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anyone have to fight my battles for me? What am I to any of
you? I am nothing, no one, a stranger among you. This is your
town. For your sakes, I will give in to the lord of Elfhame
Ultramar and leave you in peace."
Amanda tried to descend from the platform, but found
her passage blocked by none other than Cee-Cee Godwin
Haines. "Don't you dare!" She stamped her foot for empha-
sis, though the thick sole of her topsider absorbed most of the
sound. "My people I'm one of those Godwins, you know-
knew your people. Not the Taylors, of course, but your orig-
inal family. As soon as I heard you give your maiden name I
thought it sounded familiar."
"One of the first families of Godwin's Comers," Dennis
Tuttle chimed in, waving his omnipresent sheaf of original
source material. "Elspeth Morgan mentioned them in her jour-
nal. She borrowed a toasting fork from your sister."
Mrs. Lee nudged her daughter. "I thought Elspeth Mor-
gan was a trifle before that lady's time?"
Miss Lee shrugged. "I don't think Elspeth Morgan had
much respect for time, or much else. Anyway, she's got the
only gravestone in the old burying ground with question marks
all over it and no guarantee of a body under it."
The Lee family's comments were lost in the common
clamor of welcome and acceptance now being tendered to
Amanda Taylor. Sandy let the tension trickle out of her bones
as the most prominent and powerful in the small sphere of
Godwin's Comers society came forward to put themselves into
Amanda's service.
Harv Thomton, Chairman, summed it up for all present
when he said, "If I hadn't've seen what this Kelerison person's
capable of, I'd've marked you down for touched, Mrs. Taylor.
But he's cut his own throat if he's got a throat by dragging
in this whole town to be your witnesses. Okay, so we can't tell
ELF DEFENSE 123
anyone else about him and his minions. So what? He's still got
us to deal with, and you've got us to count on. You're not
giving up. This is your home, we're your friends, your neigh-
bors maybe even your blood, and we know how to stand up
for one of our own. You too. Sandy."
"Sue his tights off!" someone shouted from the floor.
Peg sidled up the platform and whispered, "I'm sorry
about what I did in your yard, Sandra dear. It was just that
poor Kwai-Chang oh, I'm so embarrassed!"
Old Mrs. Talbot had Emma help her all the way up the
aisle and onto the platform where she grasped the podium and
declared, "We the people of Godwin's Comers have weath-
ered the blizzard of seventy-eight, the hurricane of eighty-six,
and Lord save us, the Summer People. We can weather elves."
As the hall exploded into cheers and applause. Sandy
could almost feel sorry for the King of Elfhame Ultramar.
Chapter Thirteen:
>».
Emma followed her aunt's advice and used more fal-
low-through on the downswing. The umbrella struck
the unicorn a slight blow on the muzzle, making the beast snort
in confusion without deterring him from his purpose. Emma
uttered a tiny squeal of distress and ran around the corner of
the house. The unicorn followed.
From her place in the window seat, old Mrs. Talbot
clicked her tongue and remarked to herself, "Dropped the um-
brella too. Such a fuss. When will that child leam?" Contin-
uing to mumble over the shortcomings of the new generation,
she took up her blackthorn walking stick and went to see about
settling matters properly.
In spite of advanced arthritis, Mrs. Talbot carried herself
with stiff dignity and self-possession. No one looking at her
could begin to guess the agonies she suffered with each step.
She walked out the front door and intercepted her niece on the
' third circuit of the family homestead. Emma cowered behind
124 Esther M. Priesner
her aunt's tastefully flowered challis dress as the relentless uni-
corn came charging down upon them both.
"Begone, sir!" The blackthorn stick struck the homed
creature sharply dead center between the nostrils. Mrs. Talbot
followed up this blow with another, broader smack to the right
flank, trying to turn him. The unicorn reared in pain, lashing
the air with his cloven hooves not three inches from the old
lady's face.
He got the blackthorn across the pasterns of both forelegs
for that. "Down, sir! Down, I say!" Mrs. Talbot menaced him
with her stick. The unicorn's glass-green eyes rolled in his
head. Here was a breed of dragon he had never before encoun-
tered. His nostrils flared, and he tossed the tangle of his mane
in confusion. Head lowered, he backed a few paces away.
Mrs. Talbot bore in upon him, making threatening ges-
tures with her blackthorn despite the nastily shining silver horn
that might have converted her to the world's first DAR shish
kebab. Emma clung to her aunt's skirt and came tippy-toeing
after. "Oh please. Aunt Viv, don't hurt him!" she begged.
Mrs. Talbot's small, cold eyes pierced all the more
deeply when seen from the other side of her bifocals. "Not
hurt him? Emma, while I find this palpable evidence of your
good morals a comfort, I will not have my schedule of obli-
gations interfered with by mere beasts." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]