by Gavin Neale
Nora’s tone had not changed but there was a warning in her voice. She and Abby looked at each other for a moment before Abby finally dragged over an exercise book. ‘I’ll do some maths if we’re going out later.’
‘I’ll let Daphne know the plan and put the kettle on,’ Nora said. But Abby still felt Nora watching her, even after the old witch had left the room.
***
‘Where are we going?’ asked Thomas, huddling in his coat against the fine drizzle that was still falling. The heavy rain had stopped before lunch.
‘We’re going to pick up some better waterproofs from our house, dear,’ Daphne replied. She and Nora were walking under the two umbrellas Daphne had pulled from her multi-coloured carpetbag before they left Abby’s house. Abby was wrapped up in her waterproof trousers and coat with the hood pulled up over her head.
‘This is stupid,’ whined Thomas. ‘No one goes walking in the rain.’
‘We do it all the time,’ Nora said. ‘You’ll enjoy it once you are dressed properly. Look at Abby.’
‘Shan’t.’
‘It really is okay,’ said Abby. She didn’t want to listen to Thomas complain all afternoon.
Thomas continued to walk with his head bowed, scowling at the floor. They made their way along the road then walked through the gate and across the little front garden to the weathered, green front door of Daphne and Nora’s cottage. Nora opened it.
‘You go round the back, dear,’ Daphne said to Abby. ‘There’s no point in you stripping off just to get dressed again. We’ll be ready in no time.’
‘Okay.’ Abby walked round the side of the cottage and met Nora coming out of the kitchen door clutching a brass key.
‘I’ll just be second. Can you give me a hand, please?’
Abby waited by the shed opposite the back door as Nora unlocked it and disappeared inside. Nora handed her a pair of boots, some walking trousers and a jumper, plus a full set of waterproofs, including some strange nylon tube-shaped things.
‘What are they?’ asked Abby as they were added to the pile.
‘Gaiters. They fit over your boots and stop any water getting in. Some of the walk might be a bit boggy. I’ll get you a pair as well.’
Abby tried to sneak a look into the shed. In four years, she had never managed to get inside the door to find out how everything anyone needed for outdoor life, no matter their size, was stored in what looked like an ordinary garden shed – and a pretty small one at that. Once again she was thwarted; the door swung shut behind Nora and Abby dare not open it herself. This was how it always was: one of the old women would vanish inside and an arm would appear to hand you what was needed. Whenever Nora or Daphne entered or left the shed, they somehow always blocked your view through the doorway. Chris had never got a look inside either.
‘Let’s go into the kitchen and I’ll show you how to put these on,’ Nora said, holding up another pair of gaiters as she reappeared from the shed.
They were soon ready to go.
‘I should have the map,’ Thomas announced as they were about to leave. ‘I always read the map with Mum because I’m the man of the house.’
Daphne and Nora looked at each other over Thomas’s head, but Abby couldn’t read their expressions. Suddenly Daphne gave Thomas a friendly smile. ‘We know where we’re going, dear, but you can follow along on the map so you don’t get lost. I’ll just go get one for you.’
Abby and Nora stood quietly whilst Daphne disappeared out of the kitchen. She quickly returned clutching a waterproof map pocket complete with local map and a compass on a string. She placed both of these over Thomas’s head and showed him where they were and what footpaths they would be taking. Abby rolled her eyes at Daphne when Thomas wasn’t looking.
‘Come on,’ Thomas said, after staring at the map for a minute and memorising where they were going.
‘I’ll lead the walk, lad,’ said Nora, not unkindly. ‘But I need you to stay close so you know where we are. Come on.’ Thomas trotted out of the kitchen behind her.
‘That should keep him out of mischief,’ Daphne said to Abby. ‘Although I remember a time when you hadn’t met a tree you wouldn’t climb, so I don’t know why you were looking at the boy like that.’
‘It’s not like women can’t read maps! He’s not in charge.’
Daphne laughed. ‘Come on or they’ll leave us behind. And the day Nora lets someone else take charge is the day I know the end of the world is coming.’
They walked in pairs, Nora leading the way with Thomas in close attendance, regularly consulting the map. They walked into the countryside and started following a bridle path. Daphne and Abby walked quietly behind them. Abby liked to ask Daphne about any plants they passed that she did not recognise.
The transition to spring was beginning to take hold, with trees turning green and the early spring flowers blooming and covered in drops of rain. They approached a small copse of trees huddled between three large fields. ‘That’s Badger’s Wood,’ said Nora, pointing at the trees up ahead.
Thomas could see it on his map. ‘There’s no name on the map.’ He stopped and looked round then back at the map. He thought he knew where he was and pointed to the spot on the map. ‘It’s here, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, yes,’ replied Nora, leaning over his shoulder.
‘Well, how do you know its name then?’
‘I’ve lived here a long time and the wood used to be much bigger. It’s only got one badger sett in it these days, but there used to be several.’
‘It was named Badger’s Wood because there were badgers?’
‘Of course, dear,’ Daphne said. ‘Go back in history and that’s how things worked. If you looked far enough back you would find that one of your relatives was a thatcher.’
‘That’s silly! He would have been called Thatcher because that was his dad’s name. You don’t get to make up your own name unless you’re famous or a wrestler.’
‘It has not always been that way,’ Nora said.
Daphne and Abby shared a look. Chris and Abby knew that Daphne and Nora had been alive for an impossibly long time, so Abby was sure that Nora had known the name of this wood for an equally impressive number of years. Nora and Daphne’s age was one of the many questions that Chris and Abby had never got answered.
‘I’ll race you through the wood,’ shouted Thomas, not aiming his challenge at anyone in particular as he took off at a run.
‘Look where you’re putting your feet, dear,’ Daphne called after him.
They were walking through the trees enjoying some cover from the rain. Thomas was charging ahead. Suddenly a stranger stepped out from behind a tree.
‘Good afternoon, Nora, Daphne and the warrior Abigail. Well met. I need to talk urgently with you all.’
3
A Plea for Help
Abby stared at a face from her past. Well, it was nearly a face from her past. The woman had a familiar face but it was entirely human and not the half-woman, half-panther that Abby remembered. However, Abby could see it was the same person; her eyes had the same mischievous sparkle despite now being brown and human.
‘What are you doing here?’ asked Nora quietly, looking up the path; Thomas was still charging ahead as he explored.
‘We’ll go keep an eye on him,’ Daphne said, hauling a reluctant Abby away from the fairy disguised as a human who had greeted them.
‘I, Erykah, Queen of the Fairies, do hereby formally request the support and aid of the human Guardians, Nora and Daphne, under the terms of the Peace Accords for all magical lands.’
‘You, a fairy, need our help?’ Nora looked the fairy up and down. ‘Of course we will consider your petition, but not here. Or in the Land of Fairy for that matter.’
‘I will talk to all three of you in your workshop this evening.’
‘Daphne will come but I�
�m not dragging Abigail into your mess. She’s just a girl.’
‘Not in the Land of Fairy – there she is a famous and skilled warrior. Something that we have great need of now that the Ruined have broken the Accords. I will say no more here because there are spies everywhere, but we have a great need for champions such as Abigail.’
‘Daphne and I will meet with you this evening.’ Nora didn’t give the fairy queen a chance to argue as she turned on her heel and marched away.
‘You cannot deny me,’ Erykah called after her. ‘Abigail has already vanquished a mighty foe from my land. You cannot deny she has power.’
Nora paused mid-stride and turned back to face the Fairy Queen. ‘A rogue spirit that you fools allowed to bully you for a millennia is hardly a mighty foe. But all requests for aid will be given fair consideration at the appropriate time.’
‘Thank you,’ Erykah replied, bowing elegantly and disappearing behind a tree.
***
‘Where have you been?’ Thomas demanded imperiously, drawing himself up to his full height when Nora caught up with the rest of the group at the edge of the woods.
‘I was looking at some badger tracks.’
‘Oh wow, can I see them?’ asked Abby, looking back into wood.
‘Me too,’ shouted Thomas.
‘Yes, but we’ll have to walk carefully so as not to obliterate them. Follow me slowly and I’ll show you.’
Thomas and Abby walked behind Nora as she led them back a little way into the wood and showed them some tracks in the mud. They led to the entrance of a badger sett.
Thomas quickly got bored when no badgers appeared. ‘I’ll race you to the field,’ he called. He turned and sprinted off, obscuring the tracks as he hurtled away.
‘What was Erykah doing here?’ asked Abby quietly, as the three of them began to walk after Thomas.
‘Nothing that concerns you,’ Nora said. ‘Why don’t you run after Tom?’
‘Fine,’ Abby said, defiantly. She broke into a run.
‘What was Erykah doing here?’ whispered Daphne.
‘Causing trouble,’ was Nora’s reply.
The rest of the walk was fun but uneventful. They covered so many miles that they even slowed Thomas down a bit before they got back to Abby’s house. He made plenty of noise as he played with his wrestling figures in the front room. To everyone’s surprise, Abby went back to her homework, explaining that she wanted to get ahead while the weather was bad.
Thomas’s mum was first back from her office job in an accounts department. She collected Thomas and took him away, promising him chicken Kievs and chips for tea. Abby’s mum got home later and she was grateful that Daphne had made a start on dinner; it was not unusual for Daphne to cook when Dad was away. Claire was relieved when she walked into the kitchen to find Nora sitting with a cup of tea, discussing a homework problem on Abby’s tablet while Daphne tended to the cooker.
‘Still at it?’ Abby’s mum asked. She bent down and kissed the top of her daughter’s head.
‘Yeah,’ replied Abby, scribbling on a spare piece of paper as she tried to sort out some equations.
‘She’s doing fine,’ Nora said, which was high praise indeed.
‘Let me get changed and I’ll give you a hand, Daphne,’ Claire said.
‘No rush, dear, it’s all in hand.’
Soon they were all sitting round the table eating. Claire asked about Abby’s homework and their walk, and everyone chatted amiably about the day. No one mentioned the sudden appearance of the queen of the fairies.
Daphne and Nora went home after dinner, leaving Abby and her mother to watch TV together before they went to bed. The two old women didn’t say anything on the way home. Nora led the way back to their cottage but went straight round the side of the building, across the back garden and through the gap in the hedge to the impossible garden behind.
Daphne followed Nora past the vegetable beds to Nora’s workshop and started preparing things for tea as Nora got the fire going. They had barely started when there was a soft knock on the door and Erykah let herself in. Daphne brought the kettle to the boil while Nora wandered round the converted outbuilding, muttering words of power and touching specific objects.
‘We’re as safe as we can be,’ Nora said, finally breaking the silence as her secrecy spell sprang into life. ‘Why don’t you start from the beginning?’
‘We all felt the Ruined arrive,’ Erykah said, accepting a cup of tea from Daphne. ‘It was a small force but they were armed with the decaying metal so we knew immediately it was them. They killed those that they came across, but did not seek confrontation and they formed a bridgehead before we could react. The Ruined made no demands and started no battles. They simply expand their base – but slowly more of them are stepping across and joining either their army or their industry.’
‘But the Accords…’ Daphne said. ‘They must know what will happen to them if they wander uninvited to a different world.’
‘Where have they all come from? That’s what I’d like to know,’ Nora added. ‘They’re usually too busy fighting each other to act in such a coordinated way.’
‘The Ruined have always expanded like a virus, that is true, but they appear to have a new leader,’ Erykah explained. ‘The Malevolent King Rictus the Gaunt is what they call him, but reports about him are limited. By nature we are not an organised people. It will take time to arrange a defence and we will need help to defeat them.’
‘If what you say is true, then this is as serious a breach of the Accords as I am aware of.’
‘If?’ asked Erykah, with an amused smile.
‘Your race is hardly known for its truthfulness,’ replied Nora. ‘But I see nothing for you to gain in an official petition for aid under the terms of the Accords. It is an unprecedented request from a fairy. However, given the seriousness of the situation, we will seek further help. It will take more than human and fey magic to repel a band of the Ruined.’
‘Yes, we will require warriors such as Abigail. Why would you deny us?’ Erykah asked.
‘Because she is only a child and you would age her beyond her years by dragging her into this.’
‘Do you think the Ruined will stop at the Land of Fairy if we fall? We are only the start. With our magic harnessed to their whims, who do you think will be next? Humans, dwarves, their kin the elves? No one will be safe. We need all the power we can get.’
‘That’s as may be,’ Nora said, her voice calm but determination etched into her features. ‘But I will not drag Abby unnecessarily into a magical war. You may not see it with your fairy eyes but she is still a child.’
Daphne held her breath. She hadn’t seen her friend so angry for centuries but, with the Ruined on the march, the twisted and fallen elves armed with their heavy blades made of a decaying metal that literally poisoned anything it touched, she could see why Erykah was trying to gather all the power she could. The Ruined had caused so much of the trouble in the magical wars of the past
‘We shall see,’ Erykah said, refusing to back down. ‘I should go. I am being watched and if I am gone much longer I will be missed.’
‘We will be with you as soon as we can,’ Nora said. ‘We treat this matter with great seriousness. Tell those that you trust that, under the terms of the Accords, we will gather allies to help us investigate. Let us hope matters do not escalate too quickly.’
Erykah looked at the old women and gave them a small nod before standing and stepping back to the Land of Fairy. She disappeared right in front of them.
‘I didn’t know such a thing was possible inside a secrecy circle,’ Daphne said, stunned at the skill she had just seen.
‘I think she was making a point, although the fact that the fairies are asking for help is surprising enough.’
‘The Ruined breaking the terms! It would have to be them.’
‘Only if we can’t find Pedir. You know how hard it can be to find a world walker, there’s no telling what world that elf has wandered to.’
‘Not a problem we’ll have with the dwarf Einion. He’ll be shut up in his smithy as usual, although getting him out could be a challenge.’
‘The dwarves like to keep themselves to themselves but they take their lore very seriously. Einion will come when asked.’
‘I can get a message to Pedir. You were always better with dwarves than me so I suggest you pay Einion a visit. That leaves us with just one other problem, Daphne.’
‘Oh yes?’ asked Daphne, already looking forward to some dwarf beer.
‘How do we deal with a possible invasion of the Land of Fairy and look after two children?’
4
Plots and Planning
Erykah stepped back into the Land of Fairy and arrived in the Grand Forest. She paused for a moment to listen to the magic. She had not been away for long but it was always jarring to go somewhere with such different magic, where the trees could not talk to you and the constant chatter of magic was silent.
Only Guardians were supposed to travel between worlds but, as Queen of the Land of Fairy, Erykah had the right to travel to request aid. She had access to a reserve of magic to allow her to pass as a local whilst she was in a non-magical world, but it had felt so strange to wander the human world with no magic. Even the other world, where the witches kept their workshop and garden, was magically quiet. Fairies lived for the constant thrum of information that the winds of magic brought them and the games they could play with the knowledge they gained.
The two human witches could make worthy adversaries but, loath as Erykah was to admit it, the Land of Fairy needed help right now and Guardians presented the best hope for ridding her land of the Ruined. Still, if the Ruined could be dealt with, perhaps all or some of the Guardians could be tricked into a game. Erykah had not forgotten how Chris and Abby had simply stepped out of the Land of Fairy without paying a price. Such debts should be collected and Erykah would certainly gain standing in the eyes of the Fairy Court if she were the one to collect them. When played on their own terms, fairies loved games of power.