Snow White and Rose Red (26 page)
Read Snow White and Rose Red Online
Authors: Patricia Wrede
“Faerie needs no reason save spite,” Kelly said, but the bitter edge was gone from his voice and a sly, considering expression had appeared at the back of his eyes.
“We’ve still some time for study,” Dee said. Kelly rolled his eyes; Dee, preoccupied, did not notice. “Prince Laski will not expect great works all at once; ‘twill be enough to show ourselves men of learning. We need not demonstrate the crystal yet.”
“Now or later, what matters it? The crystal’s dead.”
“I think not, but ‘tis a matter we cannot solve here. Come, Ned!”
Kelly shrugged, and the two men gathered up their scattered implements, brushed the leaves and twigs from their robes, and left. As he passed the shimmering curtain of the Faerie border, Kelly bit his thumb at it; behind the screen of holly, John choked on a laugh. In another moment, the sorcerers were gone and the glen was empty.
CHAPTER · SIXTEEN
“When the dwarf was free, he shook himself. Then he picked up a bag of gold which was lying at the foot of the tree and set off into the woods muttering, ‘Stupid, inconsiderate girls! How dare they cut off a piece of my beard? Bad luck to you both!’ ”
ROSAMUND WAS THE FIRST TO LEAVE THE SHELTERING screen of holly. John followed, frowning, and Hugh and Blanche brought up the rear. Rosamund went straight to the oak branch and gave it a tentative shove.
“I think together we can move it,” she said doubtfully, “but it weighs more than I had thought.”
“Not there, Hugh!” Blanche said. “Thou‘lt wipe out all their drawings, and we’ll learn nothing.”
“We’ve learned enough already, and ‘twill be good luck indeed if we’ve not learned it too late,” John said. “Did none of you recognize that dwarf for what he was?”
Hugh sat down very suddenly. “An oakman, of course,” he growled. “But I had not seen the implications.”
John nodded. “We must leave at once.”
“Leave!” Blanche protested. “But we’ve not even tried—”
A roar from Hugh cut her off in mid-sentence. She and Rosamund both jumped and stared at the bear, wide-eyed.
“Come,” John said, and they followed him out into the forest once more.
John led them well away from the glen and the Faerie border, to a small clearing surrounded by beech trees. He studied them for a full minute before he turned to the girls and apologized for his hurry. “An oakman can, if he chooses, know all that passes beneath his trees,” he explained. “Had we stayed to talk, we’d have had no secrets from him, and I doubt that he’s a friend.”
“Thy doubt’s well justified,” Hugh said. “I know him, and he’s no friend to aught that has the smallest smell of humankind. ‘Twas Bochad-Bec.”
John scowled. “I’ve heard of him, and nothing good. I wish I’d not cast that spell to lift the branch; he cannot help but notice, even if he misses all the rest.”
“But surely he’ll think ‘twas Master Kelly’s work,” Rosamund said.
“I doubt it,” John replied, and his lips twisted in a bitter smile. “No denizen of Faerie could help but recognize so odd a mix of human and Faerie magic as I must use.”
“I see why thou didst stop my tongue,” Blanche said to Hugh. “Though even if he’d heard us, ‘twould surely not surprise him that thy brother aids thee.”
“True enough,” John said in a more cheerful tone, though the glance he shot at Hugh belied his voice. “And if that’s all he learns, we’ve lost little.” He did not add that it was the presence of Rosamund and Blanche that he wished had been kept from the oakman’s knowledge. The human girls were far more vulnerable to the dwarf’s malice than either he or Hugh.
“Little or much, ‘tis too late now to remedy,” Rosamund said practically. “What of the work we came to do? We’ve still the afternoon and evening to try the spell, can we but find a safe and proper place for it.”
“Yes, we must attempt it,” Blanche agreed. “Why, ‘twould be Midsummer ere we could try again, if we let this chance slip. ’Tis far too long to wait.”
“‘Tis not the wait that troubles me,” John began, but Hugh broke in with a growl.
“Before you two take chances with my hide, I’ll thank you to consult Mistress Arden. Or do you think that what we’ve learned has naught to do with the shaping of that spell you intend to use on me?”
Rosamund and Blanche at once begged the bear’s pardon and agreed to return home immediately to ask their mother’s advice. Hugh left them well before they came near the edge of the forest, where they might meet other travelers. John continued on with them, but he was so preoccupied that even Rosamund failed to elicit more than a grunt in response to her remarks and speculations. Finally, just as they were leaving the woods, she taxed him with the flaws in his behavior.
“I crave your pardon, Mistresses,” John said, shaking himself out of his daze and bowing extravagantly. “I am indeed remiss. ”
Blanche smiled, but Rosamund was not so easily satisfied. “If you’d have our pardon, tell us what your mind’s so busy with,” she commanded.
John’s brief good humor vanished, and he hesitated. “‘Tis but a question that worries me.”
“Indeed,” Rosamund replied. “And you worry at it like a dog gnawing at a bone. Tell us what it is; maybe we can enlighten thee.”
“Not this time, I think,” John muttered; then he shrugged and capitulated. “My question’s this: how was it that the oakman interfered in such a timely fashion with Masters Dee and Kelly? Has he some use, perhaps for the lamp he stole? For it seems to me unlikely that ‘twas chance alone that brought him to that spot on this day.”
“Belike he had some spell of his own to try, as we did,” Rosamund said after a moment.
“Belike,” John said in a dry tone that expressed his doubt, and then they reached the Widow’s gate.
“Wait!” Rosamund said as John put his hand on the post. “We’ll go ahead, and see if Mistress Townsend’s gone. We’re back early as it is; ‘twould not be wise to add to her questions by returning in thy company. ”
Fortunately, Mistress Townsend had indeed departed, though they had only missed her by a few minutes. The Widow was both reassured and disquieted by their quick return, and demanded a complete explanation. Rosamund made sure to mention John’s suspicions of the oakman when she told their story, and the dwarf’s possible purposes were the subject of considerable speculation in the Widow’s cottage. The Widow Arden was inclined to agree with John that the oakman’s presence was no coincidence, but she was at a loss for any other explanation. The discussion stopped only when Blanche reminded everyone once again that May Eve Day was passing, and they would soon lose their chance to help Hugh. This prompted an abrupt change in subject, followed by a hasty search for various new materials, before the little group left the cottage once more, with the Widow accompanying them.
Hugh rejoined them at the edge of the woods. “I see from all your faces that you still intend to work this spell,” he said when they came close enough to hear.
“I thought you would be pleased,” Blanche said, frowning slightly. “Dost wish to stay a bear?”
“No,” Hugh said, and turned his head away from her. Blanche stared at him, her brows knit as if she were deep in the study of some idea of vast importance and great difficulty.
“Then we must not tarry here,” the Widow said briskly. “‘Tis too close to the road; if thou’rt seen—”
She was interrupted by a howl of agony from Hugh.
The argument between John Dee and Ned Kelly continued all through their walk back to Mortlak, in spite of Dee’s attempts to turn the conversation. Kelly returned again and again to the dwarf and his possible reasons for stealing the lamp; he paused only when they passed someone who might overhear. Even after they reached the study on the second floor of the riverside house, Kelly continued his diatribe, pacing around and around the inscribed table where the crystal lay, while Dee sat wearily at the small desk where he took notes during their work with the eerie gem.
Without warning, the crystal flared into life. Kelly stopped in mid-sentence and whirled to face it as the flare died back to a warm, steady glow. Dee’s head jerked up from the hand he had been resting it on, and without thought he reached for a pen. “Look into it, Ned, quickly, and tell me what you see! Belike ‘tis some message that will solve our dilemma.”
The words prodded Kelly into action; he stepped forward and sat down in the gazer’s chair, his eyes fixed on the crystal. “Light,” he said after a moment. “Only light ... no, wait! I saw a woman’s face, and now there is a curtain, a gold curtain, hiding the center of the crystal!”
“Calm yourself, Ned,” Dee said, though his own voice was shaking with excitement. “‘Tis likely you’ll see no more if you’re too eager.”
But though Kelly tried to follow these instructions, and though he sat staring into the globe until his eyes watered, he could not make the curtain part. This put him out of temper for a while, but both he and John Dee were greatly encouraged by the resumption of activity within the crystal. Dee took it as a sign from Heaven that their work would be rewarded. Kelly was inclined to give the credit more to their own efforts than to Heaven, but he kept this opinion to himself.
Madini was waiting beneath the oak when Bochad-Bec came bounding through the Faerie woods, Dee’s lamp held high in one broad hand. “There,” the dwarf said ungraciously, handing her his trophy. “My part’s done; now ‘tis thy turn to work.”
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