by JL Bryan
Chapter Thirteen
Icarus knelt on the golden hexagon tiles in the Queen’s court. Queen Mab sat high above him on her golden throne, wearing a royal blue wig with ropelike braids that draped all over her throne, and a black dress inset with gold and diamonds. She gazed down at him with a stern, cold look in her golden eyes.
It was long after sunset, and the throne room had been cleared of all courtiers, petitioners and other visitors. Icarus was alone with the Queen, which was scary. With no witnesses, she could easily grow angry and impulsive enough to kill him where he knelt.
“And so,” Queen Mab said, “Hoke the Swamp Elf has failed us. This means you have failed, Icarus.”
“I apologize deeply,” Icarus said. “Your Majesty wanted this matter kept quiet, so I thought it would be wise to hire such a hermit, with his unicorns—”
“But it was not wise,” the Queen interrupted.
“No, Your Majesty.” Icarus bowed his head. “I beg your forgiveness.”
“And you have failed to keep the matter quiet,” Queen Mab said. “The Queensguard has been all over the city. You’ve turned Goblin Row upside down with your searches. You have found nothing, but you have made a lot of noise.”
“It is difficult to ask around about stolen items, without describing the items for which you are searching,” Icarus said.
“And now gossip and rumor has spread,” the Queen said. “We are fortunate that our friends at Riddlepun Publishing have kept the story out of the papers. Still, many Folk in this city whisper that fairy instruments have been stolen off to man-world, and the Queen is unable to recover them. Do you know what this means?”
“What is that, Your Majesty?”
“It gives Folk a reason to doubt my power!” Queen Mab slammed the butt of her tall royal wand on the floor beside her. The starburst of crystals at the top of the wand glowed bright gold, then unleashed a sizzling lightning bolt at Icarus.
Icarus gasped and rolled aside. The bolt struck the floor where he’d knelt, leaving a long, black smudge across the tile.
Queen Mab rose to her feet.
“All the Folk must know that my will must be obeyed!” she shouted. “They must know I cannot be tricked, deceived, or made to look like a fool!”
“Yes, yes, of course, Your Majesty,” Icarus said quickly. He returned to his kneeling position, but he was ready to jump away in case the Queen lashed out at him again. “I will not hire an outside tracker. I will gather the best warriors in the Queensguard, and we shall go to man-world ourselves. We will recover the stolen instruments.”
“I do not believe so,” the Queen said. “Have you ever been to man-world, Icarus? Or any of your warriors? You are all too young.”
“They are all brave and strong,” Icarus said.
“But not clever,” the Queen said. “Moving among the humans requires cleverness.”
“We can be clever.”
“The humans drove us from their world with iron swords many centuries ago,” the Queen said. “They are short-lived and have tiny little minds, so they have nearly forgotten we exist. We cannot risk being noticed, and I believe a swarm of you with swords and armor would not go unnoticed.”
“Then we will go in disguise,” Icarus said.
“I have a number of gatekeepers in man-world,” Queen Mab said. “They are long practiced at looking human and keeping themselves hidden. I will quietly offer a large bounty of silver for the gatekeeper who recovers those instruments. They will be my hunters among the humans.”
“But, Your Majesty, so many of them are darkfae,” Icarus said. “Twisted by forbidden black magic. Can they be trusted?”
“You should not be so dismissive of dark magic, Icarus,” Queen Mab said. “It can be quite useful.”
“No doubt Your Majesty knows best about such things,” Icarus said quickly.
“You may quietly continue your investigation among the goblins, if you like,” Queen Mab said. “But my agents in man-world will search for this human troupe and their stolen instruments.”