by E. D. Baker
She gasped and ran over to her friend. The snake was squeezing so hard that Tomas’s face was turning blue. “Stop that right now!” she shouted. The snake ignored her and kept squeezing.
Aislin glanced at her hand, wanting to draw more power from the stone, but she must have dropped it. Hoping to find another, she let her gaze dart around the room. When she didn’t see anything she could use right away, she grabbed hold of the snake, trying to pull it off. “Let go!” she cried, but the snake just hissed at her.
A crow flew through the window and landed on one of the larger nests. It dropped something shiny and began rearranging things. Aislin’s head snapped around when she sensed stone buried among the crow’s collection of treasures. She had to climb partway up the tree, and wave one arm at the crow to fend it off, but she soon found a rock embedded with a shiny bit of mica. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. Jumping down from her perch, she drew on the strength of the stone, releasing it in her voice. “I order you to let him go!”
The snake hissed at her even as it relaxed its coils and dropped to the floor. Tomas sighed and his head lolled, but she could still see the rise and fall of his chest through the mass of spiderwebs that held him upright.
A white-haired fairy dressed in gray cobwebs stepped out of the shadows. The lines in her face were etched so deeply that she reminded Aislin of the dried-apple dolls that her nursemaid, Larch, used to make for her. “Who are you to order my snake to do anything?” the fairy asked.
“I am Princess Aislin of the royal house of Eliasind, and the combined houses of Fairengar and Deephold,” said Aislin.
The fairy laughed and looked Aislin up and down. “You dredge up names from long ago. Fairengar is no more and Deephold was but a legend. I’ve never heard of a kingdom named Eliasind. You lie, and I don’t like liars.”
“And I don’t like people who doubt my word,” said Aislin. “But if you need proof, you shall have it.” Remembering how the gnome had recognized her for what she was by touch, she reached for the fairy’s hand. She had enough power coursing through her to send a jolt into Baibre. A quick indrawn breath and a widening of the fairy’s eyes told Aislin that touching her had worked.
“You’re a fairy and a pedrasi! I could sense your royal blood,” the fairy said, her face turning pale.
“My father’s parents are King Darinar and Queen Surinen of Fairengar. My mother is the daughter of King Talus and Queen Amethyst, pedrasi rulers of Deephold in the Whitestone Mountains,” Aislin proclaimed in a ringing voice.
The fairy knelt in front of Aislin, her head bowed. “What do you want of me, Your Highness?”
“Release him now,” Aislin said, gesturing to Tomas.
With a wave of the fairy’s hand, the spiderwebs shattered as if they were made of glass. Tomas collapsed, limp and seemingly boneless. His hand twitched, but he didn’t get up.
“You need to learn some manners,” said Aislin. “This young man brought you a gift. You had no right to treat him as you did. Fairies do not act this way. My grandparents would be appalled!”
Baibre straightened her back, outrage plain on her face. “Fairies learn to do what they must when they are alone with no fairy neighbors to count on, and no defense against the humans but their own wits! I was abandoned when I was young and didn’t know where to turn. I did what I needed to do to survive. Where were the king and queen of the fairies when I needed them, or their warriors when villagers chased my sister and me from our home? We couldn’t even find our own parents when we went looking for them!”
“No one was supposed to be left behind,” said Aislin. “My grandparents did everything they could to make sure that didn’t happen.”
“But it did! And it wasn’t long before the humans learned that the fairy royalty had disappeared. Hunting parties came looking for us, thinking they would take us captive to keep us from leaving as well. They tried to make us do their will, and use our magic as they wished. Instead we used our magic to escape and hide from them. Some fairies withered away, lonely and forgotten, while others nurtured their magic and became powerful enough to stand against anyone who opposed them. I came here to live, and used my magic to keep hunters at bay.”
“I’m sorry,” Aislin told her, “but the king and queen didn’t know that anyone was left behind.”
“How could they not know?” Baibre cried. “Didn’t they ask if anyone was missing? Surely my parents knew that my sister and I weren’t there!”
“I wasn’t born yet, but I have read the histories,” said Aislin. “Some fairies kept to themselves and went straight into the wilderness after the crossing. It’s hard to count fairies who don’t want to be counted.”
Baibre looked away, and shrugged. “We were a solitary lot. My parents were never very social. Tell me, what is this gift he brought? Why would a young human bring me a gift?”
Aislin glanced at Tomas. “He was delivering it for your sister. You have to wake him if you want it. I don’t know where or what it is.”
“I don’t need magic for that,” Baibre declared. Grabbing a bucket from a bench in the back of the room, she tossed water on Tomas, drenching him until he sat up, spluttering.
“What’s going on?” he asked Aislin.
“Baibre and I have been talking,” she replied. “How are your ribs?”
“Sore,” he said, rubbing his rib cage. “But not too bad. What happened to the snake?”
“It left,” said Baibre. “Tell me, young man, what did you bring me?”
Tomas scrambled to his feet and reached into the neck of his tunic. Pulling out a golden chain, he drew it over his head and held it out to Baibre. Light glinted off the filigree and crystal locket that hung from the end of the chain. Aislin thought she saw a golden stone inside. “This is from your sister, Aghamonda. She wanted me to tell you that she hopes it will heal the rift between you and that she’ll see you soon.”
“Did she really?” Baibre said, reaching out to take it. “We parted under unpleasant circumstances years ago. I never thought she’d be the one to make the first move to reconcile. This is lovely. Look, the locket opens. Is that amber?”
Aislin couldn’t sense amber the way she could stone born of the earth. She stepped closer to see it better and was only a few feet away when Baibre opened the locket, releasing a pale green mist. The moment the mist touched Baibre’s face, a crack of thunder and a bolt of bright light knocked both Aislin and Tomas off their feet.
Tomas sat up first, rubbing his head and looking around. When he saw Aislin lying on the floor beside him, he jumped up and reached for her hand. “Are you all right?”
Aislin nodded. “I think so.”
Tomas was pulling her to her feet when he said, “Baibre’s gone. I don’t know what happened.”
“Is that her locket?” Aislin asked, pointing at something by Tomas’s feet.
When he bent down to pick it up, she took it from him and peered at the amber. It looked different now, and she thought she saw something moving inside. She gasped and almost dropped the locket. Something was moving, something that wanted to get out. A very tiny, frantic-looking Baibre was pounding on the locket from the inside.
“I know what happened to Baibre!” Aislin cried. “She was sucked into the amber when she touched it. The magic must have been dormant until then. Aghamonda didn’t want you to deliver a gift! She wanted you to deliver a trap that her sister couldn’t resist!”
Chapter 16
Tomas looked appalled. “I didn’t know! I never met Aghamonda; I just know what my father told me when he asked me to bring the locket to Baibre. I believed him when he said it was a gift. I am so sorry!” he said to the tiny face inside the swinging locket. “I never would have given it to you if I’d known!”
“Don’t blame your father. He probably didn’t know either,” said Aislin. She examined the locket, turning it over in her hand. “We can’t just leave it here for someone to find. I’d free her if I could, but I don’t have the magic to undo
this. Not many fairies do. My father and his parents could, though. We’ll have to take it with us.”
When she tried to give the locket back to Tomas, he pushed her hand away. “I can’t look at that thing.”
“Then I’ll carry it,” said Aislin, and she slipped the chain over her head.
“I think my father did know,” said Tomas. “Because now the rest of what he said makes sense. He said that if Baibre doesn’t tell me not to, I’m to take the locket back to Aghamonda. I couldn’t figure out that part until now. I mean, why would you give someone a gift, then take it back right away? But Baibre can’t tell me not to if she’s trapped inside it. Why do you think Aghamonda wanted to trap her sister like this?”
“I’m not sure, but it can’t be for anything good,” said Aislin. “I don’t think you should give it to her.”
“I won’t,” said Tomas. “Anyone who would do this to her sister can’t be a good person. What do you want to do next? You helped me, and it’s time for me to live up to my part of the bargain. I said I’d take you home after we gave Baibre the gift. Are you ready to go?”
Aislin wanted to say yes. From the moment she’d left her family’s castle with King Tyburr, all she’d wanted was to go back home. She’d dreamed about it every night when she fell asleep, and thought about it a dozen times every day. The word was on the tip of her tongue, but she knew she couldn’t, not yet at least. Something was going on with the fairies who’d been left behind. Her grandparents needed to know about it, and Aislin was the only one who could help.
“I think I’d rather go to Scarmander with you instead. I’d like to meet this fairy, Aghamonda. She’s up to something and I want to know what she’s planning.”
“All right,” Tomas told her. “But I have to warn you, I’ve heard that she’s very intimidating.”
Aislin laughed. “She can’t possibly be more intimidating than my grandparents, but thanks for the warning.”
Tomas and Aislin headed toward the sleeping-cat rock and found the two soldiers among the trees not far from the road. Cadby was asleep on his back with his mouth open, snoring softly, but Marden was whittling and he saw them right away. “How did it go?” asked Marden.
“I did what I was sent to do,” Tomas told him, looking grim. “Let’s go. I want to put this place behind us as soon as possible.”
“King Tyburr’s men passed by a while ago,” Marden said as he tucked his knife into his belt. “We heard shouting, but they haven’t been back this way since.”
“We’ll make our best time if we stick to the road for as long as we can. Be alert for horses and riders!” Tomas told them.
Aislin glanced back as they approached the dirt road. Although she couldn’t see them, she could sense that two beings were following her. She was sure they weren’t any of King Tyburr’s men. From the feeling she got, they were more likely the manticore and the griffin.
Aislin and Tomas walked without talking, listening for the sounds of someone’s approach. Dust puffed around their feet, clouding the narrow band of sunlight that brightened the center of the road. A snake that had been warming itself slithered into the underbrush at their approach. Something big enough to make the trees shake lumbered off when they drew close. They hadn’t gone far when Aislin heard a cry for help coming from the woods on the far side of the road.
“Twinket!” she cried, recognizing the doll’s voice. Alarmed, she ran into the woods without waiting for the others.
“What’s a Twinket?” asked Cadby.
“I have no idea,” Tomas replied as they took off after Aislin.
Aislin followed the doll’s cries deep into the woods, stopping only when she saw the reason Twinket was screaming. Seven trolls—long-armed, lumpy, and not much taller than the princess herself—had found the doll. Aislin had never seen a troll before, but she’d read enough descriptions of them to recognize them now. Their red-rimmed eyes, straggly, greasy hair, and loose, slobbery lips made them repulsive, but their smell was the most awful thing of all. It was so strong it attracted flies that buzzed around the trolls, landing on the corners of their eyes, on their mouths, and on the skin exposed through their raggedy clothes.
While Tomas and his men caught up, Aislin held her breath, watching as the trolls tossed Twinket back and forth. Poppy was there, flying after the doll, too small to do anything but scream at the trolls to stop.
The men reached the princess, gathering around to protect her. She was too stunned to speak, until one of the trolls ripped Twinket’s arm off, tossing it into a tree where it lodged in the branches. At the sight of the poor, sobbing doll, Aislin screamed, “No!” even louder than Poppy. The trolls turned, wide grins splitting their scarred faces at the sight of new victims.
The men had already drawn their weapons and were taking aim at the shambling trolls when Tomas pushed Aislin behind him. From everything she had read, men and their meager weapons were no match for a troll, let alone seven. She was looking for bare rock when the manticore arrived, crashing through the underbrush, while the griffin dove from the sky to rake the trolls with his eagle talons.
The trolls bellowed, swatting at the griffin and throwing boulders, logs, and anything else they could pick up at the trumpeting manticore. Nimble and fleet of foot, the manticore avoided everything easily. When the troll holding Twinket threw her as well, Poppy swooped down, turning big in midair, just in time to grab the doll. The fairy tucked in her legs and arms when she landed, rolling across the forest floor with her body wrapped around Twinket.
“Over here!” Aislin called, even as she backed away from the trolls.
“My arm!” screamed Twinket, waving her remaining hand at the tree where her arm was barely visible.
“Here, take her!” Poppy cried, shoving the doll into Aislin’s hands.
The fairy turned small again and darted to the tree. Too tiny to carry the arm, Poppy grabbed hold of it, tugged it loose, and hurled it as hard as she could at Aislin. Marden snatched it from the air and handed it to the princess, shaking his head when he saw that it was nothing more than fabric.
“Run!” Aislin shouted, and they retreated toward the road.
The trolls followed them, roaring and knocking down the smaller trees that stood in their way. The men paused now and then to shoot bolts from their crossbows, but the trolls paid the bolts no more attention than they did the flies that swarmed around them. When even the griffin and the manticore were unable to turn the trolls aside, Aislin began to fear that they might not reach the road and the narrow band of sunlight in time. As far as she could remember from her reading, sunlight was the only thing that trolls feared, because it could turn them to stone. Her party would be safe only if they could get to the other side.
She could hear the trolls drawing closer behind them when an idea occurred to her. Not knowing much more about trolls, she had no idea if it would do anything, but if it had worked with ogres …
Although singing wasn’t easy when she was running, Aislin gave it everything she could. She sang the first song that popped into her head, a fairy drinking song that ended with everyone asleep in a meadow far from their homes. It was one of the ogres’ favorites, and when she heard the trolls growing quiet behind her, she decided that it was now one of her favorite songs as well.
“Did you see that?” Cadby exclaimed as they finally reached the road. “As soon as the princess started to sing, the trolls stopped running and fell to the ground! I never would have believed it if I hadn’t looked back and seen it myself.”
“Just like ogres!” said Twinket.
“Except ogres don’t fall down,” Poppy reminded her.
“Aislin, are you going to introduce us?” Tomas asked, glancing at the fairy and the doll that could move and talk.
Thinking that it was too late for some secrets, Aislin turned to him and smiled. “Of course! These are Poppy and Twinket. They’re my best friends and I’ve known them all my life.”
“Uh, you’re a fairy, right?” T
omas said to Poppy. “I saw you turn tiny and fly and everything. But what exactly is Twinket?”
“I’m a living doll!” Twinket explained.
“That’s exactly right!” Aislin said with a laugh. “I couldn’t have said it better!”
Twinket grinned, but a tear in her cheek made it look lopsided.
“Aislin, let me have Twinket for a minute,” said Poppy. “I need to fix a few things.”
Everyone kept walking as Poppy used her magic to reattach the doll’s arm and mend the bigger holes. Tomas and his men watched, amazed, as the torn pieces drew back together and looked as good as new.
“Will you look at that!” Cadby breathed, regarding Poppy with respect. “A doll that can walk and talk and a fairy with real magic! You’d be mighty handy to have around on mending day! My old mother would be crazy about you!”
Poppy gave him a shy smile, her cheeks turning bright pink when he matched his pace to hers. Aislin had to grin when she saw the look on her friend’s face.
“Why didn’t you use your magic to stop the trolls?” asked Marden.
“Because fairy magic doesn’t work on trolls,” Poppy replied.
“Someone’s magic does,” Tomas said, giving Aislin a speculative look.
The griffin and the manticore came out of the forest and started to follow the group down the road. It made the men nervous, even though the beasts had just fought the trolls beside them. When the men put their hands on their weapons, Aislin dropped back to talk to the manticore. “Thank you for your help, but why were you following us?” she asked him.
“We said we’d do your bidding and we can’t do that if we can’t hear you. Besides, there’s no reason to stay behind. We’re supposed to protect Baibre,” the griffin replied. “We don’t sense her in her home now. She’s with you. We talked it over and decided that we should follow you as long as you have her.”