Into the Nightfell Wood

by Kristin Bailey

  “Osmund?” Wynn brightened.

  “He’s here. He helped me find you, but he was bitten by a reaper and is very sick,” Elric said. “I hope the elves will heal him.”

  “They healed Hob.” Osmund would be fine. Lexi said the elves were very good at healing bodies.

  “Hob is alive?” Now Elric looked happy. “I thought he might have been killed.”

  “I saw him. He was here. He ran away,” Wynn said. She didn’t get away like Hob did. She got caught, and now Elric was caught too. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I was tricked. I should stay in the garden.”

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Elric said. “You thought Mildred was in danger. I would have done the same thing.” He looped an arm over her shoulder. “I’m sorry too,” he said. “I never should have left you alone.”

  “I can be alone.” Wynn crossed her arms. She had been alone a lot in the woods, and she didn’t make any mistakes. She made new friends and did lots of things. Being locked in this room wasn’t good, but now she was here with Elric and Mildred. And Osmund was here too.

  “It’s a good thing you have Mildred. She knew you were in trouble and ran after you.” Elric reached out and stroked his hand over Mildred’s back. “I’m glad she came to you. But this is troublesome. The fairies checked and fortified the barrier. Nothing could get through. How did this snake get inside?” Elric scratched Mildred on her neck and she cooed at him. “If it can change shape, it could have assumed the identity of anyone under the shield.”

  Wynn sat up straighter. “Hob said there was a secret crack. He tried to take me there, but the monster came.”

  “A crack?” Elric leaned forward. “And the fairies don’t know? We have to get home, Wynn. The palace is vulnerable.” A strange look came over his face. “What if this happened before,” he said. “What if this snake creature you met transformed into the elf who kidnapped the Fairy Queen’s daughter? What if it wasn’t really Zephyr who lured Osmund away? Lord Raven believes there is a spy. What if this creature was the spy?” He stood up off the bed.

  “Uh,” Wynn said. She was very confused. “I don’t know.”

  “If the Grendel has been using this snake as a spy,” Elric said, pacing the floor, “then it means the elves never betrayed the queen. It was the Grendel all along. He wanted to drive a wedge between them to keep them both weak. It makes perfect sense.”

  Wynn nestled into the corner of the bed and yawned. “Wait until night. Lexi will come. She will help us.”

  “I’m not sure about that,” Elric said. “She’s the Headmind’s daughter.”

  “She is my friend.” Wynn patted the bed next to her. Elric looked at her like he wasn’t sure, but came and sat down next to her. She started to sing. They didn’t need to find the way to the Silver Gate anymore, but she still liked to sing the song. It reminded her of home.

  “The road begins at my feet,

  And leads me ever on.

  To the land that lies between,

  The first light and the dawn.

  I seek the favor of the queen

  Within that magic land.

  Please grant to me your silver branch,

  And through the gate I’ll find you.”

  Elric tipped his head and rested it against hers. “I’m glad to have you back, little sister.”

  “Me too.”

  Before long, the light shining through the walls faded, and it grew dark. Wynn stared at the loose boards, waiting for the moment when one of them would move.

  Elric’s head bobbed as he tried not to sleep. It took a very long time for Lexi to come. Wynn knew she would, but it didn’t happen before Elric fell asleep, slumping on his side. It was hard for her to stay awake with him sleeping on the bed next to her.

  Just when Wynn felt like she couldn’t keep her eyes open, she heard the soft scrape of wood moving. She jumped forward and pulled the boards up. She reached for Lexi’s hand, but instead she ended up with a lumpy mass of fabric. She pulled it through the hole and set it aside, but another one appeared, then a sack, then finally a small lantern that had been dimmed until Wynn could barely see the light. Last came the hilt of a sword. Wynn took that carefully, then finally, finally, Lexi rose up into the room on her moving plank.

  She immediately hugged Wynn. “I’m sorry I took so long. I’ve had to be careful.”

  Wynn shook Elric awake. “Lexi’s here!” she said. Lexi immediately shushed her. Elric woke with a start. He reached for his sword at his side, but it wasn’t there.

  “I think you are looking for this,” Lexi said as she picked up Elric’s sword and handed it to him. “It wasn’t right for Father to take it, or to lock you up. He’s mustered all the fighters in the village. They are arming the siege weapons. They will attack the shield tonight. There are already deep cracks in the dome. It will not hold against the catapults.”

  Elric reached out and took the sword. He stared at it a moment, then looked to Lexi and pushed the sword into its sheath. “Shouldn’t you be with them?” he asked as he glanced at the hole in the floor.

  “I’m helping you escape,” she said. “You helped me save my brother. It’s the least I can do.”

  Wynn clapped her hands before she could help it. Elric lowered his hands onto hers to settle them down. “What is the plan?”

  “I packed up as many things as I could, and snuck down here.” Lexi smiled, her bright eyes glittering in the darkness.

  Elric stared at her. “That’s your plan?” He didn’t sound very impressed.

  Her eyes widened. “Oh, and I slipped a sleeping potion into the guards’ water. We just have to wait for them to fall asleep now, and we can get out of here. I brought you disguises.” She patted the bundles of cloth. Wynn picked one up and unwrapped it. Then she started to wriggle out of her dress to change. Elric turned his back to her and focused on Lexi.

  “What do we do once we get out of here?” he said.

  “I haven’t thought that far,” she admitted. “But if the dome shatters, the Grendel will come. No one will be safe. Not here, not anywhere. Father doesn’t see that. He thinks the Grendel will ignore us and attack the fairies, and we will be protected because we’re insignificant. I don’t believe that.” She got up and walked over to the door and pressed one of her large ears to it. “I can hear the guards stirring still. We have some time to wait yet.” She sat down, then looked over at Wynn.

  Wynn liked her new elf tunic and the loose leggings that went with them. They were dark red, and would be much better for hiding than her fairy dress. She pulled on a pair of boots, and kicked her old muddy dress. These clothes were warm and soft, and they came with a black hooded robe like Lexi’s. Elric picked up a bundle and retreated to the corner to change.

  Lexi turned to face Wynn. “People are talking all over town. They are saying you killed a reaper. Is it true? How did you do it?” she asked as she pulled fruit and nuts out of her bag and offered them to Wynn.

  Wynn screwed up her face to think. “I kicked it in the head. It dropped me,” she said. “Shadow saved me.”

  “The Grendel found you?” Lexi looked very afraid. “Or do you mean the fire witch?”

  “No, a girl.” Wynn picked up another piece of fruit. “And her tigereon.”

  Lexi let out a high-pitched squeak. “That is impossible.” She looked in the sack that she had brought with her, found an old book with a stained cover, and opened it. “Tigereons are extinct. We hunted the last of them decades ago before the dark times.” She flipped through her book. “The skin of the last tigereon was given to the Fairy Queen as a gift on her wedding.”

  “Wynn, are you sure you saw a tigereon?” Elric asked.

  Lexi interrupted. “They are large cats, but with heavy heads, and stripes. They can live at least a thousand years or more, and are immune to fairy magic. Their black stripes stay the same, but the white ones can—”

  “Her stripes change colors,” Wynn finished for her. “I stayed the night with her. Shadow is
very nice. She didn’t eat Mildred.”

  “Shadow?” Lexi leaned forward. “There’s a legend about a beast that lurks in the old ruins. It does the bidding of the fire witch, but no one has ever seen it. Could it be the last tigereon?” She inhaled and her eyes went wide, as if she were mystified by the idea.

  Wynn huffed. “She doesn’t like the name ‘witch.’ And she doesn’t like elves, either. They stay far away so you won’t see them and hurt Shadow.”

  Lexi tilted her head. “This doesn’t add up. The witch is an old woman. She has haunted the woods for many years.”

  “No, she’s a young girl. She’s Elric’s age. She is very nice. She likes Mildred.” Wynn chewed on one of the nuts. It was very bitter, but she was hungry.

  “An elf girl?” Elric asked.

  Wynn shook her head.

  “An Otherworld girl?” Lexi asked, searching through her book.

  Wynn shook her head again. “No, she’s a fairy. She can light rocks on fire. And her hair.”

  “But why would a fairy . . .” Lexi’s voice trailed away as she looked very puzzled.

  “Live alone out here instead of staying under the shield?” Elric finished for her. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “No fairy would willingly live out here,” Lexi said. “It’s miserable. Besides, I thought the queen forbid fairies from coming into the woods.” Lexi turned another page, and squinted at it.

  “She did.” Elric shook his head as he picked up one of the pieces of fruit.

  “Then how can she be a fairy?” Lexi asked. “Wynn, you might have mixed up a witch for a fairy. What does she look like?”

  Wynn thought about it. It was hard to picture Flame in the dim light of the room. “She has brown skin, like the queen. She has dark hair that curls, like the queen. Sometimes there is fire in it. Her dress is smoke. Her eyes are dark, and she has bad scars across her face.” Wynn made a slashing motion across her own face. “She has a very pretty smile, and a mark on her back.”

  “What sort of mark?” Elric asked. He was dressed now, just like Wynn, except she didn’t have a sword. Wynn frowned as she thought about his question.

  “It’s a picture. It’s round, like the queen’s flower picture. But it looks like a star, and fire, so I called her Flame.”

  Elric paced around. He looked dumbstruck. Then he pulled his sword out of the scabbard and showed her the pommel. “Did it look like this?” he asked. A circle had been engraved on the bottom of the sword. It looked a lot like the great seal, only instead of flower petals, tongues of flame curled over the arms of a six-pointed star.

  “Yes, that’s right!” Wynn said. It was a pretty mark.

  “When we first came to the Between, the queen gave me this sword. She told me it was meant for her daughter. The princess was destined to battle the Grendel with it,” he said. Wynn didn’t understand what he meant by that, but Lexi got very excited. Her mouth opened so far, a fish could jump in it.

  Elric put the sword away and ran his hands over his hair. “I can’t believe it. If what you say is true, there is one fairy left in these woods.” The shadows flickered as he looked at them both. “The princess is alive.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Wynn

  “OH!” LEXI SQUEAKED AS SHE put her hands to her cheeks. “Do you think it could be true?”

  Wynn nodded. Flame was definitely a fairy. It made sense.

  “Wynn was lured into the woods by a snake-like creature that transformed into Mildred,” Elric explained. “It’s possible that years ago, a similar creature took the form of Headmind Reason and stole the queen’s child while in disguise. And has been spying on the fairy court ever since.”

  Lexi held up her hand to stop him from speaking and rummaged through her sack to find another one of her books. She let the pages arch in a fan under her thumb, then suddenly stopped at one, slapping the book open. She showed them a sketch of the snake with the spines running down its back.

  “That’s it!” Wynn clapped her hands. “It was a bad thing.” She scowled. “I don’t like it.”

  “It’s called an illusury. It lives in the Shadowfields beyond the woods. It can transform into anything, as long as it holds a piece of that thing in its mouth.” She skimmed her finger over the pages. “It doesn’t have to be much, even just a hair.”

  “It had Mildred’s feather,” Wynn said, and crossed her arms.

  “That would do it,” Lexi said. “They have very weak minds, and are easily controlled by fairy magic.” Lexi traced over the words in her book with her finger. “But they are very rare and obviously difficult to capture.”

  “Master Elk said that the Grendel was a fairy once. Could he have controlled one of these creatures long enough to fool people?” Elric asked.

  “Yes!” Lexi said. “Their illusions are perfect, but they can’t talk. They can only hiss.”

  “Osmund said that Zephyr didn’t speak to him when he lured him into the woods.” Elric rubbed the edge of his jaw with his thumb. “It must have been an illusury. But how did a baby survive so long in the woods alone?”

  “Shadow protected her,” Wynn said. “They are good friends.”

  “And if she’s a fairy, she can talk to animals.” Elric looked stunned.

  Lexi paced around in quick circles. “Oh my, oh my, oh my.” She stopped very suddenly. “Do you know what this means?” she asked, grabbing Wynn by the arms, then letting her go just as quickly. “My people are innocent. The princess can stop this madness. She has the power to battle the Grendel.”

  “But we’d have to find her first,” Elric said.

  “I know where she lives.” Wynn puffed up her chest. She glanced over at Lexi. “But she doesn’t like elves.”

  “Well, that’s going to be a problem.” Elric turned toward Lexi. “You might have to stay—”

  “She doesn’t like fairies, either,” Wynn continued. “Or strangers. She likes to stay alone.”

  “How can she not like fairies?” Elric snorted. “She is one.”

  “She doesn’t know,” Wynn said. Wynn was certain Flame didn’t know much about the fairies, only that she didn’t like them.

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Elric said. “She has a dress made of smoke and fire in her hair. How can she not know? How many other things in the wood can do that sort of magic?”

  “Uh—” Wynn stammered. “I don’t know.”

  Elric’s face fell. “There’s going to be a war. The shield will fall, and the only person who can possibly stop this mess doesn’t know she’s a fairy, and doesn’t like anyone.”

  His shoulders slumped. He looked very frustrated for a moment, then he shot back up. He lifted one finger and tapped the air with it. He spun on his heel and pointed at Wynn. She blinked at him as a smile broke out over his face. “But she likes you. She likes you, Wynn! You have to find her. You have to speak to her. We have to convince her to go to the palace as the rightful heir and save the queen. If the shield falls and the Grendel comes, she may be our only hope.”

  They heard a loud thump outside. Lexi jumped, then moved to the door and pressed her ear to it again. Wynn didn’t have to have her ear on the door to hear the snoring coming from the other side. Lexi scurried around the room to gather all her things back in her sack, then gently tucked Mildred inside it. “The guard is asleep. We have to go, now.” She stood on the bar and lowered herself down the hole, pulling her sack after her.

  Wynn followed, carefully balancing on the plank this time. Her stomach swooped, and she nearly fell, but Lexi caught her hands and steadied her. The machine lifted up one more time, and Elric rode it down before jumping onto the pile of sacks. Wynn walked toward the stairs, but Lexi caught her hand. “We can’t go that way. There is a nurse staying with my brother tonight, and tending your friend. We can’t let him catch us.”

  “Osmund?” Elric looked concerned. “Is he healing?”

  “Yes, he will recover. We gave him medicine for the poison and tended
his wounds, but he is still too weak to walk,” Lexi said.

  “Then I can carry him.” Elric stood straighter. He looked tall in his elf boots. “We have to get him home.”

  “And your disguise won’t work if you do. With the hoods on, you’ll look like elves, and we can sneak away. We can’t hide your friend under our robes. Besides, the nurse would notice him missing.” Lexi crept over to a dark corner of the cellar. “No one should check on you two until morning.”

  Elric looked very torn. Wynn took his hand. “Don’t worry,” she said. “The elves will take good care of him. They are good healers. We will come back.” Osmund needed to get better first. He should stay in bed.

  A deep rumbling sounded outside. The blare of horns masked the sound. It was followed by the synchronized calls of the elves marching. It was the sound of war.

  “They are moving the catapults through the gate,” Lexi whispered. “We have to go now, while everyone is distracted.”

  Elric nodded at her. She climbed up on a crate and banged her hand against a pair of boards there. They came up, and she quickly shimmied up the hole. Elric gave Wynn a boost and Lexi helped pull her up.

  They were in the hall, only a few feet from the sleeping guard. He had fallen off his stool and landed on the ground. His mouth was hanging open, but he had one hand curled under his cheek, like a sleepy baby.

  Lexi pressed a finger to her lips, then tucked her hood over her head. Wynn did the same. Elric pulled himself up and replaced the boards. He put his hood over his head too.

  “Whatever you do, don’t look up. Your faces are pale and someone might notice. Stare at your feet so the hood keeps your face covered and keep your hands in your sleeves. I’ll guide you,” Lexi whispered.

  Wynn did as she was told. She only looked up enough to see the hem of Lexi’s long robe. She followed it through the building and out a side door.