With any luck, we can get what we came for now.
16
Meylyne’s Secret
MEYLYNE AND BLUE FOLLOWED THE LIONESSES BACK UP the cold, wet steps. Both of them were shivering. This time they were taken to a different part of the palace, to a chamber very much like the one in which they had first met the queen except that this one had two pillows on the ground and one of the walls had been polished to a high sheen. Meylyne’s reflection stared back at her from it. She was the color of puddled milk and the way her clothes hung on her she might as well have been a coat rack.
“Wait here,” one of the lionesses instructed before both of them trotted off.
Meylyne sank down onto one of the pillows and snuggled into it. It was much warmer than down below. The strain of the night’s debacle caught up with her and she felt perilously close to sleep. Yawning, she peered up at the star-filled sky, curving over their heads.
“I really hope that last incantation worked. I can’t tell if there’s an invisible roof up there, or nothing at all.”
“Whatever. I just hope Queen Scarlet’s not mad at us any more,” Blue muttered, plopping down on the pillow next to Meylyne.
“I am not angry,” a low voice rumbled.
Suddenly wide awake, Meylyne jumped to her feet as Queen Scarlet and Corkk emerged from the shadows. Blue jumped up too. Obviously, there was another way in behind them. Queen Scarlet’s fur shimmered in the moonlight and her copper eyes blazed as she regarded them.
“You may sit,” she said, motioning to the pillows.
Meylyne and Blue did as they were told, both sitting up very straight. Queen Scarlet may have said she wasn’t angry, but her tone said otherwise.
“So—did the toads disappear of their own accord, or was that your sorcery?” she asked Meylyne.
“That was my sorcery,” Meylyne stammered. The words started spilling out of her. “I am so sorry about what happened before! I just got so nervous you know, I’m really not a very good sorceress yet despite what Grimorex said—
“Wait a minute—where is Grimorex?” Queen Scarlet interrupted. “Someone fetch him!”
From outside the chamber, Meylyne heard the clicking of claws fade into the distance. Then there was silence. Meylyne peered at the queen, not sure if she should keep talking or wait for Grimorex to arrive. The minutes stretched on and she was about to say something just for the sake of it when, finally, she heard Grimorex’s voice. He was booming away as though nothing was wrong. When he reached the chamber, he had to stoop under the doorway to enter it and as he straightened up, his head crashed into something above him.
“Ouch! What’s that?”
“My invisible ceiling—it worked!” Meylyne cried.
Jumping up, she flung her arms around Grimorex. She couldn’t remember the last time she was so happy to see someone.
“Jolly good,” Grimorex said, rubbing his head. “I knew you could do it! But what’s it made of? Invisible cement?
“I don’t know. It serves you right anyway! Maybe next time you’ll—ow!”
Arching her back, Meylyne jumped away from Grimorex. She felt as if a huge porcupine had pressed up against her.
“What’s wrong?” Grimorex asked.
At first Meylyne didn’t know what was wrong. Then it struck her. She hadn’t taken her pills.
“Oh no—I really need my rucksack!”
Whirling around, Meylyne faced the queen looking even paler than before. “Like, now!”
“Whatever for?” Queen Scarlet asked.
“Please! I don’t have much time. I’ll explain later!”
Looking mightily perplexed and none too pleased, Queen Scarlet nodded at Corkk. He slipped away, reappearing seconds later with Meylyne’s bag. She pounced on it, strewing its contents everywhere as she ripped through it.
“They’re not here!” She clapped her head. “That’s what must have fallen out when you slid down the cliff Grimorex! Owwww!”
The fiery, jabbing pain grew stronger. Now it felt like a swarm of hornets stinging her back. She ripped off her cloak.
“What’s going on Meylyne?” Blue cried.
“It’s . . . it’s . . .”
The room started to spin. The pain was making her dizzy. Then there was a whooshing sound and a gust of wind propelled Meylyne forward. She fell onto her hands and knees.
“Aaaahhhh,” she sighed in relief, closing her eyes.
The pain had completely vanished. Now she felt as light as air.
“Meylyne,” she heard Blue say as if from miles away. “What. Are. Those?”
Twitching a muscle in her back, Meylyne felt a cool breeze waft over her shoulders.
“What do they look like? They’re wings of course!”
Silence blanketed the room. As she stood up, she caught sight of her reflection in the polished wall. Two very large wings rose up on either side of her, their iridescent, white-and-ivory feathers dazzling in the moonlight. No longer shrunken and cooped up inside her, they stretched blissfully, grazing against the walls of the chamber.
“But . . . how . . . ?”
As Blue struggled to put his thoughts into words, Meylyne realized that everyone was staring at her in shock. Scowling, she folded her wings up against her back and tried to make them as small as possible.
“I’m a garloch remember—half-garlysle? I was born with wings. You can stop staring now—freak show’s over!”
She started to put on her cloak but Blue stopped her.
“Don’t do that. Why on Earth would you hide them?”
“Because they make it so obvious that I’m a garloch! A human with wings? Ugh!” She shuddered in disgust. “As if I’m not weird enough.”
“They’re not weird, Meylyne—they’re awesome!”
As he circled her to get a better look, Blue pointed to a spot on her wings where the bones were crooked.
“What happened here?”
“Oh, mother bound my wings when I was little. She hoped to stunt their growth that way. Didn’t work.”
“That’s atrocious,” Queen Scarlet growled, speaking at last.
“I’ll say it is!” Blue agreed vehemently.
“No it’s not! Mother just wanted me to have a shot at a normal life. That’s why she made me the pills.”
“But if you were born with wings then you should fly. Anything else is abnormal!” Grimorex exclaimed.
Meylyne rolled her eyes.
“No—garlysles don’t fly. I wasn’t going to draw even more attention to myself by soaring around the place!”
“What about the other garlochs?” Corkk asked, speaking for the first time. His voice was low and silky. “Does none of them fly?”
“None of them has wings. I’ve been told they just look like ordinary humans—not that I’ve ever met one. I’m the only one born with wings that I know of.”
Standing up, Queen Scarlet prowled around her. “Well, well, well. What an extraordinary heritage. You possess the alchemy and the Hearing powers of the Old Glendochian Order—and you have wings!”
“I know,” Meylyne muttered. “It’s a pain.”
Queen Scarlet and Corkk exchanged a glance.
“Apparently someone is unaware of the gifts with which she has been bestowed,” Corkk murmured.
Meylyne wanted to roll her eyes again but thought better of it. She wasn’t exactly off the hook with the lions yet.
“They’re not considered gifts in Glendoch, sir. They’re unnatural,” she said as politely as possible.
“Unnatural?” Queen Scarlet spluttered. “Have you no sense of history, child? Do you have any idea what Glendoch used to be like? Glendoch was full of winged creatures before the New Order set in. And they were glorious. That the garlysles lost the use of their wings is in itself a catastrophe!”
Meylyne shrank back at the wrath in Queen Scarlet’s voice. Fortunately, Grimorex came to the rescue.
“I could not agree with you more, Your Grace, but right now we ha
ve a more urgent matter to attend to—perhaps we may return to this discussion later?”
Queen Scarlet glared at Grimorex, still bristling. Meylyne was surprised to see that her eyes looked wet as though she was on the verge of tears.
“You are right,” she growled, drawing a deep breath. “Let us move to the matter of the Great Oaken Mother. You seek Anzulla, or more accurately one of his feathers in order to heal her. Is that right?”
“Anzulla is the eagle’s name,” Grimorex explained to Meylyne. “And yes, that is right.”
Queen Scarlet nodded but did not say anything right away.
“You do agree that this is a matter of the utmost importance,” Grimorex added.
“I do.”
“Then what is troubling you?”
“Many things, when it comes to Glendoch,” Queen Scarlet snapped. “In healing the Great Oaken Mother, you treat only a symptom of its disease. Glendoch is riddled with secrets and until you have set right its wrongs, you will never truly heal it.”
Meylyne frowned.
Again with the Glendoch is riddled with secrets business. What are they on about?
“Do you disagree?” Queen Scarlet demanded, catching the look on Meylyne’s face.
“Oh no—it’s just I’ve heard that before,” Meylyne said hurriedly.
The queen’s eyes flashed and Meylyne was scared that she was going to start ranting again.
“You refer to your father, no doubt. Well it is the truth. And you, hiding your wings, are proof of that!”
Meylyne blinked. “My father? Actually, I wasn’t referring to him. I never refer to him if I can help it. I . . .”
She trailed off, remembering that she wasn’t allowed to mention the other lion to which she had been referring. Once again, Grimorex came to the rescue.
“As before, I agree with you on this, Your Grace, but regardless we must heal the Great Oaken Mother,” he said. Leaning forward, he clasped his hands together. “Even if it’s just a start, it is a matter of great urgency!”
From outside, Meylyne heard two birds call to one another and she noticed that the sun was rising, turning the sky from black to violet. Queen Scarlet sighed.
“Look, it’s not that I do not wish to help you with Anzulla. It’s that I can’t.”
“So you don’t know where he is then?” Grimorex said, dismayed.
“I didn’t say that.”
Everyone except for Corkk stared at Queen Scarlet, waiting for her to say more. She seemed to be weighing her words. Instead of speaking, however, she nodded at Corkk.
“Where’s he off to?” Blue asked as Corkk stalked away.
“You’ll see,” Queen Scarlet replied.
A few minutes later Corkk reappeared with an odd and rather pathetic creature. It had an eagle’s face but its body was leathery and bare like a bat’s. A lived red scar streaked down its back. It stared grumpily around the room with bloodshot eyes.
“Ah, there you are.” Queen Scarlet’s voice took on a very different tone to the one Meylyne was used to. This one was gentle and soothing as if she was talking to a small child. “I am sorry for waking you but there are some people here that wanted to meet you. Meylyne, Blue, Grimorex, this is Anzulla.”
“That’s Anzulla?”
Meylyne’s eyebrows shot to the top of her head.
“He’s . . . bald.”
17
Glendoch in Peril
THE ODD-LOOKING BIRD DREW HIMSELF UP AND SCOWLED at Meylyne.
“Excellent. Top marks for stating obvious.”
Meylyne blinked. She hadn’t expected him to speak Glendochian. The tusked lions had once lived in Glendoch, so it made sense that they would know the language, but not an eagle. His voice was harsh and clipped.
“Now, now, Anzulla,” Queen Scarlet said, still in that same soothing voice. “Try not to be so grumpy please. These people came here in the hope that you could help them.”
The bird fixed Meylyne with a querulous glare. “In what way?”
“Well, I was told that your feathers—”
“Aaaah!!!” The bird screeched. “She send you? No more! No more!”
Meylyne gaped at the bird as he flew frenziedly upward, bashing into her invisible ceiling. He fell to the ground in a dazed heap and then hopped over to Queen Scarlet, cowering behind her legs.
“No more feathers,” he moaned. “She know that.”
Meylyne looked from Queen Scarlet to Grimorex, hoping that one of them would explain.
“There, there,” Queen Scarlet said. “They were not sent by her. We have already established that.”
“Who is her?” Blue interjected, walking toward him for a closer look. “And what did she do to your feathers? Did she steal them?”
Anzulla scowled at Blue. At least Meylyne assumed he was scowling. He made that face so often that it was possible that was just his normal expression.
“Now I see you weren’t sent by her. Too addle-pated!”
“Addle-what? Who is this her you keep going on about?” Blue repeated impatiently.
Anzulla did not answer. He just sat there glowering at everyone in sight. Or looking as he always did. Meylyne still wasn’t sure.
“Please explain, Anzulla. They really do need your help,” Queen Scarlet said.
Anzulla waddled from her shadow.
“Fine. Although much rather be asleep! Feathers no more. Just dust now.”
Dust? Meylyne suddenly found it hard to breathe. This was the worst thing ever.
“Why?”
“Patience! I get there! Strange lady come see me. Like you, inquiring after feathers. I surprise she know of feathers’ power—most do not. Did not let her know I was eagle she sought. Still, she keep coming back. Say Glendoch in great peril and she need feather to save it.”
Meylyne and Blue exchanged a glance.
“What did she look like?” Meylyne asked.
“Can’t say. Whenever try recall face, just see blur. All I remember how regal she was.”
“Regal?” Blue echoed.
“Yes, addle-pate. Possess qualities of royalty.”
Meylyne and Blue exchanged another glance.
“As if she were a queen. Then what happened?” Meylyne asked.
“One day woke up to dreadful fright—her! Sitting in nook with me! Before I collect wits, start to tingle all over and poof! All feathers turn to ash!”
A shiver went through his body.
“She go berserk. Face get blotchy and greenish and she scream and spit at me. Then give me this—” Anzulla pointed to the scar running down his back. “Sure she mean kill me. She leave after that, with ash from feathers. I come here then—need place to hide.”
“How awful,” Meylyne murmured, looking more closely at the scar. It looked as though he had been burned.
“How did she do that to you?”
Anzulla shivered again. “With wand.”
“A wand?” Meylyne looked surprised. “That makes her sound like an alchemist but hardly any use wands any more. Apart from my mother, I don’t know of any.”
Anzulla shook his head.
“No, don’t believe she alchemist. I usually sense enchanted beings when come upon them.” He looked sideways at Meylyne. “Like you. But no get that sense with her.” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “I think she use Relic.”
“A Relic? But . . .”
Meylyne trailed off as she heard a rustle at the doorway.
“Enter,” Queen Scarlet commanded.
In padded a young lion with a tray of fruit on his head. Bowing down, the tray slid from his head to the ground without spilling a thing.
“Thank you,” Queen Scarlet said. “Please wake the others for their morning prayers.”
Bowing his head, the lion slunk from the chamber. For the first time, Meylyne noticed that the sky above had brightened into a golden-pinkish color. It was morning.
“Help yourselves,” Queen Scarlet added.
Meylyne and Blue did
not need to be told twice. They both dove for the fruit at the same time. Meylyne could not remember the last time she had been so ravenous. She grabbed two bananas and crammed a handful of blueberries in her mouth.
“What’s a Relic?” Blue asked, stuffing almost an entire kiwi in his mouth.
“Oo tell ‘im,” Meylyne said to Grimorex, blueberry juice dribbling out of her mouth.
Grimorex shot her a disdainful look and then turned to Blue.
“Relics are instruments of Glendoch’s Old Order; enchanted items—you know, wands, crystals, cloaks, that sort of thing—that grew so powerful that they did not need an alchemist to bring them to life. Any old person could master their sorcery, sometimes with disastrous results.”
“They’re forbidden now,” Meylyne added, ripping the peel off an orange. “They were all destroyed when the New Order came in.”
Blue looked dismayed. “Destroyed?”
Grimorex nodded.
“At first, they were simply confiscated but then it became clear that the Relic was the master, not the other way around. Although many of the Relics possessed good spirits, the royals decided they should all be burned.”
“All of them? And no one tried to protect them?” Blue cried.
“I don’t know. I guess not. It was a long time ago.” Meylyne wiped her mouth, smearing orange juice over her cheek. “Some did survive though. They turn up every now and then and you have to hand them over to the royals if you find them.”
Blue stared at her. “So, in other words, it’d be easy for Queen Emery to come by one of these Relics.”
The orange in Meylyne’s mouth suddenly tasted like sand. She swallowed it with difficulty.
“Queen Emery? Why would you say that?” asked Queen Scarlet.
“The Great Oaken Mother said that the Thorn Queen had poisoned her,” Meylyne explained. “We thought perhaps that was Queen Emery, because of how she had to drink a broth of thorns when she got Princess Amber kidnapped. But it doesn’t make sense. I mean, why would Queen Emery want Glendoch overrun by sphers?”
“She surely wouldn’t,” Queen Scarlet agreed.
“But think about it,” Grimorex said, stroking his chin. “If she is using a Relic to carry out some diabolical master plan, then those feathers would be the one thing powerful enough to defeat her. Especially in the hands of a powerful sorceress like your mother, Meylyne.”
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