by E. D. Baker
“What time is it now?” asked Tamisin. “It was after midnight when Lurinda took me from the fairies’ forest, then daytime when we cut through the human world.”
“It’s night now, just past supper, and I daresay it’s a few days later than you remember. Now, you have a nice rest and I’ll get that tea, and maybe some supper for you besides. I doubt you’ve eaten … Uh-huh, I thought not. Lurinda isn’t the type to think of such things. Go ahead—you sit in that chair. It’s the softest.”
After Gammi left the room, Tamisin curled up in the chair, sitting so she could see the pictures on the walls. Her head was nodding when Gammi returned, but she jumped up to help the old woman set the tray on the table. During the next few hours while Tamisin ate berries in cream and drank tea, they talked about all sorts of things, including Jak’s parents, Gammi’s other children, Tamisin’s human family, the friends Gammi had made in the human world, Tamisin’s visit with the fairy queen, and how much Tamisin wanted to go home. After a while Tamisin started yawning, but she sat up straight when Gammi mentioned Lurinda.
“She was the firebrand of the family, always ready to fight for a cause. Then the fairy queen’s people came to get her and we didn’t see hide or hair of her for years. We did get letters though, and at first she sounded truly happy. It seems she was the queen’s favorite, not surprising considering how beautiful she was and how sweet she could be when she was getting her way. Then something happened, she never did tell us what, and Lurinda fell from the queen’s favor. Her letters changed after that. She still said she was happy, but I could tell the difference. It wasn’t until she came home that I learned how bitter she’d become. She felt as if she’d been wronged. Now it seems she has a new cause, though she won’t tell me what it is. I hear things though, so I know it involves your mother.”
“What do you think she intends to do?” asked Tamisin.
“I’m not sure, but I have a good idea. She and Targin have both been brimming with secrets lately. I think she’s the one who told him about you. It was after she returned home that Targin came up with his grand plan for Jak to go to the human world. Bert and I went along to help, but Jak probably would have done fine on his own. None of us had any notion that Titania was your mother. My Jak is a good boy and never meant you any harm.”
“I know that,” said Tamisin.
“There are some of us who wouldn’t care that the fairy queen has a half-breed daughter, but there’s others who would get all riled at the notion. I think Lurinda and Targin are betting on that to stir up support for a revolt, though they each have their own reasons. My son thinks he’s helping our people, whereas Lurinda … Let’s just say that my sister is a bad person to cross. I’ve known her to bear a grudge for years. I bet kidnapping you was her idea, too. She was the one who planned all our escapades when we were young. This whole thing is right up her alley.”
Gammi glanced at the pictures on the wall and sighed. “It’s been bothering me no end that members of my own family are causing all this trouble, so I decided it was up to me to stop it. I think my son wants to be king of the goblins, a noble enough cause if it didn’t mean that so many people would have to die to get him there. But Lurinda … I think she has her sights set on something grander, although what it is I just don’t know. She always did want to be at the top of the heap. Whatever they’re planning is going to happen in the next few days. This place is crawling with goblins, with more coming all the time. So now that I’ve talked your ear off, I’m going to tell you what you really want to know. In just a few minutes I’m going to walk you down that hallway and show you a door, but there can’t be a peep out of you or Lurinda will stop us. When she brought you here, she never intended for you to see Jak again. She told you all that fiddle-faddle just to get you here so they’d have a hold over your mama.”
“My mother warned me that might happen. I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been!”
“You haven’t been stupid. Lurinda’s good at what she does. She can persuade a bird to fly upside down if she’s got a mind to. I should know. I’m her little sister and she talked me into doing more addlepated things when we were girls than I care to remember.
“Hand me my cane and we can get started,” said Gammi as she struggled to her feet. “That’s it. Now I’ll just wrap this cloth around the bottom to muffle the noise. There we go. Wouldn’t want my tap tapping to tell everybody what we’re doing. Here, put on this cape so they’ll think you’re a goblin if anyone does see you. Now follow me and don’t make a sound. If you have any questions, now’s the time to ask them.”
Tamisin was so confused that she just shook her head.
“No? All right then. I’ll unlock the door, and I’ll leave it that way. Here, take this torch.” Gammi handed Tamisin a short stick with wooden prongs at the top. The prongs held a transparent cube that glowed with an inner fire. “Don’t worry, it won’t burn you. The gnomes make these things and you won’t find any better. It doesn’t look very bright now, but it’ll work just fine in the dark. Once you’re in the hipporines’ cave, find Jak and bring him back here. I would have gone myself before this, but there are some things these old bones can’t do. Come first light I’ll let you both out the front door before anyone else is stirring. You’ll have to find your own way after that, but Jak’s a smart boy and will figure something out.”
“Thank you, Gammi,” Tamisin said, kissing the old woman’s cheek. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“Neither do I,” chuckled Gammi. “Now be off with you, and take care of my grandson!”
After sticking her head out of her room and looking both ways, Gammi led Tamisin down the hall. It was much longer than Tamisin had thought, and she kept expecting someone to pop out of one of the rooms and catch them. Nothing happened, however, and when Gammi opened the door at the end and stepped aside to let her pass, Tamisin mouthed the words “thank you.” Then, stepping into the darkness beyond the door, she held up the torch and tried to see.
Jak was delighted when his uncle threw him in the cave, although he was careful not to let it show, which was easy because he was still sluggish from the antidote to the poison. Knowing how the animals would react when they saw him, he kept his distance until he was sure his uncle and the other goblins were gone.
The greenish-white glow had spread farther across the walls, making the cavern even brighter than he remembered. The hipporines refused to settle down until he walked among them, petting and scratching and getting reacquainted with his old friends. Although the foals born in his absence were rough and wanted to take a bite out of him, Jak knew just how to handle such young ones. Once the hipporines quieted, Jak crawled onto the shelf where he’d often gone to rest.
The next morning when he woke, sunlight was pouring through the opening in the cave ceiling. He hurried over the wall so the hipporines’ caretakers would still believe that he was afraid of the animals; he was certain that if they thought he liked being with the beasts they’d find something truly awful to inflict on him instead.
Every morning the goblins came to feed the hipporines around the same time, leaving a plate of food or a crust of bread for Jak as well. He was forced to drink from the pool at the base of the wall, but the water was clean, for it had yet to flow into the hipporines’ trough. Jak filled his day with taking care of the beasts. There was so much to do that he slept soundly at night; nothing short of the hipporines acting up could wake him.
On the third night, Jak was asleep dreaming of his life in the human world when the hipporines began to scream. He woke with a start, afraid that he’d overslept and the goblins had already come to feed the beasts. Halfway to the wall he realized that the sun wasn’t shining through the hole in the ceiling and that it was still dark enough to be the middle of the night.
Through the noise of the hipporines, Jak heard someone calling his name. He watched as a faint light bobbed down the tunnel, bursting into a glowing ball when it entered the cave, banish
ing the darkness for twenty feet in every direction. It was Tamisin.
Whooping loudly, Jak vaulted over the wall. “I thought I’d never see you again,” he said, walking toward her.
Tamisin laughed. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. Not after all we’ve gone through.”
A scuffle broke out among the hipporines, raising the noise level on the other side of the wall and reminding Jak of where they were. He frowned at Tamisin. “How did you get in here? This is the last place you should be. What are you doing here anyway?”
“I’ve come to rescue you,” she said. “Lurinda found me during the dance. She said your uncle was mad and you needed someone to speak on your behalf; it was really just a ploy to get me here. I don’t know how well you know her, but she isn’t a good person, Jak. She’s trying to use me to get at Titania. I think she may have been the one to send Nihlo after me. And she told me some things about my mother … I might have misjudged her—my mother, I mean.”
“I know all about Lurinda,” said Jak. “She was there when Nihlo’s friend stuck me with a poisoned knife in the fairies’ forest. I closed my eyes, so they must have thought I was unconscious, but I heard everything they said and then I figured out the rest. Lurinda told my uncle, Targin, about you so he’d get you here. When I wasn’t fast enough to suit her, she offered the reward. She didn’t care what shape you were in when she got you, so it didn’t matter who brought you to her. When that didn’t work, she sent Nihlo. I think she’d gone with him to the edge of the Sograssy Sea; she just stayed in the woods so no one would see her.
“My uncle is interested in goblins’ rights; Lurinda’s goals are more personal. I think she started the whole thing because she wanted revenge against Titania, but it’s gone beyond that now. Lurinda wants what Titania has—respect, power and control—and she’s willing to do just about anything to get it.”
“And then I came here on my own,” said Tamisin.
“Lurinda is a master at manipulating people. She would have gotten you here one way or another if you’d refused to come.”
“That’s pretty much what Gammi said. We had a long conversation. I like her a lot.”
“Good,” said Jak, smiling into her eyes. “So do I. But that still doesn’t explain how you got down here.”
“Gammi unlocked the door and we’re supposed to go back to her room. She’ll hide us until morning and let us out before anyone is up.”
“It sounds as if you two have it all figured out.”
“We do. So if you’re ready …”
Jak had just taken Tamisin’s hand when he heard voices echoing in the tunnel. This time there was no mistaking who they were. “Quick,” he said, pulling her toward the wall. “The goblins are coming. They’re early today. You’ll have to hide on the other side. I don’t want to find out what they’d do to you if they discovered you here.”
The hipporines had also heard the goblins; the sound of their voices had sent the beasts into a rage.
“But what about them?” Tamisin asked, gesturing toward the hipporines.
“If we hurry, I can get you to a place where you’ll be safe.” Jak linked his fingers together and crouched down. “Step on my hands and I’ll help you up.”
“I don’t think I—”
“There isn’t time to argue. Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing. We’ll climb the wall now. Once we’re on top, we have to jump. I’ll go first, then I’ll catch you. The hipporines won’t hurt me, but they don’t like strangers. You’ll be all right as long as I stay between you and them. There’s a ledge on the back wall where the goblins won’t see you and the hipporines can’t reach you. We have to be fast.” Jak braced himself against the stones while Tamisin slipped her foot onto his hand and reached for the top of the wall. He waited while she scrabbled at the stones. A moment later he was crouched beside her, looking down over the other side. He had to admit that the hipporines looked frightening with their ears back and their fangs bared as they milled just below the wall.
“Hey, you miserable excuses for monsters!” called a goblin from the tunnel. “It’s time for breakfast!”
At the sound of the goblin’s voice, the larger hipporines screamed so loudly that Tamisin put her hands over her ears. Jak pointed at the far wall and waited until she nodded. He gave her hand a quick squeeze, then jumped off the wall, landing lightly on his feet. The hipporines moved to surround him the way they always did, but he pushed them back and held up his arms for Tamisin, catching her as if she weighed nothing at all. Jak set her down while the hipporines surged around him, trying to get to Tamisin, craning their necks to snap at her. She was running beside Jak when one of the beasts caught the back of the cape in its mouth and yanked her off her feet. Jak kicked the hipporine, forcing it away from Tamisin while she struggled to stand. She was moving again when the light went out and she realized that she’d dropped it. Tamisin stopped to look behind her. Scooping her into his arms, Jak picked her up and ran. And then they were at the far wall and once again Jak boosted her up. Only this time he didn’t follow.
After gesturing for her to stay down, Jak ran back, hoping to retrieve the gnome light, but it had been trampled to dust before he could reach it. Without slowing his pace, Jak vaulted to the top of the wall, then jumped down to the ground on the other side.
A moment later, three goblins entered the cave lugging grisly sacks of raw, dripping meat. “I hope you’re hungry, beasties!” shouted the goblin who was carrying a pointed hook strapped to a long pole. “Snarp, it’s your turn to feed them.”
“Who made you my boss?” cried Snarp.
“Your mother, when she made you a moron! Now get up there or I’ll use this on you!” the goblin said, waving a hook in Snarp’s face.
Grumbling, Snarp jumped to the top of the wall and began cursing at the snarling, snapping hipporines. Once he’d emptied his sack onto the heads of the beasts, the other two goblins tossed their sacks up to him and he threw that meat as well. When the sacks were empty, two of the goblins left while the third stayed long enough to toss a crust of bread at Jak. The goblin cackled when the crust landed on the ground, then hurried after his companions, shouting at them to slow down.
Jak waited until he could no longer hear their voices before going over the wall. Moments later he was bending over Tamisin where she lay curled on the ledge. She jerked away when he set his hand on her shoulder, and he remembered that she couldn’t see in the near dark. “The goblins are gone,” he said. “You can get down now. The hipporines won’t bother you while they’re eating.”
“I can’t see a thing,” said Tamisin. “I don’t suppose you have a light with you?”
“No, but then I haven’t needed one. Cat goblins can see when it’s this dark.” He heard a scraping sound and a quick indrawn breath. “Let me help you. Here’s my hand. Lean this way … That’s it. Now put your feet over the side.” Jak guided Tamisin as she crawled off the ledge, catching her when she slid the last few feet. He held her hand as they walked to the wall, then helped her over that as well.
“I wish I could make light the way the full-blooded fairies do,” said Tamisin. “All they have to do is beat their wings fast.”
“Have you tried it?” asked Jak.
“No, but I will now,” she said, taking off Gammi’s cape. “There’s plenty of room here. Stand back and let me see what I can do.”
Jak was amazed when Tamsin’s wings unfurled behind her. They were much bigger and more powerful than he’d imagined. The breeze they created when she moved them stirred up a small dust storm, making Jak’s eyes sting.
“Nothing’s happening,” Tamisin said eventually. “I didn’t really think I’d … Wait, did you see that?” she asked, suddenly sounding excited. “There was a glimmer, I’m sure of it! Hold on. Let me see …” Tamisin was panting now, her breath coming in short, sharp gasps as she beat her wings faster and faster. “There! I can see you. You don’t need to look so surprised.”
“I’
m not. I just didn’t expect it to work so well.” He coughed, squinting at her through air now thick with yellow-brown motes. “You don’t have to beat your wings that fast. It’s too bright, and the dust…”
“Oh, sorry,” Tamisin said, slowing her wings to a less frenzied pace. She glanced at the entrance to the cave. “Do you suppose the door is still unlocked?”
“I hope so,” said Jak. “Otherwise we’re both trapped down here.”
Tamisin walked up the tunnel, beating her wings more slowly as she learned just how fast she needed to move them to create light. Jak followed, seeing the tunnel with real light for the first time. It seemed shorter that way, and they reached the end before he knew it.
While Tamisin stood to the side, still beating her wings, Jak tried the latch. It was locked. “Do you think you can change it like you did that door back at the inn?” she asked.
“I tried that before you got here. It didn’t work. The gnomes probably made the lock just like they did the one on the front door. Nothing can open that lock except the key that goes with it. But I’ll try again anyway.” After setting his hand on the door, Jak closed his eyes to focus on the lock and what he wanted it to become. A glob of raspberry jelly, he thought. That wouldn’t keep anything out. He could feel the tingling sensation, so when it grew strong enough, he pushed with his mind. Nothing happened except he got a pounding headache and the taste of raspberry jelly in his mouth.
“I didn’t think it would work,” he said. “We’re both trapped now. We should return to the cave in case someone comes back. My uncle must be up to something if he had his goblins feed the hipporines so early.”
“Are you sure there isn’t any other way out?” Tamisin asked as they turned around. “Could there be another door that the goblins don’t use very often?”
“Nothing that we can use,” said Jak. “Believe me, I’ve looked.”