The Jack Hansard Series: Season Two

Episode 4.2

I left them to it for a while. Goron was keen to show Ang some of his 'instruments' (best not to let the mind wander too much on that) and I was content to explore more of my surroundings.

Later, Ang would grill me on why I wasn't intent on watching Goron get to work on the egg straight away. 'Looked like you two needed some privacy,' I'd joke, and swiftly sidle away from her prying gaze.

The truth is, I was no longer at all certain of the significance of our phoenix egg. My assumptions had been knocked on their arse after that clandestine meeting with Quiet Eyes . . .

I'd been so sure she was coming after us to steal it back. But she spoke as if it was of no consequence, as if Baines and Grayle didn't care a jot that a legendary object of untold power was in our possession.

Did they even know? I wondered.

What if she simply never told them?

Had we put all our mythical eggs, so to speak, in one basket?

Facing Quiet Eyes under the light of a censorious moon, I'd remorselessly asked her shadow, 'What's the job?'

'Piskey dust,' she replied softly. 'I need you to acquire it for me.'

'You don't fancy asking them yourself?' I nodded at the dark shapes of Mên-an-Tol. 'Or, forgive me for being candid, but I suspect there's good reason you wouldn't want to approach the relatives of creatures whom you have, shall we say, kidnapped.'

'We shall not say.' She sounded distinctly amused. 'You take me for a kidnapper, Jack?'

'Let's say the evidence is stacking up.'

'Such an unkind accusation.' Did her eyelashes flutter? Was that a pout on her lips?

I saw you shoot one of your own men in cold blood, I thought. Just to prove a point.

At a more sensible time, I might have tried to calm my thudding nerves and talk myself an escape route. But I was already soaring on adrenaline and ready to push my luck as far as it would go.

I gave a nonchalant shrug and gestured to the entrance stone. 'After you, then. I don't see why you can't fetch the fancy dust yourself. I also – I have to say – don't see anything in it for me. I'm sure the knockers will give you a really warm welcome.'

Something subtle changed in her demeanour; like in the way an adder coils before a strike.

'Is the location of your missing coblyns price enough?' she said, voice suddenly clipped of any accent. 'Do not try to play with me, Jack. You only waste both our time.'

Damn. That was a tasty prize.

'So why do you need me–'

'Your answer is 'Yes,' Jack,' she interrupted. 'We both know it is 'Yes.' You will take this job. Stop pretending to entertain the notion that you won't.'

I wonder what might've happened if Ang or one of the knockers had poked their head out at that moment. Would I have bottled it? (Would they have bottled Quiet Eyes?)

But no one saved me from this conversation, or from the deal I was about to make. It was a good deal, after all – right? I'd be a fool not to take it.

It's only piskey dust.

'Piskey dust? Only our biggest treasure,' Goron would later tell me cheerfully. 'Bleddy rare, too. An' very dangerous. Guards it like the devil, we do.'

It's only . . . Ah.

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Author's Note

Apologies for the shortness of this instalment. The nature of drafting means that I'm not always writing chronologically, so this week I've made progress for later on in the season. I decided I'd rather deliver something short this week rather than not at all, though. =)