The Dragon's Lair (23 page)

In the corner of the little house, a tattoo on a tiny drum began to sound, followed a moment later by the sweet, high sound of a flute. One by one, the Gwadd gleefully gathered their strangelooking instruments and joined in, filling Auntie Hepatica's house with so much music that the party had to move outside. Soon the entire hidden valley was dancing, even the humans, Tuck, Ven, and the keekee.

All except the merrow. She had found herself a quiet spot under a magnolia tree and was sitting there, watching the merriment, her face serene.

The party grew larger and louder, past sunset and into the dusk hours, when stars began to appear in the darkening sky. A sliver of the waxing moon could be seen, hanging over the beautiful valley.

Truly this is what the king means when he says that magic hides in plain sight
, Ven thought, watching the revels. The happier and merrier the crowd grew, the more the flowers and trees blossomed, bursting with color and succulent nectar.

Finally, as the evening wore into night, Tuck coughed politely between songs.

"I'm sorry, but we really do need to be moving on," he said. "The horses need to be watered, and we should be on our way."

The crowd of Gwadd made no sound, but the disappointment was so thick that Ven could feel it in the air. Beneath his feet, the wildflowers of the valley closed their petals and shrank back into the grass for the night.

He went over to Auntie Hepatica, Betula Nana, and Cecil to say goodbye.

"I hope we will get to see you again one day soon," he said sincerely. "This has been a lovely place to stop and rest on what has otherwise been a pretty trying journey."

"Come back anytime," said Betula Nana. "Any friend of Saeli's is welcome here, as long as the Gwadd live in the valley. Thank you for bringing her home."

"I hope the humans never find this place," said Ida.

"Thank you," said Auntie Hepatica. "So do we."

The companions each took a turn hugging Saeli goodbye, all except Ida, who coughed nervously.

"We'll miss you," Ven said, taking his turn last. "If it's ever safe again, we will come back for you."

Saeli smiled as Ven patted the keekee sitting on top of her head.

"Don't hurry," she said in her rough voice.

The children followed Tuck back up the switchback path, through the ivy curtain, and into the dull, dry fields again. The land beyond the curtain that had once seemed so lush and beautiful now was almost ugly to their sight.

Ven waited until the others had climbed into the wagon, then helped boost Amariel in without protest. He sat down beside her and put his hand on her forehead, as his mother had done to him when he felt sick as a child. It was cool and dry, without a hint of a fever.

"All right, what's going on?" he said quietly as the wagon began to rumble north toward the foothills of the High Reaches again. "You've not been yourself all day."

Amariel blinked. "Who have I been?"

"I don't know," Ven whispered, "but not a merrow, that's for certain." The second the words were out of his mouth, he regretted it. He looked over at the wagon board where Tuck was sitting, under his straw hat, driving the team, but the Lirin forester said nothing except for occasional clicks and encouragements to the horses.

He put his hand on his pocket and felt around. Everything seemed normal, but Amariel was acting so strangely that he decided to see if the cap had been damaged. When everyone else was asleep or not looking, he unbuttoned the pocket and took out the jack-rule first, then the Black Ivory sleeve, and finally the handkerchief that had contained the merrow's cap.

Which, to his horror, had mysteriously vanished, leaving in its place nothing but two empty handkerchiefs.

16
Things Get Uglier Still

W
HEN HE RECOVERED HIS VOICE, VEN REACHED OVER TO WHERE
Ida was snoring and shook her violently.

"All right, Ida," he said, trying to keep his voice under control. "Not funny. Where is it?"

Ida yawned, opening her mouth as wide as a horse's.

"What are you blathering about, Polywog?" she demanded sleepily.

"Where is Amariel's cap?"

"Hmmm?" Clem said, stirring. "Cap? What cap? What are you talking about?"

Ida stared at Ven. "I dunno." A crooked smile played at the corners of her mouth.

Ven's anger was rising faster than the smoke from the human settlement's fires. He had to struggle to keep from slapping her.

"Where is it?"
he demanded again.

"I dunno," the Thief Queen's daughter repeated. "Not my turn to watch it. In fact, I don' think I've ever seen it."

Ven grabbed her knapsack and began to rifle through it, spilling its contents all over the floor of the wagon. Ida scrambled to her feet and grabbed for it back.

"Hey! What the heck do you think you're
doin'
?" she snarled. "Gimme my stuff!"

Ven's anger boiled over. He turned the pack upside down and dumped everything left in the bag onto the wagon floor. He was too livid to notice that Tuck had clicked at the horses to slow to a halt. Instead he was rooting through Ida's collection of knives and juggling balls, dirty underwear, and snacks stolen from the provisions. He kicked aside a small wooden-headed doll, sending it spinning into the side of the wagon.

Ida's shock melted into fury. With a howl of rage she threw herself at him and grabbed him around the neck. He was not prepared for her frontal assault, and she had both reach and leverage on him, so he fell over onto his back, helpless, while Ida banged his head repeatedly onto the wagon floor.

"Whoa! All right, now, stop that." Tuck vaulted off the wagon board and into the back of the wagon. He pushed aside Char and Clem, who were frozen in shock, dragged Ida off Ven and interposed himself between them, ignoring her struggle to resume her pounding of Ven's head. Tuck, however, had both reach and leverage on
her,
so she remained in the front corner of the wagon, spitting and scratching like a cat until she changed her mind and began brutally kicking a sack of rutabagas.

"What's all
this
about?" Tuck asked Ven, pulling him to his feet.

"She stole something
very
important," Ven puffed. "I need it back, and I need it back
now
."

The Lirin forester turned to Ida. "Did you?"

The Thief Queen's daughter shrugged.

"See? I told you. Give it back, you rotten, no-good, miserable—"

"Stop that!" Char shouted. "You have no idea whether she stole the stupid cap, so stop insultin' her. What's the matter with you, Ven? It's like you're a different person these days. And whoever that guy is, he's someone I don' especially like."

There was something in Char's words, in the tone of his voice, that stopped me in my tracks. Char had absolutely never yelled at me before in anger, and it was so strange to hear him do it that all my fury melted and ran off me like sweat
.

I stared at him in shock. Char was panting. Enraged as I had been, it was Char's voice that broke through the brick wall in my head and made me calm down
.

At least a little
.

Ven glanced over at Amariel. Throughout the ruckus she had remained calm, even when Ida was pounding his head into the floor. She had taken all the clothes out of her bundle, refolded them neatly, and was now packing them back up again.

"Did you take the cap?" Ven asked Ida, his voice calmer.

"Stuff it up your nose."

Ven turned to Char, who looked away, then Tuck, who was watching him intently. "She took Amariel's cap—or someone else did."

"Why don't we search the wagon?" Clemency suggested as Ida began picking up her undergarments and other possessions. "Maybe it fell off her head and got lost. What does it look like? I don't remember ever seeing her wearing a cap." She began helping Ida gather her belongings. When she came across the doll in the corner of the wagon, Ida snatched it away stuffed it back in her knapsack, glaring at Ven.

"Give it back," Ven said to Ida.

"Leave her alone," Clem commanded.

"Stay out of this, Clem, unless
you're
the one who stole it."

The curate-in-training's mouth dropped open.

"Out," said Char, pointing to the ground. "Now, Ven."

Ven stared at him, but upon seeing the determination in Char's eyes, he sighed, climbed out of the wagon and stepped away into the night.

The cook's mate was behind him a moment later. He pushed Ven ahead of him until they were out of earshot of the wagon.

"What in
blazes
do you think you're doin'?" he demanded. "I'm your best friend, and I barely recognize you, Ven. Somethin' about that girl is turnin' you into a complete
idiot
! What is it? Tell me, right now, or I'm gonna choke it out of you."

"I can't," Ven said, wishing he could keep silent.

"Like heck." Char ran a hand through his straight dark hair, now soaking with angry sweat. "You tell me what's she's doin' to you, or I'm gonna ask her. An' I'm not gonna be nice about it."

"No. Back off, Char, you—"

"Stow it, Polypheme." The cook's mate's voice rang with an authority that sounded like the Captain's. "We came out here, in the middle of utterly
nowhere
, for
you
—to help
you
. The bloody Thief Queen is looking for all of us, because of
you
. And don't go gettin' all guilty about it—that's what friends do for other friends. So the least you can do is tell us what's goin' on. What is it? Tell me. That's an order."

In spite of himself, Ven felt a small smile twitch the corners of his mouth. He looked back at the wagon, where everyone had sat back down again, then looked Char in the eye.

"All right," he said finally. "You're my best friend, and I owe you that much."

"Darn right," said Char flatly. "Tell me."

Ven breathed out all the breath from his lungs. The new air he took in was sharp with smoke.

"Amariel is not human," he said. "She's a merrow."

Char looked blank. "A what?"

Ven rolled his eyes. "Do you remember when we first met, after I was brought on board the
Serelinda
, half drowned?" Char nodded. "Think back. Do you remember how you told me you thought you saw a seal over the side?"

"Oh,
yeah,
" Char said, scratching his chin. "An' you said you thought it wasn't a seal, it was a mermaid."

"A merrow," Ven corrected. "I told you I thought it was a merrow, because I had
seen
one. Remember?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Well, that was Amariel." Ven's face grew hot, telling the tale he had promised never to tell. "She's a merrow—you know, fish tail, scales up to her armpits—and she is the one who saved me from drowning when my father's ship and the Fire Pirates' vessel blew up."

"Man," Char whistled.

"That's why I told you she's the friend I've known the longest here, even longer than you," Ven went on. "Her father's a merrow, but her mother's a selkie, which is almost the same, but they have cloaks that make them look—"

"Like seals!" Char finished. "Blimey, I have heard about 'em from the sailors. But I thought it was just a lot o' superstitious hogwash."

Ven sighed. "Magic hides in plain sight, remember, Char? I learned that on my fiftieth birthday, and I've been seeing it ever since. She and I kept promising each other—well, inviting each other, I guess—to see each other's worlds since we met. Finally she decided to take me up on my invitation and come with me."

"So how'd she grow legs?"

"A merrow can do that if she gives her red pearl cap to a human man," Ven said sadly. "It was probably a bad idea, but she wanted to come, and I wanted her to see our world—plus the Raven's Guild was searching the harbor, underwater, for us, so I was worried about what would happen to her if she didn't come with us when we left. The transformation from merrow to—well, whatever she is now—was really scary, and I almost put her cap on her head and tossed her back in the harbor right then. But she wanted to see the dry world, so I let her."

He began to pace back and forth in the dark. "And she made me swear I wouldn't tell anyone about her—she's desperately afraid of humans, because her mother has warned her all about you. Human men have a tendency to take advantage of a merrow's curiosity. Normally they're pretty spunky, but if the man takes and hides a merrow's cap, she becomes a perfect wife and kitchen slave, quiet, patient, obedient—it's sickening that anyone would do that to such an independent creature."

"So you're going to marry her, then?" Char asked.

Ven looked horrified. "Don't be ridiculous," he said. "I don't even know how old she is—neither does she, by our reckoning. And I'm only fifty years old, for goodness sake. Get back on target, Char. That's the story, and why I have to find that bloody cap."

"I'll help you," Char promised. "But Ven, you sure just made a horrible mess. This whole time you've been ignorin' everybody, favorin' Amariel—and all you had ta do was trust us with the secret. We would have understood."

"She wouldn't let me."

"I understand that. But we're your friends, too. Not just everyday, ordinary friends, but the kind that risked
dyin'
for you. Several times over. You owe us, Ven. You owe us your trust, if nothin' else. And, in a way, by makin' you keep her secret, Amariel's stolen that from
us
. That might be why nobody likes her."

"And that's such a shame, because she's amazing," Ven said. "Just like all my friends are. Especially my best friend."

"Well, right now your best friend is pretty mad at you, mate," Char said. "An' I imagine it's gonna be a while before the others are gonna forgive you. So you should set about making amends pretty darn quick, before we run into the dragon and the girls toss you to him to give them time to get away."

"I would deserve it," Ven said. "Thanks for setting me straight."

"So you gonna explain about Amariel to Clem an' Ida?"