by Tam Erskine
"Let your sister up, Ada." The Faery Queen's voice resonated in the room. "Now."
Ada lifted her hand as if to strike the Faery Queen. It hung there, an insult but not yet an act of treason.
The Faery Queen lifted one eyebrow.
Ada lowered her hand, but her foot stayed firmly on Ivy's throat.
From behind her, Ivy heard the voice of the Huntsmen from earlier. "Your Queen has spoken, Princess Ada. Shall we enforce her word?"
The Glaistigs stomped their agreement, a thunderous sound in the chamber.
Ada removed her foot.
"My queen." Ivy scrambled to her feet, keeping Ada in sight. "Are you well?"
The Faery Queen laughed, an unpleasant sound that only grew worse in the stillness of the room. When her laughter stopped, she said, "No, daughter, I am not, nor is the realm from what I understand." With anger clear in her voice, she asked, "Were you planning on keeping me like that, Ada? Weak enough that you could use my will?"
Ada shrugged. "I'd thought they'd either assassinate you, or I'd wait it out until you expired." Ada straightened her skirt, hands lost in voluminous folds. "I suppose I should've been more active."
"Indeed," the Faery Queen murmured. She tilted her head, eyes closed, for several breaths as she thought. When she opened them, she asked, "A bit more iron in my drink, perhaps? It was a good plan, all things considered."
"Too late for that now, isn't it?" Ada pulled a small blade from the folds of her skirt. "I am still heir though. If you were to fall . . ."
In the corner of her eye, Ivy could see the Glaistigs moving towards them; they were too far away. She stepped between her sister and her mother and said, "No!"
Lifting her sword, Ivy shook her head. "You will not sit on the throne, Ada."
"Why is that, daughter?" The Faery Queen's voice was low and emotionless.
"I didn't do all this, come this far to see Ada win." Ivy didn't look at her mother. She stared only at her sister.
Ivy thought of the Twitches, the Hound, her lost immortality as she stared steadfastly at her sister.
Then she shook her head. "No."
Still speaking in that low voice, the queen asked, "Why would you protect me?"
"It's not about you," Ivy admitted.
She thought about how best to say it. Now that she knew Ada had been behind the horrible things the folk had endured, she was certain that her mother must stay on the throne. The alternative--Ada in charge, truly wielding the power she'd only borrowed thus far--was unacceptable.
So, Ivy simply said, "Ada would not serve the realm. She has not done so."
"Do you want to rule, then? Do you want to extinguish your sister's lifespark and take her place as heir?" The Faery Queen sounded curious, not yet angry even though her eldest daughter had tried to kill her and still stood threatening her. "Shall I let you make that choice, Ivy?"
She whispered, "No."
Ada muttered, "You were always too soft to rule. "
Tightening her grip on the sword, Ivy lifted it ever-so-slightly, hoping she looked threatening.
In a louder voice, Ivy added, "But if my Queen wills it, I would extinguish her spark. It's better than the alternative."
#
Jack listened as the Faery Queen and Ivy carelessly discussed death and assassination.
How did one determine if the Faery Queen was mad or just faery-cruel?
He'd thought she was better, and the depth of what it took out of him to speak those few words, to will the sickness from her, had left him more exhausted than anything he'd done before. She must have been nearing death that her healing exhausting him so fully.
He leaned against Ilanya, still barely able to support himself.
"You haven't much strength left in you,” Ilanya said. Her hand still covered his mouth. “No more making things Change for you. Eyes open or mouth closed. I will not have you injuring yourself on my watch. Understood?"
He nodded, and Ilanya uncovered his mouth.
"Is she safe there?" he whispered.
"Aaah, the mortal speaks." The Faery Queen's voice carried over the room like a chilling breeze.
When she turned that calculating gaze on him, he wondered if he'd have had the courage to come against her if he'd met her before today. Even though she was frail enough that she looked like a bundle of twigs on the throne, the Faery Queen was more intimidating than the entire Hunt had been.
"Your majesty." Jack bowed his head and hoped kneeling wasn't required. He was fairly certain that he'd end up falling on his face if he tried to kneel.
The queen beckoned with her bony fingers. "Come closer, mortal."
Beside her, the two princesses continued to exchange hostile looks, weapons in hand. They had not--thus far--exchanged blows.
The Faery Queen, however, seemed utterly nonplussed by it.
"My Queen." The Huntsman with the dark mask strode forward. "If I may?"
The Faery Queen shrugged, but her mouth curved in a small smile that the Huntsman took as assent.
As the Huntsman approached, Ilanya released his arm and said, "Go on."
Jack tried not to shudder, but his skin felt cold enough to burn as the Huntsman wrapped cold fingers around his arm and led him closer to the Faery Queen.
Pulling Jack down beside him, the Huntsman kneeled at the foot of the dais. His dark armor seemed dull against the glistening black tile, as if it was a shadow in an already dark sky.
Jack swayed, and for a moment thought he'd end up face down on the floor, but the Huntsman steadied him, pulling him closer.
So, Jack leant against that shadowy armor and tried to focus his eyes.
The Faery Queen pushed herself out of her throne and came to stand in front of him. "Mortals are not welcome in my realm."
"I know," he answered, looking up at her briefly. "Ivy told me."
Beside him, the Huntsman tensed.
"Then why, are you here?" the Faery Queen asked.
"Ivy said you were sick.
“I was,” the Faery Queen allowed. She glared briefly at Ada.
“My stories become real here,” Jack explained. “So, Ivy wanted us to make you healthy again. I made her sword. I cleaned up the water for the water-maidens." He looked up at Ivy, still standing in front of Ada as if they were frozen in place. "I gave her my vow."
The Faery Queen reached out and gripped his chin. She tilted his head so he looked at her, falling into eyes that could've been Ivy's if they weren't so forbidding.
"This morning I'd have given you to the Hunt or the Twitches, but the last of the Twitches are afraid of you, aren't they? And the Hunt is loath to harm you." The Faery Queen stroked his hair, running her thin fingers through his curls. "What shall I do now?"
Is this a question I'm to answer?
He waited, hoping for a cue if some sort.
Then the Faery Queen turned to stare at the Huntsman. "Shall I tell him why you seek to protect him?" She bent forward and whispered in Jack's ear, "Ada sent the Hunt after her when they realized she'd seen the horses--some mortals can, you know. It's more fun to chase when the prey sees you."
The Huntsman was a Huntswoman?
He tried to turn his head, but the Faery Queen's grip on his curls held him fast.
"She was a terrible beauty when she lost her child, ready to destroy everything she could see. When she escaped the Hunt--clever mortal that she was--she went to the tree where she'd left her child, her son," the Faery Queen's bony continued. "She raged so that the fiercest of the folk trembled. That rage and sorrow called the Hunt to her, recognizing it as their own, and they took her. But she has made them her own. She is that which sets even the Hunt to quaking."
The Faery Queen leaned down and kissed his forehead.
"I didn't watch my daughters as carefully as she did,” the queen added. “I will watch them as surely as your mother watches you."
Then she let go of him and turned to the Huntswoman. "You've served the realm well. Will you rid
e out or wait on him?"
The Huntswoman turned to Jack, and in that whispering voice, she asked, "What would you have us do, son?"
He wasn't sure what to say, to do. These creatures were the terror of the realm, and his mother led them?
The Faery Queen and the Huntswoman--his mother?--were both staring at him.
Is she truly my mother? Do I want her to stay if she is?
He thought of what Ivy had told him about that night when she'd found him, about his mother's sorrow, and then about what she'd done just now.
He looked at the Faery Queen. “She is your mother, Jack Merry.”
My mother. I have a mother.
Although his voice was shaking, he said, "Wait, please . . . mother."
#
Slowly, the Faery Queen approached Ivy and Ada.
Ivy's sword arm was grown heavy, but she stayed as she was--facing her sister in defense of the queen.
"So, what have we decided?" The Faery Queen sounded cheerful, as calm as she'd been in Ivy’s earliest memories. A smile had always been ready on the queen’s face, no matter what troubles beset the realm.
“Your majesty?” Ivy said, hoping she was misunderstanding.
"What would you do with your sister?" the queen said, speaking each word calmly.
"You are the queen," Ivy murmured, relieved to hear her mother sound as she had before Ada's apparent attempt at taking the throne.
Everything is going to be fine now.
Ivy looked at the Faery Queen and said, "It is not my place to decide. You rule here."
And that’s when Ada lunged. She caught Ivy's side with the tip of her blade, and Ivy felt the metal sink into flesh.
They was too close for Ivy to swing the sword, so she gripped Ada's wrist with her free hand and using her body as leverage, pulled her sister to the ground. Once Ivy's shoulders hit the tile, she rolled them both.
This time Ada was the one pinned down.
The Faery Queen picked up both Ada's dagger and Ivy's sword. "Suggestions, Ivy?"
"Banished a while?" Ivy's side burnt were the cold steel has grazed her skin and her vision began to blur.
Nasty stuff, steel. It must've gone deeper than I thought.
"That's a fine start." Then, the Faery Queen lifted a hand, as calmly as she did everything. "Would you be so kind--Ilanya, is it?"
Ivy heard the Glaistig's hooves as she raced to the Faery Queen's side. "It is."
"I believe Ada needs . . . supervised while my new heir rests. Perhaps later we can discuss security for the palace and, of course, for Ivy and Jack?"
"If Matriarch Sezja can spare our presence, it would be an honour, your grace," Ilanya said
No! What is she doing? Ivy hoped she misunderstood her mother. Heir?
"I have her, Princess. I have her." Ilanya pried Ivy's nearly numb fingers free. “Release.”
Ivy shook her head. Darkness threatened at the edges of the room, as if Ivy’s eyes were determined to close no matter what she wanted.
I cannot pass out!
“Your mother is safe,” Ilanya whispered. “We all are now.”
Ivy tried to stand to face the Faery Queen, to ask her to repeat herself, but instead she tumbled to the ground and everything went completely dark.
Chapter 17: In which punishment and praise is pondered
Jack sat in a small antechamber to Ivy's room. He'd slept enough that he was finally clear-headed—or, at least, as clear-headed as he could be with the magic he’d seen. He had faced foes, and he’d helped to save the Faery Queen.
And I have a mother.
Now, he just waited.
Glaistigs and Bollynoggins were curled on the floor between him and the door that led to the rest of the palace. The Bog Mother was in the center of a pile of sleeping Bollynoggins, some still wounded. Only the worst injured had accepts healing. They all wanted to keep their small scars from the fight—which they were trying to name. Apparently, things were better with the right name.
Many of the Glaistigs also slept, but a few stayed alert. Some were watching the tall windows, and others were watching the door. Now that the Faery Queen was better, and Ada was contained somewhere, Jack had thought they'd be safe. But from the postures of the others, he wondered if he was wrong.
He'd been thinking since he'd awakened, questions he couldn't answer: would his mother return above-ground with him? Would he be going above-ground?
What do I want to happen?
The questions swirled in an endless loop.
He stood and paced, looking at Ivy's room. It was the first thing he'd seen that came close to what he'd have imagined. It was like the woods had followed her home and moved inside the palace.
The floor seemed as if it were clear, like ice, but he saw nothing beyond it when he looked at it. The walls were wooden, but not cut wood. They looked like trees had pressed close together, and when he'd touched the leaves that drooped from them, he knew they were real. If not for the windows and the stone-grey door, he'd have believed they were outside.
Further into the room a tree grew from that clear floor; it curved backwards in a serpentine shape, then straightened and continued on into the ceiling. Layers of something white and delicate were piled upon the curve of it, making a bed of sorts in the middle of the trunk. Hanging like a curtain around it were long thin branches, swaying as if a light wind blew through the room.
Ivy slept behind that leafy curtain, like the winged creature she was.
And in a nest above her, the Ellyllon rested.
After they'd brought Ivy here, Jonquil had healed her wound, but she hadn't woken. A healer had come and poured some sweet drink into Ivy's mouth. Still, she'd slept.
The heir to the throne of Faery was napping like a butterfly in a cocoon.
The Faery Queen had sent word that they were to join her for a meal when Ivy woke. The Glaistigs debated who was well enough to escort them.
Still, Ivy slept.
Jack sat down next to the bed, leaning against the tree, and waited. There really was not much else he could do. He wasn’t going to leave Faery without seeing her to say goodbye, and he wasn’t even sure he wanted to leave at all.
For more than an hour, Jack kept waiting--listening to the steady toll of bells that told him Ivy grew stronger as she slept.
Then, he heard her whisper, "Jack?"
He smiled and moved so he could see her better.
The branches that formed a curtain around her curled up, like small serpents writhing, until they lifted and were tucked away behind a gnarled branch.
"Is everyone safe?" She rolled on to her side and propped herself up with one arm.
"A few of the Glaistigs are pretty cut up, but everyone seems to be well. Better than any of us expected, I think," Jack assured her.
"Why didn't Jonquil heal them?" Her forehead furrowed. Then she glanced up at the nest where the Ellyllon were sleeping. Her voice grew a bit louder. "Is she hurt?"
"No, just exhausted. She healed the worst wounds, and the palace healers came in with bandages and draughts of some sort." He pointed to the others in the antechamber. "The Bollynoggins are sleeping out there, and some of the Glaistigs too."
She nodded; then, she bit her lip. Finally, she whispered, "Did the queen say what would happen to Ada? To us?"
He shook his head. "Not really . . . except that she keeps calling you her heir."
"So that wasn't a bad dream, hmm?" Ivy’s eyes were wide, and she bit down on her lip again.
"She took Ilanya with her after we came here. Wants her to go over 'security issues' for the palace." Remembering the gleeful look on Ilanya's face, despite the bruises and blood, he almost smiled. "Ilanya seemed excited."
"She'll have more chances for battles." Ivy shrugged, as if that made perfect sense.
Jack tried to keep his voice even as he said, "And she offered the Hunt a boon of their choice ‘should their choice be acceptable to her.’"
Ivy snorted when he said that.
Then, she swung her feet to the ground beside him.
He wasn't sure how much Ivy's heard before she fell, so he added, "My mother was pleased."
The word felt funny in his mouth. Mother. My mother.
He added, "She said she's waiting until after we speak to the queen before she makes her request."
"Your mother?" Ivy repeated. "She's here? When? How?"
Breathing deeply, Jack said, "She met us in the hallway before we talked to the Faery Queen." He looked at her, afraid of what she'd say. His mother led the things that terrified Ivy, terrified most folk.
"But there weren't any mortals there. Only the Hhh. . ." Ivy’s eyes widened, and her mouth hung open. "Your mother rides with the Hunt?"
When he nodded, she gasped. "Oh, Jack Merry, I'm so sorry. I thought I was rescuing you that night. So that mortal had stolen you? I kept you hidden from your mother?"
She slid down her tree-bed to sit beside him.
His words came out inn a great spill: "No. That was my mother you saw, but she got away. When she couldn't find me, I guess she went a little mad herself and . . . well, she joined the Hunt. She leads them now, that's how she knew I was alive. She saw me, heard the stories. But she didn't come back for me, she didn't bring me here or anything when she found out I was alive."
He felt Ivy's fingers entwine around his.
"It's not been a good place to be, and the Hunt has had to answer to Ada." Ivy squeezed, gently, and added, "Maybe she was afraid?"
Jack felt hope spark in his heart.
"Maybe." He had questions for Ivy-- about what the Hunt had done, why they did it, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
Things are different here, he reminded himself. Do I want to know that my mother is a monster?
Then Jack looked at Ivy. If anyone understood terrifying mothers, it was Ivy.
Finally, a Glaistig stepped up. "The Faery Queen is waiting for you, Princess."
#
Ivy kept her back straight as she walked down the hall to the Faery Queen's private dining room. She'd thought about changing out of her stained clothes, but keeping the Faery Queen waiting longer than necessary was rarely a good idea, and reminding her that she and Jack were wounded in service to the realm wasn't a bad plan, either.