Bloody Fairies (Shadow) (27 page)

Hippy ducked out from the centre of the planets. “I like your castle.”

Pierus set a box on a table and smiled at her. “Glad to hear it. Come here, my dear.” He held out a hand.

Hippy went to him, but stopped just out of reach of his hand.

Pierus closed the last step between them and put his arm around her shoulder. “This is my laboratory,” he said. “Here I conduct my research and experiments and watch over Shadow. Do you like it?”

“You have a lot of shiny things.”

“I do indeed. But I will make sure there are other shiny things for you to play with, my love, for this is not a place for you. When I am working I must be undisturbed, and when I am not working, my work must be undisturbed. Do you understand?”

“Not really.” Hippy gazed up at a huge light made of candles in glass holders. “That’s a pretty light.”

“Perhaps this will help you to understand.” Pierus lit a candle on the table, then took a pinch of black powder from a bowl. He tossed the powder into the candle flame.

A small, sharp bang split the air. A black smoke cloud exploded over the table.

Hippy clapped her hands. “It went bang! Can I try?”

“No.” Pierus drew her away from the desk and towards the stairs. “I was rather hoping you’d get the message that coming up here is likely to result in you blowing your pretty little hands off. You can go anywhere, my dear, except here. Understood?”

She sighed
. “Alright.”

They descended the stairs to the second floor, where Pierus led her to the third door on the left. He opened it to reveal one of the bedrooms she’d glanced at earlier. In fact it was the biggest one of them all and contained a huge bed made up with filmy white hangings and heavy blankets.

“You and I will sleep here,” Pierus said.

“Really? But there are so many bedrooms
, I thought–”

Pierus gave her a look. It was part disappointed, part sardonic, and it made Hippy’s cheeks burn bright red.

“Oh,” she said, and decided it was probably best not to pursue the conversation.

Fangs shook herself, looked
at the fingers curling around Hippy’s shoulder and pecked them.

Pierus snatched his hand back. “I hope you’re planning on hou
sebreaking these pets of yours,” he said, his voice a trifle less pleasant than it had been.

Hippy giggled and petted Fangs. “I’m sure she’ll get used to you. One day.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Pierus had already managed to tarnish the shine of the castle. Hippy headed outside so she didn’t have to talk to him.

From the very edge of the steps, the garden was a labyrinth of leafy wild things hidden in a snarl of neglect. Wild shapes crouched, watchful, silent, within the tangled branches and straggling leaves of thick bushes that had once been clipped into a crouching horse here, a winged lion there.

Hippy found the big fountain soon enough. A wall rose out of the very centre, a clear pool on one side and bubbling fountain on the other. She perched on the edge of the pool, carefully keeping her feet clear of the water, and looked out across the plains.

The forest huddled beyond miles and miles of grass. Clockwork could be hiding anywhere out there.

She slowly rose to her feet. Pierus wasn’t that interested in having her around. He wouldn’t notice if she was gone for an hour or two. And wherever Clockwork was hiding, he was sure to see her if she ran across the plains. She glanced over her shoulder.

“I wouldn’t,” Nikifor said.

Hippy was so startled by his haggard face and the fact he’d been right there behind her, she slipped off the wall and fell on her backside. She scowled. “Wouldn’t what?”

“Wouldn’t go out there.” Nikifor offered his hand to help her to her feet. “He said you were to stay near the castle.”

“You both seem to be under the impression I’m going to do what he says.” Hippy dusted herself off. “You’re going to be very disappointed about that.”

“Are you hungry?”

“Hungry?” She brightened.
“Of course I’m hungry.”

Nikifor motioned toward the castle. “The king has prepared dinner.”

Hippy’s mouth dropped open. “He cooks?” She trotted at Nikifor’s side through the big entry way.

“He is the master of many arts.” Nikifor said the words with a smile, but his voice was grey and faded. “Through here.”

Hippy went into a big room where a long table was surrounded by many chairs. The walls were lined with candlesticks in brass holders shaped like hands. The candles were alight, even though it was day, giving the room a warm glow.

At the head of the table Pierus
stirred soup in a big silver tureen. He gave Hippy a thin smile when she approached, stopped what he was doing and pulled out a chair for her next to him. “There you are, my dear.”

Hippy sat down. Her stomach growled. “I didn’t know you cooked. I thought kings had people to do that for them.”

“Generally we do, but we’re rather isolated here and I’m hardly going to let a fairy run my kitchen. You’d poison us all in the blink of an eye.”

“Mmmm,” Hippy said. “Fairy dust soup. I miss my mum’s cooking.”

Pierus put a bowl in front of her and ladled steaming red liquid from the tureen. It splashed down the sides and a droplet burned her hand.

Hippy looked doubtfully at the mixture. Liquid fat floated on the surface and globs of red congealed at the edges. Chunks of purplish meat floated in it. She sniffed at it and wrinkled her nose. “Did something die in there?”

“Blood soup,” Pierus said. “Fresh from a wild rabbit. I understand such things are terribly good for a pregnant fairy.”

Hippy gagged and pressed a hand over her mouth. Her stomach threatened to revolt. Her chair clattered backward and fell over when she ran for the nearest door.

Pierus’s laughter cut into her raw nerves like razorblades.

Hippy didn’t stop until she found her way outside again, where she fell to her hands and knees and threw up u
nder the overgrown winged lion until she’d emptied the entire contents of her stomach.

Her hands trembled. She went to the fountain, cleaned her hands and face and rinsed her mouth. She shot a furious glance in the direction of the castle and thought about walking right back in there and emptying the blood soup tureen over the muse king’s head.

Instead she turned her back on the whole thing and walked down the path. When she was safely on the other side of the bushes she ran across the plains. The late afternoon air was cool and refreshing on her skin. The wind of her passing whipped through her hair, lifting it off her neck. The deepening light made shadows in the dips in the grass while the sky slowly turned a deep shade of blue-purple overhead. The further away she got, the better she felt. The grass was soft on her bare feet. The space helped to clear her head.

She stopped and turned around
when the castle was a tiny dot in the distance, just where it should be. It was going to take a lot of convincing to go back there.

When she turned her back on the castle
again, Clockwork stood in the path. He took her hand and they kept running.

Hippy had thought they would go to the nearby forest
. Instead Clockwork skirted the trees and headed for where the ground sloped upward, then followed a rock face until it opened into a narrow fissure. Here the two fairies squeezed through the opening and came out into a damp, mossy clearing sheltered on all four sides by steep rock and open to the sky. In one rock face there was a shallow cave.

Hippy put her feet down gently on the moss. She tip-toed around the bases of the tall trees growing in there. They had to reach up very far to feel the sun.

When she’d walked the whole clearing she sat down next to Clockwork in the cave. He’d lit a fire in a depression in the rock; the flames warmed her fingers and toes. The light faded outside and cold seeped in with the darkness.

“Are you hungry?” Clockwork asked.

She shuddered. “I don’t know.”

“Here.” He handed her a basket filled with berries and small, rock-shaped cakes.

Hippy’s very empty stomach growled. She tore into a cake. “Where did you get these?”

“The forest people gave them to me.”

Hippy almost choked. She swallowed what she was eating while Clockwork clapped her on the back, and got her breath back. “Forest people? You talked to them? They didn’t kill you?”

“Of course not. Fitz gave me a few things to tell them if I was ever caught. Really, they were very friendly. They mostly wanted to know what the pretender was doing with a fairy on his cart.”

“What did you tell them?” Hippy bit into a second cake. She was starving and the cakes were really good.

Clockwork grinned. “I said you were my sweetheart and I was here to rescue you from the muse king, who was holding you against your will. It seemed more likely than the truth.”

She ate a handful of berries. “Did they believe you?”

“They gave me food and showed me this place to stay,” Clockwork said. “And an axe.” He pointed to a stout, long-handled, double-headed axe with wickedly curved blades resting by the fire. “And they said we could go safely through the forest when I rescued you.”

Hippy investigated the weapon. “Nice.” She gave a disconsolate sigh and ate another cake.

“Is he starving you?” Clockwork demanded.

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Hippy blinked back errant tears. Even pregnant fairies didn’t cry. “He tried to give me blood soup. The smell made me throw up and he laughed.”

“Come on. We’ll kill him right now, take the Apple and go.” Clockwork reached for the axe.

“No!” Hippy put her hand on his arm. “We can’t. What if we killed him and it was the end of all Shadow?”

“You heard Fitz. That’s a lie.”

“What if Fitz was wrong?”

Clockwork poked at the fire. A shower of sparks went up into the darkness. “Fitz is the smartest person I know.”

“But are you prepared to take that risk?”

He sighed. “I don’t know. I guess you’re not.”

Hippy shook her head. “Not really. But listen, as soon as I have a chance I’m going to find the Apple of Chaos. Then we have to get out of here. Really, really fast.”

Clockwork chuckled. “He’s going to be a little bit upset, is he?”

“He’s going to be so mad he’ll eat his own face.”

The two fairies giggled. The fire crackled. Silence settled. Clockwork and Hippy laced their fingers together.

“Are you going to be okay?” Clockwork said.

“Of course I am. What can he possibly do, apart from play his mean little tricks and act like a complete ass?”

“I don’t know. The forest people said he took one of them to live in the Arch once.”

“Really? What happened?”

“They don’t know. He never came back.”

Hippy thought about the skeleton she’d seen. She felt ill again. But she didn’t want to worry Clockwork, so she quickly changed the subject. “You know what’s really weird? Nikifor. I think Pierus is doing something to him. He gave him this drink the night we left Shadow, to take away his fear. Now Nikifor’s really sick and he babbles and says weird stuff about consequences.”

The stick Clockwork had been playing with stilled. “What did the drink look like?”

“It was green. He didn’t want it, but Pierus made him.”

“Sounds like vibe.”

“Vibe?”

“It’s a Freakin Fairy drink.” Clockwork raked his dreadlocks out of his face. “Completely harmless to fairies, of course. It just used to give us a little bit of a laugh and make our voices go funny. But it’s a terrible thing for muses. It takes away all their fears, all their boundaries and rules. It’s like they suddenly have a direct link to all that inspiration out there. It floods them and they can’t handle it. But once they start drinking it they can’t stop either, or they go crazy and die.” He drew a line across his throat with his index finger. “Pierus stole the recipe from my grandfather when my dad was young.
He was supposed to be trying to negotiate for more silver, but once he had that, he scarpered.”

Hippy stared at Clockwork, her eyes
wide. “Nikifor’s going to go crazy and die?”

“If he’s been drinking vibe, then yes, one way or another. He could survive for decades if he has a little now and then, but if he doesn’t, he’ll have another day or two, tops.”

“There must be a way to help him!” Hippy buried her face in Clockwork’s shoulder. He smelled like wood smoke and leaves. She didn’t want to go back.

“If he went to my people, maybe.” Clockwork sounded doubtful. “But I’m more worried about you, Hippy. Let me go find the Apple of Chaos.”

She shook her head. “No. If you get caught there’s no telling what he’ll do. I’m going to find it tonight and come back.”

Clockwork turned her face and looked into her eyes. He looked very serious. “And if you don’t come back tonight? If something goes wrong?”

“Then I’ll come back tomorrow and tell you what happened. Don’t worry. I can leave anytime I want. He can’t stop me.” Hippy leaned forward and gently kissed his lips.

Clockwork closed his eyes and returned the kiss. Hippy let herself imagine, just for a minute, that this was her life and she could stay in the cave all night. It was a nice thought, but she felt worse when she ended the kiss. “You’d better think up a way to get us back to Dream. I’ll see you soon.” She hurried out of the cave before she could change her mind and stay.

She found the crevice and squeezed through it. It was a good thing she’d decided to end all this tonight. In another few weeks she’d start getting fat from the baby and wouldn’t fit down here.