Swan Knight's Son: Chapter Nine

Last time out, I pretty much skipped over the second half of Chapter Eight.  I lost sight of it from the top of my soapbox.  Suffice it to say, Gil's mother spills the beans on the two worlds of man and elf, and the twilight world that straddles the line between them. 

As mothers do, Ygraine forbids her son from becoming a knight.  She fears for his life and for his soul, and ending a seventeen year streak of hiding from the Dark Folk isn't a thing one does overnight.  As mothers do, she also relents after a few months of wheeling from her son. 

Which puts Gil out and about looking for some errantry to go all knightly on.  This would seem pointless, had we not repeatedly seen Gil spot some night walkers from the bad side of the multiverse traipsing around through the town and woods, and sure enough with the help of his trusty sidekick Ruff, he happens upon a fey-style kidnapping.  He gives chase and catches himself an honest to badness Leprechaun red handed.  Redcapped, too, come to think of it.

Here again we see the power of Christmas, as the little kidnapper stumbles into a Christmas tree thinking it a Kwanzaa tree.  In the questioning, the little man gives the name 'Thornstab' which, you'll have to help me here dear reader, rings some big brass bells in my mind, though I can't quite place where. In another of my favorite lines from the story, the little man gives away an even bigger game than kidnapping:

Wherever elfs and imps have sway, holy trees are outlawed out and done away.

How very appropriate (source):

Officials in an Indiana town removed a cross atop the town's Christmas tree because they said they could not win what was expected to be a costly lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

I'm starting to wonder just how fictional this book really is...

On this Christmas Eve, take a few moments to remember that the lights we shine in the night are but pale imitations of the light of the world, whose birthday we celebrate on the morrow.  In this time of sharing, let me take a moment to express my own gratitude towards you for sharing these few great books with me.  This blog has been a pleasure only made possible by the generous donations of time and brainpower of my fellow contributors Nate and Frisky, and by the knowledge that you are out there reading along and enjoying my own clumsy additions to the Book Club.

Mele Kalikmaka!