by Adam Rex
“The lady Morenwyn had been kidnapped,” he began. “Taken by her witch of a mother, the lady Fray.”
CHAPTER 6
“Why was she a witch?” asked Polly.
“She was a sorceress,” Fi answered. “The only one born in a generation. Pixie magic is rare, but powerful. We aren’t all possessed of little glimmers like the Fay.”
“But why not call her a sorceress or … enchantress or something? Seems like a witch is just a sorceress who doesn’t get asked to parties.”
“Do you want to hear this story?”
“Sorry.”
“One by one my brothers quested to rescue Morenwyn, and one by one they disappeared. Only I was left, so I hunted for a sea crow that Fray might once have used as a steed, and when I found such a creature I asked it to take me home to its mistress.”
“You can talk to birds?” asked Polly.
“Forsooth.”
“Can you teach me to talk to birds?”
“No,” said Prince Fi. “So: I flew north over the Irish Sea on the chough’s back, shivering from cold, shivering with the thrill that soon I would see my brothers again, and sable-haired Morenwyn. In my reverie I’d scarcely noticed that the bird was plunging down toward something jagged and dark rising out of the ocean, like a colossal bit of backbone. Then I saw this was a castle, larger and stranger than any I’d seen. It was squat and bowlegged, jutting up from a forsaken strip of rock and strutted with buttresses and staircases too monumental for any pixie. Blunt stone towers jutted out at impossible angles like new antlers. A web of windowpanes comprised the whole of one end of the fortress, as delicate as a snowflake but tall as a tree. The chough sailed toward it and might have taken me directly into Fray’s sitting room if I hadn’t the presence to leap off its back and onto the parapet.”
“Parapet?”
“Yes, parapet. The … toothy bits on the tops of castles.”
“Oh, right.”
“How I wished for the ancient times of story and song when the great Spirit had cloven the hours ’tween night and day. I might then have waited for cover of darkness before acting. Instead I steadied myself against the salty wind and vaulted over the parapet. I slid slowly down the sloping castle wall and caught hold of the first window ledge I encountered. And now I pried open the wide windows with my sword and tumbled into the warm scarlet bedchamber of the most alluring pixie woman on a thousand shores.
“Morenwyn leaped to her feet and dropped her sewing. She had been mending some white sail or tent that lay curdled all about on the floor. Now she stood, tall and proud, brandishing her sewing needle. Her hair like a storm cloud, her face as rare as a night sky. The lost stars, remembered in her eyes.”
Here Fi seemed suddenly to compose himself, and shift uncomfortably atop Polly’s ponytail.
“So she was pretty?” asked Polly.
“No, not pretty. Not merely pretty. She was the dream of the world. She looked down on me, kneeling in the folds of that white tent, or sail, and sighed.
“‘And finally Fi,’ she said. ‘Goody.’
“‘Lady.’ I bowed.
“‘That’s the last of the princes, now. Who’s next after you lot, the dukes? Are the dukes going to rescue me next? Just tell me how long I’ve got before it’s butlers and washerwomen.’
“‘Lady,’ I said. ‘I am here for my brothers, and for you, if you need a champion. Do you need a champion?’
“Morenwyn covered her plum mouth then, with her fingers. ‘You’re asking?’
“‘I am asking if you require rescuing.’
“I didn’t get my answer,” Fi told Polly, “not then. For the window beside me shattered, and the white hand of a giant yanked me out by my cloak. I was whipped through the air, half choking, and understood that Morenwyn was mending neither sail nor tent as a shirtless monster of a man dangled me in front of his thick, bovine face.
“He was on the tallest landing of a staircase outside her bedroom. It sickened me that he’d been watching us there.
“‘Gentle!’ Morenwyn called from the window. ‘Don’t hurt him!’
“‘Won’t.’ The giant grinned. ‘Much.’
“‘I like to think,’ I rasped, ‘that she was talking to me.’ And then I reached as high as I could and drove my sword beneath the giant’s black fingernail.
“He howled and I dropped, holding my shield like a canopy above me to slow my fall. I caught hold of his leg on the way down and slid into the rolled cuff of his pants, where I huddled and waited. It was nauseating, being lurched this way and that as the giant turned about on the slick bricks, searching for me. He peered over the edge of the landing to the rocks below.
“‘Where he go?’ the monster bellowed. ‘You see?’
“I heard Morenwyn say, ‘Sorry, Nim, lost track.’
“The monster rushed off and wist not that he had a passenger. He took me to the mouth of a dry sea cave and down beneath that cathedral of rock, to a fire pit where sat four other giants in queer and mismatching dress.
“‘Pixie man!’ my giant, Nim, told them. ‘Help me find!’
“Three of the giants jumped to attention and made ready to follow. A fourth giant, wearing only his undergarment, hesitated. Nim took a serious tone.
“‘You come also, Rudesby. New ones must come when Nim say.’
“When this Rudesby spoke, his language was strange, the accent unfamiliar.
“‘Pleez.’ He seemed to plead. ‘Aye juhst haave too tahlk too thaat tynee wumman. Aye dohnt beelahng heer!’
“Nim grappled with Rudesby and pulled him along by the ear, and that’s when I jumped free of his pant leg, dashed across the sand, and tucked myself into the shadows until they were gone.
“‘Pleez!’ Rudesby struggled as Nim led him aboveground, his voice getting washed out by the sea air. ‘Aye juhst wahna goh hohwm!’
“I ventured deeper into the cave, this cave that must form a hollow under Fray’s castle, then scrambled up a set of steep and rough-hewn steps until I noticed another staircase of pixie proportions running parallel to the first. I climbed for an age, toward faint light. Finally I came to find a kind of metal grate, albeit one so large I could just squeeze up through its openings, and found above it the largest room I have ever seen.
“I think you’d call it vast even by human measure. Vast enough to hold hundreds of humans, or even to play a match of that sport of yours, with the basket and the ball?”
“Basketball,” said Polly.
“Yes. Basket and ball. What is the sport called?”
“It’s called basketball. That’s what we call it.”
“Ah, of course. You are the poets of the new world. So: I could see that the castle was immense on my approach to the island, but never could I have guessed that below Morenwyn’s bedchamber it housed little more than one cavernous void, lit on its end by the tall leaded window I’d seen outside. Here was a room like the belly of a whale, with stone ribs buttressing the margins, each curving to the floor and pointing toward a golden monument in the center. The monument was almost ten pixies high, broader than it was wide, taller than it was broad. It was inlaid with silver, symbols, jewels, and it looked like a flaming sword against the ruby sky, framed in that vast and faceted window.
“The air in here was teeming with motes of dust.
“An animal voice screeched in the darkness, high above. I crept around the edge of the chamber. I had no wish to see the golden monument any closer—there was something distinctly Fay about it—and my duty was to my brothers. And to Morenwyn, I thought, if she would have me.
“But then the dust in the air shone like fire, the room lit with ten thousand tiny lights.
“‘Aha,’ said a voice like a growling house cat. ‘Fi, is it? You princes are positively interchangeable.’
“A pixie woman stood far off, on the dais near the base of the monument. I don’t like to say that she looked like her daughter, but of course she did. She resembled her daughter like the charco
al resembles the tree. She was dressed in the rags and ribbons of a hermit.
“‘Well met, Lady Fray,’ I said, and touched at the pommel of my sword. ‘You keep a lovely home. Airy.’
“‘Yes, I do think the airiness is its best feature.’
“‘Anyone else would have cluttered up the place with furniture, things. But you know all a person really needs is one good gold monolith.’
“‘That,’ Fray agreed, ‘and I find nothing really complements a monolith like a stupendously large tapestry.’ Fray gestured to the wall opposite the giant window, and now I saw something that before had been shrouded in darkness: a woven tapestry depicting two overlapping spheres, stabbed through their hearts by some sharp stake, and all the heavens torn asunder by fierce light. And beneath that: a multitude of people great and small, all weeping. ‘I wove it in a day and a night,’ Fray added, though this could only be a lie. ‘I don’t remember a moment of it. But I emerged from my trance with cracked and bleeding hands and looked at what I’d created—a vision of the end of all things.’
“I didn’t know what to say. It was a bit modern for my tastes.
“‘So,’ said Fray, stepping forward. ‘Here for Morenwyn, I suppose?’
“‘That is her decision to make. I’m here for my brothers.’
“Fray lifted her brow and nodded, as if in approval. ‘At last, a worshipful son of Denzil. What a shame. Be a sport, will you? Make a pretty speech about freeing my poor daughter and leading the armies of pixiedom to my doorstep. It makes this next bit so much easier.’
“Fray whistled, and the floor grate lifted. Five giants, the same five I’d seen underground, climbed up into the chamber and formed a half circle around the monolith. The one called Rudesby was still being manhandled by the others. Fray gestured and muttered, and hurled a dart of light from her fingertips that struck the stone floor where I’d been standing only a moment before. I didn’t think my pixie shield would protect me from this witchcraft. But I maneuvered to keep the golden tower between us, thankful at last for its Fay magic. Fray cast another spell, but the monument blew it like a wind, swept it off course.
“‘Nim?’ said Fray.
“‘Rudesby!’ barked Nim. ‘You first! New ones always first!’
“He prodded Rudesby in the back, and the half-naked giant stumbled forward. ‘Aye’m saahry!’ he told me, advancing. ‘Pleez dohn’t hurt mee! Aye haffa wyfe in Sanfransisgoh!’
“He lurched at me, bent at the waist, fumbling with outstretched arm. I ran up the length of that arm, stabbed him in the ear, then leaped off his shoulders. Grabbing hold of his underpants, I arrested my fall, then dropped again to the floor behind his left heel and sliced his tendon. He dropped, clutching his head.
“‘Tapping owt!’ Rudesby said, slapping the floor. ‘Aye’m tapping owt!’
“‘Worthless,’ grumbled Nim. ‘Clara! Tom-Tom! Marty! Go!’
“Fray came around the golden tower, calling forth some new spell from the ether, but now her own giants blocked her sight. The three of them surrounded me, but like the pixie heroes of old, I confounded them. Three giants hunting the same pixie could only get in each other’s way. They struck heads, crossed arms. I sliced one in the toe, and he was compelled to tackle another, while the third searched for me among their flailing limbs. But then I made my great error and saw nothing protecting me from Fray’s mischief. She spoke, and I was blinded by light, and a moment later I could see but could not move.
“Again, some piercing voice called out from above.
“‘There,’ said Fray. ‘By the Spirit, you’re a clever mouse. I see why she likes you.’
“Fray stepped aboard Nim’s hand and disembarked again after he’d brought her only inches from my face. To say that I strained with every muscle against Fray’s enchantment would be a lie. I could not do even that. Only my mind raged against its cage.
“‘Wonderful thing, this magic,’ said Fray. ‘I wish you could see yourself. It’s like the thinnest coat of glass. You needn’t eat, or drink, or even breathe. You’ll never die. But you’ll never move again either, so here’s hoping you end up someplace with a view.’
“She circled around me and was joined again by her giants.
“‘This world is truly dying,’ she whispered in my ear. ‘I know I’ve said that before. And when I said it before, all the kingdom turned against me. Suddenly all my useful little spells, the magic arts that enchanted your own sword and shield, branded me a witch. Well, now—here’s good news: I’m going to send you to a place without magic. A tedious groan of a place. You were so good with my giants, so I will send you to a world of giants.’
“‘Mother,’ said Morenwyn behind her.
“‘Daughter.’ Fray turned and answered. ‘You’ve been attracting flies again. Look at this dirty little thing I’ve caught.’
“‘Mother, I think he’s different.’
“‘Oh, they’re all different. Our differences make us special, darling—I think I saw an embroidered pillow once to that effect.’
“‘I’ll deal with Fi,’ said Morenwyn. ‘Please. Leave me with him.’
“‘We can’t let him go, Morenwyn. If he told the elves—’
“‘Why would he tell the elves?’
“‘Morenwyn,’ the witch said flatly. ‘You know what’s at stake.’
“I thought they both might have looked across to the tapestry then. It was hard to say. Morenwyn sighed.
“‘I will do what needs to be done,’ she said. ‘But I will do it.’
“‘Fine. Good. I’ll leave Nim to help you.’
“And Fray and the other giants did leave us then. Morenwyn stood before me. I would have bowed if I could.
“‘You always stood out, Fi,’ she said. ‘Even at your father’s court, even when you were all stumbling over one another to impress me with your contests. I could tell you let Fee win sometimes.’
“I could neither confirm nor deny this at the time, though in the interest of accuracy I’ll admit it’s true.
“‘Of course you know that Fee was here just before you. He didn’t ask me if I wanted a champion. He had me three-quarters rescued before he even asked me how I was doing.’
“I smiled then, in my mind.
“‘I was never kidnapped. I liked neither the warp nor weft of the future they were weaving me at court, so I sent for my mother. I tried to tell Fee this. Then Mother caught Fee, and she brought him here.’ Morenwyn strode briskly toward one wall, and Nim lifted me up and followed. Where she stopped there was a low stone stall, a pixie-sized stall, jutting out from the wall, and an octagon traced in chalk. She seemed to be taking some care not to get too close. ‘All of your brothers were brought here. Did Mother tell you about the doors?’
“No, I whispered back in my thoughts.
“‘Mother learned from her travels that the world is shrinking, dying. She meditated on this for a long time. And then she had the vision of the tapestry! And she learned more. There are doors all across the world, and they can’t be seen. Most, most by far, only open and close for a moment, and rarely in the same place twice. They lead to another world. A world, as my mother told you, without magic. A world without pixies or elves or any magical creature, she thinks. She’s explored but a little of it.
“‘But some of these doors, certain special doors, are open for weeks at a time. Rarer still are the doors that are always open. The Fay are desperate to find such doors. And we have four of them.’
“She gestured at the chalk octagon.
“‘This one goes to a kind of twin England. We know it to be filled with humans. Now look up there.’
“She raised her arm straight in the air, pointed at something too high and too dark to see. But then she tightened her fingers, and the motes of light far above us burned brighter. A crooked tower tunneled up from the castle ceiling. Across the base of it was strung a strong net. Near the top of it perched a dozen eagles.
“‘There’s a door up there, too. I
t opens onto a cliff face high above a desert. From time to time a human on the other side falls through and trades places with one of our eagles. We catch him in our net, and he joins our … happy family. I’m told Nim’s grandfather came here this way.’
“‘Yes’m,’ said Nim.
“‘The one they’re calling Rudesby joined us only weeks ago.’
“She paused and looked at the tapestry.
“‘There’s a door there, too.’
“After a moment she motioned to Nim, and he carried us both past the golden monolith and to another corner. There was a larger stall here, a gaping octagon.
“She stepped down lightly onto the floor. ‘The Fay want to find doors so they can escape this world, invade another, but Mother says they’ve turned wicked. She’s foreseen that the fairies will tear both worlds apart with their folly, and she fears that you’ll reveal her secret, tell them about these doors. She’d have me send you through that first door, to the human town. Like she did your brothers. I think … I think Mother’s too careless in sending good pixies there. I won’t send you through the second door either, which I understand leads to certain death. And the third’s a frozen desert. But this one,’ she said, nodding at the octagon, ‘nothing ever goes in or out of here.’
“Nim set me down inside the stall, right in front of the octagon. He set me down facing the wall.
“‘Mother says we’ll have to go through to the other world one day, too. She says our world is drying up. I think she’s saving this door for us. I’ll send you through, and you’ll be awaiting us when we come! Surely by then mother could be convinced to undo her spell.’
“‘Good-bye, Fi,’ she added. ‘May the Spirit keep you.’
“I did not know what I was waiting for, then,” Fi told Polly. “I did not know how the rifts worked, that a body had to change places with something of similar size on the other side to make the Crossing. So I stood rigidly in silence for a while, listening to Morenwyn breathe behind me.”