Escalla’s mother looked down her nose at the angry girl. “Ifnecessary, a spell might calm you.”
“Just try it!”
Lord Charn chewed his moustache. Escalla had moved to a far window where she stared angrily out at her mortal friends. The faerie lord paced toward her, raising a spell to keep away curious ears and eyes.
“Daughter, this is the marriage of dreams. Clan Sable is atthe pinnacle of the Seelie Court.”
“Well those are not my dreams!” The girl turned, andtears stood out in sharp green eyes that seemed so suddenly vulnerable. “Notmy dreams!” Tired and trapped, Escalla ran fingers over her little skull.“It’s been five years. For Erythnul’s sake, how did you find me?”
“You happened to fall in range of our scrying spells justwhen your mother needed you.” The faerie lord twiddled his fingers. “It’s a bigworld. If you wanted to stay lost, you should have kept your distance and kept your shields up.”
“I have other uses for my spells. I do stuff thesedays! Important stuff! Stuff that matters!” Escalla rubbed her eyes. “Fiveyears, Dad. Surely that was a clue that I’d gone for good.”
“A mayfly flicker.” Lord Charn waved a hand at the gardens.“Escalla, the council is almost at war over this. Clan Half Moon has convincedthe queen to reprieve us. Clan Sable is furious. When Nightshade left the court, it was Sable that seized power. By welding Sable to Nightshade, we prevent a rift in the court! It is the only way to return and bring peace!”
“Why do they want us, dad? Why now?”
“Because they need what we can do.” Lord Charn paced the roombeside his daughter. “We are the only clan with experience on the primal plane.We have spied and studied, intermingled and coexisted with the powers peculiar to this layer of the universe.”
“It sounds thin.” With the slowglass necklace clenched likebrass knuckles in her hand, Escalla turned away. “Who’s this Tarquil, anyway? Adamned duelist?”
“He’s a sorcerer and a swordsman.”
“A murderer.” Escalla tugged her clothing tight abouther little frame. “I won’t do it.”
Escalla’s father put a denser shield between himself and hiswife, then leaned quickly closer to his child. “Escalla! Your mother knowshow much you value those mortal friends of yours. You refuse to do this, and she will kill them.”
The little faerie turned pale. She swung about to face the window. Behind her, Escalla’s father hissed quietly in her ear. “Escalla, do notunderestimate your mother’s ambitions for power. The court means everything toher. Nothing else matters! If you want your friends to leave here alive, do exactly what she says. She will watch you, Escalla. Every word you say, every person you meet will be spied on. Your mother wants the Seelie Court in her hands.” Escalla’s father took the chance to kiss his daughter hurriedly on theear, fearing his wife’s ability to break his spell. “It will be all right.You’ll get used to it. I’m doing what’s best for you.”
The moment passed. As Lord Charn’s spells faded, Escallafound herself staring blankly at a windowpane. Outside in the gardens, music and laughter sounded as alien and distant as the surging of a sea. Numb, Escalla flexed her hands, her mind blank of anything except her friends. Escalla’smother waited. The girl bowed her head and looked blankly at the floor.
“I will marry Tarquil.”
Jus and Polk rose from the grass where they had sat waitingfor a long and silent hour. Finally they saw two small figures approaching them from the garden path. Dressed in sheer white lace, Tielle drifted coyly above the ground. Beside her, a little figure in mother-of-pearl silk flew in quiet misery.
Escalla landed before Jus and Polk. She wore her shimmering gray dress demurely. Her blonde hair had been pulled back, and her leathers were bundled in one hand. The girl dropped her clothes at Jus’ feet and staredpalely at the grass.
“Justicar.”
“Lady Brightflower.”
Jus’ voice was hoarse and quiet. He looked down at thedelicate little faerie before him and felt infinitely sad. Escalla curtsied to him slowly, unable to meet his eye.
“Justicar, there is a time in all lives when… when achange must come.” The girl’s voice caught in her throat. “For the good of thosewe love, we have to… to accept what has to be.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Escalla’s head bowed. A tear fell to speckle the back of onedaintily gloved hand.
“We… we have spoken of philosophy, you and I. Rememberwhat we once said about what we owe to future generations? Can you picture it clearly in your mind?”
“Yes, my lady.” The Justicar remembered. “You showed me theway that new ideas grow.”
“Then you will know how much I owe to my family and my clan.You know that I now wish to leave my life of wandering and embrace the court. I must leave you and do what is right and proper.”
Jus bowed his head and slowly closed his hands. “Yes, mylady.”
“I… I will be married in three days time. I do not thinkwe will meet again.”
Escalla jerked away and hid her face. Bored by the tedium of it all, Tielle clicked her fingers and summoned a serving girl.
“Justicar, Clan Nightshade wishes to thank and reward you foryour services as guard and guide to our daughter.” Tielle seemed in a hurry tobe elsewhere. “Escalla has indicated suitable gifts.”
The girl allowed her servant to pass out the items one by one.
“Polk. To you, we offer this magic wine bottle. Speak intothe bottle’s mouth, and it will refill itself one thousand times with whateverliquor you care to name.”
Looking desolate and appalled, Polk numbly accepted the bottle. Tielle took another gift from the serving girl behind her.
“For the hell hound, we offer this. It is a vial containingall the scents we have found in many worlds. A toy, but you may have some pleasure from it.” Escalla’s sister turned a measured glance at the Justicar.“For you, Justicar, we offer these scrolls. We are told spells are something youcan utilize. Also, Escalla says you have need of diamond dust.”
The huge man bowed slowly and said, “I thank you.”
“Escalla asks that you take her old clothes with you when yougo. She never wishes to see them again.”
Escalla slowly walked over to stand before the Justicar. Still unable to lift her face, she held out her tiny hand. “Good-bye, Justicar.”
“Good-bye, my lady.” The Justicar knelt, closed his eyes fora long moment, and quietly kissed her hand. Faerie tears stung salt into his lips. “It has been a privilege and a pleasure to serve you.” Faerie fingerssqueezed Jus’ hand. “May justice forever be yours.”
He rose and bowed. A servant held out a hand to show him to a gate that led back to the world of summer rainstorms and morning frost. Escalla turned away, unable to watch him go. One hand covered her face, and the other clutched tightly against her heart.
Dawn in the faerie lands was an arbitrary affair. If it hadbeen inconveniently pale, bright or rainy, one or more faeries would have been sure to smooth it over with illusions. The illusions were easily seen through by those who could be bothered, but few bothered. The faeries drew few lines between illusion and reality, preferring to discuss the virtues of real versus unreal for long hours over steaming cups of tea. Or possibly cups of not-tea. Illusion had a way like that.
Sitting in a room decorated for a good little daughter, Escalla propped her elbows on her knees and sighed. These were not her old rooms. Those had been turned into guest apartments long ago, and Tarquil now snored in Escalla’s old bed. Mother had created a new room for her errantdaughter, one more suitably fashioned to her image of the perfect child.
The decor was mostly fuchsia pink. Escalla felt her entire intestinal tract rebel.
She sat looking into the slowglass gem. A white wedding dress as big as a whale hung from one wall-a dress covered with seed pearls andbeautiful enough to stop any normal woman’s heart. There were paintings on thewall, real paintings. There were color shifting rugs upon the floor-unreal.The view from the windows showed any one of a dozen illusory scenes of imagined grandeur. It all had the grainy, almost greasy quality that Escalla had come to associate with all her childhood memories.