Bloody Fairies (Shadow) (26 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

The hooting didn’t bother her. For as long as Hippy could remember, she’d lain awake in her bed in the darkest, most silent hours of the night and listened to the Thump Owls’ night conversations.

It was the screeching she didn’t like. She’d never heard a bird make that noise. The regular tap
-tap-tapping in the tree tops that followed the cart along the road also made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. She told herself not to be afraid. There would be no more vamp attacks for a very long time. Nothing in the forest would harm her.

She lay on her stomach with a gas lamp set beside her. The light it shed only went as far as the edge of the cart, making the road and trees around them all the darker. They trundled on. Pierus had decided they should travel through the night rather than camp in unfriendly territory.

Fangs made a pretty bluish glow by her left hand. Her scales glittered and glowed in the gaslight like they were made of fairy dust.

Fluffy Ducky sat by her right hand. Hippy had been trying to introduce them all day and this was the closest she’d gotten, after finally convincing Fluffy Ducky it wasn’t nice to attack fetches. Fluffy Ducky’s hairs were still on end and occasionally he trembled and gave Fangs an eight-eyed glare. Fangs returned the glares with withering glances and spent the rest of the time cleaning her scales with the tip of her beak.

After a while Nikifor joined her. Hippy made room for him, but didn’t look away from Fangs and Fluffy Ducky.

Nikifor sat cross-legged next to her and handed her a chunk of bread and cheese. “Here,” he said. “You must be hungry.”

Hippy scrambled into a sitting position so fast both Fangs and Fluffy Ducky jumped, bringing them a quarter of an inch closer together. “Starving.” She tore into the bread.

Nikifor studied Fangs and Fluffy Ducky. “Are they making friends?”

Hippy shrugged. “They’re not trying to kill each other. It’s a good start.” She glanced over her shoulder, but could not see Pierus in the dark. “Is he really going to stay awake all night up there?”

“He sleeps where he is. The donkeys know where to go and you and I will alert him to any danger.” Nikifor followed the direction of her gaze. “May I ask you a question? Without you hitting me?”

Hippy giggled. “Sorry about that. Ask away. I promise I won’t hurt you.”

“Why are you here?”

The question was so direct it took Hippy by surprise. She considered what to say. “I had nowhere else to go,” she finally replied. “My tribe will not raise the child of a muse.”

“Child?” Nikifor let out an explosive breath. “So it’s true.”

“Of course it’s true. Why’d you think I was so cranky?”

He chuckled. “I had presumed it was your disposition.”

Hippy beamed. “That’s so sweet!”

There was silence. The darkness rolled by. Nikifor stared into the night and appeared to forget she was there.

Hippy stroked Fangs on the back, then Fluffy Ducky too, so he didn’t feel left out. She jumped when Nikifor spoke again.

“Why do you make him angry?”

“Huh? Who?”

“The king. Why do you set out to make him angry?”

“Oh. Why not?” Hippy scratched Fluffy Ducky’s head. “He’s an ass.”

Nikifor’s voice was soft and shocked. “You must speak of the king with
respect!”

“Why?”

“Because he’s the king.”

“He’s not my king.” Hippy gave Nikifor an enquiring look. “Has he always
been an ass?”

Nikifor raked hair out of his face. “You must understand the king has greater wisdom and knowledge than any of us, and everything he does is in the best interests of Shadow.”

“Really.” Hippy could hardly keep the skepticism out of her voice. “Does he continually insult my people in the best interests of Shadow?”

“It’s not always easy to understand or accept what he does,” Nikifor said. “But believe me, it is all for a purpose. He sees much further than you or I.”

She scowled. “What are you trying to say?”

“I’m trying to tell you to trust him. Things will be much easier on you if you do.”

“If I do what? Fall into line? Jump every time he opens his mouth, like you muses do?” Hippy leaned closer to Nikifor and looked up at him. “It’s more fun making him mad.”

“I’m only trying to help.” Nikifor sighed and leaned his arms on his knees.

Hippy looked at him sidelong. She hadn’t meant to upset him. Nikifor wasn’t that bad, for a muse. “Flower said you held off the vamps almost single-handed.”

He sighed a second time and buried his face in his arms.

“She said if it wasn’t for you, everyone would have died,” she persisted. “What happened? You were so scared the night we left.”

“My king helped me.” His voice was muffled against his arms.

“Helped you how?” Hippy thought back to the chaos of the night they’d left Shadow. Pierus had given Nikifor a drink and sent him on his way. She’d thought nothing more of it. “Was it that green stuff? You argued with him about that. You didn’t trust him then.”

“But I should have,” Nikifor said. “He was right. It overcame my fear and I held off the vamp
ires. That’s all that mattered. The results were more important than the consequences. And I will conquer this.”

“Consequences?” Hippy surveyed Nikifor in the lamplight. His hands trembled, even though he’d clamped them tightly together. “What was that stuff?”

“Sometimes I think I see signs of the king’s madness returning.” Nikifor’s voice was so low she had to strain to hear. “But it cannot be. The death of so many millions of humans sent a shockwave through Shadow. Every muse felt it, him more than any other, because he caused it. He inspired that bomb. He went away for a long time.” Nikifor’s breath was ragged. The silence stretched out into the night.

“
When he came for me at the Muse College I was afraid,” he said at last. “He told me my father was dead and I was needed to take his place as Champion, to aid the fairies against the vampire hordes. I saw then that the madness was gone. We had our king back and he was protecting all of Shadow once more. Surely it cannot happen the same way again. There are signs, but I must not–I must not–”

Hippy scooted closer to listen to the interesting babble. “What did he do when he went mad?”

Nikifor raised his head from his hands, looking surprised to see her there. He took his coat off and laid it over her shoulders. “Go to sleep,” he said. “We’ll be at Castle Arch by morning.” Then he moved back to the boxes, slowly, as though he were in pain.

It was hard to get to sleep after that. Hippy was deeply disturbed by Nikifor’s ramblings, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. Still, with Fluffy Ducky curled into her neck, Fangs nestled in the crook of her arm and Nikifor’s coat for warmth, she eventually drifted off into vivid dreams of the green-haired woman and Nikifor fighting vamps together.

When she woke up it was early morning. Mist drifted across the ground. To her infinite relief they were out of the forest and trundling across a grassy plain. She sat up, clutched the coat around her shoulders to keep out the cold and tipped her head back to study the massive stone arch towering over the road. The stone was black from age and chipped and broken in places. Its shadow was icy cold.

When the arch was behind
them she turned her attention to the building ahead. Her eyes widened. It really was a castle. A beautiful one, with stones so neatly cut and polished, they shone in the rising light. Rows of windows reflected the colours of the mist, making them shiny shades of silver and grey. Slim turrets with pointed roofs swept towards the clouds. The roof was castellated in neat lines of light and shadow. When they got closer, she could see intricate carvings over doors and windows, all of them of fetches with outstretched wings. She squealed and clapped her hands. Then she walked over the cart, dropped Nikifor’s coat over him because he was shivering in his sleep and seated herself beside Pierus on the bench.

The muse king calmly watched the approach of the castle. “Good morning.”

“Is this where you live?” Hippy could hardly keep herself from bouncing up and down.

His mouth crooked up at the corner, an expression she hadn’t seen in days. “Yes, this is my home. It’s called Castle Arch.”

“Are we staying here?”

“Yes, my love.”

“It’s beautiful!”

“I’m glad you like it.” Pierus smoothed her hair behind her ear with one hand. “We’ll be here for some time.”

“Can I explore? Can I go anywhere I want?”

“There will be some places not entirely to your taste, my dear, but for the most part you will have the freedom of the castle and grounds.” Pierus patted her shoulder. “Perhaps we shall get along better in all this space.”

Hippy gave him a sidelong glance. “Maybe.”

“I’m sorry I was so hard on you yesterday,” he said. “The forest makes me nervous and I only wished to keep you safe.”

She shrugged. “It wasn’t that bad, for a forest.”

“Why don’t you go and explore? Nikifor and I will take care of the boxes.”

Hippy glanced dubiously at Nikifor. “Are you sure? He’s not very well.”

“He’s not?” Pierus looked around in surprise.

“You didn’t even notice? He’s all pale and shaky and babbling about stuff. I don’t think he’ll even make it inside, much less carry boxes for you.”

“Oh. That.” Pierus guided the donkeys around a big, walled fountain and toward the castle doors. “Don’t you worry your pretty head about that, my dear girl. I’ll make him well again later.”

Hippy took Pierus at his word, since he insisted she wasn’t to carry anything. With Fangs on her shoulder and Fluffy Ducky in her hair she explored every room of the castle.

She’d thought Mr Silver’s house was big, but this castle was enormous. She was lost within minutes. There were rooms full of shiny, shiny, armour, and other rooms full of paintings of humans and scenes from Dream, like people driving cars and operating machinery. One room had shelves and shelves full of herbs and smelled like a damp, ancient forest floor. Another room was packed so tight with books they seemed to be holding up the very roof. She found a huge kitchen with a store room packed with fresh food. How it had got there she had no idea, because there certainly didn’t seem to be anyone else about.

Up a huge, curving flight of stairs there was a hall and more rooms to explore. Most of these were bedrooms; perhaps Pierus liked to have people come to stay.

Up another flight of stairs Hippy discovered the whole floor was one enormous room, from which
more stairs led to the roof. Here she found maps and star charts tacked to the walls, shelves full of books she couldn’t read the titles of and tables covered with the most curious instruments, all of them shiny, some of them quite sharp. A skeleton of a forest person, hooves intact, repelled her. A hollow steel structure shaped like a man and tall enough to fit a vamp or muse inside made her skin creep. She moved away quickly to look at a hanging model of planets and stars that drifted in a slow circle with the breeze of her passing.

Footsteps entered the room. “There you are,” Pierus said.