Isle of Winds (The Changeling Series Book 1) (17 page)

“What is your price then, Deepdweller?” Karya asked, her voice straining to remain polite.

“Surface things. Things we can trade.” Its eyes flicked momentarily to Woad. “Things we can eat.”

“We have some food and drink,” Robin suddenly remembered. “Hestia made us some, I think she put some kinds of herbs in our packs too.” He began to unshoulder his rucksack.

“The pelt of your faun would fetch a pretty price in the Agora market-town,” the redcap chieftain said, ignoring Robin, his voice greedy. Several of the redcaps around them were eyeing Woad’s bare blue skin with hungry calculating eyes. “Soft and supple, especially from one so young. It would be a fine hide for any redcap to possess.”

Woad made a low growling noise in the back of his throat, flexing his small claws slowly.

“Unfortunately,” Karya said as politely as she could manage, “our companion is currently using his skin and cannot spare it. He would be awfully inconvenienced by its loss. Perhaps there is something else we could trade?”

“There must be something else,” Robin said, trying to draw the chieftain’s glossy eyes away from the faun. “I mean, we don’t have much, but we really do need to find our friends. They were kidnapped, you see. We can’t track them. If you know anything, anything at all, we’d really owe you one.”

Karya and Woad both gasped. The redcap chieftain snapped its eyes back to the boy.

Utter silence had fallen throughout the hall.

“Owe us?” it hissed slowly.

Robin had the horrible feeling that he had just said something very wrong indeed. Karya was staring at him in mute horror.

“Yes … yes that will be a most agreeable arrangement to us,” the chieftain replied, smiling its toothless grin. It seemed very amused. “A good turn … to be repaid. Too long has it been since the trading of favours has passed between the redcaps and the fae. Truly you are an unusual specimen of your people, hornless boy.” A murmur of whispering passed through the hive in a chittering wave.

“Here are the terms of our accord.” The creature leaned forward on its throne. “The redcaps will discover if your companions have indeed passed this way, and if so, to where they were headed. We will share with you what information we have, and in return, we will hold a favour in trust, to be recalled at a later date.”

“What favour?” Robin said carefully.

“We do not know yet,” the chieftain replied. “There is nothing we want from you … at present.” It looked at its own hands, examining the ring’s jet stone. “But there will come a time for a debt to be repaid.”

Robin could feel Karya and Woad both watching him, but neither of them spoke up. He got the feeling that this was his responsibility alone. But what choice did he have? In his mind he saw the stone faces of Aunt Irene and Mr Drover. He remembered Hestia describing Henry yelling and the finding of Phorbas’ broken horn. He had to find them, no matter what the cost.

“Okay,” he said, swallowing. “That sounds fair.” He held out a hand to shake. The redcap gripped it in both his strong claws, grinning toothlessly. Robin’s skin felt as though it wanted to crawl off.

“An addendum to this deal of yours,” Karya suddenly said, “is the safe release of all three of us from this barrow.”

The redcap’s eyes flickered with annoyance, but it nodded in acceptance. “Very well, little girl. None amongst us will prevent you from leaving this barrow.” It held up a long finger. “At nightfall.” He looked to Karya. “The sun is up now. The sky is bright. The doors remain fast until the shadows return.

Karya nodded. Woad shivered at her side, tail twitching, clearly uncomfortable with having to spend the whole day down here. Robin was frustrated. Every moment they wasted was time for Strife to get further away from them.

“Agreed then.” The chieftain released Robin’s hand. He resisted the urge to wipe it on the leg of his jeans.

A smaller, scarlet-skinned redcap appeared at the old creature’s side. There was an exchange of chittering commands, then the drone scuttled away across the hall to a large carved stone. Intricate spirals and whorls made a dizzying pattern there. The redcap picked up a pair of small sticks and began to beat a complicated tattoo on the stone. It echoed strangely through the cavern.

“We are spreading the word,” the chieftain said. “The gong is connected to our next barrow, and from there to many others. They in turn will spread the message. If your friends are to be found, we will find them.”

Karya nodded and bowed again.

“Hospitality has laws,” the redcap continued. “We shall feed and entertain you while we wait.”

* * *

It was something of a relief when Karya, Woad and Robin were ushered out of the chieftain’s presence and taken to another shadowy cavern. Robin’s stomach had been growling all night and the supplies Hestia had provided were meagre enough that he was already considering rationing. They were seated at one of many long low tables on a soft cushion. Redcaps swarmed around them, chattering and piling food high on the tables. Robin had half-expected the meal to consist of bugs and grubs, but in fact there were platters of sausages, mashed potato, roast chickens, sliced hot hams, and goblets filled with a strange wine. Karya ate sparingly, trying to look relaxed and aloof. Woad on the other hand, showed no such restraint, piling his plate high over and over again. Food, Robin was coming to realise, was clearly a faun’s weak spot. As long as none of it had been cooked in the human world.

“I can’t believe you did that!” Karya hissed at Robin quietly.

“Did what?” Robin replied out of the corner of his mouth.

“You put yourself in the redcaps’ debt! It’s one thing to trade with a redcap but to offer your services? You really shouldn’t have done that … It’s simpler to bargain with a demon than a redcap!”

“Well, what was I supposed to do? We don’t have anything else to go on. We need their help, don’t we? That’s why you brought us here in the first place.”

“I’d rather have given them Woad’s skin that agreed to some ill-defined future ‘favour’ like you did.” Karya shook her head in bewilderment.

“Oy!” Woad mumbled indignantly, his mouth full of sausages.

Karya narrowed her eyes at him “Oh hush, Woad, you know what I mean. The Scion has put himself in the debt of the redcaps!”

Woad only glanced at Robin and rolled his eyes.

“Well, I don’t know what else we could have done,” Robin snapped. He was getting fed up of this strange girl bossing him around. “They said they’ll help us at least. All I care about is finding Henry and Phorbas. We’ll worry about the rest later.”

Karya sipped her wine sullenly, sinking into her huge fur coat. “I just don’t like this,” she said to no one in particular. “Sitting here, waiting for news. What’s taking so long, anyway? That’s what I’d like to know. It’s been hours now since Deepdweller sent his message to the other barrows. And all this feasting. It’s like he’s trying to distract us, keep us here. Something smells wrong.”

“I think it’s the sausages,” Woad sniffed at the banger on the end of his fork, then shrugged and bit it in half anyway.

* * *

It was hours later, much to Karya’s increasingly evident impatience, that a slender, wide-eyed redcap approached and informed them that the chieftain wished to have their presence again.

The three companions were led, not back to the throne room as they had expected, but back up the long spiralling corridor to the entrance of the barrow.

The doors to the outside world were closed fast, but the chieftain was waiting for them, his black and gold robes bulky around him.

“You have some information?” Karya asked as they approached.

“We will keep our end of the bargain,” the creature replied. “Redcaps always do. We will tell you what we have heard. That is what was agreed between your people and mine.”

“Do you know where they are?” Robin asked eagerly.

The chieftain peered at Robin in the gloom. “We have heard that a servant of Lady Eris did indeed pass across the Barrowood, and that those who you seek to find were present. They travelled east, beyond the borders of the forest and far over the moors, but they did not walk. They left no track which you can follow.”

“Then how will we ever find them?” Robin asked.

“You would do well to seek guidance from the Phythian perhaps,” the redcap murmured. “Or at least, that would have availed you, if you had had more time.”

“What do you mean?” Karya demanded.

The redcap’s mouth split into an ugly smile. Behind it, the vast circular stone which barred the door to the forest outside slowly opened.

“Redcaps hear much … see much. All know this to be true. You three are not the first to come to us of late looking for information.”

Karya narrowed her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

The door was open fully now, the fresh forest air rushed in to greet them. The blood-red light of the setting sun washed through the trees outside and, on the other side of the clearing Robin could make out several shapes.

Woad’s nose twitched. “Skrikers!” he yelped in alarm.

The redcap grinned toothlessly. “A deal is a deal.”

Karya’s eyes were wide with shock. “You tricked us! You kept us here all day. That message you sent through the stone, it wasn’t asking after our friends at all, you were sending a message to…”

“Mr Strife!” Robin cried out in alarm.

“We have given you the information we had on your friends,” Deepdweller replied, unabashed. “We have kept our end of the bargain. We also had a bargain with Eris’ man, and now that too is fulfilled. This has been a good day for business.” It chittered to itself. “A good day indeed. Farewell, surface dwellers.”

It turned and crept off slowly down the tunnel.

“That two-faced, double-crossing…” Robin spat angrily.

Woad glared. “Well, what did we expect? He’s a redcap. You can’t trust them at the best of times.”

“Shut up, both of you!” Karya snapped as the barrow’s door-stone clunked shut behind them with a very final thud.

Across the clearing, two skrikers growled low in their throats, making Robin’s skin crawl.

“Here we all are,” Mr Strife said smoothly, stepping out from between the trees. “How … nice.” He smiled at them, a horrible rictus filled with small even teeth. His green, slicked hair shone in the light of the setting sun.

Karya pushed Robin behind her. “Stay away from him!” she warned.

“Ah … Karya,” Strife said smoothly, as though greeting an old friend. He looked at her with his head cocked. “I’ve been looking for you for quite some time now. How fortuitous to find you here with the Scion. One might call it chance, but I prefer to think of it as fate; a concept I’m certain one with your nature would understand. Two of my Lady Eris’ most wanted personages here in the palm of my hand together.” His eyes narrowed. “Two birds, one stone. Tell me, girl. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear, does it make a sound?”

“Where’s Henry?” Robin said, cutting her off. “And Phorbas? What have you done with them?” Woad grabbed his arm, holding him back.

Mr Strife’s cold eyes fell on Robin. “I have them,” he said softly. “And now I have you.”

Karya turned to Robin. “We have to run,” she hissed in a whisper. “Get ready.”

“But Henry…” Robin protested.

“Can’t help Henryboy if we’re dead,” Woad growled. “Skrikers make us into dog food, then what?”

“Robin Fellows, all of the Netherworlde is very interested in your potential,” Mr Strife said, stalking across the clearing toward them. The skrikers padded at his side, their dark shapes wavering as though seen through a heat haze.

“My inheritance, you mean?” Robin spat. “Yeah, so I’ve heard.”

“I am sure that my friends here, Spitak and Siaw, will be most persuasive in convincing you that your cooperation is for the best,” Mr Strife said in his oily voice. The dense carpet of autumnal leaves crunched under their paws as the skrikers advanced.

“We have to get to the trees,” Karya whispered urgently. “Behind the barrow.”

“We’ll never make it, boss,” Woad said. “Skrikers too fast; we run, they run.”

Karya looked about hopelessly. Mr Strife produced a long, slim-bladed knife from the depths of his frock coat.

“Scion … the leaves,” Karya said, her eyes lighting up.

“What?” Robin stammered, distracted by the approaching beasts and knife.

“We need a diversion,” Karya snapped, “A smokescreen. The leaves on the floor, Scion. Hide us!”

“I … I don’t know if I can. I’m still learning…”

“Learn faster,” Woad suggested urgently.

Mr Strife lunged towards them, arm outstretched as though to seize Robin from afar. The skrikers growled, leaping forward, and Karya and Woad stumbled back in shock.

Robin didn’t stumble. He stood his ground, his hand flying to his mana stone. Gripping its solid warmth, he closed his eyes tightly and pointed his hand, fingers outstretched, at the forest floor before him. He had time to think briefly, ‘this had better work!’ and then, with all of his strength, he cast Featherbreath on the leaves beneath them.

Only this wasn’t floating a sheet of paper in a classroom. This was fighting for his life in the lonely wilderness.