The Girl with the Dragon Heart

by Stephanie Burgis

  Her head disappeared, and the window shut.

  ‘Phew.’ Sofia joined us on the doorstep, huddling close. ‘I hope it’s warmer inside.’

  I bit back the words: We have worse things to worry about. If the fairy sentinels were making regular rounds of the first district’s streets … How many sentinels had the fairies brought with them on this visit anyway?

  I almost fell through the door when it finally opened.

  ‘Hurry!’ I pushed Sofia in before me as the bookshop owner hastily stepped out of our way. Then I hurtled in after her, pulling Aventurine with me. Dieter closed the door behind us and turned the long key in the lock.

  ‘Can we cover up this glass?’ he asked, frowning uneasily at the big window at the front of the shop.

  ‘What?’ The owner gaped at him.

  ‘Don’t worry about that!’ I said, bouncing impatiently on the toes of my borrowed boots. ‘But for heaven’s sake, put out that candle!’

  ‘You want me to stand here in the dark?’ the owner demanded. ‘Of all the –!’ She snapped her mouth shut, her chest rising and falling with the words that she was visibly repressing.

  Then her gaze settled back on the princess’s expectant face, and she heaved a heavy sigh. ‘As you say.’ Dipping a curtsey, she blew out the tiny flame. ‘Is there anything else I can do to be of assistance, Your Highness?’

  ‘That will be all,’ said Sofia with regal condescension.

  ‘In that case …’ She sighed again, even more pointedly than before. ‘I’ll leave you all in peace, I suppose.’ Her dressing gown rustled as she stepped back.

  ‘Wait!’ I fumbled forward in the darkness and piled Frieda’s quilt into the woman’s arms. ‘Would you look after this, please? It’s …’ What would she think when she saw it in the light? It was only an old rag quilt from the riverbank. But still … ‘It’s special.’

  Of course, Frieda hadn’t asked Sofia to give it back when we left. How could she? Sofia was our princess – and Sofia, equally naturally, hadn’t thought twice about walking off with it. She’d spent her whole life being handed far lovelier things, all handmade with care, to use or discard at her pleasure.

  I knew how long Frieda had worked on that quilt, though. And after all the years I’d spent thinking bitter, unfair thoughts about her, I wouldn’t throw away her most precious possession now that I finally knew the truth.

  There was a moment of startled silence. Then the owner spoke again, her tone a fraction warmer than before. ‘Of course. I’ll keep it safe until you return.’

  If we return. ‘Thank you.’

  I reached out in the darkness to find the others’ hands, until we had formed a human chain. ‘This way!’

  It wasn’t easy to find our stumbling way. But every time I banged my shoulder into a towering bookcase or my hip into a hard table piled high with teetering stacks of books, I remembered: if I couldn’t see where I was going, no fairy sentinels could see me through that dangerously big window.

  When my hand touched the back door at last, I knew that it had all been worth it. ‘Here!’

  We tumbled all together into the secret passageway and closed the door behind us.

  Phew.

  ‘Halt!’

  Less than a week ago, when I’d first stepped into this passageway with the crown princess’s messenger, the two guards on duty had stood against the wall and watched us with their swords sheathed at their sides and their gazes impassive. Now they lunged to meet our party with wild eyes and swords held ready. Their lamp sat in a metal frame on the ground behind them, casting a small, vulnerable circle of light with dark shadows lurking all around it.

  ‘Your Highness.’ The guard in front lurched to a stop, waving his partner back as he recognised the princess. ‘Forgive us. We thought –’

  ‘I know.’ Sofia’s tone was surprisingly gentle. ‘You thought we were invaders. What’s happening inside, Jurgen?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ He threw his shoulders back into a military position, his broad brown face hardening. ‘Our duty is to guard this post, no matter what the circumstances. But –’

  ‘There was so much shouting!’ The second guard was younger, and his pale skin flushed pink as he spoke. ‘Then it all stopped at once, as if …’ His voice wobbled, and he broke off to swallow hard. ‘It just stopped!’

  ‘Fairy magic,’ Aventurine growled. The words sounded like a curse.

  The shadows that lurked around our circle of light seemed to thicken, pressing in on us. The younger guard’s sword trembled in his hand.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ I told him. ‘We have a plan.’

  ‘What plan?’ Dieter demanded. ‘No one’s explained it to me yet!’

  I flashed him and the watching guards my most confident grin.

  Sofia looked resigned; Aventurine was smirking.

  ‘Don’t worry about the details,’ I told my brother. ‘All we have to do now is find a way down to the chocolate kitchen without alerting the fairies along the way.’

  ‘We’ll escort you,’ the older guard said immediately. ‘Her Highness’s safety is our highest priority.’

  Aventurine rolled her eyes. ‘You’re not going to stop any fairies with those swords.’

  ‘Never mind,’ I said. ‘You can be our lookouts.’

  I wasn’t leaving anyone behind in the dark. Not tonight.

  We all emerged into the crown princess’s private, hexagon-shaped meeting room only a few minutes later. There were no golden lights floating in there, thank goodness.

  The younger guard opened the outer door and peered past it, then beckoned us forward. ‘It’s safe.’

  No, it’s not, I thought as I slipped through the doorway after him.

  The corridor was pitch-black, it was true, without a single golden light in sight. But we wouldn’t be able to retreat into the hidden servants’ corridors until we reached the map room, two doors down. And even there …

  I remembered the cloud of lights that had come swarming down both sides of the secret passage behind the fairy royals’ rooms earlier. My spine tightened nearly to cracking point.

  Nowhere in this palace was safe any more. The thick, heavy silence that blanketed the corridor ahead felt even more ominous than jingling fairy bells. The royal palace was far too busy and crowded to ever be completely silent, even at night … until now.

  What had happened to all of the courtiers and servants and guards? Why couldn’t we hear anybody in the distance?

  I would have given any amount of dragon gold to put out the guards’ lamp. The glow that it cast – lighting all of us as we moved in a tight, rustling group – felt like a look at me! signal to every fairy sentinel who might float idly past the end of this corridor. But there were too many of us in our motley group now, and I was the only one used to slipping around in the dark. If anyone knocked into something or fell over, the noise could bring sentinels flying from every corner of the palace.

  Every footstep that sounded – every heavy breath or hiss of air between someone’s teeth – seemed a thousand times louder as it fell into the listening darkness.

  I forced myself to breathe evenly and almost silently through my nose, my lips pressed tightly together, as I slid on my booted feet down the corridor, peering into the shadows ahead of me. Ten more feet to the map room … eight feet … five –

  Something scraped against the floor nearby, just outside the glow of the lamplight.

  ‘What’s that?’ the younger guard whispered loudly.

  ‘Shhh!’ I hissed back – then cursed myself, slamming my lips together. No more noise!

  A low chuckle sounded in the darkness.

  I knew that sound.

  ‘Who’s there?’ the older guard, Jurgen, demanded. He shifted in front of Sofia, adjusting his sword in his grip, as the younger guard swung the lantern around, his eyes darting back and forth.

  But they were both looking too high in the air.

  As soft leather boots scuffed against the gr
ound, I looked down to the level of my waist, already knowing what I would see.

  Alfric’s square green face was set in a rueful expression as he stepped into the circle of light. His long knife glinted at his waist, and the bloody tips of his sharp teeth looked as dark as night.

  ‘Ah, storyteller.’ He shook his head at me. ‘You should never have come back … but my masters will be only too pleased to see you.’

  CHAPTER 25

  Aventurine growled and started forward.

  Jurgen and his partner both swung around, gripping their swords.

  Sofia gasped and Dieter let out a strangled sound in the back of his throat.

  I took a deep breath for courage and waved them all back. ‘There you are!’ Smiling, I moved forward to meet the goblin guard halfway. ‘I was hoping to meet you here,’ I said with almost total honesty.

  I had definitely hoped to meet him rather than any of the other goblins or fairies who might have been on patrol tonight. With them, I wouldn’t have stood a chance. With Alfric, I had … possibilities. But only if I could figure out exactly how to put all of the evening’s puzzle pieces together.

  ‘Come on, Silke. Think. You’re supposed to be good at that!’

  ‘Alfric,’ I said, ‘what would you say if I offered you a bargain?’

  The air around us seemed to shiver.

  Alfric’s lips drew back into a dangerous smile that showed off the red tips of his pointed teeth. ‘I’m listening.’

  ‘Silke …’ Dieter began in a pained undertone.

  ‘Shh!’ I hissed. Then I turned back to Alfric. ‘You told me earlier that your people would give me precious jewels for my stories,’ I said, ‘or … or moss, to decorate a cavern of my own. Was that right?’

  ‘Those would indeed be our first tokens of appreciation for such a deep honour.’ He nodded gravely. ‘But alas, I cannot offer you any of those gifts now. My masters have taken you as an enemy, and I must obey.’

  ‘Because of the bargain that you struck with them.’ I swallowed, my eyes searching the darkness beyond him. How long until a searching fairy light appeared at the end of the corridor? ‘I’m guessing that you couldn’t break that bargain even if you tried. Is that right?’

  ‘Break a bargain?’ His bushy green eyebrows lowered into a disapproving frown. ‘Bargains are sacred and bound by the most ancient magic, young one. Have you lost even the memory of such commitments above ground?’

  ‘We-e-ell …’ I drew a deep breath.

  Aventurine shifted impatiently beside me. She didn’t have to say a word; I knew exactly what she wanted: to stop talking and to fight, overpower him and move on. Eerie though he might be, with two soldiers and Aventurine’s claws on our side, Alfric on his own couldn’t possibly stand against us.

  But that was only because he hadn’t summoned any sentinels to alert his masters yet.

  I moistened my lips, choosing my words carefully. ‘What if I offered you a bargain that wouldn’t break your agreement with the fairies?’

  ‘I would tell you to be very careful, storyteller.’ Alfric gazed up at me, his eyes dark and ancient. ‘I am sworn to protect my masters’ lives, and I cannot put them in danger even for the greatest of rewards.’

  Of course. The magic wouldn’t let him.

  That – as I’d worked out on my way back to the palace – was why fairies didn’t trust humans or dragons to keep their bargains: dragons destroyed magic by their nature, and humans didn’t possess enough of it in the first place.

  And that was why human trespassers had to be transformed into a magical form before the fairies would trust their service. Only then could their bargains truly bind them.

  ‘I won’t ask you to put your masters in danger.’ The toes of my boots pinched so badly that I had to tip back on my heels, balancing as carefully as I could. ‘I don’t want anyone to be hurt, not even them.’

  ‘But,’ said Alfric softly, ‘I have been ordered to bring you to my masters tonight if I should happen to find you in my patrols. How do you reconcile that with your proposed bargain, storyteller?’

  ‘I would say … that sounds perfect!’ As a wave of relief rushed through me, I landed back on my full feet with a thud.

  ‘What?’ Aventurine grabbed my arm and peered at me suspiciously. ‘Have you been enchanted by fairy magic, too?’

  Dieter said anxiously, ‘Could that have happened?’

  ‘No!’ I pulled free, rolling my eyes at them both.

  The guards were watching me wide-eyed, still holding their swords ready, and Sofia’s face was set in a considering scowl.

  But I could finally feel the lightness of true hope rushing through me as I turned back to Alfric, balancing my words as carefully as I’d balanced on my heels a moment earlier. ‘What if I told you that coming with us now, with just one stop along the way, would be the most efficient way to bring us to your masters? Especially if you don’t let any of the fairy sentinels see us and slow us down? You’d save all of the time and effort it would take to have a long, noisy battle. And I promise to come with you quietly once I’ve made that single stop! It would be so much faster in the end, and in exchange for your help, I’ll tell you a story of your own. So … ?’ I paused and moistened my lips, trying to read his expression. ‘Would that be enough for us to strike a new bargain without breaking your first bargain with the fairies?’

  He looked at me for a long, considering moment as I held my breath.

  Please, please, please …

  When the goblin guard finally spoke, his voice was filled with the weight of stone.

  ‘Rebellion will never work,’ he told me. ‘No magic on earth can overcome my masters. In all of history, only full-grown dragons have ever managed to stand against them. Whatever hopeless heroics you may be planning for yourself now, they are doomed to failure and pain and misery. You would do far better to give them up and come quietly before you enrage my masters further.’

  He sighed heavily, his green face lined with weariness. ‘Be sensible, young one. You are only a magic-less human girl. You have no power with which to fight them … and trust me: you do not wish to know what punishments they can devise for true impertinence.’

  The younger guard gulped audibly. Dieter let out a muffled groan, Sofia gave an outraged sniff and Aventurine’s menacing growl rumbled through the air.

  I gave Alfric my most mischievous grin. ‘Well then, why don’t I tell you your story first, before we go to your masters?’ I suggested. ‘That way I can fulfil my end of the bargain before all of that inevitable failure and pain and misery. Agreed?’

  For one tense moment, everything hung in the balance.

  Then a sharp-toothed grin spread across Alfric’s face. ‘We respect bravery like yours in the deeps, storyteller, even when it is so utterly doomed.’ Stepping back, he gave me a courtly bow. ‘I have only one request as I escort you on your final journey to my masters: I wish my story to include Drachenburg’s famous chocolate.’

  ‘That should be absolutely fine,’ I said happily, ‘because guess where we’re going first?’

  * * *

  It was easy to find my way to the chocolate kitchen by the light of the guards’ lantern, especially with a story to tell along the way. I’d mapped these corridors for hours in the dark, and with Alfric’s help, we weren’t seen by a single fairy sentinel the whole way. The look of wonder on his green face, as I told him a brand new story I’d invented just for him, was almost enough to make me glow like a fairy myself with satisfaction.

  I might have failed at many things tonight, but storytelling was something I really did know how to do.

  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to savour that feeling for long.

  ‘Horst!’ said Aventurine as she stepped into the darkened kitchen ahead of me. Then she stopped dead. The sound that came out of her throat was halfway between a roar and a scream. ‘Marina!’

  ‘Shhh –’ I began, prodding her back.

  Then the younger guard held up
his lantern above me to light the small kitchen, and I saw what she’d been staring at.

  My throat closed up. I couldn’t speak.

  Something must have alerted Marina and Horst to what was happening, to bring them running down to the kitchen in the middle of the night. They’d both changed out of their nightclothes, but for once, ever-proper Horst hadn’t bothered with a jacket, which meant that he’d got dressed in a panicked hurry. Marina’s black hair still hung down her back in a thick night-time plait …

  And they both lay crumpled on the tiled kitchen floor.

  How long had they been lying there in the dark?

  Horst’s hand was stretched out towards Marina, but his gesture had fallen short, his dark brown fingers trailing agonising inches away from her shoulder.

  Neither of them was moving.

  Aventurine lunged forward, her human hands reaching out and her shadow exploding until it lashed a massive tail against the white walls in unison with her head-splitting roars of anguish.

  Voices rose behind me, but I couldn’t take in any of the words.

  A candle lay flat on the floor next to Marina’s outstretched fingers. Someone must have put it out after she dropped it, to stop any fires from racing through the room.

  They’d put out the candle, but still left her lying helpless on the floor of the royal chocolate kitchen …

  Where I’d brought her.

  ‘Doomed to failure and pain and misery …’

  Pain burst up jaggedly through my chest. I had to clap my hands over my mouth to stop myself from being sick.

  Marina had never wanted to come to the palace in the first place. She hadn’t understood why I would want to come either, leaving her beloved Chocolate Heart behind. But I’d been so certain I was gaining the chocolate house a glorious opportunity with this mission. I’d thought I was giving them a gift. I’d thought …

  ‘They’re not dead.’ Sofia’s face was only inches away from mine – when had she come so close? – and she shook my shoulders hard as she repeated herself. ‘Silke, they’re not dead! Can you even hear me?’

  I twisted free with a jerk. Aventurine, Dieter and Jurgen were all gathered around those two prone bodies while the second guard stood at the doorway, keeping watch.