"Whoa. Do you even know what that means, old man?" the second one said.
The finger stayed up as the first Huntsman said, "How about you humor this old man and close your eyes. Tell me what you feel. Besides the passage."
"All I feel is the passage."
"Humor me."
The younger man did. Then his lips formed a curse I knew well, even in Welsh. Cach. Shit.
"Exactly," the older Huntsman said. "She's been following us. Trying to decide what to do."
"She knows what we are, then?"
The other man's brows rose. "I should hope so, or she'd be a very poor Gwragedd Annwn. Almost as poor as a Cwn Annwn who didn't realize she was here."
The young man's hound gave a snort, like a laugh, and his Huntsman said, "I suppose you knew."
"Of course he did. Someone has to watch out for you."
"Which is why I have him. He's the brawn. I'm the brains."
The hound made a choking snorting sound, and his Huntsman said, "Hey!"
My experience with the Cwn Annwn had been limited to a few visions and chance encounters. This was a side of them I hadn't seen. Just a couple of guys hanging out, bantering, exchanging insults. Kind of hard to picture them on flaming black steeds, hunting the souls of the damned and dragging them to the Otherworld.
The first hound stopped moving, her head swiveling, her Huntsman's head swiveling too, as if in sync. Her Huntsman rose from the swimming hole.
"Come out," he called. "We know you're there. Show yourself, or we'll need to set the hounds on you, and you don't want that."
The gwragedd edged around a tree, pressed against it, ready to run.
"Come closer," the Huntsman said, and his voice deepened to that sonorous tone I'd heard from other Cwn Annwn. The gwragedd dropped to her knees.
"My lords," she brea
thed, in the same tone she'd used with Ricky.
Fy arglwydd.
The older Huntsman walked toward her, frowning. "You did not know what we were?"
"You'd think the giant hounds would give it away," the younger one murmured.
"I did not dare hope, my lords. It has been so long. I thought I must be mistaken."
The first one looked around. "What are you doing here? There are no packs for miles. Not on this entire island, I believe."
"I am guarding the passage. For you, my lords. For when you come. And now you have."
The Huntsmen exchanged a glance, and the first one said, "We are only passing through, little one. We are pleased that you have secured the passage, but you do not need to remain."
"But you are here. You have come."
"On vacation," the second one said. "Even we get those."
The first one gave him a look that said he shouldn't be quite so informal with a gwragedd. She would expect better.
"We are, as I said, only passing through," the first said. "We pursued prey about fifty miles south, and now that our work is done, we are . . ." He glanced at the younger one. "Enjoying a reprieve."