“Yeah—and now Queen Emery’s gone and imprisoned Meylyne’s mom in those dungeons! She’s got to be the Thorn Queen!” Blue cried.
“Wait, wait, wait—not so fast!” squawked Anzulla. “Lady that stole feathers live in Land of Snow. My brother follow her to ice palace there.”
“The Land of Snow?” Meylyne echoed. “You’re sure?”
Anzulla nodded. “According to spies. She still there.”
Silence blanketed the room. Meylyne thought about all she had heard of the Land of Snow. In the far northern reaches of Celadonia, it was said to be the land of eternal winter. Aside from a forest of Cedars, nothing lived there any more. Her mother had gone there often in search of Meph—she believed it was where he hid. An awful idea slid into her mind.
What if Queen Emery and my father are in cahoots?
“Well why didn’t you say so earlier?” Blue demanded. “This makes things really easy for us!”
“Why?” Anzulla asked.
“We know where the feathers are! So we go to this ice palace, take back the feather ash from this Thorn Queen-slash-Queen Emery, you magic it back into feathers and cure the Tree Mother!”
“Oh is that all?” Meylyne replied dryly.
“Yup, and while we’re at it, we’ll grab that Relic thing of Queen Emery’s and she’ll have no more power!”
“She’ll still be the queen of Glendoch!”
Blue shrugged and bit into an apple. “You have a better plan?”
Meylyne sighed. She did not have a better plan. In fact, she had no plan at all. Chewing her cheek, she turned to Grimorex.
“What do you think?”
Grimorex was silent for a minute. Then he said, “We came here looking for the feathers and now we know where they are. And we certainly can’t leave them in her hands, so, yes, I agree—it is worth a try. If we take the diamond chariot we’ll get there in a day.”
“Yeah—now you’re talking!” Blue cried.
Wishing she shared his confidence, Meylyne felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Corkk looking pained about something.
“I’m afraid I have bad news for you about your book. An intruder entered the castle and stole it. I am truly, truly sorry.”
For a split second Meylyne did nothing. She hated to lie to the lions but she couldn’t give Plut away. Her hands flew to her face.
“Stole my Book of Incantations? Oh no! What am I going to do?”
She gave Blue a pointed stare as if to say, help me out of this!
“Er, do magic without it? It’s not like it was all that helpful to you.”
Meylyne glowered at him.
“Do not worry,” Grimorex interjected. “Your Book of Incantations is bound to you. It will find its way back to you.”
“Yes! Of course! I mean—” Meylyne feigned a long-suffering sigh. “I suppose that will have to do. Not to worry then.”
Corkk bowed his head but not before Meylyne saw a flash of steel in his eyes. He wasn’t fooled, but she had no time to think about that now.
“We have to leave. Thank you, Queen Scarlet, for the lovely breakfast and, well, for not eating us when I messed up my incantation. And thank you, Anzulla, for trusting us with your feathers’ whereabouts. I promise we’ll return them to you once we’ve finished with them.”
“We see.” Anzulla sounded as grumpy as usual but for once he did not seem to scowl.
“It is we that should thank you, for what you are undertaking,” Queen Scarlet said, padding toward the doorway.
Meylyne, Blue, and Grimorex followed her out of the palace. Once outside, Queen Scarlet sniffed the air. There was a faint smell of roses. In the distance Meylyne saw the cliff with a bit ripped away at the bottom from where Grimorex had fallen. She supposed she would find her pills there if she looked. Not that she would bother. She liked the feeling of her wings hanging down her back. She turned around to find Queen Scarlet staring at her.
“You know child, many worlds will fall if Glendoch falls,” she said.
Meylyne frowned but before she could ask what she meant, Grimorex interrupted. “Yes, well, we must be going! No time like the present for saving a world from falling—that’s what I always say!”
Bowing low to the ground, he kissed Queen Scarlet’s paws. She regarded him with a twinkle in her eye.
“Still not a fan of farewells, eh Grimorex? Do not let so much time pass before the next time we see you. I still see you as my kin and expect the same respect from you as I do from them. May good fortune be with you all.”
Meylyne felt a surge of warmth for the old queen. To think that all this time the royals had made out that the tusked lions were to be feared when in fact it seemed the royals were the ones to be feared.
“When we’re finished with all this, I shall see to it that the tusked lions are invited to visit Glendoch whenever they like!” she said.
“Thank you, child, although we need no invitation to return to our old home. We shall come back when the time is right, believe me.”
“I do believe you,” Meylyne replied. “Then again, I’d probably believe anything you told me right now. I’m starting to think anything is possible.”
18
The Land of Snow
THE DIAMOND CHARIOT FLEW STEADILY TOWARD THE Land of Snow. Meylyne, Blue, and Grimorex had wasted no time in returning to Grimorex’s castle, picking up Hope and setting off. Hope had seemed quieter than normal. He had said he’d found nothing of interest in the diamond chariot but Meylyne did not believe him nor did she press him. She was too tired for one thing, and she knew he would talk when he was ready.
They had set off at dusk. Curled up in one of the chariot’s alcoves, Meylyne poured over her alchemy book. It was so much easier to read now. All the alchemical elements made sense at last—no longer did she feel like she was wading through a mystifying foreign language.
I guess all I did need was practice after all—Hope was right!
As she read through an incantation to change an object’s form into something else, one line in particular caught her attention—
In a pinch, rely on your bonds.
They must be talking about her bonds with nature. She read a little further and then, lulled by the heat pulsing through the chariot floor, she fell into a doze. Every time she woke up she read more of her book while above her the sky filled up with stars.
When the sky’s edges became tinged with pink, Meylyne crawled out of the alcove, gasping as the cold hit her. It bit into her like nothing she had ever felt before and she wrapped her cloak tightly around her, pulling her hood around her face until only her eyes showed. Her eyes began to stream and she blinked furiously, fearing they would ice over.
Walking to the side of the chariot, she peered out at snow-capped cedars, silhouetted in the distance ahead.
“Cold, isn’t it?” Grimorex said, making her jump. She hadn’t noticed him join her. He was wrapped in a thick woolen blanket.
“Here, put these on. Glendoch may be a glacier but I guarantee you’ve never known cold like the Land of Snow before.”
He held out a woolen coat, hat, mittens, goggles, and boots. Somehow, they were almost exactly the right size.
“Thanks, Grimorex!” Meylyne mumbled, her lips already numb with cold. “You think of everything!”
A moment later, Blue and Hope joined them. Hope snorted, stamping his feet and steam blowing out of his nose.
“M-morning,” Blue stammered, his teeth chattering. “How ‘b-bout some breakfast?”
“Put these on first,” Grimorex ordered, handing him the same assortment of clothes that he’d given Meylyne. Blue pulled them over his clothes as quickly as possible.
“Thanks!”
Nodding, Grimorex disappeared and fished out some warm croissants and jam from a compartment in the front of the chariot. For a few minutes, everyone munched on them in silence, each thinking about what lay ahead. Blue spoke first.
“So what’s the plan? My two ce
nts is that you use your invisibility spell to make us all invisible, Meylyne. That way we can go get the dust and the Relic without being seen.”
Meylyne shook her head.
“I thought about that but I’m not one hundred percent sure that I can un-invisiblize everyone afterward! Probably best if I just invisiblize myself and I’ll go get the feather dust and Relic on my own.”
Blue stared at her.
“You seriously think we’d let you go by yourself?”
“Look, it’s bad enough that I’ve made you half your normal size without making you disappear as well!” Meylyne retorted.
Blue opened his mouth to protest but Grimorex cut him off.
“Let us not argue about this,” he said. “As much as I don’t like it, I actually think Meylyne is right. I for one am too tall to enter the ice palace without drawing attention to us all. If things turn ugly, each of us could get in the way. Meylyne might end up expending all of her energy protecting us instead of procuring the dust and the Relic and that is, after all, the purpose of this mission.”
“No,” Blue said, folding his arms.
“Listen—you and Hope can come with me through the forest and wait for me outside the palace. I’ll send you a signal if anything goes wrong,” Meylyne said.
“Yes,” Hope interjected before Blue could protest again. “That what we do. Grimorex right—Meylyne better off without us in way. She magical and can fight magic. We can’t.”
“Of course we can!”
“No,” Grimorex countered. “We can’t.” He cleared his throat. “I know it’s hard for you to comprehend our natural laws. Where you’re from, there’s next to no alchemy left at all.”
Blue stared at him.
“What are you talking about? We don’t know where I’m from.”
“Yes, we do—you revealed it at the Palace of Lions.”
“I did? How? What did I say?”
“It was when Meylyne had shown her wings and was about to put on her cape. You said, why on Earth would you hide your wings?” Grimorex caught Meylyne’s eye. “He’s from Aardverd, just as I originally suspected!”
Meylyne gasped and a flake of croissant got wedged in her throat. “Wow—Aardverd—home to Glendoch’s Original Six,” she spluttered.
Blue gave her a blank stare.
“Huh?”
“The original six humans that Trisdyan summoned to save Glendoch from dying. It’s a long story. We’ll have to tell you later—but at least you know where home is now!”
“But you said all the passages between our worlds were closed up.”
Blue directed this to Grimorex.
“They are. And yet, here you are.”
Blue fell quiet for a second. Then he shook himself.
“Okay, let’s shelve this for now.” He gave Meylyne a fierce look. “I guess I’m outnumbered so I’ll let you go into the ice palace alone but the minute Grimorex signals any trouble, I’m coming in!”
Meylyne squeezed his hand.
“I’m counting on it!”
Deep down, she was scared stiff to go by herself. Especially seeing as the first time she’d done an invisibility incantation it had gone quite horribly wrong.
“I’d better have another look at that spell,” she muttered. “The last thing I need is to turn myself into a toad.”
Pulling off her mittens, she huddled in her alcove and found the chapter on how to invisiblize everything from your breath to a fleet of ships. She read it once, frowned, and then read it again.
“This is so weird.”
“What is?” Blue asked.
“It’s like I said before—this incantation makes perfect sense now. How did I get it so horribly wrong the first time?”
“You needed practice,” Hope said. “Like I say all along!”
“And confidence!” Blue added.
Meylyne considered. Maybe they were right. Practice and confidence were important with sorcery. Something still seemed odd but she shrugged it off. She didn’t have time to worry about it now. Within just a few minutes she had the incantation memorized. Flipping through the pages, she found the reversing chapter and worked out how to un-invisiblize herself when this was all over.
When this was all over.
She bit her lip. She had a hard time envisioning that. What if the Relic sensed her presence and she had to fight? She needed some all-purpose defensive spell that could protect her from any curse or incantation. Instinctively she felt for the pewter shield in her pocket. Maybe she could enlarge it and fortify it with . . . What? Who knows what sorcery the Thorn Queen will use?
The moonlight reflected off the shield and an idea formed in her mind. What about some sort of mirror charm? If I could work that out, I could just reflect back to the Thorn Queen any spell she tried to set upon me!
She ran her finger down the table of contents. Nothing at all on mirror charms. Flipping the book to the back, she skimmed through the index. Sometimes things got hidden.
There!
Like a dusty old gem that had got lodged behind a bunch of stuff in the back of a dark shop she found it—a way to alchemically gild an ordinary object to give it mirroring qualities. The purpose was different—it was supposed to be used to tell the person looking in the mirror secrets about him or herself, but there was no reason she couldn’t use it her way too!
Resting the little shield on her hand, she wove the incantation into it. Then she blinked. The shield was fusing with her hand! In a panic, she shook it but the little shield wouldn’t budge.
“Almost there,” Grimorex boomed, making her jump. “See that lake?”
With an exasperated sigh, Meylyne scrambled to her feet. She would deal with it later. Peering down below, she heard a clink as she rested her hands on the chariot’s side. She’d have to get used to that for now.
Beneath her was a crystal-clear lake, its water perfectly still. Chunks of ice lay frozen in it like an unfinished jigsaw puzzle.
“That’s the entrance to the Land of Snow,” Grimorex said. Banging the side of the chariot, he added, “Lower, please.”
As the chariot dipped down Meylyne saw a lonely barge idling by the side of the lake. At least we won’t have to worry about company, she thought, noting the barge’s rotting, splintered condition. That hasn’t been used for ages!
Flying low over the lake, the chariot skidded to a halt on the other side. A sea of snow, deathly silent and sparkling in the early morning sun surrounded them. Not too far off was a forest and in the distance four glass-like turrets gleamed amidst the white-capped treetops.
In one of those turrets, Meylyne would find the Thorn Queen. She drew a deep breath and turned to face her friends.
“Right. Time to make myself invisible.”
Scowling, Blue stared down at his toes while Grimorex forced an unconvincing smile on his face.
“Maybe one of us come—” Hope started to say.
“No,” Meylyne cut him off. “I have to go alone. Now be quiet so I can cast my incantation!”
Waving her arms, Meylyne muttered the words to the spell. Almost immediately she started to feel giddy.
“Meylyne—your head’s disappeared!” Blue cried.
Meylyne touched her face with her fingers. As she did so, her hands began to dissolve before her eyes. Within seconds they were gone. Then her arms, her legs . . . everything was dissolving in the same way!
“I have to say, that is pretty cool,” Blue said.
Even Hope looked impressed. Only Grimorex still looked serious.
“Very good. Now remember, you’ll still make footprints and the like so you’re not entirely invisible. From what I know of Relics, it will probably be able to sense you if you’re in the same room. It won’t be able to do anything about it without Queen Emery but it may have found a way to control her thoughts. Never assume you are safe, just because you can’t be seen.”
“Of course,” Meylyne replied, her voice coming from thin air.
“Hea
d toward the turrets. If I see any danger, I will blow on this whistle—it sounds like the call of a marsh bird. That will be the signal for you to come back or, if you’re already inside the castle, for Blue and Hope to go in. Here. I’ve a whistle for you too.”
Grimorex’s voice was gruff with tension and Meylyne fought back against the hot sting of tears pressing against the back of her eyes. Slipping the whistle inside her pocket, she took Blue’s hand in one hand and rested her other on Hope’s neck.
“Don’t worry—we’ll be back before you know it.”
She said it more to reassure herself than him. The three friends jumped off the chariot and began padding silently through the snow. It dipped and peaked, making mysterious patterns on the ground, while the trees stood tall against the sky like giant soldiers. Not a creature stirred—no squirrels scurrying up the trees, no birds pecking for worms. A twig cracked and they all jumped, their heads swiveling from side to side. After a moment of complete stillness, they continued to thread their way toward the turrets.
As they drew closer to the castle the turrets disappeared from the treetops, and then something gleamed straight ahead of them. Meylyne’s pulse quickened. They were almost there.
“Right. Time for us to stop,” Blue said. He squeezed Meylyne’s hand. “The minute we hear any trouble, we’ll be there, do you understand?”
Meylyne nodded but then realized they couldn’t see her. “Yes. Thank you.”
Letting go of Blue’s hand, she inched forward toward the castle. She would give anything for her friends to come with her. There were only a few trees between her and the castle now. She stayed behind them for as long as she could, aware that her footprints could still be seen in the snow. Then there was just one tree between her and the castle. She hid behind it and peeked around.
The castle loomed up before her, glistening wetly in the morning sunlight. It was like an enormous block of ice with squares cut out for windows. She shuddered to look at it. It didn’t even have a front door—just an archway dripping icicles.
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