by E. D. Baker
“Do you mind if we stop here for a few minutes?” he asked. “I’m hungry again.”
“After we do what we came here for,” I said. I had just caught a glimpse of movement and bright colors and had a feeling I’d found the fairies.
“I would let you if it were up to me, Eadric,” said Adara.
“Business first,” I said, turning the carpet. “Do you see that group of people over there?”
Eadric nodded. “Fairies, if I’m not mistaken. The colorful hair always gives them away. It sounds as if they’re arguing.”
“Maple and Aspen did say that fairies were fighting over the candidates,” I reminded him.
“Yes, but it looks like they’re fighting with the candidates, too,” he replied. “That’s probably Sumac on the stump.”
“Stop carrying on and listen to me!” shouted the fairy girl with dark red hair who was standing on an old tree stump. “I know what I’m talking about. I’m smart and talented and can solve all our problems. The first thing we’re going to do is cut all ties with humans!”
A chorus of protest broke out. Finally one voice shouted above the rest, “Why would we want to do that?”
“Don’t you understand? Humans should all be banned from the forest!” Sumac shouted as we drew closer. “Humans cut down trees and hunt our friends the forest creatures. They pillage our plants, stealing the berries, flowers, and herbs we work so hard to grow.”
“How do you suggest we keep them out, exactly?” shouted a fairy with long pink hair.
“I know just what to do!” Sumac cried. “No one is better at planning ahead than me. We’ll put up a magical wall around the forest to keep humans out. Keep the forest for the fairies!”
“Your magic isn’t strong enough to put up a wall like that,” hollered a fairy from the rear of the crowd.
“It will be after I get Willow’s magic wand!” Sumac shouted back. “Then I’ll be as strong as she ever was!”
Some of the fairies grumbled and others laughed. Only a few seemed to take Sumac seriously. The ones who disagreed with her were the loudest, however. “Not all humans are bad!” called out a stocky fairy in a coat of bark. “Some of my best friends are human!”
“Mine, too!” another fairy added.
A few members of the audience stomped off, angry. I set the carpet on the ground only yards from Sumac and got to my feet. When it looked as if her meeting might be breaking up, I waved to get her attention.
“What do you want, human?” Sumac asked in a rude voice.
A number of fairies heard her and came back to listen.
“I’m here on behalf of the fairy Maple. She asks why you put your design on her trees and wants you to stop it. Needless to say, she’s very upset.”
Sumac spluttered and glanced at the fairies who had gathered closer. “What are you talking about?” she asked me. “I didn’t do anything to her trees!”
“Maple is sure you did it. Someone defaced her trees with the design that you use as your symbol. Why would anyone but you do that?”
Sumac turned to face the other fairies. “Do you see why we need to ban them from our forest? Interfering busybodies! What makes you think you have a right to get involved in fairy business, anyway?” she said, turning back to me.
I noticed that the looks some of the fairies were giving me weren’t very friendly.
“I’m the Green Witch,” I told them. “Years ago your queen gave members of my family the title and the responsibility of watching out for the humans and fairies in Greater Greensward. Maple came to me about her trees and I promised to look into it.”
The fairies nodded when I mentioned the old queen and began whispering to one another, turning their unfriendly looks on Sumac.
“It wasn’t me!” said Sumac. “I already told Aspen that.”
“Do I know you?” asked a fairy. I glanced her way and saw that it was the Swamp Fairy and she was studying me closely. “You look awfully familiar.”
The last time Eadric and I had encountered the Swamp Fairy, he had insulted her. She had been about to cast a spell on him when Olefat interrupted. I was still grateful for the help he’d given us.
Turning aside, I whispered to Eadric, “Why don’t you take Adara back to that berry patch. We might be a while.” The patch was far enough away that the Swamp Fairy wouldn’t be able to see him. We would have a real problem if she remembered how rude he had been to her.
“Sounds like a good idea,” he said, his eyes lighting up. “Holler if you need me.”
“Maybe a human made that pattern,” said Sumac. “They’re always hurting our plants!”
I shook my head. “It couldn’t have been a human. You can’t see the pattern unless you’re flying overhead.”
“No human could hurt those trees if we put up that wall!” Sumac said, looking at the other fairies again.
“I know I’ve seen you somewhere recently,” said the Swamp Fairy. “If only I can remember where.”
“How are you going to keep some people out and let others in?” I asked Sumac. “Will you allow wolves into your forest?”
“Of course!” said Sumac. “All forest creatures will still be welcome there.”
“What about werewolves?” I asked. “They’re human part of the time. And there are other creatures that can turn into humans when they want to. Are you going to ban all of them, too?”
“It’s right on the tip of my brain,” said the Swamp Fairy.
Sumac gave me a scornful look. “Fairies can tell when someone isn’t fully human.”
“Is that so?” I asked. “Then what am I, exactly?”
“You’re a human, of course,” said Sumac. “Anyone can tell that.”
“I’m human right now, but I’m not always,” I told her.
I had already begun to change when the Swamp Fairy gave a triumphant shout. “I remember now! You were with that boy who insulted me just the other day! I was about to turn you both into mushrooms, but you ran away too fast.”
I had been practicing the change and was getting quite good at the transformation, although the sheer excitement still took my breath away. Time seemed to stand still, at least for me, as I turned into a dragon. Everyone watching froze, although I didn’t know if it was from fear or surprise. The Swamp Fairy stopped moving, with her hand raised to point at me. Sumac paused in a mid-shake of denial. Then there I was, a pale green dragon with fire already burning in my belly.
I stretched my neck so that my face was only inches from Sumac’s and said, “It seems to me that you’re not that good at telling who is human and who might be something else.”
In an instant, most of the fairies turned tiny and fled. Only Sumac, frozen under my gaze, remained behind. “I didn’t know!” she said. “Please don’t eat me or burn me to a crisp!”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I told her, and sat back on my haunches. “Now that we’re alone, are you sure you weren’t the one to damage Maple’s trees?”
“It wasn’t me, I swear!” cried Sumac. “It was probably one of my rivals. Go talk to Chervil and Poppy. I bet one of them did it.”
“And where would I find them?” I asked.
“The last I heard, Poppy was visiting the fairies who live near the Old Witches’ Retirement Community. The witches are letting her use their commons for a rally.”
“And what about Chervil?” I asked.
Whoomp! Whoomp! The sound of enormous wings drowned out whatever Sumac might have been about to say. In a flash, she turned tiny and fled into the forest, leaving me to face the two dragons landing near me. Although I recognized them, it was obvious from the look on Grumble Belly’s face that he didn’t recognize me. The huge, blue-black dragon was intimidating even when he was being friendly. Suspicious and wary, the adult male dragon was terrifying. Huddled beside him, his little son, Ralf, just looked puzzled.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Grumble Belly demanded, his hot breath washing over me.
“It’s me, Emma!” I exclaimed. I had turned into a dragon the first time in order to stop a magical fight between my aunt and my grandmother, both of whom were under the influence of the family curse. I hadn’t seen my dragon friends since then, so neither one would know that I could turn into a dragon, something most witches would find impossible.
“Emma who?” asked Grumble Belly.
“I’m the one who became a Dragon Friend when I helped Ralf at the Dragon Olympics!” I told them. “Hi, Ralf! It’s good to see you again.”
“Papa, is that really Emma?” whispered Ralf. “She’s green! I’ve never seen a dragon her color before.”
“Look, I’ll prove it!” I cried. A moment later, I stood before them as the human they remembered.
“It is you!” Ralf shouted. “You can turn into a dragon now! I thought you could only turn into a frog! Wow! This is great! Now we can do all sorts of things together. Can Eadric turn into a dragon, too?”
I laughed and shook my head. “No, just me. I think I can do it only because I’m a Dragon Friend. As far as I know, I’m the only human who can turn into a dragon.”
“Hey, Ralf! Hi, Grumble Belly!” Eadric shouted, hurrying to join us. “What are you doing here?”
“We were flying home when we saw Emma,” said Ralf.
“And now that we’ve spoken with her, we need to go,” said his father. “I promised I would catch tonight’s supper.”
Ralf smiled. “Mama is helping me learn flaming. Papa is giving me flying lessons. Someday I’ll be as good at flaming as Mama and fly as fast as Papa. Right?” he said, looking up at his father.
“That’s right, son,” the huge dragon said, gazing fondly at Ralf before turning back to me. “I know his mother and I said he was too young to start flaming, but he really wanted to and he’s been very well-behaved lately. He’s been practicing a lot over the last few weeks.”
Ralf nodded. “I started eating gunga beans and flami-peppers after the Dragon Olympics last month. You should see how long I can make my flame! My flying is getting better, too. Papa says that someday I’ll be faster than he is!”
“I bet you will,” I said with a smile. The Dragon Olympics were a yearly event. Ralf had taken Eadric and me to the games the year before. Ralf was too young to compete, but his mother had won the contest for the longest flame.
“Come along, son. We really have to go,” said his father.
“We’ll see you soon, Emma and Eadric!” Ralf shouted as he took to the air.
I watched until they disappeared above the trees of the enchanted forest. When I turned to say something to Eadric, Adara started talking first. “I can’t believe you had a conversation with two dragons! You have a sword with you, Eadric. Why didn’t you slay them both? The little one would have been easy to kill!”
Horrified, Eadric and I turned to glare at her. “Those dragons are friends of ours,” said Eadric. “I would never hurt either of them!”
“You can’t make friends with dragons!” Adara declared. “They aren’t people, they’re lizards. No animal is the equal of a human! Trying to be friends with them isn’t natural!” Turning on her heel, she flounced toward the carpet.
“They may be lizards, but they’re nicer than a lot of people we know!” I said. When Eadric and I took our seats on the carpet, I might have made it start flying again a little faster than necessary, and I might have made Adara flop backward on purpose, but there was only so much that I could put up with from anyone!
Seven
The Old Witches’ Retirement Community was located farther north in the enchanted forest. Home to many of the older witches who lived in Greater Greensward, it was a comfortable place and always well-maintained through spells and other witchy contributions. Because my grandmother Olivene had long made it her home, I had visited it often.
Unlike the swamp, the Old Witches’ Retirement Community had changed a lot since my childhood days. Many of the witches had moved on, either because they’d died or because they’d found someplace else they’d rather live. Nearly a dozen witches had chosen to stay on the island that Olefat the wizard had tricked them into visiting. An overweight witch had used a spell to make herself lighter and had floated off into the clouds. It was rumored that she was currently living on the moon. Two witches had turned themselves into foxes, then forgotten how to turn themselves back. They lived deeper in the forest now, visiting the Community only on special occasions.
With so many witches gone, their unoccupied cottages had either walked away on chicken legs, been eaten by passing children, or crumbled into dust when their spells weren’t renewed. Once the vacancies were announced, other witches had moved in, selecting more modern cottages that were larger and more spacious inside. Even the older cottages that remained didn’t look quite the same. My grandmother had replaced many of her chewed gingerbread walls with a new recipe that tasted sweeter and was a darker shade of brown. The spun sugar she used to decorate the eaves looked more delicate, and the gumdrops more sugary.
“I like what your grandmother has done with the place!” Eadric said as we landed in her front yard. Since our last visit, she had installed a gate made of fruit-flavored lozenges and replaced the window shutters with sugar wafers.
“You’ll have to tell Grandmother that,” I said as I got off the carpet.
“I will, as soon as I’ve tasted everything!” he said, licking his lips.
“Someone actually lives here?” Adara said as she got off the carpet. “You’d have to be crazy to live in a house like this!”
“That was rude!” said a big orange-striped cat as he strolled out of the flower bed. “Too bad she’s not a bird or a mouse. I’d teach her a thing or two. Maybe I will anyway.” Lifting a paw, he unsheathed his claws and glanced at Adara.
“Leave her alone, Herald,” I told the cat. “She’s with us.”
“All the more reason to introduce her to these,” he said, and licked his claws.
“Who are you talking to?” Adara asked me as she looked around. “There’s no one here except us and that scruffy-looking cat.”
“Why, I oughta—” Herald began.
“Do nothing,” I told him. “She can’t understand you, so she thinks you don’t have feelings.” The only humans who could understand animals were the ones who’d once been turned into animals themselves. Even Eadric, who had once been a frog, could talk to the animals he met.
The door opened and my grandmother stepped out. “I thought I heard your voice, Emma! I’m so glad you and Eadric stopped by. Oh, you brought her with you,” she said, frowning at Adara. “I thought she’d have gone home by now.”
“We’re looking for the fairy named Poppy,” I told my grandmother. “I was told she was holding a rally here, but I didn’t see her when we flew over the Community.”
“She is, or at least she will be. It should be starting in an hour or so. Just a moment and I’ll see what time it is now.” Grandmother stepped out of her cottage, closing her door behind her. It was only a few steps to a new sundial with a chocolate-chip-cookie face.
“What happened to your old sundial?” Eadric asked.
“Someone ate it while I was away. I like this one better anyway. The big chocolate chip tells the time much more precisely. Look, it’s just as I said. We have a whole hour before the rally starts. Why don’t we have a picnic lunch while we’re waiting?”
“Sounds good to me!” said Eadric.
While Grandmother brought out the food, Eadric and I spread a blanket on the ground. “What’s that for?” asked Adara.
“We’re going to sit on it to eat our lunch,” said Eadric. “Haven’t you ever had a picnic lunch before?”
“I’ve never sat on the ground before,” Adara declared, casting a scornful look at the blanket.
“That’s because Princess Adara is from Lower Mucksworthy,” Grandmother said as she came out the door carrying a tray. “The ground there is never dry enough to sit on. Most of her kingdom is covered in mud
.”
Eadric hurried to take the tray from my grandmother. “Then you should really enjoy this!” he told Adara.
Adara gave him a brilliant smile. “I’m sure I will!” she told him, but I noticed that she made a disgusted face when she glanced at the blanket again.
“Why don’t you sit over there,” Grandmother said to Adara, pointing to a spot on the blanket.
When Adara saw that she would be sitting next to Eadric, she gathered her skirts under her and sat where my grandmother had suggested. I glanced at Grandmother, wondering if she was up to something. Although the curse had made her a horrible person, she had become kind and sweet once the curse was over. Unfortunately, the way she had been acting toward Adara reminded me more of her old, awful self.
Eadric helped himself to dried fish, bread, cheese, and nearly half the fruit tarts, while grandmother handed around mugs of juice. When the rest of us helped ourselves, I noticed that Adara took very little and only picked at her food. I was about to suggest that she try one of the tarts before Eadric ate them all when I noticed that Herald was flattened to the ground, tail twitching, a few yards behind her.
Adara took a sip of her juice and made a face. She was setting her mug back on the blanket when she suddenly yelped and started slapping at her legs.
“Is something wrong, dear?” Grandmother asked, sounding a little too innocent.
“There are ants all over my legs!” Adara cried. “They’re biting me!”
Herald wiggled his back end and launched himself at Adara. When he landed on her with his claws out, the princess shrieked, jumped to her feet, and knocked over her mug of juice.
Herald ran off with his tail straight up, looking pleased with himself.
“Really, Herald! I don’t know what’s gotten into you!” Grandmother cried.
“Are you all right?” I asked Adara.
“Just fine!” she replied through gritted teeth.
“Would you like more juice?” I asked her, holding up the pitcher.
