The Quicksilver Faire (23 page)

"I don't think you have much of a choice. They want to help you." Keelie felt a strong wave of magic flowing from the bhata to Herne, who was able to stumble down the street.

"I hope this doesn't ruin the image you had of me as a charming, all-knowing being," he joked weakly.

"I don't think you need to worry about me. It's them." Keelie looked behind her. More goblins had come and were gathered around the dead one, licking their lips. The bhata swarmed over Keelie and a surge of strength flowed through her.

The little fae helped her while they helped Herne. They made their way to a pharmacy at a place where three roads intersected. Keelie propped Herne against the shop's doorway. He leaned against the wooden frame, his face pale and his mouth drawn in a straight line as he fought off some pain.

"Knot, keep guard."

He saluted with his tail. "Meow."

Inside the pharmacy, Keelie saw a lunch counter with old doughnuts and pies under glass. Her stomach rumbled with hunger. She hadn't eaten or slept in a long time; no wonder the fossilized treats were looking good.

A piercing shriek behind them signaled that the goblins were after them. Fear pulsed through Keelie's heart, and she inhaled deeply to calm herself and salvage any remaining courage. They were doomed. There was nowhere to go.

"We'll have to run." She turned to Herne.

He shook his head. "I'm too weak. The bhata can't lend me their strength anymore."

More waves of power flowed from the bhata, and their berry eyes glowed with adoration. They smiled as Herne absorbed more from them. Then Keelie watched in horror as the stick creatures came apart, their twig-and-moss components bouncing to the ground.

"Can you summon the trees?" Herne whispered, hoarsely. "I cannot." He was fading fast.

"I'll try," Keelie said. But the trees gave no response.

"If I can get back to Under-the-Hill, I will be restored. You must mend the rift, Keelie, and cut off the goblins' source of power."

More shrieks and ululating cries, like claws on chalkboards, rent the air.

Knot jumped out and ran ahead, bottlebrush tail at full mast.

"I'll help you walk." Keelie pulled Herne's arm over her shoulder and stepped out of the doorway just as the gathering goblins ran toward them.

"Keelie, get out of the way!" Sean was standing in the street, sword drawn, with Sir Davey at his side holding a shorter but deadly looking blade. Both were in full armor, at the head of a group of armed elves and dwarves.

"We have to get Keelie and Herne to safety," Sean barked to Sir Davey.

Keelie reached down to grab more grass growing from a crack in the sidewalk. She gave it a mighty yank and then said the words that formed the hay-fever charm. The first goblin started to sneeze and veered away from her, followed by others. Sean had enough time to reach them, crowding them back into the doorway and protecting them as the two armies met with a clang of weapons and the screams of dying goblins.

Keelie reached for a rock and threw it, breaking the window of the pharmacy. A bhata climbed up onto her arm and touched her face. She felt warmth and energy flowing from the fae creature. With the extra magical boost, Keelie was able to haul Herne inside.

Sean followed. "What are you doing?"

"This is not necessary," Herne said. "Just leave me here, and I'll be able to take on a hundred rogue goblins."

"You heard him." Sean motioned his head at Herne. "He can take on a hundred goblins."

"He's been zapped by something and he doesn't have any power," Keelie said.

Sean frowned at the horned man.

"You can't keep a secret." Herne scowled at Keelie.

"Let's head to the roof." Sean reached for Herne and pulled him over his shoulder. He climbed the stairs, the forest god's antlers rattling as they scraped the wall. Keelie blocked the door with old furniture and then followed them.

The flat rooftop was a patchwork of shingles lined with roofing tar, surrounded by a low wall. From below came the clash of metal and the screams of the injured.

"I need to join the others," Sean said, releasing Herne. "Stay here and stay out of sight."

Keelie didn't want him to go. "Stay with me-you'll be safe. Or I'll come with you."

He grabbed her shoulders and kissed her. "You don't know how to use a sword."

"I took lessons. You practiced with me!"

"Which means you know just enough to get yourself killed." Sean glanced at Herne. "I know you'd cheerfully join the battle, Keelie-you're fearless. But you have a greater job to do, and you'd best do it from here."

"Herne said that goblins hate heights." Keelie's heart pounded at the thought of Sean getting hurt, but he was right. She had to stay, and his job was down below.

He left, and Knot, grown to human size, helped her block the rooftop door with an old metal cooler. Herne eased himself over and sat on it, adding his weight to the blocked door.

The battle below looked bad for their side, as goblins poured in from every street. So far, none had looked up and seen her. Knot pulled out his sword and nodded to Keelie, then leaped into a nearby tree and scooted down to join the battle.

Keelie watched the fighting, horrified. Sean and Knotshe loved them both, and they were in great danger.

Behind her, Herne spoke. "Keelie, look."

He stood, weak but without help, as hundreds of glowing lights surrounded him. They landed on his skin until he looked like a Christmas display.

"The pixies will lend me their power. I will return with an army." Herne and his pixie escorts winked out of sight.

Knot, back to normal-cat size, scrabbled to the top of the roof and walked toward her on his hind legs, picking bits of goblin out of his teeth.

Minutes later, the door to the roof started to crash in and Keelie mentally prepared herself for a goblin attack. When the door finally banged open, she was relieved to see it was Sean.

His bloodied face was tense. "Where's Herne?"

"He left." Keelie didn't try to explain.

"Good," Sean said. "We need to get you out of here. The town is overrun by goblins. The elves are returning to the village to regroup for another attack. I've come to lead you

"Where's Ermentrude?" Keelie asked. She hoped the dragon would appear and flame the goblins.

"I don't know."

Keelie stumbled to the edge of the roof. She'd been so worried about the elves and dwarves and Herne that she hadn't thought about Dad, but he was in danger, too. If she lost Dad. She couldn't even think about it. She wanted to fight the goblins, but she had no power. Everywhere she looked the goblins lurked behind cars and in doorways, or marched boldly in the middle of the street. From the safety of this building, all she could do was watch.

Battle shrieks from the goblins drew her attention. A small group of elves was surrounded.

Then a roar filled the valley, and a hot wind smelling of Juicy Fruit scented the air. A dark shape flew overhead, and Keelie felt the buoyancy of hope lift her for the first time since she and Herne had popped into Big Nugget.

Ermentrude had arrived.

Ermentrude swooped down over the valley, wings outspread like two scaly green awnings that caught the air and made her soar, her long reptilian neck outstretched and her mouth trailing smoke and flame. She roared and attacked the goblins, flame rushing from outstretched jaws lined with jagged teeth. Oily smoke rose from the patch where the goblins had been.

The great dragon bellowed in triumph, wheeled up, then paused in midair to attack again. She arched her neck and took a breath, her great sides inflating, ready to do her flamethrower trick again.

"We win! Dragon to the rescue!" Keelie grabbed Sean and kissed him.

He kissed her back, hard, then broke off their embrace and pointed to the street below. "We haven't won yet. Look down there."

Keelie looked, and saw the loping, skittering shapes of fleeing goblins racing toward the forest.

"We'll have to chase them all down and make sure they don't regroup to attack." Sean headed toward the stairs.

Keelie froze as she saw a lone figure making its way against the tide of goblins. "Peascod."

Sean came to her side and stared at her. "That powermad jerk really is here? I thought he was human. Why is he with the goblins?"

Below, Peascod leaped onto an abandoned car's roof and screamed out the goblin battle cry. Oh good. Now Ermentrude would spot him and turn him into a little pile of ash. But Peascod turned his masked face up toward them, pointed, and laughed. "Elves," he shouted, "you have met your doom. No dragon can vanquish us." He turned his arm, aiming his finger at Ermentrude.

She vanished, leaving a small red-haired figure plummeting through the sky.

Sean cried out, "No!"

Horror made Keelie's breath stop. Time itself seemed to stop as she opened her tree sense. She reached out to anything that would answer, and the branches of the surrounding trees began to wave madly. A swarm of feithid daoine flew toward the falling figure, a dark cloud outlined in light by pixies. The swarm reached Ermentrude and surrounded her as well, slowing her fall. Keelie did a frantic mental review of the Compendium's pages, trying to think of anything that would save the dragon. She was sure that in human form, Ermentrude would die from falling such a great distance.

Shouts in the street signaled that Peascod had rallied the goblins, who returned to attack again. She felt Sean leave her side and head down the stairs, but Keelie couldn't take her eyes off Ermentrude and her fae escort. She ignored everything around her, concentrating; she'd thrown her power before. Keelie imagined the air turning thick, like pudding, every molecule suspended. Her right hand closed around the Queen Aspen's charred heart and she stretched her left hand out, as if to grab Ermentrude from the sky.

The small, falling figure suddenly stopped, hanging suspended in the air, unconscious, her red hair like tangled yarn. She was surrounded by a cloud of unmovingfeithid daoine and pixies, which looked like pepper specks around her. A breeze blew by and the floating group drifted along with it.

Shouts came up from the streets as the elves and dwarves reacted to the sight.

Keelie stared, both pleased and horrified. She'd saved Ermentrude, but how could she get her down from there? As she watched, her magic broke apart and the dragon and her fae escort fell in slow motion, like deflated helium balloons, to land out of sight on the other side of one of the buildings.

Several elves ran in that direction, and from the concerned looks on their faces, Keelie knew that the landing hadn't been light.

"Impressive, little one." Herne suddenly stood beside her, looking restored. His great antlers branched skyward, as broad as his shoulders.

"They're hurt." She wasn't sure about the feithid daoine, but Ermentrude must have hit with a big thump. "How are you.

"Still somewhat weak. I put all my power into my personal appearance to show the goblins that I am here."

The sound of fighting drifted up and Keelie ran back to the waist-high wall around the roof's edge. Below, a thin line of elves was battling the goblins, bright swords flashing. Her heart thumped as she saw that Sean was with them.

A trumpet sounded behind the pharmacy and more elves ran to join their brothers. Keelie gasped. The elf leading the charge was her dad. She'd never seen him wear armor, but now he strode, tall and fierce, with a long sword in his right hand and a shield that was emblazoned with a single green tree strapped to his left foreman.

Dad! She sent a telepathic call to her father. This close, it couldn't fail.

Stay there, Keelie. Can you distract the goblins so that we can get Ermentrude out of here?

Keelie looked around wildly, wondering what she could do to get the goblins' attention. She'd seen trees walk before, dragging their roots out of the earth to shuffle forward. It had been a frightening sight, maybe scary enough to freak out a goblin. She called on the trees, and they responded. But they weren't strong enough to move.

Keelie reached for the wild magic that billowed and eddied in the wind like drifts of pollen. She grabbed up as much of it as she could, pulling it through herself, using her body to funnel the magic to the trees. The pines across from the pharmacy began to vibrate, their leaves shaking violently, but they didn't walk. Instead, slender figures stepped out of their trunks.

"Dryads." Herne's voice was husky with emotion. "You've called forth the dryads."

The elves and goblins stopped fighting for a second to stare at the creatures.

Dad turned his face up to Keelie, clearly astonished.

The dryads lifted their pale arms and screamed, then rushed the goblins.

"They'll get hurt," Keelie cried. "What have I done?"

"Magic," whispered Herne. "They'll come to no harm. Watch."

She felt the green magic anew, coming from the rushing horde of dryads, and realized that the weirdness she'd felt in the forest had come from them. They were neither male nor female and were only vaguely human-shaped, with arms and legs and torsos. But they were scaring the goblins.