‘So who can tell me what a tropism is?’ Mr Ransell continued, oblivious to Charlotte’s discomfort.
‘Something that stimulates plant growth, Sir.’
‘Very good, Miss Hickling. And can anyone offer some examples?’
Mr Ransell added the answers to the board – light, water, gravity, heat, chemicals.
‘Miss Stone? Do you have an example?’
‘Sound, Sir?’
‘And I half expected you to say lightning.’ Mr Ransell nodded with approval. ‘Not a conventional answer, well done, and it will make an interesting experiment. I look forward to seeing your results. Right, class, choose a tropism and begin preparing your samples.’
Charlotte pushed the seed packet around the table with the end of her pencil. Perhaps it was just paranoia but she could swear she saw a shimmering by the window. Was she being watched?
‘Miss Stone, Earth to Miss Stone. Just as you start to show some promise… the point of an experiment is practical application. The seeds aren’t going to grow by you simply staring at them, girl.’
That was not exactly true. Charlotte was relieved she managed to bite her tongue on that sentence. There was nothing for it but to lie.
‘I… I have a condition, Sir.’
‘That I don’t doubt.’ Mr Ransell was clearly beginning to lose patience. ‘However, unless it involves an allergy to compost you will desist in holding up your classmates’ education and get to it.’
Charlotte seized on the idea. ‘Actually, Sir, I do. Compost brings me out in hives.’
‘And do you have a sick note to excuse you?’ Mr Ransell said in a well-practised tone of sarcasm.
Charlotte couldn’t help but retaliate. ‘I have an A.K.O.R.N from the elves!’
Mr Ransell was turning more beetroot by the minute and his glasses quivered precariously on the tip of his thin, aquiline nose.
‘I suppose that is what passes as a joke where you’re from, young lady, but here it will earn you detention. Now enough of your so-called wit. Proceed,’ he snapped.
Charlotte rearranged the seed trays, slowly filling them with soil and hoping to enlist Sang’s help once Mr Ransell turned his back but he was watching her like a hawk.
‘Quickly, Miss Stone. We don’t have all day.’
The shimmering was now inside the room as Charlotte ripped open the seed packet. Taking a deep breath, Charlotte sprinkled the seeds, ‘accidentally’ letting them spill on the table. Sang, who had cottoned on to her plan, made to pick up the seed but a glare from Mr Ransell stopped her in her tracks.
‘If Miss Stone wishes to pass this class, she must do her own work, Miss Lei.’
Reluctantly, Charlotte scooped up the seed. Light rippled to her left, exploding into a firework display, as Charlotte dropped them into the soil.
‘Drop the seeds and step away from the compost.’
Charlotte found herself looking down the barrel of a NETEL stun gun and into the face of an angry-looking Fey, his uniform catsuit bulging in some very unflattering places.
‘We were lenient with you last time,’ Malik roared, ‘but it’s instant incarceration for this infraction. Queen Mab to Blue Fairy – Code Sandman, I repeat Code Sandman. Over.’
‘Blue Fairy received.’
The voice on the speaker sounded suspiciously like Luned but Charlotte didn’t have time to think about that as she, and the rest of her class, fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
*
As she came to, something about where she was didn’t feel right, then Charlotte realised, with her knees pinned under her chin, it wasn’t the place; it was her. The court cells were hard, wood-lined boxes, ringed with iron and suspended from the dripping, dank ceiling of a cave. They were designed to be cold, uncomfortable – and for fairies. She had been given no food or blankets and was just wondering how long they were planning to keep her there when the rusty screech of a key in an iron lock broke her thoughts.
‘You will be seen now,’ a gloved guard elf barked at her and, with a wave of his hand, the bottom fell out of her cage. She hit the stone floor with a thud, jarring her shoulder in the process.
‘You are to be taken to the chambers,’ the guard said with a malicious smile, ‘and you’re not going to like it.’
*
Luned took regular deep breaths and tried not to think of the vast amounts of rock and soil just yards above her head. She had to consciously stop herself from running through the corridors, which would have drawn attention to the fact she did not belong here, and focus.
Charlotte was in trouble. Dijin had convinced the Seelie Courts to remove her to the chambers where she would be bound by the roots of the Great Tree till he deemed it acceptable to release her; and he would not calculate for a human lifespan. It was a fate reserved only for the worst criminals and if Luned didn’t intervene before Charlotte was moved, no one would be able to get to her again.
Luned told herself that she was acting purely out of duty, this was a definite contradiction of the P.O.D charter. She tried to ignore the disturbing realisation that she actually quite liked this human.
Luned was just assessing which way to the cells at one of the numerous crossroads, when a tremor shook the underground.
‘Why does this always happen when I’m here,’ she grumbled to herself.
A second tremor hit, shaking earth and stones from the walls and ceiling and exposing a minor root system of the Great Tree. In spite of her fear, Luned couldn’t help being mesmerised by the glowing root.
It didn’t look very healthy and she was pretty sure it shouldn’t be such a dull red colour. What had Davlin said? Luned couldn’t remember but, red had to be danger – it was always danger.
As if to reinforce her convictions, a cold wind blew out the lights in the corridor and a low rumbling blossomed in the darkness. The hairs on her arms began to prick up and panic threatened to overwhelm her. This was more than her phobia; there was something out there.
Was this what the human girl Sang had been talking about? How had the frog-legged lady interpreted it, ‘the Echo’? Luned hadn’t fully understood what the girl had meant, but she sensed for herself the peril Charlotte was in. It didn’t bear thinking about that the Echo might have been released but if it had, they were in more trouble than they realised.
The rumbling seemed to be getting closer, travelling through the tunnel towards Luned, full of menace. Suddenly, a bolt of red lightning cracked and bounced off the walls before leaping at the Undine. Steam rose from Luned’s body as she began to slowly but painfully evaporate. Just as she thought she couldn’t stand any more, the lightning grounded and disappeared into the floor. In the dying light, the imprint of a face twisted in rage formed in the dirt before melting away.
Luned’s throat was so dry she couldn’t have screamed even if she had wanted to. Instead, she desperately searched for water as her body trembled with shock.
‘And breathe,’ Luned reminded herself as she tried to clear her light-headedness and nausea, grateful for the nearby fountain.
*
Mercifully, the cells were no more than a couple of twists away. Luned cursed herself for not bringing gloves, she would never be able to touch the toxic iron door handle, but was relieved to see the cell doors wide open. Charlotte was sprawled on the floor; it looked like Luned was just in time.
‘Stand down, Guard Noske, I have this,’ Luned croaked.
‘This is against protocol…’ The guard glared, annoyed that his fun had been spoiled.
‘This is no ordinary prisoner and I am the expert – appointed by Officer Malik himself to oversee this human. I assure you, everything is above board.’
The elf guard bowed and retreated with a certain reluctance.
Charlotte was rubbing life back into her limbs. She had never been so pleased to see Luned as she was now.
‘Am I glad to be out of there. I was beginning to cramp up.’
‘What are you talking about, they gave you the mos
t spacious cell there is. Be grateful they are into high ceilings here or we’d never get you through the tunnels.’
‘Ah, but then they wouldn’t have been able to get me down here in the first place.’
‘Don’t be so sure. You think you are the first human the Fey have taken underground?’
Luned wrinkled her nose automatically as she recalled the rumours she had heard the last time that had happened.
‘Hurry up, we don’t have all day,’ Luned urged Charlotte to her feet. ‘We need to make a move, it won’t take them long to realise you’ve escaped. They’ll have all the main entrances covered. The only thing for it is to head to the Tap Room. Davlin will help us, I am sure.’
‘I hope you’re a little bit more than “sure”. Isn’t this supposed to be a well planned rescue?’
‘When did I say that? It’s a spontaneous “I must be out of my mind” rescue, actually,’ Luned retorted.
A low rumble filled the room and put a stop to their bickering and the ground shook.
‘What about Boris?’ Charlotte suddenly remembered the little Veshengo being dragged off by the elfin guard.
‘Oh he’s long gone, a regular escape artist he is.’
The ground shook again and red lightning formed at the other end of the room, crackling menacingly.
‘We have to get out of here.’ Luned was now wide-eyed with fear.
‘What’s that?’
‘Charlotte, meet the Echo… I think. Now move.’
‘Isn’t that what Sang was talking about?’ Charlotte asked as she made for the door as quickly as she could.
‘Less questions more crawling.’
The lightning crept across the room, bouncing off the walls and the wooden floors of the hanging cages. It seemed to be playing with them and the faster they moved, the faster it followed. As they threw themselves into the corridor, Charlotte slammed the iron door with her foot.
The lightning hit the metal and the walls trembled with a wicked roar as the metal absorbed the fiery light.
‘That will have slowed it down but it’ll be back. We need to keep moving.’ Luned winced at the memory of her last encounter with the Echo.
Charlotte tried her best to keep up with Luned but the air in the tunnels was thin and her knees ached from the stones that dug through her light school trousers. She didn’t dare stop though, the fairy underground was a maze she would never be able to find her way out of on her own. She was relieved when they came to a large chamber where she could stand up.
‘We go through that door over there.’ Luned pointed to a heavy, elaborately decorated wooden door. ‘It leads to the living quarters of the comms room staff. There’s another tunnel.’ Luned looked at Charlotte apologetically. ‘But from there we’re not far from the hanging gardens and a way out. Davlin should be waiting for us.’
‘Hanging gardens?’
‘It’s the nick-name for the complex root system of Fargale.’
While they had been talking, they hadn’t noticed a ferocious-looking blue dragon staring hungrily at them from the chamber ceiling – not until it growled.
‘So how do we get round that?’ Charlotte whispered, frozen to the spot and not daring to take her eyes off the creature.
‘Just give me a minute, let me talk to it.’
‘To a dragon?’
‘It’s water like me.’
‘Are water dragons not just as deadly then?’ It was a genuine question with not a single hint of sarcasm.
In answer, the dragon snarled so loudly it made the hall shake, before letting out a huge plume of cool, blue flame that spiralled round the hall before setting the door aflame. The remains of the tapestries and wooden benches that had lined their only escape route were evidence that water fire was every bit as effective as the regular kind.
‘It seems to like its food chargrilled. I really don’t think talking to it will help.’ Fear cracked Charlotte’s voice.
‘It should recognise me as one of its own,’ Luned insisted. Charlotte was not convinced, but she was pleased to see the Undine had forgotten her phobia of being underground.
Suddenly, Charlotte realised she still had the almond-shaped seed Andarwen had given her. ‘We could try this?’
‘Do you have any idea what that does?’ Luned eyed the seed suspiciously.
‘None whatsoever, but Andarwen said I would know when to use it and it’s looking like a really good idea right now.’
Luned nodded reluctantly. The dragon seemed to know what they had in mind as well. Dissolving into a bubble of water, it flew across the room like a torrent of rain.
Charlotte took careful aim then threw with all her might; their lives depended on this. The seed arched through the air and Luned watched its trajectory. Just as it passed through the form of the re-materialising creature she shot a growth spell, the green-blue sparks like deadly rain. At the exact moment the spell connected with its target the creature solidified, letting out an ear-splitting roar of confusion. Inside it the seed grew at monumental speed, sending out more and more new shoots that twisted and compacted in the creature’s belly.
Charlotte was riveted to the spot with horrified fascination as a tendril of the plant sprouted from the creature’s left nostril. Unfurling and thickening in seconds, a blood-red flower sprang into bloom at its tip and several thorns matured from green to brown before plunging themselves deep into the creature’s flesh. Another roar filled the cavern, this time the vibrations loosening a number of stalactites which thundered to the floor below, shattering with force in all directions.
‘That was cooler than weaving.’ Charlotte couldn’t take her eyes off the vines pouring out of the dragon’s mouth.
‘That is weaving, now come on, Charlotte, into the corridor.’ Luned tugged at her sleeve.
Even in the gloom of the still-warm tunnel, Charlotte could see the fear in the Undine’s eyes as the dragon exploded into a tsunami of water, which was headed right for them.
‘Up, UP!’ the Undine shouted above the roar of water as she turned to face it.
Charlotte didn’t argue, and climbed up a service tunnel that led to a grate above. She hoped Luned knew what she was doing. From her elevated position Charlotte caught glimpses of the Undine, and though she couldn’t see what she was doing, the expected wave never came.
‘Get that hatch open!’ Luned shouted as she zoomed up the tunnel to the sound of an angry roar.
*
‘It won’t follow us here,’ Luned breathed heavily as she slumped against the wall on the other side of the hatch.
‘I get over zealous with a jasmine, you explode a dragon and I’m the one who gets the A.K.O.R.N? How is that right?’ Charlotte said when she eventually got her breath back.
‘Your actions were frivolous and unnecessarily dangerous, mine were required for survival. Besides, it will recover… it’ll just have one heck of a headache for a while.’
‘You think the Seelie Court are going to buy that? It wouldn’t have been a matter of survival if you hadn’t been here, breaking the law to get me out. I’ll bet roots have been chopped for less.’
‘Severed,’ Luned corrected her. ‘You’re probably right, though technically I didn’t break any law. One of the advantages of knowing the P.O.D charter back to front.’
In that moment Charlotte realised Aunt Clarissa wasn’t the only one she had underestimated since arriving in Brackenheath.
*
They now found themselves in a gloomy suite of rooms covered in elaborate tapestries of rich colours that seemed to depict some great battle. In the corner was a solid stone bed studded in precious stones and gold.
‘Comfy.’ Charlotte gestured towards the bed.
‘For a dwarf it is. These are Davlin’s quarters,’ Luned replied.
At that moment the dwarf in question appeared in the far doorway – naked except for a thin coating of liquid silver. Mercifully, his long bread covered what mattered.
‘Davlin, I presume,’
Charlotte smiled awkwardly, suddenly finding the ceiling exceedingly interesting.
‘K’hul! Take a detour, did we? I take it things didn’t go to plan.’ Davlin hurriedly dressed.
‘There were… complications,’ Luned agreed, holding up a towel to preserve the dwarf’s modesty.
‘Through here,’ he ordered, now clothed but still dripping molten silver as he moved into the corridor. ‘There is not much time, they are about to go into shut down.’
Davlin offered his hand to Charlotte in the way he assumed humans greeted each other. Charlotte high-fived him out of politeness.
Davlin’s rooms led directly into the comms room and he guided them around the various coloured nutripools. Charlotte had never seen anything like it; she was astonished that this all existed underneath the unassuming oak tree she knew in the park. She marvelled at the multicoloured fungi and the extensive root bundles tied into intricate knots. A number of other roots caught her eye too, they were little more than lifeless blackened stumps.
‘The cycle of life; things wither and regrow anew,’ Davlin said but Charlotte knew they were anything but natural.
‘We really don’t have time for this,’ Luned snapped. ‘You’re a wanted criminal in case you’ve forgotten.’ She glared at Charlotte.
Davlin picked up his pace but continued to reel off the many functions and features of the comms room. Charlotte, however, was drawn to a low droning that filled her ears and the cloud of gold spores forming in the corner of the room.
‘That’s the Norn Interface,’ Davlin followed her gaze, ‘and it doesn’t normally do that on its own.’
Luned was losing patience. ‘I’m serious, Charlotte. We won’t get out of here if we don’t go now.’
‘Give me a second,’ Charlotte said; she had a feeling this was important.
As she approached the Norn Interface the spore cloud morphed into strange, unidentifiable shapes until settling into the form of a face she recognised. Madame Cortes.
‘It’s just the interface calibrating. It takes a moment to read the user then takes the form of someone you trust,’ Davlin talked her through the process.
Charlotte Stone and the Children of the Nymet Page 19