A Tangle of Secrets

by R. G. Thomas

  “Ah, leave him be,” Rudyard said with a gruff snort of disgust. “Let him rot in some dank cell.”

  “And where would you conjure up such a prison?” Lucian asked, then gave a short, bitter laugh. “Do you think a gnome prison is going to hold me?”

  “A gnome prison?” Dulindir asked, stroking his pointed chin as he considered the suggestion. “That most probably would not keep you long. But an elf prison.” He smiled. “I believe that would hold all of you quite well.”

  The smile left Lucian’s face as he stared at Dulindir.

  “Oh my,” Vivienne said as she chuckled. “Looks like Lucian is finally at a loss for words.”

  Lucian looked at them all one by one. Then, in one swift movement, he thrust his bound hands out toward them. Thaddeus and the rest of them fell backward. Lucian jumped to his feet and extended his hands toward Thaddeus’s mother. With a shout of surprise, she slid through the grass toward him.

  “No!” Thaddeus wanted to grab his mother’s hands, but he couldn’t move. None of them could move, it seemed. They could only lie on the grass and watch as Lucian grabbed his mother and pulled her to her feet. He spun her around to face them and put his arms over her head, pulling back enough so the vines that bound his wrists pressed against his mother’s throat as he started to move backward.

  With that, they were able to move again and all jumped to their feet.

  “Keep your distance,” Lucian said. “Or I’ll snap her neck.”

  “Lucian, no!” Thaddeus’s father took a couple of steps forward but stopped as Lucian pulled back more firmly, making Claire choke.

  “Stay back, Nathan, or she dies.”

  “Let her go,” Thaddeus said. “It’s me you want, isn’t that what you said? You said I was your son, not his. Let her go, and I’ll come to you without a fight.”

  “That’s your solution?” Lucian gave a bitter laugh that made Thaddeus cringe. “Not really a fair trade, is it? You’ve spent too many years with my weak-willed brother to be of any use to me. I can see now that I don’t have the patience or time to undo all the morals he’s drilled into you and train you in the proper use of magic. You’re useless to me, and what better way to make you and your father both suffer than to take away the person you spent all your lives missing?”

  Thaddeus’s heart pounded, and his breathing grew shallow. His frenzied thoughts seemed unable to form into any kind of coherent plan. He met his father’s gaze for a moment and saw the same panic reflected in his face.

  “Lucian,” Thaddeus’s mother said, her voice strained from the vines against her throat. “Don’t do this. You know you won’t win. You’ve lost, not just the battle here tonight but everything. Release me and face your judgment.”

  “Shut up,” Lucian said with a snarl. He tugged back on the vines, making her gasp and choke again. “It’s time you finally paid for what you did to me. Do you know how embarrassed I was when it came out that you had been sleeping with my brother all those years? I mean, my little brother, really? Of all the wizards you had to choose from, you chose him?”

  Thaddeus’s mother had her hands up, gripping Lucian’s wrists as he marched her backward toward the edge of the pond. She met Thaddeus’s gaze, and a small, sad smile flickered briefly across her face. She looked away, toward Thaddeus’s father, and they each nodded. Before Thaddeus could wonder what had been communicated between his parents, flames popped to life around his mother’s hands. Lucian shouted in surprise and tried to pull free, but she held him tight. The fire spread quickly, devouring the vines pressed against her throat and allowing her to take a deep breath. Her expression tightened and shifted to a dark intensity as she clutched Lucian’s wrists, a yellow-orange glow burning in her eyes as the flames crawled up his arms.

  Lucian’s scream heightened until it became a terrified and pain-filled shriek. When he finally managed to wrench free of her grip, the fire had spread along his shoulders and over his chest to lap at his face. He spun in place, hands raised to the sky as he screamed. The fire consumed his clothes and seared into his flesh. Turning away from them, Lucian ran to the pond, flames trailing after him. He fell more than jumped into the water, and a cloud of hissing steam shot up from the surface.

  His mother stood facing them, her flaming hands at her sides and her gaze filled with a terrifying anger that kept Thaddeus rooted to the spot. She took several deep breaths, the flames on her hands shrinking with each one, as if she were drawing the fire back into herself. When the flames had disappeared, Thaddeus and his father slowly approached her.

  “Are you all right?” his father asked.

  She nodded and then pulled his father close for a long kiss. When his parents parted, she pulled Thaddeus to her for a strong hug. Her hands were warm against his back, and he could find no words as he marveled at the power she harbored inside of her.

  “You’ve got a hell of a talent there, Claire,” Rudyard said in a low and appreciative tone as he and Miriam approached.

  “Not sure I’d call it a talent, Rudyard,” his mother said, “but thank you.”

  “I may call on you for some help with smelting,” he said.

  “Rudyard!” Miriam chided, but Thaddeus’s mother and father both laughed.

  Someone took Thaddeus’s hand, and he turned to find Teofil beside him. Without pausing to think about it, Thaddeus pulled him in for a kiss. When he stepped back, Teofil looked at him with wide eyes.

  “What was that for?” Teofil asked.

  “Making up for lost time,” Thaddeus replied. “I’ve missed you. A lot.”

  Teofil kissed him again. “I’ve missed you too.”

  Lucian broke the surface of the water, startling all of them. Thaddeus took several steps back before he realized Lucian floated facedown, unmoving. He looked over to where his father stood with an arm around his mother’s shoulders. With a stony expression, his mother stared at Lucian’s body.

  “He finally got his due,” Vivienne said as she stared at Lucian’s body.

  “Well, good riddance to bad filth,” Rudyard said, and, raising his axe, he turned to face the other three captives. “Which one of them is next?”

  “No more killing, Rudyard,” Thaddeus’s father said. “They’ll pay for what they’ve done. Won’t they, Dulindir?”

  “That they will, Nathan. The Wood Elves don’t take kindly to Changelings, or to anyone who followed Lucian and Isadora. They will stand trial at Golgonthoria, where the Council of the Wood Elves will hear the crimes of which these three are accused.” Dulindir looked at Astrid, then to Rudyard. “I would like to request your permission for Astrid to accompany me on the journey.”

  “To Golgonthoria?” Astrid turned to Rudyard with a big, bright smile. “Oh, please, Dad? Can I?”

  Rudyard scowled and looked to Miriam. “It’s a long journey from here, Miriam. What do you say?”

  “I don’t know…,” Miriam said.

  “I’ll accompany them as well,” Vivienne offered. “That way we’ll be evenly matched. Astrid and Dulindir can use their magic with plants to keep the vines tight, and I’ll use binding spells to keep them locked up overnight.”

  “What about your job at the library?” Thaddeus’s father asked.

  “I got fired last week,” Vivienne said. “I guess missing all that time over the summer when we were at Iron Gulch, and then the days I was out looking for these guys, finally caught up with me.” She shrugged. “Something new will come along.”

  “We have an opening for a world history teacher at my school,” Thaddeus said, then made a face as he looked toward Lucian’s body. “Sorry. That sounded bad after I said it.”

  “I thought it was funny,” Teofil whispered, and Thaddeus smiled.

  “All right, then,” Miriam said, giving Astrid a long, hard look. “You may go. But I want you back home as soon as the trials are over.”

  “You can’t hold me,” Andy spoke up. “I come from a line of Cave Elves. Our magic is stronger than that of the Wo
od Elves.”

  “Actually, you are wrong.” Dulindir approached and touched a finger to his forehead. Andy tipped his head back as his body shuddered. His fingers stuck straight out, and the muscles in his neck went taut. His head tipped so far back Thaddeus could no longer see his face.

  “What’s happening?” Thaddeus asked. “What did you do?”

  “I’ve forced him to reveal his true face,” Dulindir replied.

  Andy’s body went slack. His hands, still bound by vines, dropped into his lap, and his chin fell to his chest. Thaddeus feared he might be dead, but then he saw the rise and fall of his chest. After several seconds of silence, Andy lifted his head and looked right at Thaddeus with a grin. Revulsion churned Thaddeus’s stomach. Sores and pockmarks pitted Andy’s green skin while small bumps lined his brow above his yellow eyes. His lips were like scales, and tiny pointed teeth stuck out between them. His ears rose above his head to sharp points like a pair of horns, and long, greasy hair hung down his back.

  “How about a kiss for your good friend Andy?” He let out a high-pitched cackle that made the hairs on Thaddeus’s arms stand up.

  Thaddeus looked at Teofil, who still stood next to him, holding his hand. “Just so you know, I never once kissed him. I never even thought about it.”

  Teofil nodded. “I believe you.”

  “Well, that’s so touching,” Andy said, and rolled his yellow eyes. “So touching I could vomit.”

  Thaddeus’s mother spoke up. “Dulindir, if Lucian swapped out this creature—”

  “Uh, the creature has a name,” Andy said with a put-upon sigh. “It’s Maggart Cloven.” A grim smile followed. “Esquire.”

  His mother continued without acknowledging that Maggart had spoken. “Where is the real Andy?”

  “Oh my God.” Thaddeus cringed. “Did they kill him?”

  “In most cases, the child is used as food,” Dulindir said. Thaddeus feared he might throw up at the thought before Dulindir continued. “But since the child in this instance was taken at an older age, I suspect he is alive and being held captive in some location.”

  Thaddeus released Teofil’s hand and knelt in front of the Changeling. “Andy, where is he?”

  “Is someone speaking to me? I’m sure that if someone were addressing me, he would have used my true name.”

  “Maggart Cloven,” Thaddeus said after a sigh. “Where is the real Andy Harkin being held?”

  Maggart’s smile chilled Thaddeus. “Not telling.”

  Dulindir stepped up and placed the edge of his blade against Maggart’s throat. “Tell us the location.”

  “If you kill me, you’ll never know.”

  “Not far from here,” Logan spoke up. He lifted his head to look directly at Thaddeus. “In a cave blocked by a large stone.”

  “Fool!” Maggart shouted. “I always knew you were spineless.”

  “Can you show us?” Dulindir asked.

  “As we travel to Golgonthoria,” Logan said, “we will pass the cave.”

  “I’ll go with you as far as the cave,” Rudyard said. “And I’ll bring the boy back to his home.”

  “That’s a long trip,” Logan said. “He was taken from a town called Northglenn.”

  Thaddeus exchanged a look with Teofil and said, “That’s where we went to check into the sightings of the Bearagon.” He looked back at Logan. “Well, sightings of you.”

  Azzo spoke up at that time, and Maggart cursed and rolled his eyes as the man spoke. “We chose him while Logan was away with Isadora. We were staying in an abandoned house on the outskirts of Northglenn, and Andy would walk past to get to an old deer blind in the woods behind the house.”

  “The Delaney house,” Thaddeus said. “We were there not long ago.”

  “Andy’s father is a drunk, and his mother an addict,” Azzo said. “And he spent much of his time away from home. That was when Lucian got the idea to use him to influence Thaddeus.”

  “Influence me?” Thaddeus asked.

  Dulindir spoke up. “The Changeling encourages and feeds the fears and insecurities of those closest to it.”

  “The voice I kept hearing in my head,” Thaddeus whispered and looked at Maggart. “I started hearing it before I got stuck by the Bitter Burr. It was you from the very beginning of the school year, wasn’t it? Egging on every bad feeling I had. Did you put the Bitter Burr in my backpack too?”

  Maggart sneered. “I wish I had access to a Bitter Burr or twelve. That was a lucky accident, which helped my influence get in even deeper.”

  “It could have fallen into your pack in the Lost Forest,” Dulindir said. “We passed through many areas where they might have grown during our time there.”

  Thaddeus got to his feet and moved back from Maggart. “I hope you find the real Andy Harkin, and he’s still alive.”

  “What’s the point of even looking for him?” Maggart said. “The kid’s probably dead anyway. Leave him there all tombed up.”

  “We fed him,” Azzo said without looking at Maggart. “And when I moved here to Superstition, Lucian continued to leave him food and water.”

  “Another young life stolen by the selfish and wicked lot of you,” Miriam said with tears in her eyes. “Where does the suffering end?”

  Fetter moaned and rolled onto his back. Everyone looked at him, and Miriam moved quickly to kneel beside him and take his hand.

  “Hello, Fetter,” she said. “You’re okay. We won’t hurt you, don’t fear.”

  He stared up at her with wide, frightened eyes.

  “It’s all right, you’re very safe. We’re going to bring you home to live with us.” Tears rolled down her cheeks as she continued. “We’re going to make sure you have a warm place to sleep, plenty of food, and lots of love. Would you like that? Would you like to come home with us?”

  “Gah!” Fetter practically shouted, but he continued to look into Miriam’s face, the fear fading from his expression, and he didn’t pull his hand away.

  “He’s not running away from you, at least,” Thaddeus’s father said. “That’s a start.”

  An owl hooted from the depths of the Tangle behind him, attracting Thaddeus’s attention. He searched the trees but was unable to see it, and he started to turn back when he caught sight of Lucian’s body in the pond.

  “What do we do about Lucian?” Thaddeus asked.

  His father put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “We’ll bury him here in the clearing.”

  “What’s inside that clump of plants over there where Fetter went to hide?” Teofil asked. “Maybe the dirt is softer in there?”

  Rudyard ambled in that direction. Fetter saw where he intended to go and jumped to his feet. “Gah bah!”

  “It’s okay, it’s okay,” Astrid said as she made shushing sounds. “He’s only looking.”

  “Well, I’ll be root bound,” Rudyard exclaimed after he stuck his head into the thicket. “It’s a cabin.”

  “Really?” Astrid trotted over, and Thaddeus and Teofil followed. Dulindir, his parents, and Vivienne stayed behind to guard the prisoners.

  Thaddeus looked between the vines and leaves of the plants and saw that Rudyard was right. What he had first thought was a large cluster of greenery was really a one-room cabin fashioned out of logs and completely covered by vining plants with large blooms. The flowers had closed up for the night, but Thaddeus could see a wide variety of species. He ducked his head and peered inside through the short doorway. The small space—with its narrow bed covered in patchwork quilts, as well as the low table and single chair situated in front of the stone fireplace—sent a cold, lonely shiver through him. How awful that Fetter had grown up—and grown old before his time—in this solitary place, while Isadora, disguised as him, shunned all the love the Rhododendrons had to offer. The unjustness of it all made him sad and angry. As he started to turn away, he stopped and stared. His bicycle stood leaning against the wall.

  “That’s my bike!” he said. “How’d it get here?”


  He wheeled it out of the cabin—stooping low to get through the door again—and found Fetter standing and watching them all inspect his home. His wide eyes looked sad within his prematurely wrinkled face, and when he saw Thaddeus with the bike, he grabbed hold of the handlebars and shook his head.

  “No gah bah!” Fetter shouted.

  Maggart let out a loud laugh that stopped abruptly when Dulindir took two threatening steps toward him.

  “You stole my bike,” Thaddeus said as he glared at Maggart over the top of Fetter’s head.

  “You were so easy to manipulate,” Maggart said and let out a dramatic, wistful sigh. “I smeared shit all over it too. And you thought it was Dixon and his buddies. Ha!”

  Thaddeus sneered and shook his head, then looked at Fetter. “This is my bike. He stole it.”

  Fetter’s expression tightened, and he gave the bike a strong tug. “Mah gah bah.”

  “But, it’s mine,” Thaddeus said. “I need it.”

  Miriam approached. “Fetter, my love. Can you come show me around your home?” She smiled and reached out her hand, but Thaddeus saw tears in her eyes. He felt bad and selfish and didn’t know what to do. Miriam had just discovered the child she only recently knew had been missing, and here Thaddeus stood arguing with that child over his stupid bicycle.

  Before Thaddeus could decide on a course of action, Fetter released the bike and took Miriam’s hand. He ignored Thaddeus as she led him toward the cabin, talking to him in a soft voice, “Lucian may be gone, but you will come home with us. Do you understand? Would you like to leave this place at last?”

  “Bye-bye?” Fetter asked, stopping outside the door and cocking his head as he looked at her.

  Miriam smiled and nodded. “Yes, that’s right! Bye-bye.”

  Fetter’s expression turned sad. He pulled his hand from hers and, with his chin on his chest, moved through their group to enter his cabin. He sat at the table, folded his hands before him, and sighed.

  “He thinks we’re leaving him here,” Astrid said. “How do we tell him he’s going with you?”