Coal: Book One of the Everleaf Series

by Constance Burris

  Chalcedony stopped pacing. "I should have told you this from the beginning. If I had, maybe everyone would have fought harder. Yes, Elizabeth broke a law. But it was never my intention to harm her. No one would have been permitted to touch her. Before I could prove that, Coal took Elizabeth. And he's made her endure much worse than she would have if she'd stayed."

  Chalcedony stalked back to Madoc. She stopped beside the expressionless advisor and said in a low voice, "If you ever accuse me of risking fey lives and failing on purpose, you'll be spending the rest of your life in a dark, dank box underground."

  As soon as rays of light peeked through the concrete-encased windows, Coal woke Elizabeth, they got dressed, and he ushered her out of the room with the promise of finding Haline.

  He expected the hallway to be empty, but Royden stood across from them wearing a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt. "Good morning," he said.

  "How did you know we were awake?" Coal asked, feeling as if he were being watched.

  "I didn't think you'd sleep long." His tone was light and easy like he'd never had a bad day in his life. "I have made it my life's mission to serve you until you and the girl make it home."

  Elizabeth and Coal exchanged a look of apprehension. Then, Elizabeth said, "We want to see Haline."

  "Of course. I'll show you the way."

  "Why is it so quiet here?" Coal asked. The halls of Legacy were always loud and bustling with ambassadors and their staff, but this place was immaculate and empty.

  Royden shrugged. "It's not that it's quiet here. It's just crowded in Princess Chalcedony's tree with diplomats, servants, birds, squirrels and all. Your princess and Madoc try their best to rule everyone. We trust them to rule themselves."

  Coal noticed he said "we" as if they ruled together. How did he have so much power in a world that looked down on humans?

  "This is it." Royden stopped at a door on the other side of the house. He tapped lightly on the door and entered without waiting for a response. Haline sat on the bed with her leg propped on pillows. Strips of brown cloth were wrapped around her injured leg and most of her foot.

  She'd been eating before they entered. She chewed, swallowed, said, "Good morning," before she scowled at Royden.

  "Good morning to you also, Haline." Royden turned to Coal. "I'll give you some space."

  Once he'd left, Haline said, "The less time you spend with him and that queen, the better."

  "They're nice." Elizabeth climbed onto Haline's bed and chewed on a piece of toast.

  "Trust me," Haline said. "Something is wrong with them."

  "But they let humans in their lands freely," Coal said, "and they're helping us."

  "What's in it for them? They're breaking the treaty. Eventually, they'll get bold and cross it completely. Then what?" Haline scooped some eggs onto her toast. "And Queen Isis is too nice. There's a reason queens are bitches and have countless advisors and ambassadors. They need to know everything. But Royden is Isis's only advisor. Humans can't perform magic, my ass. He's clearly put her under a spell."

  Coal liked seeing a human and a fey together. It was impossible for him and Chalcedony, but at least someone had made it work.

  Haline peered at Coal with narrowed eyes as if she could read his thoughts. "Don't let him enchant you, too."

  "What's in it for you?" Coal asked. "You're helping us."

  "You're children. I may be crazy, but I'm not heartless."

  "How do you know they aren't trustworthy?" Coal asked.

  "Whenever I traveled here to see Geric, we'd visit Royden and Queen Isis. They are too damn happy. That much happiness is impossible." Haline put her tray on the side of the bed and leaned back. "And you saw how trustworthy Geric was."

  Haline eyed Coal. "Go eat. I'm sure they have a large breakfast waiting for you."

  "When will you be able to walk?" Elizabeth asked.

  "The doctor said it shouldn't take long."

  "And then we can leave?" Elizabeth asked.

  "Then we can leave," Haline answered. "Let me rest, and I'll see you later."

  Queen Isis's dining room was small and held no pictures or ornaments on the wall, but the food on the table was far from simple. Delicacies from the entire realm were laid out before them. There were indigo-colored felab berries that tasted like strawberries, but had the texture and shape of bananas. Pamici apples that only ripened once a year and were worth more than a soldier's monthly wage, according to a soldier he'd overheard. Roasted lamb and pheasant with loaves of bread and glazed pastries rounded out the feast. With just the four of them, Coal wondered how they were going to eat all of it.

  "Have a seat, Coal." Royden motioned to the seat beside him.

  "I'm not hungry. Can you show me where the door is?" As good as the food looked, he had a mission, and he didn't want to get distracted.

  "Now?" Royden asked. "It doesn't open until sunset."

  "I'd feel better knowing where it was."

  "I'm hungry. I want to stay and eat." Elizabeth said, munching on a piece of fruit.

  "Go ahead, babe," Queen Isis said. "I'll keep Elizabeth busy."

  "Lizzy, do you want to come?" Coal cocked an eyebrow and silently begged her to say yes. She shook her head and placed a pamici apple on her plate. Evidently, she had decided to trust Queen Isis and Royden despite Haline's warning.

  Royden stood in front of a miniature car with no doors or windows. "It's called a golf cart. I don't take it out often, but I'm in a mood to show off."

  "Chalcedony would have a fit if she saw this."

  "Hopefully, she'll never know about it." Royden's tone and his wide grin made it obvious he was looking forward to Chalcedony seeing it. "It uses batteries that I bring over from the human realm every time the door opens."

  "I miss cars," Royden said once they were both inside. He pushed a button near the steering wheel, and the cart started to move. "Of course, this doesn't go very fast, but it's a nice reminder."

  "If you like cars, why are you here instead of the human realm?" Coal asked.

  "This place calms me. Whenever I'm in the human realm, I get into trouble. The speed, the unending choices, the technology, the greed, it's all intoxicating. Here, with Isis, it's quiet and simple." He gazed at Coal briefly and then turned back towards the road. "You are the most excitement I've had in a while."

  "Are you helping us because it's exciting?"

  Royden smiled, the corners of his eyes wrinkled, but he didn't answer the question.

  When the cart stopped at the bottom of a large hill, Royden stepped out and said, "This is where the door will open."

  Just as with Chalcedony's door, nothing indicated that an entrance to an entirely different world lay ahead.

  "Why don't you hide the existence of the door, like Princess Chalcedony?" Coal asked, looking up at the hill.

  "The treaty is old. Once, humans were violent and stupid, and they threatened fey, but they have matured. With the discovery of their modern medicine and technology, I know we can live together again."

  Coal stared at the hill and thought about how contradictory everything and everyone here seemed compared to Everleaf. What would it have been like, Coal wondered, to live here where humans were accepted?

  Coal caught Royden watching him again. "Why do you keep staring at me?"

  "You noticed, huh?" The man inhaled deeply, stalling for time. "I had a son. It was just me and him, but my nature attracts trouble or trouble is attracted to me, maybe a lot of both. So, he was taken from me, and I was jailed. After my release, I tracked him down. But he seemed happy with the new family they'd placed him with. After my failure, I didn't feel like I had the right to take him from his new home.

  "You remind me of him. Innocence and beauty. You have it, and my son had it." Royden's eyes were distant, but he stared directly at Coal. It was the same look Elizabeth's mother had when she watched helplessly as Chalcedony walked away with Elizabeth.

  Royden's eyes watered, and he turned away, cough
ing.

  "Sorry. That wasn't very manly of me. This is it," Royden said, his tone less serious and more humorous. "Tonight, this place will become a portal into the human realm, and it'll stay open for three days. Most will leave at dusk when the door opens. But we'll leave tomorrow morning. I've arranged for the vendor who sends my supplies over to meet us on the other side. He'll take you wherever you need to go."

  Chapter Seventeen

  Coal stood on the edge of the festival in nervous awe. Fey and humans filled an entire field outside of town. Because of the cold, everyone wore jackets: reds, whites, blues, and countless other colors, which made it difficult to tell the difference between human and fey. It was as if they were all one multi-hued species, instead of two groups who were supposed to hate and fear each other.

  Elizabeth had refused the pink coat Queen Isis had given her. Instead, she wore a black coat that was too big. It had an inside pocket deep enough to hide her dagger. She'd said she wanted to be prepared if Chalcedony came for her. Coal hadn't been as vocal, but he made sure he wore his sword over the back of his coat.

  They passed a group of wide-eyed fey and human children sitting in front of a stage. The children watched as human actors shot at each other with fake guns. Everyone greeted Queen Isis and Royden with warm smiles. The friendly greetings were a sharp contrast to Everleaf, where everyone regarded Chalcedony with apprehension and fear.

  Before they left the market, Royden stopped at a wooden booth where a giant looked out over bottles of powders and potions. When they approached, the elf behind the booth stopped talking to the giant and straightened up. "Queen Isis, how nice to see you."

  "Oliver." Queen Isis was wearing a red coat, and she held a wooden picnic basket on her arm as if it were a pocketbook. "What are you selling?"

  "Glamour. Just Glamour." Oliver was a chubby, tall elf with dark circles under his eyes.

  Queen Isis stared at the vendor's goods. "Royden."

  Royden stepped beside Queen Isis and touched each bottle briefly before he moved to the next. Each time Royden touched one of the bottles, the vendor glanced nervously from it to Royden.

  "What is this?" Royden finally asked, picking up the blue vial.

  "Glamour." The elf tried to sound impatient, but his voice cracked, ruining the effect.

  Royden opened it and sniffed. "What type?"

  "Uh ..." Oliver cleared his throat. "Well ... it's transformation glamour."

  "It smells like a transformation potion, not glamour," Royden said.

  "That's impossible." With shaking hands, Oliver took the vial from Royden, smelled it, and then laughed nervously. "I have no idea how that got mixed in with the rest." Oliver capped the bottle and was about to put it away when Royden grabbed it.

  "Oliver." Queen Isis took the vial from Royden and put it in her coat pocket. "Are you going to make me regret giving you another chance?"

  The little bit of color that Oliver had disappeared from his face, although there was no sound of a threat in her voice. She was completely relaxed. "No, Queen Isis. It won't happen again."

  She smiled as if it was the best news she'd heard all day. "Good. Stop by and talk to me later. We can catch up."

  Oliver didn't relax. He stood completely still. "Yes, maybe once the festival is over."

  "Good." Queen Isis turned towards Coal and Elizabeth. "There is an empty spot over there."

  "What was that about? Why was he so nervous?" Coal asked as they walked away.

  Queen Isis said, "We don't have a night market here, which means we don't have dark magic. Oliver likes to forget that sometimes."

  "What's a transformation potion?" Elizabeth asked.

  "Glamour is an illusory magic, but the transformation potion can physically change your appearance as if you were a shape shifter. Unfortunately, it kills and disfigures more of its users than it helps."

  "Magic and potions don't work on me," Elizabeth said with pride.

  "We heard rumors," Queen Isis said. "I didn't think they were true. I've never met anyone that was impervious to magic."

  "I am. Chalcedony tried to use magic to make me sleep, but none of it worked. That's probably why Chalcedony's advisors insisted she send you to the weavers. People will pay an incredible amount of money to become impervious to magic. They wanted to bottle you up and sell you." Royden tickled her, and Elizabeth giggled as she tried to get away.

  "If Elizabeth is a magic null, how can she travel through portals?" Coal asked.

  Royden said, "Magic nulls can't be manipulated by magic, but they can use magic."

  "Here we are." Queen Isis stopped at the last bit of empty grass at the base of the hill and laid out a red and black blanket before she rummaged through the picnic basket. "We can talk about magic nulls later. Right now, I'm starving." She said, "We packed hamburgers for Elizabeth and lamb for you, Coal."

  "Hamburgers, really?" Elizabeth asked. "Oh, wow! I've missed these sooo much." She watched impatiently as Queen Isis pulled the food out of the basket. As soon as the food was in front of her, Elizabeth snatched it and took a massive bite.

  "And," Queen Isis said, "we brought Butterfingers for dessert."

  "What's that?" Coal asked.

  "You don't remember them from the human realm?" Royden asked.

  "No," Coal said.

  Royden grinned and pulled a small yellow package from the picnic basket. "Try this. It's a Butterfinger."

  Coal unwrapped the bar and bit into it. It was hard, but with a little pressure, it gave way. The delicious sweetness coated his tongue. For a moment, he remembered his childhood in the human realm. Tall brick buildings loomed in the background as he ran in circles with a red ball while a woman with light brown skin watched him from afar.

  "I think ... I think I remember these." Coal had never had a memory of anyone he'd known from the human realm before. His throat tightened, and he longed for a woman he didn't know.

  "Tastes and smells can awaken old memories," Queen Isis said.

  Coal hesitated, mouth suddenly dry. "I saw a woman."

  "Was she your mother?" Elizabeth asked, wide-eyed and expectant.

  "I don't remember my mother. I was homeless when Chalcedony found me."

  "Who told you that?" Royden asked.

  "Chalcedony."

  "Considering the source, you may have cause to doubt her."

  "She wouldn't lie to me about my mother," Coal said, knowing the truth in his bones. He didn't have a mother. It was a fact he'd built his life on. Coal knew Royden wanted to say something more against Chalcedony. They didn't understand why he defended her, but without her, he had no idea how his life would have turned out.

  "Oh, wow!" Elizabeth interjected, interrupting the uncomfortable silence. "They have a Gameboy."

  "What?" Coal asked.

  "Video games," Elizabeth mumbled with a mouth full of food. "Can I go play with them?" she asked after she swallowed.

  "Is it safe?" Coal asked.

  "Everyone knows the rules here. It's safe," Royden said. "The only thing she has to worry about is Chalcedony, and she isn't here."

  "Okay then. Bye!" Before Coal objected, Elizabeth ran away and joined a bunch of kids huddled in a circle a few yards away.

  "Royden," chirped a device clipped onto Royden's pants. Both he and Queen Isis carried them on their waist. Royden hesitated for a moment and then it chirped again. Finally, he pulled it from his hip. "What's up?"

  "You're not going to believe this," a female voice crackled through the device. "The queenling and her army are heading this way."

  Royden sat up, suddenly tense. "I thought she was headed back home."

  "Apparently, she changed her mind."

  "I'll be right there." Royden glanced nervously at Coal before he spoke. "Make sure they don't make it past our borders." He stood and placed it back on his hip. "I have to go."

  Queen Isis stood. "You don't think she will risk war over this, do you?"

  "No, she won't, but I need to mak
e sure she doesn't cross our borders." Royden turned to Coal, his eyes mostly hidden by the fur lining of his hooded coat. "I have to leave. If I'm not back in the morning, go without me. I promise she won't get past our border."

  "Do you want me to phase you there?" Queen Isis asked.

  "No, I need soldiers with me in case she's stupid enough to start something. Besides, it won't take long to get there with the horses. Stay here and make sure they make it home," he said.

  "I can help." Coal stood. "I'm good with a sword."

  "No, your priority is Lizzy. Let me take care of this."

  "But they're here for Lizzy and I--"

  Royden placed his hand on Coal's shoulder. "I have hundreds of soldiers at my call, but you're the only one that little girl trusts. You need to stay here."

  Coal nodded. Royden was right. He needed to get her home. She came first.

  "Good." Royden patted Coal's back. It seemed as if he was going to say something else, but he turned towards Queen Isis and gave her a quick kiss before he sprinted away, speaking orders into a device Coal knew to be a handheld radio, a piece of human technology Chalcedony's mother had banned long ago. But it was the was one of the common human tech.

  Coal sat back onto the blanket, feeling useless. "I'm sorry that we're putting you through so much trouble."

  "You don't need to be sorry." Queen Isis sat next to him on the blanket. "Royden is more than capable of handling Princess Chalcedony. Did Royden tell you about his son?"

  Coal looked up, surprised by the question. "Yes."

  "Don't feel guilty. You are doing him a favor by allowing him to help. He believes that if he helps you, he'll be atoning for abandoning his child."

  "Why doesn't he look for his son?"

  "He knows where he is, but Royden doesn't think he'll be forgiven. Would you forgive your parents if they suddenly showed up after they'd abandoned you?"

  "I don't know." He thought the longing to have a mother had died, but the desire had awakened when he saw the love and hurt in Deedee's eyes when they left with Elizabeth. She'd diverted her gaze, but not before Coal saw the sadness in her eyes.