“We remember you, Donna Underwood. Don’t you remember us?” The creature’s voice was gentle and deadly at the same time, the strange leafy tones as expressive as the most human of voices.
Donna lifted her chin. “Yes, I remember some of you. But I don’t recall you … ”
“Ah, you were but a young sapling. Please, let us make introductions, as is proper. I am the Wood Queen—ruler of the Elflands, of all that is left of our territory—and these are my kin, the wood elves. I have many names, though some have called me Aliette.”
“Aliette? Isn’t that French?” Donna tried to fit the name to the strange woman before them.
The Wood Queen—Aliette—watched her with expressionless eyes. “That is the closest you will get to my name in your limited language. It serves well enough.”
“I wish I could say I was pleased to meet you,” Donna muttered. She was terrified, yet there was something so surreal about the whole setting that she could almost believe it was happening to somebody else. Or maybe it was just another dream.
Xan glanced at her, a question on his lips, but he was forced to turn his attention back to the Wood Queen when she spoke directly to him.
“Your name is unknown to us, half-fey creature, but you do not belong here.”
“That’s not what some of your kin thought when they tried to kill me in the Elflands.” Xan’s voice shook, but not with fear. His barely withheld fury made him seem more powerful and older than he was.
“Did they?” asked the queen, almost nonchalantly. “That may be so, but the past is the past.”
Xan stepped forward, his head raised. “How dare you disregard me. I will not be brushed aside so easily, your majesty. I demand reparations for what I lost.”
Aliette’s slitted eyes grew even more narrow. If she’d possessed lips, Donna suspected they would be curled into an expression of scorn right about now. “You are in no position to demand anything, halfling.”
Although Donna had been trying to follow the conversation, Xan had kind of lost her at “reparations.” And she’d been under the impression that his reason for being here was to help her to find Navin. And Maker. She pulled him around to face her, ignoring his resistance while brazenly turning her back on the queen. “What are you doing?” she whispered.
Xan was flushed and breathing heavily. “I’m sorry. When I saw her just … sitting there. And those things around her.” Xan licked his lips and looked at the ground. “I lost it for a second.”
She touched his face—a fleeting gesture that she could only hope transmitted her empathy. “It’s okay, Xan.”
The queen’s voice rang out, making Donna’s heart pound suddenly as she spun to face the throne again. “We are wasting time with your trivial nonsense, and I’m sure you don’t want to do that—not when there is so much at stake.” Her mouth curved up at the corners, a mocking reflection of a human smile. “I’d like to know why you invaded my lands, such as we have left.” Aliette shifted on her throne, leaves and vines rustling around her as if blown by an icy wind. She focused her black gaze on Donna. “What do you have to say to me, Donna Underwood of the alchemists? You, whom we now call Iron Witch.”
Iron Witch? What was this thing talking about? Donna’s eyes widened and she clenched her fists. The name must surely refer to her tattoos, but how would Aliette even know about that? Yet there was no time to reflect on the strange name—almost a title—that the queen had given her. She did her best to stand still, ignoring the wood elves circling the clearing. She and Xan were as good as trapped here—if they ran for it, she didn’t know if they could escape. So what did she have to lose by pursuing her reasons for coming in the first place? Donna was grateful for the light pressure of Xan’s arm across her back, his warm hand around her shoulder.
She looked directly at the Wood Queen. “I don’t know what that means,” she said formally. “I just want to know what you’ve done with my friend, Navin Sharma. And the alchemist, Maker.”
There was crackling laughter from the queen, followed by a slow, sly smile. “The boy is safe with us, and will remain so until you bring me what I need.”
“And what’s that?”
“Why, the secret of eternal life, my dear. What else is there?”
Donna took a step back. “What? Don’t you live long enough already? You’re practically immortal.” She knew what the queen was talking about, but she wasn’t about to show it.
“You know that isn’t true, girl. We live long, but not as long as we used to. The elves sicken and die, thanks to the spreading disease of the iron world. We will become nothing more than wraiths if I do not find a new way to survive.” She fixed Donna with her empty eyes. “All we have ever desired was to live our lives independent of the tithe, free of the rules of our fey cousins.”
Donna snorted. “Isn’t that what you’ve achieved?”
The queen’s voice was quieter than before. “The price has been … higher than anticipated.”
“Be careful what you wish for, your majesty.” Donna couldn’t help herself. This creature, who held her best friend prisoner, dared to complain about the consequences of the choices she’d made.
Xan stepped forward before Aliette could reply. “We just want to take our people and go. That’s all.”
Donna felt comprehension dawn, followed quickly by more confusion. “I can see why you’d take Maker as a hostage; he’s a powerful enemy and could give you leverage with the alchemists. But Navin … he only means something to me.”
“As indeed, Donna Underwood, you mean something to us,” replied the queen.
Donna’s stomach clenched. She stayed silent and tried to stop her knees from shaking as the queen’s words echoed softly in the forest air.
Aliette ran thin brown fingers along the lichen-covered arms of her throne. “There is so much you do not know, daughter of the alchemists. You might do well to ask your archmaster what you were doing in the Ironwood a decade ago.”
“What are you talking about?” Donna couldn’t stop herself. “Quentin and the Order were rescuing me from your people.”
The queen looked … bored, if it were possible for her face to register such an emotion. “And why, exactly, would we steal you from your bed, foolish child? How could we achieve such a thing in the iron world, when you were protected so well?”
Donna’s face drained of color; she could feel the flesh of her cheeks stretch tight and her head was suddenly too light. A faint buzzing in her ears made her wonder if she might faint. She didn’t understand what this creature was saying.
And then Xan’s arm was around her again, supporting her and sharing his warmth. “Don’t listen to her, Donna. She’s just trying to confuse you.”
“Believe what you will,” Aliette said. “It is of no consequence to me.”
“You’re not making sense, your majesty, so how can I believe anything you say?” She was pleased that her voice was steady.
The queen shrugged, dislodging some of the leaves from her shoulders. “What matters is that we have what you want, and you have access to what we want. I propose … a deal. An exchange of resources.”
Donna shook her head with a growing sense of panic. “I don’t have ‘access’ to anything!” It was crazy for this creature to think that she—a teenage girl, not yet a full Initiate—would have access to the most precious secret of the alchemists.
The Wood Queen’s face contorted into another smile, the cracked bark of her cheeks splitting further. “You will deliver the elixir of life to me. The secret of eternal life abides within those few precious drops hidden among the Order’s ranks, and we are dying. Even now the wood elves sicken; I can only provide them with as much power as I have, and the iron world takes its toll even on me.” Her face grew sly. “I know the alchemists have it—they are ever working to replicate it. Bring me the vial of elixir and I will let your friend go free.”
Donna could taste sharp metal in her mouth and realized that she had bitten her tongue
. Her mind raced through what this meant, but it was difficult to think straight while the elves around them whispered and muttered, swayed and circled. A rumor had been making the rounds, among the alchemists of all four Orders, that the Order of the Dragon still possessed some of the elixir. Yet even if this was true, Donna had never been entirely convinced about the so-called power of the elixir. She’d seen a lot of strange things in seventeen years, but believing there was something that could convey immortality and heal mortal wounds was quite a stretch. And despite the rumors, she’d never seen any evidence that people like Quentin Frost or Maker were protecting the elixir of life.
But now it seemed that she’d been naïve, and her best friend could be paying the price. The Wood Queen was waiting for her answer. She licked her lips and tried to keep her expression neutral, thinking of the dark elf who’d attacked her and Xan on Ironbridge Common, and the one in Maker’s workshop. Not to mention her near certainty that something had been watching them when she and Navin left Xan’s party. The elves had been following her—tracking her, staking out the places she went to and the people she knew. People she loved, like Navin. And that made them vulnerable. This is what happened to people who were crazy enough to care about her.
Donna raised her eyes and gritted her teeth. Enough. That was enough self-pity. She fixed the Wood Queen with a hard stare. “How do I know you’ll honor any kind of bargain between us?”
“You don’t know, of course. But I will tell you that a deal made in the Elflands is binding. Bound by oak and ash, it is unbreakable as the earth’s core.”
Donna narrowed her eyes. “I want to see Navin. Bring him to me.”
The queen stood, raising herself slowly from the wooden throne and lifting her leafy skirts aside with a low crackling sound so that she could step down from the dais. Her oak-hued skin seemed to shift and fold into new forms as she settled herself a short distance from Donna and Xan, looking down on both of them from her impressive height. She was as tall and straight as a proud tree, unbowed by time and the elements despite her claims that the iron world was weakening her.
As she bent toward Donna, her voice hissed like an angry wind through a forest. “I will show him to you, as a gesture of good faith. But know this, Donna Underwood—you will bring me the elixir or you will never see your friend again.”
Gripping her hands into tight fists against the pain in her bones and heart, Donna said nothing. Her whole body seemed to be shaking; no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop it. Once again, Xan’s arm tightened around her shoulders. He was amazingly calm—or at least he appeared to be on the outside—and she was grateful for that. She could only guess at the pain he must feel, but perhaps his earlier outburst was helping him cope under what must be unimaginably difficult circumstances for him.
The queen whispered a command to a nearby wood elf, and it disappeared through the trees at the far side of the clearing. Donna stepped out of the circle of Xan’s arm and looked around, trying to make sense of this place. She cast a sidelong glance at the queen, who was standing statue-still. For a moment it seemed as if she were made out of stone rather than wood.
At the sound of footsteps rustling through the undergrowth, Donna moved forward, reminding herself to keep calm. The thought of seeing Navin again swept all else aside, filling her with hope and trepidation in equal measure. Please, just let him be all right. The urge to run toward him was overwhelming.
And then there he was, led between two wood elves and looking all in one piece, apart from a slight limp and a nasty bump on the right side of his head. Even from a distance she could see the dark shadows beneath his eyes, and her heart reached out to him. His arms were tied behind his back with some kind of complicated vine. Hot fury rose in her gut and she tasted the furious urge to smash the creatures holding him.
“Navin!” She couldn’t keep herself from calling out. Xan placed a cautionary hand on her shoulder, but she shook him off.
“Donna?” There was uncertainty in Navin’s voice, which was not surprising. These creatures were shape-changers and in their natural element here, with far more power than they had in the iron world. Who knows what Navin must be thinking right now?
And then Donna had to face the possibility that this wasn’t even the real Navin standing in front of her, his jeans ripped and his hair messy. No, she thought. She couldn’t let doubt undermine her—she wouldn’t allow it. This was her friend. It had to be.
“Navin, I’m going to get you out of here.” Her voice trembled, but she tried to smile at him.
A ghost of a smile lifted his lips. “Oh yeah, Underwood? You and whose army?” His eyes fell on Xan, and he frowned.
“You remember Xan, right? He’s going to help us, Nav.”
Navin nodded slowly, looking from Donna to Xan and then back again. His smile seemed sad all of a sudden, the kind you use when you’re saying goodbye. “I don’t think they’re going to let me go, no matter what you do. Maker’s here, too. I’ve only seen him a couple times though.”
Donna hated to hear him sounding so resigned, but her heart lifted at the news of Maker. She tried her best to sound reassuring. “Just hang in there. I’ll get you home, I promise.”
The Wood Queen stepped in front of her, blocking her view. “Now you know he is safe and will remain so, as long as you bring me what we need.” She clasped her twiggy fingers in front of her. “Leave our home, now, by the way you entered. Do not bother to return without the elixir. Speak to anyone about this and your friend will die. The old man might not be so lucky.” The threat hung in the air, poisonous, suggestive of something worse than death.
Donna swallowed, trying to speak but not sure what there was left to say. She wondered if the queen would know if she went to the Order for help. But no doubt the wood elves would be watching her—they could move like shadows when they wanted to. She knew that already.
Aliette spoke again. “You have until dawn.”
Dawn? Panic gripped her and she found it difficult to draw her next breath. It must be mid-afternoon already, which only left her perhaps twelve hours to achieve the impossible.
“That’s not enough time.” She tried not to sound as pathetic as she felt. She took a step forward, putting more strength into her next words. “I can never get it in time—that’s crazy!”
The Wood Queen didn’t respond. She simply turned away and headed toward the far side of the clearing. The surrounding wood elves moved forward, clicking and scraping in the backs of their knobbly throats and looking as if they were going to herd Donna and Xan out of the clearing. Donna wondered if any of them could speak, like their queen did. She glanced at Navin, despair welling up within her as he was led away by his guards. He twisted his head around for one last look at her; their eyes met and held.
In that moment, Donna tried to communicate everything she was thinking and feeling. A single glance really could say a thousand things, and she hoped she was transmitting even a tiny percentage to her friend.
Xan grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the tunnel. “Come on, Donna, we’d better get out of here.”
“I can’t leave him. I just can’t.”
He pulled her closer to him. “You’ll be back for him. You promised.”
“I did, didn’t I?” Donna sniffed, surprised to feel warm tears filling her eyes. “I never break a promise.” But even as she said it, she wondered how she could possibly keep this one. Twelve hours to discover the place where the alchemists kept the elixir. What she was facing was impossible and unfair, but that didn’t make it any less true.
They walked back along the shadowy path, back through the open door, and out into the tiny clearing. Back through the undergrowth, where there was a sticky moment when Xan wasn’t sure if they were headed in the right direction, and finally back onto the main Ironwood pathway.
Donna’s hands ached less the farther they got from the faery door, but her heart ached more with each step that took her away from Navin. She turned her m
ind to the new dilemma: how was she going to find something she wasn’t even entirely sure existed? And even if she did manage to get it, was she really just going to hand it over to the alchemist’s enemies? No, she told herself, don’t think about that yet. One step at a time.
She would find a way into Quentin Frost’s house and uncover the secrets hidden inside—even if it meant breaking in tonight while he and Simon and the rest of the household were sleeping.
Donna fiddled with the delicate silver charm bracelet around her wrist and tried not to think about her mother. She’d almost left the bracelet, in its little pouch, hidden among her underwear in the bottom drawer of her dresser, but something made her grab it at the last minute. Mom had wanted her to have this bracelet, and maybe it would bring her luck tonight. Xan would be here to pick her up soon, and she would have to get out of the house to meet him without Aunt Paige knowing about it.
She could use all the luck she could get.
Fortunately, Donna had an idea of where to start this impossible search, and it was the best she had to go on. The only thing she had to go on. Her “research” had been a simple matter of cross-referencing all mentions of clocks and time with the elixir of life, and she’d been pleasantly surprised at the number of results. She hadn’t even needed to Google it; her own school books covered the subject. Apparently, European alchemical recipes often called for the elixir to be stored inside a clock, a symbolic gesture that represented the elixir’s legendary ability to slow the effects of time on whomever dared to use it. One particular clock stood out in Donna’s mind as she scanned these stories. While she didn’t expect things to be quite so easy, at least it gave her a place to start.
Grabbing her coat from the closet, Donna shrugged into its thick warmth, grateful for its length on this cold November night. The dark gray color seemed well suited to covert operations, and she pulled a black wool hat down over her hair for good measure.
The Iron Witch Page 15
