Of Sorcery and Snow (18 page)

“We owe the Snow Queen much,” said Rebdo. “She gave us a
home of our own, the first since the Great Migration.”

“Solange built this city?” I said. I couldn't imagine her doing anything that nice.

“
Dwarves
built this city!” roared Cranky Beard.

“Her Majesty chose this spot for our new home,” explained Rebdo, “and Her Majesty's general set up the enchantment that keeps us safe.”

“And how do you maintain it?” Lena asked eagerly.

“You EASers ask too many questions,” said Cranky Beard.

So, of course, Chase made sure to ask one more. “Are we almost there?”

We were coming up on
something
. I could hear cheering up ahead.

“Oh, so you're still with us?” said the second-in-command. “You've been so quiet, I wondered if perhaps Rebdo slipped you into the ocean sometime back.”

“I've been holding my breath,” Chase said. “Rebdo's stink is beginning to
thaw
.”

“I'm a well-seasoned dwarf,” Rebdo said cheerfully.

Princess Hadriane turned her reindeer down a side street, and her squadron followed. Massive icicles held up a stage. Beside it stood a fancy brown tent, like the ones humans use for outdoor parties.

Beyond them was the square. Hundreds of fur-wrapped dwarves slowly made their way to the bleachers at the square's edge, and mounted soldiers lined up at the events.

The princess didn't even glance their way.

She just slipped off the reindeer, passed its lead rope to her second-in-command, and dashed through the tent's opening, her strange braid swinging. “I'm sorry I'm late, Father.”

Her second-in-command jumped down too. “Off you get,” he
told me. “Stand right there beside the tent—I want to be able to see you when I get your friend down.”

I slid off the reindeer, and my feet jarred against stone. Wow. This part of the city had to be special. It was paved with discs of petrified wood. I made my way over to the tent, but the second I stopped, the second-in-command shouted, “Not there, Landon!”

I jumped and looked back.

The second-in-command was untying Chase and scowling at me. He jerked his chin to the left. “There. Between those two ropes.”

I stepped to the side, wondering what
his
deal was. This spot wasn't any different from the one I'd just been standing on, except I couldn't see the square with the stage in the way, and the voices coming from the crack between the tent's panels were so loud I—

Voices
.

“. . . event is so important,” said a voice inside, much deeper and gruffer than Hadriane's. That had to be the king.

“This tournament is a farce,” said the princess. “It doesn't address the real problem. Ima and Iggy—”

“That's precisely its merit,” said the king. “The twins' disappearance has alarmed our people. They worry for the throne's future, and this event will give them peace of mind.”

Okay, just because I could hear didn't mean I could
understand
.

“But Ima and Iggy didn't disappear,” said the princess. “I told you what happened to them. The Pied Piper marched the human children past our gates. The twins heard him playing, and they followed.”

Oh.
I didn't realize the dwarves had lost children too.

“A misunderstanding—” started the king, but he sounded miserable.

“You know it's not,” said the princess. “The tune changed before the twins got up and joined them. The giant smiled when they came out. It was their intent.”

They were both quiet for a moment—so long that I wondered if they'd left, but then the king spoke again, sounding a lot more grief-stricken. “My hands are tied, Haddy. What would you have me do?”

“The EASers have sent a Tale bearer and the Triumvirate to retrieve the children,” said the princess. “We could
help
them, Father. We could go
with
them and get Ima and Iggy back.”

I blinked. Somehow the whole spears-and-imprisonment routine hadn't given me the impression that Hadriane wanted to join the quest, but I wasn't complaining.

“No. We trade them.” The dwarf king obviously hadn't considered the rescue idea at all. “If you have Rory Landon, the Snow Queen will surely return the twins.”

The relief in his voice made me swallow hard. If he did give us to the Snow Queen, my dream would
definitely
come true.

“
No
. Remember: Solange is too greedy. She never gives her prisoners back, unless she kills them first,” said Hadriane. “But if anyone has a chance at freeing the children, the humans'
and
ours, it is these Characters, aided by the magic of a Tale.”

The king was silent.

“Father?” said Hadriane eagerly. I hoped, too.

He sighed. “Get ready for the tournament, Haddy. We're to open it in a few minutes.”

“Will you at least
think
about it?” said the princess. “Before you report them to the Snow Queen?”

“Yes, I'll wait until after the tournament,” he replied. “But in exchange, you must play your part. None of that polar bear
glare. Show us your smile. You have your mother's smile.”

“Yes, Father.” And then there was an
oomph
, and a patting sound. I'm pretty sure those were the sounds of the princess tackling her father in a hug.

Rapunzel was right. The dwarves could be our allies. I had no idea how winning could earn their trust, but we only had until the end of the tournament.

“You heard that, right?” I asked Miriam and Lena, who had lined up beside me.

“Heard what?” Miriam asked, mystified. The perfect eavesdropping spot beside the tent obviously didn't extend to her. “Hey, could you do something about Chase? He's not exactly making us any friends.”

The second-in-command had untied Chase from the back of Rebdo's reindeer, all right. Chase had apparently returned the favor by dumping Rebdo out of the saddle. The poor big dwarf was still recovering, sitting in the alley and rubbing his head. Chase yanked the reins, trying to turn the reindeer into the square, but it wasn't moving. The second-in-command had hunkered down like an anchor, holding the reindeer's lead rope in his hands. Cranky Beard was trying to pull Chase off the mount, but every time he got in range, Chase aimed kicks at the dwarf's head.

Well, that was a stalemate if I ever saw one. Chase was great at fighting his way out of scrapes, but if that didn't work, he wasn't so awesome at figuring out Plan B.

“Chase, cut it out and get over here,” I said.

“Give me one good reason,” Chase said, not ready to back down.

He had me there. I couldn't exactly shout,
Because I have a plan and I want to tell you about it.

Luckily, Lena came to the rescue. “Your scale is all used up. If you try to leave the city, you'll freeze to death.”

“Very good reason.” Then Chase hopped off the reindeer and walked over. He pretended not to notice when an enraged Cranky Beard raised his spear and the annoyed second-in-command stopped him from nailing Chase in the back.

“
Do
you remember what Rapunzel said?” I asked Chase.

“Yeah. She said we needed to win,” he said. “I was trying to win that fight over the reindeer.”

We were definitely interpreting that differently. “She said we would need to become
champions
,” I reminded him, jerking my head toward the tournament.

Chase was unconvinced. “You can't win all tied up. We need to free ourselves first.”

“Okay . . .” Confused, Miriam glanced at Lena for an explanation.

Lena just sighed. “Half the time, I don't know what they're talking about either.”

“Sorry—” I started, but I didn't get a chance to explain what I'd found out. Booming drumbeats filled the air, and the whole square grew quiet. All the contestants turned their reindeer toward the stage.

The tent's door was knocked back, and out strode a dwarf even more square-shaped than the others. His hands were like cutting boards, his beard like one big reddish rectangle. Even the gold crown on his head had four flat edges.

When he jogged up the steps to the stage, the crowd clapped and roared. He raised his massive hands for silence and said, “My good dwarves, I welcome you to the first tournament ever staged in our fair city of Kiivinsh. My family and I have been looking
forward to this for months. It's true that Princess Imelda and Prince Ignatius can't make it today—”

I gasped so loud, several dwarves glared at me.

“I know,” Chase said. “Those names
suck
.”

Ima and Iggy. The Snow Queen had stolen Princess Hadriane's little brother and sister.

“—but my eldest daughter is here,” the king said, turning back to the tent. Hadriane emerged, looking a lot more like a princess. Her brown velvet dress was struck through with gold, and she'd brushed out her chestnut hair until it hung in waves down her back. Her polar bear skin was draped across her shoulders like a cloak.

Maybe her features were a little bit too squarish to be super-beautiful, but when she flashed a smile as dazzling and empty as a Fey's, she was definitely striking. She was also several inches taller than her father.

“It's time that Hadriane takes part in this tournament, so we've set up a new event. Go on, my dear,” the king told the princess. Still smiling, she swept down the steps in front of her father. The crowd drew back, bowing and curtsying as she made her way to a giant hill, positioned about fifty feet from the stage.

It was made out of ice and about three stories tall, way too steep to make a good sledding hill. She climbed up a ladder and took a seat on the flat top, smoothing her skirt. Her father continued, “The challenge is to ride up to the princess. She will toss an apple carved of Living Stone to those who come the closest.” Hadriane pulled something round, heavy, and brown from her dress's deep pockets and held it up.

So far, this seemed like the stupidest event ever, even stupider than the ring event, but I knew where this was headed. Kyle had told us about this tournament just a couple days ago.

“She has three to give away,” the king went on. “And from those three winners, I'll choose the recipient of my daughter's hand in marriage.”

“Wait,
what
?” Miriam said. “That's, like, archaic.”

Yeah. After meeting her, I kind of thought Hadriane should have been a competitor, not one of its prizes.

She must have thought that too. She was only doing it to convince her dad to save her little brother and sister.

“For the other two who earn apples, I've prepared these chests,” said the king, and soldiers behind him whipped big furs off a corner of the stage. The chests had the usual—strings of pearls, gold cups, loose emeralds and opals, plus big chunks of petrified wood. They were kind of obsessed with Living Stone here. “The prizes for the other events are either a golden spear or a favor from your sovereign. If it's in my power, I will grant it.”

My whole body went tingly, like electricity had snuck through the ice and made my hair stand on end. Now I knew what winning would get us.

I searched the courtyard for an event I recognized. The closest lane ended in a slender metal tree that reminded me of the witch forests in Atlantis. But metal hoops dangled from the branches on leather cords. The ring joust.

That tree's trunk looked bendable.

“And now,” added the king, as the drumroll sounded again, “let the tournament commence!”

I tried to raise my hand, but I'd forgotten that my wrists were tied together. So I just ended up flapping my arms up and down like an idiot. “Wait! I have a question.”

The entire square looked our way. Even Hadriane turned to listen. My face burned. If the dwarves had been too excited about the
tournament to notice the humans beside the stage, they definitely noticed us now. Miriam's eyebrows were sky-high, her mouth stern, like she was two seconds from telling me off.

The king's face was unreadable. “Well?”

“Can, um . . .” It didn't seem polite to call us prisoners. “Can guests compete? Even if they're not dwarves?”

“You wish to enter the tournament?” said the king, astonished.

“I think so.” I pointed to the ring joust. Dwarf warriors armed with lances were lined up at the end of the lane, their mounts pawing the ice restlessly. “What are the rules for that one?”

“Whoever can capture the most rings and drop them in the snow wins,” explained the second-in-command.

“That's the only rule? Get the rings in the snow?” I asked, and the king nodded. “Can I, then?”

The king scratched his beard. “I suppose so, but the bonds stay on.”

The dwarves began snickering, but none of the events started. They were waiting for me. Nothing started a tournament off better than watching a human make a fool of herself.

Hadriane wasn't amused, though. She just watched me, eyes narrowed. Lena's lips were pressed together, and Miriam said, “Are you
sure
this is a good idea?”

Chase just shrugged, hands in the air, which was his way of saying,
Okay. We'll try it your way
.

I stepped up behind the line, but one of the dwarves already waiting pointed at the metal tree with his lance, smirking. “Oh no. You go first. We want to see this.”

“Would you like to borrow a reindeer?” asked another, and his friends laughed.

“No, thank you.” I walked straight down the lane to the metal
tree, where the rings dangled at least five feet above my head.

I grabbed the trunk in my left hand, and with the strength of the West Wind, I began to bend it. The metal protested with a squeal, but when the branches lowered to the ground, the leather cords and the rings attached to them dropped too. With one more good push, I bent the tree almost in half, and the rings hit the powdery snow.