“It doesn’t. It makes you as much a victim.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know what to do.”
“There is nothing to do. Your path is set.”
“What if I change it?”
“And go home? Confront your step parents. What would they do to you?”
“Nothing good.”
“So, don’t go home. Be safe.”
“And you’ll take your seasickness tonic?”
“Absolutely.”
They sit in a pleasant silence, and then Elsie stifles an enormous yawn and apologises. “I’m sorry, I seem to have forgotten my manners.”
“It’s fine – I’m might be captain now, but I’ve been a sailor since I was fifteen, believe me yawning isn’t unpleasant manners. Not when you’re used to travelling with a crew like mine.”
She laughs. “They seem lovely.”
“They are. Let me walk you to your cabin.”
“Yes, and I’ll give you the tonic. I have plenty.”
“Thank you. I’ll be glad to feel better. And you promise me to forget your guilt. Only look forward.”
“Or I’ll get seasick?”
Grinning, he follows her to her cabin and waits outside while she fetches the vials. She passes him the box. “Drink one each morning, and when you go back to Allaire, you ask Alyce to make you more. As many as you need.”
He kisses her cheek, and she closes her eyes as his lips touch her skin. She cannot see that he has done the same.
Sleep eventually comes, and when the sun rises, Meg wakes Elsie with a nudge on her shoulder.
“Why did you wake me?”
Meg laughs. “You’re not on holiday. You can’t laze the day away inside. Did you sleep well after yesterday?”
Elsie nods and sits up, stretching her arms and shaking out her wings.
“It was the best night's sleep of my life, I’m sure.”
“It probably was; there’s real peace in freedom, despite learning what you did. There are no worries or troubles on the waves. Are you going to fly today?”
“I will fly every day, Meg, for all the fairies at home who cannot.” She squares her shoulders. “I’m glad you told me, but I will be brave, and only look forward. Like Tom said in the middle of the night-”
“In the middle of the night? Why were you with Tom in the middle of the night?”
“I wasn’t with him. I couldn’t sleep, so I went up on deck. And Tom couldn’t sleep because he was being sick. Don’t worry. Let’s go.” She cannot wait to see him again, and Meg helps her to dress.
They head up the stairs to the deck. “I gave Tom the vials that Alyce gave you. So he won’t be sick-”
“Are you sharing my dark secrets?”
Elsie covers her mouth and then bursts out laughing at the fake outrage on Tom’s face. “Yes, sorry, I am, but only to get myself off the hook.”
“I was wondering,” Meg says, “why my charge was spending time with a certain captain in the middle of the night?”
Elsie holds up her hands. “And I explained that it was for the most innocent of reasons.”
“And it was. I apologise if it upset you or worried you, that wasn’t my intention. Thankfully Elsie has shared her tonic with me, and I hope my seasickness days are behind me.”
“And you definitely don’t need it, Elsie?” Meg checks.
“No, I feel fine. Maybe I was born for a life on the sea.”
“Maybe.” Tom says, and the two of them grin at each other.
“Is it time for breakfast?” Meg asks, wanting to break up their chatter.
“It should be. I’ll check with Mark, see what help he needs.”
Tom bows and heads to the kitchen. Elsie watches him walk away.
“Princess.”
Elsie rolls her eyes at the warning in Meg’s voice. “What? You told me I should fall in love with him.”
“Did I? That was not my exact intention.”
“Meg. I promise I’m just enjoying my journey, with a kind and handsome man, and you, and the thought of my entire life ahead of me. It won’t be inappropriate, it won’t come to anything, it’s just... nice.”
“Nice is nice. Come on.”
They take their seats and Tom and the crew serve them their breakfast. “So, what shall we do today?” Tom says, laughing as he takes his seat, leg resting against Elsie’s. He locks eyes with hers and this time she doesn’t move, instead she pushes against him, just a little. “Joking aside, there is a cove with the most perfect beach, and caves, we could be there by lunchtime, in time for our meal. And the winds seem to be with us. We might cut a day off our time.”
“I know what I’d like to do today,” she says, looking at Tom and all of his crew. They all look at her, waiting. “I want to have the best day I’ve ever had. I want to laugh, eat, tell silly jokes, fly with the birds and swim with the fish. I want to help you, with food or the ship or anything else that needs doing. I want to feel exhausted when the sun sets. I want to laugh until my face hurts and eat until my stomach aches and fly until my wings wilt. Will you all join me?”
They are all grinning at her, shaking off any lingering concerns that she might be anything like her step parents, and nodding.
“I think that might just be the best idea I’ve heard for a long time,” Tom says, drinking down the last of his coffee.
“Meg?” Elsie turns to her handmaiden, lady-in-waiting and favourite person in the world, and lets out a squeal when Meg nods. “Can we get to the cove as quickly as possible and then stop for the entire day?”
“Maybe not the whole day, there are people expecting you.”
“People who have no way of knowing how long this journey will take. You said yourself that if the wind is against us...”
Tom nods his acquiescence and before Mark has finished making a delicious lunch, they arrive at the cove. The crew anchor up, and they all fly over to the beach, landing with some laughter, before brushing the sand off their skin, clothes and wings.
And then the day passes in a blur of happiness. Meg relaxes and lets Elsie out of her sight for more than a minute or two. The crew get to see their normally serious – and green around the gills – captain laugh and play and enjoy himself. Elsie gets to shake off the oppression of her prison and has the time of her life. Never has she had a day spent with such abandon. She flits around, swooping down and splashing into the sea before flying back up into the sky, water raining everywhere.
Mark catches fish to add to the food he’s already prepared, and the crew makes up a fire to cook it. Elsie and Meg help to find wood for the fire, and some berries to eat. Soon they are all eating their meal, the midday sun strong, and the sound of the sea filling their ears.
“Meg, may I show the princess some caves?”
“As long as you are careful.” She lies down on the sand, eyes closed, and Elsie smiles as she watches her. Her prison sentence was Meg’s too, and she will never take her love and friendship for granted.
Tom gestures for his crew to keep quiet, so Meg can nap. They make faces and roll their eyes, but they do as their captain tells them. They always do. As well as young Mark, there is Dave the fiddle player, John and James – brothers who have no family left alive, and hope to marry mermaids – and Twitch, named for his nervous tick, which sadly gets worse when he’s around strangers, but has been strangely under control with Elsie and Meg on board.
Tom takes Elsie by the hand and leads her through the sand dunes and around the row of trees and down a bank. “You must fly a bit,” he says and takes off. She follows him, floating along.
“Look at the colour of the water, isn’t it beautiful?”
“Like you.”
She turns her head sharply. “That is inappropriate.”
“I know and I hope you will forgive me. I wouldn’t do anything to offend or insult you, but I have never seen a more beautiful girl than you.”
“You don’t see a lot of girls on this ship.”
“Elsie, I see mermaids every day, sirens that could make a man lose his mind and a hundred girls at the dock, but none of them is as pretty as you. Your future husband is a very lucky man.”
“Do you think it’s strange that I will marry a man I’ve never met?”
“Just about as strange as marrying a man because there’s nobody better around.”
She frowns, a question in her expression.
He shrugs. “My parents. Tiny village, few options... I don’t think they even like each other very much. I shall marry a woman I love, who loves me madly.”
“Madly?”
“Madly. A girl who makes me laugh, who makes me smile, whose presence improves my day, makes me better. A girl whose heart is as beautiful as her face. A girl who has opinions and something to say for herself.”
“You don’t want a lot, do you?”
He shakes his head. “I know you don’t have a choice but to marry who you’re told to, but I have. Until then, I will only think of you.”
She laughs so loud that a fish jumps out of the water.
“What?” He looks offended.
“You are so full of it. I bet you never think of me again once I leave your ship.”
“That won’t happen. I promise you.”
She shakes her head and flies into the cave, before taking to her feet. She runs her fingers along the wet walls, eyes wide. “I have seen nothing like this, it’s so beautiful.”
“Everything is beautiful to you. You’ve been locked up for too long.”
“That much is true. I shall never tire of my freedom.”
He pats her arm, feeling so sorry for her.
She turns to him. “Does it hurt when they clip their wings? Did your family tell you?”
He closes his eyes, remembering the pain in their voices when they spoke about the clippings. “Yes. It hurts. It humiliates them. It belittles them and embarrasses them. It takes away their identity, you know. Are they fairies anymore if they cannot fly?”
“I hate them, my step parents.”
“Me too.”
“I’m sorry if I spoiled your lovely tour of these caves.”
“You didn’t. Besides, I had an ulterior motive.”
“You did?” She raises an eyebrow at him. She has no idea what to do with a handsome young man and his ulterior motive, so she just goes with it.
“I wanted to give you this.” He presses a cold, smooth and beautifully sparkly pebble into her hand. “I want you to keep it and think of me whenever life is hard.”
“I’ve never had such a wonderful present before.”
“It’s not worth anything.”
“It’s worth everything because it links us. I will always think of you when I see this little pebble. I will treasure it always. Thank you. We should get back.”
Regretfully he does as she suggests, and she slips the pebble into her pocket, smiling. She has had the happiest day of her life, maybe the last one for a long time.
Eventually the skies darken, and they gather on the deck. Elsie looks at all the crew and Meg before resting her eyes on Tom. “Thank you. I know all of you know what my step parents have done and maybe your own loved one’s have been affected, but thank you for giving me a chance. I didn’t know what was being done, and now that I do, I can hardly imagine what the fairies of Allaire have been through at their hands. I’m sorry.”
Twitch bows low and then blushes and stammers a bit. “You shouldn’t apologise to anybody. It’s not your fault what they do. You’re not responsible for what your family does.”
“No, but it’s my fault what I do.”
Meg pats her arm. “What does that mean, lovely?”
“It means I’m going back to Allaire. To make things right.”
6
MEG COUGHS SO HARD that she chokes, and Dave jumps up to pat her back. She waves an arm, signalling that she’s all right, but she still has to clear her throat a few times before she can speak. “Going back? To make things right? What does that even mean?”
Elsie nods her head. “Exactly what it says, Meg. I have to. I cannot sail onwards, marry Alwen – who I know nothing about and have never met – and forget what my step parents are doing back home. I cannot do it. How would I live with myself; how would I sleep at night; how would I ever find peace?”
Tom touches her arm, and she looks at him, pleading with her eyes for him to understand her and agree with her. “Elsie, it would be too dangerous. What can you do?”
“I have no idea. This is a pretty recent plan, stemming from some pretty recent information, but I cannot forget what I know, or carry on regardless. I’m no fighter, no warrior, I’m just a sixteen year old princess, but I have to do something.” She sits back in her chair and closes her eyes. Ever since Meg told her the truth, she’s known what she would do. Even while Meg was telling her not to feel guilty and look to the future, even when Tom told her there was nothing she could do, she absolutely knew what she couldn’t do. She couldn’t carry on with her journey, carry on with her new life and carry on with a sham of a marriage – a union made purely for the political benefit of her step parents – as though she knows nothing.
She knows.
And so she will go home. The thought is terrifying, toe curlingly scary, and yet she’s not stupid. “I’m not stupid. I don’t plan on rushing back to the castle and demanding that my step parents become exemplary citizens and kind rulers. But I have to do something.”
Meg looks ready to cry; she’s wringing her hands and pressing her lips together. “Elsie.” That’s all she says, but it’s enough to make Elsie cry.
“Meg, please don’t be cross, or sad, or disappointed in me. I have to do something, find some allies, fairies that will help me, try to figure out why my step parents do what they’re doing and stop them. Please don’t be angry with me.”
Meg reaches for her young charge, her little prisoner princess, and touches her cheek, rubbing her skin with her thumb. “I am not cross or disappointed – I never could be. I’m proud. Oh, so proud of you. When I told you about your step parents it wasn’t to get this outcome, and yet, what should I have expected from you? I know you, how pure and kind your heart is, despite how you have been treated since the death of your parents. We must go back.”
Elsie smiles and opens her mouth, but Meg cuts her off. “I’m petrified. Your step parents are terrible people and they have an army of other terrible people at their command, and I have no idea if you can do anything, but I know where we can start.”
“You do?”
“The troupe. As soon as you said that you want to go home, Gwenna was the first name that came to my mind. My sister and her extended family have all escaped the band of clippers, and I know they’ll help us. To do what exactly, I’m not sure, but...”
Tom is staring at Elsie with something close to wonder on his face, although he says nothing.
“Do you think they could help me?” The hope on Elsie’s face, the naivete in her expression, is endearing.
“Elsie, I have no idea. Maybe nobody wants to help you. The fairies in Allaire are angry, yes, but also downtrodden, abused and attacked by your step parents and their army. There might be nobody willing to stand by your side. And stand by your side while you do what? You cannot fight them; you could never kill them. What are you going to do to stop this?”
“I don’t know, Meg, but I know I have to go back. It’s all I can think of since you told me the truth of what goes on back home. I have to go back; I have to get some help – maybe an army of my own – and I have to stop them. And if I can’t kill them, then I can still stop them.”
“What about Alwen?” Tom asks, his expression innocent.
“I never wanted to marry Alwen. I had no choice. I have never had a choice in any matter. I’ve been locked up and forgotten about for six years, why should I do as I’m told? And nobody will expect me to come back. They won’t be expecting anybody to go against them, least of all me.”
“That’s
an excellent point,” Tom says. “But if we take you back to Allaire, we also don’t take any of our cargo across the seas. And if we don’t do that, there’ll be a bounty on my head.”
“You take us back, close enough to Allaire that we can fly in, undetected, and then you go across the seas with your cargo. Tell them there was poor weather that slowed you down.”
“And what do I say to Alwen, if he’s at the dock to greet you?”
Elsie puts her head in her hands. “I don’t know. I know nothing at the moment. I have no plan, no idea, I just know it’s the right thing to do.”
“We’ll think on it. We have a few days more until you’re missed. We have the time to gather our thoughts and make a plan.”
“Bandits!” Elsie shouts, startling the crew and causing them to jump to their feet and bunch their fists ready to fight.
“Where!” Tom yells as Twitch falls off his chair.
Elsie covers her mouth with her hand, trying hard not to laugh. “Sorry. There aren’t bandits here, but you said that there are sometimes. We could pretend that bandits took me. That way Alwen won’t be waiting for me, and my step parents will think I’m dead, if they think of me at all.”
Tom’s arms drop to his side, relief clear in his expression. “That might work. I have to go across the seas, we have to take the cargo...” He’s explaining himself to Elsie, who can’t stop smiling at him.
“We’re doing it? You’ll take me back?”
Tom and the crew nod, and Meg takes Elsie in her arms. “This won’t be easy. If your step parents find out you’re back, if something goes wrong... Boys, you know the waters better than we do. We can’t go back to the dock, but we can’t fly a long way, neither of us is used to it. My sister lives in the West woods, an hour from the castle. Can we get close to there without being seen?”
Tom and Dave confer. “We can get close to there, but it might take a little longer. Instead of taking a straight sail in, which is too risky, we’ll go wide and come back down from the North. We won’t be seen, but we can sail right past the West woods that way. Boys turn the ship straight away.”
As soon as they got back onboard after their day at the cove, they had slowly headed on their way again. Now they need to turn. “We’ve been going slow, so we’ll speed her up.”
The Rise of the Fairy Queen (The Fairy Queen Trilogy Book 1) Page 5