The Enchanted Quest (22 page)

A dark, dissonant tone came into the music now. “Then know this, Tania of Faerie—Anita of the Mortal World. Know this!” The Harper’s voice was like thunder, and even the sky seemed to darken as he spoke. “The creature known as Nargostrond is the older brother of Oberon Aurealis. His name was once Lear—Prince Lear Aurealis—and he was next in line to the throne upon which sat his great father, King Rafe.”

Tania let out a gasp. This was impossible! Oberon’s own
brother
?

“Prince Lear had cruelty and avarice stamped deep in his soul,” said the Harper, and as he spoke the sea rose and came crashing in cold foam over the white rock. “He had ambitions that went beyond the rule of Faerie. He had a mind for conquest and warfare. He wished to forge an empire—an empire that would take his armies even into the Mortal World!”

Tania shivered, suddenly terribly cold, aware that above her head the sky had clouded over. The wind bit at her skin.

“Prince Lear raised an army against his father, meaning to murder him and usurp his throne,” said the Harper. “But Oberon learned of the plot, and Lear and his forces were defeated. King Rafe could not execute his firstborn son, but he sent him into distant exile—beyond even Ynis Maw—to the bitter cold of Ynis Borealis, there to live out his life in misery and remorse. And yet the King did not know the extent of Lear’s undying malice, for his son called upon the Dark Arts and he brewed evil in that place, and sent the evil upon the north wind to Faerie.”

“The plague,” Tania breathed. “He sent the plague. . . .”

The Harper nodded. “And now he has returned, slipping through the rift in the covenant that was created when the Sorcerer of Lyonesse sat briefly upon the throne of Faerie. And Prince Lear’s power and his ambition have not lessened over the millennia. Indeed, they have grown ever more fearsome.”

“Oberon’s own brother is killing the people of Faerie?” said Tania. “His own
brother
? Does he know this?”

“No, Tania of Faerie, all memory of events before the Great Awakening was taken away at the forging of the covenant. King Oberon knows nothing of this. None in all of creation knows of it, save you and I.”

“Help me!” Tania cried. “Help me to put things right.”

“What would you have me do, child?”

“Renew the covenant!” Tania shouted, fighting against the sudden howling of the wind and the rasping crack of the gathering thunder.

“There are but two ways for this to be done,” said the Harper. “Either Oberon must come to me—or I must go to him. But I cannot enter Faerie, and the King must not leave his Realm, for if he does he will lose his throne to Lear for all time.”

“No! That can’t be right!” Lightning forked across the blackened sky, striking at the hills, swift lizards’ tongues, poisoning the air. “That’s impossible!”

“It is not impossible,” said the Harper, his voice strangely clear through the violence of the arid thunderstorm. “Nothing is impossible.” His eyes flashed as though reflecting the lightning. “Your question is answered, Tania of Faerie, Anita of the Mortal World. Now you must give me that which was offered. You must render up the dearest wish of your heart.”

“Wait! It’s too soon. I need to know more!” Her voice was all but drowned by the thunder now and by the raging of the sea. “I need to know how to . . .”

The Harper reached out his hand toward her, the forefinger outstretched.

His finger touched her forehead and her mind flooded with light. The last thing she remembered was what the Divine Harper said:
the dearest wish of your heart
. . .

Anita sat up on her bed, blinking and disoriented.

She felt drowsy and woozy, but outside the open curtains she could see that it was still daylight.

And on top of that she was fully dressed.

What had she been thinking, napping in the middle of the day? What was she, a doddering old granny or something?

She got up, dizzy for a moment. “I’ve got to tell Jade about that dream!” she said, grinning and heading for the computer. “She’ll freak out.”

She sat down, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she turned on the computer and connected to the internet. And Evan—she’d have to tell him, too. He’d be well impressed; he was totally up for freaky things like that: legends and mythology and all that kind of . . . strange . . . old . . .

“Now that’s bizarre,” she said, the chat room open, her fingers poised over the keyboard.

The dream had gone. It had been so vivid—but now she couldn’t remember a single thing about it.

Weird!

She yawned and stretched, her head still foggy. She looked at the time display at the bottom of the screen. 11:09.

Midmorning. But what day was it? Saturday or Sunday?

“Oh great,” she said. “Now I don’t even know what day of the week I’m in! Losing my marbles or what?”

She got up and wandered out of her room, still feeling odd. She clattered down the stairs and turned in the hall, heading for the kitchen.

Her mum was there, at the table, packing her handbag.

Yawning still, Anita strolled in. “Hi, mum,” she said. “What’s up?”

Her mother jumped—then stared at her—a huge smile breaking out across her face. “Tania!” she gasped, running and throwing her arms around her. “Oh, sweetheart, it’s so wonderful to see you! And your dad will be so pleased. We thought we might never see you again!”

Anita stared at her, taken completely aback—half stifled by her mother’s frantic embrace.

“What are you talking about, mum?” she asked. “I was only upstairs.” She stared at her mother, completely baffled by this sudden display of affection. “And who on earth is
Tania
?”

Tania wakes up in the Mortal World with no recollection of the past seven weeks. Memories of the Faerie Realm, her princess identity, and her true love, Edric, have vanished, and all recollection of her quest to save Faerie has been lost. With the help of an unexpected ally, Tania learns she must reawaken her Faerie self— but how?

By the light of the Pure Eclipse, a thrilling final battle is waged that affects not only the fate of Faerie, but Tania’s final destiny. Loyalties are tested, true love questioned, and nothing is what it seems. . . .

Frewin Jones

has always believed in the existence of “other worlds” that we could just step in and out of if we only knew the way. In the Mortal World, Frewin lives in southeast London with a mystical cat called Siouxsie Sioux. Visit Frewin online at www.allanfrewinjones.com.

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The Enchanted Quest
Copyright © 2010 by Working Partners Limited
Series created by Working Partners Limited
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

    Jones, Frewin.
      The enchanted quest / by Frewin Jones. — 1st ed.
        p.  cm. — (Faerie Path ; #5)
Summary: Princess Tania must travel outside of the Immortal Realm to seek a cure for the plague afflicting her people, while joined in spirit with all of the children of Aurealis to weave a web of protection over the realm of Faerie.
      ISBN 978-0-06-087158-1 (trade bdg.)
      [1. Faeries—Fiction. 2. Princesses—Fiction. 3. Voyages and travels—Fiction. 4. Sick—Fiction. 5. Fantasy.] I. Title.
PZ7.J71Enc  2010                                                                                                                                                                                                     2009024096
[Fic]—dc22                                                                                                                                                                                                                           CIP
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                AC

EPub Edition © 2009 ISBN: 9780061966569

10  11  12  13  14    
CG/RRDB
    10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1

First Edition