by Julie Kagawa
His face flamed. “I did what I had to do,” he said, crossing his arms and looking away. “We got close to the queen and saw what Leanansidhe sent us for. Now the question is, how do we get her away from Titania? How do we get her out of the Summer Court?”
“Worry not, ice-boy. I already have a plan.” I flashed him my best impish smile, rubbing my hands together. “One brilliant Goodfellow prank, coming right up.”
* * *
The Grand Dining Hall wasn’t really a hall, more of a marble courtyard underneath the stars, surrounded on all sides by a giant hedge maze. In the very center, surrounded by hedgy unicorns and lions, the Summer Queen held her most extravagant parties at a long white-and-gold table, very reminiscent of a certain Mad Hatter’s tea party. To be invited to one of these affairs, you had to be a personal favorite of the queen, or the next one on her figurative chopping block. Needless to say, Oberon never attended.
The labyrinth was easy for “Sir Torin” and I to navigate, despite a couple statues that tried pointing us in the wrong direction, and all too soon we reached the table in the center of the maze. It was surrounded by Seelie gentry in their fanciest clothes, gowns of feathers and rose petals, cloaks of baby’s breath and spiderwebs. And at the head of the table, her golden hair braided with flowers and sparkling moonstones, the Summer Queen smiled and waved us over.
Vi, the mortal child, sat in a chair on the queen’s right, solemnly plowing her way through an impressive fountain of pink-and-blue cake. Her violin sat on a pillow, held by a waiting satyr behind the girl’s chair. She didn’t look up as we approached, but the queen gave us a welcoming smile.
“Now,” Titania purred after introductions were made and the rest of the gentry were settled, “let us hear of your latest adventures, knights. Sir Torin, would you like to regale the court with your mighty quests and deeds?”
Beside me, Torin lowered his head. “Ah, my lady, nothing would make me happier.” He nodded to me with a small frown. “However, I believe Sir Fagan has won the right to sing of our adventures this evening. We made a bet on who would have the honor, and I lost. If it pleases you, I will leave the storytelling to him.”
Titania pouted a bit then brightened. “Very well, then, Sir Torin. I insist you keep me company for the evening. It is the least you can do.” She gestured to the empty spot on her left. “Do sit, Sir Torin. Relax for a while. Let my servants attend you for a change.”
“My lady, it is not proper—”
“I will decide what is proper in my court or not, Sir.” Titania’s voice was like a velvet coating over steel. “As you can see, my husband is not here, so I have the need to be protected from the riffraff at court. What better protection than having a famed knight errant at my side?” She gestured to the seat, more firmly this time. “Sit, Sir Torin. That is an order from your queen.”
Sir Torin sat. Vi stared at him over the table, frosting covering her mouth, but Titania didn’t even glance at the child. Her attention seemed to have completely shifted to the knight sitting at her elbow. Torin met the queen’s gaze and gave a hesitant, furtive smile.
“Well, Sir Fagan,” Titania said without looking at me, “it seems we are to listen to you sing of your adventures tonight. I do hope it will prove entertaining.”
Oh, you have no idea. “Certainly, my queen.” I grinned. Spinning away from the happy couple, I marched to the center of the courtyard, pulling out a lute as I did. Sir Fagan—the real Sir Fagan, that is—could do a fair job of strumming a tune, but tonight would be his most memorable performance yet.
My fingers flew over the lute strings, and I sang about two knights, sent by their king to retrieve the Treasure of the Moonbeast, only neither of them knew what it was. After weeks of searching and getting no answers, it was decided that the Treasure of the Moonbeast must be on the moon itself, and they needed the great pearl at the bottom of the Mermaid Queen’s ocean, rumored to be able to draw the moon down from the sky if taken from water. Both knights nearly drowned, fighting off waves of sirens and mermen as they fled back to dry land, but they did manage to steal the pearl. However, when they held it up to see if it would really capture the moon as the legends stated, the pearl slipped from their fingers, rolled off a cliff and fell back into the ocean from whence it came.
The Summer gentry roared with that tale, laughing and clapping, calling for more. I glanced at the head of the table and saw Torin and the queen, deep in conversation, paying little attention to me. Titania was leaning close to the knight, speaking in whispers, and Torin was nodding solemnly. Perfect.
“This next song,” I announced, as my audience fell silent, “is a tale about lost love, and how we must never take for granted what we have right now.”
This time, the song was soft and slow, full of yearning, about a knight who loved a noblewoman but feared expressing his love because of their difference in rank. It was a sad tune, and I made it as heart-wrenching as I could, weaving a bit of glamour into the notes for a bigger impact. I noticed two gentry who listened, enraptured, then stood and wandered away into the maze together.
I kept my gaze on Torin and the queen as I sang. They didn’t look up, but Titania’s head moved closer and closer to the knight, until only a few inches separated them. Sir Torin didn’t shy away once, capturing her hand as it reached up to his face, pressing it to his lips.
Abruptly the queen stood. Beckoning to a servant, she whispered something to him, pointing to Vi as she did. The satyr bowed his head and returned to the girl, taking away the cake and motioning her to follow. As the human and the satyr left the party, I grinned to myself.
Stage one, complete. Guess Vi isn’t going to be entertaining us this evening, after all. Now, my Summer Queen. You’ve sent away your little pet; are you going to take the bait?
Titania stretched luxuriously, then stepped up and lightly touched Torin’s shoulder, bending down to whisper in his ear. Yes, she was. Trailing her fingers down his arm, the queen stepped away, gave him a sultry look and sauntered off into the hedge maze.
Torin waited a few heartbeats, then looked up at me. I nodded.
Casually the knight rose, glancing warily around. No one was paying attention to him, their focus riveted on me, or each other. Several nobles were dancing now, in groups of twos and threes, their expressions dreamy and dazed. No one saw the Summer knight step away from the table and wander into the hedge maze after the queen. I kept the song going for several stanzas after he disappeared, then finally brought it to a close.
And that’s stage two. I gazed around at my handiwork. Yep, you still have it, Goodfellow. Amazing what one teensy love song can do to weaker minds. Too bad we don’t have more time; it’s been a while since I’ve made anyone dance for three days straight.
Now, on to the last stage.
I bowed to my audience. “Everyone!” I called as Summer gentry looked around in dazed confusion. “You’ve been a fabulous audience! But I’m afraid I really must dash! When the screaming starts, try not to stampede all at once. You all have a wonderful rest of the evening!”
They blinked at me, not really hearing a word I’d said, still caught up in their swirling emotions. I bowed once more and hurried, unchallenged, into the maze.
I knew where Torin and the queen would be. I’d been through this maze countless times, usually to crash the queen’s party or spy on the queen’s guests. Sometimes it was at Oberon’s request, sometimes it was for my own amusement. But I knew whe
re I would find the wayward couple: at the hidden spring in the northeast corner of the maze, where Titania took all her “prospects.”
I heard their voices as I approached, slipping past the countless lions, hounds and unicorn topiaries lining the paths. Peeking around a mermaid fountain, I spotted the queen and the Summer knight near the edge of the pool. Titania was very close to Torin and had a slender hand on the knight’s chest, leaning close.
“My lady,” the knight was saying. “I…I cannot do this…anymore. What of your husband? Lord Oberon—”
“Lord Oberon,” Titania murmured, putting a finger against his mouth, “is not here. And what Oberon does not know—” she leaned in closer, her lips parting “—will not hurt him.”
I took a deep breath. Well, here we go.
“You are so right, Queen Titania!” Dropping my disguise, I stepped out from behind the fountain. “What Oberon doesn’t know will not hurt him. Why, I tell myself that almost every single day. It’s so nice to know we have so much in common.”
Titania jumped, stepping back from Torin, her eyes going wide as she saw me. “Robin Goodfellow!” she spat, curling her lips into a grimace of hate. For just a moment, she hesitated, then rose up to her full height, glaring down her nose at me. “How dare you! How dare you come here uninvited, especially when my husband is away from court! Or…did he put you up to this?” She gave me a look of black contempt. “You’ve always been his little spy, his good little watchdog, always there for the tasks he finds too distasteful to do himself. Pathetic. You both are pathetic!” Lightning flickered overhead, streaking down to smash into a bush, setting it aflame. I resisted the urge to wince. In the flickering shadows, the Summer Queen’s eyes blazed blue-white. “Perhaps the great Robin Goodfellow will meet with an unfortunate accident,” the queen mused, the wind snapping at her hair as she raised a pale hand. “Something that will silence him completely for a few centuries.”
“Now, now.” I waggled a finger, giving her a fearsome smile. “I would think you’d want to reward me, my good queen. After all, I just stopped you from making a highly embarrassing mistake. You’ve been duped, my lady. Taken advantage of. You have an enemy right under your nose, and you didn’t even realize it.”
Torin glared stonily. I ignored him and faced Titania, who was watching me with wary, but curious, distrust. “What trickery are you playing at, Goodfellow?” she asked.
“Believe what you will,” I continued, staring her down. “Call me what you want, hate me if you will, but I’m still a faithful servant of the Summer Court. This is my home, and I would do anything to protect it. And when it comes to my attention that we’ve been invaded by an enemy, I can’t sit by and do nothing, even if it means warning you.”
“What are you—” The queen straightened abruptly. “Leanansidhe,” she hissed, narrowing her eyes. “She sent someone. Someone to steal my human pet. Where—”
“Right under your nose, my queen. Just like I told you.” And before either of them could react, I spun on Torin and stripped away glamour, shredding his Summer disguise and revealing the form of the Winter prince to the Summer Queen. “There’s your enemy, Queen Titania. Do with him what you will.”
Chapter Five
IF WE SHADOWS HAVE OFFENDED
Betrayal.
That was the first look Ash turned on me, his silver eyes wide with shock and disbelief. I grinned at him, crossing my arms, as Titania’s outraged shriek rose above the howl of the wind. Before Ash could do anything, she swept her arm down, and a streak of lightning slammed into the prince’s chest, hurling him away. He smashed into the mermaid statue and crumpled at the base, dazed.
“Ouch.” I winced. “That looked painful. Hit him again, just to make sure he stays down.”
Titania spun on me. “You!” she raged, her eyes seriously scary now. I blinked at her innocently and took a step back. “I do not know how you did this, or why, but this is one of your pranks, I know it! What foul mischief do you have up your sleeve this time?”
“Me?” I grinned and laced my hands behind my head. “You give me too much credit, Queen Titania.”
“I am not a fool, Robin Goodfellow.” Titania loomed over me, lightning flashing threateningly overhead. “The Winter prince is cunning and strong, but he could not have acted alone. You snuck the prince into Arcadia—you are the only one whose glamour is strong enough to hide him from me. Before I make the son of Mab beg for mercy, I want to know why you did this! You were friends once, long ago. Why this sudden change of heart?”
I stuck my hands deep in my pockets, looked the Seelie Queen right in the eye and muttered, “Because. He fell in love with my princess.”
Silence for a few heartbeats. At the base of the fountain, Ash stirred, but the Queen’s attention was solely on me.
“Ah.” Titania actually smiled, the scary look in her eyes fading slightly. “And now, it makes sense. Robin Goodfellow, you do have a bit of a nasty streak in you, after all. Oberon’s little dog has some bite.” The queen tittered, giving me an appraising look. “I’m almost proud of you.”
“I didn’t do it for you,” I replied. “I did it for Meghan. And I did it for me. And if you want to make ice-boy pay for your humiliation, you’d better do something about him real soon. He’s on his feet already.”
Titania spun. Ash stood beside the fountain, glaring at me as he backed away, his sword drawn. The Summer Queen sent another bolt of lightning at him, but Ash ducked behind the fountain and the bolt smashed several fish into marble fragments. The queen hissed in fury, and I gave Ash a lazy smile.
“Better run, ice-boy!”
The Winter prince was already going. Diving away, he rolled behind a lion shrub as another bolt came slashing down, barely missing him. Leaping to his feet, he tore off into the maze.
“Stop him!” The Summer Queen raised her arms, glamour whirling and snapping about. “Stop him!” she called again, as the hedge lions, hounds, unicorns and other topiaries stirred, then leaped off their bases with howls and roars. “Go!” shrieked the queen, flinging out a hand. “Find the Winter prince. Hunt him down and tear him to pieces!”
The bushes roared and scattered into the maze. I heard yelps and screams coming from the center of the courtyard as the nobles’ party was rudely interrupted. Titania waited a moment, and then turned on me.
“I will find him!” she snarled, eyes flashing electric blue in the darkness. “He will pay for this humiliation! Goodfellow, call the guards, the knights, the servants. Alert the rest of Arcadia. The Winter prince will not leave this court alive!”
I bowed. “Certainly, my queen,” I drawled. “And may I suggest squads of at least four to six knights if you’re going to have them looking for ice-boy? Unless you want to find frozen shish kebabs littering the halls all the way to the wyldwood. Ash is pretty handy with that sword.”
Titania’s eyes glowed as she raised her hand. With a flash of lightning, the smell of burned earth and smoke rose up from the ground, and the Summer Queen was gone.
I took a deep breath and clenched my fists to stop the shaking. Final stage, complete. That was easier than I thought. Now…if only the other part went off without a hitch…
“Nice performance, Goodfellow,” said a voice at my back.
I turned wearily as Ash stepped out of the shadows of the maze, still wearing his disguise as a Summer knight. He carried a sleeping child, held tightly to his chest. Vi snored softly, smears of blue frosting
around her mouth. With the amount of sleeping powder she’d gorged on tonight, she would probably be out for several hours. All that flirting with the huge troll cook in the kitchen, just to sneak the powder into the frosting mix, hadn’t gone to waste at least.
“Oh, good, you found her.” I tried to grin at him, but I was feeling oddly tired at the moment. “Yeah, it was quite the performance, wasn’t it? Good enough to fool a faery queen and the entire Summer Court. This will probably go down in history.” Ash didn’t smile, and I sighed. “So, how much of that did you hear?”
“Enough.”
“That so?” I gave him a half weary, half challenging look. “And do you have anything to say about that, ice-boy?”
“No.” He shook his head solemnly. “You said what you had to. You did what was required to get the job done.”
“Oh? That’s awfully generous of you, Prince.”
“None of it was a lie, Goodfellow.” Ash gave me a hard stare. “Nothing you said or did was against your nature. That’s why Titania believed you so quickly. I would have believed it, too.”
I sighed. “Good to know where I stand,” I muttered, and scrubbed a hand over my eyes. “Well, come on, then, ice-boy. Let’s get out of here before Titania catches your doppelganger and finds nothing is holding him together but twigs, string and a bit of your hair. With all the commotion going on, it should be easy to sneak out nice and quiet.”
Not entirely. Thanks to my little Ash clone, the Summer Court was in chaos, scrambling over each other looking for him, but our escape wasn’t entirely without problems. We ran into a lion topiary that needed to be cut down, and ice-boy’s disguise finally shattered when he drew his sword to battle the creature. Of course, right after that, we ran into a squad of Summer knights and played a rousing game of catch-me-if-you-can before we finally escaped into the hedge. With the knights hot on our heels, I led us down a twisting tunnel of bramble that got smaller and smaller until it abruptly came to an end.