Wings (30 page)

“Don’t ever touch her again,” Jak snarled.

“And who’s going to stop me?” Nihlo asked, feeling his swollen lip.

Jak pulled a knife out of a sheath on his belt and said, “Who do you think?”

“Jak, are you—,” Tamisin began.

“I’m fine,” he said, sparing her a quick glance. He must have noticed that she’d opened her wings partway, because he added, “Get out of here while you can.”

Thunder boomed as lightning ripped the sky again. A fierce wind thrashed the branches of the forest; a soaking rain pelted everyone until hair, fur, and feathers were wet and bedraggled. Targin gestured for his goblins to bring Tamisin forward, but her wings were already spread wide behind her, and her feet were leaving the ground. Unlike that long-ago Halloween when the wind had slowed her down while she fled the goblins, this time it acted as her ally, enveloping her in a pocket of calm as it pushed the goblins away. Targin’s goblins fought to take hold of her, but Tamisin beat her wings once, twice, and then the wind carried her high above the ground, leaving the goblins, her mother, and everyone else watching her in astonishment. Full-blooded fairies couldn’t really fly when they were big because their wings weren’t strong enough, but then, she wasn’t really a fairy. Tamisin Warner was something much better. She was a halfling.

It wasn’t hard to find Lamia Lou. All Tamisin had to do was wait until the screaming goblins ran past and see
who was chasing them. When she found a lamia with long dark hair, she flew low enough to see her face, then landed on the ground beside her. “Hi!” Tamisin said. “I have a favor to ask of you, but before I tell you, can I ask why you’re chasing the goblins? I thought you didn’t like eating them anymore.”

“I don’t,” said Lamia Lou. “They thay that goblins tathte like chicken, but they’re wrong. If you athk me, chicken tathte much better. But we aren’t chathing the goblinth becauthe we want to eat them. We jutht want them to thtop being tho noithy. Everyone in my family ith very thenthitive to noithe. It hurth our earth.”

“You mean you come here to make them stop being noisy, then they see you and get even noisier, so you chase them?”

“That’th it,” said Lamia Lou. “Now what about that favor?”

“It’s really very simple…,” said Tamisin.

When Tamisin returned to the top of the hill, she found Titania and Targin still arguing and everyone else looking wet and miserable. The ground had thawed, releasing the goblins. Lurinda and Nihlo were gone. To her relief, Jak was still on his feet.

The storm had died down while Tamisin talked to Lamia Lou, leaving the ground so soggy that it squelched under her feet when she landed. Everyone seemed surprised to see her, but she couldn’t decide if it was because they had been unable to believe their eyes the
first time or because they thought she had gone and wasn’t coming back.

“Hello, Mother, Targin,” she said, nodding to each in turn. “I see you haven’t settled your differences yet.”

Targin glared at her, obviously angry that she hadn’t been the bargaining tool he’d wanted. It was her mother who spoke up first, and even she sounded angry with Tamisin. “Why are you here? I was proud of you for escaping from this lout on your own, but I see no reason for you to return.”

“I came for you, Mother. And for him,” Tamisin said, gesturing toward Targin. “I wanted to give you some advice. You need to stop threatening each other. You’ll never get anywhere that way. I want you two to sit down and work things out like responsible adults. I know you want to be a good queen, Mother, and do what’s best for your subjects. And you,” she said, turning to Targin, “want what you think is best for your people. It seems to me that you already have similar goals.”

“We don’t need your advice,” said Targin.

“That’s too bad,” said Tamisin. “Because my friends and I aren’t going anywhere and neither are you until you reach an agreement, no matter how long it takes.”

“What friends?” Targin asked with a sneer. “If you mean my nephew, that boy’s a traitor and deserves to be whipped for letting you go.”

“I think the princeth meanth uth,” lisped a voice from the woods as four lamias slithered into the clearing to the horror of everyone except Tamisin. “My name ith Lamia Lou and I’m a good friend of Princeth
Tamithin. That maketh her a friend of my thithterth, too. Unh, unh,” she said, rattling her tail at a goblin who looked as if he were about to run away. “You heard the princeth. No one leaveth until we thay they can.”

Tamisin was enjoying herself immensely. “Thank you, Lamia Lou.”

“Your threat won’t work on me, Tamisin,” said Titania. “I could leave any time.”

“That’s true,” said Tamisin. “But some of your fairies might get hurt and you wouldn’t want that.”

Titania glanced at the nymphs who were still tending to the fallen fairies. She turned to Targin. “What exactly are your demands?”

“We want to control what goes on in our territory. We’ll obey your laws when we’re elsewhere in your kingdom, but we want to make our own laws inside our forest. And we don’t want our children taken from us to serve at your court indefinitely. We want a set period of time and we want their service to be voluntary.”

Titania frowned. “That’s ridiculous. There would be chaos if every group of fey made its own laws. I can’t possibly consider it!”

“Isn’t there something you could do, Mother?” said Tamisin. “If the goblins are really so unhappy …”

Titania sighed. “Perhaps you can write your own laws regarding some matters, but there are others that must stay the same throughout the kingdom. Travelers must be able to pass through your forest in safety, so the laws against killing and eating them cannot change.”

Targin nodded. “And as to the children serving at the royal court?”

“I must discuss it with my advisers, but I don’t think your request is too unreasonable.”

Titania and Targin were still talking when Jak came up behind Tamisin trailing a dozen cats. “Are you all right?” asked Tamisin. “What happened with you and Nihlo?”

“Nihlo didn’t have the stomach for a real fight once he saw that his poison no longer affected me. I guess he’d already used it on me too many times, plus his father gave me the antidote a few days ago. Nihlo took off when I didn’t collapse after he pricked me,” Jak said, showing her a hole in his sleeve. “How are you?”

“I’m fine now that you’re back.”

“If you two are finished,” said Titania, “we’d like to go.”

“Is everything settled?” asked Tamisin.

“Her Royal Majesty will be convening a meeting of the heads of all the goblin clans,” said Targin. “She assures me that we will be able to work out something.”

“Good,” said Tamisin. “And I want you both to give me your word that neither fairy nor goblin shall bother us should Jak and I return to the human world.”

“So be it,” replied Titania. “No fairy under my command shall follow you or cause you mischief or harm in the human world.”

“And I give my word for my goblins,” said Targin.

“Oh, there’s one other thing,” Tamisin added after glancing at the lamias. “You should know that loud
noises hurt the lamias’ ears. It tends to make them angry. I don’t think you want to make them angry, do you?”

“No! Of course not!” said Targin. “I never knew …”

“I thank you for your help, ladies,” Tamisin told the lamias. “You may go now.” The collective sigh of relief from fairies and goblins sounded like a breeze passing through the clearing.

“It’s ’bout time!” Tobi said as he climbed down from the tree and hurried over to join them. “I thought ya’d keep us here till morning. Uh-oh!” Tobi scurried behind Jak and Tamisin as the lamias slithered closer. The cats hissed and drew nearer to Jak.

The goblins were already disbanding when Herbert trotted out of the forest. “Lamia Lou,” he called. “Are you ready to go? You said you wouldn’t be long. I’ve missed my slithering sweetie.”

“I’ve mithed you, too, Thtud Muffin!” replied Lamia Lou. “Come over here and let me introduthe you to my thithterth. Thith ith Lamia Lee and thith ith Lamia Lynn and thith ith Lamia Thlamia, my baby thithter. Girlth, thith ith Herbert!”

“Ladies!” Herbert said, whuffling his lips in admiration.

“Tamisin, I’d like to talk to you,” said Titania. “That was clever of you to dance the way you did down in the goblins’ cave. I don’t know why, but your dancing draws my fairies like no one else’s can. Unfortunately, it took longer to locate you when you were underground. My
warriors were unable to find you until the cats showed them the hole in the clearing. Thank goodness the cats like you so much, Jak.”

“Yeah,” said Jak, nudging a persistent cat away with his foot. “It’s great.”

“Are you really returning to the human world now?” asked Titania. “You’re both welcome to stay with me for as long as you’d like.”

Tamisin glanced at Jak, then back at Titania. She wanted to answer her mother without hurting her feelings, but she wasn’t quite sure how to do it. “That’s kind of you,” she finally said, “but you were right when you told me that I belong in the human world. I have family and friends who care about me there, and Jak’s family … well, he’d be better off there, too.”

Titania nodded. “It’s probably just as well. You’ll be safer in the human world, at least until I’ve met with the heads of the clans and things have calmed down. But even there you’ll have to be careful. I meant what I said about my fairies leaving you alone. However, there are some fairies who don’t listen to me. And I’ve only just learned that my former handmaiden Lurinda stole one of my most valuable rings. Shortly before she left my service she made it appear as if another handmaiden had taken it, but I’ve always suspected Lurinda. She’s proven her guilt by taking you the way she did, which she couldn’t have done without the ring. It’s a ring of power that can open any Gate, at any time, which is how she brought you here, Tamisin, and how she got away. I have to find
her and get the ring back. Lurinda has already used it more in the last few days than I did over all the years I had it in my possession. The ring shouldn’t be used lightly. Using it too frequently will weaken the fabric that divides the human and the fey, with potentially disastrous consequences. I don’t know what she hopes to accomplish, but I doubt it will benefit anyone but her. Remember, she can use my ring to go anywhere she pleases, so be careful, whatever you do. I just hope that the human world is safer for you than this one has proven to be.”

“We’ll keep our eyes open,” said Jak.

“If you’re going back today, I have it on good authority,” Titania said, darting a glance at her fairy warriors, “that a Gate is open across the Sograssy Sea at the edge of Deep Blue Lake. Ordinarily it would take you a day to reach it and you wouldn’t get there before it closes, but considering who your friends are …”

“That sounds perfect,” said Tamisin.

Targin had joined them while they were talking to Titania. “I wanted to apologize to you, Jak. You were doing what you thought was best, and since I never told you what I was doing or why … Let’s just say that things might have gone differently.”

Jak nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“What about me, Princess? Are ya still mad at good ole Tobi?” the little goblin asked, peeking out from behind Jak.

“That remains to be seen,” said Tamisin.

“Herbert and I would be happy to take you acroth the thea,” said Lamia Lou. “We’re going acroth anyway. I want Herbert to meet the retht of my family.”

“How many are there?” Tamisin whispered to Jak.

“I don’t think anyone has ever counted them,” Jak whispered back. “And I doubt anyone really wants to.”

Once again Lamia Lou gave Jak and Tamisin a ride across the Sograssy Sea, this time with the lamia telling endless tales about her family. Only Herbert seemed genuinely interested.

“…And then there wath Great-Grandma Lamia Zalina. That old woman wath a real hoot! Thhe filed her teeth to pointth tho thhe’d look thcarier, but it made her teeth rot and they all had to come out. Without her teeth her face collapthed and thhe had to gum her food. No one thought thhe looked thcary after that.”

“That’s too bad,” murmured Herbert.