But he’d come this far, and a secret meeting between Big Dan’s Bogan Boys and some mysterious stranger, all the way out here in the wild and green, was far too enticing to resist. Gossip and stories were like coin in the fairy realms and this had the potential for a grand tale, depending on who the bogans were meeting and what they were up to. In the right ears, a tale like this could have Edgan rich in favours owed him.

And if they didn’t catch him spying, then none would be the wiser, would they?

So he crept over the boulders, avoiding the patches of ice and snow as he followed a rabbit trail through the brush that took him in the direction of the voices. When he was close enough to hear what was being said, he pushed the “record” button on the PDA that was wired into his upper arm.

“. . . unlikely that Grey has taken a human under his protection. He dislikes them almost as much as he does your people.”

Edgan didn’t recognize the stranger speaking, but his low voice seemed to wake a sympathetic quiver in the rocks underfoot. It was a voice that had to belong to an old and powerful spirit, and not one from any of the local fairy courts or he would recognize it. Sooner or later, everyone came by to see Mother Crone.

“I’m only telling you what happened, Odawa,” Big Dan responded. “Are you calling me a liar?”

Odawa, Odawa, Edgan repeated to himself, trying to find a reference. Oh, if only he was connected to his database back at the court. If the name was in there, he’d know in a moment who the bogans were meeting with in secret.

“I’m not calling you anything,” Odawa replied. “I’m merely making an observation.”

“Well, observe this: your Grey has him a human doxie, and that’s a plain fact because we took the thumps to find it out.”

“It’s a shame you weren’t able to give as good as you got.”

“Wasn’t from lack of trying.”

Edgan decided to dare a peek. He took one look, rising just high enough so he could see over the rocks he was hiding behind, then quickly dropped out of sight once more. In that moment he’d seen the Bogan Boys lounging about under the trees. Big Dan and the man he’d called Odawa stood together in a pool of moonlight, a few steps away from the others.

Edgan shivered in his hiding place. No wonder he hadn’t recognized the stranger. He was neither human nor fairy, but a green-bree. Some old spirit of this land, tall and grim faced with a sheen like scales on his skin, his lips thin, his eyes an eerie milky-white. Those were a seer’s eyes—blind in this world, seeing far into others.