Part 8 (2/2)
”Fist fight? Maybe if the giant was using a very small shank, then yes.” I rolled my eyes before directing my attention mostly to the fox in the witch's hands. At least until she removed one hand and held it out like she was trying to stop me.
”Whoa, Whoa. You don't actually know what happened, do you? What did you do, get knocked unconscious again?” Ettie asked, with a bubble of a giggle, like she was joking, as she looked down and stroked the little furball. At least until she noticed I wasn't looking at her and chewing at my lip.
”Gnidori! Are you serious? You got knocked unconscious again?” Her voice was raised to the levels like she was scolding a child, which reminded me far too much of my grandmamma, but after that she was just going back to laughing again. I mostly stared blankly and chewed a hole through my lip.
”This is just priceless, Riri. So what, you were looking at the fox? And Bam, some giant shanked you a few hundred times?” Ettie twirled around, still holding the fox and certainly amusing herself as she spoke. I tried to figure out how best to bring this up.
”Actually, I'm not sure, but I was looking at someone else. That is the reason I came to see you. I need you to help me find her.” I explained while looking toward Ettie, to see her pulling the pot from the fire with her free hand, while cuddling the fox to her chest with the other.
”That seems to be the only reason you ever visit us anymore, Gnidori. You do know that we aren't a date finding service right?” A mellow voice explained to me with that same kind of condescending tone given to a child. My eyes shot from the fox and blonde to a burly dark-haired man pounding through the hallway that lead toward the rest of the house, with a cane in one hand and a wrapped cloth bundle in the other.
”Really? I was so sure that sign outside had said Hansel and Gretel's Dating Service. Maybe if it wasn't written in chicken scratch I would have been able to read it better. But since you aren't, I guess I should be on my way then.” I said hitching my thumb behind me and thrusting my hips to one side with raised eyebrows directed at the return entrant.
”Well before you go, I've got something you might want to take with you. After all, you had been waiting for it, for a while.” The heavy man lumbered over to me, a laugh lingering on his plump pink lips, his unusually long fingers for his build stippled over the bundle he held, as he handed it out toward me.
I glanced over at Ettie, and she just shrugged and smiled softly before turning her attention back to stroking the fox, which of course just mewed at actually getting petted.
I s.n.a.t.c.hed up the package instantly from his grubby fingers, and he smirked at me. My careful digits unraveled the twine around the cloth, letting it all fall to the floor, while I ignored the groan and mumble about needing to clean it up later from Han. What the cloth left behind though was a beauty.
A golden-scarlet, long-handled axe; maybe three feet in total length, with a curved, silver handle and a pristine red double ax head, which caught on the firelight to accentuate the fiery design it already possessed.
My hand laid over the insignia scrawled in the middle of the blood-red head of the axe, a blacksmith's hammer with a witch's hat slightly tilted over it. The signature of who created this weapon, Ettie and Han, together.
All down the silver metal of the handle were further engravings of scarlet color, symbols I couldn't really read, since it was actually written in the same dialect that their sign right out front of their house was written, German or something.
”Amazing.” I breathed.
”I would hope so. Some of my best work.” Han concluded.
”Mine too.” Ettie seconded.
Ettie and Han were the only two souls in the world I would trust with designing my weapons. Each one of the hatchets that I normally possessed had been crafted by them. Han devised the actual weapon with his superb blacksmithing skills developed over the years, and his father's woodworking skills. Ettie would craft the enchantments and spells that imbued each of my weapons for things like long-lasting sharpness, or a particular magical imbuing like setting someone on fire when cut by the weapon.
Of course this kind of thing wouldn't normally come free. In fact, the craftsmans.h.i.+p they produce was so professional that something like what I held in my hands would be worth a banders.n.a.t.c.h in gold and jewels. But they did it free for me.
That's what friends do. Good friends, anyway.
Well, that, and I kind of figured out how to change Han back from being a hound dog when he had been cursed by a Wicked Witch. The effect left it so he could s.h.i.+ft between the two forms, like he had done moments ago.
”What's written on it?” I asked, running my hand along the rough edges of the etchings in the metal.
”Sharp is an ax that can cut phantoms.” She explained, glancing up briefly while she poured water from the pot into a ceramic mug with one hand.
”You mean you finally are giving me a hatchet that can cut through illusions and ghosts and such?” I mused with utter excitement. It felt like my birthday. Illusions were one of the most common types of spells, especially from witches. Being able to rid myself of them without using magic myself would be an incredible a.s.set.
I flipped the axe a few times over in my hands. The handle smooth and cold, as my hands ran along it, before I held it out in front of me to balance it on two fingers.
”Hey, hey, hey. Dishonoring me by checking the balance right in front of me? Toads! Why don't you check the magic on it as well?” Han sounded falsely hurt before I gripped the axe with both hands and held it out toward him, satisfied by it completely. He s.n.a.t.c.hed it back up from me with a renewed smile, which I returned in kind.
”I trust Ettie. You though, I can never be too sure with.” I raised my eyebrows at him, and he just huffed and pawed his hand at the air in front of me before turning around and disappearing into the rest of the house once more.
My eyes wandered back to Ettie, as I heard her tea-cup set down and her voice rise. ”So who's the new girl to catch your eye? And why do you need our tracking skills? You usually do fine enough without us.”
”Because I am somewhere over a day behind whoever has her, if they even do anymore. And I need to track down more than just her. Oh, and she's not a new girl. Someone you know even.” I said while sliding over to the couches and taking a seat across from Ettie.
”Oh?” Her eyebrows rose again, while she set the fox down on the table between us.
”Yeah. It's Goldie. Not just that too. It gets worse. I also have a lead on Gabbi that I haven't even been able to touch.” I sighed, ”I have no idea what I have gotten involved in this time.”
Ettie didn't say anything for a moment. She just stared me over, then breathed out a noisy frustrated breath and shook her head. She didn't have to say anything. I could tell she was disappointed. ”Goldie? Of all people, Goldie?”
”She was forced on me!” I defended myself almost immediately, my voice rising through the air faster than the steam from the cup. The little fox, who had slowly inched closer to me on the table, had cringed back slightly in surprise and let out a small yip.
My tone lowered and I tried appearing less tense as I continued. ”Look, I was distracted for barely a moment, Hue was there, and things were all over the place. I was just being handed Goldie without explanation and then I was. .h.i.tting the dirt.”
”You and Hue, huh? You are just going to have to start from the beginning with this. The more I know the better I can help.” Ettie explained, leaning in closer as she picked up her tea-cup with both hands.
”The better we can help.” Han corrected her, as he slipped back into the room, scooping up the twine and cloth I had left on the floor before taking a seat across from me, on the couch with his sister. The couch made shrieking noises as he sat, but I wasn't going to mention it.
”You aren't going to like it.” I shrugged before scooping up the little creme fox from the table, before it tried jumping the ravine between the table and where I sat.
”Why do you say that?” They both said in practical unison. I knew twins could do some crazy spooky stuff, but that was always so unnerving, having them speaking at the same time like they were harmonizing.
”Because, I don't like it.” I said, stroking Reynard as he twitched his ears back in approval. I thought about how this all had started with Charming's favor and information and where it had gotten me now.
Then I proceeded to tell them.
Everything.
Eight.
The Nose Knows The shower let me clear my head; both of lingering annoyances on my mind, and of all the knots and dried blood that had tangled into my hair. It hurt like a vulture pecking out my liver, but afterward felt amazing to have my hair so sheen and soft.
Ettie and Han insisted that I cleaned up, ate, and relaxed at least for a couple of hours while they sorted out their own investigation into my mess. Plus, they said they couldn't have someone smelling like pus and p.i.s.s staying any longer in their home.
I couldn't really argue that.
Besides, in all my traveling at least one thing I had learned was to never turn down free food, a hot shower, and some time to relax. But only when it was offered by people you trusted. Get caught in some unknown forest and the last thing that should be done is accepting free food from a stranger. That just invites all kinds of trouble.
It helped that they let me keep some stuff here like clothes, extra supplies and such, because there would have been no way I could have fit into either of their outfits.
<script>