The Dresden Files, #1
Storm Front
by Jim Butcher
Contents
Chapter Six
Overview
Harry Dresden visits Victor Sells’s secluded lake house and finds signs of recent activity. He traps the faery Toot-toot, who reports a pizza delivery during late-night “sporting,” suggesting Victor was there with a lover. As Dresden departs, a sword-wielding enforcer confronts him, invoking the Fourth Law and his Doom of Damocles, sharply raising the stakes.
Summary
Harry Dresden drives to Victor Sells’s modern lake house to check for signs of recent use. The property seems quiet, but the returned empty trash cans hint someone has been there. Doors remain locked, and Dresden avoids breaking in due to magical etiquette and alarms.
Down by the lakeshore, Dresden prepares a concealed magic circle and baits it with milk, honey, bread, and a drop of his blood to lure a lesser faery. He calls a true name to subtly draw Toot-toot, then captures him when the faery takes the bait. Dresden bargains for information in exchange for release.
After being freed, Toot-toot returns with gossip: a faery rode a “pizza car” that delivered to the house the previous night. He also reports “sporting,” fae slang for sexual activity. Dresden concludes someone was present last night and that Victor likely came with a lover, creating a lead to trace the delivery driver.
Dresden packs up, planning to pursue the pizza-delivery trail and rethink Monica Sells’s story in light of possible infidelity. He notes the implications for Victor’s motives and secrecy at the lake house.
Suddenly, a heavyset, gray-eyed man with a naked sword steps from the dark. He formally warns Dresden that summoning and binding with true names violates the Fourth Law, reminds him he is under the Doom of Damocles, and threatens immediate execution for any further breach—escalating the legal and mortal peril surrounding Dresden’s investigation.
Who Appears
- Harry DresdenWizard PI; inspects Sells’s lake house, traps and bargains with a faery, infers Victor’s affair, then is threatened by a sword-bearing enforcer.
- Toot-tootA tiny faery lured by bread, milk, and honey; reports a pizza delivery and late-night “sporting” at the house.
- Sword-bearing enforcerUnidentified wizardly authority; confronts Dresden, cites the Fourth Law and his Doom of Damocles, threatens execution.
- Victor SellsMissing husband; likely at the lake house with a lover the previous night, per faery report.
- Monica SellsClient; her missing-husband story is challenged by signs of Victor’s apparent affair.