Page 86 of Broken Veil
Which… didn’t make sense. Light couldn’t come in from all angles.
There were posters of bands and several framed photographs of a red-haired man who looked a little like Jack standing beside large trees. There was also a corkboard where various pictures were tacked up. The red-haired man with women. With men. With groups as large as five or six who all appeared to be fawning over him.
“You get a lot of company out here?” Carys scanned the corkboard, wondering if that was Jack in the pictures. Perhaps, like Cadell or Godrik, he could transform into a more human skin.
“Oh, I’m not lonely if that’s what you’re wondering.” The cauldron Jack was puttering over sat in a large hearth where a cooking fire was burning and a kettle was steaming. “Who likes noodles? I like these noodles very much.”
Angus grunted. “I’ll have some.”
“Knight?” Jack pointed at Lachlan. “Noodles for the victor?”
Lachlan’s court training suddenly woke. “Of course. Thank you.”
One by one, everyone except Naida agreed that they would love what appeared to be slightly watery ramen.
“So you just live here in Sherwood Forest?” Duncan was leaning against the curved wall. “I’m not going to lie—I’d be looking round here for your merry men if I didn’t know better.”
Another great burst of laughter from Jack, who was definitely still dressed in leaves and bark, though the longer they sat around his fire, the more his visage appeared human.
“You wouldn’t be the first,” Jack said. “Now, technically speaking, I’m a forest ranger.”
“You’re a forest ranger?” Laura was staring. “Like, you go and clear trails, guide tours, things like that?”
“Do you think they’d let me live here if I didn’t?” Jack said.
“I am so confused right now,” Laura muttered.
“Jack loves a joke.” Angus’s voice was testy. “Which explains the duel. But come now, Jack. You can’t be surprised that the gods appointed a hero. Not when the old girl’s running around in the Brightlands, undoing all our work in Briton.”
“Undoing what?” Jack asked. “My gates are secure.”
“Surely you’ve seen a few odd things. Heard rumors.”
“Maybe she’s just having a bit of a go right now,” Jack said. “No harm done, is it?” Jack chuckled. “A bit of magic isn’t a bad thing.”
“But it’s not just magic,” Carys said. “She’s calling sea monsters up rivers. She’s casting enchantments over Brightkinand letting imps attack children in parks. She’s trying to break open the gates so more magic can come through.”
“We were attacked by redcaps in the woods behind my home,” Duncan said.
Jack tsked but said nothing as he stirred the soup.
Angus leaned back on a wood-framed chair with a red-and-white blanket lying over it. “Jack, it can’t be allowed. Epona’s daughters were keeping her in the Shadowlands for a reason. Remember the last time she got loose?”
“That war was hundreds of years ago, and it was decades in coming,” Jack said. “All she did was prod things on a bit.”
“And do you think it’s wise to let her roam free now? When she’s raising barrows and calling up monsters? She’s planning something, and you’re feeling it too.”
Jack narrowed his eyes.
“I haven’t seen you take that form in few centuries, old man,” Angus muttered. “Something has changed, Jack. Even you have to admit that.”
“And if she did change things?” Jack nodded at Carys. “Why stop it, girl? Why not let people remember what magic could be?”
Carys glanced at Cadell. “Listen, as much as I love my dragon, I don’t think it’s a great idea to give modern human rulers a living weapon of mass destruction,” she said. “I don’t think dragons would want it either.”
“The gates were never meant to protect them,” Angus grumbled. “It was to protectus. Protect the weird and magical and mysterious. You want metal wires and electrical signals filling the Shadowlands? You want the wild creatures of the other side cowering as scientists in this world try to pick them apart?”
Jack sighed. “What do you want?” He dragged the pot away from the fire and turned.
