Beyond the Gateway (Cranksepticeye)

Eighteen

"The Wild Hunt?" Camina whispered. "Who would do such a thing?"
Ethan looked at her bleakly. "Who do you think?"
"Mabh wouldn't dare."
"Auberon seems to think she would." he shrugged. "And why not? She's the one who created the Wild Hunt in the first place."
"But, Ethan, this city is so crowded," Bellamy protested. "To loose that insatiable, death-mad Faerie war band on an unsuspecting moral populace here - the carnage would be unspeakable, the death toll catastrophic!"
"And bloodthirsty old Mabh, the Queen of Air and Darkness, would never do a naughty thin g like that, now would she?" Heavy sarcasm infused Ethan's weary tones.
Behind the twins, Ethan saw Maddox standing with his arms crossed. The look on his face told Ethan that he had heard their conversation.
Maddox and the twins exchanged worried glances, then Camina and Bellamy left to continue with their patrol, talking in low voices as they departed.
Maddox was silent for a moment. Then, "Can I give you a piece of advice?"
"No."
"You stay away from that boy."
"I said no-"
"Because if you don't" -Maddox shook his sandy head- "you're going to make a mistake. And any mistakes you make are liable to have dire consequences."
"I'm not afraid," Ethan said firmly.
Maddox stared at him, unblinking. "I didn't mean for you. I meant for him."
"Did you see him safe home?"
"I did."
"Then you know where he lives-"
"Did you hear what I just said? Let one of the other Guards fetch the dammed kelpie!"
"I don't care about the dammed kelpie. If it hasn't tried to hurt anyone yet, then I'm betting it's safe for the time being. He isn't."
"And who's going to make him safe, you? Look at you!"
Ethan weakly batted away Maddox's hand and, with considerable effort, thrust his arms through his jacket sleeves, trying not to wince. "Do you honestly think he's going to be safer without my protection than with it?
Maddox ignored the question. "You know you're going to need suturing, right?"
"I hope you're handy with cross-stitch." Ethan glared at the other Jade.
Maddox rolled his eyes and shrugged, giving up the fight.
"I've a kit at the penthouse. D'you think the others can cover for us for an hour or so while you knit me back together?"

At first glance, there was probably nothing too out of the ordinary about Ethan's first aid kit. It contained bottles of iodine and rubbing alcohol, bandages, scissors, and the like. Beneath all that, however, was a small bottle of two-hundred-year-old Irish whiskey; long wooden matches in a waterproof box; three pure, rolled beeswax candles; a spool of red-and-silver thread; a small sheaf of dried rosemary, verbena, marigold stems, and mistletoe; a braided ring of marsh grass; a blown glass phial of coarse sea salt; and a turning fork, all of which lay on top of several large squares of gossamer - real gossamer. Plus six aspirin wrapped in tissue.
Ethan downed four of the aspirin, swallowed a mouthful of the whiskey, and lay back on the couch as Maddox went to work on patching up the damage done by the shuck. It was substantial.
"You said you thought the demon dog was sent for him," Maddox murmured, his mouth a tight line as he concentrated on the job at hand. All of the Jade were trained in basic medicine, and Maddox's big fingers were surprisingly dexterous.
"It went right for him at first. And then again after I'd knocked on its big ugly nose. Why? I was the biggest threat to it. It should have gone straight after me."
"Unless you're right about someone having specifically sent to to track him. There's something about that boy, I tell you. He's bad business," Maddox said as he took the red-and-silver thread and pulled a long length from the spool, threading it expertly through the eye of one of the longer suturing needles.
"You don't know that." Ethan looked away as he felt the first sharp bite, and the tugging sensation that followed as Maddox began to sew.
"You said that Auberon asked about him. That he saw him in your gaze."
"I don't know if he was able to get much of a read on him." Ethan said. "I don't think he found much that piqued his curiosity."
"So you don't think that he might be the one after him, then?" Maddox asked. Tying off the last knot, he crushed a few sprigs of rosemary and verbena between his fingers and sprinkled them over the wounds, both for antiseptic and their magical properties. Then he covered everything with several diaphanous sheets of gossamer.
"For what earthly purpose?" Ethan scoffed. "I cannot see any possible reason for taking an interest in some quirky little teenage actor. No matter how nice he looks."
"Are you talking about Auberon, now? Or yourself?"
Ethan glared balefully. "Madd . . . he's just a boy."
"Right. A boy with a Black Shuck hunting him."
"If it was truly him it was tracking."
"You said it was. Which seems to indicate that someone is planning to awaken the Wild Hunt and set this guy up as their quarry," Maddox countered as he unwrapped a roll of sterile bandedge. "My money's on Queen Mabh. This kind of thing seems right up her alley."
"I don't know Maddox. I've been wrong before."
"No, you haven't. And if you are now, well then, that in itself is a worrying thought." Maddox placed an edge of the bandage over Ethan's ribs. "Hold that." He circled Ethan's chest with the strips of fabric. "You can't afford to be wrong, Ethan. And you can't afford to make mistakes. None of us can." He finished wrapping the bandage and neatly tucked the end in, securing the dressing. "Not during the Nine-Night."
"I know. Come on." Ethan struggled stiffly to his feet and went to put on a fresh long-sleeved shirt. "We'd best get back out there. It's getting late, and the others could probably use our help."
"For all that you can barely stand," Maddox muttered, and helped Ethan put his arm through his coat sleeve. He handed Ethan his messenger bag, but stopped him at the elevator. "Mark me now: I've no burning desire to stitch you closed again tonight. So keep your head in the game. And get that guy out of your mind!"