Please respond quickly—see the end!
June 30, 2004
Dear Keish,
I have time to write a long letter today, so I’ll start where I left off with what happened on the 26th:
Sleeping is a very inconvenient need. It took most of the night to ride to take Moonstone to the Lioness and the first light of dawn was not far off when I climbed onto the back of the largest lion I have ever seen. His name is Banquo and he stands several inches taller than Trena. His coat gleams like gold in the sunlight. His mane, wings, and the tassel of his tail are black as night. In the cave, he could speak to me but once we left, that ability passed away. I don’t know for certain how old he is, but he looks young and powerful. We flew through much of the morning until hard as I tried, I could keep my eyes open no longer and I rested my head against the soft, thick fur of Banquo’s mane. When I woke up, it was dark and we were on the ground again. Banquo was sitting next to me, his tawny eyes gazing up at the sky. How I wished I could speak to him. The night was warm and clear. I felt very safe with Banquo sitting next to me. I was still very tired and fell back to sleep.
Back in the cave before we left, I had asked Trena why I could not talk to Banquo outside of the cave the way I could talk to the griffon. She said that my ability to talk to the griffon was part of the spell I placed on him when I caught him—if I met him today, under no spell, I could not speak to him. No spell is forcing Banquo into my service.
I woke up with the first light of morning. Banquo was sleeping with his tail curled around his face the way Kestrel often sleeps. I stood up quietly and walked out into the trees to look around. We were not far from the edge of a cliff. I looked out and saw a great valley spread before us. I have no idea where we were—even the general direction. It was a beautiful place: tall tropical trees stretched out below me as far as I could see.
I walked back to where Banquo lay and stood over him, wondering whether I should wake him up. Somehow it seemed almost insolent to wake up a winged lion. I ate some food from my satchel and sat down, wondering how late he had sat up and how much longer he would sleep. I think maybe fifteen minutes had passed, when suddenly Banquo’s head shot up and a low growl emerged from his throat. I followed his gaze into the trees and discovered another large cat watching us. It was a type of panther I’ve never seen before, as large as an ordinary lion, but not as large as Banquo. I didn’t sense any magic coming from it. Its basic color was bright yellow orange, but it was entirely marked in long black stripes across its head and body. I’ve never seen anything like it. The panther put its ears back and shrank away, disappearing into the trees. Banquo shook his head and looked at me. I could tell that he wanted to say something. He sighed and stood up.
I was wondering if he needed to find something to eat when he motioned for me to climb onto his back. I did so and we immediately took off into the sky. Fly on a winged lion is nothing like riding a horse or jumping on a griffon. When we glide with wings still, there is nothing smoother, but when he flaps, we bounce up and down in the air and I have to hang on. Landings and takeoffs are much more gradual and less violent, but I’m sure Banquo goes just as fast as the griffon did, and both are much faster than horses.
I had no warning when we crossed into the land of the fairies. Abruptly, my vision warped and blurred and my insides felt like they would explode outside me, or a moment later crush me entirely. Then just as abruptly, these sensations stopped and my vision cleared. The land of the fairies loomed before us like a great floating island stretching beyond my vision into the distance. We began to descend and landed a few minutes later. For a while we could only lie on the ground gasping at the air. Then, slowly we were able to sit up and look around.
“Are you all right?” asked Banquo, startling me, “we can talk here.”
“Yes,” I said and abruptly a fit of coughing took me, “yes, I’m all right,” I repeated when it passed.
“Good,” said Banquo and he turned his gaze to the forest that surrounded us, seeming as interested in our surroundings as I was.
In my fairy book, Mother’s paintings show the land of the fairies as a giant flower garden. It is true that everything around us seemed out of proportionally large, but the effect was not quite as exaggerated at the book illustrations. Still, I felt very small and insignificant looking at mushrooms as high as my waist and tree trunk wide enough to carve a house into. And everything was full of magic. It was like being underwater, the magic enveloped me, pressed against me, intertwining with my own magic and strengthening it, but also pulling it away from me. At first it was overwhelming. I shook my head several times to clear it.
“Are you all right?” I asked Banquo.
He nodded. “The effect will be harder for you to adjust to,” he said gently, “my magic is more similar to the fairies’ than yours.”
“But don’t the fairies take their magic from humans?” I asked.
“Only part of it,” said Banquo, “they have multiple sources of magic.”
“Have you been here often?” I asked, because he was still looking around himself with interest.
“Only once before,” he said, “it was when I reached maturity and my mother came to present me before the fairies. That was just a few years ago.”
“Your mother is Trena’s daughter?” I asked.
“No, technically, I’m a great-grandson. My mother is her granddaughter, daughter of her eldest son, Noralt. I believe he lived with your family for a while.”
“Yes,” I remembered, “before my mother died.”
“Yes,” said Banquo sadly, “he passed away soon after that.”
“I’m sorry.”
Banquo nodded and looked away from me. His eyes continued to scan the forest.
“I believe you are safe here,” he said finally, “the fairies are still a long ways off. I’m very weak and hungry. If I leave you for a couple hours will you be all right? The plants here are like the ones you grow at home, so they are edible. You should be able to find fruits and vegetables—that mushroom, for example.”
“Yes, I’ll be fine,” I said.
Banquo left me by walking into the forest rather than flying. I looked around, wondering what to do. I wasn’t hungry, and the idea of cutting up a giant mushroom and eating it didn’t really appeal to me anyway. I thought about starting a new letter, but what would I say? Finally, I just sat back against a tree to wait for Banquo to return. I kept my eyes open, watching for the giant insects from Mother’s drawings, not sure if I really wanted to see one without Banquo by my side.
True to his word, Banquo returned after a couple of hours.
“If we leave now, we can arrive at the fairies’ castle tomorrow afternoon,” he told me, “do you have a plan for when we get there?”
“Not really,” I admitted.
“They won’t give Liop back,” he said quietly, “I’ve heard the story of when Jezreel and Ellean went after Nysa. I doubt they will say or do anything different with you.”
“I know,” I pulled my knees up and rested my forehead on them.
“Did you know there’s a ward on you?” he asked after a minute of silence.
“Yes,” I said, “it happened two nights ago. I think Keish did it, but I’m not sure. I didn’t know you could set a ward on someone without being next to them. I was riding a horse at the time.”
(Keish, how did you do that, by the way? I forgot to ask in my last letter.)
“It seems like you can never know everything about magic,” said Banquo, turning his eyes to the sky. I followed his gaze. What was I going to do? I wondered. Did I really think I could take Liop back? Our parents had never succeeded in taking Nysa back. But she had left on her own eventually. Maybe I just needed a chance to talk to Liop, to tell him to run out of a fairy ring the first chance he got. But wouldn’t our parents have thought of that? Wouldn’t they have tried to coax Nysa out?
“Shall we go?” asked Banquo, interrupting my thoughts. I nodded and climbed back onto his back.
We stopped again for the night. I ate some food from my satchel and supplemented it with half of a large avocado that I found. When I fell asleep Banquo was gazing at the stars.
By the time we reached the edge of the fairies’ capital city, I was feeling a sense of desperation. I couldn’t do anything for Liop. I couldn’t fight the fairies. I couldn’t steal him away. I didn’t have the slightest idea where they were keeping him. I remembered that our parents were allowed to see Nysa at the castle, so I did have the hope of seeing him again. That would have to be enough.
“Do you have any ideas of what I should do?” I asked Banquo.
“Not really,” he said, frowning, “I’m sorry.”
July 1st
This is just a continuation of where I left off writing yesterday:
The fairies capital doesn’t look much like a city. Banquo told me that the fairies build their homes in the trees, sometimes hollowing the trunks for rooms. Hard as stared, I could not find any entrances. We passed through the city on foot. I had the distinct feeling that we were being watched, but I never saw anyone. Only when we arrived at the castle did I see a living creature. A pair of black ants, high as my head stood guard before the gate. Banquo stopped and I put my hand on his back for reassurance.
“From here, Arrietta,” he said softly, “you’ll want to continue without me.” I felt a shiver of alarm which he seemed to notice. “You need to prove your courage to the fairies, if you want them to take you seriously. So you have to face them alone. I won’t leave this spot. If you call me, I will be able to come, but don’t call me if you can help it.”
I left Banquo and approached the ants cautiously. Their faces were expressionless, large multi-lensed eyes impossible to read. One of them moved to block my way and the other passed through the gate and into the castle grounds. They did not speak. I stood perfectly still while the ant’s feelers passed within inches of my face. It was unnerving. After a minute the second ant returned and with it, a black spider about the height of my knees. I suppose it’s a good thing that I’m not afraid of spiders. It motioned with one leg for me to follow and the ants allowed me to pass through the gate.
The fairy castle was not literally made of mushroom, but the towers and turrets were designed to look like mushrooms and toadstools. The colors were silver and red and cream. It was beautiful and strange. As I looked at it, I suddenly remembered the blueprints in Mendel’s bedroom and thought to myself that he would probably love a blueprint of the fairy castle. Then the thought was drowned out by my fears, because we were entering the courtroom.
The fairy queen was sitting on a throne of flowers. She must have been beautiful with multicolored butterfly wings, but her face was filled with terrifying anger. She did not rise from her throne as I approached; her whole body was tense with restraint.
“How dare you place a ward on a fairy!” she cried, “Do you think you can deny him his power? You have no right to interfere with us!”
I didn’t have the slightest idea what she was talking about. I stood in silence, struggling for an answer.
“Remove the ward right now before I throw you from this castle!” she cried, “You cannot prevent the Brio child from transforming!”
“I…I don’t know what you mean…” I faltered.
The fairy queen rose from her thrown and stood before me. “Be careful of your words Arrietta of Brio. I can tell when someone is lying,” she said tensely. But I wasn’t lying. The fairy queen put a pipe to her mouth and blew a single note. I couldn’t take my eyes from her, so I didn’t see where they brought Liop from.
“Arri!” he shouted, tripping up to me and throwing his arms around my waist, “Arri, the ants are prodigious here! Have you seen them? They tried to lock me up when I put a color changing spell on the doorknobs so I could discern if anyone had opened them in the last hour. But I put an enlarging spell on the lock and it fractured. Why aren’t my wings burgeoning yet? They won’t talk to me!” He pointed at the various fairies scattered around the courtroom watching us. I hadn’t noticed them before, I’d been so taken up with the sight of the queen. She was walking around us now, her face cold and angry, her eyes fierce.
“Perhaps you did not cast the wards, but you WILL remove them,” she declared, and she took a step back, her face expectant.
I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t help but feel relieved that the ward around Liop was preventing him from transforming into a fairy. I had no desire to remove it and didn’t have the slightest idea how anyway.
“I don’t know how to remove a ward,” I whispered finally, when it became obvious that I must say something.
The fairy queen did not answer. She returned to the throne and seated herself. Her chinned tilted up and she regarded us balefully.
“You will find out how,” she declared formally, “and you will return here with that knowledge, or you will never see your brother again. You are dismissed.” She waved one hand and the same spider that had led me in rushed forward to remove me.
“Your highness,” I cried in a startled voice as the spider opened and closed its pincers in a threatening manner, “your highness, please…”
What exactly I was going to say, I don’t know. I shrank away from the spider.
“You leave my sister alone!” shouted Liop, all his excitement vanishing. He kicked at the spider but it dodged him easily.
I did not know if the spider was poisonous, but I was terrified of being bitten by it. The fairy queen watched me back away through narrow eyes. I can call Banquo, I thought desperately. But he had said I must show my courage to the fairies. Did it really matter if the fairies thought me courageous? They were trying to take Liop away from me and all I really cared about was getting him back, even if that meant the fairies thought me the biggest coward in all of Elcaro. I almost called him at that moment, but then a new thought entered my head. I closed my eyes and quit retreating from the spider. The fairy queen could not let the spider bite me if she wanted my help. She needed me alive and whole.
The room grew silent, so silent that I finally opened my eyes. The fairies, the spider, and Liop were all gone. The courtroom stood entirely empty. I did not know if I had proven my courage to the fairy queen or not. The feel of the situation seemed more like a ceasefire, with neither side in clear dominion. I left the courtroom and crossed the castle grounds alone. The ants let me pass through the gate where Banquo was waiting for me.
“We mustn’t talk here,” he said anxiously, “follow me.” He turned and we walked together back through the fairy city. I could not tell when we reached the border and the trees ceased to be buildings, but Banquo could. He led me carefully into a tangle of wild roses.
“Now you can tell me about the interview,” he said. I told him everything that had happened.
“It’s good that you didn’t call me,” he said when I finished, “the fairies would have seen it as an attack. They might have tried to kill you.”
“But what can I do?” I asked, “I won’t remove the ward from Liop. If he transforms he won’t remember anything.”
“We don’t know that for certain,” said Banquo, “he’s almost eight years old and not very magical. You can’t fight all the fairies, Arrietta. Perhaps it’s better to do as they ask.”
“I can’t let them take Liop,” I responded, “Do you think if they can’t transform him they’ll give up and let him go?”
“Well,” Banquo considered, “fairies don’t normally kill humans. Liop is useless to them if he doesn’t transform. But fairies are also used to getting their own way, and they consider Liop theirs by right.”
“But they never wanted Liop—they wanted me or Keish,” I argued, “why take Liop?”
“Revenge?” asked Banquo, “There are many stories of fairy revenge in history. Trena made an enemy of the fairies when she helped Jezreel protect you. She should have stayed more neutral. Regardless, the fairies take a child from every generation, whether the child is useful or not. Actually, every child is at least a little useful in bringing to magic to the fairies. They prefer the strong children, of course.” He frowned thoughtfully.
I thought of Brynn who was also taken late. She never lost her memories.
“If we took Liop out of the land of the fairies before removing the ward, would the transformation spell still work?” Banquo continued, “I don’t think you can leave a ward on a living person forever. I believe this ward will start to break down after a while and then, if Liop is still here, he will transform and the ward will have done no good.”
“How long?” I asked, startled.
“It depends on who set it, how hard they work to maintain it,” he paused, “and how powerful their magic is. There’s a lot of power in this ward to keep the fairies from breaking it, but if the caster doesn’t have a lot of magic, he may wear out more quickly.”
“I think it’s Keish,” I said decisively, but the moment I said it, I felt doubts, “but Uncle Winthop knows how to cast wards too, and so do Nysa and Brynn. Could former fairies cast wards to block fairies?”
Banquo thought about that. “I think…I feel that the fairy queen would have recognized if Nysa or Brynn cast the ward. She would be very familiar with their magic.” He ended sounding more sure of himself than he began.
“So Keish or Uncle Winthrop, probably Keish,” I concluded, “and since I have the same ward, they’ll probably break down at the same time. So we’ll know when Liop’s ward starts to fail, right?”
“Sounds reasonable to me,” Banquo agreed, “Winthrop doesn’t have much magic, I’ve heard. If he’s the caster, we don’t have much time.”
We spent quite a while debating how much time we had and wasted a lot of time discussing the details of wards, about which Banquo knew more than me. Banquo didn’t make any more attempts to question my decision to rescue Liop.
“If you help me, the fairies will be your enemy too, won’t they?” I asked suddenly.
Banquo looked uncomfortable. “My great-grandmother must have had a reason for sending me,” he said after a while, “I’ve been wanting an opportunity to prove myself. Bringing you here and back seems too simple. Perhaps she knew this choice would come up and wanted me to help you.” He didn’t sound entirely sure of himself. I felt uncomfortable.
“It might be dangerous for you,” I said.
“I can’t prove myself if it isn’t,” said Banquo simply. He looked back in the direction of the fairy city. “Courage is important among lions. No lioness will ever have me if I don’t prove myself by risking my life for a worthy cause. The Brios and the Winged Lions have been friends a long time, and I like you, Arrietta. You’re very brave for someone so small and weak. Perhaps one day, you will be as great a friend to me as Jezreel was to Trena. Perhaps, in this task, we will both prove ourselves.” He smiled at me.
The problem was that neither of us had the slightest idea what to do. We didn’t know where Liop was being kept or what protections we would have to pass through. We spent most of the evening discussing our options. The next morning we tried to enter the city, but were immediately met by an ant, who without any outright threats made it clear that whenever we entered the city we would be watched.
“What we need is a decoy,” said Banquo as I sat eating pea pods and giant pine nuts that I had found. The food from my satchel was gone, and although I long for something more filling like bread and cheese, the forest was full of edible plants. Every morning Banquo left me for a couple of hours to hunt. We found the edge of the city closest to the castle and made a kind of base camp. I wrote out the first several pages of this letter. The first two days we bounced ideas for rescuing Liop off each other, each less probably than the last. We were trapped. We couldn’t leave the land of the fairies, because if I left, I couldn’t come back and Banquo refused to leave without me.
“We don’t know what the fairies are thinking of us, wandering along the edge of their city. We’re safer if we stick together, I think.” But Banquo was really as clueless as I was on the subject. All we know is that as long as we stay outside the city, we seem to be ignored.
This is where I am right now, Keish. Banquo says if we can’t think of something, we’ll have to go back to the cave. We can’t just sit here forever. He’s discouraged. We both are. I’m not ready to give up yet, but if something doesn’t happen soon, I think Banquo will want to leave, and I don’t know if I can stay here without him.
July 3rd
I woke up on the morning of the 2nd to the sound of Banquo calling firmly, “Who’s there? Show yourself!” into the forest. He did not sound frightened, but I sat up quickly and looked around. I didn’t see anything, but I did hear laughter, rather familiar laughter.
“I know you!” crowed a child’s voice, “you’re the girl that was in the Lady’s garden! Why didn’t you go back and tend it?”
“It’s a young fairy,” said Banquo, “do you know him?”
“I met him once in a garden,” I began, wondering how much detail I needed to go into about the fairy.
“Come out, friend,” called Banquo, softening his voice, “come out and talk!” He looked at me questioningly and I shrugged in confusion.
The young boy came out, floating down from the tops of the trees and trailing a large maple leaf with him, almost like a kite. He was chuckling hysterically to himself.
“I’m not supposed to talk to you,” he informed me cheerfully.
I didn’t have the slightest idea how to respond to that, so I said nothing. The boy fairy flew up to me and hovered inches from my face.
“Why are you here?” he demanded, “do you know there are three humans in the land of the fairies and they don’t know what to do about any of them?”
Three? I thought, isn’t it just me and Liop? It was at that moment that I realized my ward was gone. Well, not exactly gone, but replaced by a different ward, much weaker than the first. I immediately forgot all about the boy fairy.
“Banquo, my ward failed!” I cried in a panic, “We have to get Liop now!”
“Who’s Liop?” asked the boy fairy.
“No, Arrietta,” said Banquo quickly in the same moment, “it didn’t fail. It flickered a couple times and was replaced. I was watching. I think it started to weaken, but it didn’t fail. I’m wondering if the caster removed it to concentrate on Liop. Your new ward comes from a different source.”
The boy fairy had been talking through this explanation and it frustrated him that I was paying more attention to Banquo than himself. He hit me over the head with his maple leaf.
“Who’s Liop?” he demanded.
“My brother,” I said in annoyance, “the Lady’s boy that we talked about in the garden. Banquo, we’re running out of time. Do you think Liop still has a ward? How long will it last?” I felt like I would burst with frustration in a moment. What could we do?
“I don’t know how long,” Banquo replied, “I thought if Keish cast the wards that they would last longer than this, but we don’t know what the fairies are doing to try to remove Liop’s ward. That might be draining it faster. You haven’t really needed yours yet.”
“The Lady’s boy?” the fairy interrupted impatiently, “I want to see him. Where is he?” He danced around further away from me.
Banquo’s eyes opened and he stared at the young fairy.
“Hey,” he said in a voice of wonder, “Arrietta, I might have an idea.” I felt a new flicker of hope.
“Fairy,” said Banquo, “do you really want to see the human boy?”
“Yes!” shouted the fairy.
“He’s in the fairy city somewhere,” said Banquo, “he’s going to transform into a fairy soon.”
“In the city!” the fairy cried, “I must hurry if I’m to see him!” and he took off through the trees very suddenly.
“Wait!” called Banquo,” we want to come too!” But the fairy didn’t listen. Banquo turned to me in surprise.
“Well that was useless,” he said if frustration, “I thought for a moment we had a way to find Liop.”
Silence closed in around us. I sat back down and wrapped my arms around my legs. The fairy boy had come and gone so quickly that it was almost as though he was never there. I felt as though I had caught a shooting star in the corner of my eye and it was gone before I could get a better look. It was very discouraging. Banquo moved to sit next to me. He sat upright with his shiny black wings folded along his sides , his tail curled around his feet, long black tassel twitching. He was handsome, the kind of lion you might see in a fine painting.
“I wonder who the third person is,” he said thoughtfully.
Another hour passed. I didn’t feel like breakfast, but Banquo left to get himself food. When he returned I was sitting with a quill and paper trying to think of something more to write.
“I think we’re about to find out who the third person is,” Banquo informed me, looking pointedly into the trees. I followed his gaze, but it was a few more minutes before I saw movement in the distance. A horse came into view. I jumped to my feet. It was Glory, and riding her was Mendel!
“Mendel!” I shouted. I’ve never felt so glad to see him before. I waved my arm and he waved back, smiling broadly.
“Arri!” he called, riding up on Glory. He slid to the ground laughing and jumped over to me. Then he stopped suddenly and his face reddened slightly.
“Have you got Liop yet?” he asked.
“No,” I said, “how did you get here?” It was then that I noticed Glory wearing my golden bridle.
“Oh, good,” said Mendel brightly, “I can still help! You know that bridle of yours? It’s magic and lets you into the land of the fairies without much fuss if you know how to use it. Fairy showed me.” He looked over at Banquo with interest and added, “It’s rather slower than flying. Glory and I have been riding for days. I was afraid we’d arrive and find you and Liop just getting ready to return home.”
I saw that I needed to make introductions, so I did, and then Mendel wanted to hear everything that had happened to me since I left him the note explaining about taking Moonstone. Only after hearing my story did he admit that he had two letters from you for me. I grabbed them eagerly and began to read.
“Couldn’t you read it aloud?” asked Mendel after a minute of silence.
“No, just wait till I’m done…Imato cast the wards, Banquo!”
“Imato?” Banquo tilted his head, “I didn’t think he knew very much magic. Well, that explains why your ward was replaced. The fairies are probably throwing quite a bit of magic at Liop right now. Imato will have to concentrate on him. I wish that child fairy hadn’t flown off.”
“Shh…” I said. They waited until I finished reading the letters. When I finished Mendel folded his arms.
“Now what?” he asked.
“We need to locate Liop, break through security, and pass outside the borders of the fairies before his ward fails,” I said.
“Well,” Mendel was smiling, “I can track Liop, there aren’t very many cages I can’t open, and Glory and Banquo can get us back to Elcaro. So we just need a way to travel in the fairy city without being detected.” He sounded so matter-of-fact, as if he was laying out blueprints for a simple shed.
It was strange that at that exact moment the boy fairy returned. He darted in among us like a swallow chasing insects.
“The leaders are mad, mad, mad!” he sang, laughing, “I got to see the human boy!”
“You saw Liop?” I tried to follow the trail of his flying, but he turned several circles and made me dizzy, “Is he alright?”
“He turned their hair blue!” shouted the fairy, flinging his arms wide, “his pockets are full of alchemy powders!” He turned upside down, laughing.
“That little scamp,” Mendel grinned at me, “Maybe by the time we get there, the fairies will be ready to give him to us. It sounds like he’s causing them as much trouble as he causes us. Is that right?” He looked up at the boy fairy.
“Who are you?” the fairy asked, pulling up in front of Mendel.
“Mendel Westridge,” said Mendel.
The fairy froze and backed away from Mendel, his eyes large.
“Mendel Westridge is a friend of the fairies,” he declared. Banquo turned his head sharply in Mendel’s direction at this statement; his eyes narrowed.
“That’s right,” said Mendel, “so you don’t have to forget me. Who are you?” He smiled.
“Trouble,” the fairy answered brightly.
Mendel laughed. “Why?” he asked.
“A fairy will remember a promise,” said the boy. He spun up into the air and came down again. It was strange the way the boy fairy seemed to take Mendel more seriously than anything else.
“Wait a minute,” said Banquo, “I want to understand some things. Mendel, why are you called a friend of the fairies?”
“I saved Nysa’s life when she was a fairy,” said Mendel, becoming serious, “after that she had no trouble remembering anything that related directly to me. It seems that fairies can remember their friends.”
“I see,” said Banquo, “do you know what will happen if you help Arrietta steal Liop?”
“What?” asked Mendel.
“I don’t know,” Banquo replied, “but to be called the fairies’ friend is a serious thing. I’m not sure how they will interpret your interference with Liop. ”
Mendel was silent for a few minutes and even the boy fairy waited for his answer.
“I am a friend,” said Mendel slowly, “of individual fairies who need my friendship. Liop is my friend too, and helping him might count as helping a fairy, don’t you think?”
“I’m not sure if Liop counts as a fairy if we stop him from transforming,” Banquo frowned, but he nodded. He turned to the fairy boy.
“We are going to steal the human boy from the fairy city,” he said, “Will you help us?”
The boy darted swiftly around us.
“I will help Mendel,” he said finally, and it occurred to me that Mendel was the only one of us whose name the boy fairy acknowledged, including his own. I wondered what his name was, and who he had been before he became a fairy.
“Now we just need a plan,” said Banquo. We talked well into the night on this subject. When we finally lay down to sleep the boy fairy stretched out on a branch of a nearby tree. When I woke in the morning he was gone.
Our plan started with a distraction. There was no way for Banquo to enter the city without attracting the attention of every fairy in the city, so we decided to split up. Mendel and I would walk into the city on one side, while Banquo walked in on the other. The fairies would focus on him which would make it easier for us to move undetected. It was frustrating to discover that the boy fairy had not stayed with us. He could have helped make Mendel and me less noticeable. But there was nothing we could do about it and Banquo didn’t think the fairy was going to betray us. It seemed more likely that he had become distracted and wandered off.
We tied Glory in a glade of pussy willows and lilacs. Banquo walked with us to the edge of the city where we hid ourselves in some untrimmed privet bushes. The trees before us looked the same to me as the ones behind, but Banquo assured us they were homes and shops. The fairies do not have paved roads; I guess their feet never touch the ground, but there are paths for flightless creatures like ants and humans. Banquo left us to continue around to the other side of the city. Mendel crushed a dead leaf in his hand, whispered a few words, and threw it into the still air. It drifted lazily away from us and Mendel marked its direction by scratching a line in the ground. He got down on his hands and knees to peer along the line for a couple minutes. Finally he stood up.
“That way,” he pointed. We had to wait half an hour for Banquo to reach the other side of city before we could follow Mendel’s direction. It seemed like a long wait. I peered into the trees of the fairy city until I began to feel cross-eyed.
“It’s strange,” I said to Mendel, “I walked all the way to the fairy palace and back without ever seeing a single fairy outside the castle grounds, and now I’ve been staring into the city for at least fifteen minutes, but I haven’t seen a single fairy.”
“Fairies don't have to be seen if they don’t want to be—at least by humans,” he shrugged, “I can see them too, because of being their friend. I’ve seen a couple since we sat down. I don’t think they noticed us.”
It was good to have Mendel with me. I don’t know how I would have entered the city without him. Once the half hour was over, we snuck into the city moving among the bushes and trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible. Neither of us could tell which of the trees were buildings, so we stayed away from them. They were always spaced at least two carriage widths apart. Bushes and flowers grew between them, so the whole place was like a giant, somewhat wild garden. But I doubt anything it the city was truly wild, it was all carefully cultivated.
Every few minutes Mendel would stop to recast his tracking spell. His satchel contained a packet with dozens of small dried leaves to crumble. The vegetation around us was green and lush, the ground completely barren of anything dead or dry. Because of our stealth, we moved much more slowly than Banquo and I had when we first entered and left the city. Only twice did Mendel grab my arm and pull me down while a giant insect or fairy passed. I could see the insects, but I never saw a fairy.
“The city’s pretty quiet,” Mendel whispered, “I hope that means they’re all watching Banquo. I wonder what he’s doing…” His whisper trailed off as we rounded a tree and the fence around the castle came into view. It was grown entirely from yellow roses, vines knotted and twisting around. We were not at the gate. Mendel recast his spell and the dead leaves drifted into the vines.
“There aren’t any wards on it,” said Mendel in surprise, “we can cut our way through.”
“That sounds too easy,” I whispered back, “why hasn’t anyone tried to stop us yet?”
“I wonder if anyone has ever tried to break into the castle before,” said Mendel, “it would be crazy to try, wouldn’t it?” He grinned at me. I didn’t say anything.
We got down on our hands and knees and began pushing and pulling at the vines. They were thick and well-woven. Finally Mendel took a knife and began cutting. I expected angry fairies and insects to swarm around us at any moment, but all I heard were birds singing.
In a few minutes we were through the fence and standing on the lawn of the castle grounds. Unlike the city, the grounds around the castle were open and except for the normal-sized grass, unplanted. The grass was the only normal-sized plant I had seen since arriving.
“Run!” shouted Mendel, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward the castle. It was only then that I saw the ants. There were four at first, but more soon appeared, scurrying toward us. As they came nearer, I could hear the rustle of their legs. We needed a spell to slow them down. I looked at the short grass and remembered Liop’s enlargement spell. I cast it at the ground behind us. Immediately the grass began to grow. I cast the spell again and again.
“Arri, you’re growing a forest!” Mendel laughed.
I was running so hard that I couldn’t stopped and hit the castle wall with a sharp smack. I looked behind me. The grass was taller than the ants and still growing. Only a patch that stretched fifty feet behind us was unchanged.
“You all right?” Mendel was laughing and gasping at the same time, “that was brilliant thinking!”
I wasn’t really sure I had been thinking, but it had worked. We hurried along the side of the castle until we came to a servants’ entrance. It was unlocked. Again, I was surprised at the lack of security. We passed through the servants’ quarters and kitchens without really looking at them. Mendel was no longer using the leaf spell. Instead he muttered to himself and touched every door we came to. He pulled me down corridors and up winding staircases. I followed, feeling blind. It was like a maze. I would never find my way back out.
Finally Mendel put his hand to a door and froze. He looked at me.
“This is it,” he said, smiling, “we found Liop.”
This door was covered in numerous wards. I had a sudden suspicion that most of them were to keep Liop in and not trespassers out. I threw some magic out against them and it sprung back instantly. These were not the weak simple wards I had broken through at the Westridge manor. This was serious magic.
“What do we do?” I asked Mendel.
Mendel reached out to try the white doorknob and immediately jerked his hand back.
“Ouch,” he said. The doorknob turned green. I remembered what Liop had said about his spells. Could he see the knob on the other side and know someone had tried it?
“Your magic is about finding things and escaping traps,” I said to Mendel, “does that include breaking through wards?”
“Yes, but these are stronger than anything I’ve seen before,” Mendel stepped back and studied the magic. Several minutes passed as we both stared helplessly at the door.
“Maybe the door isn’t the answer,” said Mendel. He walked further down the corridor until he came to another door. The single ward on this one was much simpler. Mendel threw out his arm and broke it like a spider web. Then he opened the door.
“Hi, Mendel!” It was the boy fairy. He sprang up from the floor of the empty room and darted forward.
“You rescued me!” he crowed in a delighted voice.
“What happened to you?” I asked.
“I tried to get the Brio child out of his room,” said the boy fairy. He clapped his hands together, “They were really mad at me!” It seemed like making the other fairies mad was this fairy’s only goal in life. He looked delighted as he spoke.
“Can you help us?” asked Mendel.
“Of course!” The boy fairy darted forward and hovered in front of Liop’s door.
“This boy makes the others as mad as I do,” he informed us, “but he keeps trying to help the fairies, and none of his spells work like they’re supposed to.” The boy fairy reached out to touch the doorknob. It shocked him and turned red.
“How does that doorknob work?” Mendel asked.
“When it turns black, the door will open,” said the boy fairy.
“How do we get it to turn black?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” the boy fairy darted down the hall and back again. He turned upside down.
“Well, maybe if I throw some spells at it…” said Mendel.
We spent quite a while trying to break through the wards with magic. Mendel taught me all the spells he knew and we tried them together as well as separately. A couple wards broke under our combined efforts, but several more remained. It was frustrating and we were soon exhausted. I began to wonder how much time we had left before the other fairies returned. How long would Banquo be able to keep them distracted? I studied the door hard.
“When you rescued Nysa,” I began slowly, “you didn’t have any magic at all, and that’s why you were able to rescue her…” I wasn’t quite sure where I was going with that thought.
“Sean has no magic,” said Mendel, “I could have brought him; he would have come, but I thought it would be more dangerous for him than me. Our father ought to have at least one surviving son.” He was sitting against the wall. He hit his head deliberately against it in frustration, “do you think the ants will warn the fairies to come find us?”
I shrugged, “what do you think they will do with us?” I asked.
“They’ll put you in a room until you start to behave again,” laughed the boy fairy.
“Will you go see what the ants are doing?” asked Mendel. He sounded annoyed. The fairy darted off laughing. Mendel sighed.
Several minutes of silence passed. We stared helplessly at the door. I supposed we would be caught soon, but I didn’t much care. I had no intention of leaving the castle without Liop.
Suddenly the fairy came darting back, but he didn’t look happy this time. He hovered shakily before us.
“The forest is on fire,” he informed us in a subdued voice, “fire isn’t allowed. Fire is NEVER allowed. The winged lion will be killed.” The boy fairy dropped to the floor of the corridor. He looked frightened.
I jumped to my feet, “We have to do something, we have to…” in desperation I reached out and grabbed the doorknob, jerking it around. It turned black and the door swung open. A blast of magic passed over me and threw the others against the wall.
“Arri!” shouted Liop, “It worked! I enchanted the doorknob to turn black when my family touched it!” He darted forward and threw his arms around me.
“The fairy!” he shouted suddenly. I turned to see the boy fairy crumpled on the floor of the corridor. The blast of magic had knocked him out. But it was more than magic, I realized coming closer. The cold smell of alchemy entered my nose. Black powder covered the floor.
“Is this?” I rubbed some powder onto my finger.
“Uncle W.’s powdered iron,” said Liop, “I always have some in my pockets. I used it in the spell.”
Mendel lifted the boy into his arms.
“He’s alive,” Mendel informed us, “but I don’t think he’s okay.” He looked up at me, worried.
“We have to get out of here and find Banquo,” I said, “maybe he’ll know what to do.”
“We have to stop the fire too,” said Mendel, “not all the fairies are our enemies.”
It was so much and I didn’t know how we would even begin. Mendel carried the boy fairy and we followed as he led us out of the castle, maneuvering the maze of corridors without any hesitation. I could never have done it. Only when we reached the servants’ quarters and kitchens did I recognize where we were.
Out on the castle grounds we discovered that my grass was still growing. It was at least twenty feet high and so thick that there was no way to walk around the blades. The sky was black with smoke. Mendel took his knife and began hacking away at blades, but his knife was much too small for the task.
“We need a scythe,” I said. Then I remembered the kitchens. I ran back into the castle and straight to the servants’ quarters, heading for the kitchens, but I didn’t need to go so far. I came upon a rack of swords and grabbed four of them, throwing the belts over my shoulders and hurrying back out.
“Here!” I shouted, tossing swords to Mendel and Liop. Together we began hacking at the overgrown grass.
“Don’t you know a shrinking spell?” asked Mendel. Our progress was still slow.
“I do!” shouted Liop. He began casting the spell, and the grass stopped growing, but its progress at shrinking was too slow and we continued to hack at the strange jungle until our shoulders ached. The boy fairy remained unconscious. It was hard to worry about so many things at once: Banquo, the boy fairy, the fire, escape. I’m not sure how long it took us to get out of the castle grounds. It seemed like hours, but the sun was still high in the sky when we finally broke through. I dropped my sword, shoulders burning with pain. Mendel picked it up.
“Come on, the fire!” and he began running toward the smoke that billowed in the distance among the trees.
The boy fairy was wrong; the whole forest was not on fire. It was only a single giant tree on the other side of the city. When we arrived, the fairies were darting helplessly around it in terror. They ignored us completely, so preoccupied were they with the flames.
“Is it a building?” Liop asked, but none of us could tell, and it seemed to me unlikely that Banquo would have chosen a building to burn.
“Do you know a spell for putting out fire?” asked Mendel. I shook my head.
“It’s a living tree,” I said, “isn’t it too green to burn?”
“I’m sure the lion knew a way around that,” said Mendel grimly, “we need Banquo.” He laid the boy fairy carefully in some bushes. The expression on his face disturbed me. Mendel rarely looks so serious.
“You and Liop stay with the fairy,” he said, “I’m going to find Banquo.”
“I want to come too,” Liop and I spoke at once.
“Arri, your strongest magic is healing. We can’t leave this boy alone. I don’t have the slightest idea what to do for him. Someone has to find Banquo, and I’m the best tracker. Please stay here and try to help him.” Mendel caught my eyes with his and held them for a moment. I looked away. I knew he was right and I didn’t like it.
“But I can go with you!” shouted Liop.
“You’re not leaving my sight,” I said firmly.
Mendel nodded. “Stay with Arri, Liop. I’ll come back soon.” I doubted he could be sure of that, but I didn’t say anything. Mendel knelt down next to the boy fairy.
“I’ll come back with help,” he promised softly. He stood back up and Liop and I watched him disappear into the smoke.
I sat next to the boy fairy. He lay on his back, limp and unconscious. He looked so young and innocent, no trace of reckless rebellion in his features. I wondered about the promise. Had he promised to make the leaders of the fairies mad? It seemed like a strange promise to make. I wondered about his relationship with my mother. She had once gotten Nysa to promise to protect me. Had she also extracted a promise from this boy? Who was he before the fairies took him? So many unanswered questions. I took some herbs from my satchel and made a poultice with a little water. I spread it over the boy’s forehead and recited the healing poem. He murmured and shifted slightly. It seemed like a good sign, so I took his hands in mine and recited the poem again. I sent magic into him, unformed magic, trying to listen to the sounds of his body, to find what was wrong. I remembered how Mother had explained healing to me once, that it mainly involved listening. I could hear the boy breathing and the steady rhythm of his heart. He did not seem to be in any immediate danger, but he did not wake up. I noticed that his whole body seemed to be infused with tiny black particles, the iron dust from Liop’s alchemy. Was the dust making him sick? I plucked at a particle to see if I could remove it. Nothing happened. I sang the healing poem over and over as I listened. Soon I was only humming, the words lost in my concentration. Slowly I pulled at the dust particles, drawing them away from his heart, lungs, brain. I’m not sure how long I sat there. It seems like I was deaf to anything but the music which filled my whole body. My eyes saw nothing but the fairy boy’s face. I was not hot or cold. Time had no meaning.
As I drew the last particles out of the fairy, his eyes opened and he looked at me. The music fluttered and faded from me. I released his hands.
“What is that?” he asked. I followed his gaze to the black smoke that billowed around us. It was sunset and the whole forest felt strange, glowing dirty orange and yellow along the horizon.
“Smoke,” I told him, “A tree is on fire.”
“What’s fire?” asked the fairy.
I didn’t have the least idea what fire was except that it was hot and deceptively insubstantial.
“It’s a source of heat and light,” said Liop coming to sit near us, “Arri, were you healing? You almost glowed!” His voice was almost a whisper.
“I think so,” I felt tired and my mind struggled to focus.
“Fire is NEVER allowed,” the boy fairy informed me.
“We know,” said Liop. We all stared in the direction of the burning tree and could see a glow of flames.
“Mendel hasn’t returned,” said Liop, “can we search for him?”
The boy fairy was sitting up and shaking he head from side to side. His eyes were growing brighter and his wings flickered. A moment later he was in the air again, as though nothing had ever been wrong.
“Let’s go search from Mendel!” he announced, and took off into the smoke like an arrow. Liop and I ran to keep up.
Though I had not seen a single fairy in the city, the forest seemed to be full of them. Some of them paused to stare at us as we chased the boy fairy through oversized flowers and trees. But then they darted off in panicked zigzags. The boy fairy unexpectedly hailed one, a tall thin elderly fairy with sharp features and a long gray beard.
“Do you know where Mendel Westridge is?” he demanded. The fairy froze and looked at each one of us.
“They’re going to kill the winged lion,” he said in a frightened voice, “come and watch with me.” He flew off and the boy fairy followed. Liop and I called to him to slow down so we could keep up.
Not far from the burning tree the fairies darted up above the bushes. Liop and I found a giant tree tangled in ivy. Following the fairies, we climbed the ivy until we were reached the lowest branches. There the boy fairy perched next to us and we looked out into an open bower surrounded by branches and thick vines. In the center, hanging from a green, living net, was Banquo. Fairies darted wildly around the edges of the bower. They looked frightened. Searching among the branches, I finally found the fairy queen. She looked much as she had the first time I saw her, but her eyes had dark circles around them and her hair was tangled, sticking out at odd angles. All around me I heard frightened whispers: “…kill the winged lion…fire…death…lion…lion…” It did not sound much like the fairies wanted Banquo killed.
“Mendel Westridge may speak,” she announced loudly, and her voice echoed slightly. Only when Mendel spoke was I able to locate him. He was perched on a large leaf suspended between four bumble bees the size of pigs. He looked tiny in the great open space and his green-gray travel clothes blended with the leaf.
“Th-thank you,” stammered Mendel, trying unsuccessfully to stand on the swaying leaf. He stumbled to his knees and finally sat down, “I want to help the fairies put out the fire.” He looked around himself and caught sight of me. A smile spread over his face.
“How?” asked the fairy queen.
“The winged lion Banquo told you he set the fire on accident,” said Mendel, “and he cannot lie to you. If he tells me how he set the fire, perhaps I can undo the magic.”
“You have little magic,” the fairy queen replied, “and the lion has already tried to put out the flames.”
“Yes, but he didn’t have Liop and me helping him,” said Mendel slowly, “Liop knows alchemy and I know about tracking,” he paused, clearly thinking, “Liop will help me seal the remaining wood so that it can’t burn. Then the winged lion can try again to extinguish the flames. They won’t be able to escape him if the new wood can’t burn.”
The fairy queen tilted her head thoughtfully. Mendel cast a backwards glance at me. Around me the whispering altered slight: “lion’s fault…lion’s fault…the flames…seal the wood…”
“Bring me Liop of Brio,” she demanded. A new set of bumblebees carried a leaf to us and Liop climbed carefully onto it. I suppose the fairy queen had seen us arrive. She did not look surprised that the bees did not have to go far.
“Liop of Brio, do you know how to use alchemy to stop the flames from spreading?” asked the queen.
“Yes,” said Liop boldly. I wondered how Mendel knew that Liop knew.
“How?” asked the queen.
“Make a flame retardant and spread it along the edges of the flames and over the unburned wood. Natron is good.”
“Fairies are forbidden to use alchemy,” said the queen.
“Mendel and Arri and Banquo and I can do it,” Liop volunteered.
“It is a vast fire,” the queen said.
“That’s why you need all four of us,” said Mendel. I could hear his voice brightening.
The fairy queen was silent for several minutes. Fairies hovered in place around her. All around her the air buzzed: “lion…alchemy…lion…lion…”
“Winged lion Banquo,” said the fairy queen and all eyes turned to Banquo hanging high above Mendel and Liop, "will you help these humans put out the flames with alchemy.”
“Yes, of course,” said Banquo quickly.
“We will not kill the winged lion Banquo,” said the queen suddenly, “we will banish him after he has helped stop the flames.”
“Thank you!” Banquo cried with relief. The release in tension was immediate. Fairies twirled and danced through the air.
“Now,” said the queen, “where is the natron?”
That sobered us immediately. Natron, as Mendel explained, is usually found in dried out salt water lakes. The garden-like land of the fairies was hardly a good place to look for it. And we need a lot of it.
So, I’m reaching the end of this letter now. The fairies are going to send it to you. I don’t know how, and there will be a way for you to respond. We need enough natron to cover an entire tree the size of your castle tower. We need it as soon as possible. I thought maybe Imato could recruit some squires and soldiers?
I hope you are well. This is the longest letter I’ve ever written. I wrote through the whole night. I have to end though because the queen is getting mad at me. She says I don’t need to write a novel.
Love,
Arri
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