by E. D. Baker
Sleep tight, little one
Curled up toes to nose
Slow-winged birds and plumpish mice
Fill your tummy—oh so nice.
Pleasant dreams will soothe your sleep
I’ll be here so you can keep
Sleeping tight, little one.
The wolf goblins howled with laughter. “Are you trying to put us to sleep, cat boy?” shouted the leader.
The grass behind him began to rustle. Expecting a wolf goblin to tackle him at any moment, he was halfway through the song again when something large and leathery swiped at his legs and knocked his feet out from under him. He could hear the frightened yipping of the wolf goblins and the thud of their bodies hitting the ground even as he lay on his back, staring up at what he could see of the sky. The next thing he knew, a beautiful female face was glaring down at him. Her hair was russet brown, her eyes were emerald green, and her nose and mouth were perfectly formed. Sparkling jewels dangled from the gold chains that encircled her slender neck, and she smelled like musk and sandalwood. Silky fabric covered her from collarbone to waist. The only things that Jak didn’t like were the two fangs revealed when she curled her pink upper lip. She was a lamia; though she looked like a lovely young human woman from the waist up, she had the body of a snake from the waist down.
Jak gulped as yellow drops of venom formed on the tip of each fang. The lamia was already leaning toward him when he cried, “Wait! I’m a friend of Lamia Lou’s! Don’t you remember me? She introduced us when you helped Princess Tamisin!”
The lamia tilted her head and examined him. Suddenly recognition lit her eyes. Making a sucking sound, she drew the venom back into her fangs before covering them with her lip. “I remember you! Hey, Lamia Lee,” she called, “thith one’th a friend of Lamia Lou’th! Come over and thay hi!”
“I’ll be right there!” another lamia called. Jak could hear her say something to the wolf goblins, then the sound of thrashing as they tore through the grass, heading out of the Sograssy Sea.
It was obvious that the two lamias were sisters; the second was as beautiful as the first and wore just as many gold necklaces. “I’m Lamia Thlamia,” lisped the one who had knocked Jak to the ground.
“And I’m Lamia Lee,” said the other one, holding on to Jak’s hand until he was on his feet. “You were with the printheth, weren’t you?”
“That’s right,” said Jak.
“What are you doing here?” asked Lamia Shlamia.
“I was looking for Princess Tamisin when those wolf goblins found me,” he said, nodding toward the fleeing goblins. “Thanks for coming by just now. I’m sorry I made so much noise, but it was the only thing I could think of that would get your attention. Is Lamia Lou around? I really need to talk to her.”
It had occurred to Jak that he might be able to get to Tamisin more quickly if he had help. Should any more goblins show up, they wouldn’t think of bothering someone with a lamia at his side.
“I think Lamia Lou ith thtill at home,” said Lamia Shlamia.
“We can take you there,” Lamia Lee added. “Lamiath don’t have many friendth, and the oneth we do have are thpecial. Too bad you didn’t tell me about thothe goblin boyth before I let them go. I thought they were friendth of yourth.”
Jak shook his head. “I’d never met them before.”
“You thould have theen how thcared they looked!” chortled Lamia Lee. “They actually thought I wath going to bite them!”
“Imagine that!” Jak said, glancing sideways at Lamia Shlamia, who blushed and ducked her head.
The lamias’ home was in the center of the Sograssy Sea, hidden beneath the grass. Jak didn’t see the opening at first; there wasn’t even a hill, let alone a door. The ground was as flat and level as the rest of the sea, with nothing unusual to distinguish it from the waving grass around it, and he wondered how they could tell that they were home. When he asked them, they both shrugged.
“It smells like home,” said Lamia Lee.
“Really?” said Jak. Although he’d always thought he had a fairly decent sense of smell, this part of the sea smelled like any other to him. Then again, he wasn’t wriggling on his belly, nose-deep in the grass.
“We go in over here,” Lamia Shlamia said, bending down to dig her fingers into the dirt. When she stood, she was holding the lip of a trapdoor and Jak could see a faint light illuminating the underside of the wood. “After you,” she said.
“Actually, I think I’ll let you go first,” said Jak. He wasn’t sure what to expect and thought it might be better if he could watch how the lamias went in.
Lamia Lee went first, ducking her head and slithering in on her belly. When her sister followed her the same way, Jak realized that he hadn’t learned a thing by watching them. Still not sure what to expect, he knelt beside the opening and peered in. He could see the ground below, but the light was so dim that he couldn’t tell how far away it was or what might lie beyond it.
“Come on!” said Lamia Shlamia, reaching through the opening and grabbing the collar of his shirt. With one powerful jerk, she yanked him off his knees and into the hole. He was kicking out, trying to find something he could stand on, when the lamia set him gently on the ground.
Jak stumbled and nearly fell. He was in a wide tunnel that would have been big enough to drive a car through in the human world. It had rounded sides that reflected light at odd angles. When he put his hand up to steady himself, he felt something rough and realized that the walls were encrusted with old scales, rubbed off passing lamias. The only source of light seemed to come from crystal jars filled with a glowing, swirling gas. When he started to walk, Jak discovered that the floor was also rounded and made smooth by the passage of heavy snake bodies over hundreds of years.
Although he would have liked to have taken his time to look around, the lamias were already slithering down the tunnel. Jak followed them for nearly ten minutes before he saw another, even brighter light up ahead, and heard some familiar voices.
“You brought whom with you?” Lamia Lou asked.
The clop of hooves was loud on the stone floor, and Jak was delighted to see Herbert waiting at the end of the tunnel. The white unicorn twitched his ears and made a funny puttering sound. “What are you doing here?” Herbert asked. “I thought you went to the human world with Tamisin.”
“I did,” Jak said. He waited as Lamia Lou spoke to her sisters. When they were finished, the two lamias who had brought him turned and waved, then left by another tunnel. A fourth lamia remained behind, cradling two blanket-wrapped bundles in her arms.
“Is Tamisin here, too?” Herbert asked, peering up the tunnel.
“No,” Jak told him. “Although she is in the land of the fey. One of Oberon’s fairies kidnapped her. I’m on my way to Oberon’s forest to get her back.”
“Why were wolf goblinth chathing you?” Lamia Lou said to Jak as she slithered up to drape an arm across Herbert. The unicorn leaned against her, wuffling softly. “What’th going on, Jak?”
Jak shrugged. “Apparently the wolf goblins no longer feel they have to honor the pact they had with the cat-goblin clan.”
“I’m not thurprithed,” said Lamia Lou. “Thingth are getting a little crazy around here. I’ve heard that the wolf goblinth and at leatht two other clanth are up to their old trickth again, terrorizing villageth and waylaying travelerth. Before you go anywhere, we thould find out whatth going on. Why don’t you thtay with Lamia Lynn while Herbert and I do a little invethtigating? We know thomeone who keepth track of all that kind of thtuff.”
“I have to get going,” Jak said. “Tamisin needs me and I—”
Lamia Lou patted his back, saying, “Don’t worry, we won’t be gone long.”
“I don’t think I—” Jak began, but the unicorn and the lamia were already heading for another tunnel.
“Would you like thomething to drink?” Lamia Lynn asked as she laid one of her bundles in a long woven basket. “I have thome delithiouth frui
t juithe that I thqueezed mythelf.”
“That would be nice,” said Jak.
“Here, you can hold Lamia Norelle while I get your drink. I’ll be right back.”
“What? I don’t know how to . . . Oh!” Jak exclaimed as she handed him the other bundle she was carrying, positioning it in his arms. He looked at the tiny head cradled against his chest and suddenly didn’t know what to say. A little human face gazed up at him with vivid blue eyes, her face framed in soft brown curls.
Lamia Lynn chuckled as she left the room, Jak watching her with both surprise and dismay. When he glanced back down, the baby’s eyes were fixed on his face. Suddenly her tiny mouth puckered and her bright eyes clouded over as if she was about to cry. When the first sob shook her little body, Jak jiggled her and began to walk, saying, “Now, now, your mother will be right back.”
The baby grew silent for a moment, but only because she was drawing a deeper breath. And then the wailing began and Jak really didn’t know what to do. He walked the length of the room, jiggling her gently. When the wailing got louder, he walked faster and began crooning nonsense words, hoping to distract her.
“Burp her,” said the baby’s mother as she set a glass of something pale green on the closest table.
“I don’t know how,” Jak said, and handed the baby over. He watched as the lamia turned the baby to her shoulder and began to pat her back with forceful little thumps. The baby wiggled and the blanket that had been wrapped around her came loose, falling to the floor and freeing a long snake tail that had been wrapped up inside. Soon a loud burp emerged from the little girl, and both mother and child looked satisfied.
Lamia Lynn glanced down at her shoulder and laughed. “You mutht feel better now! You thpit up all over uth both. Come along, my darling. We need to get cleaned up. I’ll be right back,” she said, turning to Jak. “Pleathe, make yourthelf comfortable.”
Left by himself, Jak’s gaze wandered around the cavernous room that somehow had a cozy feel to it. The crystal jars dotted the walls in a flowing, swirling pattern, both lighting the room and decorating it. Long, low cushions covered with brightly colored fabric made of woven grass lined the floor by the walls, perfect for reclining lamias. Tables of various heights were set around the room, some holding quill pens and parchment, others supporting stacks of books, some of which looked familiar. He wondered if the lamias ever went through the gates to the human world.
Jak yawned, worn out from a very long day. He took a seat by a table covered with books and picked up one at random. While thumbing through the book, his eyes closed and his head lolled back. Only a few minutes after sitting down, Jak was snoring.
It seemed only moments later that Jak woke to a raccoon goblin shaking him so hard that his head thumped against the wall behind him and the book he’d been holding slipped to the floor. Annoyed, he sat up and pushed away his old school friend’s fur-covered hand.
“We found him!” Herbert announced. “He knew all about it.”
Tobi hopped up onto the seat beside Jak. “I’m surprised to see you here, Jak! I’ve heard that the gates are acting all squirrelly—opening for a little while, then closing so fast hardly anyone knew they were open at all. Seems just about nobody’s coming through lately. But that’s enough about you. I’ve been busy since you left, Jak. I’m in the information business now. After Titania made me spy on you, she decided that I was pretty useful and had me keep an eye on some other people, too. I got real good at it, so now I have a network set up all over the place. I have eyes and ears everywhere.”
“He means he has lots of relatives scattered around,” said Herbert. “They can’t stand living close to each other, so they live all over the place.”
“Huh,” grunted Tobi. “Anyway, I’ve been cultivating my connections lately.”
“He visited his grandmother and saw his cousins and made up with his brother Yardley, whom he had a big fight with a few years ago,” Herbert explained. “He told us about it on our way here.”
“My relatives aren’t my only informants! I have others . . . ,” Tobi said, glancing around the cave as if he expected to see one.
“So what have you heard about Tamisin?” Jak asked.
“I was just getting to that,” said Tobi. “She’s here, all right, although she’s not here, if you know what I mean. Mountain Ash took Tamisin to Oberon’s court. Rumor has it that the fairy king thinks she’s his daughter. Titania thinks Oberon did it just to get at her, so she’s madder than I’ve ever seen her. Last I heard she was preparing her troops to head to the shore of the Southern Sea where the fairy king’s court has been living.”
“I need to get to Tamisin as soon as I can,” said Jak.
“I’ll go with you, ole buddy,” Tobi announced. “Two heads are better than one. Unless you’re a troll, and then they’re half as good as one.”
“We can take you part of the way,” offered Lamia Lou. “Can’t we, Thweetie?”
“Of course we can, Sugar Lips,” said Herbert.
“How far is it from here?” asked Jak.
“Jutht a minute,” Lamia Lou said. “I can thow you.” She left the room and was soon back holding a piece of yellowed parchment. “Here we go. Thith map uthed to belong to my grandmother, but thingth can’t have changed much. Thith ith where we are,” she said, pointing to the large green spot on the map labeled Sograssy Sea. “And thith ith where Oberon’th court ith.” Her finger traced the uneven outline of a section marked “Oberon’s Forest” just above the wavery lines of the ocean.
“What’s that?” Jak asked, pointing to a line that ran from one side of the map to the other.
“That’th the Great Ditch. Herbert and I can take you that far, but after that you’ll be on your own.”
Herbert nodded. “The ditch has really steep sides, and I can’t climb. The Roaring River is at the bottom of the ditch, and Lamia Lou can’t swim.”
“I can climb and swim!” Tobi declared. “Don’t worry, Jak. I’ll stick with you. I always do!”
Jak glanced down at his little friend and sighed. He remembered all the times he’d counted on Tobi and the little goblin had run off. He wasn’t so sure how much help Tobi would be.
“Onthe we leave the Thograthy Thea, we have to make a choith,” said Lamia Lou, tapping the map with her finger. “Dragon Territory is full of dragonth, tho no one goeth that way. Rockth are alwayth crathing down from the Trembling Peakth, tho that way ith too dangerouth, too. I thuggetht we go through the Griffin Hunting Groundth. Griffinth are afraid of lamiath; we thould be thafe there.”
“What about after we cross the ditch?” asked Jak. “You won’t be with me then.”
“You’ll have to choothe between Troll Woodth, Thphinx Alley, or the Land of Forgetfulneth.”
“Troll Woods are full of trolls so stupid that they’re really dangerous,” said Tobi. “And no one knows what a sphinx will do. It’s impossible to tell what they’re thinking. I vote we go through the Land of Forgetfulness. I’ve heard that you’ll forget where you’re going unless you write it down, but if you do, it’s the safest route to take. Here, take a pencil and a piece of parchment.” The little goblin scurried across the room and took what he needed from a table.
“Then that’s how we’ll go. Thanks for all your help,” Jak said, turning from Lamia Lou to Herbert.
“Any time, ole buddy,” said Tobi. “Any time at all.”
Chapter 7
Dasras was off on another mission for Oberon when Malcolm brought Tamisin her new shoes. Tamisin was surprised that he had finished them so quickly. She picked them up to examine them, half expecting hurried and shoddy work. But although they looked as delicate as newly opened rosebuds, Tamisin was delighted to see that they were sturdy and well made.
“So are you just going to stare at them like some gapjawed fish or are you going to try them on and see how they fit?” asked the brownie.
“Do you talk to all fairies that way, or just me?” Tamisin asked as she sat dow
n and pulled on one of the slippers.
Malcolm grunted. “I don’t generally talk to fairies.”
Tamisin glanced at him, expecting to see a smirk on his face, but he looked as if he was serious. “Why not?”
“Because I can’t stand ’em. Most fairies are either conceited idiots or just plain idiots. But if you ever tell anyone that I said that, I’ll deny it with my last dying breath.”
“And I’m not an idiot?” Tamisin asked as she wrapped the vinelike laces around her leg.
“Not as bad as most,” he replied. “You’re different.”
“I know. It’s my big feet, isn’t it?”
The brownie snorted. Tamisin had a feeling it was the closest he ever came to laughing. “It’s not the size of your feet I’m talking about. It’s the size of your heart. I think you have one, and I can’t say that about most fairies. There’s something else about you, though. I’m trying to figure out what it is.”
A shadow fell over Tamisin and she glanced up. It was Irinia, and she looked as surprised to see Malcolm as Tamisin had been. “What are you doing here?” the woman asked the brownie.
Tamisin held up the shoe she had yet to put on. “He brought my new shoes. Aren’t they beautiful?”
“They’re lovely, Your Highness,” said Irinia, looking even more surprised.
Grumbling to himself, Malcolm stomped off, leaving Tamisin and one of Irinia’s faces staring after him. “What an odd little man,” said Tamisin. “He says the strangest things.”
“Malcolm talked to you and he wasn’t insulting?” Irinia asked.
Tamisin nodded.
“This is a first. I’ve never known him to leave the other side of the briar hedge, let alone hold a conversation with someone. He must really like you.”
“Please sit down,” said Tamisin, patting the ground beside her. “I’d enjoy your company. And you don’t need to call me Your Highness.”
Irinia took a seat on the grass beside Tamisin, sighing as she sat down. “It feels good to get off my feet. I was due a break, so I thought I’d come see you and ask if you have everything you need. I know fairies aren’t very good about that kind of thing; they rarely think of anyone but themselves. Do you need anything?”