The Warder’s Leprechaun (2 page)

"Please." She couldn't stop the tear that coursed down her face. The magic in the room turned it into a diamond as it fell to the ground. Asha stared at it as she waited.

Tuartha's voice was softer, more compassionate when he said, "We need a moment to deliberate. Casos will take you to a room where you can rest."

She nodded and got to her feet. The man next to her took her arm and a quickly cleared throat from Tuartha had him releasing her just as fast.

"This way, Lady."

She was numb. Being back in the land of magic and surrounded by the buildings that haunted her memories combined with the physical presence of the man of her dreams was overwhelming. Add Elhara's illness into the mix and she was completely off balance.

The room that she was taken to was the best of the forest combined with an English garden. A table was in the centre of the space and when Casos led her to it, she sank gratefully into one of the chairs.

He brought her tea and scones before taking a seat across from her. Together, they waited.

Casos finally broke the silence. "I have never seen High Lord Tuartha so off balance. How do you know him?"

She sipped at her tea and relaxed as the heat rolled through her. "We knew each other a long time ago. I am sure that he has long since moved on."

"Moved on?"

"Gotten a wife, kids, tiny little leprechauns?" She touched the spirit ring on her finger once again.

"No. The High Lord is still a bachelor, though many of the women hereabouts are trying to change that." Casos leaned back in his chair and gulped his tea.

The thrill of joy that filled her at that small declaration was sobering. It confirmed more than anything that she still had an obsession with Tuartha. "Wait, High Lord? When did that happen?"

"A decade ago. His father retired from public service and Lord Tuartha stepped into the gap."

Asha swallowed as she acknowledged a new hurdle to her hopes and dreams. The folk of Realm were fairly stringent when it came to bloodlines and family connections. As a Warder, she had nothing to offer but herself. That was not good enough for most advisory councils.

A page arrived in the doorway and bowed low. "The council has made its decision."

She finished her third cup of tea and stood up. "Then let's get this over with."

Casos walked at her side and hung back when she resumed her place in the centre of the council hall.

She stood straight, staring forward with her eyes fixed on nothing. She would find another way to save Elhara.

"Asha Warder, we have deliberated and have come to an agreement."

She held her breath.

"We agree to assist you with your cousin's illness under one condition." Tuartha was sitting as he read the document in front of him.

"Name it. Anything you wish."

"You and your cousin will remain here during her treatment. We will send warriors to the goblin settlement of the Crimson clan and have your cousin brought here. All of our healers and magic users will work to bring her back to herself, her memories intact."

Asha blinked rapidly. That was better than she could have dreamed. "What service may I offer to the leprechaun city?"

Tuartha smiled slowly and a few of the folk in the council hall shifted nervously. "Whatever I command you to do. You will be my personal servant and companion for the entirety of your cousin's treatment. Welcome to the leprechaun city once again, Asha Warder."

Chapter Three

The council seemed embarrassed but Asha took it in stride. "Thank you for your welcome, High Lord."

She bowed formally. Whatever dignity she had, this was the time to hang onto it.

To her surprise, the whole collection of councillors filed out leaving them alone.

Tuartha got to his feet and came toward her. "I never thought to see you again, Asha. You have grown."

She nodded and swallowed as he continued to approach. Asha had forgotten how tall he was. The image of leprechauns that the humans thought of was but astral images of the real thing. Small reflections of a larger power, it was why they could never be caught.

"That happens to mortals, High Lord. We grow, we mature and we get taller."

He chuckled as he looked down at her from his considerable height. "Not that tall."

"What do you want me to do first?" She looked up at him, noting the small marks of stubble on his chin.

He took her hand in his, his thumb moving over the spirit band. "I see you kept part of our city with you after all."

It was on the ring finger of her left hand, a finger that her family reserved for marriage bands. It had been the only place the ring would sit, no matter which of her other fingers she tried it on. The moment it had touched her ring finger, the magic had been sealed.

"I didn't have a choice, it wouldn't come off."

His eyes widened slightly, the deep forest green flaring in the limited light. "I see. Well, come with me. You will have a full day's work ahead of you and once you have made a deposit on our bargain, your cousin will be brought to the city for treatment."

"A day?" The hope that surged up was met with disappointment at so short a time with him.

"A day as a deposit against our help. The remainder of your payment will be determined when we find out what she needs."

He took her by the hand and walked with her through the halls and the flickering daylight.

The urge for small talk swept through her as they passed the bakery and pastry shop. "The city has expanded since I was here."

"The wards you gave us have been very useful, Asha."

Her shock was genuine. "They are still holding?"

"We maintain them as you instructed and they are doing well to block out the most direct rays." He gave her a small smile.

"Where are we going?" They had passed the lot where his home used to be. The only thing left was the looming estate at the end of the lane.

"My home is now that of the High Lord. It is maintained by the energy of all of us."

The door swung open as the master of the house approached. Asha swallowed, her mouth unaccountably dry.

"Will your grandparents be upset by this turn of events?"

"My being indentured for the health of Elhara? No. She means more to us than I can express. My grandparents will take it in stride. It is my father that you should be worried about." She snorted.

Reycon of the Crimson clan had met Asha's mother at one of the Warders' events. He had clawed his way through his competition and won Andrea's heart and her hand. He had submitted to alteration to make his appearance more human and worked with Andrea's dwarf father at the jewellery shop. Goblins had an affinity for gems that had made the family concern very successful.

"Is Reycon expected anytime soon?"

She blinked as they entered the exquisitely shaped foyer. "How do you know my father's name?"

"I looked into your lineage after your first visit. You come from a long line of craftsmen as well as a lovely selection of Warders." He led her into the kitchen and smiled at the goblin woman working over the stove. "Carrag, this is Asha, she will be helping you today. Please feel free to use her for any domestic purpose that you can think of."

Without a word, he turned around and left her with the goblin housekeeper.

Carrag looked her up and down, baring her teeth as she passed judgement. "What can you possibly do, you are a pathetic and weak human."

Grinning, baring her own teeth, Asha approached and wrapped herself in power while facing the older female. "Not pathetic and not human. The weaknesses will be exposed as I work. Now, what would you have me do, female of the Sapphire clan."

Carrag hissed and leaned back. "You are goblin!"

"Not quite. I am a Warder. The goblin is just an added bonus."

With that settled, Asha was assigned to weed the kitchen garden and drive off any bugs. The weeds were fun to dig out and the bugs were no match for her wards. Only pollinating insects could get through when she was finished with setting the buried stones in the garden.

Asha returned to the house and washed her hands, getting the dirt out from under the nails. "What next, Carrag?"

"How are you at making bread?"

Asha was knuckle deep in dough before Carrag could change her mind. Working with her hands was satisfying, a throwback to her father and grandfathers. Kneading the dough was also helping her get her frustrations out.

When she set it aside to rise, Carrag was ready with her next task. "Sweep the upper floors and staircases then finish your bread."

Taking the broom and dustpan in hand, Asha skipped up the stairs and then the next set of stairs and then the third.

A high turret was easy to sweep, not that it needed it. She chased the minute pile of dust down the stairs, tucked it neatly to the side and walked to the end of the long hall, going into each room as she found it.

Libraries, studies and a plethora of guestrooms all suffered from her broom's attack. Tuartha must have returned to the council hall. He wasn't in any of the rooms that she swept out.

It took her two hours to finish the initial sweep and she carefully carried the full dustpan into the kitchen. Everything in a leprechaun's house was imbued with magic and the dust was no different. It was burned as a fuel source and stored carefully in a bin in the kitchen.

She stored the pound of dust that she had collected and put her tools away.

"You have been in this city before." It wasn't a guess. Carrag was staring at her in shock.

"I have. When I was sixteen, I found a rainbow, picked up a shamrock made of gold and made a wish. I wished to find out where the shamrock had come from. It transported me here." Asha scrubbed her hands and arms to the elbow and then started work on the mass of dough that had grown to tremendous proportions while she worked.

"How did you get home?"

The baritone she remembered so well spoke from a shadowed corner. "She stole part of a leprechaun's soul and made a wish that put her back where she had come from at that exact moment in time."

Asha kept punching down her dough. "Yes, I did and my family was none the wiser. I had no idea what the ring meant and you know it. Carrag, what kind of loaf did you want?"

Carrag was looking between Tuartha and Asha with the kind of nervousness only a goblin could manage. "Whatever you want to do, dearling. Just do what you will."

Tuartha was next to her, looming over her as she worked. "Nine loaves, braided and buttered."

She nodded and moved her hands swiftly across the mass. First, she broke the pile into nine even pieces and then the first loaf was split into three for roping and braiding.

Carrag watched, fascinated, as Asha worked. In under ten minutes, the loaves that Tuartha had requested were formed and set onto waiting pans. She melted the butter in a small pan and brushed the loaves one by one.

Carrag winced when Asha turned to the oven. "I am sorry. I forgot to start the blaze earlier."

Asha looked to the High Lord and knew he was responsible. "It is fine. I remember how to do it and the bread needs to rise again anyway."

A small scoop of the dust in the bottom of the bread oven made the wood ignite with a whoosh. She puttered around under the watchful eye of the High Lord and the housekeeper and cook. With practiced ease, she moved the coals aside to line the walls and created the necessary heat.

As a precaution, she warded the pans against overheating before she slid them into the waiting bread oven before setting the door into place.

"What is next, Carrag?"

"Uh. I have no duties for you. The laundry was done this afternoon, so there is nothing else for you to do today." Carrag tried to dodge Tuartha's glare.

"Then I will wait for the bread and put myself at your disposal, High Lord." She bowed low, not using the name that was on the tip of her tongue.

When she looked up at him, she saw a flicker of pain on his features. The last time she had been in the city, she had lived with his people for two years before he had taken her into one of the few spots of light and kissed her. As his lips had touched hers, he had slipped the ring on her finger and she had wished for nothing more than to be back home so she could share the excitement with her family.

She had pictured home as she last saw it, her body as it had been and the day as she remembered it. When she woke from the kiss to find the rainbow in front of her and the gold shamrock in her hand, she thought that the two years with the leprechauns had been a dream. The spirit ring on her finger was the only proof that anything had actually occurred and no one else could see or feel it.

She had gone from sixteen to eighteen to sixteen in an instant and it was only when she had spoken to a warlock at one of the family gatherings that she had found out she could have sent her soul to Realm and snapped it back two years later.

No one had come looking for her because she had never been gone. It was all horribly complicated, but it seemed that the only two folk who even knew anything had occurred were Asha and the man glaring down at her, his bruised soul in his eyes.

Her mental timer went off and she grabbed and folded a cloth to remove the pans of bread from the oven. Each loaf was flipped onto a cooling rack and she looked at her efforts proudly. "Do they meet with your approval, High Lord?"

He looked from the bread to her and back again. "They will do. Now, run me a bath. It has been a long day. Carrag, I will take dinner in my rooms."

"Yes, High Lord." Carrag nodded and returned to watching over the stove.

Nodding, Asha left to run a bath for the High Lord of the leprechaun society. The only man she had ever loved.

Chapter Four

The coursing of water distracted her. She was leaning over and checking the temperature in the huge tub when hands cupped her buttocks. She nearly pitched into the tub.

"What the hell?"

Tuartha chuckled. "Any service I request. Now, I am requesting that you let me touch you. I have dreamed of this day for years."

She turned and stared into his forest green eyes, looking at her own dark-haired reflection in their gleaming surfaces. "You really do remember?"