Hexed

» the Holocaust wasn’t their idea. But they didn’t seem to disapprove either. And they joined in when it suited them. «
    I frowned. » How do you mean they joined in? «
    » They were specifically hunting Kabbalists for a while— «
    » Kabbalists! « I exclaimed. I slapped my forehead. » So that’s why he didn’t die. «
    » Who didn’t die? « the witches all said in polyphonic harmony. They were like a Greek chorus.
    I sighed and collected my thoughts. » I have known since this morning that I have met these hexen before—or at least seen their work. They tried to kill me outside my home with the same necrotic curse they used on Boris the Third, but my wards deflected it. « I purposely failed to explain that my cold iron amulet deflected it. Nothing in the nonaggression treaty required me to reveal the true nature of my defenses to them. » The last time my wards reacted in such a manner was during World War Two. «
    Berta stopped chewing and looked at me with widened eyes. » Really? Where were you? «
    » I was in the Atlantic Pyrenees, escorting a Jewish family into Spain, where they could have taken a train all the way to Lisbon and gained passage to safety in South America. «
    Berta held up her hands. » Stop right there. This sounds good, « she said, and hauled herself off the couch. » I’m going to make popcorn. « The other witches made sounds of protest, perceiving that it was rude somehow to expect me to weave a tale worthy of movie snackage, but Berta waved off their protests. » Come on, he’s a Druid; he’ll love playing the bard for a while. « More protests followed, but they were halfhearted, and eventually the witches turned to me with pleading looks to forgive them for being so ineffective.
    In truth, it made me feel closer to the witches. One thing that’s never changed in two millennia is that people love to hear war stories—at least, stories in which their side wins. The gods know that there was little enough in that war to cheer about other than the eventual victory. But the coven had lived through it, I had lived through it, and we had both fought in it, albeit in an unconventional manner. It was a bond between us, and telling this story would strengthen it and provide the foundation for shared victories to come.
    Seeing that I would be required to speak at length, I mentally reorganized my tale. The real reason I didn’t take a more active role in the war was that the Morrigan had forbidden it. During that period, our relationship had been a bit uncertain.
    » Do you know how many battles there are for me to watch over throughout the world right now? « she’d asked me when I’d tried to enlist with the British. » I cannot be worrying about you every bloody moment and making sure you don’t step on a mine or get bombed by the Luftwaffe . Stay out of the war, Siodhachan, and don’t do anything to draw attention to yourself—specifically, attention from the Fae. «
    I didn’t want to imply that I had any sort of relationship with the Morrigan now, though, so I told the witches a half-truth once Berta returned to the couch with bowls of popcorn and indicated that I could proceed. The witches all leaned forward in their seats, and so did Hal. He’d never heard what I’d done during the war either.
    » As you know, I was hiding from Aenghus Óg at the time, as I had been for most of the common era, and I could do nothing overtly magical that would draw his attention. But neither could I simply hide in the Amazon and wait for it all to be over: My conscience would not allow it. So I became a maquisard , joining the French Resistance in the southwest, where I shepherded Jewish families through the wilderness to escape the Nazis.
    » The people in my network knew me as the Green Man. If someone insisted on a Christian name, I called myself Claude and left it at that. The families under my care arrived in Spain faster and healthier and more reliably than those of any other smuggler. All told, I saved sixty-seven families, taking them in large groups at times. That’s not on the scale of your fifty thousand saved in Bulgaria « —an accomplishment I privately doubted they could reasonably take credit for— » but it was my small contribution to peace. And you must keep in mind I was in the Gascony region, which was fairly overrun with Nazis, away from the bulk of the maquisards . Getting them safely out of the cities was often more trouble than taking them across