“Down here.”
Surely it couldn’t have been…
Trix bent himself in half and stared into the fixed eyes of Sassy’s severed head. “Sassy?”
The horse blinked.
“Oh, Sassy! It is you!”
Saturday snapped to attention at Trix’s exclamation and she rushed over. “What on earth?”
“Sassy’s alive!” Trix cried. “Isn’t it wonderful?” The news made him so giddy he wanted to dance.
“I admit, it would be more wonderful if I had a body,” said Sassy.
“Whoa.” Saturday shook her head. “I heard that! Sassy, I heard you! And incidentally, I agree.”
“Heavens.” Peregrine was the next to join them. “Did the fey magic do this?”
“It makes sense,” said Trix. “Sassy, are you all right?” Well of course she wasn’t all right. She had no body to speak of, and could only look in whatever direction she was pointed. Trix attempted his question again, with a higher degree of sensitivity. “I mean…are you in any pain?”
The horse shifted her eyes from side to side, as if considering the question. “I don’t think so,” she said finally. “I can’t really feel anything, except maybe a slight tickle on the left side of my nose.”
Trix addressed the tickle promptly. It was the least he could do.
“What’s this about Lizinia?” asked Peregrine.
“Where is Lizinia?” asked Saturday. “Did she run off with the queen’s bees?”
“Vick took her,” said Trix. Trebald had gone after Vick. If the brownie could lead Trix to the leprechaun, he could find Lizinia…
“Yes! That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” said Sassy. “Vick hid himself down among the rocks before the fairy crystal exploded, so he wasn’t overwhelmed like the rest of you. He waited until everyone went down and stayed down, and then he dragged Lizinia out the back stair.”
“He must be considerably stronger than he looks,” said Trix.
“You’re telling me,” said the horse. “While Peregrine and Saturday were off chasing Wolf, Betwixt and I came upon Vick scheming in the Wood. We tried to stop him, but he was too fast for us. Well, for me, anyway.” Trix got the impression that if Sassy still had the ability to hang her head, this is when she would have done it. “Vick said your golden girl was his payment for leading all of us—all of you—to Sorrow. I suppose he knew that her ultimate goal was to break the crystal.”
“And once that was done, he decided not to wait around to collect,” said Saturday. “Typical leprechaun.”
“He was incredibly proud of himself about the whole thing.”
“Slimy little bugaboo,” said Trix. “I always knew he had an angle.”
“He threw her bow and arrows over there.” Sassy’s eyes rolled back toward the cave—Trix searched the steps and the rocks until he found the rain-bow and quiver of star arrows. He gave them both a small hug before settling them into place next to his own bow and quiver. If Lizinia had been unconscious then Vick couldn’t have gotten far. Or could he?
Exactly how long had they all been awake? Blast the Hill for not having any windows to the outside world. Granted, that’s probably something the magic mirror had been used for. Before he’d gone and smashed it.
“Hello there, Sassy!” Bear’s timbre rang out as he addressed the horse’s head on the floor. “Remember me?”
Sassy’s muzzle wrinkled. “I lost my body, not my nose, silly Bear. I can still smell you a mile away. Now, tell me what happened to Wolf. Don’t sugar coat it. I’m an old mare. I can take it.”
“It seems you can,” said Bear. “But not to worry. Apart from a desperately needed molting, Wolf seems to be fine. We’ll have a better idea when he wakes. They’re taking him back to my room—he can’t tell us otherwise, but I expect it’s more comfortable than this floor. What say you, Sassy? Would you like to come along?”
Sassy sniffed and whuffled. “Will Your Stinkyness be the one carrying me there?”
“I would entrust this very important task to no other,” said Bear. Saturday and Peregrine hid their smiles back where Sassy couldn’t see them. Trix’s uncle scooped Sassy’s head up and propped it gently over his shoulder. “Come on, nephew,” he said. “Time for everyone to get cleaned up and sorted out.”
Trix didn’t want to clean himself up or sort himself out. He wanted to race up those stairs and out the secret entrance to the Hill and find Lizinia immediately. The trouble was, he had no idea how. For now, he had to trust in Trebald. And Lizinia. She was so much like his sisters: clever to a fault and strong, inside and out. He wouldn’t be surprised if she’d already gotten the best of Vick and was headed back right this moment.
Trix frowned. Well, if she hadn’t yet, surely she would soon.
He gathered up his dagger, the bows, and his foul mood and fell in behind the queen’s entourage now exiting the ballroom. Sassy, facing backwards over Bear’s shoulder, had no choice but to stare directly at Trix and his sour expression. “Chin up, young one,” she said. “You will find your golden girl.”
“I hope so,” he said without much hope at all.
“Have heart,” the horse told him cheerfully. “One of us has to.”
13
The Champions
“I know that face.”
It took Trix a moment to register that Peregrine had said anything at all. They sat together in the hot pools of the bath caverns, the place to which the Faerie Queen’s Champions had been ordered until fresh clothes and supplies could be readied for them.
The old Trix would have splashed about in the great pools, dove deep to see what gems he could scoop up from beneath the warm, crystal clear waters, and sung at the top of his lungs so that his happiness might echo off the high, arched ceilings all the way to the women’s bathing chambers. This Trix was tired. For the first time in his life, maybe. He was tired of being sent on fool’s errands.
Trix did not lift his head from where it rested on his arms at the edge of the pool. His scratches had faded, but all the aches were still there. “What face is that?”
“The one where you wish you could run off to find your companion and resume your own travels on your own time,” said Peregrine, “but you can’t. I saw that face in the mirror at Rose Red Abbey not too long ago. They cleaned us up there, too, after Saturday and Betwixt and I came down from the White Mountain. We went straight from there into other adventures, not entirely of our choosing.”
Trix might have felt some guilt at dragging his sister and her new friends on his quest. Knowing the Woodcutters, they would have ended up embroiled in this affair whether they’d followed Trix or not.
“If I must be part of a devious scheme, it should at least be my devious scheme,” said Trix.
Peregrine rubbed at his temple where Aunt Joy had worked her healing magic. The two pale lines there were all that was left of Wolf’s handiwork. “I’ll drink to that.”
“Just not this water.” Trix wrinkled his nose.
“Come now, Trix,” said Peregrine. “Where’s your sense of adventure? Betwixt doesn’t seem to mind it at all.”
Trix wished he had been there to see the pegasus change into a jackalope. Betwixt’s fur was now patches of white and brown and gray. His antlers were similar patches of the same colors; in some spots fuzzy, in some spots hard as bone. Betwixt did not speak in this form, nor could Trix understand him—he made his feelings known with a severe stomping of his feet in rapid succession or a flick of his tail.
Only the chimera’s eyes remained unchanged, flashing that peculiar orange-yellow whenever the light caught them. Hearing his name, the Betwixt glared at Trix and Peregrine before bending down once more to lap at the water.
Trix pulled a face. “Will you tell him he drank that when you can communicate again?”
Peregrine smiled and shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”
“All right then, boys, out with you.” Uncle Bear’s timbre made the crystals in the walls of the cavern hum. “There are things t
o be getting on with, and we don’t want you so shriveled up that we have to alter your clothes.”
“Finally,” said Trix.
“Duty calls,” sighed Peregrine.
They hopped out of the pool and dried off before sorting through the basket of clothes Bear had brought for them. Trix extracted a long garment that looked like a cross between a coat and a dress. “This must be for you,” said Trix.
“Thank you,” Peregrine said as he took the item, and then pointed to the basket. “You can have that shirt. It seems to be moving.”
Trix lifted the shirt to reveal a very confused Trebald. “Hello there, friend!”
The brownie nosed at the sky, his whiskers twitching. “Trix! My goodness, you’re so clean I hardly recognized you. No, no.”
“It’s so good to see you!” Trix’s heart soared. “Were you able to find Vick? Was Lizinia with him?”
“He has something he wants to tell you.” Uncle Bear said this in the same tone Papa used when he expected Trix to apologize for something.
“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s fine,” Trix said in anticipation. Trebald’s whiskers’s twitched again. Trix could tell the brownie was trembling from head to toe, so he picked him up and cradled him in one arm. “Truly. Everything will be all right. I promise.” Not that anyone could ever truly promise such a thing, but it was still nice to hear from time to time.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t see Vick for what he was right away,” Trebald said quietly. “Sorry. Yes, yes. I knew he was bad. If I’d known how bad, I would have bitten him directly. Yes, yes.”
“We all would have,” said Peregrine. “You weren’t to know.”
“That’s not all,” said Bear.
“I couldn’t find Lizinia,” said Trebald. “No, no.”
Trix deflated. “That’s all right,” he said. “Just take me to wherever you lost Vick’s trail in the Wood and I’ll pick it up from there.”
“No, no.” Trebald hung his head. “I didn’t make it to the Wood.”
“Whyever not?” Trix examined the brownie. Was he ill? Was he hurt?
“I ate the berries. Yes, yes.”
“What?” Trix turned to Bear. “When Vick said we couldn’t eat the food because its magic was wild, he wasn’t lying? You’re trapped here forever?” It was sad enough to lose one traveling companion. Now Trix was about to lose them both.
“Afraid so,” said Bear.
“Is the food safe now?” asked Peregrine.
“Aye,” said Bear. “The queen’s power tempers the Hill’s magic. For instance, this pool will heal your wounds, but it won’t make everyone who drinks from it immortal.”
Peregrine looked over to Betwixt, still drinking his fill, and shrugged.
“Oh, Trebald,” said Trix. “Couldn’t you have waited?” But he knew the answer. Trix had known that hunger, and he knew Trebald’s nervous condition had made the poor brownie feel that same hunger tenfold.
The brownie’s cloudy eyes looked askance. “These were difficult days. Yes, yes.”
“The queen has promised to make his life here very comfortable,” said Bear.
Trebald instantly perked up. “The queen has gifts for all her champions,” he said brightly. “Yes, yes. Imagine me, a queen’s champion.”
“From the Top of the World to the Bottom of the Hill, my friend,” said Peregrine.
“We couldn’t have done it without you, Trebald,” said Trix. “I will miss you every day.”
“I will be here when you return,” said Trebald. “Yes, yes. Think of all the stories we will have to share.”
Trix patted the brownie’s head. “We will, indeed,” he said, with as much cheer as he could muster in his broken heart. When he left this hallowed hill, he would be traveling alone. Not that he was every truly alone, for the animals of the Wood were always with him, and he had started out on his first quest all by himself. But now that he knew what it was like to share his adventures with others, loneliness loomed.
Loneliness and worry. But Lizinia would be fine. Trix would find her and they would continue their journey to the King of Eagles. After he kicked that two-faced leprechaun.
“Yes, yes. If you please, Bear.” Obligingly, Trix’s very large uncle scooped up the very small brownie and lifted him to where he could perch atop his substantial shoulder. “I’m excited to ‘see’ what my fair queen has in store for the rest of you. Yes, yes.”
Trix and Peregrine finished dressing as swiftly as they could. Trix was happy to find a new pair of boots in the basket, his size, made of soft, supple leather but with extremely sturdy soles. Hidden inside one of them was a new belt, with a polished scabbard that fit his golden dagger perfectly. There was also a beautifully crafted bag—if he’d had to guess he would have said it was made from dragon scales. The attached leather thong was just long enough to completely conceal the bag beneath his shirt.
Trix glanced over to where Peregrine was buttoning up his fine coat. He, too, wore a necklace—a golden ring hung from a silver chain. “This might be for you,” he said, offering the bag to Peregrine.
Peregrine put a hand over the ring, pressing it against his chest in what looked to Trix like a habitual gesture. “Thank you, but this chain has served me well enough in my adventures. You should keep that for your clever tooth.”
Trix mirrored Peregrine’s gesture and placed a hand over Wisdom’s tooth. He suddenly felt a little less lonely.
* * *
Compared to the Great Hall of the Faerie Queen, the ballroom was a privy. The ceiling rose so high that Trix could not even make it out, and the walls were separated by miles. Trix wondered that such a place could exist underground, even with the intricately carved stone support pillars scattered throughout, as there had been in the ballroom. The stone here was all white, accented by clear crystals lit with a magic inner fire that made the whole room glow.
The Hall itself needed no artwork or extravagant decoration, for the population was colorful enough. Trix’s heart swelled to see so many people in attendance: members of the court in their finery, some with pointed ears or long tails and some with no visible oddity at all. There were a few tall, gray individuals that reminded Trix of the Spriggans—Trebald told him these were the stonekeepers, whose job was to maintain the Great Pillars of Faerie. There were wisps aplenty, a handful of naiads, and a smattering of faunfolk…Trix could have sworn he had even spotted a Green Child or two among the crowd.
So enraptured was he by the company in their true forms, that he missed the entire beginning of the Faerie Queen’s elaborate ceremony. She sat before them on a throne of jewels and thorns, in a dress that looked like ebony spider silk.
“…I can think of no better way to thank these brave souls gathered here before you. My saviors. My champions!”
The assembled crowd’s cheer sounded like water and bells and song.
“Saturday Woodcutter, goddaughter of my goddaughter.” Saturday stepped forward. She looked far more comfortable in the plain shirt and trousers she’d been given. “To you I give a strand of my hair.”
This may have seemed an odd gift, but Trix knew its true power. The blue-green fabric band around Saturday’s wrist contained hair from all of her family, even Jack. All but Tuesday, lost these many years to death. Through this link she had the ability to call upon her family members for strength and magic, and give it to them in turn. Though no one would know it, having the Faerie Queen’s magic in that mix gave Saturday a mighty weapon.
Saturday bowed to accept the gift and stepped back as Peregrine and Betwixt stepped forward. Unlike Saturday, Peregrine dressed like the great lord he was.
“Peregrine of Starburn. I hear you have a ring.”
Peregrine removed his necklace and handed it to the Faerie Queen. She curled her fingers around it and closed her eyes. When her eyes opened again, she smiled. “Your traveling companion has a ring with certain transformative properties,” the queen said. “I felt it only right that you should have a weap
on to match.”
“Thank you, your majesty.” Peregrine gave a small bow to the queen and a lusty wink to Saturday before stepping back into place.
“Betwixt.” The queen knelt so that she could look the rabbit-deer in the eye. Though he could not speak, Betwixt gave every sign that he understood her words. “As a shapeshifter, it made no sense to give you an object from my court. Instead I will give you the answer to a question so old that you no longer seek it.” She lowered her head and whispered in his ear.
Trix could not tell if the chimera smiled, but the queen let Betwixt nuzzle her cheek politely before hopping back beside Peregrine.
“My dearest Wolf,” said the queen. “I cannot give you anything more precious than the destiny you already possess.” As she said this, she put a hand over his heart where Lizinia’s golden star marked the skin beneath his fine clothes. “You journey down your own path, and I would not keep you from it. But I can give you a new steed, from my stables.”
“Thank you, my queen.”
“I assume you will want to join him, Bear.”
Bear’s black eyes flashed in the glowing crystal light. “Yes, your majesty.”
“And so my gift to you will be the leave to go. Sorrow will be traveling East, to confront Rose Red, and I would not have my Wolf fight alone.”
“Nor would I let him, majesty.”
“Only promise me that you will come back safely. All of you. That includes Snow White.”
Bear bowed low. “I promise.”
“Which brings us to you, my dear Falada.”
All but Trix turned in surprise as the Queen spoke Sassy’s true name. Trix rocked back on his heels and grinned knowingly. The head of Sassy—now Falada—had been groomed and mounted on a thick plaque of polished oak.
“Will I be receiving a new body, mistress?” asked the horse.
The queen patted Falada tenderly. “I would have to separate the head of one of your fellow horses from her body to make it so.”
The horse blinked. Tears fell from her sad eyes. “I could not ask that.”
Trix & the Faerie Queen Page 15