The Quicksilver Faire (30 page)

Vania pulled up the image of the Earth. "I don't know if I can do that." She paced.

"Linsa would tell you to do so. From what everyone has told me about her, she was a kind fairy."

"I miss her." Silver tears streamed down the queen's face. She turned away from Keelie and circled around her in a counterclockwise motion.

"I understand the pain is still raw, and it feels as if your heart will never heal," Keelie said. "I lost my mother almost a year ago.

Vania turned and walked in the other direction, as if her mind was driven to keep her body moving in rhythm to frantic thoughts.

"There's another reason we have to work together," Keelie added. "It isn't just the veil between Fairy and Earth and Under-the-Hill that is being torn apart. The veil between us and the spirit world is opening, too."

"How do you know?" Vania asked. "You don't have the magical ability to talk to the dead."

"Because my mother and Grandmother Josephine came to see

Vania paled and wrung her hands nervously. She really needed to take up a hobby. Maybe Ermentrude would have a suggestion.

"I know what you did to my grandmother-Willow, you called her. You turned her into a brownie, and it was Linsa who offered her a life as a human."

Vania lifted her head and stared at Keelie. "Yet you're here. Do you wish to have your revenge for what I did to Willow?"

Keelie knew honesty was the best policy. "I would be lying if I said no."

The queen's eyes widened.

"But, I can put that aside and work with you to seal the rift. And I think the women in my family wouldn't want me to take that path. They would want me to help heal." Keelie held her head up with pride and looked Vania squarely in the eye. "We need to act now to close the rift."

"I see. I will let you know about my decision and working with Herne. I will give it some thought. Still, I don't know if what you're telling me is true."

"You'll have to trust me, and we're running out of time."

Quivering on the inside, Keelie couldn't believe she'd just talked to the queen the way she had ... all the time she'd spent around Grandmother Keliatiel had paid off. You had to project authority and not let them smell the fear. Still, Keelie hoped her conversation would result in Vania cooperating. She thought about Elia and the baby. Vania had to join her magic along with the others to stop the rift.

When Keelie returned to the Great Hall, Knot was waiting for her. His tail twitched agitatedly. "Yeow okay?"

"Meow okay. I'm ready to go. Did you get what I asked for?"

He turned his head and she saw a small pocket watch hanging from his neck by a slender blue ribbon.

Fala gestured toward the vortex. "Are you ready?"

Keelie nodded. "Knot."

He sauntered over to her.

Before they reached the vortex, Fala stopped. "Keelie, I wish you success in closing the rift."

Stunned, Keelie didn't know what to say.

"If you can find a token Linsa gave Herne, and if he can show it to the queen, it will prove to her that Linsa didn't plot a betrayal."

"Do you know what this token is?" Keelie asked.

"Herne will know," Fala advised. "And you're going to need this." He returned her book of dragon magic. "I snitched it when she wasn't looking."

"Thanks." Keelie took the book warily. "Why are you helping me?"

"I want to save the High Court and serve my queen, but common sense tells me that there is truth in what you say." He bowed.

Keelie and Knot jumped into the vortex. Disorienting lights pulsed around her and she held her breath, as if that was going to help. She thought about the No-Tell Motel. The image of Sean popped into her mind, along with the memory of how his skin had felt under her hands that morning ... and then she landed with a painful thud outside the motel office.

She spat out a mouthful of dirt. "Gross!"

Knot appeared in midair. An oak tree reached out its branches and caught the cat, who then landed on top of Keelie's head.

"Ow! Do you have to keep landing on me like I'm your personal air cushion?"

Knot jumped down, meowing underneath his breath. Keelie got up, wincing. She mentally contacted the tree. Thank you.

You're welcome, Tree Shepherdess.

She smiled, and reveled in the contact with the oak. It was so different to be in contact with the greenness and the living essence of Earth, which was what was missing in the Under-the-Hill trees. Their alien consciousness had haunted her ever since she'd been in contact with them. Grandmother and Mom had to get to the root of the problem. Maybe she needed to return to Under-the-Hill and study the roots of the grove trees again.

"Keelie." Sean was standing at the edge of the building. He walked over to her. "Where have you been?"

"The High Court, to talk to Queen Vania."

"You went alone."

"I was summoned. Actually, kind of kidnapped. Fala and Salaca came and got me, and all my notes and map, too."

"Are you okay?"

"I stood up to Vania, and Knot talked to the Timekeeper so that we got back right away." She told Sean what the fairy queen had said. He listened, and then kissed her forehead.

"I can't say I'm happy you went, but she needs to be involved in the alliance and I'm proud of you for standing up to her. Let's go tell your father and King Gneiss."

"Sean, I have to return to Under-the-Hill to speak to Herne." She saw Sean's muscles tense.

"Can't he come here? He's shown up here often enough."

"I need to examine the trees in Under-the-Hill again. There's something about them that's important to the rift, but I don't understand what it is. I wish Sir Davey could come with me." Sir Davey's knowledge of Earth magic might identify the strange way the trees shared a consciousness, like a hive.

Sean sighed. "I'm going to be honest. I don't want you to go, but I know you have to. Just don't make any rash decisions about..."

"I've already made up my mind, and you should know that." She sighed. Elves. You would think, as long-lived as they were, they'd pick up some wisdom about the way girls think.

"Keelie."

She reached up and kissed him.

He pulled her close and Keelie felt something fat and furry attach itself to her leg with sharp claws. She glanced down at Knot just as a familiar whoosh sensation made her knees buckle. Sean's arms tightened around her. Before she opened her eyes, she knew where they were.

"What was that? Where are we?" Sean pushed her behind him, ready to defend her against an invisible enemy. He looked up, amazed, at Under-the-Hill's seemingly endless sky, its eternally reddish dusk illuminating the tall black spikes of the haunted forest.

"We're in Under-the-Hill by the grove, the trees I want to study." Keelie's voice came out in a whisper.

"How ... ?" Sean didn't have a chance to finish the question. Knot popped in beside Keelie, his fur sticking out in different directions. His tail had a kink in it.

"Serves you right for bringing us here without a warning," she told the cat. She knew better than to touch him. He looked grumpy and might bite her to make himself feel better.

"Knot brought us here?" Sean asked. "I thought this was Herne's doing."

She didn't tell him that if Herne had been responsible, Sean would still be standing outside the No-Tell Motel. "I need for you to keep a cool head. I need your help in persuading him to join the alliance. We all need to put aside our differences to make it work."

Sean tucked a stray curl behind her ear. "I will. For you."

Goose bumps dotted her skin and her knees felt loose. They were definitely about to enter a new stage in their relationship, or maybe it was the influence of Under-the-Hill. She stepped away from Sean so that she could think.

"This is the grove that Linsa and Herne planted together. It symbolized their relationship. They brought the trees from Earth and used quicksilver and different combinations of magic to keep them alive."

"Maybe the trees will give you some insight as to why we're here?"

Keelie opened her tree sense. Nothing but a rumbling from the roots, which quickly grew into a loud roar. She stumbled at the onslaught of magic and energy that crashed into her.

Sean rushed to her. "Keelie, what was that?"

"The trees. Magic," she gasped.

A familiar discordant jangle ripped through the air as Peascod stepped from behind one of the trees. "Not what you expected?"

Sean moved forward, but Peascod threw a glass sphere filled with a swirling green glow, which expanded and flowed across Sean, then sealed into a perfect bubble again, enclosed around him. It was as if he was stuck inside an upside-down fish bowl. Keelie saw him shouting and pounding on the glass.

"Let him go."

"I'm afraid I can't have him going around being all heroic." Peascod laughed. "It was a good thing I didn't kill you. I have a new plan for you."

"I don't care why you've had a change of heart." She wouldn't let him see how frightening he was to her.

"I don't have a human heart, so don't become all sentimental. Let's just say you'll be useful to the end. Your end. Now, I need for you to focus your attention on the trees."

Keelie flicked her eyes over at Sean, who was now pacing back and forth. If she cooperated with Peascod, it would give Sean more time to find a way out.

"What's wrong with the trees?"

"Can't you tell by touching them? And you call yourself a tree shepherdess."

"You call yourself a jester, but I haven't laughed yet."

He scowled.

"One question, though. This is Herne's garden. I thought he banished you."

"He did, but with the magic leaking, I'm becoming stronger. So much stronger that I can travel between the realms." He tilted his head. "And Herne is ever so weak, as you've discovered. Seems he needs you, too."

The ground rumbled beneath Keelie.

"No more chitchat. Let's get to work."

"What do you want with me?"

"We need you here to release one of our own."

"A goblin? I thought you had plenty of those."

"We have a surplus, no thanks to you and your killing kin, but buried beneath the roots of the trees, one of our comrades has awakened. He wants to be set free, but for that we need a tree shepherdess' special magic."

"What are you talking about?" Keelie felt the ground rumble and wondered if there was a volcano below them. Hadn't Ermentrude mentioned that fire blossoms grew at the edge of the volcanic pool? They might be standing in the middle of a time bomb. The rift was probably making it unstable.

She saw that Sean had gone still, his ear was pressed to the bottom of the glass orb. Fear had widened his eyes. He met her gaze and mouthed a word that chilled her.

Dragon.

Fear washed over Keelie as she realized what was making the rumbling underneath the ground. "You're releasing a dragon."

"Clever girl. I didn't think you would figure it out. But not any dragon. This is Avenir."

"And the trees are dead." Keelie realized that the consciousness she'd been feeling before, when Herne had brought her here, had been the consciousness of just one being. She hadn't been talking to trees. The dragon had answered her queries.

"Funny thing about Avenir. Your history is tied to hishe was once the mate of a dragon friend of yours. And your Sean is descended from his captor. He will be so pleased to see Sean o' the Wood." Peascod laughed. "You should see the look on your face. I can read you so easily. No, there was no love lost between Ermentrude and Avenir."

"I'm not going to help you." Keelie shuffled her feet to maintain her balance as the ground roiled, something below desperately trying to surface. Unearthly screams came from the walled merchant town, and the air was full of confused dark fae.

"He's getting impatient. Let's help him, shall we?" Peascod grabbed her hand. Keelie pulled against him, but the jester was strong and dragged her away from the trees, then pulled her hand open and slashed a knife blade across her palm.

Keelie screamed as pain seared through her hand. Blood dripped in a steady stream onto the soil. The dirt opened like a mouth to suck the blood in.

Something pushed her to the ground and she kicked away from the slurping mouth in the dirt. A black stag stood over her, facing Peascod with lowered antlers.

Peascod laughed again. "My impotent lord. Come to see my triumph? Your little mongrel will be Avenir's first meal, and her power will seal your doom."

One of the dark trees fell, its branches cracking the glass orb that held Sean. He pounded his shoulder against the crack and broke free, racing toward them with drawn sword.

"Keelie," he shouted, "run."

She couldn't. The earth buckled and shook, and huge rocks fell around them. A huge silver claw scratched through the ground and was soon joined by another. Avenir was twice as big as Ermentrude, and she'd only seen two of his toes.

Herne dissolved to his humanlike form and turned to Keelie. "Grab Knot and touch a tree, then think of the maypole in Big Nugget. The cat will get you there."

Sean rushed toward Peascod. The jester laughed, then reached within his pockets and pulled out another glass sphere. He tossed it up into the air, and when it landed in his hand, he disappeared. The tree trunks were beginning to crack, and the ground all around them burbled. It reminded Keelie of the time when Alora had emerged as a huge tree.