Wormwood Gate (16 page)

‘I'm not the one the queen gave the job to, am I? As far as the queen knows, I'm a prisoner still. It has to be you, Julie.'

‘I don't even – how am I supposed to get up?'

Aisling's eyes darted between Julie and the horse. ‘Hmm, she's a bit of a monster for a titch like you. Here.' She dropped to one knee and formed a step with her hands. ‘Rest your left hand on the saddle – no, the pommel, I mean, the front bit – yeah, that's it. Now, I'll give you a boost. Grab hold of her neck when your right leg's all the way over, and I promise you, you won't fall.'

Julie rested her right foot in the cradle of Aisling's hands and hesitated, struck suddenly by the oddness of their position: as if it were she who was the queen and Aisling was an attendant lord.
Like Sir Walter Raleigh with the cloak
, she thought,
except that probably didn't happen. Makes a good story, though
.

‘Left foot,' said Aisling. ‘You want to swing your right foot over her flank, so I'll boost your left. OK?'

Julie glanced over at Molly Red, who was talking to the queen in a voice too low for her to hear. She was a little curious, but mostly she was relieved; whenever she tried something scary for the first time, she found it easier when no one was watching. Of course, Aisling was there, but Aisling was there to help her, and though that usually didn't make a difference, it did now.

She took a deep breath and put weight on her left foot, leaning a little on the horse's shoulder. There was a vertiginous moment when she seemed to be hanging in mid-air without any adequate support, but then Aisling lifted her hands, and that gave her the boost she needed to get her right leg over the horse's side. She fell forward a little, her arms going around the horse's neck and her breath coming out in a soft ‘oof' before she could right herself and sit straight.

Aisling stood up and started adjusting the stirrups. ‘Are you all right?' she said softly. ‘I don't just mean the horse, I mean everything. Did anything happen?'

‘I'm fine,' said Julie. ‘The queen – I mean, the queen on the throne, the Queen-that-is – she was convinced that you and I were assassins sent by the Lord of Shadows. Something about a treaty, or … Who
is
the Lord of Shadows, anyway?'

Aisling looked thoughtful. ‘Molly Red told me he was married to the Queen of Crows –'

‘The one who wants to invade the City?' Julie asked.

‘Well, Molly Red said she doesn't, not really. And she's not married to the Lord of Shadows any more. She kind of hates him now, by the sound of it.'

‘Bad divorce?' Julie giggled.

‘Exactly. Put your left foot in the stirrup. Does that feel comfortable? Not too loose?' Julie nodded, and Aisling moved around to the horse's right side. ‘Something's gone wrong with this place, that's for sure.'

‘That's what everyone we've met says,' Julie said, ‘and it's not like I don't agree, but … we don't have any way to tell if they're right. What was it like before? Does anyone even remember?'

‘It must have been more solid,' said Aisling, adjusting the stirrup strap. ‘Don't you think? Less like it's about to dissolve into mist.'

‘I suppose so,' said Julie. ‘But that wasn't … Do you really think it makes sense to replace one queen with another?' She leaned closer to Aisling and lowered her voice. ‘This one doesn't seem as evil as the one on the throne, but she's still pretty unpleasant. And anyway, it's a stupid system they have here. They should change it.'

‘Yes, they should,' said Aisling. ‘Or we should. We should help them.'

She handed Julie the reins and glanced past her. Julie followed her gaze; Molly Red and the queen weren't talking any more but were staring at the two of them, Molly Red with a calculating look on her face, the queen just looking annoyed.

‘They're waiting for us,' said Julie.

‘Let them wait,' said Aisling. ‘Riding is dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. I have to make sure that everything's set up right and that you have some basic knowledge, or else I might as well toss you off a building.'

Julie felt a rush of warmth beginning in her stomach and spreading upwards.
She likes me
, she thought, trying the idea out, the way she might try out a new shade of lipstick or a pair of shoes: examining it from different angles, in different lights, imagining how it might go with the things she already had.

‘You hold the reins like this, see?' said Aisling, her left hand covering Julie's and shaping it so that the thumb and little finger slipped under the rein and the other fingers curled around it. ‘And the same on the other side. Not too tight, or she'll start to walk backwards.'

‘And when we're moving, I pull on the reins to make her stop?'

Aisling adjusted Julie's grip, sliding her hands down the reins until there was a big loop of loose leather flopping down between them. ‘Yup, and pull on the left to make her go left and on the right to make her go right.'

‘Like steering a car.'

Aisling frowned. ‘Well … yes, but no. I mean, yes, it's kind of similar, but a horse isn't a machine. She's alive, this one, and very lively. You have to treat her with respect. You also have to maintain your authority, or else she'll decide she's the boss, and then you'll be in trouble.' She smiled wryly. ‘One time, I went to the stables to ride and the only pony available was this dumpy little curmudgeon of a grey who was so stubborn he made mules look weak-willed. As soon as I'd mounted him, he took off for the haybarn and wouldn't move, no matter what I did. He just stood there, calmly eating hay while I had hysterics on his back. Even when it started raining, he didn't move! I had to wait for one of the instructors to find me.'

Julie looked at the horse she was sitting on in dismay, feeling very small and very unauthoritative. ‘Couldn't you just get off?'

Aisling shook her head. ‘I was only eight. I'd never dismounted without an adult to help me down. I was too scared to try.' She patted the horse's neck. ‘Don't worry, though. This lady's just had a real gallop. She'll be too tired to go wandering off on her own. Isn't that right, girl?'

The horse shook her head and snorted, as if in answer, and Aisling laughed.

She's pretty when she laughs
, Julie thought, and her stomach did a somersault.

‘Before the sun sets, if you please, mortal children?' said the queen in a drawling sort of voice.

Aisling rolled her eyes but stepped away from the horse and made a clicking noise that the horse seemed to understand; it turned around in a semi-circle so that it was facing away from the water trough, then stopped, awaiting a further command.

‘Which way?' said Aisling.

Molly Red strode past them, the queen hurrying after.

‘Follow me,' said Molly. ‘I'll lead you to a place where we can see the Tower, and from there you can figure the route out yourself. You'll need to tie me up or sling me over the saddle or something. I won't be very convincing as a prisoner if I go to the Tower on my own two feet.'

Aisling looked up at Julie. ‘Now, to make her walk, give her flanks a squeeze with your legs,' she said. ‘Keep the reins pretty loose, or she'll get confused and think you want to stop or go to one side.'

Julie took a deep breath and squeezed with her legs. Like magic, the horse did exactly what Aisling had said she would do: she started to walk forward in a slow, steady, relaxed gait that felt very peculiar from where Julie was sitting. There was a slight bobbing motion, like a boat moored in the sea, and Julie could feel the horse's sides expanding slightly as she breathed and see the bones and tendons of her front legs working as she walked. The view from up on the horse's back was not high enough to be dizzying, but still high enough to be strange and disorienting. She couldn't help thinking of the first time she'd had a window seat on a plane, looking down on the airport and the houses and the fields as they grew smaller and smaller in her vision, feeling as if the world had turned itself inside-out. The height of a horse's back was enough, it seemed, to do something similar.

‘You OK?' said Aisling, and Julie could only nod, not trusting her voice.

Molly Red and the queen turned a corner, and Julie managed to get the horse to turn in the right direction on the first try, which left her feeling elated and powerful.

‘I'm getting pretty good at this riding thing,' she said, as casually as she could manage.

‘Yeah, well, don't get cocky,' said Aisling. ‘Hopefully you can just keep at a walk until we reach the Tower, and nothing will happen. But, listen, if something does happen – if we have to split up or run away – you need to know how to make her go faster.'

Julie's heart started to pound. ‘Isn't that dangerous?'

Aisling shrugged. ‘There are lots of dangerous things in this city. Riding fast might be less dangerous than the alternative.'

‘OK. What do I do?'

‘Click with your tongue, like I did earlier – don't do it now, you'll set her off – and kick her with your heels. Then, if she's not going fast enough, do it again. Keep the reins loose, and you'll probably want to lean forward and grab her neck or her mane, just to be sure you stay on.'

‘I don't like the sound of that.'

‘I don't like the sound of you with a knife in your chest.' Aisling took in a long breath and let it out slowly. ‘Listen,' she said in a quiet voice, angling her face away from the other two, ‘Molly Red's pretty ruthless. I saw her kill the man she got that horse from. She used my knife to do it with too.'

‘Your knife? You have a knife?'

‘Technically, it's a blade on a multitool, but that's not the point. She killed somebody, and he wasn't even trying to hurt us or capture us. He hadn't done anything to us. I mean, he was trying to help us! She said he was a spy, but … she doesn't always tell the truth. And even if she had good reasons, well … what if she had good reasons to do the same to us?'

Julie thought this over in silence. ‘But people come back. Don't they? Isn't that why this isn't “mortal realms”? People come back after they've died. In a different form, but still …'

‘I guess so, but this guy – he had mortal parents, she said, but she called him a Betweener, said he'd been in the Realms Between for long enough that he wouldn't die for real. But that doesn't apply to you and me. At least, I'm pretty sure it doesn't.'

‘I thought you looked pretty spooked when you came in,' said Julie. ‘Is that why?' Aisling gave her a startled look, and Julie looked away, feeling warmth rising in her cheeks. ‘Anyway, who was the guy? And why did she kill him?'

‘He called himself Morgan something. He worked for the Queen of Crows. Molly Red said he was a spy.'

‘Did she say anything else about the Queen of Crows?'

‘Oh, yes! She said –' Aisling frowned, and glanced back at Molly Red and the queen in the deerhide. ‘– she said she used to work for her,' she went on slowly, ‘and the Queen of Crows doesn't know her loyalties have changed. And that the Queen of Crows is … how did she put it? “Queen of the Lands of Death”.'

‘Spooky.'

‘I know,' said Aisling. ‘Julie … whose side are we on?'

It struck Julie first that Aisling had said ‘we', taking for granted that of course they'd be on the same side, and only afterwards that she had no idea what answer to give.

‘I don't know,' she said. ‘Not for sure. I don't know if we're on anyone's side. We're against the Queen-that-is, I guess, and … I suppose that means we're for Molly Red and the Queen-that-will-be. For now, at least.'

‘I'm not so sure about that,' said Aisling, and she looked as if she was going to go on, but before she could finish what she had to say, Molly Red and the queen abruptly stopped walking. Julie let the horse walk on for a few steps before she remembered what to do; she gave a sharp tug on the reins, and the horse stopped, shaking its head and chewing on its bit.

‘Look,' said Molly Red, pointing. Julie followed her finger and could just make out the top of the Tower of Light beyond the buildings, which were getting newer and taller as they came closer to the centre of the City. ‘I must be slung over the saddle with my hands tied, if either of you has a rope.'

‘I don't have a rope,' said Aisling, ‘but – hold on –' She pulled the belt of her coat free of its loops. ‘Do you want to mount first? I don't fancy lifting you up onto her back. I'm not sure I could heft you that high.'

Molly Red nodded, raised the hood of her top, and without further warning put her hands on the saddle behind Julie and vaulted up into a sitting position. The horse didn't like that and snorted and neighed and trotted back and forth a few steps before Julie could calm it down with pats to the neck and clicking noises like the ones Aisling had used before. Just when the horse had quieted, and Julie's heart had begun to slow down, Molly Red shifted in the saddle, and by the time Julie had turned around to look, Molly Red was lying on her side across the horse's back like a sack of grain, her hands flung down below her head.

Aisling approached her with a dubious look on her face, proffering the belt. ‘How do you want me to tie this? Should I make it easy for you to get free, or would you rather have a really convincing knot?'

‘Don't worry about that,' said Molly Red. ‘There's not a creature in all the kingdoms of Fae and mortals that can tie a knot that can hold me.'

Aisling shot a long-suffering look at Julie and crouched down to bind Molly Red's wrists.

‘There,' she said when she was finished, ‘and if it's too tight or you can't undo it, don't blame me.'

‘I will follow you at a distance,' said the queen, walking past them without looking at them. ‘I will be watching, so do not change your minds. I have powers at my disposal beyond your capacity to imagine, and it would not go well for you if you were to cross me.'