In a Dark Land

by Christina Soontornvat

  20

  Twistroot

  Two Fillifut soldiers hauled Izzy out of the water and dragged her through the murky shallows to shore. Izzy knelt in the mud and doubled over, gasping for breath. Her stomach convulsed, and she threw up another plug of water.

  Behind her, Race held Hen’s hand, leading her out of the lake. Hen’s curls and clothes were plastered against her skin, and her teeth chattered, but she smiled excitedly.

  “Selden!” she cried. “Wait till you hear what we just did!”

  Selden stood on the shore, surrounded by Fillifut guards. He nodded at Hen, then tried to get Izzy’s attention. “Did they answer you?”

  “Quiet!” barked the guard at his side.

  Izzy nodded at him and then stared down at the mud again, trying to make sense of everything she had just learned.

  The key to Rine’s greatest desire wasn’t just inside in any Changeling heart. It was in Izzy’s.

  The page from The Book of the Bretabairn must have been the instructions for finding the King’s Key. Sasha had hidden it inside Izzy, because he wanted to keep it away from Rine. He wanted to protect Earth from his friend’s terrible power.

  “Come on, on your feet,” said Race, pulling Izzy up by the arm. “That was a pretty stupid trick, trying to swim across Lake Umbra. It’s a good thing the witches won’t care if you’re sopping wet as long as you’re alive.”

  The Fillifut marched them up the hill, back to camp, where Fye waited with the rest of his soldiers.

  He shook his head at Hen and Izzy, more impressed than angry. “You’re slippery little fish, I’ll give you that.” He knelt down so he could look Izzy in the eye. “If you were trying to run away, you didn’t choose a very good route.” He lowered his voice and said, “So maybe you weren’t trying to run away then.”

  Izzy returned his stare but didn’t answer. Hen stuck her tongue out at him.

  The corner of Fye’s mouth lifted as he touched the jagged edge of his left ear. “I hope the Sisters were more helpful to you than they were to me. Luckily, they just took a nibble.”

  “Fye, sir!” called a voice from over the hill. A Fillifut soldier ran up the slope and waved one arm overhead. “Our scouts have seen the witches’ signal flag. They’re on the north face of Demon’s Dome!”

  Fye’s face turned serious, and he stood up. “Take the prisoners, and let’s go,” he said to Race.

  Lug hurried toward them from the other end of camp with three Fillifut at his heels. “Wait! Please!” He held out a thick tangle of dirty plants. “Mister Fye,” puffed Lug. “I have something important to share… I’ve determined what’s so strange about this clover!”

  The Fillifut soldiers groaned and rolled their eyes. Fye looked annoyed. “Grab him, and let’s get going.”

  Lug stood up to his full height, eye level with the tips of the soldiers’ ears. “You must listen to me!” he boomed.

  Everyone stopped. Some Fillifut drew their slingshots.

  Lug held out the soil-crusted plants to Fye. “I thought this tasted strange. The leaves look like bell clover, but when you pull it out of the ground, you can see that it isn’t.” The roots of the herb hung down from his fingers, three times the length of the plant itself, and curled like a corkscrew. “This clover has been crossed with another plant. Twistroot. Basket makers use it. They crush up the stems to make a kind of paint. They soak a straight piece of wood in it that they want to bend or twist to use as a handle. It’s quite useful but highly poisonous to eat.”

  Race snorted out a laugh. “We eat that clover three times a day all through the year. You can see how fit we are. Seems like you don’t know your plants, Changeling.”

  “Lug knows more about plants that anybody,” said Hen.

  “That’s right,” added Selden. “He knows every plant that grows in the Edgewood. He makes us medicines when we get sick.”

  Lug pushed the clover into Fye’s paw. “Maybe the concentration in the leaves isn’t enough to affect you. But for someone smaller…”

  Izzy gasped. “Like a child?”

  Lug’s lips were pulled tight. “If a child ate this, it would make them sick. Very sick.”

  Fye hadn’t said a word. He ground his teeth as he rubbed a clover leaf between his fingers.

  “Fye, you said this clover changed,” said Lug. “When did it start spreading through your valley, growing all year round?”

  “About four years ago,” said Fye flatly.

  Clip, who’d hung back from the other soldiers, now stepped forward. “You made the bargain with Rine four years ago, sir.”

  Izzy touched the sleeve of Fye’s tunic. “The Fen Whelps told us all about Rine. He tried to heal his friend who had a hurt leg. He would know about these sorts of plants.”

  The Fillifut lookout jogged up to them. “Sir, the witches have rounded Demon’s Dome. They say they’re done waiting and are coming to fetch the prisoners themselves.”

  “They can’t do that!” said Race. “We’re still in our valley. They aren’t allowed to set foot here.”

  “They haven’t set foot anywhere,” said the lookout. “You need to see this for yourselves,” he added.

  Worried whispers rippled among the troops.

  Fye took Lug aside. “The antidote the witches have been giving us—can it truly remedy the effects of this twistroot?”

  “As long as you stop eating the herb,” said Lug, nodding. “The tonic is simple to make. It’s a tea of possumhaw bark. Possumhaw grows almost everywhere here. There’s a cluster of it back where we camped.” Lug pressed Fye’s paw between his big hands. “It would take me less than five minutes to show you.”

  “We can’t trust him, can we?” said Race. “He’s our prisoner. He’s trying to bargain for his life!”

  “Ask any basket maker,” said Lug calmly. “They’ll tell you the same.”

  Fye whistled and called one of his soldiers. “Farrow! Go with him to the possumhaw and learn his recipe quick as you can.”

  The soldier nodded, and he and Lug sped down the hill together.

  Fye drew his slingshot off his back and checked his shot bag. “Race, I want your troop to stay with me. Circle around the prisoners. Clip, you and Trillo take your troops behind the hill and wait for my signal.”

  Race hesitated. “Sir, this is ambush formation. What about our deal with the witches?”

  Fye loaded a stone into his slingshot. “Don’t you see? Rine has kept us enthralled to him all these years with the promise of that antidote. The antidote to a poison he pushed upon us. Anyway,” said Fye, smirking, “our treaty forbids them from entering our valley. So they broke it first.”

  Fye took his place at the front of his soldiers, with Hen, Izzy, and Selden behind him.

  “What’s going to happen?” Izzy asked him.

  Fye turned around. He glanced down at the ground, then looked at Izzy and Selden. “Bretabairn, it seems that I’ve made a serious mistake. I want to make it right, but I’ll need your help to do it.”

  “They’re here!” shouted the lookout. “Rine and four others. Two hundred yards out!”

  Fye put one paw on Izzy’s shoulder and one on Selden’s. “That trick you played on my guards—looking like a Fillifut soldier—could you both do that again right now?”

  Izzy and Selden looked at each other and nodded. They passed their hands over their heads and drew them up, forming long, slender ears. Izzy took on Clip’s Likeness. Selden did a passable version of Farrow.

  Fye smiled, impressed. “Good.” He turned to Hen. “You’ll need to play a part as well. I don’t think I need to ask if you can be brave.”

  Hen planted her feet and stuck her chin out.

  “That’s what I thought,” said Fye. “Now pull your hair over those human ears and stay close to me.”

  Izzy put her paws o
n her hips to keep them from shaking. She wished she were as brave as her little sister. If Fye was going to do what she thought he was going to do, she’d need all the bravery she could muster to hold onto her Likeness.

  Moments later, Rine floated silently over the top of the hill with four witches standing close behind. When the lookout said they didn’t set foot on Fillifut soil, he was technically right. At first, Izzy thought they were flying. When they came into full view, she realized they rode on a bright-green wave of bell clover.

  A witch with dark-red lips and black hair braided in hundreds of tiny rows stood to Rine’s left, holding both hands out. With a subtle flick of her fingers, the clover sprouted new shoots, flowing like a wave as it grew. The five witches rode on top, standing on a dense pad of leaves.

  The other three who stood behind Rine, sneering down at the Fillifut, looked young, not much older than Izzy’s counselors at Camp Kitterpines. A nervous-looking boy with a mop of blond hair kept his eyes on Rine, watching his every move. The other two witches wore dark-blue robes and carried long wooden staffs.

  The witch with the braids flipped her hand over, and the carpet of clover lowered down in front of Fye. Izzy’s pulse quickened to see Rine so close. He had the same fierce green eyes as the Fen Whelps’ marionette, but he was older and paler than the version from the Fen Whelps’ play. Even in the growing light of morning, the shadows seemed to cling to his skin and dark robes.

  Izzy focused on breathing steadily, concentrating on the Likeness of Clip while Rine cast his sharp eyes down at the soldiers.

  Skipping over any greeting, he spoke directly to Fye. “Your messengers reported that you captured three Changelings.” Rine nodded at Hen. “Where are the rest?”

  Fye squeezed Hen’s shoulder. “Messages get distorted in the mountains,” he said cordially. “We have only this one girl.”

  Rine looked around at the camp. “Very well. You may bring her forward.”

  Fye smiled and folded his arms. “May we? How gracious of you to give us permission on our own land. This is our land, isn’t it?”

  Rine eyed Fye warily. “Yes, it is. And we haven’t violated the terms of our treaty, as you can see.” He nodded to the witch with the braids. “I’ve instructed Hyan to make sure we stick to our agreement.” He turned and addressed the blond, doughy-faced witch. “Delin, give our friends the reward for their service. That way, he can see that we honor our promises.”

  Delin nodded and tossed a flask down to Fye.

  Fye caught the bottle with one hand. He opened it and took a sniff before tipping it upside down, letting the liquid inside glug out onto the ground.

  Rine’s nostrils flared as the witches whispered among themselves.

  “So kind of you to bring this,” said Fye, dropping the flask at his feet. “But we don’t have a need for it any longer. We’ve learned to make it ourselves. Luckily for us, we ran into some basket makers.”

  The other witches exchanged worried looks, but Rine didn’t break his stare with Fye. “I don’t care what you do,” he snarled. “We’ve delivered on our part of the bargain. Now it’s your turn.” He pointed down at Hen. “Give that girl to me. Now.”

  “You don’t give orders to our leader,” said Race.

  Rine’s eyes flickered. “Is that so?” He raised his hands, ready to cast a spell.

  Everything happened so quickly that if Izzy had blinked, she’d have missed it all.

  Fye whistled once and the air blurred gray and brown as Race and her troop fired their slingshots. They knocked the blue-robed witches standing behind Rine off the clover and onto the ground.

  Race’s troop continued its fire, giving cover to Clip’s soldiers as they rushed over the hill and pinned the fallen witches to the ground. The witches tried to fight back, but on the ground, they were powerless.

  Hyan raised her arms, and the bell clover swelled into a thick tower. Clover leaves rained down as the new growth carried Rine, Hyan, and Delin high into the air.

  “Scatter!” Fye commanded his soldiers. He turned to Izzy, Selden, and Hen. “Run. Back through our valley, to the canyon. Go!”

  Izzy dropped the Likeness, grabbed Hen’s hand, and ran. They wove through the soldiers, trying not to get trampled. Fillifut bounded in every direction, lobbing round after round of shot at the witches. But Hyan’s pillar of bell clover had grown so high that they were out of range.

  Izzy looked over her shoulder. “Where’s Selden? Hen, do you see him?”

  “There!” Hen pointed behind them. “He’s still there with Fye!”

  Selden, in his leopard form, rushed the base of the clover tower, slashing it with his claws. The tower rocked and shuddered, making the witches on top stumble. Hyan leaned down and aimed her hands directly at the tower’s base. Shoots of new growth sprouted, replacing the clover as fast as Selden could cut it away.

  Rine pushed back the sleeves of his robe. He swept his fingers up, collecting the shadows cast by the clover tower. They swirled around the tower’s base and flowed to his fingertips. Like a potter forming clay, Rine worked the shadows in his hands. He shaped them with his fingers, drawing them out into long, wispy strands.

  Rine breathed on the shadow strands, and they stiffened, their sharpened tips glinting like metal in the sunlight. He had made arrows.

  He passed them to Delin, who hurled them down at the Fillifut. The soldiers leaped out of the way easily. But when the arrows hit the ground, they turned into tacky puddles. The shadows clung to the Fillifut, slowing them down. Some of the soldiers fell, struggling to drag themselves up again.

  “How are we going to get Selden out of there?” said Izzy.

  “Izzy! Hen!” A voice called out to them from faraway.

  “That’s Lug!” said Hen. “Lug, where are you?”

  “Up here!”

  Izzy and Hen looked up. The upper half of Lug’s body floated in the air a hundred feet over their heads. He vanished from sight and then reappeared. He flung his arms out, and a rope ladder tumbled down toward them.

  “Tom and the Muscadine!” said Hen. “And look up there!”

  The tiny silhouette of an eagle circled high over Lug’s head.

  Izzy grabbed the end of the ladder and held it out for Hen. “You go first.”

  “I hope Tom saved my backpack!” said Hen as she started up.

  Izzy held the bottom of the ladder steady while Hen climbed hand over hand toward Lug’s open arms. “Go, go, go,” Izzy whispered, looking nervously behind her.

  If Rine saw them climbing a ladder to nowhere, they’d be picked off easily. But the Fillifut were keeping him busy. Rine’s eyes were trained on the ground below him. He’d made enough arrows that Delin had plenty of ammunition to hurl down onto the Fillifut. Only Fye and Race had the strength to fire their slingshots anywhere close to the witches. They gave Selden cover while he continued to cut away at the bell clover. Their only chance was to knock Rine and the others off the tower onto the ground.

  Izzy shaded her eyes against the bright sunlight. She saw Rine’s fingers working to form something else from the shadows, but she couldn’t tell what it was. His hands moved quickly, and the whole time, he didn’t take his eyes off Selden.

  “I’ve got Hen!” Lug called down from the ship. He gave Izzy the thumbs-up as Hen’s legs flipped over the invisible lip of the basket.

  The rope ladder swung as Izzy started up. Lug began hauling it in as she climbed the slippery rungs. A gust of air rushed over her as Hiron swooped in and hovered beside her.

  “Izzy! I keep trying to get close to the witches, but that one with the arrows has his eye on me!”

  “No, don’t get close to them,” said Izzy. “They’re too dangerous!”

  “But what about Selden?”

  “We’ve got to figure out a way to knock the witches off that tower.” Izzy looked up at the
ship. “I think I’ve got an idea!”

  As soon as Lug pulled her over the side, she hurried to Tom. “How close can you fly us to Selden without the witches seeing us?”

  Tom gripped the steering frame and checked his gauges. “Pretty close, but I’ll have to stay higher than them, or they’ll spot us. We’ve got one whole balloon gone, so it’s gonna be tricky.”

  “Get as close as you can,” said Izzy. “And is there anything on board that Marian made invisible that’s not lashed down? Something heavy?”

  Tom looked over each shoulder. “I pulled off the rigging from the deflated balloon and wound it in a coil. It’s around here somewhere, but I don’t know how you’ll find it. It’s invisible!”

  “I’ll look,” said Lug. “Help me, Hen!”

  “Not now!” Hen crawled along the floor of the basket, lifting up cargo and looking underneath. “I have to find my backpack!”

  “Izzy!” shouted Hiron as he flew in close to the ship. “The witches have Selden!”

  Izzy ran to the side of the ship. Now she understood what Rine had been making. He had caught Selden in a net of shadows. Selden Changed from one form to another, but the net stuck to his fur, trapping his limbs against his body. Fye tried to pull it off him, but the shadows flowed like sap, gumming up his paws.

  Rine held tight to the end of a tether attached to Selden’s net. He swirled his fingers, and the tether shortened, lifting Selden off the ground. Rine began to reel him in.

  “Oh no! We have to hurry!” said Izzy.

  “I found the ropes!” Lug stood up, cradling an invisible weight in his arms.

  “I found my backpack!” shouted Hen. She waved it triumphantly over her head. “Now I just hope they didn’t fall out…”

  Izzy waved to Hiron. “Can you take that rope from Lug and carry it over the witches? If you drop it onto them, they won’t be able to see it coming.”

  Hiron nodded.

  He flew in close to the ship. Lug leaned over the side and tossed his invisible burden into the air. Izzy couldn’t see the rope, but she knew Hiron caught it, because his body lurched down. He pumped his wings, carrying the rope high overhead.