Foul is Fair (13 page)

"Justin of Ludlow," he answered, with an obviously painful bow. "I am... I was the squire to Sir Broderick. We came through the portal seeking the Claiomh Solais."

"So where is he?"

"He never made it into Faerie. We had prepared ourselves for the trip, after consulting with numerous scholars on matters of the fae. Horseshoes, iron knives, necklaces of daisies, and, at great expense, plenty of salt."

"Oh, I heard about the salt thing," Megan said. Lani glanced at her with a quirked brow.

"So had we," Justin said. "And we thought we were ready. All we had to do was close our eyes, step through the lodestones, and step back out. As we did, there was a woman's scream and a terrible roar."

"I don't remember that part," Megan said.

"That's because we had a pixie guide," Lani said, still crouched with Ashling, who was half-trying to shoo her away.

"So, what did you see? Who was screaming?" Megan asked, looking back to Justin while Lani helped the pixie and crow.

“There were flames, and the flames just towered. Red-hot... white-hot... Sir Broderick… both his eyes were open. He fell straight for the fire. I managed to wrench myself aside somehow. I still fell. I fell half-blind into smoke and mist and hard earth. Once I could get up, I wandered for hours. Finally, I saw a path bordered by flames again and ran to it. I passed out as I emerged. Finally I woke, collapsed, near a bonfire on the lawn of a castle.

“Balefire,” Ashling said, finally joining the conversation. “They're there for a reason, and they're also the reason you don't open your eyes when stepping out of a circle.”

Justin nodded, wincing.

“What happened on the lawn?”

“There were two people … She was like an ethereal saint. He was like an avenging angel—”

“I know, right?” Megan interrupted, then blushed. “Oh, um, sorry.”

“She said she'd let me return to the mortal world, but only if I completed a mission.”

“Sorry to go back, but where is Ludlow, anyway?” She just had to know. His accent sounded like he was from somewhere between France, Virginia, and another planet.

“England. The Marches, near the Welsh border.”

“And what year is it there?” Ashling asked.

“Anno Domini 1389.”

Megan blinked. “Oh. Oh, gosh, I hate to break this to you...”

“The Queen already did, Miss. Don't worry. She helped me try to understand the strange future dialect better before she sent me on this quest last fortnight. Not sure why she started with that. The iron golems don't speak it, or speak at all.”

“At least you know she intends to keep her word and let you leave.”

“Oh, she always keeps her word,” Ashling said. “She has to.”

“Oh yeah.” Megan paused only a moment, her mind still racing around. “So she gave you a mission. The mission was to get the sword? The same thing you'd been trying to do anyway?”

“Well, yes, but not to bring it back to the King anymore—”

Ashling perked up a little. “You've seen the Unseelie King?”

“No,” Justin said hurriedly, shaking his head. “No, I absolutely haven't. The King of England wanted to raise everyone's hopes against the machinations of the Lords Appellant—and the bad weather, and the fear the plague will return. Mostly, though, it's politics. Or it was politics.” Justin had a strange expression for a moment, which might be understandable when realizing that everyone you know is dead. “Anyway,” he continued. “It doesn't matter now. The Queen said I could never re-enter the normal world without first shoving the sword into a stone she showed me.”

“Huh. Reverse King Arthur,” Megan said. “Of course, we've got a crow instead of an owl.”

Justin looked puzzled. “What do owls have to do with King Arthur?”

“Let's just not talk about owls,” Lani said. “So, the sword.”

"Yes, the sword. I've seen it," Justin said. "I'm in no shape to make another attempt. They keep it well guarded. Most of the golems don't seem very intelligent. Distractions worked well. The four guarding the sword, however, seemed to have different instructions, or better magic animating them. They won't leave the sword alone. That made it harder to take, but, thankfully, made them easier to escape, too." He said, glancing at his injured arm.

"So, at least we have a better idea what we're up against," Lani said. "We're going to need a plan. But we have some time. I hope you don't mind us inserting ourselves into the mission, Justin, but we're after the same thing. It seems like the best idea."

"It does," Justin agreed. "As soon as I can move my arm enough to fight."

After checking on Ashling one more time, Lani crossed the room. "Let me take a look at it."

Chapter 21: Plans of Attack

Megan moved over to Ashling and settled down, now that she was fairly sure the golems weren't paying the damaged window any attention. She noticed the black mark. The thoughts of mention of iron and Ashling's damaged wings sprang quickly to mind. "Is that...?" she started, not precisely sure what to even ask.

"Just iron burn," Ashling replied. "It barely touched me. It will heal, eventually, when we're out of the city."

"So all you have to do is touch it?"

"Not as bad," Ashling agreed. "But yes, if the iron is pure enough, just touching it hurts. This is sort of like, I guess, if you touched something red-hot. Which you really shouldn't do, by the way." She sounded like she was speaking from experience.

"I'll keep it in mind," Megan assured her. "How is the Count?"

The crow cawed, Megan glanced at him, then back to Ashling. "He says he'll probably be able to fly in a day or two. Maneuvering very well might be longer, though."

Lani sighed, as she went through her pack for bandages. "We only have a couple of days. Most of our food is still in Cassia's chariot.”

“Oh yeah,” Megan said. She looked to Justin. “So you got away from the hounds without someone to distract them?”

“...Not exactly.”

“Not exactly someone?”

“Not exactly 'got away.' I was brought up that it's better to ask permission than run screaming.”

Megan looked at Justin for a moment. “So you just asked the giant monster dogs nicely to let you through?”

“No. I asked the Huntsman.” His good hand attempted to help Lani hold the bandages as she wound them into a brace for his bad arm.

“Tall guy? Scary Looking? Horns?” Megan asked.

“You've met him, then?”

“No, I saw the paintings of the hunt and didn't especially want to meet anyone in them.”

“Well, I found him, introduced myself, explained whom I'd served under and who commissioned me, and asked his leave to cross his lands in my own hunt.”

“And that's not cheating?”

“... It's the exact opposite of cheating, Miss. That's how it's done when you hunt across someone else's land. And I was hunting, after a fashion.”

“And the scary faerie guy with the horns and the black horse and a pack of dogs almost as big, he just said 'okay'?” Megan asked.

“He granted the request, yes. Seemed like being asked was a bit novel.”

“Did he give you a ride across the unfordable river, too?”

“No, had to swim that.”

“You swam? But there were rapids with monster fish and migratory whirlpools!”

If not for the all the effort he and Lani were putting into immobilizing his arm, Justin would probably have shrugged again. “I watched the currents for two days to find the most possible crossing-point. Fish are the least active at high noon, so that's when I swam. Very hard.”

“And then you climbed through the plains and hills without the dogs bothering you, and then you heard the song—”

“What song?”

“On the wind. To open the gate.”

“There's a lot of sound on the wind, Miss. I didn't see any way of opening that gate.”

“But you're in here.”

“I climbed the fence.”

“You just... climbed it?” Megan was blinking.

“Okay, as soon as your good hand's free, I want to shake it,” Lani said, smiling as she finished wrapping his arm tight.

“But what about the gross hazy feeling?” Megan could not get over the idea of climbing that huge, disgusting fence.

“You've lost me, Miss. I... take it you're... of the Fair Folk, then?”

“Half,” Lani said. “She's the Unseelie King's daughter.”

“Oh.” Now Justin actually got to look surprised. “Pleasure to meet you, Highness.”

“Just Megan, please.”

"Megan then," he said, a little confused, but offering his good hand to Lani when she finished binding his shield arm. "The fence was a hard climb, to be sure, but I'm not … that is, I'm quite, quite mortal. I don't think it was meant to keep humans out. On the other hand, I was definitely not going to get back out with the bad shoulder."

"And a couple of cracked ribs, I think," Lani added. "Your shoulder was dislocated. Just a little, so hopefully it will heal fast. You won't be able to use it at all for a while though, so I've got it as secure as I could with the supplies we have."

"My thanks.”

Megan smiled a little. “Thinking of going pre-med instead of majoring in engineering now?”

Lani smiled back. “You canceling art school plans because you sang a gate open? The human body's just another machine. Except when it's not.” She looked back to Justin. “You're welcome.”

The boy nodded, still trying to take a lot in. “When we've rested, I can guide you to the sword. We'll need a plan, though."

"Even with one arm, I think Justin should get the sword," Lani said. "He actually knows how to use one, and has the best chance to hurt the golems with it."

"He won't be able to run much, though. And there's a lot of golems," Megan said. "One of us should probably try to get it, and the others can make a distraction to draw them as far away as we can get them? Once he has the sword, hopefully it will be able to damage them."

"Agreed," Justin said. "They're slow enough that with a working weapon, I think I can best one of them at a time. The problems were numbers and having nothing that threatened them.”

Megan looked towards where Ashling was resting, nestled up against the Count. "Are you two going to be in any shape to help with the distraction? I don't want you to hurt yourselves worse."

"We'll manage," Ashling said. "After all, you need us."

Megan sat down next to Ashling, and carefully, after making sure the bird didn't seem to object, stroked the crow's headfeathers a little. "Thank you. Both of you. I know you really care about my dad.”

“Yeah, well, he's care-about-able.” Ashling smiled. “Starting to think it runs in the family. And Lani is such a team player. And you've got to realize, the Count really likes teams. Hates doing without them. He's attempted murder a few times, but it never worked out.”

As Megan felt the crow sigh under her fingers, she tried to parse that sentence.

“Because…no other crows showed up to be in the murder?”

“Obviously.”

“Yes. Obviously.”

Lani wanted them all to try sleeping at that point, but Megan gave up on that fairly quickly. While none of the iron giants ever tried to break into their shelter, the loud metal-on-stone noise passing by every hour or so not only woke her, but kept her on edge until it passed. Each time, just as exhaustion started to push her to sleep, the noise would arise again, bringing her back to paranoid alertness. Looking around, the others weren't faring much better. Justin often seemed the closest to drifting off, but the binding on his arm made any position awkward.

Their basic plan didn't help Megan relax any either, particularly with half of the group injured. No one was able to come up with anything better than 'grab the sword and run during a distraction,' though, and they weren't likely to when they couldn't even sleep. At least it was simple.

After the passage of yet another golem, after she was sure no one was asleep, and no one looked likely to change that, she finally stood and headed for the window, surveying the city outside. "If the Count can fly, we should start moving as soon as it's light enough to see."

"We need to rest and heal," Lani said. "We have a couple of days’ supplies."

"Do you feel any better rested? And Ashling is getting worse, not better. Besides, in two days, we might be healed more; we might not, but I'll definitely be going stir crazy.”
It might just have been the sleep deprivation, but Megan could almost feel the city sapping her strength as well. “Let's do this."

While the teens looked between each other, Ashling spoke to the crow. Finally, the Count tested his wings, hopped a couple of times, and then flew to Megan's shoulder. "He says he can fly, but maybe not while carrying me." She looked to Megan. “Can I have the left shoulder?”

“Okay,” Megan said, picking the pixie up gently.

"I guess I'm running for the sword, then?" Lani asked.

"You're faster than I am. You've proven that a couple of times. Ashling, the Count, and I will work on the distraction.”