Goron led us to his corner of the mine where a small forge glowed red with embers and a workbench displayed neatly hung tinkerer's tools. The egg was suspended in a weird metal contraption in front of what looked like a magnifying glass made of smoky quartz. It was a vague image through the crystal. Murky shadows curled around the egg's blurred shape.

Goron selected an implement from the bench, and a tiny hammer. It looked rather like a tuning fork. He rested its prongs on top of the egg.

'Watch close, like.'

He hit the fork with the hammer. There wasn't the high-pitched ting I was expecting. Rather a low, deeply unnerving timbre that slunk into my ears and prickled down my spine.

In the window of quartz, the shadows coiled into an ominous shape.

'Ah, a skull,' I observed. 'I don't suppose there's any chance of that being a good thing?'

'Rarely,' Goron replied.

'Whassit mean, then?' said Ang.

'Death, usually.' Goron lay down his tools. 'Ill-omened it be, fer sure. And then there's this.'

He fiddled with the wires that held the egg. They glittered, I noticed, like piskey dust.

From a tray underneath the bench, he plucked a handful of thistles which were just beginning to flower. He added them into the construction of wires and egg, and stepped back.

Within a matter of seconds, the thistle withered to a bleached brown husk. Goron prodded the lifeless stem, and it crumbled into dust.

'That's a little alarming,' I murmured.

'A little?' Ang shrieked. 'Ye means to tell me we've been carryin' around this thing that can suck the life outta other things? I've had it in me pockets, Hansard!'

Goron chuckled. 'Calm, lass, calm. This is just a little trick o' mine, fer ascertaining the true nature o' things. It shan't harm you as it is.' His expression grew serious. 'But I should get rid of it right quick, if I were you. Because whatever's inside it is mighty dangerous.'

'I suppose we knew that already,' I said. 'Thank you for your services, Goron.'

He was still looking at Ang, concerned. 'What's your plan for it, 'zackly? Why carry it around?'

Ang faltered. 'We-ell . . .'

'Leverage,' I said smartly.

'Thassit,' Ang agreed. 'Against the quiet-eyed ast.'

Goron gave me a final appraising stare before handing back the phoenix egg. 'Hope you knows what you're doing, merchant man.'

'I've never been more certain.'

* * *

I was not at all certain about what I was doing.

Not for the first time, while standing under the waning moon some yards away from the eerie shadows of Mên-an-Tol, I questioned the wisdom of my actions. Should I be selling out on a haul of ultra-valuable piskey dust just to make a deal with an enemy?

To be fair, I make deals with my enemies all the time. But usually, they don't know they're going to become my enemy until after the fact. Enemies-in-waiting, you might say. Or simply, 'customers'.

I'd convinced myself that this deal was worth it. The exchange was for the location of Ang's missing friends, after all! I could finally make good on that deal, and Ang would be pleased as punch about it. She didn't have to know where the information had come from. Although she'd definitely ask. And she has a habit of following questions to their answers . . .

'Hello, Jack.'

I startled. When did–? But quick, straighten up, roll out the confident smile. Hope the moonlight gives it a dashing glint.

'Good evening,' I said to Quiet Eyes. 'I hope I can trust you to make good on our arrangement.'

'You don't trust me, Jack?'

'Just how foolish do you think I am?'

Well, her teeth certainly glinted in the moonlight. 'You did make a deal with me in the first place, Jack. I do find your naivete quite sweet.' The Parisian accent slipped back into her words, alerting me to its original absence. I wondered if it was put there just for me.

'If you're willing to betray Baines and Grayle, then I think it's worth a risk,' I said, and inwardly kicked myself for admitting it was a risk at all. That's not how these chess-game conversations are won. I twitched open my trench coat, plucked the jar of piskey dust from its pocket. 'Obviously I'm not just going to give this to you. How do I know you're going to hold up your end of the–'

A rustling sound, and something fluttered into my face. I flapped at it, nearly fumbling the jar, and caught a slip of paper floating in the air. An address was printed on it.

'Just like that?' I didn't try to hide the incredulity in my voice. 'And I suppose this isn't a trap of some kind? We arrive and you have some boys waiting to do us in?'

'Oh, Jack. What would be the point?' Now, something else glinted in the moonlight. It was sleek, metal, familiar. Her pistol.

I swallowed nervously. 'I should point out that if you shoot me now, I'll most certainly drop this jar, which will break, and you'll lose a good portion of this precious piskey dust.'

She sighed. 'You are so dense.' The pistol disappeared back into whatever place it was stowed. 'I would have killed you already Jack. If you weren't so amusing.' I opened my mouth again but she stopped me with a warning. 'You become less amusing with every foolish question.'

Her hand beckoned for the piskey dust.

I paused – thought of the gun – and quickly handed it over.

Then the unthinkable happened.

She flipped the catch on the lid and took a pinch of piskey dust between finger and thumb.

I jumped backward by instinct – but nothing happened. She admired it, glittering on her fingers like a glove, and I briefly wondered if the dust gave a truer outline to their shape.

I also had to wonder (and with a certain amount of awe) exactly what kind of person – or what kind of creature – could handle piskey dust so casually without being instantly turned into soup.

'There are different types of power.' Her voice made me jump. Though she didn't seem to be really talking to me. 'Some are less subtle than others. Some are less real than others.' She fixed me with her cool eyes. 'Who gets to decide who wields the power, Jack?'

I shifted uncomfortably. 'I always thought it was more of a free-for-all, myself.'

'Yes.' She flexed her fingers. 'Except, not everyone is free.'

My heart leapt. Could that be an invitation? A hint to push further, an encouragement to pry? I opened my mouth–

She cut me off. 'You have your payment. Go find your knockers and your coblyns, Mr Hansard.' She smiled sweetly. 'Do not waste your chance.'

I hesitated. 'Why would you sell out your employers like this? Aren't you loyal to Baines and Grayle?'

'Oh, Jack,' she lilted sympathetically. 'You are so charming, to think of me as loyal.' She broke into a laugh, and for a moment its off-putting pitch reminded me of . . . something. My mind struggled to land on the correct association. I'd heard a laugh like it quite recently. Lots of little, malicious laughs . . .

She subsided. 'Perhaps I should envy you and your small world, Jack. It must be so simple there.' Her fingers sparkled silver as she waved. 'May you never leave it, for I doubt you'd survive in mine. Oh. That does remind me.' The fingers pulled up to stroke her chin. 'You have a friend. The one in care, in London. The girl with the empty mind . . .'

'Cora?' Shock took hername shuddering from my mouth. A fearful anger started in me. 'How do you know about her? What do you know about her? Why–'

'Hush, hush. You think you can cross somebody like me, and keep all your secrets too? Think, Jack, how foolishly you made yourself known to my employers . . . and how little they might care for such a thorn in their side. Yet you are somewhat transient. A hard thorn to pin down. Whereas some of those connected to you are in a rather more fixed state of being . . .'

My anger rapidly cooled to ice-cold dread. 'Why are you telling me this? What's happened to Cora? Is she safe?'

Quiet Eyes covered her mouth as she tittered. 'Such fun. Safe? Perhaps. But 'safe' is such a relative term, considering the state she put herself in. May I suggest you pay her a visit, Jack? Or perhaps you findyour coblyn creatures to be a more pressing errand. Your choice. Do think hard about it, won'tyou?'

Leaving me speechless, she turned and walked into the night.

* * *

'What's the hurry, gwas? We really needs to leave tonight?' Ang watched me anxiously while I threw goods into the car boot with reckless abandon.

'It's important,' I muttered.

She twisted her shirt in her hands. 'Not saying it ain't, gwas. Just, I'd like to know what it is, see?'

I slammed the boot shut. 'I'll tell you on the way.'

Goron touched her arm. 'What's got his turmut, then?'

'Damned if I knows. He ain't usually so skittish . . .'

'Are you ready?' I snapped. 'Get in, or I'll leave without you.'

'I best go wi' him,' she told Goron. 'He looks apt to get into some trouble, if I don't.'

'But you'll return, aye?' he said.

Ang hesitated. 'Mebbe . . .'

'Ang,' I cried impatiently. 'Save the lover's parting for another day, would you?'

The door closed with a sullen slam as Ang clambered into her seat. She glared moodily out of the window as I pitched the car into reverse, and then forward onto the winding road through the Cornish moors. Goron's small shape faded to insignificance behind us.

'Right, gwas,' she began. 'I been patient 'til now, 'cuz it's clear somethin's disturbed ye. But you're starting to act like a real pen pidyn, so I'm gunna ask you nicely just once. What's this all about?'

I kept my eyes on the headlights cutting through the darkness. My eyelids were heavy, but I couldn't risk even a moment's sleep. Ang waited silently for my answer.

I took a deep breath.

'Her name is Cora. And this may be a long story . . .'

* * *

Author's Note

We did it! End of Episode 5 and this little story arc in Cornwall! I'm sad to leave, so I'm sure we'll be back eventually. There are just too many brilliant bits of folklore to explore in this county.

Let me know what you thought of this episode as a whole. Things are starting to get a bit twisty now...

As for updates, the next couple of installments may need to come on an as-and-when basis for a short while. I've been quite ill over the last fortnight - a combination of constant toddler plague and excessive heat making for sleepless nights - so I've been struggling to concentrate or even look at a screen for very long. Am on the up though, and steadily erasing my writing deficit. I'll put out an announcement as usual when the next episode goes up.

Hope you're all well, and I'll see you again soon! =)