I blinked at the brightness and the splendor as we passed into the room for before me, were dozens of fancifully clad faeries of all shapes and sizes. And, my eyes and my empty stomach couldn’t help but notice the room also contained an impossibly long table laden with every type of food imaginable. Across the far wall, doors opened out into the night where more faeries danced and reveled around a giant bonfire.
My stomach yowled in protest, and I felt my feet towed towards the beautiful sight—little cakes glistening with honey and powdered sugar, juicy cuts of meat, golden-brown loaves of bread with little pads of salted butter. God, I wanted bread.
“Look!” Orin said excitedly, pointing to the front of the room.
My eyes followed his finger to a huge fireplace. Atop the mantle were six ornate stands. Four of the stands held beautiful golden apples.
“Six stands,” he said. “Six teams. I bet the apples are the next clue!”
As soon as he said it, I knew it was so. “Two teams have already gotten here?” I said in dismay. Damn. I thought we were doing better than that.
“Well, we’re still the third,” Orin said.
I looked at him in shock. “Orin Treebaum…Was that…”—my hand drifted to my chest in surprise—“Optimism?”
Instantly his usual dark expression slammed back into place and I regretted my jest. “Let’s grab it,” I said.
We navigated around the side of the room, dangerously close to the food table. I reached out a hand and grabbed a golden chicken leg. I didn’t know the next time I’d be able to eat.
We reached the mantle and Orin reached up and retrieved the apple. His movement was cautious as if he expected the whole room to transform around us Indiana Jones style as soon as the weight of the apple was gone from its resting place. But nothing happened. No one even looked our way.
I sighed and lifted the chicken leg to my mouth.
Orin’s eyes went wide, and he batted it out of my hand just inches from my teeth.
I watched it skitter across the floor in horror. “What the hell was that for!”
“I told you not to touch anything!” Orin said through gritted teeth. “That food is likely enchanted. If you want to end up like them,”—he pointed to the revelers around the bonfire—“dancing for an eternity until your feet fall off, be my guest. But I’d prefer to get the hell out of here and figure out our next clue.”
I looked at the dancers around the fire with dismay, suddenly feeling sick to my very empty stomach. Dancing for eternity most certainly did not sound like something I would like to do. One of the dancers looked familiar, and I narrowed my eyes, squinting against the brightness of the fire.
Horror flooded me. The dancer was familiar! Her jet-black hair, her tanned skin—it was Genevieve!
Genevieve disappeared behind the bonfire, and another dancer came into view. One with red hair as bright as the flames behind her and purple tattoos on her face. Zee!
“Orin, it’s Geneviee and Zee,” I said. “They’re dancing.”
“Well, they must have been stupid enough to eat something,” he said. “Let’s go.” He tried to tug me towards the door, but I dug in my heels. “We can’t just leave them to dance until their feet fall off!”
“They’re our competition, not your girlfriends,” Orin countered. “We can, and we will.”
“I should not be surprised you’d say that, after you abandoned that poor girl in the audition,” I snapped. “But Genevieve was my sister’s friend. I’m not leaving her.” I pulled my arm out from his grip and launched myself across the room towards the open doors before Orin could move to stop me.
15
Getting to Genevieve wasn’t as easy as I’d expected. Every time I got close, she waltzed off in another direction, or another enchanted dancer scooted between us.
The dancers whirled around me in a kaleidoscope of color and bodies. Now that I was up close, I could see the lines of pain etched into their faces. How long had they been dancing like this? The heat of the bonfire reminded me of the wall of flame at the auditions and in some ways, getting to Genevieve and Zee was similar to the obstacles I’d dodged back then. Just grasping at them was doing nothing. I needed a plan. Taking a step back, I assessed the situation.
There was a perfect symmetry to the dancing, a pattern. It took a few minutes to figure out as everyone changed partners so often, but it was definitely there.
“Time is ticking,” growled Orin from over my shoulder. “And there’s no way you’ll get to them. Let’s just go and pretend we never saw them.”
“There’s a way through,” I muttered, ignoring Orin.
He opened his mouth to make what I’m sure was some smart-ass retort, but his words were lost to me as I dove into the dancing throng, taking the arms of a male faerie who looked to be on the verge of tears. He seemed surprised to have a new partner, and for a second, his eyes lit up.
“It’s nice to have a change,” he sighed. “It’s just a shame a pretty little thing like you got caught. I’m still hungry you know. So not worth it.”
I was just about to take exception to him calling me a pretty little thing—for a start, I was a good foot taller than him—but the partners were changing again, and I found myself in the arms of a very tall and very ugly woman.
“I wouldn’t mind,” she said in a very gruff voice, “but if I’d known I’d be dancing, I’d have worn different shoes.”
I gave her a lame smile, wondering where she found shoes her size. I also wondered how many times these people had started a conversation only to be sent spinning into another person’s arms to start all over again. I was pretty sure what she’d just said to me was only half of the sentence. I opened my mouth to say something back to her when a spit of fire blasted past me with a screech. It was only when I turned my head that I realized it was Zee, but she had already disappeared back into the crowd.
Zee was not who I was aiming for. When I’d started watching for a pattern, Genevieve was the one I’d seen first, and it was her I was planning to get to. I’d worry about Zee afterward. Two more partners and I was finally face-to-face with her. I had less than a minute to free her before she’d once again be thrust into another dancer’s hands.
I grabbed hold of the top of each of her arms tightly and tried pulling her through the crowd.
“It won’t work,” Genevieve grimaced with the pain I was causing her. “You can’t fight magic with force!”
Her words only made me more determined. “Just watch me.”
I pulled harder, fighting with all my strength, but she carried on dancing in the same direction as the crowd.
A grimace wrinkled her face, and I realized, in my desperation to remove her from the dance floor, that I was hurting her.
I let go, and she disappeared back into the swarm of dancing faeries. My heart plummeted with disappointment, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it as another dancer came at me hastily and carried me into the waltz. It took me a few seconds to recognize Zee. It actually made sense. They’d come into the dance together so one would follow the other in the pattern. I didn’t try pulling Zee. She was much smaller than Genevieve, and I was worried I’d somehow break her if I tried. Not that my efforts would do anything, anyway. As Genevieve had said, I couldn’t break the magic with brute force.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, barely audible over the music.
Zee must have heard me nevertheless because she said something herself. “Stop the music.” Her words ran quickly together, and I was already dancing with another partner before they registered in my mind.
Letting go of my current partner’s hand, who appeared to be a dozing faerie, I dodged the dancers, skipping and weaving around until I was back next to Orin.
“Enjoy yourself?” he asked darkly.
“It’s the music. If we stop the music, the dancing will stop.” Glancing around, I couldn’t see the source of the music, but after closing my eyes and listening, I realized it was coming from above. Ope
ning my eyes, I peered above me and spotted a couple of leprechauns sitting on worn wooden stools on a raised platform above the dancers. One played the fiddle, the other a flute.
The platform hung by four ropes from a large branch. Most would find getting up there difficult, but I knew I could do this. Now was my time to shine. Taking a good run up, I darted to the tree, and using momentum, propelled myself upwards, using the knots in the wood as hand and footholds. I was up the tree in seconds and from there, it was pretty easy to walk along the thick branch. When I was directly above them, I dropped myself down, landing right on top of the pair of them. One rolled off as the platform swung wildly, but the other, the one with the flute, managed to carry on playing despite falling face down. All he’d done was cock his head to the side and keep the tune going.
I grabbed the flute from his hands and flung it over the platform into the fire. There was a deathly silence, and then all hell broke loose. The people below me began to scatter in all directions, finally free of the spell that had bound them. I lowered myself off the edge of the platform and dropped. In the chaos, I spotted Zee. Running to her, I grabbed her arm and pulled her through the confusion to Orin who actually managed to look impressed.
I glanced back at the mess of people scurrying this way and that to find Genevieve. She wasn’t difficult to spot. She might not have Zee’s fiery red hair, but she was a good deal taller than many of the faerie folk. I spotted her looking nervous at the other side of the bonfire. Tapping Orin’s shoulder, I pointed her out through the flames of the bonfire, which were the only thing in the party still dancing.
I was just about to guide Zee and Orin through the madness when a huge voice boomed out, echoing through the night. The faeries still left began to scream, running even faster than they were before, despite bloody and blistered feet. I turned my eyes to the source of the noise and saw the strangest and most terrifying being I’d ever laid eyes on.
He must have been seven feet tall with a crown made from deer antlers and a thick coat of fur. His chin sported a long black goatee, and matching hair like Spanish moss trailed down his back. None of that frightened me though. It was his eyes. He had no pupils or irises at all, only whites, and though it was hard to tell, I had the feeling he was looking right at me.
“Let’s get out of here,” Orin cried, grabbing Zee’s and my hands in his and guiding us through the throng toward the large hedge that ran around the Erl-King’s garden.
I steered us slightly to the left so we could pick up a startled Genevieve along the way.
I didn’t need to look behind me to know the Erl-King was following us. I could hear the boom of his feet as they hit the dirt beneath him.
“Quicker!” I hissed, practically dragging Zee who was having trouble keeping up with us.
The Erl-King’s stride was as long as a giant’s. He’d catch us. “Who spoiled my party?” His voice boomed out into the night, sending a shudder down my spine.
At the hedge, I turned and faced him. He was almost upon us. Just another few steps and we would be in his clutches. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, triggering a fight or flight reaction. My back was to the hedge, so flight was no longer an option. I had only one option left. He was bigger than me and much bulkier, but I’d learned in my stunt training that his size could be used to my advantage. I brought myself up to my full height and screamed, readying myself to launch at him. I coiled my muscles to jump when I felt myself being pulled backwards through a hole in the hedge. I fell to the ground with a thunk, landing, thankfully, on a patch of soft dirt.
The hole we’d just come through sealed back up, trapping the Erl-King in his own garden. His bellow of anger at the loss of his prey rattled my eardrums.
The chill of the night enveloped me as the warmth of the bonfire disappeared.
“Are you freaking insane?” Orin spat at me. “You weren’t seriously going to fight the Erl-King?”
“Someone had to,” I countered, getting to my feet and dusting the dirt off of me.
For a second I thought I might have seen admiration in his eyes.
“Let’s go,” Zee said, taking off across the meadow. I had no idea where she was heading, but as it was away from the Erl-king’s castle, it was good enough for me.
The meadow was actually a field filled with a strange grass-like crop so tall the plants hid us easily. We ran through the plants for an hour before Orin shouted at all of us to stop. He might have been good with magic, and there was no doubt that it had been he that saved us back there, but he did not have the stamina of the rest of us. The poor guy looked exhausted.
“He won’t find us now,” Orin wheezed, plunking down in the grass. He pulled the apple out of his backpack and stared at it. The second clue! In all the excitement, I’d completely forgotten we’d gotten it. Genevieve delved into her backpack and brought out another apple which she held up next to Orin’s.
Besides their golden color, they looked utterly unremarkable.
“I hope we didn’t go through all that just to have stolen the Erl-King’s fruit basket,” I said, only half-jokingly.
“These have known magic,” Orin replied sniffing the fruit. He rubbed his hands over it, and the air crackled, but nothing happened. The apple remained very apple-like.
“I think we have to eat it,” Orin ventured after exhausting his other avenues of bringing the magic out of it.
Both Genevieve and Zee shook their heads violently. I could quite understand why. The last time they’d eaten something from the Erl-King’s house, they’d been trapped in an enchanted dance. I wasn’t eager to try it out either, despite the pain in my rumbling empty stomach.
Orin bit into the flesh of the apple. The three of us watched him carefully as he munched his way through to the core. Nothing happened. Absolutely nothing at all.
“I guess it was just an apple after all,” I cried, horror filling me. Had we missed the real clue somehow? Or had Orin…eaten it? “But why? There were six on those little platforms. And…gold!”
Zee threw her apple to the ground, baring her teeth with her sharp canines. “Crap. We’re going to have to go back to the Erl-King’s castle!”
Genevieve looked anything but happy at the prospect, and I shared her assessment.
“Not so fast!” Orin broke the core in two and pulled out the seeds. Pushing them into the dirt by his feet, he stood up and took a step back. “Water?”
“I have a little,” Zee said, reluctantly pulling a canteen from her bag and passing it to Orin who sprinkled the contents on top of the seeds. Almost instantly, there was a rumble from the earth below us, and a tree began to sprout from the earth.
We all stumbled back, and less than two minutes later, we were found ourselves standing under the canopy of an enormous apple tree. About halfway up protruded a branch in the shape of an extended arm. It even had a finger that pointed a little to our left. Without a word, I shimmied up the tree to see over the tall crops. About two miles ahead in the direction the tree pointed, past a mass of trees, was a strange looking hill. As it was the only thing I could see on the horizon, I figured that was our destination.
Zee called up to me. “What do you see?”
“I see a hill, but it’s not normal. It’s pink!” It looked as if it were covered in a blanket of flowers.
“Oh, a faerie hill!” Zee clapped her hands together and bounced up and down on the balls of her feet.
I was just about to jump down to join them when a thought struck me. I was surrounded by the largest juiciest apples I’d ever seen.
“You can pick them!” Orin called up, answering my unasked question. “I’m pretty sure they’re edible.”
Instead of picking them one by one, I shook the branches near me, sending fruit raining down.
Below me, the three of them dodged the falling apples before bending over and filling their backpacks with the fruit.
I pulled the last one I could reach from the tree and took a bite. It was the most delicious thin
g I’d ever tasted.
“Thank you for your help,” Genevieve said gruffly as I swung down and landed right next to her. Her cheeks were rosy. I could tell she was embarrassed that they had needed help. “Here. I think you should have this.”
It was the original magic apple they’d taken from the castle.
“It might come in handy if you are hungry later in the race,” she continued.
To the side of her, Zee nodded.
I took it and put it in my own backpack. I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, and thanks to us, they already knew where they needed to go next.
“But this is a race, after all. I think it’s time for us to go our own separate ways.”
I nodded reluctantly. It would be nice to have someone around other than broody Orin, but I knew it was for the best.
Genevieve held out her hand, and I shook it. Zee followed suit, shaking first my hand, then Orin’s.
With a wave and a smile, they ran off into the grass towards the faerie hill.
“What now?” I asked.
Orin shrugged his shoulders. “I guess we carry on with the race.” He picked up a final couple of apples, and the two of us ventured onwards.
16
Orin and I walked through the dark wood, munching our third and fourth apples, respectively. Already my stomach twisted in protest of the strange meal, but I didn’t care. I was tired of the feeling of emptiness in my belly. At this point, even the leaves on the trees were looking good. Was lettuce really so different?
A thought gnawed at me, refusing to go away. I shoved it to the back of my mind, but it kept rearing its head. I looked sidelong at Orin, trying to think of any other way than asking him for help. But I couldn’t see it. He was the only resource I had in here, the only thing close to an ally. I had to, at least, ask. “I think I need to learn magic,” I finally blurted.
“No shit, Sherlock,” he replied, tossing an apple core over his shoulder and wiping his sticky hands on his pants.
The Sorcery Trial Page 11