Violet Wings

by Victoria Hanley

  "Oberon's Crown," he shouted. "What is that?"

  Troll magic. I wondered what it felt like to Seth.

  Gritting his teeth, he thrust his hands back into the cart. Swearing upon trolls, pixies, and gremlins, he worked to push back the hood.

  "Thank you," I mouthed, still unable to speak above a whisper.

  He reached for the button at my throat and wrestled with it. Before it could open, his face contorted in pain, and his arms jerked out of the cart. He slipped to the ground and in his place a gnome appeared, shaking his club. It was Lily's lead gnome, the one with the cleft chin.

  The blue-faced fairy darted in to attack him. He swung his club against her wings as if she were a giant moth. She wailed and reeled away. A genie zoomed downward, only to take a blow to the shins. He soared off, roaring.

  Gnomes harming fairies and genies? Trying to inflict injury! How could this be true? How could it possibly be happening?

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  But now all the gnomes had clubs in their hands, crunching and smashing any who dared to come close.

  Then above the sobbing moans and furious shouts, an amplified voice rang out: "The Radia Guard has arrived! Disperse or face the wrath of the High Council... ."

  Staring up, I saw a tight group of fairies and genies approaching from the west, all wearing golden robes.

  Radia Guard.

  I heard the hum of wing-beats and the rush of flying genies as the rabble who wanted my freedom tore away.

  The cart lurched forward again, and though I tried to see what had become of Seth, grim-faced gnomes surrounded me, blocking my view.

  Battered by the jolting cart and tired beyond exhaustion, I slipped into a dark sleep.

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  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  FEYLAND IS OSTENSIBLY RULED BY KING OBERON AND QUEEN VELLERON (SOMETIMES CALLED MAB). HOWEVER, THEY HAVE NEVER ENJOYED THE DEMANDS OF GOVERNANCE. THEY LIVE ON ANSHIELD, THE FABLED ISLAND WHERE TIME TAKES NO TOLL UPON THE LIVING.

  FEYLAND IS ACTUALLY GOVERNED BY THE HLGH COUNCIL. THERE ARE TWELVE COUNCILORS--SIX FAIRIES AND SIX GENIES--WHO BEGIN THEIR SERVICE WITH RADIA RESERVES OF GREEN OR ABOVE. THE LEADER OF THE COUNCIL PRESIDES OVER MEETINGS.

  THE NUMBER OF YEARS A COUNCILOR MAY SERVE DEPENDS UPON FACTORS TOO MANY TO LIST HERE. SUFFICE IT TO SAY THAT OUTGOING COUNCILORS SELECT THEIR OWN REPLACEMENTS. ONCE KLNG OBERON AND QUEEN VELLERON HAVE PUT THEIR SEAL UPON THE CHOICE, THE NEW COUNCILOR IS OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZED.

  --Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

  Hours later I woke to find myself propped against the bars of a brass cage. A gnome stood guard just outside the

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  bars. Laz's infernal cloak still was securely fastened, but the hood had been allowed to fall back from my head. Clutching my useless wand, I focused on keeping perfectly still.

  Two wingspans away in another cage stood Leona. Her silver wings were bound with thick rope; they hung limp and dull, the burn from Jason's laser gun standing out starkly. Her hair fell loose down her back, tangled and lackluster.

  I tried to catch her eye but she gazed fixedly out across a cavernous chamber that echoed with the murmurs of ten thousand fey folk. We must be inside the great hall of the FOOM dome. Gnomes lined the edges of the entire chamber in orderly ranks.

  "Leona," I said, but though I meant to shout, I barely whispered, and she didn't turn my way.

  Across from us, on the dais where our cages stood, was a long granite table. Perched at the table were twelve fairies and genies wearing bracelets set with the rubies of Oberon. Magistria Lodestone presided, her ruby pendant glowing around her neck. On the table in reach of her was a long, narrow iron box wrapped with rusty chains fastened with an old-fashioned titanium padlock.

  Leona s wand.

  I recognized Councilor Zircon, his white hair like a crown of frost. And Wolframite, tweaking his bulbous nose, his orange skin blotchier than ever. I didn't know any of the others.

  Behind the councilors stood a large squad of the Radia

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  Guard in shimmering gold robes, their faces cold, each holding an infused wand. There were perhaps a hundred of them--many more than there had been at our class ceremony to receive our watches and wands. The tall, gold-skinned leader stood apart from the others. His eyes were on me.

  Behind the dais hung a deep blue curtain. I found myself admiring the soft, rich color. How different from the hideous troll magic draped over me!

  Magistria Lodestone touched her throat with her wand. Her amplified voice carried across the sea of murmurs: "This tribunal will begin."

  Silence in the great hall was instantaneous.

  "All spectators, keep to your feet. Neither flying nor hovering will be tolerated."

  A flurry of wings blurred the vast room before everyone settled to the floor. Uneasily, I searched the crowd for familiar faces.

  I looked for Beryl but didn't find her. I noticed Laz standing well back near the far door, his lanky height making him easy to spot. He wore a puzzled frown.

  A blue-haired genie close to the front bobbed and waved. It was Andalonus, the first friendly face in all that mob. Beside him was Meteor, staring at the Council, his white eyebrows drawn together, his striped hair disheveled. He wore the same plain robe upon which the elixir had spilled last night; I could see the stain.

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  As if he could feel my glance, Meteor looked up, and although we were separated by a brass cage, a dais, and several rows of fey folk, for a moment I felt as if he stood beside me.

  Then a cloud of satin sailed across my vision, and the odious smell of lilies wafted past my nose. Lily Morganite stood gloatingly in front of my cage in another elegant gown, her hair now twined with fat rubies.

  She signaled a gnome. Again I recognized the fellow with the deeply cleft chin who had clubbed Seth. He took out a large key, fitting it to the door of my prison. He beckoned me. When I didn't move, he reached in and hauled me out.

  He set me on my feet, but I could no more walk than I could fly. I fell like a sack of sand onto the stone floor.

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  CHAPTER FIFTY

  THE HIGH COUNCIL OF FEYLAND HAS THE POWER TO DECLARE A CRIMINAL WHO IS WITHOUT REMORSE AN OUTCAST. AN OUTCAST IS SHUNNED BY OTHERS, AND HIS OR HER WAND IS CONFISCATED.

  --Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

  Two gnomes stood me up again. They dragged me to a spot closer to the table where the councilors perched. They fastened brass shackles around my ankles and neck, then chained me between two posts bolted to the floor.

  I don't know why they bothered. The cloak made me perfectly helpless.

  Next, they released Leona from her cage and brought her to a round platform in the center of the dais. I thought she would throw me a sympathetic smile as she passed, but she didn't. Her eyes were vacant. She climbed the short steps to the platform and stood quietly facing the Council, her back toward me.

  What had they done to her? What evil enchantments could take away Leona's passion, her courage, her fury?

  Lily touched her own throat and then Leona's with the tip of her wand. "Augnere ros."

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  After that, their voices were amplified. Lily's sickeningly sweet tones reverberated from every wall. "Leona Bloodstone, tell us what happened on Earth yesterday."

  Leona mesmerized everyone in the dome with a tale of how she had followed me to Earth because she was afraid I would hurt a human boy. Apparently, I had a grudge against this poor human because he had slighted me somehow. She spun a story of how I had turned the boy into a toad and set his house on fire. Showing her hand and wing, she claimed I had burned her when she tried to stop me.

  This could not be Leona. Never. I knew her. I knew her faults as well as her good points. She could be touchy and proud, but Leona gave loyalty in full measure. Blaming her closest friend for what she herself had done? She'd rather die.

  I sought my other old friends in the crowd. Andalonus's coppery eyes were glazed, his
lips clamped together, both hands pulling at his ears. Meteor stood with hunched shoulders, chin on his chest, eyes shut.

  "Is there anything else?" Lily Morganite asked Leona.

  Leona apologized for trying to cover up my crimes.

  "Tell me, Leona, until yesterday, did you consider Zaria Tourmaline a friend?"

  "Yes. We were friends."

  "Thank you. Regrettably, I must ask that you be confined a little longer." Lily's tone implied she'd much rather set Leona free.

  Without objection, Leona walked back to her cage and

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  let herself be locked in while the High Council of Feyland-- including Leona's mentor, Magistria Lodestone--sat in judgment.

  On the platform where Leona had given false witness, Boris Bloodstone now stood. I saw only his rigid back, his gray neck, his close-clipped hair.

  Lily's sugary tones saturated the air. "Mr. Bloodstone, did you observe Zaria Tourmaline and Leona Bloodstone from a viewing booth during their ill-advised journey to Earth?"

  "Yes, Councilor," Bloodstone answered.

  "And you can verify Zaria's abuse of magic?"

  "Yes."

  Lily thanked him, while I tried to think of spells I would cast on him if I ever got free. He deserved a gag, at the very least. A long-lasting gag.

  After Bloodstone, Meteor Zircon floated onto the dais. As he came toward the witness platform, he looked at me. All the brightness was gone from his eyes; they looked like dead stones.

  Like the others, Meteor had to turn his back to me to face Lily. All I could see of him was the wrinkled robe stretched across his shoulders, and the stripes of his hair.

  Lily asked if he had been to my dwelling very early that morning.

  "Yes," Meteor answered, his amplified voice hoarse.

  "And what did you find?"

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  "I found ..." Meteor bowed his head.

  "Please continue."

  "I found Zaria's guardian, Beryl Danburite. So I summoned my father, Councilor Zircon."

  "Yes?" Lily pivoted to face Meteor's father. "And?"

  Councilor Zircon rose, touching his throat with his wand. "Beryl Danburite is dead. It appears that she died from the effects of layered magic," he said, glaring sternly at me.

  A horrified gasp rose in the chamber. Lily turned, and I saw the triumphant scorn in her eyes.

  She had won.

  Whatever Lily had held over Beryl since my parents' disappearance must have been dire. It had come between my guardian and me for all the years we had lived in the same house. I had believed Beryl was naturally distant and cold, that she didn't care about me. But it seemed much more likely she had let her fear of Lily Morganite take over her heart, her mind, her life.

  Two days ago, she had been ready to put that fear aside. For me.

  Now she was gone, snuffed like a fey globe that had run out of time. I had sent Meteor to free her, but it had been too late. No amount of study, no quantity of radia, could bring her back. Whatever she had wanted to tell me, Lily would not allow me to know. Beryl was silenced. Ad eternum.

  I stared into an abyss of pain, while memories of Beryl trickled through me like unshed tears.

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  "Thank you, Meteor," Lily said.

  "Wait," Meteor said, his voice strengthening. "It wasn't Zaria who killed Miss Danburite."

  "No one said she did," Lily answered smoothly.

  "And Leona Bloodstone is lying about what happened on Earth," Meteor continued.

  "Indeed?" Lily put on an indulgent smile. She turned to the chamber as if to say, You see how it is? Zaria Tourmaline has enchanted this unfortunate genie.

  She faced Meteor again. "It is understandable you want to shield your friend from the fate that awaits her. But that fate is out of your hands, Meteor Zircon."

  He bounded from the platform toward the councilors and stopped in front of his father. "You promised to perform the spell to reveal layered magic on yourself] Did you keep your promise?"

  Councilor Zircon put up a hand. "We will discuss it when you are calm."

  Lily crooked a finger, and seven gnomes rushed Meteor. I called a warning, but my whispered shriek was lost.

  Meteor shouted. "I call on all Council members--"

  If he'd lifted off the dais before the gnomes reached him, he might have had a chance to draw his wand. But in the first charge, they wrenched his arms behind his back and clapped manacles around his wrists.

  "Brute force," Laz had called it. I knew Meteor would have prepared for this moment by casting a protection spell--but a

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  protection spell would work only against magic. Who among us was prepared for a physical attack within Feyland?

  "You cannot let this happen!" Meteor shouted.

  Behind him, the gnome with the cleft chin raised his iron bat.

  "No!" I cried, a soundless scream no one noticed.

  The bat struck Meteor's shoulder with a dull thwack.

  "Agh!" His cry echoed through the great chamber. He dropped to the floor. Gnomes piled onto his legs and chest.

  "She's enchanted all of you!" Meteor yelled. "Every one of you councilors. Reveal--"

  The gnomes stopped his words with a cloth gag. They fastened more shackles around his ankles and threw him in the cage where I had been. The gnome leader turned the key on him. Meteor lay motionless, gazing at his father, the father who had merely watched as his son was silenced. Not only silenced but hurt. Harmed.

  Harmed in the sight of many. Why didn't the onlookers rise up? But the fairies and genies in the chamber said nothing. They did nothing.

  Lily spoke into the terrifying quiet. "I hold you blameless, Meteor Zircon. When this tribunal is concluded, I myself will free you from the spells that have clouded your judgment."

  Meteor strained against his bonds.

  Lily approached me, gliding with dramatic grace, her wand extended as if to ward off evil. "Zaria Tourmaline, for your crimes you should forfeit any right to speak."

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  Approving murmurs from the crowd.

  "Even so," Lily continued, "King Oberon's law requires that you be heard. Therefore, please tell me what happened on Earth yesterday, and why you injured Leona Bloodstone. I regret that the garment you are wearing will make it impossible to amplify your voice, but I am willing to stand near you and listen."

  So, she knew the cloak would not allow her to use magic on me.

  I put all my strength into my answer, but it was no use---my voice was too weak to be heard by anyone but Lily. "Tell me why a gnome who battered a good genie stands by you with an iron club."

  She paid no attention and went on to her next question. "Who taught you layered magic?"

  As if it were established I had used it.

  How confident she looked, hovering lightly, her elegant skirt swaying like a satin bell, the rubies in her hair tossing red sparkles, her wand like a scepter.

  I looked past her to the crowd. Ten thousand pairs of eyes pierced me. What was I to them? Someone who would enchant and betray her friends. A murderer.

  I saw a bobbing head with hair like blue suds--a genie who caught my eye and sent me a look of encouragement. Andalonus. I feared for him. What would they do to anyone who kept faith with me?

  Painfully, I turned and saw Leona, locked not only in a cage but also in layers of enchantment.

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  And Meteor, also caged.

  I turned back to Lily.

  She tilted her head. "How many unlawful trips have you made to Earth, Zaria Tourmaline?"

  I didn't answer.

  "Why take such heavy vengeance on a human boy? What did he do to slight you?" she asked, her amplified voice echoing from floor to ceiling. "Or do you hate all humans for what they did to your family?"

  That's when all my sorrow converged. Every grief, every searing sadness met in one great wave.

  The shackles around my neck and ankles cracked and fell apart; the pieces dangled
from their chains, and the chains clanked against the posts. The buckle on the cloak popped open. The next instant, the buckle itself was gone, and so was the cloak that had covered me.

  It happened in the blink of an eye. The only thing left of Laz's cloak was a heap of fine dark powder at my feet.

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  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  FEY FOLK ARE NOT ACCUSTOMED TO FIGHTING BATtles USING PHYSICAL WEAPONS. INDEED, MOST FAIRIES, GENIES, AND LEPRECHAUNS ARE UNITED IN THEIR ABHORRENCE FOR ACTS OF PHYSICAL VIOLENCE.

  --Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

  The little stylus in my palm pulsed with power. Strength poured into my hand, up my arms, and across my wings. My first impulse was to fly upward out of reach of the gnomes and their wicked clubs. Getting free of the cloak had also freed me from any last effects of the troll elixir. I soared.

  But a satiny shadow flew with me. "Reducto et eloquent" Lily cried at full voice.

  When her gag spell bounced off the shield that appeared around me, her eyes lit with anger. Then I saw her own spell catch her by the throat.

  The enchantment I had cast the night before had taken hold. Lily's spell had rebounded! Her jaw hung open, and her white wings rippled wildly. She looked purely astonished.

  Then afraid.

  In the moment it took me to get my bearings, Lily

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  Morganite flew at high speed through the blue curtains and disappeared.

  I should have chased her--it would have been my best opportunity to catch her when she couldn't defend herself. But I didn't. I was still stunned by my own power, still grasping the fact that I'd overcome my deathly prison.

  The dais erupted into motion. All the members of the Radia Guard except the gold-skinned leader pelted me with spells.The shield around me got thicker and brighter, and the hum of rebounding spells made the air ring.

  They were falling prey to their own magic. Many hit the floor, soundly sleeping, their robes rumpling around them. Some gripped their throats. Several dropped their wands; one of the wands landed on the magistria's head and clattered on the granite table.