The Frostwoven Crown (Book 4) (24 page)

Scupp shrugged him off but relented, backing away and biting her lip with delight as she gave Mujah a tiny little wave. “He’s just so cute!” she said.

Mujah frowned, tugging his hat back down low over his brow and lowering his voice as deep as it would go. “I’m not cute!” he huffed.

“Are you guys really Lethians?” Diggs asked, getting to his feet again.

“Yeah, why?” Crane demanded.

Diggs noticed Warren’s warning look and raised his paws defensively. “It’s just… interesting, that’s all. I’m just… interested.”

Lady Ymowyn sighed, smoothing the front of her dress and stepping forward to greet the guests. “I am afraid that I must serve as what passes for manners in this place, m’lords,” she said, curtseying before them, “I am the Lady Ymowyn, a Kirikin of Astorra, and these are my companions Scupp and Diggs and Warren. Warren is our host here in Marrowvyn, though he sometimes forgets his duty as such in welcoming guests.”

Warren cleared his throat, looking a bit stung. “Yeah,” he said, extending his heavy paw toward Crane, “Welcome to the funhouse.”

Crane grasped Warren’s hand as best he was able and returned the greeting. Mujah settled for a little wave of his hand, his wary eyes never leaving Scupp for more than a second. She gave him a reassuring grin that was a bit too full of pointy teeth to actually serve as any reassurance.

“So, outside today then?” Garrett asked.

“Sure,” Warren agreed, “You want me to grab the book?”

Garrett looked over toward the pedestal that held his book of fairy magic, and his eyes went to the dented silver cage, now empty, that rested atop it. “No,” he said, “I think we’ll just go over the basics again today. I want to get Crane and Mujah started before we try anything new.”

“You, ah, got anymore essence?” Diggs asked, rubbing his nose with the back of his paw as he walked over, his steps still a bit wobbly, “I sorta used all mine.”

Garrett stared back at the ghoul in stony silence until he followed the others out into the courtyard.

Garrett gathered them all together in a relatively uncluttered area in what used to be a garden outside the old mill house. The gnarled trunk of an old tree stood at its center, withered, like the rest of the garden, after the masons of old had bricked over the entire quarter to build the new Foreign District above. Garrett handed his satchel to Scupp, and he joined Warren in clearing away the random bits of debris and old tree limbs that littered the dead yard. Crane joined in and urged Mujah to do the same, though the younger boy kept looking over his shoulder toward the female ghoul who watched him with undisguised fascination.

“Why does it keep looking at me like that?” Mujah whispered to Garrett as he helped drag away a crumbling branch.

“She’s not an
it
,” Garrett whispered back, “She’s a girl, and she’s really nice… she just likes you, I guess.”

Warren, overhearing them, snorted.

“What’s so funny?” Crane demanded.

Warren straightened his back and casually tossed a head-sized chunk of masonry over the garden wall. “All right,” he sighed, “Let’s get this outta the way right up front. She likes you ‘cause she wants to eat your head.”

“What?” Mujah choked.

“Warren!” Scupp hissed, her eyes blazing with rage.

“It’s true,” Warren said with a shrug.

“Garrett?” Crane growled, his hand going to his knife.

“Nobody’s eating anybody’s head!” Garrett said.

“Yeah, but they want to,” Crane said, “Get behind me, Mujah!” He stepped between the younger boy and the pack of ghouls.

“Warren, you’re frightening them!” Lady Ymowyn said.

“They were scared already,” Warren said, “I’m just draggin’ it out in the light.”

“I don’t want to eat his head, Warren!” Scupp shouted, then, looking at Mujah, she added, “I don’t want to eat your head.”

“Yeah, you do,” Warren chuckled, “We all want to eat his head.”

“You’ll have to go through me first, monster!” Crane snarled, yanking the knife from his belt.

“Hey!” Garrett cried, dropping the tree branch and jumping between Warren and the Lethians, “Everybody calm down! Nobody’s eating anybody’s head!”

“No, we’re not!” Warren laughed, pushing Garrett aside, “And you wanna know why we’re not gonna eat your head? It ain’t just because Garrett asked us not to… It’s because
we are not monsters!
”

Crane went pale, looking up at the towering ghoul, his knife hand shaking a little.

“Warren,” Ymowyn said, “calm down.”

Warren bared his long teeth in a broad grin and shook his head.

Garrett put his hand on Warren’s shoulder and gave him a hard look, but the ghoul pulled away and shambled off to lean against the crumbling garden wall.

Lady Ymowyn winced. “I’m sorry,” she said, “He’s having a bad day.” She went to his side and stroked Warren’s mane as she whispered softly to him. He stood motionless and stared into the shadowy ruins beyond the wall.

Garrett exhaled slowly and offered the Lethians a thin smile.

Crane put his knife away and put his hand on Mujah’s shoulder, giving Garrett a reproachful look.

Mujah cocked his head to the side, his eyes still on Scupp who sat on her haunches at the garden gate, her head hung low. “Why do you want to eat my head?” Mujah asked, “I mean, does it taste better than the rest of me?”

Scupp made no answer, and her brother quickly clamped his mouth shut, thinking better of whatever he had been about to say.

“It’s your brains,” Garrett sighed, “Ghouls like to eat the brains of people… after they die… I think it’s because they can taste your memories.”

“That’s why you sniffed our hair?” Crane asked, a look of disgust on his face.

“Yeah,” Scupp answered, “I’m sorry.”

“What did it smell like?” Mujah asked.

Scupp gave him a little smile. “You smell like the first moon o’ summer… like cool water when you’re dyin’ o’ thirst.”

Mujah gave her a bemused smile and then looked up at Crane. “What’d
he
smell like?” he asked.

Scupp’s face darkened, and her eyes fell. “He smelled all right…”

Crane narrowed his eyes.

“No, really, what’d he smell like?” Mujah insisted.

Scupp looked at Crane and smiled again. “My Ma always told me there were some places you jus’ don’t wanna go diggin’.”

Crane frowned. “I think we better go,” he said.

Diggs lifted his paw. “I think your brain smells all right,” he offered.

“All right,” Garrett said, channeling his best imitation of Matron Brix, “That’s enough!” He pointed to the center of the garden. “I want everybody to line up there, facing the tree! You too, Warren!”

Warren looked a bit startled by Garrett’s tone, but he stepped back from the wall and allowed Lady Ymowyn to guide him back toward the others.

Garrett looked at the Lethian boys and pointed to where he wanted them to stand. After a tense moment, they followed his instructions, placing themselves at the end of the line of ghouls with Crane and Warren standing shoulder to shoulder and eyeing each other warily.

“Lady Ymowyn,” Garrett called out, “I want you on the end.”

The fox woman, who had been drifting toward the wall, lifted her paws. “I’m just here to watch, my dear,” she laughed.

“Then watch while you’re standing in line like everybody else,” Garrett barked.

Ymowyn’s green eyes went wide. “As you command, Kingslayer!” she mumbled as she moved to take her place at the end of the line.

“
Kingslayer?
” Crane said.

Garrett shook his head. “I’ll tell you later,” he sighed, “Now I want Warren, Crane, Scupp, Mujah, and Ymowyn, in that order.”

Crane and Warren both opened their mouths to protest simultaneously, but Garrett’s glare shut them just as quick.

“Where do I stand?” Diggs asked.

“Over here by me,” Garrett said.

Digg’s expression brightened. “So, I’m like your apprentice now?” he asked.

“No,” Garrett said, “you’re gonna be the target.”

“What?” Diggs’s eyes bulged.

“Just stand there,” Garrett said, pointing to a clear patch of ground, “You’ll be fine.”

“But I’d rather…” Diggs began, but Garrett cut him off.

“The rest of you, hold hands!” Garrett shouted.

“What?” Warren exclaimed.

Crane looked as dubious as the big ghoul.

“Do I need to repeat myself?” Garrett roared, his voice cracking a little. How did Matron Brix manage to keep shouting all the time? He must need more practice.

“Hold hands,
now!
” he shouted.

The humans, ghouls, and the Kirikin reached out and grasped one another’s hands. Only Mujah seemed completely at ease, an eager grin on his face as he stood between Scupp and Ymowyn, holding their paws in his small hands, as he watched Garrett for his next instruction.

“Now we’re gonna stand like this until you all remember why you came here!” Garrett growled as he paced up and down the line, “Until you all forget about being ghouls or humans or whatever you called yourselves before you came here. Because, as of right now, you are all mages!”

The curl of Warren’s lip straightened itself out instantly in the withering heat of Garrett’s glare.

“It doesn’t matter what you were before today,” Garrett said, “From here on out, you are all mages, students of Wild Magic, as it was taught to me by my teacher, and now I’m gonna teach it to you.”

He paused, letting his gaze wander over each of them in turn. “There are things out there,” he said, his voice growing hoarse from all the shouting, “Things that wanna get in here and hurt us all. Things that will kill you. Things that are made of nightmares, and they aren’t scared of your knives or your claws or anything you can hit ‘em with. Doesn’t matter how strong you are or how brave you are. They don’t care.

“I only know one thing they
are
afraid of, and that’s Wild Magic. If you learn what I teach you, you don’t have to be afraid of them, ‘cause they’re gonna be afraid of you! Now look at each other!”

The line of students shared uneasy glances.

“The person standing beside you isn’t a monster,” Garrett said, “I’ve seen real monsters, and I know maybe you have too. So that person next to you, holding your hand, that’s your friend, and when the real monsters come, they’re gonna save your life… and you’re gonna save theirs.”

Garrett regarded them all coldly for a moment, letting his words sink in. Warren and Crane both looked a bit crestfallen as though his words had stirred up something dark inside them.

“All right,” Garrett said, “you can let go now.”

The others let their hands drop to their side, all except Mujah and Scupp who still held a moment longer, sharing a little smile. Scupp looked a bit sheepish and apologetic, but Mujah had apparently already forgiven her for wanting to eat his head.

Garrett picked up his satchel and passed out a canister of essence to each of the people in line. He paused when he came to Lady Ymowyn at the end of the line. She held her hands behind her back and shook her head, a faintly fearful look on her face.

Garrett nodded and kept the last canister for himself.

“What about me?” Diggs asked hopefully.

Garrett gave the ghoul a grim smile. “You won’t be needing one,” he said.

Diggs whined and raised his shaggy arms at the unfairness of it all, but said nothing.

“Some of you are new here,” Garrett said, “so we’ll start with the basics. The first thing you’re going to learn is how to make
faefire
. It was one of the first things I learned how to do, and it saved my life more than once.”

“What’s
faefire?
” Crane asked.

“It’s like hittin’ somebody in the face with a bucket o’ pretty colors,” Scupp chuckled.

“I’ll teach you the words to say, and then we’ll work on learning how to draw the magic out of the flask through your hands,” Garrett said, “The ghouls drink the stuff to make it work, but, since you’re humans, I’m hoping you’ll be able to do it the way I do.”

“You drink it?” Mujah asked, eyeing the glowing green ooze through the glass viewport of his essence flask.

“Yeah,” Scupp said, patting him on the shoulder, “It tastes awful!”

Diggs raised his paw. “I like the taste,” he murmured.

“Once you learn how to channel the essence and call
faefire
into being, we’re gonna work on aiming it where you want it to go,” Garrett said, “and I thought it would be more fun if we had a moving target to aim at.” He gestured toward Diggs who groaned and raised his hands in a
what did I do to deserve this
expression.

“Yeah, I like this idea,” Scupp chuckled evilly.

“Me too,” Warren said, unstoppering his flask.

“You’re gonna show ‘em the non-burny version of the spell, right?” Diggs whined.