To Catch a Queen

by Shanna Swendson

  “Okay, if you think it’ll work,” Jen said. She bent to kiss Michael on the lips.

  Emily realized she was holding her breath as they all waited to see what would happen. Sophie might have looked more anxious than Jen did. She’d gone absolutely ashen, tears trickled down her cheeks, and her lips moved in a silent prayer. Emily took her sister’s hand again, and Sophie clutched it hard enough to crack her knuckles.

  It felt like hours later, but it really was probably only a few seconds before the color started returning to Michael’s face. His breathing became audible, and then his eyes opened to meet Jen’s. “Hey there,” he whispered, and she broke into sobs as she collapsed onto him. He awkwardly wrapped his arms around her.

  Sophie’s shoulders shook ever so slightly, and she took a few long, deep, shuddering breaths, willing herself back under control. Emily squeezed her hand again and vowed to find someone more available to set Sophie up with, as soon as possible. Pining over a married man—even if his wife was a captive in fairyland—wasn’t healthy, especially not for someone with no relationship track record.

  “I believe we came here for a coronation,” a nearby voice said. Emily looked up to see the tall, red-haired fairy who’d kicked all this off by demanding that Jen put on the crown before she’d kneel to her as ruler. “And we seem to have a candidate as queen.”

  Moving as though in a dream, Sophie released Emily’s hand and stood. “Yes, I claim the throne,” she said, sounding amazingly steady for someone who’d been so shaken a moment ago.

  “Then you must put on the crown.”

  Sophie practically floated up the dais steps and sat in the throne Jen had vacated. The fairy gestured toward the handmaidens, who brought over the flowery pillow with the crown resting on it. Sophie took the crown and placed it on her own head.

  If there’d been any doubt who the true queen was, it would have been erased by what happened next. When Sophie took the crown in the real palace, it had come to life. Here, the fake palace disappeared, leaving Sophie sitting on a large stone on a grassy mound in the middle of a field. There was no longer a distinction between the fairies inside the palace and those gathered outside, so the entire Realm was there to see their queen.

  Although the setting was simpler, it seemed to Emily more authentic, more like the fae really should be. There was something wild about it, under the sky—or what passed for a sky in the Realm—and surrounded by nature. Sophie had dropped the illusion of royal robes and instead wore a simple knit dress with a full skirt that draped over the rock where she sat. Even without the jewels and rich fabric, she radiated regal power.

  Every fairy in the valley fell to his or her knees. Jen raised herself to her knees, and Michael joined her after glancing around. Nana raised an eyebrow before gracefully lowering herself. Amelia and Athena were already on the ground, but they adjusted their postures to look more respectful. Beau got up with a deep, snorting sigh, climbed the mound, and settled down against Sophie’s ankles. Emily normally would have ground her teeth at the idea of kneeling before her big sister, but this one time it felt right. After all, she’d presented herself as a candidate for queen, and that meant she had to acknowledge the real one or risk looking like a traitor. She knew Sophie wouldn’t string her up, but she didn’t want to make any bets on what Sophie’s more ardent followers might do.

  And it did seem like she might have a few fans. The free fae must have been somewhat appeased by the disappearance of the palace, like Sophie was getting rid of the symbols of oppression, or something, because they were kneeling just like everyone else.

  Sophie gestured for them all to rise. “I don’t ask anyone to kneel to me. I ask only that you keep the peace with each other and with the world above.”

  She frowned then, or maybe she was squinting in an effort to see in the distance. Emily turned to follow her gaze and saw what looked like a forest fire on the edge of the valley. Even as Emily watched, it grew larger.

  “What is that?” Michael asked, speaking for everyone.

  From where she lay pinned by the other rulers, Orla cackled. “The Hunt, it rides!”

  “Oh dear,” Sophie said with a soft sigh.

  Thirty-nine

  The Mound

  Next

  How could she have forgotten the Hunt? Sophie wanted to kick herself. Then again, it wasn’t as though she hadn’t had other things begging for her attention. She’d managed to help Michael free his wife from fairy thrall, had taken out the person trying to usurp her throne, and had reclaimed her rightful place in the Realm. It would be perfectly understandable if she let a few little details slip her mind. Unfortunately, the Hunt didn’t count as a little detail, and it was heading straight for her. If it kept on this course, it would trample the assembled masses and her, probably on its way out of the Realm to menace the human world. She couldn’t let that happen.

  But she wasn’t sure what to do about it. She didn’t recall anything in the folklore about fighting or stopping the Hunt, only that looking directly at them might leave one vulnerable to being taken by them to the fairy realm. They were already in the Realm, so that was a moot point, and none of the folklore said anything about what danger the Hunt posed to the fae.

  She tried accessing the fairy queen’s information to find how they must have been bound in the past, but nothing useful came to mind. Turning to her grandmother, she said, “Nana, do you have any ideas? I know you told me stories about the Hunt.”

  “Theoretically, they should answer to the true queen of the Realm.”

  “I guess that’s a starting point.” Sitting still on her rock, Sophie let her senses extend until she was tapped into the Realm itself, a part of its fabric. Then, with all her might, she thought STOP!

  The flashing whirlwind didn’t stop its advance. “Rats,” she muttered to herself. One thing she could do, though, was seal the Realm to keep them out of the human world. She tightened the barriers. Now they’d have to stop the Hunt, or else she, Michael, Jen, Emily, Nana, Amelia, and Athena would be trapped here forever, the Realm entirely cut off from the human world, with both sides left the poorer for it.

  As the Hunt rode toward them, Sophie began to understand all the legends about it, the reasons people heard it in storms and hid their faces until the tempest passed. The fae gathered in the valley scattered ahead of the thundering hooves and fiery eyes, but the Hunt no longer rode on the ground. They were rising into the sky, looking ever more like a raging thunderhead as light flashed through the dark, roiling clouds. Everyone around her screamed and ducked as the Hunt passed overhead, and Beau whimpered as he burrowed under Sophie’s skirts, but she refused to be cowed. She glared defiantly upward, seeking and holding the gaze of the horned leader’s fathomless eyes.

  Then they were gone, vanished into the distance. Emily rose from her duck-and-cover posture and said, “You’ve got to stop them! They’ll be riding to our world.”

  “I’ve closed off the Realm,” Sophie said. “I still need to stop them so you can get out, but it’s not quite as urgent.”

  “What about the Borderlands?” Michael asked. “They may not be able to open or use a portal, but could they squeeze through the passages?”

  Sophie felt sick to her stomach. “Oh. You’re right. They won’t be able to ride through as a herd, and the openings will be limited, but they could get through.”

  “Or they could just blast wider openings,” Amelia said, her eyes grim.

  “Yeah, we don’t want that,” Sophie said absently, even as her mind was frantically spinning to come up with a plan. “We need to head them off.” Raising her voice, she called out to the army of free fae that had followed Emily into the palace. “Can you track them?”

  “Yes, my queen!” a fierce-looking female fairy called out. She was already swinging herself back into her saddle.

  “Then go, and leave a trail.” The woman nodded, and she kicked her horse into a gallop, disappearing into the distance, leaving a line of shimmering gold
behind her. Sophie turned to her friends. “I think I have an idea for how to neutralize the Hunt, but for that I’ll need humans with me. I hate to ask all of you to go into battle, but I don’t think this will be a physical fight.”

  “I’m with you,” Michael said. Jen clutched his arm and nodded.

  “I believe this is one of the reasons I’m here,” Nana said, looking like she was ready for war.

  “I’m in,” Emily said.

  “As am I,” Eamon said.

  “I think I know what you have in mind, and you can count on us,” Amelia said, adding with a glance at Eamon, “but this is not a fight you can join, Eamon. It will be difficult.”

  “You plan to use the ancient weapon of mankind against us: faith,” he said. “I am not as weak as others of my kind. I own several Bibles and have even touched them. I do not fear your prayers.”

  Sophie couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at that. He was a very uncommon fairy. Maybe he and Emily could make things work, if Sophie was right about what was developing between them. But this wasn’t the time to worry about that. She addressed the free fae army. “The humans among you have the chance to defend both your adopted home and the world of your birth. Will you join me?”

  About a dozen humans stepped forward. “What weapons do we need, my queen?” one called out, his hand on his sword.

  “I don’t think any blade is going to do much good. What I need is your voice and whatever you might remember from Sunday school, if you were into that sort of thing back in the day.”

  “How are we going to intercept them?” Emily asked. “They’ve got a head start, and they’re mounted.”

  “We’ll follow the yellow-brick road, of course,” Sophie said, allowing herself a smile. She’d never tried to take this many people with her across the Realm in one step, but with the crown on her head sending images and impulses into her mind, she knew she could do it. She had the power of the entire Realm at her disposal. She could see the scout’s trail ahead of them, glowing golden, and the direction told her exactly where in the Borderlands it was going. She glanced back over her shoulder at her friends and followers. “Everyone ready?”

  Emily picked up Beau’s leash and nodded. Eamon squeezed Emily’s other hand. Jen clung to Michael’s elbow. Nana, Amelia, and Athena were bright-eyed and eager, and behind them, the human contingent of the free fae looked fierce and determined. Sophie actually felt pretty good about this.

  She stepped forward on the golden pathway, and two strides later she was in the shadowy darkness of the Borderlands. “Are they here yet?” Emily asked when she arrived.

  “I don’t think so, but they’ll come through here,” Sophie replied.

  “And you know that because?”

  “I’m the queen. Didn’t you get the memo?”

  Bantering with her younger sister boosted Sophie’s confidence, which was good because this place gave her the creeps. The awareness that came with the crown only reinforced how dangerous it was. The eerie silence made matters worse. On her last visit, she would have wanted the creepy noises to stop, but now she suspected the denizens of the Borderlands were silent because they sensed what was coming and had made themselves scarce.

  Soon, even the eerie silence would have been welcome. The thunder of the approaching Hunt was more frightening in this setting. And then the chanting began.

  “The Hunt, the Hunt, the Hunt will ride again.”

  “I hate these guys,” Michael said with deep feeling.

  “Do you still have iron on you?” Sophie asked without taking her eyes off the approaching flashes of red in the darkness.

  He checked his bag. “A bit, but there’s not much left.”

  “Make a perimeter.”

  “Gotcha.”

  He started with a line ahead of them, then circled behind the group, scattering the nails. Meanwhile, the Hunt had drawn close enough that she could make out the horns on their helmets. “I’m assuming you do have a plan,” Emily said. “Care to share?”

  Nana answered for her. “We’re going to sing hymns, recite Bible verses, and say prayers.”

  “Yes, that’s it, exactly,” Sophie said, trying not to be miffed that her grandmother was stepping on her toes. After all, she’d learned what to do from Nana.

  “I’ve heard about stepping out in faith, but wow,” Emily said, her voice shaking.

  “It’s traditional,” Athena explained. “Supposedly, one of the best ways to defend yourself against the darkest sort of fae is to use any symbols of the Christian faith. I suppose other faiths work, too, but most of these stories come from Europe, which was predominantly Christian at that time.”

  “It can be effective against those who have had less exposure to the human world,” Eamon added.

  “I’m hoping it will be enough to force them to stand down,” Sophie continued. “Then I might be able to impose my will on them. Niall must have promised them something or done something to free them from any restraints.”

  “Wouldn’t that have been squashed when Niall died?” Michael asked.

  “I don’t think he’s dead,” Nana said. “He’s likely still giving orders if they’re still acting on them.”

  Sophie turned to her, wincing at the physical pain that thought gave her. “You mean, this isn’t over?”

  “Did you see a body? It’s probably a diversion,” Nana said with a nod. “It’s what I would do. You faked a death in your own fight.”

  “Right,” Sophie acknowledged, drawing the word out as she thought. “Then we’ve got to make this work, and quickly.”

  “If it doesn’t work?” Emily asked.

  “Then we’re making a last stand.”

  “Wow, talk about motivation,” Emily said with a grin.

  The Hunt headed straight for them. Sophie would have told herself to hold her attack until she could see the red of their mounts’ eyes, but that was the first thing to become visible. She threw up a magical barrier using enchantress magic, and the other two enchantresses added their strength to it once they noticed what she was doing. “Keeping the worst of the fae out of our world is our job,” Amelia said with grim determination.

  Sophie turned to her sister. “You’ve got the biggest voice. How about a verse of ‘Amazing Grace’?”

  Emily’s eyes sparkled. She lived for this sort of thing. She belted out the opening line, and the others joined in. Sophie had never been able to put much power behind her voice, but she was surprised by how strong Michael’s baritone turned out to be. She glanced at Eamon and saw that while he looked somewhat uncomfortable, he was holding fast at Emily’s side. The choir of the free fae humans gradually joined in behind them, singing the same melody in a multitude of languages.

  Sophie might have been imagining it, but the Hunt seemed to be slowing. More details became visible as they stirred up less dirt and smoke. She could see how skeletal they were—the riders, the horses, and the dogs that ran at the horses’ hooves. At Emily’s feet, Beau growled at his fae counterparts. Emily held his leash tightly, keeping him from going after them.

  But the song wasn’t actually scripture and was relatively recent. It might not even have been written when the Hunt rode more regularly in the human world. “Does everyone know the Twenty-third Psalm?” Sophie called out.

  Michael, the minister’s son, started that one. Sophie, Nana, and Emily joined in immediately. Athena and Amelia picked it up. Jen appeared a little more foggy, but she wouldn’t have heard it in a very long time. Sophie was really surprised when Eamon echoed them, only a word or two behind. Some of the others also added their voices.

  The Hunt slowed even more, and a few of the horses tried to wheel away. Their riders fought to control them. Some of the dogs stopped entirely. It was working. Sophie decided to unleash one last weapon. “The Lord’s Prayer!” she called out.

  “Which version?” Amelia asked.

  “Whichever one you know,” Sophie replied. “It doesn’t have to be unison.”

&nbs
p; They only got halfway through the prayer before the Hunt faltered entirely. Sophie gestured for the others to stop. “Do you yield?” she called to the leader of the Hunt.

  He didn’t speak, but his answer was implied when the Hunt kept moving relentlessly forward until they came up against the enchantresses’ shield. Up close, they were utterly terrifying. She’d thought the stags’ horns were affixed to their helmets, but they seemed to grow straight out of their heads. Their eyes were like portals into infinity, and the stench of sulfur surrounded them. Every survival instinct Sophie had ordered her to flee, but she forced herself to stand resolutely still, staring down these creatures from the depths of hell. She heard movement behind her, and out of the corner of her eye she noticed some of the others in her group backing away. She didn’t blame them. In fact, she wished she could join them, but she stood fast, her friends and family at her side. Beau whimpered once, but he, too, stood his ground.

  In a voice she felt in shivers down her back rather than actually heard, the Huntsman replied, “I yield to no one.”

  “Do you know who I am?” she demanded.

  “You are the queen of the Realm.”

  “I order you to stand down.”

  “We do not stand down.”

  Indignation overrode her fear. “Oh, really?” she said. She sensed Emily edging away from her. Her sister recognized the warning signs, even if Mr. Horn Head didn’t seem to. His brains had probably been turned to ashes long ago. “Is it a matter of pride, or did Niall offer you something good?”

  It was hard to read expressions on a nearly featureless face, but she thought the bottomless eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “The great lord freed us to resume our rides.”