Nightside 11 - A Hard Days Knight

shotgun, she slipped it back into its holster and tossed grenades and incendiaries round where they’d do the most good. Many an elf who’d thought himself hidden in the shadows went flying suddenly through the air with body parts missing, and often on fire. And when she ran out of explosives, Suzie drew the two heavy pistols from her hips and carried on taking care of business. She looked calm and relaxed, cool and easy, in her element and loving every moment of it.
    I kept close to her, watching her back, using my gifts to find elves who’d hidden themselves a little more thoroughly than the others. Even the best elf glamour is no match for my gift. I only had to point out a particularly dark shadow where there shouldn’t be one, and Suzie would open fire; and something dead would fall out onto the street. We’ve always worked well together. I’ve never thought of myself as a fighter, and now that Excalibur was no longer on my back, urging me on, I was quite happy to leave the real fighting to the knights. I’d seen enough violence and had enough blood on my hands.
    And, of course, while I was busy brooding about that and feeling sorry for myself, an elf came running up on my blind side, leapt onto the back of my horse, grabbed me from behind with one arm, and set a knife at my throat. The horse started to rear, upset by the unexpected new weight, and I yanked harshly on the reins to hold him still. The edge of the blade gently parted the skin above my Adam’s apple, and I could feel a slow runnel of blood trickling down my throat. The elf giggled in my ear.
    Suzie saw what was happening and spun her horse round to face me, one pistol already targeting the elf.
    “I don’t think so!” the elf said cheerfully. “One wrong move, and I will cut your lover’s throat! I know the infamous John Taylor when I set eyes upon him, and I know a way out of this trap when I see it. You shall be my passport out of here, John Taylor; and your woman shall be my guide.”
    “Hell with that,” said Suzie, and shot him between the eyes.
    The elf’s head snapped back, golden blood seeming to hang on the air for a moment before he fell backwards off my horse. Some of the blood spattered my neck and the back of my head. I quickly put my hand to my throat, but it was still intact, apart from the one slight cut. The horse stood calmly, waiting patiently to be told what to do next. I looked back into the street, where the elf lay very still with half his head missing. What was left of his face looked surprised. I looked at Suzie.
    “You could have negotiated with him!”
    “No, I couldn’t,” said Suzie. “I don’t do negotiation.”
    “You might have missed!”
    “You know me better than that.”
    And, of course, I did. She didn’t ask me how I felt because she was confident in her abilities and confident that I was, too. And if I told her how upset I was, at having to be rescued, she genuinely wouldn’t have understood. But I really was mad as hell. I’d allowed myself to be shoved to one side, intimidated by King Arthur and the London Knights, and in my home-town, too. I felt a distinct need to do something, to show all of these big armoured alpha males that this was my territory, and I could do things here that all of them put together couldn’t even dream of. I’d seen too many deaths, from the Nightside to Sinister Albion and back again, and I’d had enough. I might not be a warrior knight or a legendary King, but I was still John Taylor. I concentrated and raised my gift, and it only took me a moment to find King Arthur and Kae, riding with their knights, still driving the elves before them.
    This is John Taylor. Having found them, it was the easiest thing in the world to put my voice in their heads. Round up the remaining elves and return to me. There’s been enough killing. I have something more constructive in mind.
    I shut down my gift and waited. Suzie steered her horse in beside mine and waited patiently with me. She always assumed I knew what I was doing, and I loved her for that. I’ve never had the heart to disillusion her. Mostly I make this shit up as I go along. I hadn’t known I could make direct mental contact with people just by finding them. But then, I’d never tried before. Never been this angry, before. King Arthur and Kae came riding back to join me. They’d left the knights behind. Presumably because they didn’t want them to see me yelling at their King. Golden blood had