Read Snow White and Rose Red Online
Authors: Patricia Wrede
Snow White and Rose Red (22 page)
The Widow and her daughters agreed at once, the Widow reproaching herself for allowing the argument to go on so long when John was clearly exhausted. John made a token attempt to leave, and was immediately and unanimously stopped. It was clear to all of them, even Hugh, that John was in no condition to make the long walk back to Mortlak. The Widow unrolled the straw pallet and made him lie down while Blanche and Rosamund cleared off the trestle table. Then they took the table down and stacked the pieces on top of the chest, giving them enough room for everyone to sleep on the floor. By the time they finished, John was asleep.
John Dee and Edward Kelly were among the few residents of Mortlak who did not crowd the streets to see the bear hunt off. They were busy in the study, checking the symbols they had chalked on the windowsills and lintels of the study as a protection against Faerie, for the unaccountable behavior of the crystal globe troubled them greatly. Knowing nothing of the Faerie Queen’s half-mortal sons, nor of the Widow’s attempt to free Hugh from the effects of their spell, the wizards had concluded that the midnight flashes they had observed were the result of Faerie meddling.
But the seals were intact and the symbols clear and unblurred, and the men turned to their books in search of some explanation. They found nothing to help them.
“ ‘Tis some flaw in the spell itself,” Dee said at last, rubbing his eyes as he straightened up from the volume he had been reading. “We must refrain from working with the crystal till we learn how we have erred.”
“Impossible,” Kelly said flatly. He had, after much experimentation, discovered that base metal, if treated with certain powders and then exposed to the light of the crystal for a full day, would turn to gold, and to say that he was unwilling to give up this new source of prosperity was a grave understatement.
“You know as well as I the dangers of employing such a tool without full knowledge of its lacks,” Dee responded in a tired voice. “Would you see the house burn down around us, or be driven into madness, and all for want of caution?”
“An I agreed with your conjecture, I’d be the first to cover the globe and make use of it no more,” Kelly said mendaciously. “But I do not think it is the crystal that’s at fault.”
“What else could it be, Ned? I can think of no other reason for such misbehavior.”
“There are an hundred things more likely than that we’ve erred! That spell was finely crafted as the Queen’s jewels.”
“You should be more wary of your pride, Ned,” Dee said, shaking his head. “I’ll admit I cannot see where we have gone amiss, but there’s much in this we do not know.”
“Aye,” Kelly said swiftly, “and till we’ve learned some of it you should not lay the blame on our work.”
John Dee laughed. “You’ve a ready tongue, my friend, but you have not yet told me what else may be to blame besides ourselves.”
“It may have been some humor of the night,” Kelly said airily. “Or wait—the crystal draws its power out of Faerie; how if there’s some disturbance there?”
“‘Tis possible,” Dee said with a troubled frown.
“ ‘Tis more than that; ’tis likely! Or why have we seen no sign of defect in our work ere now? Be sure that ‘twas some resonance of Faerie, and now ’tis past. I’ll wager that we have no further difficulty. ”
“I hope you have the right of it, Ned,” Dee said, but his expression did not lighten. “I hope, but hope’s not certain. Wait a little ere you try the globe again.”
“I will not wait,” Kelly said, his lips tightening into a thin line. “Why should I? Faerie has no power to harm us while our protections stand. Now tell me that you’ll seek another ally in your work. ”
Dee sighed. “Nay, Ned, you know that I cannot. There’s none who has your gifts and knowledge both.”
“You do not need me,” Kelly persisted, watching Dee narrowly. “You have the crystal.”
“But I cannot see the spirits in it,” Dee said. “No, no; I will not have you leave. Do as you will; I’ll say no more against it.”
Kelly nodded and stroked his beard and went away to prepare a particularly large quantity of base metal for transmutation into gold. If Dee proved right and they were forced to suspend their experiments, he would at least have gained enough to pay his debts.
The strange vibration in the air, which was the sign in Faerie of the Widow’s spell, troubled Madini greatly, though she would have admitted this to no one save the Faerie Queen herself. For some three weeks she observed each quiver of the leaves and turned to catch each half-seen movement at the edges of her vision. When the Faerie border opened in mid-March, she crossed it twice, performing certain spells on either side; then she called her fellow conspirators together once again.
“Our work’s been all for nothing!” she told them in tones of icy rage. “Hugh’s gone; John’s gone; their mortal taint’s purged out of Faerie—and yet they bind us still!” Her voice rose as she spoke and echoed through the oak glen, startling a crested blue bird into flight.
“Softly,” Furgen said. “Or the whole forest will hear.”
Bochad-Bec snorted. “‘Twill not be the first time.”
“Thou overgrown toadstool!” Madini sneered. “My anger’s justified; I marvel that thou‘rt so calm.”
“If we knew all thy reasoning, perhaps we would be angry too,” Furgen said. It looked at Madini from under half-lowered eyelids. “Pray, tell us thy news.”
“I’ve told it, an you had the sense to hear. Do you recall that shiver i‘the air some three weeks past?”
Furgen inclined its head. Bochad-Bec snorted again. “Some foolishness or other,” the oakman said. “I did not heed it.”
“Thou shouldst have done so!” Madini’s tone was vicious. “Till then, all had gone as we’d planned. Without John’s presence or Hugh’s to hold it, Faerie was withdrawing from the mortal world. That shiver was a check on that withdrawal, and now we’re bound again, as surely as we were before!”
“It’s not the best news,” Furgen admitted. “Dost thou know why?”
“An I did, I’d also know what we should do!” Madini snapped.
“That’s clear enough,” Bochad-Bec said. “We start again.”
“Where, and with what?” Madini snarled, rounding on him. “Or didst thou not hear me say that we know not the cause of this?”
“Then we start by looking for it,” the dwarf said stolidly. “There’s no need to make such a piece of work of it.”
“Madini likes to be dramatic in all things,” Furgen said absently. “But thy thought’s a good one, Bochad-Bec. And here’s another: if none of Faerie made this magic, then it came from mortal lands. And who’s more likely than the human sorcerers to be at the bottom of it?”
“They’re mortals,” Bochad-Bec said dismissively. “They have not the power.”
“I think they have,” Furgen said gently. “Remember, they hold that part of Hugh which is of Faerie. That’s enough to tie our realm to earth, if they’ve learned how to use it.”
“‘Tis possible,” Madini said. Her eyes narrowed. “Canst thou discover how or where Dee and Kelly keep their stolen power?”
Furgen hesitated. “I do not know. They are not fools; they’ve warded all their doors and windows against Faerie. I can listen, but I dare not look.”
“Listen then,” Madini said sweetly. “And be back within the week with what thou‘st learned.”
“I serve thee most obediently,” Furgen said in a tone of humble mockery. “Our purposes are much the same.”
Madini gave him a thin smile and made a regal departure. The water fay looked after her with cold, unfathomable eyes.
CHAPTER · FOURTEEN
“Soon after, the mother sent the girls into the forest to gather wood for the fire. As they walked along, they came across a large tree which had fallen to the ground. When they came closer, they saw a dwarf with a sour, wrinkled face and a long white beard jumping back and forth beside the tree trunk. The end of his beard was caught in a crack in the tree, and the dwarf was trying to pull it free, but all his twisting and tugging was in vain.
”
IN THE DAYS THAT FOLLOWED THE BEAR HUNT, JOHN Rimer became a frequent visitor to the Widow’s cottage. His presence was necessary as well as welcome, for the Widow Arden knew little of the strange and twisted spells of Faerie. To steal back Hugh’s Faerie magic required Faerie lore that only John or Hugh could provide, and Hugh refused to leave the forest lest he be seen and bring the witch-hunters down on his mortal friends. It fell to John to help the Widow and her daughters devise a new enchantment to reverse the spell on Hugh.
John was, however, handsome, young, and well-to-do. Moreover, he was unmarried, and the Widow knew what scandal the gossiping tongues of Mortlak could fabricate from his regular attendance on her daughters. She spent some time considering how best to deal with the potential problem, and then, on the third day following the bear hunt, she made her way to Mortlak to call on Mary Hudson.
Mary greeted the Widow with joy and whisked her up the stairs to her antechamber at once, sending her maids flying to bring hot wine and pillows for her guest. When they were settled in comfort before the fire, the Widow sighed in contentment and said, “Thou art kind, Mary, and good to me, indeed. An thou continue in this fashion, thou‘rt like to ne’er be rid of me.”
“‘Twould be no hardship, I do swear,” Mistress Hudson answered. “How dost thou all this winter?”
“Well enough,” the Widow replied evasively, thinking of the Faerie bear and the questionable activities that had followed his arrival. “But I did not come to talk of my affairs. What’s toward in town?”
Mistress Hudson gave her a sharp look, but only said, “The talk is all of Master Kirton’s hunt; hast ever seen such disarray as they returned in? ‘Tis said a spirit or a devil haunts the forest in the outward shape of a bear, and that is why it came to such confusion. Hast heard the tales?”
“A handful,” the Widow replied. “And to me they sound unlikely. ”
“I see thou hast no fear of phantom bears,” Mistress Hudson said, chuckling. “Well, I’ve none, neither, but not many are of our mind. There’s few who’ll brave the woods at night, and some who’ll not go nigh it even when the sun is high. The curate speaks of sending off to London for someone to free the forest of the apparition.”
“He means to bring an exorcist to Mortlak?” the Widow asked in some alarm.
“He does, but ‘tis no matter,” Mistress Hudson said. “Such men have much to do; no one will come unless more bears are seen. And even if one came,” she added pointedly, “’twould be John Dee he would remark, not thee.”
“What meanest thou by that?”
“Dost think that I am blind to the trouble that haunts thy face whene‘er someone doth mention magic?” Mary demanded. “Thou dost fret overmuch, I think, but, an thou dost not tell me all, I cannot know how great’s thy cause for care.”
“I have some little skill, ‘tis true, though I have seldom used it,” the Widow said, sighing. “The rest I’d tell thee gladly, save that it runs further than what touches me and mine. There’s nothing evil in’t, I do promise thee, but more I may not say.”
“An that’s all thou wilt tell, ‘twill have to be enough,” Mistress Hudson said. “But remember thou must count me as thy friend, whate’er betide, and let me help thee as I may.”
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