Grey Folk

Chapter 4

As soon as Midge opened her eyes, she knew something wasn't right.

First of all, she was waking up, and she did not remember going to bed. Second of all, she was not curled in the corner of her meadowgrass-stuffed cot, but rather in the center of an enormous featherbed. Black silk sheets covered her, though it wasn't cold, and glancing beneath them she blushed scarlet to realize she was completely naked.

Hastily pulling the black sheets around her body again, she scrambled out of the impossibly soft bed. Her bare feet landed in an equally soft black carpet flung across the stone floor and she frowned. She did not recognize this material. This entire room, with its dark, elegant tapestries and enormous mirror mounted upon the ceiling, spoke of passion and wickedness. The room was lit only by candles that lined the walls and shelves, which burned with a blue flame that never flickered or faltered.

"The Unseelie court," she whispered, hunching her shoulders and pulling the sheet tighter about them like a cloak. She must have been kidnapped; it was the only explanation.

"Remember, you have to remember," she murmured, pacing across to the tall wooden wardrobe at the opposite end of the room. She had been going about her duties, and... she'd been sent to fetch more nymphroot from the Shimmerdread Pool for supper, and...

And nothing. It was all blank. Yanking open the middle drawer of the wardrobe, she shuffled through the various items of clothing until she found a long, loose black tunic. Pulling it over her head, she straightened it until it hit mid-thigh, then tossed the sheets back onto the bed. The clothes in that wardrobe were strange, too, an unfamiliar style, but they looked mostly masculine, to her, which gave her only more reason to fear.

What would the Unseelie court have to gain from abducting a greyfolk like Midge? Nobody would miss her, aside from perhaps Cricket, and he would not be able to convince the Queen to pay ransom of any value for Midge.

Perhaps it was some sort of mistake. Midge did not know, but even as she contemplated and her heart raced, she heard the click of a key in the door.

Snatching up a long, sharp letter opener from the desk, Midge turned to face the door and readied herself to stab and run. What she saw step through the door, however, was not a twisted, sensual nightmare from the Unseelie court, but rather... a Shadar-kel.

This one was slender and small, clad completely in black, with hundreds of mysterious tattoos decorating his pale skin, just like every other Shadar-kel she had seen. His face was difficult to see much of beneath the thick hood drawn up over his features, but she definitely caught the gleam of daggers in the ceremonial belt at his waist, and the sheen of rings on his fingers where they rested on those dagger handles.

"Ah. You are awake."

Midge's eyes raced back up to the Shadar-kel's face, fixating on the only part of him emerging into the light; his full mouth and a small, rounded chin. A dimple appeared in the center of it when he smiled a slow, patient smile, and suddenly Midge was quite certain she was not at the Unseelie court after all.

"How are you feeling, my intriguing Mud Maiden?" The Shadar-kel stepped more fully into the room, but kept the door open behind him, and Midge leaned to make sure there was nobody else coming. The corridor held only darkness beyond.

"Mud Maiden?" That was a new one. Midge licked her dry lips, pushing the long, loose sleeves of the tunic up her wrists. "What is that? Where am I? What am I doing here?"

"I am Emory Shadar-kel, and you are under my protection if you wish it." Still he did not remove his hood, but paced forward to stop a few feet in front of her. "I have the same question for you, in fact, young lady. Were you causing mischief on my island?"