The Quicksilver Faire (14 page)

"Magic is what protects the planet and keeps the boundaries safe."

Chills formed in Keelie's chest as fear spread through her body. She felt as if she had ice developing in the marrow of her bones. She thought of Dad, and Sean, and Elia and her unborn baby. "What do I need to do?"

"You and I must join our magic and mend the crack in Gaia's Dome. We'll harness the magic from within the Earth to catch the energy of a flare to repair it."

Keelie remembered Risa's greenhouse back in the Dread Forest. The gardening elf had had a problem with herbs she'd been growing there; too much sun was crisping the flowering buds, and the roots had been burnt. The solar panels had been taking in too much energy.

"If we catch the energy of a solar flare, won't it crisp the Earth?" Keelie asked. An image of burnt toast popped into her mind. Burnt toast with cities.

"That is why I need your connection to the trees of the Earth. They will be able to help us if we are connected."

Keelie remembered the solution she'd found for Risa in the Compendium. She'd called upon the energy of the Earth and a nice lemon tree to counteract the intense heat of the solar power.

"What do you want me to do?"

"I will open the boundary and use my magic to heal the rift on Earth, and the energy from the Earth will draw the solar flare and seal the crack in Gaia's Dome." Queen Vania pointed to the crystal shield. Keelie got it now. The energy from the Earth magic that they summoned would heal the rift in the Earth, and the energy from the Earth would draw on the sun to heal the crack in the crystalline boundary protecting the atmosphere.

"You must hold the image of a tree and its root in your mind when we do this. The Mother Tree, from the great forest, is close by. You need to contact her."

Keelie had never heard of a Mother Tree. "You mean a Queen Tree?"

"No, this is the first tree, the tree that founded the forest. She is said to grow alone at the top of the world, keeping an eye on all the forests. She reports to the Great Sylvus."

Keelie closed her eyes and called upon the ancient trees that populated the mountainsides around Grey Mantle. There was no answer. She opened her tree sense and felt for the rest of the forest. Nothing.

Disconcerted and feeling very alone, she tugged at the cord around her neck and pulled free the charms that dangled from it: rose quartz to keep the Dread away, although there was no Dread here; the Queen Aspen's Heart, which was given to her by a forest when she killed the Red Cap that had been terrorizing it; and the silver acorn bound in silver thorns, the dark fae charm that had allowed her to open the book of secrets that had helped save her uncle and restore the Dread in her home forest.

Queen Vania's eyes widened at the sight of the powerful talismans.

Keelie ignored her and clasped the charred heart of the Queen of the Aspens. She called upon the trees again.

You are the Lady Keliel? The trees seemed to answer in unison.

Yes. I need your help.

Of course.

I need to reach the Mother Tree.

Keelie formed the image of the crack in the atmosphere and sent it to the forest.

Oh!

She felt a swoosh, as if she had formed into a million bits of herself and traveled in a wave of green magic.

She reformed as herself in front of a huge tree, whose branches reached the sky and whose roots sank deep into the Earth. It was larger than the redwoods.

A crackly voice emerged in her mind, and it was laughing. It was the voice of an old woman.

Keelie looked down and saw a bent old woman with branches growing out of her skull sitting on one of the Mother Tree's roots. The old woman's skin was wrinkled like bark, and her gray wisps of hair were like bits of moss. Her eyes were dark green. Darker than an elf's ... earthy green.

Who are you? Keelie asked.

You're young and your sap is juicy. The old woman leaned forward and clasped a walking stick carved with animals. It reminded Keelie of a totem pole. What can I do for you, missy?

I'm looking for the Mother Tree.

The old woman patted the root. You ve found her. Dania sent you, didn't she?

Keelie nodded. She had a sneaking suspicion this was the human personae the Mother Tree conjured.

Crack has gotten too big for her to fix, so now she calls for help. I've always hated how some people think they can handle something on their own when it's obvious they're going to need help.

I need the help of the trees. Queen Vania and I will call upon Earth magic to heal the rift, but I'll need the trees' help to channel the energy of the solar flare to repair the crack in Gaia's Dome.

The old woman nodded. She rubbed the end of her walking stick in the soft loamy earth that surrounded the Mother Tree's root.

Show me the heart the Queen Aspen gave you.

Keelie offered the heart, bound on its string to her neck.

The old woman arched a gray thin eyebrow. You're going to need it when you go back to the High Mountain Faire. Keep it with you at all times.

I will. Keelie wondered how much the old tree knew of her. The High Mountain Renaissance Faire was in Colorado, and she had not spoken of it here.

Mother Tree moved restlessly. I will help you contact the trees, but this solution may not work. Queen Dania has overlooked the other beings of Earth. She will need to ask for the help of Herne and his dark fae and the peoples under the mountain.

She thinks I am the answer.

You're part of the answer. And you must go back. Dania is ready. The old woman looked up at the sky and dark storm clouds had formed. She was never one for patience. She's already captured a solar flare.

What do I need to do? Keelie asked, panicked. Was she supposed to channel a solar flare?

Push the extra magic into the Earth, child.

The Mother Tree's words echoed in Keelie's head as the old woman disappeared. Keelie was back, face-to-face with Vania. She was sweating as she held out her hands in an attempt to control the energy surrounding her, and she glowed from within as if she'd swallowed the northern lights, with energy pulsing in and around her.

She closed her eyes and summoned the energy of the trees, but the lights were too bright. Keelie couldn't concentrate. A wave of light energy surged through her. She didn't know what to do-Vania had rushed into this situa tion, leaving her without any clues as to what was expected of her. The Mother Tree's voice echoed in her mind: Dania has her own way. She envisioned the Mother Tree as it stood high on a granite mountaintop. Its roots clasped the stone outcropping, then trailed to the soil.

Push the energy into the Earth.

A trickle of sweat trailed down Keelie's face as more of the solar energy pulsed around her, squeezing the air out of her lungs. She envisioned pushing it deep into the Earth as if the light was a treeling and she was the shovel digging the hole. She hadn't used this much magic since she had tapped into Earth magic to rescue the Wildewood's unicorn. This was much greater.

She heard the voices of the forests of the world all around her, each one unique and different. We're with you, Daughter of the Forest.

Lava and molten rock bubbled and reached out with fiery tentacles.

In her mind, Keelie dug deeper, pushing the light into the Earth, willing the crack to close. She envisioned the light as knitting needles and bound the torn edges of the rift together, weaving them closed with the energy and magic. But it was not enough. She could not seal the fissure's upper edges, and it remained open to the sky.

Keelie opened her eyes and looked at the 3-D model of the Earth, where the repaired rift had now turned into an angry red scar. Exhausted, she dropped to her knees. She wanted to press her face against the cool floor and sleep. Then she heard a loud rumble from the image as a tiny tear formed at the end of the repaired rift.

Queen Vania slumped onto a chair. Her eyes closed. "We have failed. The magic will continue to leak out."

After a long moment, the queen forced herself to stand. "I must use my scrying stone." Keelie noticed that her hands shook as she held up a large crystal. The blue orb of Earth floated in front of them, oceans glowing brightly, then suddenly they saw an expanded version of the forest around Grey Mantle, zooming in until they saw details that proved that this was no map, but an actual view of the world below them. Keelie could see lights glowing in the windows of the rooms they'd slept in, and a tiny figure stomped across the street-Miszrial. Her attention was drawn to the fissure, where the tear was grinding open.

Keelie watched as dwarves poured out of a tear in the Earth, legs pumping, mouths open in fear. They were smoky and their clothes singed, as if they were fleeing a fire in the tunnel behind them. The dwarves scattered as something exploded out of the fissure.

What the-a volcano? Molten lava shot up like a geyser of fire. A bright fireball hurled itself high into the sky and Keelie drew back as if it would burn her. This was no volcano. No, it looked like a dragon.

Dragons couldn't be real, Keelie told herself. Although, why not? Her uncle was a unicorn, and Raven was dating a unicorn. She'd seen all kinds of creatures.

As she watched the tiny scene, the fireball arced up, then seemed to be on a trajectory headed straight to her. It was coming closer and closer.

"Is that a dragon?"

Queen Vania sat back down in her chair and closed her eyes. "This is worse than I thought. She's awake and we are all doomed." She opened her eyes again and glared at Keelie. "If you hadn't pushed all of the solar energy I was sending to you into the Earth, then both rifts would have been repaired."

Keelie couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Excuse me? You were the one that asked me to help you."

"I assumed you were the answer. Apparently, the human DNA in your blood messed things up."

"You don't know that. And you didn't give me any instructions. I did the best I could, and you-" Keelie couldn't finish her argument.

A shimmer formed and Salaca materialized, wearing fresh clothes and looking worried. "I know you didn't want to be disturbed, but I think your presence is needed to deal with a problem. Several little problems." He sneered, reminding Keelie a lot of Elia.

Queen Vania lifted her head and peered at her subject with glassy eyes. "What?"

"You have several"-Salaca cleared his throat as if he had a hairball hung on the back of his tonsils-"dwarves who would like to speak to you immediately."

"Dwarves? Here?" Queen Vania seemed shocked by the very idea. Keelie wondered if she'd ever said the word "dwarves" before.

"Yes, and they're being very loud. Saying if they do not have an immediate audience with you, they're going to bring their wrought iron garden furniture and redecorate the Great Hall, and hope we all break out in hives."

"Send them off. They are not welcome, and I'm too distraught." Queen Vania waved her hand with a go-away gesture. "This mongrel has destroyed everything."

Great. Now Keelie was back to being a mongrel. One of the few things upon which the fae and elves would agree.

"They're not going to go away. Smoke is billowing off their caps, and they're angry. One of them said he lost his beard because of the fairy magic that blasted through Underthe-Hill."

Keelie turned her attention back to the scrying stone and the approaching fireball. The dragon looked angry.

Fala shimmered into the room, as beautifully dressed as his friend and just as frightened. "Your Majesty, a dragon has been sighted." Apparently, dragons weren't a daily occurrence.

Vania sighed. "Show her in when she appears."

Keelie rose to her feet and dusted her hands off in an attempt to get the blood moving. Having a global mindmeld with the forests of the world had kind of left her limbs numb; she needed to walk around and get some blood circulating.

The queen stood up and jabbed a finger at Keelie. "You will explain to the dwarves and the dragon what you did when you pushed the magic into the Earth."

"Don't blame me. You sent me to the Mother Tree, and she told me to do it."

"Well, it didn't work, and now I have Ermentrude, awake and angry and headed this way. I don't like to deal with dragons." The queen snapped her fingers and her throne appeared behind her.

"Ermentrude the Dragon? You are kidding." It sounded like a kiddy picture book.

Salaca's face darkened and his lips trembled. "You've awakened our doom, mongrel."

Keelie wanted to kick the fairy, but he looked so scared that she almost felt sorry for him. So far, the dragon hadn't done anything but fly out of the Earth and scorch some dwarves. They didn't even seem too hurt. Ermentrude must be really tough if the queen was so affected. She wondered how the dragon's presence would change the situation.

"We're going to have to do this again, so you can't leave until we find a solution to the rifts in Gaia's Dome and the Earth," Vania said as she rose, smoothing down her dress. She snapped her fingers, and her throne was replaced by a mirror that shimmered into existence. Her hair formed into a smooth chignon, and she immediately glowed as if she'd just returned from a full day at the spa.