Elric blinked. The woods had disappeared and now he was back within the fairy palace. A circle of fairies surrounded them, all gaping at Osmund.
“Prince Osmund,” Raven said in a reverent voice. He fell to one knee and bowed. “You return in our hour of most dire need.”
Osmund handed Elric his ax. He walked past Raven without a word. He strode straight for the queen on her bed of frozen mist.
With gentle care, he lifted his medallion from his neck and placed it on the queen’s chest, then took her hand and laid it over the pendant. He rested his hands over hers.
“Mother, I’m home,” he said softly.
A thread of golden light reached down from one of the deep cracks in the crystal. It connected to the center of Osmund’s back, then pierced through his heart and reached the heart of the frozen queen.
Osmund cried out as he let his hands fall. He grimaced as the light grew brighter, and one of the deep cracks in the crystal slowly fused together. The light bleeding out of the cracks slowed, though it did not stop completely. Elric watched as the blue light of the crystal pulsed again, dim but steady. The heartbeat returned to the great tree. But three deep cracks remained in the fragile heart of the palace.
The queen’s eyes blinked open. She stared up at him without saying a word as the golden thread connected them. She reached out her hand and cupped the side of his haggard face. “Osmund?”
A great cheer went up in the hall.
Elric ran forward, but the queen didn’t look at him.
“Can it really be you?” she asked Osmund as the light glowing between them faded. She propped herself up, then leaned forward and drew him into a loving embrace. “I thought you were dead. What happened?”
“I don’t know,” Osmund said. There was a hitch in his voice and Elric wondered if he was telling the truth. Before he came through the portal, Osmund seemed pretty clear about what had happened. Elric listened carefully as Osmund spoke, wondering what he was hiding. “I found myself in the Nightfell Wood. I couldn’t get back through the shield. But I discovered the old elf city and the fairy ring there. The Grendel came for me in a cloud of smoke. The portal activated, and I fell through to the Otherworld. I have been there ever since, waiting for the day I could return.”
Now Elric knew that was a lie. Osmund had claimed he never wanted to return. He had also told Elric to go along with whatever he said, so Elric bit his tongue.
Raven rushed forward and offered the queen a hand. “Your Majesty, we should get you to your quarters so you can rest. It has been a terrible, terrible day. But the return of Prince Osmund gives us hope.” He pointed to the fractured crystal. “A piece of the crystal has mended.”
The queen nodded, looking dazed and still ill. “Yes, yes, that would be wise.” She allowed Raven to pull her to her feet.
“But what about Wynn?” Elric said. “We have to send a rescue. I will gladly lead it.”
The queen faltered and Raven caught her. “Do not upset the queen. She is in a fragile state.”
Elric stared at Lord Raven in shock. “And my sister is in danger!” he shouted. “We have to go and find her.”
Osmund gave him a warning glance, but then stilled his expression.
“No, we don’t,” Raven said in a hard voice. It fell as heavy as an executioner’s ax.
Elric’s heart pounded as he shook with rage. “Are you just going to throw her away, like she didn’t even matter to you?” He clenched his fists. “When I was a shepherd, I protected all of my sheep. If one was lost, I searched for it.”
Lord Raven handed the queen over to her attendants. He approached Elric. “And how many more of the flock would we lose in the effort?” he asked. The air turned cold and a biting wind blew across Elric’s face. “The Grendel will destroy our world if he can, and it won’t be enough. How many should we sacrifice?”
Elric didn’t have an answer right away. It was hard to think of facing danger and the reality that some might not make it home. But it was each person’s choice to fight. And there were some things worth fighting for. Fighting to save a loved one was worth the risk. That’s what love meant.
Elric looked around the room at the faces of all the fairies crowded around the circle. “Don’t you love Wynn too?” he asked. “Aren’t you willing to fight for her?”
One by one they looked down at the floor. Not one would meet his eyes but Zephyr, who looked stricken and worried.
“She’s out there. Wynn is out there. Your princess, your friend. She needs you,” he said as he paced in front of the crowd trying to meet the downcast eyes of the fairies. “Are you going to hide forever? How many children like Wynn will you sacrifice?”
Now they looked away.
“Fine.” Elric ground his teeth together. “If you are all too much of cowards to help me, I’ll go find her myself.” At least Osmund said he would help.
Elric turned to leave the room. One of the royal guards grabbed him by the arm. He spun around and tried to pull free, but the stronger man held him fast.
“I know you are grieving,” the queen said. “As deeply as I am. But I cannot allow you to leave. No matter what, I have taken you in as my son, and I will protect you. Your loss would put this entire realm at risk of the darkness. I will send Lord Raven to fly over the wood in the morning. Take him to his room. Be sure the door is sealed.”
“No!” Elric screamed as he dropped his weight and tried to pull out of the guard’s grip. He wrenched his shoulder. He wouldn’t let them drag him from this room like a disobedient child. Lord Raven wouldn’t risk himself. He’d fly high over the trees. He wouldn’t see her. “She’s my sister! She needs my help. Please!”
The queen said nothing as the guard pulled him forward. “Osmund!” he cried. “Wynn needs us. Help me!” The words tore out of his aching throat.
Osmund’s face gave away nothing. He glanced down for a moment, then back up to Elric. “The queen is right. I’ve waited a long time for a chance to come back to this place. We cannot risk the shield breaking. I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do.”
Elric’s shock made his muscles go numb. In that moment, the guards dragged him toward the spiral stair that climbed up the trunk of the tree to the rooms in the branches above. They were just about to pull him from the throne room when he regained control of himself and fought against the grip holding his arms so tightly.
“You’re her friend!” Elric screamed at Osmund. “I thought you cared for her. You protected her. She trusted you!”
He tried to twist his arm free, but it was no use. “She’ll die without our help.” Elric watched as Osmund lowered his gaze, looking ashamed of himself. “Her death will be on your head.” His voice filled the chamber. “Her blood is on your hands. All of you!”
No one met his gaze as the guard dragged him from the room.
Elric pulled against the fairy holding him the entire way up the staircase. With every step he shifted and twisted. He threw his weight down like a sack of rocks, only to have the fairy guardsmen haul him back up by the armpits. He tried to throw his arms out and hold on to the door frames in the hall, but the fairies dragged him along until his shoulders felt like they would be torn from their sockets. With every turn of the staircase, he felt like he was being torn away from his sister. He fought. With fists, scratching nails, and more than a few curse words, he fought.
He used all the tricks and leverage Master Elk had taught him. It didn’t do any good. Master Elk had trained these guards too. When they pulled, he used his heavier mortal body against them. Wynn’s life was at stake. That gave him enough strength to yank his arm away from his captors and run back down the staircase.
He had only one thought in his mind. He didn’t know what had driven Wynn through the shield, but he was determined to follow her. He wouldn’t rest until he found her again.
He charged down the stairs and glanced behind him. When he turned back around, the knife-like points of a rack of silver antlers were only a half a
foot in front of him. Elric skidded to a stop, throwing his weight back from the stag in front of him. He lost his balance and fell onto the stairs.
The snow-white stag snorted through his black nose as he stared up at Elric from under the branching silver antlers he carried like a crown. In a clouded mist of silver light, Master Elk transformed. The antlers melted away, and instead of a snowy stag, his teacher stood before him in his impressive white robes with his long braids falling over his shoulders. He held his sword like a barrier between them.
“She is gone,” he said in his low melodious voice. “I understand that you are hurt.”
“No.” Elric shook his head. “You cannot know that she’s dead.”
“I can.” Elk took a step forward, and it forced Elric further up the stairs. “The reaper almost made me diminish today. Wynn is a mortal child and frail in both body and mind. What you saw at the shield was a trap. Think. The second part of that trap is yet to be sprung. The Grendel knows about you. His reaper saw you. He knows you will follow your sister to whatever end. I cannot allow that.”
“She is not frail, she’s strong. I won’t abandon her.” Elric rose to his feet and faced his teacher. He didn’t have a weapon. He didn’t have thousands of years of experience with fighting. But he did love his sister.
“You are young.” Elk gave him a sad smile. “And a mortal creature. I commend the strength of your feelings.” He gave Elric a slight bow. “You saved my life today, and I will repay that debt.”
Elk’s eyes turned pure white, and a flash of silver light was the last thing that Elric remembered.
When Elric woke, he found himself in his room. The walls formed from the inner wood of the living tree and surrounded his soft bed. He threw the down-stuffed blankets off his body feeling hot with rage. The roof of his room glittered with the white light of the stones embedded in the ceiling. He grabbed the edge of the chest next to his bed and overturned it. His clothing spilled out onto the floor as the chest rolled to the center of the room with a satisfying crash. He crossed the soft woven rug to the door and pounded on it.
“Let me out!” he shouted. He beat at the door until his hands felt raw. He shouted until his voice felt hoarse. And when he could finally say no more, when the strength of his arms failed him, he stumbled over to the window.
“She’s my baby sister.” The words tore from his throat, clawing their way from his broken heart. “I promised to protect her.”
He stared out through the enormous leaves of the tree to the shield that arched over him. When they first came to the Between, he found the shield beautiful. It had made him feel safe, like nothing in the world beyond it really mattered. Darkness and pain couldn’t touch him as long as the shield remained above him. Now it felt like a wall—a stone wall as high and impenetrable as a fortress.
His sister was lost on the other side, and he was under siege. The problem with fortresses and walls was that the armies beyond them would always find a way to cause suffering within. The safety of a wall was an illusion as shifting and beautiful as the colors swirling through the shield overhead. There was nothing more terrible than a siege. The army outside could hold their ground until the people in the fortress slowly starved. The fairies weren’t really safe here. They were trapped.
Wynn was in danger and there was nothing he could do about it, because he was trapped with them. His throat felt painfully tight. He kept trying to swallow to relieve the soreness there, but it didn’t help. His jaw ached from clenching his teeth, and his heart hurt. He pressed a fist against his chest.
The dark woods beyond the shield stretched on forever. Wynn seemed so small in comparison when he stared out at it. He had to believe she was strong enough to survive. He had to believe she was smart enough to make it on her own. But that was so hard to do. Things were difficult for Wynn, and surviving in a magical wood filled with dangerous creatures was even worse. It would be a challenge for someone who had magic at their fingertips. Wynn had nothing but a single shoe and a fat black hen. Or at least he hoped she did. It made him feel better to think that Mildred was with her and she wasn’t alone.
Wynn had spent too much of her life alone.
He could hear her voice in his head, hear the words she had said to him when all hope was lost: Believing is easy. Making fires is hard, and you can do that.
He needed to believe in her. But she couldn’t even start a fire on her own.
No. That wasn’t true. She had started a fire on her own when she needed to save his life. She wasn’t helpless. He had to trust in her abilities.
Why was that so difficult to do? He knew why. No matter how brave, bright, and loyal Wynn was, the world held dangers for her that no one else seemed to have to face. He thought they would escape those dangers when they passed through the Silver Gate. But the dangers didn’t go away. They just changed.
He leaned against the wall, then slid to the floor, hugging his legs as he cried. Each sob felt as if it had to be pulled from him. His heart was broken.
Wynn was gone. His sister. His funny, sunny, irritating, and loving sister was gone.
“I’m sorry, Wynn. I promised I would come back for you,” he whispered into the shelter of his own curled body.
Elric didn’t know how long he sat against the door. It didn’t matter. Every minute wasted was another moment where he had to accept the reality that Wynn wouldn’t survive.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Wynn
WYNN DIDN’T WANT TO LIVE in this wood forever. It wasn’t a nice place to be, or pretty, or warm, or comfortable. There were dangerous creatures here. She missed the fairies. She missed the Fairy Queen. And if she stayed here forever, she would never see her brother again. She missed him most of all.
“I don’t want to live here,” Wynn said, crossing her arms. “Elric will come find me.”
“Who is Elric?” the smoke-and-shadow girl asked.
“Elric is a prince,” Wynn answered. Prince sounded more important than brother. “He is very brave.”
The girl scratched her tigereon under her chin. “We’ll see. It’s easy to be brave when you live behind a wall.” The girl rubbed her thumb along a groove in her staff. “The fairies save only themselves. It’s what they have done for ages.”
Wynn didn’t think that was right. The queen saved her from the snow. She used magic to help Wynn find the Silver Gate. But now she wasn’t sure what to think. Something else was bothering her.
“How old are you?” Wynn asked. The girl knew old things. She looked the same age as Elric, but some fairies were very old and they still looked young, like Zephyr.
The girl shrugged. “Don’t know. Does it matter?”
“What is your name?” Wynn asked.
The girl tilted her staff against her shoulder and crossed her arms over it. “That doesn’t matter either.”
“What is your name?” Wynn repeated. Names were very important.
“I don’t know!” she shouted. “No one ever gave me one.” She looked down and to the side, peering at the dark corner of the room. “The elves have a name for me, but I don’t like it.”
“What does she call you?” Wynn asked, pointing at Shadow.
The girl stared at Wynn. She squinted, then stroked the beast behind her. “Shadow? She calls me ‘cub,’ ‘wee one,’ ‘little thing,’ ‘stripeless,’ ‘two-legs’ . . . actually I’m not that fond of those last two.” The girl stroked the side of the cat’s face. “She found me in the wood and helped me survive for as long as I can remember. She is my only friend.”
Shadow closed her eyes and her cheeks relaxed into a contented smile. Her pale stripes shimmered with shifting colors as she let the girl pet her. “She’s very beautiful,” Wynn said.
The girl smiled. “Yes, she is. The fur here beneath her ears is so soft, it is hard to tell you are really touching it.” The girl slid her spread fingers into the deep fur behind Shadow’s ears. They completely disappeared in the thick color-shifting fur.
&nb
sp; The girl leaned over and let her head rest on Shadow’s strong shoulder. “And when you press your ear to her side, she growls a low, soothing sound that can reach you in your bones.” She took in a deep breath, then lifted her head and continued. “Shadow told me that in the days when there were more tigereons like her, the rumble of their growls filled the wood and helped other creatures sleep peacefully through the night.”
The girl crawled over the beast and tucked herself into the shelter of the larger animal’s body. “When it is cold, she wraps around you, warm and strong. You know you can sleep and be safe. She is very beautiful.”
Wynn didn’t think about it like that. She just liked the creature’s pretty colors. She lifted her hen from her lap. “Mildred is beautiful too.”
The girl smiled. “What is she?”
“She’s a chicken,” Wynn stated as she pushed her chest forward with pride. Mildred didn’t change colors, but she was warm and soft, too.
“You said that before. What is a chicken?” the girl asked.
Wynn wasn’t sure how to answer that. “A bird?”
“She’s a bird?” The girl sat straight up. Her expression completely changed. She looked like Elric used to when Mother said she had baked fresh bread. “Can I touch her?”
Wynn lifted Mildred and scooted forward over the stone floor. “Here.” Mildred squawked and kicked her legs in protest. She managed to pull her wings out of Wynn’s hold and flap them.
The girl let out a delighted noise. She reached forward and touched the feathers near Mildred’s neck.
After one touch, she pulled her hand back. Then she reached forward again and moved her hands all over Mildred’s body. Mildred decided she liked the petting, and stopped flapping. “She’s smooth, but soft, and this isn’t like fur. It’s springy,” the girl said. “I’ve heard birds in the canopy, Shadow told me what they were, but I’ve never touched one. What strange creatures they are. And how is it that they can fly? Is it magic?”
Into the Nightfell Wood Page 8