The light-motes reflected in the water, showing the shapes of fish and giant water beetles far below. Bullfrogs pealed from the shadows, while nightingales flitted between strands of alien flowers. All about the pool, nature had been put into good order, arranged as a careful piece of art.
It seemed to be night. The sky was dark and starry, and yet everything shone as clearly as in the light of day. Sitting sourly on a pillow at the center of a little isle, Escalla swatted at a nightingale as the stupid creature twittered by.
The garden upon the tree stump isle had been sculpted perfectly. Plants had been shaped into tables, chairs and couches, all overlaid with silk brocades. A satyr daintily served tea and scones, while plates of food and flasks of wine stood gleaming in the light. Surrounded by dreamlike plenty, Jus, Polk, and even the mule all remained frozen in shock.
The satyr bowed, proffering jam and cream. Escalla ignored the creature until it went away. Sitting alone with her knees hugged to her chin, the faerie kept her eyes carefully away from the scenery. She tossed a glance at the feast then turned away.
“Don’t drink the wine,” she said without looking up, “anddon’t eat the food.”
Polk jerked his hand back, already reaching for a scone. “It’s enchanted?”
“Polk, don’t drink the wine. Don’t touch it. Don’t sniff it.Don’t even touch the damned cork!” Escalla sat with her knees hunched beneathher chin. “Unless you’re a faerie, faerie wine’s instant suicide. Makes youdrunk as a pickled thought-eater in seconds three.”
“Oh!” Polk eyed the wine glass nearest him, half tempted togive it a try. “Really?”
“The hangover comes about ten minutes later, Polk. Rumor saysit’s like having a pair of exploding wolverines mating inside your skull.”
Even Polk, inveterate drinker that he was, shrank away from the wine. “Wolverines?”
“Yeah, especially the vintage sixty-three. Gives you violenttremors and convulsions in less time than it takes to scream.”
Polk kept a distance between himself and the nearest plate of scones. “How about the food? Poison?”
Escalla shrugged and said, “No.”
“Should we eat it?”
“No.”
Blinking, Polk scratched his skull. “Why?”
“Because we don’t want to give my mother any leverage!”Escalla sat back against a rock and tossed a pebble at a nightingale. “If shefeeds you, she can ask for a favor in return. When she comes back, watch what you say. Don’t give her any information she can use.”
“But she’s your mother!”
“Killer amoebas have mothers, Polk. I’m not going to embraceany of those, either.”
The faeries had opened a door in the empty air of the forest and had led Escalla and her companions into this eerie fantasy land. They now sat amid the songbirds and the frogs, surrounded by a ring of ghostly elf hounds that kept them trapped in an unwinking gaze.
Jus reached into his belt pouch, brought out a chunk of hardtack and split it three ways between himself, Polk, and Escalla. At his side, Cinders lay nose to nose with an elf hound. The hell hound leaked sulphurous steam from his nostrils, and the elf hound bristled, bared its teeth, then broke into a vicious growl. The growl turned into a yelp of panic as Cinders’ spewed a jet of flame that scorched the elf hound’s back.
Of all the travelers, Cinders was the only one with a grin.
Funny!
Kicking at the scenery, Escalla stood and paced, watched by a dozen elf hounds as she walked. She stood at the shore of the island and stared off across the dark, reflective pool.
“They redecorated.”
Jus joined her, sitting at her side, his hand resting too casually upon his sword and aware that the walls could have ears.
“So this is the Seelie Court?”
“Ha! They wish!” Escalla gave a flick of contempt. “This isjust a pocket above the forest, a tiny alternative realm. Tons of places have them. Think of it as Flanaess plus one. It runs about, oh, a mile wide.” Escallalooked about. “The forest is still there. Any tree you find in here with an archof branches is a gate to somewhere or other.”
Jus weighed the information, still wondering just exactly where they were. He carefully scanned the starry sky, checking the constellations.
“Does time move differently here?”
“No, although on other planes it does.” Escalla used herhands to show her friends the horizons of the eerie faerie world. “This is justa citadel. Thirty faeries, three hundred servants, and a ton of these damned hounds.” Eyes narrowed, the girl carefully watched an elf hound that slunkwatchfully nearby. “Try not to look straight at anything. Try to lookpast the surface. Most of it’s an illusion. You can get the knack of telling.”Escalla sounded sour. “Careful of the wildlife. Anything about the mass of afaerie probably is a faerie. No trout is a trout, no cat’s a cat. Thebored ones can get pretty strange. Don’t stare, or they’ll try and get pushy.”
“Hmph,” the Justicar grunted. “What if we’re attacked byone?”
“Cut it fast and hard. Give it time to throw a spell, andyou’re dog meat. But don’t do it. I’m almost out of spells.” The girl shrugged.“They have a dueling code-one on one fights are your own affair if you make it aformal challenge.”
“Are they all magic-users?”
“Yeah. All of them.”
Jus rippled his finger tips along the hilt of his sword. “Should we try to bring in Enid and have her bust us out of here?”
“Not yet.” Escalla’s antennae stayed stiff and high, testingmagic currents in the air. “I need a way to get you guys clear of here before Ido anything cute.”
Heaving a frustrated, angry sigh, Escalla paced, drawing Polk and Jus down beside her. Polk had filled his moustache with hardtack crumbs. He seemed to regard Escalla with newfound awe.
“So this is a faerie palace! A gateway to adventure!”
“Yeah.” The girl gave a sneer. “And I’m a princess.” Polk andJus both gave her an appraising look. Escalla angrily waved her hand. “I toldyou that when we first met! A faerie princess, I said! No one believes me! No one ever believes me!”
“Can’t imagine why.” Jus scratched his head and left it atthat. “All right, so what’s the story? Why are they after you? Why are we here?”
“Well they weren’t shooting to kill, so that means they wantto talk.” Escalla ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. “I hate thisplace! I hate these people!” She turned her face away. “Here’s the run-down.This is Clan Nightshade, my clan. They’re exiled from the Seelie Court over somecrap you and I could care less about, so Clan Nightshade is a rogue. Fought their way through three different planes and ended up here, holed up on the Flanaess.” Her voice was toneless. “Faeries usually live in a sealed society-theSeelie Court. It straddles several planes of existence-very old, nine clansalways stabbing one another in the back. Spawned a dark goddess once and has kept out of mortal affairs ever since.”
She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper.
“Nightshade is trouble. They are my clan, so don’tunderestimate them. We learned magic the hard way.” Escalla kept her faceneutral and guarded, her eyes flicking left and right for signs of scrying spells. “The Seelie Court clans are a lot more inbred, more reclusive, moreformulaic.”
Jus slowly stroked his fingers through Cinders’ hair. “Butthese are all faeries like you, right?”
Escalla gave the man a sharp stare. Small, slim, and somehow sinister with her pointed ears and tilted eyes, she suddenly seemed no joking matter.
“Clan Nightshade is personally responsible for neutralizingand imprisoning a goddess.” The girl narrowed her eyes. “You’re still thinkingof elves and pixies. Don’t. Faeries are the true folk. Imagine arace of magic-using, flying creatures that can change shape and go invisible at will.” The girl bitterly pitched a piece of grass into the wind. “Elves are tofaeries what skinks are to black dragons. Don’t make the mistake of thinkingthat just because something’s short, it can’t splay your lungs all over thegrass.”