When you wanted a fire in a hurry, Cinders was always readyto oblige. Sitting happily in the cellar of the ruined castle, the hell hound breathed little licks of flame from his nostrils to warm Jus’ battered old campkettle. The brew steamed, and Jus loomed above the kettle to pour himself another serving before seeing to his guests. The Justicar patted Cinders on the head as he passed, making the hell hound thump his long tail against the floor.
“Thanks, Cinders.”
Welcome!
Above the castle, an illusory light blinked and flared. It matched the movements of real faeries searching for the fugitive Escalla. For a while at least, the magic would keep the faerie hunt at bay.
Deeply annoyed by events, Escalla sat high up near the ceiling on a jutting stone, her knees beneath her chin and a look of total annoyance on her face. She was in a magnificent sulk, seething and muttering as she shot clandestine looks at her father.
Answering the implied question, Lord Charn snorted as he settled by the fire. “It’s my realm, girl. I picked it because of all thedamned gates I found here.” Frowning in annoyance, the faerie lord sipped teafrom an old tin mug. “I just thought of what route I’d take if I was trying toavoid the wife. The pike fish told me the rest.”
Finding a stone big enough for him, the Justicar sat down. “Pike? What pike?”
“Carnivorous fish. Big one. Wife can’t stand them.” LordCharn made a face as he tasted Jus’ abominable tea. “I put no end of thingsnear gates to stop the wife going through.” The faerie lord gave a snort. “Ihave to have somewhere quiet to go.”
“You stay in the woods here?”
“Rather than the palace? When I can. Lets me get a bit ofpeace.” Carefully setting his tea aside before it could poison him, Lord Charnfluttered his wings. “Now there’ll be no damned peace till all this nonsense isdone.”
Perched upon her stone, Escalla shot a petulant look at her father. “Dad, I did not kill that stupid cavalier!”
“Don’t be dense, girl!” Lit by the hell hound’s nostrilflames, Lord Charn’s face took on sharp, wicked shadows. “If I thought you’dkilled him, I wouldn’t be sitting here with you drinking tea!”
Tired and annoyed, Lord Charn made the mistake of sipping the tea again. Wincing, he put the cup far away and turned to carefully regard the Justicar. The faerie lord’s eyes sparked as he measured the big warrior acrossthe fire.
“You went to White Plume Mountain? You were the one who didin Keraptis’ disciple?”
“Escalla, Cinders, Polk, and myself.”
“Yes.” The faerie lord sipped tea again, which distinctlytasted of the onion soup that had been made last night in the same pot. “Is mydaughter any good?”
Jus made a gruff noise, shifted his dire shadow in the gloom, and said, “She’s damned good, one of the best I’ve seen.”
Above them, Escalla beamed.
“Well, she’ll need to be.” Charn gave another sigh, thenkicked irritably at a pebble. “She doesn’t belong with us.” The faerie lordspoke a spell, opened up his hands, and provided bottles of decent wine. “Here.It’s not faerie wine and certainly not the sixty-three.” That particular vintageseemed to have scarred some lives forever. “Sit, drink, and let me tell you atale or three.”
Polk immediately shot forward, ignored a glass and took a bottle for himself. Enid the sphinx sat down to clumsily nurse a glass between big furry paws, sneezing as the bubbles tickled at her nose. Jus waved the wine away and contented himself with his awful tea.
Lord Charn swirled his wine inside a tiny thimble glass and began.
“We need to come out into the world. My daughter is the test.Faeries could be an instrument for good or bad. I suspect we might verge toward the bad. We’ve spent too long looking after our intrigues.” Lord Charn heaved asigh then leaned toward the Justicar. “Intrigues have a way of excusing evil.Tarquil’s dead, and in my own house.”
Clambering over Enid’s head to fetch a glass of wine, Escallashot another angry look at her father. “I told you, I didn’t kill the bugger!”
“But there’s evidence enough to slam you right into the handsof the Faerie Council.”
Jus leaned forward, listening. Polk leaned forward, thieving more wine. Sitting beside the Justicar, Lord Charn laid out the situation for his daughter’s companions.
“Lord Ushan’s valets came to Tarquil’s room to summon him.Tarquil was discovered dead, lying on the bed. There was an empty cup-looks likethe man was poisoned. When the palace was searched, it was discovered that Escalla had gone. My wife’s maids knew that Escalla had arranged a secret trystwith Tarquil in his room.”
Jus stroked at the harsh stubble of his chin. Beside him, Cinders listened with pointed ears, his red eyes gleaming.
“No spies in Tarquil’s room saw anything?”
“His own alarm spells had been disabled. However, Escalla hadapparently spent at least two days making sure that she would be unobserved. Scrying shields in place, careful blanking of spying spells… Her mother hada spy following her. Escalla knocked him out when he tried to follow her into Tarquil’s room.” The faerie lord leaned closer. “What’s more, Tarquil’sbodyguard saw Escalla sneaking into the room just before the body was discovered. He remembers that she seemed stealthy.”
Escalla remembered the bodyguard and gave a vicious curse. “He knew why I was supposed to be there!” Escalla leaped to the ground and pacedin anger. “That bastard! I’ll-!”
“In good time.” Her father turned to the girl. “Did you seeanything? Any evidence you can remember?”
Escalla planted her hands against her heart and squawked in indignation. “I didn’t do it!”
“That’s not going to be much of a defense.” Father glared atdaughter. “You had motive. You had opportunity. You blanked out scrying spellsand knocked out the spy who followed you, then you fled off into the wilderness to escape!”
Escalla sank into nervous anxiety, then suddenly shot up, filled with energy. “Ah! The slowglass! I hung the necklace from a door handleoverlooking the bed!” Escalla smacked her fist into her palm. “Ha! There you go!It’ll show him alive and me leaving-everything you need to know!”
“Just what we need,” Lord Charn shrugged, “but no onereported seeing a necklace in the room. Still, we can search for it and see.”
“What about spells?” The Justicar’s meat and bread came frominvestigating injustices and crime. “Can you speak with the deceased?”
“No ghost is present. It must have already fled.”
The faerie lord rose to his feet and paced in agitation, his head level with Jus’ thigh.
Escalla sat irritably down by the fire and cursed. “Poop.”
“Poop indeed.” Lord Charn made a rock float over to serve asa chair for the girl, bringing her to sit between himself and the Justicar.
“Now listen. Your mother is going to use you as a sop to ClanSable. They want a murderer, and by slinging you to them, she will be able to save her ambitions. Through sacrificing her own daughter, she shows that she is a true member of the court, and she will still have your sister to marry off to the Sable Clan.” Charn’s antennae slanted. Apparently there was no love lostbetween himself and his wife. “Your sister and mother have great plans. This isalmost better for them than having you and Tarquil safely wed. Meanwhile, Clan Sable screams out murder and assassination, calling for our eternal barring from the Seelie Court.”
Jus thought upon the situation, his face its usual mask of sharp intelligence. “You want Escalla’s name cleared.”
“Of course I do! She’s my girl. My girl!” Theresemblance between father and daughter in mind and spirit was certainly remarkable. “I let her go to the world because it was what’s best for her.”
“Ha!” Escalla gave a sour sniff. “Don’t talk rubbish! Ifyou’d known I was skiving off in the first place, you would have stopped it.Mother must have given you hell.” The girl gave a sniff and sipped her tea“ Probably took you a whole week to realize I was gone.”
“By failing to pay attention, I was obeying unconscioushigher motives.” Lord Charn clearly shared a heritage of glibness with hisdaughter. “I knew it was right and proper that you take your place within theworld.”
“Oh bosh!”
“Bosh yourself.” Charn dusted imaginary crumbs from his tunic.“Who was it that showed you where the dandelions grew in the first place?”
Miffed, Escalla sat cross-legged on her stone. “Fine! So I’mtoo incompetent even to run away from home by myself, and my own mother is conspiring to have me executed. Anything else?”
Speaking for the benefit of the ever-patient Justicar, Lord Charn refilled his glass.
“Lord Faen is with us. He is chief advisor to the Erlking andis in charge of the investigation. He will let us clear Escalla’s name if it canbe done. If we show a love of justice, that will be better evidence of goodwill to the court than throwing a scapegoat to the dogs.” The anxious father glancedat Escalla, running his fingers through his hair. “Justicar, I know you haveexperience here. I am at a loss! As you love and value my daughter, please help us clear her name!”
Jus nodded slowly and thoughtfully. Rising from his seat, his vast bulk loomed like a giant above the faeries. “Is it possible for me to seethe body and the murder site?”
“It can be arranged, but it must be now, before thefaeries return to the palace from the first hunt!” Lord Charn rose quickly fromhis seat. “There is a gate at an archway high above, but we’ll have to run!”
Escalla, Polk, and Enid all rose together. Lord Charn looked at them in alarm.
“No! Escalla, stay hidden. This must be fast. If your mothersspies see visitors, she’ll follow you and strike. I’ll take the Justicar alone.If we’re not back here in an hour, then go wait for him in your spider bubble inthe pond!”
Lord Charn kissed his daughter, gripped her shoulders, and then whirred up into the air, his wings sparkling. Behind him, the Justicar seated his sword in his belt. Cinders swept about him like a cloak, the hell hound’s grin gleaming as the creature was fastened in his rightful place.Following him to the cellar door, Escalla anxiously wrung her hands then came to hover in front of Jus face.
“Jus, I didn’t do it.”
He looked into her frightened green eyes for a long moment, then reached out to touch her cheek. “I know.”
He nodded, then turned and walked away. Once he was gone from the room, Escalla’s night seemed suddenly frightening.
The ruins of the keep yielded an arch, and the arch had longbeen overgrown with ivy. Lord Charn hovered nearby as Jus hauled his powerful frame up the sheer stonework toward the magic gate.
“There are gates everywhere, of course, sir Justicar. Peoplejust can’t see them. This forest is a nexus, a place where dozens of themcongregate. It’s why we settled here in the first place.” The faerie lordplucked a sprig of fennel from his purse. “There! This should be the one!”
Hanging from a sheer stone wall thirty feet above the ground Jus paused while searching for a handhold.
“Fennel?”
“A key for the gate.” Charn put his other herbs away. “Eachone is triggered by a different herb or token. A copper coin, a dandelion, splash of wine… You can trigger them by accident if you’re unlucky enough.That’s why mortals think the whole forest is haunted.”
As Jus reached the rough stone precipice below the ancient stone arch, Lord Charn gestured toward it with his herbs.
“This gate leads to the palace lands, but I don’t quite knowwhere. Stay hidden until I can find Lord Faen, and we’ll bring you to the murdersite.”
Jus nodded.
Lord Charn hovered before the door, then tapped the blank space of the archway with his sprig of dried fennel. The fennel flashed and disappeared. Suddenly the archway shimmered.
“Now!”
With a heave, Jus shoved himself upward. He stepped though into a soft gray light and found himself on all fours upon a fragrant forest floor. Illusions were transparent to Cinders’ eye. The dog sniffed and thenhissed in Jus’ mind.
Trees is trees. Leaves is leaves. Flower bushes is illusion.
Jus chose the real concealment of the leaves over the illusory comforts of the bushes. An instant later, he lay in a drift of leaves, perfectly still and quite invisible with only Cinders’ black nose showing abovethe mulch. When Lord Charn appeared, he looked about in brief confusion, then shrugged and whirred off on his way.
Jus saw that he was lying amongst the plane trees-thegateways to universes of fire, flame, and antimatter. The faerie lands were no place to wander carelessly; one wrong turn might be your last.
Lord Nightshade returned long minutes later with another faerie at his side. Cinders sniffed the scent of them long before they arrived.
Escalla’s father. One other faerie, a male.
Jus heaved upward, shedding leaves like a leviathan shedding the ocean floor. Two faeries hovered nearby, impressed as the big man emerged from total invisibility. Jus brushed wet leaves from Cinders’ fur and lookedlevelly at Lord Charn and his guest.
The newcome faerie was slender and affected long gray hair and a wisp of a goatee. He sketched a bow as Lord Charn made the introductions.
“Justicar, you remember Lord Faen. My Lord Faen, the Justicaris something of a specialist. The elves of the Celadon trained him.”
The elegant, calm Lord Faen looked coolly at the Justicar. “What temples does he favor?”
The Justicar’s dark, dire voice seemed to fill the wood.“Justice flows from the heart, not from gods.”
Nodding noncommittally, Lord Faen turned in midair and said, “Come then. We have cleared all eyes away for a short time. We will show youwhat we can.”
Jus strode like a dark giant, the black hell hound skin wreathing him in shadow.
“You have interviewed everyone who might have been near theroom at the time of death?”
“We did what we could. Truth spells are seen as an insult,and at the moment, insults are something we cannot afford.” Lord Faen flew paceby pace with the Justicar, detecting a kindred spirit in the mortal’s mind. “Acertain amount of conspiracy has taken place. Maids and servants have contrived to be absent. There is only the bodyguard, who identified Escalla. Indeed, she left her dress in the murder room, and he could describe it to us exactly.”
“Escalla’s mother organized a tryst.”
“And might have reached the Sable clan guards and servants.”Faen ushered the way toward a balcony. “It is here. I’ll tell you nothing. Yourown untainted impressions will carry better force.”
The palace had not been made with human scale in mind. Still, there were enough humanoid servants to require high ceilings and large doors. Jus carefully approached the balcony, eyeing a place where he could use a tree to leaver himself up and over the fragile-looking balustrade. He then knelt in the leaves below and let the hell hound go to work.
“Smell anything?”
Faeries. Cinders thoughtfully sifted scents. Male oncewalked here-two-three hours ago.
There were tracks consistent with a single faerie waking slowly below the balcony-probably the bodyguard. Since faeries could fly,tracking was hardly likely to reveal real clues. Jus looked carefully at the eaves and railings then heaved himself up the tree and onto the balcony.
The room had a wide window screened by curtains of silken gauze. The curtains had been thrown open and the room trampled by enthusiastic, clumsy investigators. Even so, there was much to see.
The body had been moved, but where it had lain, the bed was indented. The pillows and sheets seemed otherwise undisturbed. If Tarquil had come here to sleep, then he had lain down and found no time to toss and turn.
Beside the bed was a table that seemed a little like doll’sfurniture. Jus knelt carefully on the carpet, going onto all fours to examine the half-sized furnishings. A wine bottle stood open beside a pair of glasses. One glass stood untouched and full, while the other seemed half empty. Jus sniffed the cup, and Cinders confirmed his suspicions.
Bad smells! Wine poisoned.
Holding the half-empty glass up to the light showed a faint oily film down one side. Poison had been trickled into the glass from an outside source.
The wine was poured carefully back into the bottle, and Jus surveyed the results. Nodding, he put the empty glasses aside, then cast carefully back and forth across the room.
No necklace hung from any doorknob. Various hands had wrenched open cupboards and curtains looking for would-be assassins. Yet a gleam came from the carpet, and when Jus bent down to examine it, he found the tiniest of tiny golden links-a piece of delicate chain from a necklace that had beenbroken clean through.
Cinders breathed a scent and shivered his long black tail. Escalla’s skin.
“Just so.”
The Justicar looked carefully at the door that led through the apartments and into the palace. He opened the door and looked into a passageway lined with brilliant animated murals. Searching the empty corridor with a long, hard glance, Jus turned away, returned into the room… andcaught sight of a single black thread hanging from the doorjamb.
He trapped it, laid in in a folded paper, and put it in his pouch beside the golden link. Rising, Jus carefully dusted off his hands.
“Where have you put the body?”
“We are about to take it to the chapel.” Lord Faen swung openthe door to the passageway and looked carefully out into the deserted palace. “We have lain him out in the drawing room down here until then. Come quickly.”
One man, one hell hound skin, and two faeries swept quietly out into the corridor. They moved three rooms down and edged into a room guarded by a faerie warrior. The warrior looked studiously away from the Justicar, ignoring his presence entirely but nodding to Lord Faen.
In the long, cool room beyond lay the body of the Cavalier Tarquil. The corpse seemed pathetically small, like a child sleeping in the grass. They had laid him on his back, with his hands out at an angle from his body. Jus knelt beside the corpse and removed its cover sheet, looking at the clothed body in professional, dispassionate chill.
“Is this how you always lay out a corpse?”
“No, but the body stiffened in death rigor, and we could notcross his hands decently upon his breast.”
Nodding, the Justicar inspected the body’s mouth. The lipswere not inflamed, nor the inner mouth burned.
Jus opened the cavalier’s shirt and pulled up his innerclothes. The blood had pooled on the body’s belly side, leaving a purplishcolor, but it was already on the move again now that the body was laid out. Soon the corpse would be as pale as ash.
“How long ago did you find him?”
“One hour.”
“Lying on his face.” Jus levered the body over on its sideand then began methodically to strip it naked. Shocked and reluctant, the two faerie lords half started forward before leaving the man to his work.
Jus inspected the corpse’s skin inch by minute inch, thenlooked beneath its nails and through its hair. Finally the big man sank back onto his heels, looming vast as an ogre as he nodded slowly in thought.
Jus let out his breath and spoke. “He was poisoned, but notby wine.”
Lord Charn raised his brows in silence, but Lord Faen chose to speak. “Not by the wine?”
“No. Here on his scalp and hidden by his hair is a puncturewound.”
The faeries leaned in to see. The Justicar parted the black hair of the dead cavalier to show a small hole in the scalp, far broader than a needle puncture. It had oozed a clear fluid, and the hair strands beside it weresilvered with a dried mucous or glue. Jus let the hell hounds nose nestle close to the puncture hole.
“Cinders?”
Cinders smells fish.
“Yes.” The Justicar sat back in cold triumph. “Cinders smellsfish.”
The two faerie lords looked at him in silence, and the Justicar enlightened them.
“See the dried slime? It’s from a cone shell-a venomousmollusk that uses a puncturing tongue to kill. Instantly lethal. Small, concealable in the palm on anyone gloved and confident enough to use it. Even a faerie.”
Lord Faen scowled. “And where might a cone shell be found ina forest?”
“Nowhere. This is a kuo-toan assassination technique-rightdown to hiding the wound in the hairline.”
“You have encountered it before?”
“I’ve read about it.” The Justicar wiped his hands. “This ismy profession. I am the Justicar.”
Sitting back on his haunches, the Justicar thoughtfully regarded the corpse. “Cone shells come from tropical reefs. This has beencarried a long, long way with the intention to murder.” Jus stoked his chin,black stubble rasping in the quiet room. “The wine glasses were a decoy. Whenthe wine was put back in the bottle, it made the bottle totally full. There was not even half a mouthful missing. It reached the stain line inside the bottle neck.”
Escalla’s father grinned a predatory grin, apparentlyextremely pleased to witness the Justicar at his work. “Yes, lad. Now what elsewas in that room? What didn’t other eyes see?”
“There is one link from the gold chain that held Escalla’sslow-glass pendant. It was by the windows, probably where Escalla tore the necklace off and broke it. The necklace itself is gone. Is it valuable?”
“Perhaps a thousand times the value of a similarly sizeddiamond.”
Jus made a soundless whistle. Such a necklace might conceivably buy an entire castle, garrison it, and pay the troops’ wages for ayear.
It was time to retire from the room. Jus found a balcony and leaped over it, then let the two faerie lords follow him into the woods. Hidden by the trees, the big man sat and laid out tiny paper packets on his knee.
“The body has been dead longer than two hours. There wasrigor. I’d make it three or four hours dead, meaning he’d been dead beforeEscalla was seen entering the room.”
Stroking his goatee, Lord Faen nodded. “A hostile mind mightargue that the effects of the poison caused the muscles to freeze in spasm.”
“Yes. It’s not proof.” Jus stroked his chin. “But the mouthwas red at the back of the tongue. He was orally poisoned and then stung later by the cone shell. The shell wound hadn’t bled, not even a bead. His blood wasalready cold when the puncture was made.”
Pacing carefully back and forth, Lord Charn cleared his throat in thought.
“Was someone making certain of his kill? A poison draughtthen the more definite poison administered at a later time?”
“Possibly. The poison glasses were a decoy, though. There wasno burning of the victim’s mouth tissues. I find that interesting.” Jus openedup one of the tiny packets of paper on his knee. Inside, carefully pinned in a slot of the paper lay a single delicate piece of black thread. He gave it to the faeries, who leaned over it and thoughtfully stroked their beards.
“A thread from clothing?”
Jus shook his head. “It seems too clean. Threads ripped fromclothing show furred surfaces from the abrasion.” Jus leaned in closer. “This isa thread I found elsewhere. Identical to this second thread, from Escalla’sdoorjamb. They’re the same length and neatly cut, like threads bunched and allcut to a length.”
There was a sudden cool flood of understanding from Lord Charn. “Gateway tokens.”
“Gateway tokens.” Jus held up the threads. “Keys used totravel through the forest’s magic doors.”
Escalla’s father sat on a tree stump that had been colonizedby orange fungi. The fungi gleamed like fruit peel as the faerie lord used the shelves to rest his boots.
“I have a master list of the gates and keys we know of. Iwill look and see which ones require black silk.”
Jus nodded and asked, “Where do the gates go?”
“From here? Only to the forest. Within the forest, there aregates to other places across the Flanaess. The forest seems to have served as a travel nexus.” The man rose to his feet. “What are we looking for? Who killedTarquil?”
“A faerie-a faerie who travels through a gate triggered byblack thread, a faerie who could not resist taking the slowglass necklace for his own. The murderer had access to a marine cone shell and knew how to handle it and had the means to keep it alive. And he was able to pass your guards without suspicion.”
Unhappy, Lord Faen plucked at his beard and said, “I cannotuse this to clear Escalla’s name. There is evidence enough to convict her ifSable presses for a judgment. We must catch the murderer and link the cone shell, black threads, and motive to them.”
“It can be done.” Jus kept the tiny golden link broken fromEscalla’s necklace in his hand. “This gold link was part of the slowglassnecklace. We can use it for a location spell to find the rest of the necklace, if you have a mage capable of casting it.”
“We have mages capable of casting it.” Charn arose onwhirring wings. “I will arrange it, and I will fetch the master gate list.”
“Then we will find your murderer.” Jus arose, his kneescracking and autumn leaves drifting from his clothes. “We have the tools. Wemerely need the time.”
Back at the castle cellar, Enid, Polk, and Escalla were busystuffing themselves with a favorite delicacy-ham sandwiches made with freshwhite bread and butter. With all due seriousness, Enid sat holding a little sandwich between her great paws. The mule stood in one corner, its eyes nervous as it listened to creatures hooting in the night.
Meanwhile, Polk slathered butter upon more bread and let his voice boom into the gloom. “Don’t worry, girl! False accusations are all part ofthe deal! Without false accusations, you don’t get righteous indignation!Without righteous indignation, you don’t get mighty oaths! Without oaths, youdon’t get gods interfering with heroic souls, and we can’t have heroic soulsrunning about doing stuff without being guided by the gods. Stands to reason!”
Worried and annoyed, Escalla looked at him across the surface of a titanic sandwich. “What are you on about now?”
“Gods, girl! Heroes are heroes because they’re tools of thegods!”
“Polk, what’s heroic about being a theological hand puppet?Anyway, have you seen the names these gods give themselves?” Escalla took amouthful of bread and ham. “Ne’fer fo’ow a god whosh name reads like shomefingfrom an apothecary’s shelf!”
Her freckles living a life of their own in the gloom, Enid licked butter from her paws and said, “I made a glove puppet once!”
Stones shifted at the door. Without looking up, Escalla made another sandwich filled with extra ham. “Hey, Jus!”
The big man loomed in the blockaded door, checking that all was well. “We’re moving out. You’re ready?”
“Yep. Spellbooks read, and I’m all charged up!”
“You didn’t set a guard?”
“Invisible servant. You just passed him. If it was anyoneelse, he’d have smashed a bottle on the castle wall.” Escalla rose and looked atJus, handing him the sandwich and trying not to appear as anxious as she felt.
“So did you go and… you know… see the dead guy andall?”
“Yes.” Jus looked levelly at the girl. “Tell me: were youquiet when you went into the room?”
“Ah, maybe?”
“You never noticed he was dead?”
“Um, well he did seem a little subdued.” Escalla blinked. “Sohe was dead all the time?”
“Looks like it.” Jus helped shift rocks aside, clearing apath into the castle. “Your father’s here. The murderer took your slowglassnecklace, and we have a locator. We’re going to look at a gate we’ve found. It’sthe one the murderers used to escape.”
“Oh, hoopy!” Escalla instantly cheered up. “So you can get meoff?”
“Nope. Unless we get the slowglass necklace back, you’retoast.” Jus ushered everyone outside. “Come on!”
Lord Charn awaited his daughter and her friends, keeping a worried look upon the nighttime sky. The distant sound of elf hounds could be heard off to the south. It signified nothing. Hunters could be lying invisible almost anywhere. Escalla’s father took his daughter’s hands and drew her up intohis arms.
Jus began to mount the way back up to the magic gate above the castle courtyard. He called down, “We have to get the murderer before thehunt gets Escalla. She’s safest on the move with us. Polk, get climbing!”
The archway above the castle yard was a small window-toosmall for a sphinx. Enid eyed it unhappily and tested her wings. “Can I fly andmeet you where the gate empties out?”
“Best not.” Jus cursed and then jumped down to rest a hand onthe sphinx’s soft brown hair. “Look. Set up shop back at that old desertedtavern. Take Polk’s mule with you. Read your books, eat stirges, and make it look like you, Polk, and I have set up camp. We’ll be a while. Just wait. We’ll comeback quick as we can.” Jus shoved Polk onward and pressed a sprig of fennel intohis hands. “Polk, go through the arch and just stay put!”
“Son, maybe I should stay with Enid and-”
“Enid will keep her mouth shut if any faerie huntcomes by. You get to come with us!” Jus propelled the man skyward. “Nowhurry up!”
Escalla fluttered over to the unhappy Enid, kissed her on the nose, and then shot up toward the gate. As the arch flashed with light, the fugitives slipped through in haste, ending up in the forest near the palace in the faerie realm.
Lord Faen awaited them. He quickly ushered the way to a stone gazebo just out of sight of the family wing of the palace. An archway showed the recent scuff of boots. Jus ushered his party together then turned to lift a hand in farewell to Lords Faen and Charn. Lord Nightshade held out a piece of silver wire and thrust it beneath the gazebo’s arch.
Magic flickered. Jus stepped through, dragging the wailing Polk underneath his arm. Left with her father and Lord Faen, Escalla fluttered unhappily. She flew to the gate, stopped, rushed back to give her father a kiss, and then shot through the arch an instant before the gateway flickered shut.
Standing alone with Lord Faen, Escalla’s father suddenly felthis world turn a little dim.