Bloody Fairies (Shadow) (29 page)

There was a movement at the corner of her eye. Hippy tried to see what it was without stopping, tripped over and hit the ground.

The seedlings all around
stretched and bent toward her like compasses. She drew her hand out of reach of one. They were only little plants.

Hippy got to her feet. The leaves followed her every movement. Her breath came in short, quick gasps. Her blood hammered. She walked through them on her toes. It was horrible. Her neck prickled. They were watching her, she could swear they were.

She picked up the pace. The distance to the forest gradually diminished. Soon she’d be with Clockwork and she’d never go back, not for anything, not even the Apple of Chaos. She’d tell Mr Silver she’d failed and he could find another way to save Shadow. She couldn’t do it, not without Fluffy Ducky.

Her feet pounded over the ground. She just barely missed the seedlings with each step. She was almost in breathing distance of the grass and the forest when she felt a sharp sting on her heel. The pain hit her like an axe in the foot. She stumbled forward, fell and rolled until she was out of the seedlings.

She lurched to her feet and put more distance between herself and the horrible little plants. Everything went blurry. The grass looked like painted stripes on a wall. The distant trees swayed and bent like people. She turned in a circle. She couldn’t find the slope.

“Clockwork?” Hippy tried again when her voice wouldn’t come out right. “Clockwork?” She stumbled to her knees. Then she fell forward on her face and lay there on the grass, her open eyes turned towards the seedlings. Blood trickled from her foot. Her heart slowed. Insects rustled in the grass.

She couldn’t move at all.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Hippy couldn’t blink. All she could see were a few blades of grass. There was no way to tell how much time passed. Once, a centipede crawled past and stopped to try and outstare her. Her fingertips and toes grew cold. After a while she couldn’t even feel the pain in her foot.

Two sets of distant footfalls made the ground shiver against her cheek. Grass rustled under her ear. A bat swooped so low she could feel the wind on her face. The light faded. Night would fall and whoever was coming would miss her lying there in the darkness.

The footsteps crunched near her head. A shadow crossed her face. “Look, a dead fairy,” a voice said.

If she could have, she would have jumped up and run away when she heard Pierus’s reply. “Oh, Hippy.” He stooped and picked her up. Her head fell onto his shoulder as though it belonged to a rag doll. He smelled like stone, sweat and fear. He’d walked a long way. Behind him, through locks of his hair, she glimpsed his companion.

The man was tall like Pierus. Every inch of his body was covered. He wore a long black coat with a high collar, black pants, tall boots, black gloves, a hood. A silver mask obscured his face. When he spoke the lips didn’t move. “Your dead fairy is staring at me.”

“She’s not dead.” Pierus’s fingers rested briefly on the pulse at her neck. Her skin crawled, but she couldn’t even flinch. “...Yet.” His long strides took them straight back into the seedlings.

Hippy wanted to yell a warning. Both Pierus and the stranger were completely oblivious to the danger. Then, after a few minutes, she realised there was none. No leaves moved. Nothing stung them. Maybe they let people in but not out, like a spider luring flies into its web. Horror made little sick inroads into her stomach. Pierus’s fingers rested carelessly across her cheek while he carried her back into her prison.

The stranger hurried to catch up with him. There was something familiar about him. Something she couldn’t place. “You didn’t tell me you still had the fairy around.”

“Why would I tell you anything? You haven’t proved to me you’ll keep your end of the bargain.”

“Oh, I’ll do that, Muse King. You can count on it.”

“Very well.”

So why keep the fairy? You’ve never been able to stand them.”

“She carries my child.”

“A
pregnant
fairy?” the stranger sounded astonished. “Isn’t that a little dangerous for you?”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Pierus said. “If I can’t find a way to control this fairy, how am I meant to control the entire plague of them when the time comes? Besides, I’ve got used to having her around.”

“Apparently she’s not all that keen on being around,” the stranger said.

“She’ll learn.” The two words were clipped and cold. “My rose garden will serve its purpose.” He glanced over his shoulder at the stranger. “Perhaps now would be a good time to warn you not to leave without me. The roses do not discriminate.”

The stranger looked around him at the seedlings. “These? These roses? What will they do? They’re just a bunch of flowers.”

“They’re bloodthirsty little creatures who will poison anybody who tries to leave Castle Arch.” Pierus sounded positively delighted. “Except for me.”

“Are you telling me I’m to be trapped in a castle with you and a fairy for weeks on end? I know what I’ll be doing for fun.”

They passed through darkness. Hippy thought they must be under the arch. Pierus’s voice was like a blizzard. “If you lay one finger on her without my permission, I will personally remove your liver and then feed it to you. This is
my
fairy.”

The stranger chuckled. “Don’t get your breeches in a bunch. I can wait. She’s still staring at me. Are you sure she can’t hear us?”

“Of course she can’t.” Pierus reached up and closed her eyes.

Darkness. Footsteps crunched on grass. Her brain went fuzzy. She knew that voice, knew that walk, but couldn’t for the life of her figure out who the stranger was.

Pierus imperceptibly relaxed when they walked into the shadow of the castle. Doors opened. Heavy boots climbed the steps.

Pierus yelled for Nikifor
, who ran in from Shadow knew where and skidded to a halt.

“My king, you found her–thank Shadow–” Nikifor’s voice trailed off. “Is she dead?”

The contempt in Pierus’s voice was palpable. “No, you pathetic excuse for a muse, she is not dead, no thanks to you. Prepare a room for my guest. I believe he would like something with no windows. Later perhaps he can give you lessons in how to stand up to a fairy half your size.”

Then they went up three flights of stairs. He swept a table clean with one arm, then dropped her onto
it.

He went away. Hippy fought the slowness of her brain. She couldn’t lose touch now.

Something cold and wet dripped onto her foot. The sensation sent shudders all up her leg. The ice cold in her fingertips and toes receded.

Again, the liquid dripped onto her foot. Soft fabric cleaned the wound. She could think more clearly. She tried to remember if she’d seen a weapon in here, a knife, a sword, anything. Oh for Poppy with her gun right now.

She opened her eyelashes just the tiniest bit. Pierus bent over her foot, frowning in concentration. Oh. She could move. She waited until he’d finished binding a bandage around the wound. When he moved away again she wiggled her fingers, just to make sure. Then she sat up and rubbed her head. She felt fine. Pierus had his back to her at the other table.

Hippy put her hand into a pouch at her belt and found a slim metal arrow there. It would have to do. She crouched on the table, crept forward and leaped.

Her leap took her straight into Pierus when he turned towards her. She threw her whole weight into the motion, sent him crashing to the floor and pressed the tip of the arrow into the skin at his throat. “What did you do to my Fluffy Ducky?”

His ribcage vibrated under
her knees when he laughed. “Did you miss me, my love?”

“If I did, my aim’s about to improve.” She raised the arrow into the air and stabbed downward.

“Tut, tut.” He caught her wrist when the point of the arrow was a hairs breadth from his skin. “You know what will happen if you kill me. You kill everything. Besides, I didn’t hurt Fluffy Ducky. I gave him a new purpose in life.”

Hippy’s hand trembled in his grip. She’d never actually fought Pierus. She had no idea how strong he was. “I don’t care,” she said. “Maybe it’s worth it. I hate you.”

Pierus pushed on her wrist, rolled her onto her back and stuck his knee in her ribs. He took the arrow from her hand, snapped it and tossed the pieces away. Then he put a hand around her neck and squeezed lightly. “You don’t hate me.” He moved down until his face was just inches above hers. “I won’t allow it. Although I have to wonder–” he traced a line down her cheek with his fingernail “-If you would still have been the sweet, innocent little thing I first took to Dream, had the Invisible Army not interfered. Would you, Hippy?”

Hippy forced her words out through clenched teeth. “Take your hands off me.”

“But of course.” He let her go, stood up and walked away.

Hippy lay on the floor, gasping for breath.

“What in Shadow made you try to leave the castle alone?” he said from across the room. “I know you were dropped on your head as a child, but really, any fool could figure out I wouldn’t let you go that easily.”

Hippy sat up. She rubbed at her neck and didn’t look at him.

He returned to her and crouched down. “I’m sorry,” he said, although he didn’t look or sound the least bit like he meant it. “I had intended that we should get along better on my return. I brought you a gift.” He put a pile of fabric in her lap.

Hippy stared at the fabric, dumbfounded. It was white. It was shiny. In fact it was so shiny, when she moved it patterns of rainbow colours played along the material. She unfolded it. Inside she found a row of sparkly gems sewn in a v-shape. She looked up at Pierus. “I don’t understand.”

“When I saw it I knew it was for you,” he said. “I know how much you like shiny things.”

“You knew how much I liked Fluffy Ducky, too.”

He made an impatient gesture. “Forget the spider. Try it on.”

She rose to her feet and shook out the fabric, to discover it was a dress. A little too long for her, but it was the shiniest, most beautiful dress she’d ever seen. The sparkly gems ran from the fitted bodice to the waist and met in a point. The skirt flared slightly at the hips. The sleeves were cut out at the shoulders, then ran sheer to the wrist, where more little gems sparkled.

“Well? Do you like it?” Pierus went behind her, took the dress from her hands and held it up against her. “A beautiful dress for a beautiful fairy.”

“But what would I want a dress like this for?” She knew she should move away, but she was hypnotised by the colours in the fabric.

“Because in three days we are to be married.”

Hippy experienced one terrifying moment of being unable to breathe. She broke away from the muse and backed up until she hit a table and could go no further. “Married? Ew! But you’re old!”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Don’t try my patience, Hippy.”
“I don’t
want
to get married!”

“What did you think was going to happen? You are carrying my child, my dear girl.”

“But–but I don’t–”

He slung the dress over one arm, went to her and put an arm around her shoulder. “It’s quite alright, I know it’s an emotional moment for you.” He guided her toward the door and down the stairs. “Fear not, it will be a very special day for both of us. For all Shadow, in fact.” He turned down the second floor hall and opened the door. “I suggest you get some sleep. You’ve had quite an ordeal today.”

“But I don’t want to sleep.”

“Really, first you don’t want to get married, now you don’t want to sleep.
What a reactionary Bloody Fairy you are. If I were you my dear, I’d be extremely careful at night time from now on. You never know what might be prowling the castle.” He put the dress in her hands, shoved her into the room and locked the door.

Hippy was ready for the shove this time and she only stumbled a few steps. She glared every kind of hatred under the sun at the door. Outside, the sky was black. In here, a single gas lamp cast a dim light.

She laid the dress on the floor. It really was shiny. She was about to jump up and down on it with her dirty feet when she had an idea. She walked around the dress, considering it from every angle. After all, it wasn’t a
proper
fairy wedding dress. Not yet. Not until it had been made into a lethal weapon. Fairy weddings were known to be the best fun in Shadow. Her own mother had broken several heads right before she jumped the bonfire.

She sat on the floor, took a pinch of fairy dust from her belt and slowly, methodically began to work it into the fabric. The thought of what would happen to Pierus if he so much a
s laid a finger on her in three days made her giggle madly. It would be the first wedding ever where the groom turned to ash before the vows were through.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Hippy had some happy dreams about her shiny, shiny, dress. There was an extra sparkle to every inch of it when she hung it on the wall before going to sleep that night. When she woke up, the sight of it made her smile.

The warmth of a hand resting on her thigh qu
ickly tarnished her good mood. She turned her head. Pierus was fast asleep, eyes closed, chest rising and falling evenly. His hand, resting so casually on her leg, felt like a dead weight. She could fairy dust him right now, but she only had a very small amount left and she wanted to save it.

She eased herself away from him and out of bed. The castle was quiet and empty
; she wondered if the stranger still slept.

She headed for the kitchen
, where Nikifor sat at the wooden bench, his head resting on his arms.

“Nikifor?” she went in and tapped him on the shoulder.

Nikifor jumped, raised his head and looked about wildly. When he saw her he looked so relieved he almost fell out of his chair. “Hippy, thank Shadow you’re okay.” His hands trembled over the counter. “Let me make you some breakfast.”

She
studied him. “Of course I’m okay. You’re not though.”

“Don’t worry about me.” He went to the pantry and took eggs and bread from the shelves. “But don’t ever do that to me again. I thought he warned you about the roses. Please, Hippy, I know you don’t like it here, but you must not leave again. You must trust him. He has a plan, he knows what’s best.”

“What plan?” Hippy took the food out of his hands, pushed him gently into a chair and put a heavy skillet on the hot fireplace. She broke the eggs into it.

“To bring order to Shadow,” Nikifor said. “To ensure all the tribes are safe from another invasion from the Darkness.”

She tilted her head. “That doesn’t sound so bad. Of course I don’t believe a word of it. What’s his real plan?”

Nikifor stood up so fast his chair clattered backward. “You must not question the king!”

Hippy looked over her shoulder at him. The eggs sizzled. “Sit down, Nikifor. And don’t shout at me. You and I are in serious trouble and if we don’t work together we’ll probably both end up dead.”

Nikifor sat down and put his head in his hands.

Hippy flipped the eggs, carved two thick slices of bread and set out the meals on two wooden plates. She set one down in front of Nikifor and sat next to him. “Eat up,” she said. “You need fattening up. I can see your bones.”

Nikifor looked at the food, then away. “I can’t,” he said. “I feel sick.”

Hippy shrugged and ate her breakfast. “Have you seen Fangs?”

He shook his head.

Disquiet settled. Surely he wouldn’t harm Fangs as well. She shouldn’t have left her alone. She jumped up as soon as she’d finished. “I’m going to go find her. Will you help me?”

Nikifor sighed. He didn’t move from his spot.

Hippy leaned closer. Something red and raw peeked out from the edge of his sleeve. “What’s that?” She lifted the sleeve, then frowned. “Nikifor what happened?”

He
jerked away from her. This time his chair clattered right across the kitchen. He clutched his arm to his chest, stumbled into the corner and sank to the floor. “No,” he said. “No my king. I must not–I must not–”

Hippy went and crouched in front of him. “It’s okay.” She patted his head like she would have done a frightened animal. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“But you do,” he whispered. “Every time the fairy angers him, he will hurt me, because I am weak. I must learn to make the fairy behave. I must keep her in line.”

Hippy swallowed her anger and kept her voice gentle. “It’s not right,” she said. “He’s trying to make you like him.” She reached slowly for his arm. This time he let her draw the sleeve back and study the angry burn there. It was in the shape of a
nine-pointed star, just like the wrought iron on Mr Silver’s gates. She frowned. “Why this star?”

“It is to remind me weakness is disloyalty,” Nikifor said. “If I cannot control a mere fairy I am of as little use to him as a member of the Invisible Army.”

Hippy gently replaced the sleeve. “You have to fight him.”

“Nobody can fight the king. He is all powerful. He sees everything.”

“Does he?” Hippy stood up. “You need to get that burn in some water, Nikifor. And you need to get away from here before he kills you.” She walked away.

“Get away?”

She turned back. The pathetic note of hope in Nikifor’s voice made her smile. She made her voice firm. “Yes. Both of us need to get away, the sooner the better. We just need to find out how to get past the roses. You especially, because you have a destiny waiting for you.”

“My destiny is to serve my king.”

Hippy went back to him and grabbed his face. Her anger bled into her words.

“Your destiny is to kill your king. You and my daughter. Now pull yourself together, because we’re only going to get out of here if we work as a team.”

There was a horrible sense of déjà vu in searching for her fetch. Hippy started in the garden, because Fangs liked to play outside. She stared at the carvings of fetches on the castle walls, thinking about where a frightened little creature like Fangs might hide. She didn’t go anywhere near Fluffy Ducky’s new home, but she searched all around the fountain, then stuck her head into the thickest parts of every other bush.

The back of the castle was a cold and shadowed place where old fig trees raised stunted branches towards the distant sunlight. The stones of the castle wall were black with mould. The back of her neck prickled. She turned in a cautious half-circle. Nobody there. She turned again and almost yelled out loud to see Clockwork’s upside down face in front of hers. He grinned and quickly covered her mouth to stifle the yell.

Hippy made a furious noise.

“Up here,” he whispered and disappeared up the tree he’d been hanging out of.

Hippy scrambled up the big, damp branches until they were both hidden in the centre of the boughs. She rested against a branch and looked at Clockwork with wide eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“I have the best news,” he burst out, although he kept his voice very low. “The forest people came to get me yesterday, because people were looking for me, and it was Fitz and Ana! My dad sent them to look for me and check on you and when they found out what he told you to do, they were so angry–at least Fitz was, Ana said one less fairy wasn’t going to hurt anyone–but then when I told them everything I knew they said we had to abort the whole thing, get you and get out, so I came back last night and came up here. We can go, Hippy. We can go right now!”

Tears welled. She blinked them back. “Clockwork Silver, why do you have to be such a beautiful, adorable idiot?”

“Idiot?” The smile dropped from his face. “Don’t tell me you’re not coming with me. You have to come. Don’t worry about the Apple, Fitz and Ana said they’d find another way.”

Hippy shook her head. “I tried to leave yesterday,” she said. “I came to find you, but–but he’s planted these roses all around the castle, for miles and miles. They’ll let you in, but if you try to get out, they’ll poison you!”

“What are you saying?” Clockwork looked graver still. “Those are killer roses?”

Hippy showed him her bandaged foot. “They got me and I lay out there for hours. I couldn’t move. If Pierus hadn’t found me I would have died. Now we’re both trapped here.”

“I suppose you’re a big fan again, now he’s saved your life.” Clockwork pouted and glared at the same time, a sight which made Hippy want to giggle, but she didn’t. The situation was too serious for that.

“Sure, I’m a massive fan.” She punched him on the arm. “The muse king is completely insane and he’s driving everyone else around him mad too!”

Clockwork reached out and held her hand. They looked at each other over the single worm-eaten fig hanging from the branch overhead. “I guess we’d better figure out how to get out then,” he said.

“Yeah.” Hippy squeezed his hand. “Want to go see his laboratory?”

They climbed up the outside walls of the castle and then crept down the stairs that led from the roof. Hippy held her breath until she got to the bottom. The laboratory was empty. For how long it would stay that way she didn’t know. “We have to be quick,” she said. “He could come up here anytime.”

Clockwork looked around with intense curiosity. “What are we looking for exactly?”

“I don’t know. Anything. Any clue about the roses. And a way to get at the Apple of Chaos.” She hurried over to the curtain and opened it. “See?”

Clockwork reached out toward the shiny light-cage, just as she had, then snatched his hand back. “That’s not the whole Apple.”

“No. He’s hidden bits of it already.” Hippy swallowed. She wasn’t ready to talk about Fluffy Ducky yet. “But your dad said we only had to get one bit of it.”

“Is that electricity?” Clockwork looked closer at the cage.

Hippy shrugged.

“I like electricity. They use it for everything in Dream.” Clockwork began to investigate the walls around them. “Just give me a minute.”

“Okay.” Hippy went to explore the rest of the laboratory. She skirted the skeleton, the cage, ran her hands over the shiny things on the tables. She pushed aside a screen to find out what was shimmering behind it.

She blinked rapidly. Her mouth opened in surprise. “Fangs?” she squeaked.

Fangs, asleep with her head on her claws, opened her eyes and made a piteous whine. Several scales had been hacked off her back. There were tiny iron shackles around her forelegs. Around her were fifteen large green eggs. Their shells were rough and crackled, and they each lay in a wet,
sulfurous substance. 

“Clockwork,” Hippy said.

He hurried over. “I can’t find a way to turn the cage off. What’s that?”

Hippy took the tiniest, tiniest pinch of fairy dust and wiped it on the shackles. When they crumbled, she lifted Fangs away from the eggs.

A hairline fracture appeared in one of the shells.

“This is Fangs,” Hippy said. “I found her in the forest.”

“Is she having babies?” Clockwork stroked her scales. Fangs half-heartedly nuzzled his hand.

Hippy shook her head. “I don’t think so.” She backed away. “I don’t like this at all. Let’s get out of here.”

“But we haven’t found a way out!”

“We’ll figure something out. Come on.”

They hurried through the laboratory, but Clockwork skidded to a halt in front of the wall full of maps. “Wait.”

Hippy went to him. “What is it?”

He pointed at a map of Shadow. “Look at this.”

She studied it. She recognised Bloody Fairy territory
; there was a big red cross over it. There was another cross over the forest people’s territory, then arrows radiating out from Shadow City.

“Look,” Clockwork said. “Here, he’s got a map of Dream.”

Hippy studied it. Dream was much, much bigger than Shadow. “Hey he’s put a cross on Greece,” she said. “Oh, now I understand, Athens is in Greece–what do those words say? Can you read them?”

Clockwork spelled them out silently. He shuddered. “It says “then take back Dream.”