“What now?” asked Leanna. “If we stay on here, we’ll blow away.”
The train was getting faster and colder by the minute.
“Her Highness will go to our allies in Milano,” said Gledit, trying to smooth his ruffling leaves.
“You,” I pointed at my worthless master secretary, “be quiet. You’re the reason we’re in this mess.”
Gledit shut his green mouth and I looked at Gerald. “Are we really going north?”
He nodded yes.
“To The Reich’s Fae?”
“Eventually. We have to find another way to Rome.”
I looked around. “Any ideas?”
They all just stared at me, even Victory, who was oddly silent. I pointed at the bissabova guard, who was still in Percy’s claw and being pressed, not gently, against the roof of the dining car. “How do we get to Rome by human car?”
The guard had turned a disturbing shade of pink. His mouth moved, but I don’t think there were words coming out.
“Let up a little, Percy,” I said.
Percy lifted his claw and the guard sucked in a big breath, turning red again.
“I don’t know.”
“Squash him, Percy.”
“No, no. I’ll tell you, but we have to leave the train.”
I waved for everyone to get up. Iris pointed at Maraleeza’s body that was inching down the roof by force of the wind. I gathered her body and forced back my tears. Percy picked me up, careful as could be, and we left the speeding train to soar through the night and land on a nearby church steeple.
“First things first. We have to lay Maraleeza to rest,” I said as I gathered them around. All, except the guard. He stayed in Percy’s claw.
“Who is she?” asked Gerald.
“She is the fairy who helped us escape,” I said.
“Maraleeza,” said everyone in unison.
“Iris, would you say a few words?” I asked.
“I can’t,” she said, horrified that I would ask.
“Think of it as your first act as cardinal.”
She bit her lip. “But what should I say?”
“Whatever you think the cardinal in Vienna would say.”
My little sister, who was love, spoke of sacrifice and honor, of love and remembrance. By the time she finished, the guard was in tears.
I wiped my eyes and said, “Percy, will you do it? I’m not strong enough.”
Percy incinerated Maraleeza, the little hobgoblin who kept her end of the bargain and paid dearly for it. I used my good wing to spread her ashes into the night air, saying a silent, “I’m sorry.”
Iris tapped my shoulder. “Victory wants to say something.”
“Well, I don’t want to hear it. Send him with Ovid to find the damumoto.”
Ovid flew off and I looked around. “Where’s the guard?”
Percy stuck his claw out and the guard gulped in fear as he stared at me over a large talon.
“I’m not going to kill you. Tell me the way to Rome,” I demanded.
The guard wouldn’t say anything. We went round and round until Ovid came back.
Iris wiped her eyes. “Victory says the train is gone. The bissabova must’ve had a spell on the damumoto.”
“Great.” I turned on the guard and lit a finger. “Tell me.”
He shook his head. I had to admire his bravery or maybe it was just stupidity. “You won’t kill me. You smell like flowers and happiness. Flowers don’t kill.”
“Obviously, you haven’t tried oleander, but you’re right. I’m not the sort that would kill a prisoner. But,”—I pointed at Ovid who had his head under his wing because he was bad—“he would. Dragons are always hungry and not very picky. Just ask your commander. Oh wait, you can’t.”
The guard paled. “You have to take the E70. It goes straight to Rome.”
“Where’s the E70?”
He looked around, still pale and fidgety. He pointed at a major road. “That’s the A57. It turns into the E70. You just have to go south.”
South sounded right. “How do you know?”
“I’m in the doge’s guard. We go when he travels. The soldiers don’t. It’s too threatening.”
I tried to get a sense of him, but all I felt was tremendous fear. I think he had to go to the bathroom, too. Not useful.
“Alright, but if you’re lying…Leanna will put a curse on you.” I winked at Leanna and she stuttered, “Yeah, I will. I’ll curse you very well.”
“It’s the truth. I swear on my eggs,” he said.
“Drop the bags and get out of here,” I said.
Percy let him go. The guard slithered off the steeple and out of my sight.
“Why did you say that?” asked Leanna, getting the bags. “I’m a nanny.”
“What else do I have? Do male sea serpents lay eggs?”
She shrugged and seemed faintly grossed out. “Can you look at Rickard? He’s been unconscious this whole time.”
I wasn’t crazy about touching the nasty former valet, but seeing as how everyone was looking, I had to. Plus, he looked really bad, deathly pale and completely limp. I checked for a pulse and he had one. But it was very slow and not consistent. His skin felt clammy and his eyelids were mottled yellow. That wasn’t slug cough. He had something else.
“Iris, is he wheezing?” I asked.
She listened and said yes, he was, but not as bad as before. He’d taken the tea I’d sent with Leanna and had been a lot better, talking and ordering everyone around. But then he’d passed out and got all funny.
“What’s wrong with my master secretary?” Iris clasped her hands to her chest.
“I don’t know yet. Let’s find a car to ride to Rome and I’ll figure it out,” I said.
Percy picked me up and we took off, heading for the busy road that the guard had pointed to. I looked back at the steeple where we were leaving Maraleeza and my heart hurt. She’d been desperate and loyal. I should’ve thought of something faster before Victory decided to be Victory.
Ovid found the perfect car, a red one. Gerald was full of facts like engine stuff and horsepower. I didn’t care. It was red and we couldn’t get in. The dragons landed on top and sniffed around, looking for an opening. It sat in a parking lot next to what Gerald called a gas station. He was all excited about it, but the station was grimy and smelled like something mechanical had rotted. Gerald said mechanical things didn’t rot, but the smell said otherwise.
“Pick another car,” I said. “An easier one.”
“No,” said Gerald. “This is the car.”
“If Her Highness wants a different car, we should pick another car,” said Gledit.
“Oh, now you care what I want,” I said.
He blushed a darker green and I laughed. “It’s mostly okay.”
“That hobgoblin is dead.”
I didn’t imagine that he would feel it so keenly. It wasn’t his fault, not directly, anyway. “It’s not your fault.”
“We were there because I went against your orders,” he said. “It’s my fault.”
“It doesn’t matter now. We just have to get to Rome.” I looked over at the cars speeding by in both directions. “How do we know this car is going to Rome? It could be going the other way and we could end up back in Venice.”
Gerald brushed me off. “I know. I’m a genius. You said so.”
“I knew I would pay for that.”
His sallow cheeks colored. “It’s true, right?”
“Er…sure. Who else would know what horsepower this car has?”
Iris mouthed, “Who else would care?”
“I saw that, Iris Whipplethorn,” he said.
“I don’t care, Gerald Whipplethorn.”
Horc waved his arms. “Gerald needs a spank for talking to Iris like that.”
“We don’t spank.” Leanna took him from Iris and wrinkled her nose. “How much fish did you eat?”
“All the fish. I approve of prawns. I need prawns. I am hungry. My te
eth are bored.”
“Teeth don’t get bored.”
“Mine do. I am a spriggan. Teeth are important.”
I crossed my arms. “I notice you’re always a spriggan when you’re hungry.”
“It suits me like greed.”
It did suit him, but since I didn’t have any food, I wished he’d be a little more wood fairy. “Gerald, pick another car.”
“Here he comes,” said Gerald, pointing at a handsome man with dark skin and a fancy suit. He smelled expensive, even from a distance. Sure enough, he walked up to the red car and opened the door.
“Hurry, everyone!” I yelled. “Get in.”
Percy carried me past the man’s nose as he looked at his phone. Ovid and Penelope zipped in after us and placed everyone on the slick leather backseat. They flew up and roosted on the headrest. Ovid made a great show about how fast they were. Since the man was still outside, I didn’t think it was particularly fast, but you can’t tell proud dragons anything.
Ovid lashed his tail and scampered back and forth, leaving scratches and indentations on the leather. The man looked in, puzzled.
“Stop that,” I said. “You’re making too much noise.”
“He cannot see us,” said Horc. “But you are ruining the leather. Stop, lizard.”
Ovid hissed and shot out jets of flame.
“Everybody stop everything,” I said, pointing at Ovid. “Do not pee or poop. I’m watching you.”
Ovid tucked his head under his wing.
“Yeah, yeah. You know you were going to. Gerald, go up to the front and make sure we go in the right direction.”
Gerald flew off with Iris behind him to ‘double check’. The human got in and sniffed. He wasn’t a seer, but he had a good sense of smell. Three rat-sized dragons in one car is a lot. The human reached over and got something that he unwrapped. Horc nearly leapt out of Leanna’s arms. “Food!”
It wasn’t food. It was a weird cardboard thing that the human hung on the rearview mirror that smelled like lemon but not as good.
“I want to eat it,” said Horc.
Leanna struggled to contain him. “It’s paper.”
“It is food. I have not eaten in hours.”
I sighed. “Gledit, will you make a bed for Rickard?”
Gledit got some tissue from a box on the floor to make a comfy nest. Gerald and Iris flew back, arguing about who knew what. I was so tired, I didn’t care. We were going in the right direction and that was the important thing. Gledit and Leanna put Rickard on the nest. His head lolled to the side and his tongue hung out.
Gerald cuddled up to Leanna and Iris asked, “Can you fix my master secretary?”
I dropped to my knees beside Rickard and sighed. I’d rather have gone to sleep or done just about anything else. Instead, I unbuttoned his shirt.
Please don’t let it be the plague.
It wasn’t the plague. It wasn’t anything. Rickard was emaciated and beat-up. The Keeper of the Keys had wanted information badly. Rickard had cuts, bruises, and burns, but he hadn’t confessed. Looking at that roadmap of pain, I had to give it to him. A lesser fairy would’ve confessed to anything to make it stop. But there wasn’t Maraleeza’s horrible lesions or any sign of disease.
“Did he say anything?” I asked Iris. “What hurt?”
Gerald gave me his best look of superiority. “She told you his feet hurt. You weren’t paying attention.”
“I was busy, okay?”
Feet. Are there diseases of the feet?
Leanna and Gledit removed Rickard’s shoes. Actually, they weren’t Rickard’s shoes. He’d never wear those dirt-encrusted work boots. He was more a custom-made wing tips type. Leanna peeled off a pair of rough socks with multiple holes.
“They weren’t like this before,” said Leanna.
Ew. Rickard’s toes were white and his skin was sloughing off. From the toes, there was green veining going up his legs like ropey vines.
Gledit pulled back with a hiss. “Don’t touch him, Your Highness. He’s obviously infested with something.”
“I’m a healer. His healer. I have to touch him.” I crawled down to the creepy feet to sniff them and check out that green stuff.
“I believe it to be a fungus,” said Gerald with his nose in the air.
“Be quiet,” said Iris. “You don’t know.”
“He does know. It’s a fungus,” I said. “He must’ve gotten it in prison or from those nasty shoes.”
“What’ll we do?” asked Iris.
Fidelé climbed off my shoulder and settled on Rickard’s chest. He was vibrating. Iris said he hummed when he did that. I still hadn’t figured out how having a vermillion gargoyle worked. He helped me heal, but I didn’t know how. I stroked him from tip to tail and told him what a good gargoyle he was. Rufus started hissing and running around on my shoulder. I reached up and grabbed him, pressing him to my chest. He glowed red.
“You’re the best lizard. You’re the best lizard.”
Everyone stared at me. Gledit knew I had a fire lizard and a gargoyle, but they were more than just pets. Actually, they weren’t pets at all. I took care of them, but they took care of me right back.
“He gets jealous,” I said.
“Your lizard gets jealous?” asked Gledit.
“Lizards have feelings, too,” said Iris.
Gledit looked doubtful, but Leanna laughed. “They do. So what about Rickard?” She carried over my traveling bag and Grandma Vi’s bag. I looked through them, wracking my brain. Anti-fungal. Anti-fungal. What did Grandma Vi say about fungus? Even if I remembered, I didn’t know what kind of fungus this was. “We’ll have to wait until Rome. I need water and I should ask a healer.”
Gerald frowned. “You mean, you can’t do it.”
“I can’t do it,” I said.
Horc waddled over. “Matilda, can do everything. She only needs to rest. Then she will feed me and fix the villainous valet.”
“He’s my master secretary,” said Iris.
“He will always be a valet to me.” Horc flopped over on the nest, farted, and began snoring.
“Sleep is a good idea,” I said.
I gave Rickard and myself some white willow tincture. I couldn’t make tea because we had no water.
“You must sleep,” said Gledit. “Do you have something in the bags for that?”
“I don’t need it.”
Leanna took my hand and closed her eyes. Then she frowned and her eyes popped open. “I can’t soothe you. You’re not afraid.”
“No, I’m not,” I said. “Why would I be?”
“I’m afraid,” said Leanna.
Everyone nodded, except Victory, who was hidden inside the collar of Iris’s cloak. I wasn’t sure what to do with that. I did get afraid, but we were in a car, going to Rome. “We’re okay,” I said. “Leanna, take off your imperial brooch. We don’t want to give anyone a heads-up.”
She pocketed the brooch and looked at me with fearful eyes.
“I’m telling you we’re okay,” I said.
“For now,” said Iris. “What if the human pope doesn’t see me?”
“What if the bissabova attacked Gianna and her family?” asked Leanna.
I got pelted with fear and questions and I changed my mind. We weren’t so okay.
“How far away is Rome?” I asked Gerald.
“It’s in Lazio region.”
“That means nothing to me. How many hours?”
“Seven, I think.”
“You don’t know?” asked Iris.
“It’s seven,” said Gerald. “I know everything.”
They started bickering and Leanna attempted to soothe the sibling rivalry. I found the valerian tincture on one of the telescoping shelves and gave myself a couple drops. Then Gledit asked if the bissabova would kill the anubis we left behind and I gave myself a third drop. The quick reference said two to five drops for sleep, so three should work.
I laid down next to Rickard, tried not to smell
him, and let the anxiety flow out of my head.
Everything was blurred. Iris came in and out of my vision. I think it was her. What was happening? Someone was lifting me, rolling me over. There was a face and then another. It was dark and cold. Then nothing.
Someone shook me.
“Go away,” I said.
Another shake.
“Stop it. We can’t be there yet.”
Someone slapped me and my eyes flew open. Leanna stood over me with her hands clamped over her mouth.
“Did you hit me?” I asked.
She nodded yes.
“Why? What’d I ever do to you?”
Leanna dropped her hands and started wringing them like she wanted to tear them off. “You wouldn’t wake up.”
“Are we there?”
“He lied.”
“Who?”
“The guard lied.”
I rubbed my eyes and sat up. We were alone and we weren’t in the car. “Where are we?”
“Verona.” Leanna took my hand. “Matilda, I think we’ve been captured.”
“The bissabova?”
She shook her head and her blonde hair came out of its loose bun. “No, they’re wood fairies. They thought we were somebody else, allies of the Capulets. Gledit told them we weren’t, but they took us anyway.”
Leanna told me how the human driver only drove an hour and parked in front of an apartment building. He got out and left. They didn’t know where they were, so they decided just to stay in the car and figure it out in the morning. But only an hour later, there were wood fairies pounding on the windows, demanding to know their allegiance. The fairies broke through the glass and captured them because Victory ordered the dragons not to fight. That didn’t sound like Victory. Since when did he not want to fight?
I looked around. If we’d been captured, this wasn’t half bad. We were in a large chamber with red stone walls hung with thick tapestries. I was on the canopy bed of Iris’s dreams. It was thick and cushy, hung with luxe silk and covered in pillows. A dozen foxfire fungi lit the room with a pleasant green glow. “Did you tell them who I am?”
To the Eternal (Away From Whipplethorn Book Five) Page 18