by Holly Hook
I sat up a bit, stiff from sleeping against the trunk. All around me, people leaned against trees and some of the guys had fallen asleep flat on the grass. Nori was on the other side of the fire as me, lying against a bunch of folded leather sacks that someone must have provided for her.
I stood, leaving Candice to sleep a bit more. We hadn't nodded off until late last night. I blinked and still had the image of the fire behind my eyes, blazing and tall. Across the clearing, the tree trunk with the split waited. The two knights stood there, keeping guard. I had to commend those guys. The other knights had all slumped over around us, giving in to the tiredness.
The wand still lay there where I had left it the night before. I had slept over it to make sure no one took it. I picked it up and made a show of stretching. One of the knights eyed me, then leaned against the tree, exhausted.
We needed to leave without anyone else knowing. I wanted this to be as quiet as possible. Nori wouldn't mind me being gone. She'd made that clear. She might have wanted me a little before the screw up with Ebert and Humphrey but my mistake had changed that.
I dug through my tired mind for the right spell to put them to sleep. I pointed the wand at the knights, who were staring at each other in boredom, and muttered, "schlafen."
Cold energy swept through me. The two slumped against the tree even more and then slid to the ground, almost at the same time. It would have been funny under other circumstances. Armor squeaked as the two of them took a journey to dreamland. I hoped they wouldn't get into too much trouble.
I woke Candice. She blinked and her eyes widened with the realization of what we needed to do. We then crept around the trees until we found Henry and Rae lying flat, sleeping next to each other with their hands linked. We woke them, too, and Henry went to go wake Mica and Ignacia. In just a few minutes, all of us except for Mica were gathered. The knights remained slumped by the entrance to the underground.
“How long will they be asleep?” Rae asked. Apparently Candice had told her what I'd done. It didn't matter. Rae already knew I had magic.
“I don’t know. Twenty minutes. It won’t be unguarded long, just long enough for us to get away.”
Mica vanished into the trees for a few minutes while we stood in silence, trying to steel ourselves for whatever was in the underworld. Going through the underworld would be better than traveling on foot over the dark region, where Alric or his forces could find us. It was also better than traveling near any water, even though I hadn’t noticed his reflection in anything for the past few months. I didn’t understand that, but I wasn’t going to complain about it.
Mica returned, with the elf and the blond girl behind him.
“More brave souls?” Henry asked.
I hadn’t talked to the girl, Brie, yet. I wondered if she had figured out that I started the fire. I made sure the wand was stuck down in my jeans pocket as far as possible and that my shirt was covering it. Check.
“This is Brie and Stilt,” Mica said to me. “This is Shorty. They’ve been in the castle before and they’ve faced Alric, so they know what we’re up against. They've also been in the lair where Alric keeps his prisoners. Both have volunteered to go with us.”
“Wait,” I said, holding up both hands.
“We’re going,” Brie said. “You’re not going to convince us otherwise.”
So many people were putting themselves in danger. “What stake do you have in this?” I asked.
Brie screwed up her face like she really didn’t want to tell me. The girl had been through a lot. I could see that.
“Never mind,” I said. “That’s fine. But do you get what kind of danger we’re headed into?”
“I get it,” Brie said. “Stilt does, too. He’s…had a history of being trapped in Alric’s castle, back when Henrik was still king.”
I studied Stilt a little harder. He backed up.
Crap.
He was the elf Henrik had kept prisoner, only cured of his darkness. I'd been a lot younger at the time, but it was him, all right.
But did he remember me?
I'd been small when the elf Stilt had glared at me last. I remembered his disgusting greenish yellow teeth, which weren't here. His horrible nose and his leer.
It didn't seem like he did. He just stuck a floppy hat on his head, hiding his ears, and linked his hand with Brie. I wondered if she'd ever seen the other side of him.
"Well, I guess we should go," I said.
I wanted to say something about a heroic charge against Alric, but this was all I could manage. I didn't have a giant force of ravens and I didn't know how to control wolves, not that I wanted to do that.
But I led the way to the hole in the tree and everyone followed in silence.
I'd never had so many people follow me. Candice drew close.
"What about Franco?"
I turned my head. He sat there against a tree, sleeping. I'd forgotten about Candice's best friend and it wasn't just because he hated my guts.
"We should leave him," I said. "He'll go back to the Star Kingdom castle. Alric isn't after him. He might be pretty safe there. I don't want him coming along. If he gets hurt you'll never forgive me."
"You're right. I won't," Candice said. "He should stay. I just wish I could say goodbye to him, you know, in case."
We all stopped at the entrance of the tree. The knights both snored. We didn't have much time left before they woke.
"You should," I said. "Just do it quietly."
I watched as Candice walked over to him and whispered something in his ear. Franco made a face and shifted, then fell all the way back asleep again. When she returned, her eyes were red and full.
"You don't have to do this," I said.
"I should. This is my world, not Franco's. I want to do everything I can to make sure he gets back home."
Franco was strictly from the other world, while Candice's father was from here. I guess the three of us were some kind of spectrum.
I joined hands with Candice while everyone else waited with respect.
We were the first down, breaking apart once again to descend the steps.
The steps were worse going down than up, with tree roots making up the first few stairs. I grabbed onto dirty tree wood and went first, the wand in my pocket. I'd have to use it for light once we got to the bottom, but at least these people had seen magic. I wasn't around the villagers who had a tendency to burn people at the stake.
Once at the bottom, the air opened up and got cooler. The cold draft blew against me again and I realized it was coming from deeper in the tunnel.
"I'm here," I said to Candice. I reached out and brushed her long hair. I'd recognize that hair anywhere.
She took my wrist. "I'm not letting go until we have light."
"Then I'll just have to keep it dark as long as I can," I joked.
She laughed. At least we could manage some humor down here.
The others reached the bottom and the air got warm with everyone's breathing.
"Okay," I said. "As much as I like this, we need light. Does anyone have an aversion to magic?"
"Just dark magic," Brie said.
"Agreed. Just the Alric kind," Ignacia said. "Or the Annie kind, which I suppose is the same thing."
I got the wand out, dropped it, and scrambled around looking for it for several stupid seconds before I lifted it and cast the spell. "Licht!"
Light exploded around us and I squinted.
"Licked?" Brie asked. "What does that have to do with light?"
"It's the Old Language word for it," I explained. "Doesn't your elf friend know any?"
Stilt shook his head. "Elves use magic differently than you do," he said. He still didn't show any signs of recognizing me. "We don't use words. That's for magicians."
He sounded neutral enough. I hoped I had lost my baby fat enough to not look like that kid he glared at so many years ago.
"This Old Language," Brie said. "It kind of sounds like--"
"Hello
? Who's down there?"
One of the knights called down.
They'd woken up. We'd wasted enough time.
"Come on back up," he called with authority. "It's too dangerous down there. We need to head back to the city."
I thought fast. I raised the wand again, pointed it at where I thought the exit to the tunnel was, and said the word for collapse.
I was sure not to yell it with the intensity that I had before with Annie, but the tunnel rumbled and Rae screamed. The smell of dirt filled the air as the exit caved in, hiding the stairs from view.
We all coughed as dust flew through the air. Dark shadows fell under everyone’s eyes and I had the feeling for a second that I had just locked us all in a tomb. We had the yarn. Ignacia still clutched it and it was very bright purple in the light. Without it, I would have thought twice about collapsing the exit.
And we would have been dragged back up to the surface, kicking and screaming.
“Okay,” I said as the dust settled and the air became clear again. “We need to ask where Alric is keeping his prisoners, first of all.”
“The Old Language word for ‘stag,’” Candice whispered in my ear.
Then it dawned on me. "Could the yarn show us where we could find that out?”
Ignacia had already raised the yarn and had opened her mouth to say something when I held up a hand and stopped her. “Ask it how we can find the Old Language word for ‘stag,’” I said. "We need that before we do anything else."
She didn’t ask any questions. Apparently, Henry had told Mica and the others what was required to take down Alric once and for all. It saved me a lot of explaining. Brie and Stilt didn’t look like they needed an explanation, either. This was a close group of friends and all around my age, too. I didn’t know them well, but I could see experience on all of their faces. I knew that look from Candice’s eyes.
It was a look I wanted her to stop having.
Ignacia sucked in a breath. “Show us where to find the Old Language word for ‘stag.’”
The yarn didn’t move at first, but then it lifted from her hand and unraveled, pointing deeper into the tunnel as it floated in midair.
The yarn unraveled for a long time, for what seemed like minutes, never getting smaller. At last, it stopped and a gentle purple line floated on the light draft. I’d seen some strange things, but nothing like this.
This kind of magic ran on my mother’s side of the family. It might be worth knowing.
“Come on,” Ignacia said. She was the one in charge here. “It looks like we have a long way to walk.”
* * * * *
She was right. We did have a long way to walk.
My feet started to hurt as I held the wand and kept the light moving with us. We were moving in a soft bubble of glow, which cast the walls in a light brown at first, and then a dark brown, and then a gravel-lined dirt tunnel that looked as if a giant worm had carved it out. The air changed, too, getting more stagnant and stale. Whatever draft we’d felt before was gone now. It had probably come from the exit after all.
And yet, the yarn still floated next to us. Ignacia kept her hand on it the entire time as if it were a guardrail.
Or if she were waiting to feel a tug on it from somewhere distant. I thought of Annie and how she hungered to take revenge on Ignacia and Mica—and how she wanted this wand back. I didn’t think she wanted to give it back to my grandmother.
I wondered why I had never heard of Annie until now. Alric and my grandmother had never mentioned her. I didn’t see why. She was just as nasty as Alric was.
“Shorty, I think we’re headed downward,” Candice said after a while.
We hadn’t spoken much, trying to stay quiet in case there were dragons down here. That was the last thing we needed right now.
"We are," I said. "I wish I could tell you where we're going."
"To the underworld?" Candice asked.
"We're there already. This is just the upper part from what I understand."
"It just looks like a dirt tunnel to me. We must be miles from the castle by now."
I thought about it. If Annie had to turn around, she might have gotten there. I hoped she hadn't tried to claim the kingdom. Maybe underground was the best place to be right now.
"Shorty--what if Annie's on the surface, and Franco goes back to the city? She might have taken over the Star Kingdom for all I know."
We'd reached the same conclusion. The horror in her voice was apparent. I felt horrible for collapsing the tunnel. I hadn't even thought about that.
I scrambled. I had screwed up. Awesome. "Even Alric couldn't take over the Star Kingdom," I said. "How can Annie? It's so light it might hurt his eyes just to walk through it. It would be like Nori walking through the dark region."
I could tell I hadn't done much good with making her feel better. Candice's eyes were wet and worried. She had been through a lot but the thought of something happening to Franco made sickness fill my gut. I didn't like the guy, but Candice did and she had known him for longer than she had known me. We'd rescued him from a pond nix months ago and we couldn't afford to lose him again.
I wouldn't have her miserable.
"Crap," I said when she never responded. "I didn't think. I guess that's another strike against me, right?"
"Shorty, we should have woken him."
For a second I was ticked and wanted to point out that Candice could have woken him, but I kept my mouth shut. Ignacia muttered something to Mica as she pulled on the floating purple line next to us. It extended into the dark for as long as I could see, which wasn't very far.
"We can't now," I said, hating that. "I wish we could. But he would be in more danger down here."
"Probably," Candice said. "I'm just so over this."
"So am I," I said, careful not to let anything slip in front of these new people. "This is it. This is the last adventure we're going on. In Fable, at least." I eyed the yarn. "We have a way home that isn't a magic mirror. We have our first answer at the end of this line."
"But where is it going?" Candice asked.
"I can't know," Ignacia said. "It'll take us to the Old Language word for stag in one way or another. Sometimes there's a surprise at the end."
We walked in silence for another several minutes when the yarn made a sharp turn ahead.
"Another tunnel," Stilt said. "I can see it."
"How?" Candice asked.
"My vision is a little better than yours," he said. "There's another tunnel up ahead and it's very wide. It could go anywhere. We might have traveled dozens of miles by now."
"Dozens of miles?" I asked.
"Distance is different in the underworld," Stilt said. "You of all people should know that."
I cringed and Candice did next to me. Stilt knew something about me and I had the feeling I knew what. No one had asked why I could do magic yet or maybe they were too afraid to.
I lowered the wand and the light descended a bit, flickering on the dirt ceiling. There were no more tree roots now. We were down way too far. The path still sloped downward.
The path widened and the sides seemed to fall away. And then we came to where the tunnel must be, because another draft hit me from the right. Candice's hair blew in the wind and the air was fresh, but a little damp. We were close to something big. A chamber, maybe.
I turned and the light moved with me, illuminating several more tunnels. They branched away from us in all directions, but the yarn pointed us to the one on the far left. It was lined with bricks that looked fresh and was no bigger than the others.
"This yarn is a lifesaver," I said. "Should we dare to go down that way?" I tried to keep my tone light, but my voice was shaking.
A big chamber might mean dragons.
"We don't have a choice," Brie said. "Looks like that yarn is pointing us there. Maybe there's someone on the end who knows the Old Language words we need."
"Or more elves," Stilt said. "Dark ones, maybe. I don't know this tunnel. I've never b
een down it. In fact, I haven't been in the underground in years."
Brie shuddered. There was clearly a memory there. "That freak from the inn. If he's down here--"
"It's a big underworld," Stilt said. "If he is, what's the chance we'll run into him?"
We didn't waste any more time. I got in the front and we all walked down the new tunnel, me in the lead.
The yarn continued to snake forward and the tunnel curved a few times, but we stayed in the same tunnel and the draft got even stronger.
"This whole place is brick," I said, holding the wand up to study the walls.
"It's like it's new," Candice said.
"I think we're headed into an inhabited area," Henry said, staring at the ceiling. "Someone built this not too long ago. There's someone living down here."
"Maybe someone who knows the word you need," Candice told me. She poked me in the ribs and I recoiled, but I didn't care. Dragons didn't typically hang out in places people lined with bricks. They usually hung out in dark caverns. I dimly remembered a story with three princesses who fell into the underworld after eating some cursed apples--the same apples that Henrik liked to grow when he was still at the castle. Some huntsman had to save them from some dragons or something.
"Light up ahead," Stilt said.
I squinted. The purple line ended and all the yarn rolled up into a floating ball. That must mean we were at our destination.
I blinked and it came into focus.
The tunnel ended and light reflected off water. I had to make sure I was seeing it right. Ahead was a huge chamber, bigger than the Star Kingdom city, and an underground lake spread out in front of us. My feet sank into sand as we reached what must be the shore.
"Wow," Candice said.
That was it, too. Like the light coming from the spell, a glow filled the chamber just enough to let us see. Huge stalactites hung overhead like giant upside-down towers and on the other side of the lake stood a castle.
The castle was huge, with golden shingles that reflected the pale glow and brick of an unknown color. A pale reflection of the castle wavered in the water. It was almost the size of the Star Kingdom's castle and a lot richer.
I wondered how the heck a castle had gotten down here in the first place and what they called this kingdom.
