasant for both of us if I didn't," he said, and his grin was a shadow of the predatory thing she had seen in Tir. He untied his sword belt, let the swords fall to the ground, then turned his head to say, "We will need a warning." With that, the two dogs stood and padded off into the trees.

The mare just stood there and snorted, once.

He pulled the scaled shirt off and over his head, revealing a thin body with taut muscles, and paused to look at Helena with the shirt still around his arms; the silvery leaf-scales chimed softly.

Helena watched speculatively as he undressed, gazing at his chest and shoulders with the experienced eye of one used to judging opponents.

[OOC: I can answer this one. He's a knight, not a gladiator; put him on a horse, in armor, with a sword, you've got a problem. /In flagrante delecto/, probably not. Tho he has done some screwy stuff while in Tir...]

She smiled to herself.

"You are strong enough to take the Barrier, when the Dreaming City reappears," he said. "That, I have no doubt. You will be safe; it is me that they will want. I wish things had turned out differently, but I made that decision when I saw you in Tir, about to be sacrificed. I had to have you." He still hesitated, perhaps waiting for her to reciprocate. "Why were they taking you there?"

"The too old and ugly man, Duke Helgram, wanted to destroy the Pattern in the Dreaming City and he wanted me to bear witness to the event as a slight against my parents," Helena replied as she methodically undid the laces of her shirt. "I know that my blood can damage the Pattern there, and because I wish to walk it someday and become immortal, I wanted him not to succeed."

"Should I have let him drop?" he asked, then paused. "You are Seelie, then..."

She lowered her hands and her shirt fell open, revealing the inner curve of a milky white breast. "Where are we, Thomas? You said we are in the Dark Forest on the Other Side, but the other side of what?"

"...Seelie, but you don't know the story," he continued. Standing there, he began to wrestle with a boot, one hand against his horse. He sounded as if reciting a nursery rhyme to a child. "Oberon, King of the Seelie, the Binder, laid a Seal upon this land in the distant past. You are on the Other Side. The Land of Sithi. The Land of Dark Fey." One boot fell with a thump, and he began working on the other. "Every seven years, the Fairy Queen sacrifices one of us in the hopes that he will relent and open the Barrier between us. It is weaker, you know. I found the way through. That is how you saw me in the Dreaming City." The other boot fell, and he began working at his trousers.

"Are you saying that he's not listening? The wind and the earth whisper to me that I am next in the Hunt. The Man of the Oak, my protector, is dead. If this is all for nothing, I will weep as I am sacrificed. They'll do more than pull off my wings and leave me to the predation of foxes, you know."

Helena stopped in the process of pulling off her own boots to look up at him. "Oberon is dead, and has been this past century. If you can slip through the Barrier, why not leave? Surely that's better than staying to be sacrificed."

She finished and set the boots neatly beside the couch.

Thomas's face fell. "Dead? A century? Then surely, the Fairy Queen will rejoice." Nude, completely unashamed, he sat down next to her on the couch. "Where would I go, then? I have never tried, but at the dark of the moon where the Dreaming City appeared in the depths of the lake. Would I appear in the air?" He flapped his arms experimentally. "In any case, I think that it's too late... the Unseelie Court is undoubtedly already on the hunt. They would catch us before we could cross..." He looked pensive a moment, then turned and reached to touch Helena's face. "I do not know your name."

"Helena. You accept your fate with great aplomb." She kissed his palm lightly. "Do you care so little for your own life, especially knowing now that your sacrifice will mean nothing?"

Her hand reached forward to touch his bare chest, then slid down across his hip to rest on his thigh. "I could help you, I think," she continued, looking into his dark eyes. "A life for a life. Then my debt to you would be paid."

His eyes were wide, close to hers, and his hand had moved to tease at her stomach with the light touch of his fingertips. His lips were close to her ear when he said, softly, "It just might be possible, if you are willing. There is one thing that could be done. They will find us... you are not of this place, and truly, neither am I. It would be dangerous..." His lips brushed her ear, and he added, "Even so, we still have a little time left to us."

She twitched at his light touch and pleasant desire spread warmly through her belly. Even so, and with great effort, Helena pulled her hand away from Thomas and sat back. She gave him a wistful smile. "No. I will pay my debt life-for-a-life then, and not with my body. There is something arcane I need to explore in the remaining time, and I'd also like to be armed, if you can provide it."

Thomas hesitated, clearly torn between responses, but finally sighed and nodded. "So be it," he said. "It will be simple...they will come for me. The Fairy Queen will come herself—she would not miss the opportunity. They will come to take me away. When they do, you must claim me for yourself." His head tilted slightly. "There are...rules...that apply, then. She must fight on your level. They will not ensorcell you. They will not poison you. Titania will cajole, reason, and lie to you. They may attack you directly. They will try and make it so that you will let me go, send me with them.You have to resist. Do you see?" He pursed his lips, almost a pout. "I am under no such restrictions. They will try to use me against you. But hear me now; I swear to you, upon my life, that whatever they do to me, whatever you see, I will not harm you."

"I believe you. You have had ample opportunity already if harming me was what you wished to..." Helena paused and her eyes strayed to his mouth, slipped downward along his torso, and stopped just below his belly."You are a terrible distraction unclothed," she told him, her wry smile returning. "Please get dressed."

Helena turned away herself and began lacing up her shirt. "How do I win?"

"You have to hold on, and don't let go." He smiled as he moved back to the mare, and pulled on his clothes with slow, teasing movements.

She watched him from the corner of her eye as she donned her boots.

"You have to convince them that you want me more than they want me... and I am the one they have chosen, the sacrifice they make only once every seven years. You have to resist their attempts until they give up."

He glanced at her, and the smile disappeared. "At least, they are forced to do one thing at a time. They would not all rush us at once. It is the only thing I can think of. It would be far easier, Helena, to simply lay with me and then leave me to my death."

"And ungracious of me," Helena returned, sitting back on the couch. "A life for a life—that is my debt and I always pay my debts. Thomas, why did Oberon erect the Barrier?"

"Before my time," he said, shrugging on his shirt and then the scale mail. "It depends on whom you ask." He tossed the shorter sword Helena's way, then strapped his knife and longer sword behind the saddle of his horse. He went unarmed.

Helena caught the scabbard and stood to belt the sword around her waist.

"Maybe it's true what the Fairy Queen says, that Oberon was her husband, that he left her and sealed us away for spite. Or perhaps it is the Sithi themselves, full of pride and hate, ready to burst forth and destroy the universe." He smiles, just slightly. "You have not seen them. Behind the masks of civility and beauty lie feral hunger and hatred and corruption. The Unseelie are not a pleasant people. This is an evil place."

She drew forth the sword and went through the opening moves of Wind in the Pines to test the balance and heft of the blade. "How did you come here?" she asked as she gracefully cut diagonally from outside high to inside low, the position of her stance perfectly controlled, down to her fingertips on the hilt and even the expression on her face. "You said you were not from this place. Where are you from?"

"The Other Side. I am a changeling. The Man of the Oak took me in and raised me, here. That is how I knew I would be Hunted next. He died recently, and I lost my biggest supporter in the Unseelie Court." He added another admiring glance of Helena to his growing collection. "If we survive, I will no doubt ask many questions about the Seelie, but let's start with you. Where do you come from? Where did you learn to fight?"

Helena stopped and sheathed the sword. "I'm from House Ishtar, in Chaos. My mother is...Seelie, if I understand your use of the term correctly. Oberon was her father. There was a war, King Oberon died, and Amber—the Seelie Court—became occupied by Chaos forces. My mother was sent as a prisoner to Chaos to be the wife of Lord Ishtar and to live in Ishtarways, where she raised me.

"That Duke, too old and ugly, is from Chaos."

She put her hands on her hips. "Ishtar is a banner house of Henrake, and it was in House Hendrake that I learned to fight." Helena paused then, her expression turning thoughtful. She lowered her arms and continued in a quieter tone, "I've been playing in the Sword Dances for the last seven years, so I am quite familiar with a number of deadly weapons, but back there on the stairs was the first time I've used my training in earnest to kill someone. I...thought I would feel elated. Or maybe remorse. Instead...I feel nothing."

"You will feel," Thomas said sagely, "when the time is right. Now is not yet the time."

Helena regarded Thomas, perplexed at his answer.

He scratched his head, said, "So there is another place. This Chaos. And they want to destroy the Pattern. This is what the Sithi want." He frowned. "I don't want to see that happen...of course, if I live long enough to have an opinion about it."

"There are a great many places between the Seelie Court and Chaos," Helena replied, grinning as she walked over and looked up at him. The base of her throat was shadowy in the ever-present twilight, the collarbone notched enticingly as if by the thumb of a master craftsman. She crossed her arms. "I know why Helgram wants to destroy the Pattern, so why do the Sithi?" she asked. "Did they adopt this attitude before or after Oberon erected the Barrier? And why do you care whether it happens or not, O Changeling?"

"I don't want to see the Fairy Queen released from this place, this prison that the Binder placed here. The Sithi, either. As for the Pattern..." He smiled. "Call it a hunch."

She cocked her head and regarded him briefly, then turned her gaze past him to look at the forest. "I wish to walk the perimeter here. I want to...get a feel for this place. Will your dogs try to stop me?"

He shook his head. "When the Hunters arrive, that is when the dogs will bay," he said. "Then the safest place will be here."

Helena nodded. She turned away, though keeping Thomas in her peripheral vision, and began walking the perimeter of the small glade.

She held her hands in front of her as she walked, palms facing each other. After a moment her fingers started moving and twitching, as if she was playing an invisible instrument...or maybe manipulating the strings of an invisible puppet.

She brought up her Tail of the Serpent in the way taught to her by Torren and examined the shadow around her, looking particularly for the barrier that Oberon had created.

It was a vast land, of which the Forest was but a part, as Arden was of Amber—but, like Arden, it stretched on and on and on...and then she realised it mergered with other Shadows, an infinity of Shadows without either Chaos or Order—unless it was a dark Order, a twisted Chaos...

And closer, in another way, there was a city of fantastic beauty—under a night-darkened landscape she could see tall and beautiful opalescent towers, like Rebma, like Tir...but in a way that the truest Shadows reflected Amber. A great and beautiful city, heart-wrenching in its beauty.

Thomas heard Helena catch her breath. She paused and turned in the direction the city lay, as if she could see it from here through the trees.

And all she saw, forest, city, landscape, seemed touched with silver by the Serpent's Tail.

But above...she saw the Seal upon the Land, the Binding—like a great lock, holding this whole new universe in its thrall.

It was a reversed Pattern.

Directly trying to affect a pattern barrier with her serpent-based power seemed like a chancy thing to Helena—she'd heard from Suhuy about the spectacular burning and backlash that resulted when Pattern and Logrus met. On the other hand, Thomas said the barrier was weakening...and it was a reversed pattern, so maybe not as antithetical...but what it really boiled down to was that she didn't know if she could bring it down or not. She'd been planning to use that as a possible, last-resort bargaining chip.

But really, after looking at things, she was pretty sure bringing down the barrier would be bad idea. What would happen to this place if suddenly open to Pattern and Logrus? Would it seep in over time? Or rush in and overwhelm and destroy this Dark land and the shadows it adjoined? And how in turn would the Dark land affect her universe if they touched?

But wait... Shadows? Infinite shadows here, with neither the signature of Order nor Chaos in them? What cast the shadows, then?

Curious, Helena narrowed her broad view to more closely examine the beautiful city that reminded her of TIr, looking for the signature of a different power there, perhaps a variant of Pattern or Logrus like the reversed Pattern barrier above.

There was a decided dark glamour—like nothing she had ever sensed before, profoundly...other.

Thomas was standing there, hands on hips, head tilted, as if he had no idea what dance Helena was doing... but he knew full well what direction she was staring.

"Glimmergloom," he said, "seat of the Unseelie Court and the Fairy Queen. And the peerage of the Clans of the Siodhe. What are you doing?"

"Looking at it..." Helena replied distractedly, still turned in the direction of the city. "I found the Barrier, too. I think...maybe...I could take it down." She kept her own opinions on this matter to herself, curious how Thomas would respond.

"What, from here? And not walked the Pattern yet? I kind of doubt it."

Helena turned and looked at him sharply. The Tail of the Serpent dropped and she lowered her hands.

Thomas looked momentarily surprised with himself, and then added, "Or maybe you do hold that kind of power. Your old and ugly Duke, what did he think he was going to do?"

"I assumed he was going to try to use my blood, but he assured me not. On the other hand, he could've been lying. If he wasn't lying, then I really don't know how he planned to proceed.

"You appear to know more about Amber and the Pattern than I would expect from a Changeling who's been here on the Other Side," Helena continued suspiciously. She kept her distance from him. "Who are you really, Thomas?"

Thomas spread his hands. "I am... anything you want me to be, fair Helena," he said. "But also only what you see before you. I am just what I told you... a changeling from the Other Side, brought up by the Man of the Oak; I am part of their clan. I don't remember my mother and father, but that is the way of it. I am the Knight of the Dark Forest, a Knight of Faerie. Here, I am Tamlin; on the Other Side, my name was Thomas. I am cursed to forever be apart from both worlds, never truly Seelie, never truly Unseelie. I have stayed mostly alone, here, for two centuries. As for the Pattern, well," the laughing grin returned, "I have been to Tir, the reflection of your Amber. I have seen the Pattern that the Binder inscribed. I have seen the ghosts. And I may have something else for you to see, an I survive the Hunt."

"But you're a shapeshifter, right?" Helena asked. "You appear different now than from how you looked in Tir. And you mentioned wings earlier."

"I am," Thomas agreed. "It is an uncommon talent, amongst the Unseelie. Why? Don't any of the Seel... Amberites, I suppose... do that?"

"It is an uncommon talent among them as well," she replied flatly. She started walking the perimeter again, though her hands remained at her sides this time. "So you don't remember your parents? Nothing? Is the faerie that 'exchanged' you still around?"

Thomas shook his head. "The Man of the Oak, who is now dead." He looked about to say something else, but changed his mind. "What you were doing, it is a Chaos thing? I felt its taint upon the air, much like my sword." He suddenly frowned. "As you saw, I put that away. Do not let me reach it, if they control my mind. Do not let them take it, as they know of it. The blade is...unclean."

"Yes, it's a Chaos thing." Helena paused, several questions coming to mind. She chose one. "May I see the blade?"

Thomas blinked in surprise, then nodded. Crossing to the mare, steadying her with a pat to the neck, he unstrapped the scabbard and carried it back to Helena, a good distance away; the mare still shied and moved back.

[Not a true katana; think Hadhafang from the Lord of the Rings movies]

The overlong hilt was black, wrapped in dark leather; the blade was curved, a full four feet long, and folded from some black steel alloy. The light dimmed perceptibly when he drew it from the scabbard; there was also a sudden wave of nausea like a scream in her nose and mouth. The sword made a sound, like an extended exhaled breath; It ended abruptly when he slammed the blade back in its sheath. The feeling was...obscene. Thomas, however, didn't look affected.

Helena visibly paled. Her face held an interesting combination of both fascination and repulsion.

"The Sword of Nightmares, ancestral weapon of the Clan Hemlock," Thomas said. "I pitied the maiden who brought it from her home to present as her gift to me. But she did, and it has been mine for more than a century. Do not cut yourself with the edge. It does exactly what its name portends."

"I...will make sure that I do not." Helena looked askance at Thomas holding the blade. "Why does it not affect you? And are the roses here really worth the trouble? Although, in this case, Clan Hemlock may have been happy for an excuse to get rid of it."

Thomas shook his head. "She was foolish. So the girl said, when she returned to the woods—she begged for it back, not knowing that the old unused sword up on the wall that she took was all that important. Her family explained differently." Another shake. "I refused...then claimed my time-honored price for returning to the Dark Forest a second time."

Helena raised an eyebrow. "Which is what? A night of pleasure, like you sought to claim from me?"

He smiled. "Am I so repellent?"

She smiled back. "No."

He hefted the sheathed sword, turned partly away from Helena, then looked back. "And to answer your question...it does. But after all this time, I've grown used to it. I trained Aghaidh here to ignore it, too, but she still doesn't like it. I was going to use this on your old ugly Duke, once I was convinced that you were about to be sacrificed. But things ended up differently."

"Yes...someone else intervened and caused some arcane cloud to cover the moon. I'm...surprised that you would risk your life thusly for a complete stranger." She turned her head, looking at him askance again.

"Me, too. I did want you, for my last fling before my death. But I must like you, to have gone to such trouble. And to rely on you, when the Hunt comes. And to tell you so much."

Helena didn't know what to say to that. This sort of open trust was not freely given in the Courts, and a reply like "I will not betray you" sounded trite and banal to her ears. "How long before they come?" she asked instead.

He glanced at the dark cloudy sky; there weren't any indicators for time that Helena could see. "A few hours, at most," he said, "less if one of the sorcerors was able to see and interpret your scrying." He strapped the sword back. "They will leave quickly, to find another victim, if you are successful. Where will you go, then?"

"Back to Amber," she replied without hesitation. "There are people there who will worry about me. Shall I take you along, since you no longer have a life here?" Her tone was matter-of-fact, as if his answer did not much matter to her, even though she watched him fixedly.

"Hmph. I don't see many alternatives. Once you claim me, I would just be provoking the Fairy Queen if I stayed here. I think after tonight, I have, ah, officially left her service. But I will not enjoy being the sudden celebrity of your Seelie Court. And think of all the thousands of maidens who will take my roses and leave with their...reputations...intact."

Helena laughed, flashing Thomas an impish smile. "I'm sure your Queen will have no lack of volunteers to take over your duties. So what shall we do now? We have, as you say, several hours yet before the excitement begins."

He glanced down her body, then back up to her face, before saying, "You have suggestions? It's too far to Glimmergloom, and this is a very good place to be waiting. You don't want to be in the trees, and they can't bewitch my roses. The lake isn't far away, either, and a weak place for the Barrier is there." He frowned. "Well, that's one thing—plan for what would happen if we find ourselves falling. It looks like Aghaidh won't be crossing over to the Other Side, for one thing."

She passed a hand over her face. "Falling... If the stairs are there then we simply take them down, in which case you should be able to take her. We just can't leave until the cloud has passed and the moon is shining again, right?"

"And can time it from This Side, when the moon goes completely dark," Thomas agreed.

"Of course the stairs will be guarded, but we're both armed. And once in Amber, I'm hopeful that reinforcements will arrive—or someone will provide us an escape."

"Ah, I see. Do you have a Trump of someone you trust?" Thomas asked.

"No. Unfortunately, my trumps are with the person I most trust, and not with me. Awkward, that."

Thomas nodded and smiled, as if Helena had said something very significant.

Helena narrowed her eyes. "Such an intriguing, well-informed Changeling. What other surprises do you have in store? Next you'll be telling me that you're actually family and you've also walked the Pattern."

"Well, I do happen to have an amusing story or two. But the important thing is that, yes, there are Artists among the Unseelie Court. However, if you claim me, they also will be forbidden. She—the Queen—must fight on your level."

"By this you mean we'll fight in combat? Or should I challenge her to a Sword Dance?" Helena smiled in amusement at the latter idea.

His smile matched her own. "Imagine fighting your Oberon. Or whoever than man is who's missing an arm. Even with the other one tied behind his back, I wouldn't recommend it. That's what you would be facing. It's not a test of your abilities. Whatever they do, it will be a test of your resolve."

Resolve? How? She nodded, but Thomas could tell by her bemused expression that she wasn't going to understand it until she actually experienced it.

[Thomas's] insouciant smile had returned. "As for the other, there's the rub... I like you, you intriguing, well-formed and well-informed Seelie, but I don't quite trust you enough. Not until you save me, that is. And then, we must rush off to your sunlit land of bread and circuses, and I will be the only one you know who can bring you back to the Siodhe. I think.

"Yes...it has occurred to me that this will make me a very tempting target on the Other Side, for those who will want all this kept quiet. I'll be flying out of one danger, headlong into another. I'll be forced to rely on you to keep me informed and keep me alive. And my only coin will be my ability to get you back here." The smile widened. "That worries me. You see my problem? You don't know how important I can be to you, yet. And I don't trust you enough to tell you."

She raised an eyebrow, considering in her mind the level of revelation that could actually entice her to come back to this place. It would have to be good. Really good.

Helena refocused her attention on Thomas and matched his smile. "I thought I already held most of the good cards in this game, and yet here you are telling me that you have aces I knew nothing about. Tricksy Changeling."

"Poker, yes. I love that game. You play that? Where do you put the mangled bodies of your losers?"

"Hanging from the battlements as a warning to others."

"Ah, very good. I should get some battlements, some time. Stacking bodies under the table always seemed to me to be unwieldy..."

Her gaze lingered on his face a moment longer than was strictly polite, her smile widening. "I will save you and my debt to you will be paid. After that, if you wish my assistance to keep you informed and keep you alive, then we will negotiate new terms, and they will include telling me whatever it is you don't trust me enough now to divulge."

"I like that," he said. "You can negotiate all kinds of interesting perks in a deal like that." He waggled his eyebrows. "Agreed."

[continued in Glimmergloom]