Editing Diego Belmonte (section)

=== Background ===
He served for some years in the Spanish army with some modest distinction, but left the service when his father died, about five years ago. He has since made a living as a sword-for-hire, bodyguard and fencing instructor in various locales on the mainland and, more recently, with the growing demand for foreign masters, in England.

Now normally, a child in Spain goes by the family names of both his parents. But Diego never knew his mother, and his father refused to talk about her, so he simply assumed her dead, or maybe a cruelly abandoned gypsy lover - no, father wouldn't do that, would he? - or perhaps some extremely important personage to whom his existence would be a disgrace, or something even more fanciful.

But then, sorting through the things left behind by his late father, he found an unfinished manuscript containing notes for a memoir, some of them from around the time of his birth. In these, his mother was depicted as an unearthly being, impossibly beautiful, a fey creature of light and love; never referred to by name, she appeared suddenly out of nowhere and, three years later, was just as suddenly gone, without explanation or goodbye, leaving Diego's father alone with his newborn son and a bitter, broken heart.

Diego initially took this for a flight of fancy (albeit a fascinating one), perhaps a sketch for an allegorical presentation of the true events, still too painful to recount directly. But in London he became part of a circle of friends sharing an interest in things supernatural, including some former students of John Dee who had access to his still impressive library. This new pastime changed Diego's view of his father's account considerably, and he began to think there was possibly more to his strangely lupine eyes and uncanny night vision than a mere incident of nature. After all, on top of everything else, he was left-handed...

But it was still only a pleasant fantasy to idly muse over - until the night he was walking through the woods on his way back from Oxford, heard the weird music and, stealing closer, saw the fair folk dancing on a moonlit hill. He watched their revel all through the night, heedless of the cold and damp, and when they departed at dawn he had formed his plan.

From that day till the next full moon, he suddenly seemed to have much business in Oxford...