The Ascension (9 page)

Of course, it wasn’t a permanent solution, or even one likely to last beyond breakfast, but at least it gave Gem time to think. Not that al the time she’d had last night had helped much. With a sigh, Gem looked around until she found a group of werewolves eating the remains of the previous evening’s feast for breakfast. She joined them, savoring the taste of the cold meats and washing it down with cool water.

Gem didn’t ask how the werewolves managed to find
potable
water out in the woods. She was just grateful for the cool taste of it, which seemed to wash away the last of her sleepiness.

Gem decided then that it was probably time to face up to the conversation she needed to have with Rio, and left the group to look for him. There didn’t seem to be any sign of him, or indeed of most of the other young men. After looking for a while, she final y asked one of the women of the tribe, a beautiful young woman with flame-red hair, if she had seen them.

“They went out to hunt at first light. They won’t be back for hours yet.”

Gem hadn’t considered the thought that maybe Rio might want to avoid her too this morning, but that seemed to be just what he was doing. The female werewolf gave her a
sanguine
smile.

“Some of us saw that your man didn’t stay in the same tent as you. You had an argument?”

“It’s complicated,” Gem said, “and Rio isn’t…

if I say that it’s complicated again wil that make me sound stupid?”

“No. It usual y is, with men. They can be so…

sophomoric
sometimes, can’t they? I’m Nina.”

“Gem.”

Gem found herself walking with the werewolf as she wandered over to one of the fire pits and started rebuilding it.

“That’s the problem with parties,” Nina said.

“They always leave such a mess. Have you thought about what you’l do today? The hunters won’t be back for a while, and you don’t strike me as the sort for a
sedentary
life.”

“I don’t know,” Gem admitted. “We’re supposed to be looking for someone. I suppose I might ask around about him.”

“Who are you looking for?”

Gem explained about Henry Word and everything that had happened. Just because Mul igan either hadn’t heard anything or wasn’t wil ing to share it, that didn’t mean Gem might not be able to find the information elsewhere. She just had to be persistent.

“I haven’t heard of anyone like that,” Nina said, and Gem found that she believed her. “I suppose someone else might have. If you get bored, seek me out. I’m looking after a few of the cubs today, and they always find new
ruses
to make life interesting.”

Gem could just imagine the sort of trouble smal children might get themselves into if they could also turn into wolves. Even so, she said that she might, before setting off on a rough circuit of the vil age, asking everyone she met if they had seen anything of her father. None of them seemed to have, and as Gem found herself starting to run short of and as Gem found herself starting to run short of ideas, the task grew more
onerous
. She had assumed that people would know something, but now Gem suspected otherwise or they just did not trust to tel anything yet.

In the end, she decided to seek Nina and her col ection of cubs out before the series of
succinct
rejections wore her down any further. Gem found her sitting with a couple of other werewolf women, watching over a cluster of nearly a dozen children and wolf pups. One of the latter ran up to Gem, growling softly before her. Nina stepped forward to pick it up and put it back with the others.

“Now Serrin, what have I said about growling at people? He’s just trying to get you to play,” Nina added softly. “Come over and I’l introduce you to the others.”

“The others” turned out to be a dark-haired young woman of about Nina’s age, whom Nina introduced as Sophie, and an older woman with greying hair cal ed Petra. Between them, they watched over the children indulgently, sitting on a fal en log and keeping an eye on them even as a couple made
inept
attempts to leap on them. Those only resulted in them
buffeting
against one another as the adults moved just enough to get out of the way. The older woman, Petra, laughed at it.

“You’re too noisy,” she insisted. “Noisy wolves don’t catch lunch. They
are
lunch.” It sounded to Gem like a
maxim
that got repeated at lot, though it didn’t seem to do much for the
ingenuous
attempts of the cubs to catch one another.

“Gem’s from the world of the Iron Claw clan,” Nina said once the little ones were ful y occupied.

“Is she?” Sophie asked. The dark-haired werewolf seemed impressed. For her part, Gem found herself shaking her head as she sat down on the edge of the log.

“I stil can’t believe that people here have heard of my world.”

“Why not?” Nina asked. “There are lots of the Iron Claw tribe there, you know. They do a lot to keep your world safe.”

“They do?” Gem could imagine how she had to sound.

“Of course, girl,” Petra put in from further over.

“Why do you think your world isn’t overrun with fairy folk? Our kind are their enemies, and we guard those around us wel .”

Gem had the
empirical
evidence of that as Petra reached down to scoop up a smal child, probably a little girl, the instant before a couple of playful wolf cubs could land on her. The roughness of the children’s play wasn’t something that Gem would have wanted around human children, but she guessed that things were a little different when that play was geared towards learning to bring down deer later on. It was a
didactic
method taken from real wolves, and it certainly worked for them.

“Is it because you hate the fairies that you’re fighting the Winter Queen?” Gem asked. She thought she could
discern
a slight narrowing of Petra’s eyes at the mention of the fairy ruler.

“Our argument with her stems from her foolish
cupidity
. In her greed for more land to cover with her precious ice, she has broken her treaties with our people. In her
turpitude
, she has decided to build her forces and claim everything around her. We’l have to fight.”

Beside

her,

Gem

saw

Nina

shift

uncomfortably.

“It won’t come to that, though, wil it?” the younger werewolf said. Petra snorted.

“Of course it wil come to that. Do you think we would have gone to the trouble of joining with the Summer Court if there weren’t going to be a fight?” P etra
upbraided
her in a stern tone, and Gem heard Nina mumble an apology, before asking if she might be excused. As she left, she made a smal motion to Gem, and Gem fol owed. Nina led her back through the lines of tents, wel away from the others.

“Petra seems like she can be pretty stern when she takes
umbrage
at something,” Gem ventured. Nina nodded.

“She can be. I suppose I don’t blame her. We don’t like the Summer Court much more than the winter one, real y. I wanted to talk to you away from her, though, because I wasn’t sure if she would like what I have to say. At least, I think she would cal me stupid and
credulous
for thinking it.” That caught Gem’s interest.

“What is it?” she asked.

“You know you said you were looking for someone from your world? Wel , would he be someone who knows about the ways between the worlds?”

Gem nodded.

“He came up with the way that got me here, and that let us get into the world of Anachronia. He is probably one of the few people who real y does understand those ways on our world.”

“Wel ,” Nina replied, “if he can do al that, then the Winter Queen would want him. She is
infamous
for wanting to spread her cold further, and what could be better than spreading it across whole worlds?” Just the thought of that made Gem shudder.

Even so, she knew she couldn’t risk being wrong and wasting time on a wild goose chase. Henry Word had already been missing a week. There was no tel ing when something might happen to him.

“What if he isn’t there?” Gem asked.

“He has to be.” The werewolf seemed certain of it. “The Summer Court might have its
mendacious
moments, but even if they were lying, then surely you would have seen some sign of the then surely you would have seen some sign of the man you seek. No, he has to be hidden somewhere in Winter.”

The logic of it seemed a little simplistic to Gem, but that didn’t mean it was inaccurate. In any case, Sparks was stil at the Summer Court, and was probably better placed to find Henry Word in any case, as the son of that court’s
potentate
.

“How do I find the Winter Court, then?” Gem asked. Nina shrugged.

“You just head north. You’l find it quickly enough.”

Such a simple set of directions hardly seemed
plausible
to Gem, but then, Dr. Brown had said that this place could work in odd ways. Gem decided that she had to at least try. She couldn’t risk simply staying around the werewolves while her father was stil lost.

“Is there any sign of Rio yet?” Gem asked.

Nina shook her head.

“Like I said, the hunters won’t be back for hours. They’l wander in some time around sunset, either
morose
that they haven’t caught anything or expecting
accolades
because they have.” Nina grinned. “Why, are you so eager to see him again?” Honestly, Gem wasn’t sure. She was certain, however, that she couldn’t just run off across half a kingdom without letting Rio know roughly where she was heading.

“If I leave a note, could you see that he gets it?” Gem asked. She wasn’t sure if her
epistolary
skil s were up to conveying everything she felt, but at least she could tel Rio what was happening. Nina nodded, and Gem wrote a brief missive that amounted in truth to little more than
Henry Word
might be in the Winter Court. Gone north to check.

Gem.
It would have to do.

Nina promised that she would pass it on. The werewolf was also kind enough to find Gem provisions for the journey, fil ing a backpack with the sorts of foods that would keep wel on a journey. She also pressed a coat made from animal furs into Gem’s hands.

“I can’t just take al this,” Gem said.

“You can and you wil ,” Nina insisted. “It gets cold in the Winter Court, and it would be
negligent
of me if I didn’t equip you properly. Now, one more thing…”

thing…”

She led Gem over to a pile of weapons stacked behind another of the tents. It occurred to Gem that werewolves were dangerous enough, without adding swords and spears to the equation.

With them, they were probably terrifying.

“Now, what can you use?” Nina asked. “The dangers of the Winter Court are
notorious
.” In the end, Gem chose a long knife, almost like a short sword, and tucked it under her jacket.

Nina led her to the edge of the vil age and Gem started walking north with only the occasional backwards glance at the vil age. She knew she needed to be strong. After al , the Winter Court sounded like it was going to be a far from pleasant place to visit.

The Winter Queen
reposed
upon a sofa of solid ice, while around her an assortment of
sycophants
and
toadies
waited for opportunities to tel her how beautiful she was, or how clever, or how marvelous. The only one who could be trusted not to do any of that was her nephew Devon, who currently stood dark-haired and brooding a little way away, armor formed of shadows frozen into solidity only adding to the impression of gloominess. He maintained a polite
veneer
over his handsome features, of course, but the Queen could see through that easily enough.

“You are troubled, my Dark Knight,” the Queen said, smiling secretly as she did so. It always needled her nephew to be cal ed that. “What vexes you so?”

Devon raised one exquisite eyebrow.

“Would you truly hear it, milady?”

The Queen rose, moving closer to him. It was odd that Devon would even ask, and that probably meant that she wouldn’t like what he had to say next.

“Better that than watching you
wallow
in your anger, dear nephew. Now, stop sulking and tel me what’s wrong.”

“If you command it. It is these… children you have brought back with you.”

“M
y
children, Devon. Have a care.”

“It is because I care that I say it, Aunt.” The

“It is because I care that I say it, Aunt.” The fairy noble shook his head. “They lack the most basic
utilitarian
skil s that al the fey know. They cannot control the weather, or greet a visiting Winter wraith correctly, or even fight properly with icicle spears. If they are fey at al , then they are a
travesty
of true fey.”

The Winter Queen’s anger was like the rest of her, a cold thing. Stil , this anger came to her with the speed of a tumbling avalanche. She clenched her fists.

“You go too far, Devon. Normal y, I put up with your irritations, but here you have
transgressed
.” The Winter Queen could feel ice spinning snowflake patterns around her eyes, as it always did when her fury rose. She watched her nephew fal to one knee, bowing his head. Even her Dark Knight had the sense to fear her anger. For once, since Devon was family, the Winter Queen fought against it, but her anger was not a
tractable
thing. As for her circle of courtiers, that backed away rapidly, as the fey and Winter creatures sought to be further from them both.