Angry Lead Skies

His hair came off. And when it did bits of flesh began to peel back along the former boundary between hair and naked skin. The part of the head that had been covered by the wig was hairless and pale gray.

I tugged at the peeling edges of the face. It came off. What lay beneath was a ringer for one of Playmate's elf sketches. The gray face betrayed no more emotion than had the motionless human mask when that had been in place.

"Holy shit!" Rhafi burst out. "It really is one of them things Kip was always talking about. I never believed him, even when he got Mom to say she'd seen them, too. He was always making up stories."

"I've seen them, too," Playmate said. "So has Mr. Garrett. But never quite this close."

"Which one is this?" I knew it wasn't any of the ones I'd seen before. It had more meat on it.

"I don't know. Not one of Kip's friends, though. It might be the first one who came looking for them."

I considered the elf. So-called because we didn't know what he really was. The Dead Man's suggestion of kef sidhe half-breeding didn't seem more likely than true elven origins. Maybe it hailed from the far north or from the heart of the Cantard. Some strange beings have been coming out of that desert since the end of the war with Venageta.

The elf seemed calm. Even relaxed. Without a concern.

I said a little something to Playmate in the pidgin dwarfish I could manage. Playmate nodded. He thought the elf was too confident, too.

I told the critter, "I owe you one for bopping me in that alley, guy. But I'm going to try not to remember that while we're talking."

My words had no effect. In fact, I got the distinct impression that the elf felt that he was in control of the situation, that he was playing along just to see how much he could find out.

I said, "Rhafi, go into the other room and see if you can find something we can use for a bag. A pillowcase, for instance. Anything will do."

Rhafi was back in seconds with an actual bag. It was made of that silvery stuff we had found right after Kip was taken.

I said, "Just start throwing in all the little odds and ends and knicknacks. Keep your back to us when you do. And stay between whatever you're bagging and our friend." I wasn't quite sure why I was giving him those instructions but it sure seemed like the right thing to do. And Rhafi was a good boy who did exactly what he was told.

I told Playmate, "Kayne maybe did her best job with this one."

"Don't be fooled," he whispered. "You're on him at a good time. He can be more trouble than the other two put together."

I jerked my head toward our captive. "Does this guy talk?"

"I expect so. He's been getting by by pretending to be human. Can't manage that without saying something sometime."

A touch of tension seemed to have developed in the elf. He wasn't pleased with Rhafi's activities.

"Good job, Rhafi," I said. "When that bag is full I want you to take it downstairs and leave it in the street." It shouldn't take more than a few minutes for the contents to disappear forever, whether or not anyone could figure out any use for the trinkets.

I watched the elf closely. So did Playmate. This would be the time when he would try something. If he was going to do so.

The gray elf's strange Y-shaped nostril opened wide. Air whistled inside. The nostril closed. The elf s ski

The elf exhaled, then drew a second deep breath. I got the notion he'd tried something he hadn't expected to work and had been disappointed by the results.

The elf spoke. "Mr. Garrett. Mr. Wheeler."

Who the hell was Mr. Wheeler?

Oh. I'd never known Playmate by any other name, except once upon a time when I'd told everybody his name was Sweetheart, just to confuse things if they decided to go looking for him.

Playmate shook his head and pointed at Rhafi. Three different fathers. Well. I hadn't thought about the kid's patronymic. Or even that Kayne might have used it if she wasn't married to the man. But she had been, hadn't she? As I recalled Playmate explaining it.

Meantime, my new pseudoelven buddy was going on, "I believe that we may be able to help one another." His Karentine was flawless, upper-class, but more like a loud, metallic whisper than a normal voice. It took me a moment to realize that that was because he wasn't really using a voice.

More legs on the millipedal mystery. Every intelligent creature I've ever met had a voice. Even the Dead Man did, back when he was still alive.

"Who are you?" I asked. "What are you?"

"Policeman? One who tracks and captures evildoers and delivers them to the justiciars? Do you have that concept?"

"Sure. Only in these parts it's track and catch lawbreakers, not evildoers. Big difference, here in TunFaire. Where are you from?"

He ignored my question, more or less. "The distinction, perhaps, is not always observed in my country, either, though there are those of us who refuse to bend in the wind."

Damn! I got me a gray-ski

He continued, "Be that as it may, I have come to your country in search of two criminals. They have proven extremely elusive. And lately my search has been complicated by the arrival of other hunters, newly alerted to approximately where these two now can be found."

Damn. Wouldn't it be great to have the Dead Man listening in here? The guy's story was good, so far, though hard to follow because it was delivered in six- or eight-word puffs separated by long inhalations.

I was inclined to suspect that the creature normally communicated mind to mind, like the Dead Man.

I asked, "How can we help each other?"

"You wish to recover the boy, Cypres Prose, who has been taken captive by the recently arrived Masker elements. I wish to capture the two villains I was sent to apprehend. My superiors are growing impatient. I believe I may be able to locate the boy by locating the criminals holding him. I do not have the power to wrest him from the hands of his captors alone, however. Join me in doing that. Then get the boy to tell us where my criminals are hidden. Once I have them in hand I'll go away. Life here can return to normal."

"That's just about good enough to gobble up. Even if life here is never any normaler than it is right now. What do you think, Play? Are Lastyr and Noodiss desperate criminals?"

"I don't think they're any danger to Chodo Contague, based on the little I saw, but they never really acted like i

"They are Brotherhood of Light. Their exact crimes are unknown to me. I do not need to know those to do my job."

I said, "If we're going to be partners we're going to have to call you something besides, ‘Hey, You!' You got a name of your own?"

He had to think about it. "As If, Unum Ydnik, Waterborn. Which I ca

In words my friend Winger might have used had she been around, this old boy was slicker than greased owl shit. He always had a good answer ready to go. Though I got no sense of insincerity from him. I was almost certainly less sincere than he was.

All the time we were talking Rhafi kept maneuvering back and forth, trying to reach the door with his sack of plunder. While trying to keep facing away from Casey and keeping me or Playmate in between.

I told him, "You can forget what I said, Rhafi. I think we're all going to work the same side."

The boy stayed behind Playmate while he said, "Kip won't give those guys up."

"Then maybe we'll just toss him back to the bad guys." I hadn't fallen in love with Cypres Prose during my brief exposure to the kid. I kept wondering what I was doing, not just dropping the whole thing. Doing a favor for a friend? I did owe for all those times when Playmate had done really big favors for me.