Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files 8)

Thomas rolled his eyes and said, "This isn't exactly helping me keep my mind off my fear, man."

"Shut up," I told him. "Or I'll move to my second initiative and start telling you knock-knock jokes."

"Harry," Murphy said, "if you knew you couldn't open the door long enough to let us get the girl, how did you plan to manage it?"

"I know someone who can help. Only she's totally unable to help me."

Murphy scowled at me, then said, "You're enjoying this. You just love to dance around questions and spring surprises when you know something the rest of us don't."

"It's like heroin for wizards," I confirmed.

An engine throbbed nearby, and tires made a susurrus on asphalt. A motorcycle prowled around the theater to its rear parking lot, bearing two helmeted riders. The rearmost rider swung down from the bike, a shapely woman in leather pants and a denim jacket. She reached up, took off her green helmet, and shook out her snow-white hair. It fell at once into a silken sheet without the aid of a brush or a comb. The Summer Lady, Lily, paused to give me a slight bow, and she smiled at me, her green eyes particularly luminous.

The bike's driver proved to be Fix. The Summer Knight wore close-fitting black pants and a billowing shirt of green silk. He bore a rapier with a sturdy guard on his hip, and the leather that wrapped its handle had worn smooth and shiny. Fix put both helmets on a rack on the motorcycle, nodded at us, and said, "Good morning."

I made introductions, though I went into few details beyond names and titles. When that was done, I told Lily, "Thank you for coming."

She shook her head. "I am yet in your debt. It was the least I could do. Though I feel I must warn you that I may not be able to give you the help that you require."

Meaning Titania's compulsion to prevent Lily from helping me was still in force. But I'd thought of a way to get around that.

"I know you can't help me," I said. "But I wish to tell you that the onus of your debt to me has been passed to another in good faith. I must redress a wrong I have done to the girl named Molly Carpenter. To do so, I offer her mother your debt to me as payment."

Fix barked out a satisfied laugh. "Hah!"

Lily's mouth spread into a delighted smile. "Well done, wizard," she murmured. Then she turned to Charity and asked, "Do you accept the wizard's offer of payment, Lady?"

Charity looked a little lost, and she glanced at me. I nodded my head at her.

"Y-yes," she said. "Yes."

"So mote it be," Lily said, bowing her head to Charity. "Then I owe you a debt, Lady. What may I do to repay it?"

Charity glanced at me again. I nodded and said, "Just tell her."

Charity turned back to the Summer Lady. "Help us retrieve my daughter, Molly," she said. "She is a prisoner of the fetches of the Winter Court."

"I will be more than happy to do all in my power to aid you," Lily said.

Charity closed her eyes. "Thank you."

"It will not be as much help as you might desire," Lily told her, her voice serious. "I dare not directly strike at the servants of Winter acting in lawful obligation to their Queen, except in self-defense. Were I to attack, the consequences could be grave, and retaliation immediate."

"Then what can you do?" Charity asked.

Lily opened her mouth to answer, but then said, "The wizard seems to have something in mind."

"Yep," I said. "I was just coming to that."

Lily smiled at me and bowed her head, gesturing for me to continue.

"This is where they took the girl across," I told Lily. "Must be why they attacked Pell first-to make sure the building was shut down and locked up, so that they would have an immediate passage back, if they needed it. I'm also fairly sure they left some guardians behind."

Lily frowned at me and walked over to the building. She touched it with her fingers, and her eyes closed. It took her less than a tenth of the time it had me, and she never moved from the spot. "Indeed," she said. "Three lesser fetches at least. They cannot sense us yet, but they will know when anyone enters, and attack."

"I'm counting on it," I said. "I'm going to go in first and let them see me."

Fix lifted his eyebrows. "At which point they tear you to bits? This is a craftier plan than I had anticipated."

I flashed him a grin. "Wouldn't want you to feel left out, Fix. I want Lily to hold a veil over everyone else. Once the fetches show up to rip off my face, Lily drops the veil, and the rest of you drop them."

"Yeah, that's a much better plan," Fix drawled, his fingertips tracing over the hilt of his sword. "And I can cut up vassals of Winter, so long as it is no inconvenience to you, of course, m'lady."

Lily shook her head. "Not at all, sir Knight. And I will be glad to veil you and your allies, Lady Charity."

Charity paused and said, "Wait a minute. Do I understand this situation correctly? You are not allowed to assist Harry, but because Harry has... what? Passed his debt to me?"

"Banks buy and sell mortgages all the time," I said.

Charity arched a brow. "And because he's given me your debt to him, you're doing whatever you can to help?"

Fix and Lily exchanged a helpless glance.

"They're also under a compulsion that prevents them from directly discussing it with anyone," I filled in. "But you've got the basics right, Charily."

Charity shook her head. "Aren't they going to be in trouble for this? Won't... who commands her?"

"Titania," I said.

Charity blinked at me, and I could tell she'd heard the name before. "The... the Faerie Queen?"

"One of them," I said. "Yeah."

She shook her head. "I don't... enough people are already in danger."

"Don't worry about us, ma'am," Fix assured her, and winked. "Titania has already laid down the law. We've obeyed it. Not our fault if what she decreed was not what she wanted."

"Translation," I said. "We got around her fair and square. She won't like it, but she'll accept it."

"Oh yeah," Thomas muttered under his breath. "This isn't coming back to bite anyone in the ass later."

"Ixnay," I growled at him, then turned and walked toward the theater's rear entrance. I took up my staff in a firm grip and put its tip against the chains holding the door shut. I took a moment to slow my breathing and focus my thoughts. This wasn't a gross-power exercise. I wouldn't have to put nearly as much oomph into shattering the chain if I kept it small, precise, focused. Blasting a door down was a relatively simple exercise for me. What I wanted here was to use a minimum of power to snap a single link in the chain.