by E. D. Baker
“Who said that?” Aislin asked. When she saw that Twinket was still asleep and she couldn’t spot anyone else in the room, she decided that she must have dreamt it.
She had just closed her eyes when the voice said, “I’m down here. I didn’t think it would be polite to climb onto your bed uninvited, but I will if you want me to. It won’t be easy though—your bed is hanging from the ceiling.”
Aislin sat up with a start. She’d suddenly recognized the voice and knew just where to look. Peering over the edge of the bed, she saw Kimble, the spriggan girl, gazing up at her.
“I do need you,” Aislin said. “I want you to be one of my mestari, if you’re interested. You’ll be my companion and champion and guard all rolled into one. It’s going to be a very prestigious position.”
“I wouldn’t have come all this way on the back of a wild boar if I wasn’t interested,” said Kimble.
“You rode a boar?” Twinket asked, making the bed shiver as she stalked across it.
Kimble nodded. “I’m afraid of flying, so that fairy—I think his name was Peri—put out a call for an animal to carry me. A grumpy old boar was the first one to come, so I rode him all the way here.”
Twinket leaned over the side of the bed to see her. “That explains why you smell like a pig. You need a bath.”
“And you need to learn some manners,” Kimble replied. “What are you, anyway? You don’t look real.”
“I’m real!” Twinket exclaimed. “I’m a real living doll. And you’re a spriggan. I’ve seen your kind in Deephold when I’ve visited with Aislin.”
The little spriggan girl yawned and looked around. “I really need to sleep. I’ve been up all night holding onto that boar’s stinky bristles. Are we all sleeping in here or do I get a room, too?”
“You get your own room,” Aislin hurried to say. “And welcome to Fairengar,” she added as an afterthought.
“Fairengar, huh? It sounds like someplace fairies would live.” Kimble smacked her palm against the side of her head. “Oh, right—it is. I really need some sleep.”
Chapter 9
Kimble was still in Aislin’s room when a heart-stopping roar shattered the early morning quiet. “What was that?” the spriggan girl asked, her hand going to a dagger on her belt.
“That was an angry orc,” Twinket explained. “And since there’s only one orc in the palace right now, I’d say that had to be Deela.”
Aislin shoved her feet into her slippers as she said, “We need to go see what’s wrong.”
“Who is Deela?” Kimble asked.
“Another one of my mestari,” Aislin told her. “I guess you’re about to get your introduction.”
Aislin led the way to the hall with the two little girls hurrying behind her. When she opened the door, she heard angry voices shouting just a few doors away.
“I’ll rip your head off if you don’t undo that right now!” bellowed the orc.
“I’m not undoing anything!” a fairy screamed back. “Let me go!”
Following the voices, Aislin ran to the third door down the hall and threw it open. The orc girl was standing in the middle of the room holding a hairbrush in one hand and a tiny fairy in the other. From the shock of blue hair that she could see, Aislin guessed that the furious fairy was Hydrangea. The rest of her, including her wings and arms, was trapped inside Deela’s hand.
“What is going on?” Aislin demanded as Poppy and Lin ran into the room. Poppy was wearing an ugly mud-colored nightgown that made Lin stop and look at her.
“This creature snatched me out of the air and won’t let me go!” Hydrangea cried as she struggled to get free.
“I caught this pipsqueak putting nettles in my hairbrush,” Deela said, glaring at the fairy. “I just got here and she’s already playing tricks on me. I don’t even know her!”
Two fairy guards flew into the room and turned big as soon as they landed.
“I’ve got this handled,” Aislin told them. “I think I know what’s going on here. Deela, please put Hydrangea down. She’s not going anywhere right now.”
Deela brought the fairy close to her face and growled, “This isn’t over yet. You’d better not leave until the princess says you can go.” Grunting, she set the fairy on the floor.
A moment later, Hydrangea was full-sized and so angry that her face was red. “How dare you treat me like that, you … you orc!”
“Let me see that brush,” Aislin said, holding out her hand. The brush was full of nettles that would snag the hair of anyone who tried to use it. When she turned to Hydrangea, she saw a bulge in the fairy’s pocket and some nettles stuck to the outside. “Why did you do this?” she asked the fairy.
“Because you made her one of your ladies-in-waiting!” the fairy blurted out. “That job should have been mine, not some horrible orc with fangs and talons who smells like a bat.”
Deela snarled, showing off her sharply pointed fangs. Her eyes glinted red as she glared at Hydrangea. The fairy shrank back, her face turning pale.
“They’re called mestari now, and the ladies I chose were the most qualified,” said Aislin. “As such, they deserve your respect. If anyone is rude or unkind to them, that fairy will have to answer to me. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Hydrangea nodded, although she didn’t look happy about it.
“Lin and I were on patrol,” Deela told them. “When we got back, a fairy was waiting for us and he said we had to come right away. He made us small and summoned bats for us to ride. I was too tired to take a bath once we got here.”
“Did Hydrangea do anything to you?” Aislin asked as she turned to Lin.
The pedrasi girl shrugged. “I don’t know if it was her, but somebody put gravel in my bed.”
“What about you, Poppy?” Aislin said, turning to her friend.
“I wasn’t going to tell you, because I wanted to deal with it myself,” said Poppy, “but when I got back to my room after the fittings, someone had turned all my clothes the color of mud and put snail slime in my shoes.”
Aislin turned to Hydrangea and frowned. “Did you do that, too?”
“No,” the fairy said, looking surly.
“Do you know who did?” asked Aislin.
The fairy shook her head.
“Then it was probably another fairy I turned down,” said Aislin. “Maybe more than one. Didn’t any of you hear Queen Surinen say that she wanted you to help my mestari feel welcome and comfortable here? Did you think that was just a suggestion?”
“Uh, no?” Hydrangea said as if she wasn’t sure of the answer.
“I want you to remove all the nettles you put in this brush. Make it even cleaner than it was before. Queen Surinen wants me to tell her if any fairies do anything unkind to my ladies. I think this qualifies. Return to your room and stay there until Queen Surinen sends for you. Do you understand that I’ve just given you an order, not a suggestion?”
Hydrangea’s face had gone pale when she said, “Yes, Your Highness.”
“Deela, make sure there’s nothing in your bed, then get some sleep,” Aislin told her. “That goes for the rest of my ladies, too. You all have a busy day ahead of you and I want you well rested. Once the palace moves, you might not get the chance to sleep in again for a long time.”
Although Aislin would have loved to go back to bed, she already had too many things to do. She knew that Queen Surinen was an early riser, and that the news of what had happened would spread. If Aislin didn’t hurry, she wouldn’t be the first to tell the queen. Not wanting her grandmother to get a slanted version of the story, Aislin returned to her rooms and dressed as quickly as she could. She found her grandmother in her chambers sipping dandelion tea from a tulip cup.
“Good morning,” said the queen. “I hear you’ve had some excitement today. My guards were already here. They told me what they’d seen.”
“It wasn’t the kind of excitement we need,” Aislin replied. “It seems that some of your fairies are ready to take ou
t their feelings on my mestari after all.”
“What do you think we should do about it?” asked Queen Surinen. “I could remove their ability to fly for a month, or ban them from the festivities we have planned.”
“I thought about it on my way here,” said Aislin. “Instead of punishing them, maybe we should get them to help. Peri has been awfully busy bringing people to the palace, so I doubt he’s been able to notify everyone about the move. I’m sure there are still fey who don’t know that you’re returning to the human lands. We want everyone to know about the move, even in the farthest reaches of the land between the mountains, so everyone can decide if they want to stay here or go. We don’t want anyone to be left behind by mistake, like what happened the last time the palace moved. I think we should tell the fairies that we need them to go out as temporary messengers to spread the word. They won’t have the time or the energy to get into trouble if they’re doing something useful.”
“That’s a marvelous idea!” said the queen. “I already have other messengers notifying the fey in the forest, but we could certainly use the help. I suspect that some of the fairies you turned down have gotten rather lazy and thought that being one of your ladies-in-waiting would give them power and prestige without doing much work. It’s time they made themselves useful, so I’ll give them a choice. They either volunteer to help, or they can stay here and be grounded for a month.”
Aislin smiled. “I’d be surprised if they thought that was a real choice.”
Once again Queen Surinen summoned the fairies who had put their names on the list. When they were all assembled, she told them that she held them all responsible for the tricks played on the mestari. After giving them the choices she’d discussed with Aislin, she added, “Those of you who harass any of Princess Aislin’s mestari from this time on will be banished from court and unable to return for one hundred years.”
The fairies had been casting furtive glances at each other, but they all gasped and stared at the queen when she mentioned banishment. Aislin well knew that the fairies who lived at the palace loved the luxury and excitement of the fairy court and that none of them would want to risk that. She wasn’t at all surprised when the fairies flocked to volunteer.
With only a few days before the fairy palace returned to the human world, everyone was busy. The new fairy messengers flew off right away while the fey who had decided to stay in the land between the mountains said goodbye to their friends and left the palace with their possessions. The fey who lived in the forest and wanted to return to the human lands came to the palace where they would stay until after the move. All the fey who took care of the palace and those who lived in it dashed around, seeing that no one forgot anything when they left and that all the new arrivals had rooms to stay in and everything they needed. It helped that magic kept the rooms clean, but magic didn’t keep fey from getting lost in the vast palace or struggling to find seats in the great hall for supper.
Aislin let her newly arrived mestari sleep in, but by midday Sage and Parsley were eager to get started on their gowns. Lin was the first one up, so they started on hers. An hour later they were working on gowns for Deela as well. When Aislin went to check on them, she found that the pedrasi girl was upset.
“We can’t fight in these things!” Lin cried, holding out the skirt of a green gown that matched her eyes. “I don’t mind dressing up to help you, but not in something that makes it hard to run or wield my hammer.” She pointed to the war hammer leaning up against the wall. Like all pedrasi weapons, it was weighted for battle and looked quite formidable.
“The same goes for me,” said Deela, who had heard them from an adjoining room. She stuck her head in the door and scowled. “We’re fighters, not bits of fluff who sit around looking pretty. Your seamstresses can make our clothes look nice, but they have to give us freedom to move and do what we need to do.”
The princess nodded. “You’re right. I didn’t think of that. Can you manage to make what they want?” she asked Sage.
“Well, yes. I suppose,” the fairy replied. “I know the kinds of things your ladies like now. Let Parsley and me see what we can do.”
“Good,” said Aislin. “Then come with me, ladies. I want to introduce you to some people. Has anyone seen Kimble?”
“We did her gowns this morning,” Parsley told her. “She said that she never sleeps for long and was up and about hours ago. The last we saw of her, she was going somewhere with Twinket.”
Aislin grinned. “Then she’s in good hands. I’m sure Twinket will show her things that would never occur to me to put on my tour.”
Poppy joined Aislin, Lin, and Deela when they passed her rooms. The four of them were old friends and had lots to discuss. However, as they approached the royal suites and saw the guards in the hallway, the two new arrivals grew quiet. When Queen Surinen bade them enter, both Lin and Deela seemed nervous, especially when they saw that the king was there talking to his wife.
“Your Majesties,” Aislin began, “I’d like to introduce two of my new ladies-in-waiting to you. Tourmaline and Deela have both been guards in Deephold. I’ve known them for many years and have found them to be honest and trustworthy.”
“Welcome to Fairengar,” Queen Surinen said, smiling gently. It was part of the fairy queen’s magic to be able to terrify visitors or put them at ease when she willed it. Both Lin and Deela relaxed and smiled back.
“We’re pleased that our granddaughter made such good choices for her ladies-in-waiting,” the queen told them. “I’m sure you will help her in whatever capacity she needs.”
“We intend to,” Lin said, patting the place where her war hammer usually hung from her belt, forgetting that it wasn’t there.
The king noticed her gesture. When he glanced at the queen, she nodded.
“I’m about to show Lin and Deela around the palace,” Aislin told her grandparents.
“We were just going to send for you,” said the king. “Perhaps Poppy can take them instead.”
“I’d be happy to show them around,” Poppy said. “Your Majesties.” She bowed before backing out of the room with Lin and Deela following her example.
“You received a note from Salianne’s parents,” Queen Surinen told Aislin, gesturing to a huge leaf draped over a nearby table. “It seems that they appreciate the honor of the offer, but feel that their daughter isn’t old enough for such a task. How old did you say she is?”
“She’s sixteen,” Aislin replied. “I’m sorry they feel that way. It really is too bad, because I think Salianne would have liked to come, but her parents have always been strict.”
“I’d prefer that giant parents are strict with their children rather than letting them run wild,” said the king. “Undisciplined giants often get into trouble.”
“There was something else we wanted to discuss,” Queen Surinen said. “We’ll be moving the palace tomorrow. When we do, we’ll need your help and that of your parents. We moved it to the land between the mountains without anyone’s assistance, but we think that everything will go much more smoothly with your added magic.”
“I don’t know what I could do,” said Aislin.
“Your being here will be enough,” the king replied. “Queen Surinen and I will handle everything.”
The night before the move, Aislin was too excited to get much sleep. It was still dark out when she climbed out of bed and got dressed. She was supposed to eat breakfast in Queen Surinen’s chambers with her family, so she hurried down the hallway, certain that her grandparents would be up getting ready.
Everyone but Timzy was already there, eating nut and seed cakes, and drinking juice from tulip cups. When they had all finished, Queen Surinen said, “It’s time for us to begin. All we need you to do is stand behind us and set your hands on our shoulders. We can draw magical strength from you when we need it. Don’t budge once we get started. The move itself won’t take long.”
King Darinar and his queen sat in two chairs facing the window and r
eached for each other’s hands. Aislin’s parents took their places behind the chairs, leaving room for the princess to stand between them. All three set one hand on Queen Surinen’s shoulder and one on King Darinar’s. Nothing seemed to happen at first. While she waited, Aislin glanced out the window at the forest and could see that the sun was just starting to come up. The colors were vibrant, and the dew on the leaves sparkled with silver and gold flecks. Suddenly Aislin’s fingers began to tingle and she felt a weird thrumming running through her. The palace seemed to shift beneath her feet as the view through the window became gray and fuzzy. A sound like rushing water filled the air. Bright streaks of light shot past the window and the entire palace began to shake. There was a sensation of movement, a small bump, and the sound stopped. Once again Aislin could see a forest outside the window, but this forest was duller with muted colors and no sparkle or shine. She remembered how dull the human world had looked during her last visit and knew that they had arrived.
Within moments of setting down, the doors to the palace opened and the fey darted out to explore. Aislin was still looking out the window when she saw the colors begin to brighten and streaks of light trace designs in the shadows of the forest as the fairies exulted in their arrival. Magic had returned to the human world. Anything could happen now.
Chapter 10
“Are you ready to go, Father?” King Carrigan asked King Darinar.
“Where are you going?” Aislin asked them.
“To open the Magic Gate,” King Darinar told her. “We never intended to keep it closed forever.”
“But we won’t be leaving it unguarded,” her father assured Aislin. “Two magic guardians will watch over the pass. Only those with good intentions will be allowed to enter the land between the mountains.”
“They’ll be back soon,” Queen Surinen said. “Your grandfather and I still have much to do here.”
Aislin wasn’t sure she liked the idea that humans would be able to freely enter the land between the mountains. Good intentions were one thing, but what would the humans actually do? When the two fairy men left the room, Aislin turned to her mother. “They’re going to let humans in? Is Father really going to trust what they say? You know that humans often lie.”