Swans and Silence

by Holly Hook

  I held up my hand and nodded, looking stupid.

  "I got it!" Mica said, ripping a few more starwort blossoms from the ground. "Ignacia. I like that name. Almost reminds me of--"

  "Mica."

  I jumped. He stood.

  A woman in a shimmering orange dress, one the color of the setting sun, approached us with a stiff walk and a scowl. Her hair was tied with a golden thread that spilled down over her shoulder. I hadn't seen her before, but she had the same dark hair as Mica and she appeared about twenty years older.

  "What are you doing out here?" she asked. "We are supposed to be meeting with Mary about the missing book. I fear you're not fit for your station, Mica."

  "Mother," he said, rising. The look on his face reminded me of my brothers when I had to order them around. "I am the King of the Sun Kingdom now. I am working on getting the book back as we speak. Do you think I don't know the gravity of this situation?"

  I sucked in a breath.

  Mica--the King?

  The last Father had said, an older man named Duncan was the king of the Sun Kingdom. He must have died and Mica had taken his place--and it must have happened while I was holed in the cabin with my brothers. Mica was only about my age and he had the responsibility of an entire kingdom on his shoulders. I couldn't imagine.

  "I was Queen for nineteen years," Mica's mother said. She stepped between me and him and shot me a little glare. "I still should be. Why are you speaking to this peasant girl? You know that darkness is spreading across this land."

  "You are no longer Queen," Mica said, trying to get between her and me. I was glad. "This girl may be the answer to getting another one."

  This girl. I hated the way he said that. My hope that he really fancied me withered like the flowers in the sack should be.

  I grabbed the ball of yarn, which had rolled into another clump of grass, and held it close to me. Mica's mother leaned to look around him at me and I couldn't help but shrink back. She was sizing me up. "She is a mute girl with a ball of yarn," she said at last. "How is she going to help us?"

  Mica stepped closer to his mother. "You were once a peasant yourself," he told her. "I'm not going to discuss this with you now. Just remember who is King now, Mother."

  The woman stood there for a moment with a look of disbelief.

  Then she turned and stalked away.

  Mica watched her go and extended his hand to me. "I'm sorry about that," he said. "My mother and I have never gotten along. You can't imagine what that's like."

  I could. Oh, I could.

  I took Mica's hand. It was warm and tingling, almost like the yarn was. I wondered if Mica was full of magic, like Rae, and what went on in his life behind closed doors. Mica's eyes were serious, mature beyond his years.

  They were also hurt and filled with burden.

  I gathered the sack with my free hand, but Mica shook his head and took it instead. And together, we walked back to the village.

  Chapter Six

  When I woke the next morning, the village seemed empty.

  I sat up out of the bed of the abandoned house that Mica had showed me the evening before. At first, I thought I might be in the cabin or even that little village in the other world, but I saw the flowers scattered all over the wooden floor of the hut and the beginnings of a shirt collar woven from blossoms and stems at the foot of my bed. I struggled to remember. I had stayed up late, working on the first shirt last night, and had spent hours making only the collar. It had been hard work, work I wasn't able to tell Mica that I still needed to do.

  Making one entire shirt would take days unless I learned quickly.

  And meanwhile, my brothers were still swans and trapped far from home.

  I got up, changed into a black dress with an apron that one of the village women had donated, and got on the floor to do more work. My hands were covered in blisters. Mica had brought me cloth bandages to wrap around my palms last night, but he hadn't been able to stay. Mica needed to plan how to get another copy of the book. I was sure he was telling Mary about my yarn and how I could get us into the other world.

  It was that important. She was that important. Mica had mentioned that most of the royals in the lighter region met with her, though not all at once.

  "Only Henry and I are here right now," he'd told me. "If all the royals met in once place at once, Alric would have an easy target. We need to keep them separated. But that's easy with the Fox Kingdom. The Queen there is a little angry at Mary right now for not liking her spoiled son."

  I flexed my fingers. They hurt. They had never hurt like this before. But I thought of my brothers and Isiah's tears and what might happen if I didn't finish this in time. I was the only hope.

  I went to work.

  That was all there was now.

  Some chickens clucked outside, but no one walked past the closed door of my little hut. It felt too quiet. No servants walked around, cleaning up. Of course. Villages didn't have servants. Everyone did their own work.

  The collar got larger. It was difficult--very difficult--to tie the stems of the flowers together and keep them woven. I had never weaved anything before, but I had figured out that doing a grid pattern helped keep them together. I wasn't sure how these shirts were going to hold when it came time to let the boys wear them. This collar looked more like collection of flowering vines. Or a circlet made of blossoms.

  I tied the next blossom on the collar.

  And then the entire thing fell apart in my hands, falling to the floor in a flower heap.

  I sat there for a moment, staring at the mess. The completely unraveled mess.

  Biting in a scream, I picked up the worthless heap of flowers and threw them.

  White blossoms fell everywhere, landing on the bed, on the floor, over by the iron stove. They remained as green and white as if I had picked them minutes ago, not yesterday. I got up and stormed out of the house. I couldn't take this. I couldn't do this. My brothers would remain swans forever unless I developed some magical weaving abilities.

  Or if I slowed down so much that this took years.

  And with Annie out there, I didn't have years.

  The village was empty. No one was out feeding the chickens or working in the surrounding fields. I caught a glimpse of something strange in the forest as I walked around the periphery, trying to calm down and think.

  Darkness.

  It was so much like the dark spot that overtook my castle that I stopped.

  Most of the forest was green and pleasant, but there was a small section on the edge of it--a section about as wide as a river--that had gone black and gray and dark green. Bernice had told me once that dark spots formed when powerful dark beings stood in one place for too long. Beings like Alric or even Annie. They got worse when such beings were close by. I remembered how the one at home had spread when Annie and Father were exchanging their marriage vows.

  This dark spot hadn't been visible from the village yesterday. It was close to where I had been kneeling the day before, picking the stubborn flowers which refused to work for me. This must be the one Mica had spoken of. It had grown.

  The things that lived in dark spots weren't pleasant.

  I had to find where everyone was meeting. I checked Mary's house, but no one was there. Books were still on the floor and the table still sat over the trapdoor. Mary hadn't wanted anyone to get back in through that way. I had the feeling any dark beings like Alric wouldn't mind some tunnels.

  I heard voices from a horse stable. I peeked in through the crack between the doors and the building. Everyone was sitting cross-legged on straw and gathered in a rough oval. The whole village seemed to be here. Mica and Henry sat near each other and his mother hovered over him as if she was trying to make sure a king behaved. Mica's sword lay over his lap as if he were scared Alric would come in any moment. Mary sat close to him, shifting like her back was uncomfortable. The old woman looked as if she had aged ten more years since yesterday. Rae sat on the other side of Henry and
I even spotted an elf sitting behind Mary as if he, too, were guarding her. Another girl around my age stood next to him as if she were afraid to sit. The younger people seemed to be Mary's favorite crowd, or at least the one she was closest to. I wondered if they looked up to her like a grandmother.

  The grumpy old man sat there too, complete with his pitchfork, and several other townspeople were gathered around. There were no children. I was right that they must have been sent away.

  And Macon.

  He stood closest to the doors and he looked very annoyed. He rolled his eyes again and leaned back on the straw. He didn’t have his bow with him. I wondered if Mary had taken it away from him. She seemed to be the leader of this village and just as important as the royalty here.

  I hadn't been invited to this meeting. I was the only one.

  “The yarn,” Henry said. “Where do you think it came from?”

  Mary spoke. “I know there was magical yarn somewhere in Grimm’s Fairy Tales. It must be part of a story. I cannot remember which one. It must have been one of the more obscure stories. There are two hundred in that volume alone and my memory isn’t as good as it used to be.”

  Henry continued. “Do you think the new girl is part of a story?”

  “I don’t know,” Mary said. “She may be. Or maybe she’s not. She is in plain clothes from the other world, but she claims she’s from Fable. It is hard to question her when she can’t speak.”

  This meeting was about me.

  And maybe, what danger I brought.

  “She clearly knows how to get between worlds,” the old man said.

  “Here’s the thing,” Macon said. “None of us is able to find a way into the other world. This girl could, if she wanted. All she would have to do is ask that yarn of hers. And if she’s working for Alric, he could use her to find us. He might have already met that goal now that she's here."

  My stomach lurched.

  “Macon—“ Mary started.

  But he wouldn’t give her a chance to speak.

  “She led Henry and Mica right out in front of me where she knew I was stationed, ready to shoot,” he said. “Alric would love it if Henry would have died. It would make Rae’s and his story fall and darkness would go back over the Stone Kingdom.”

  I bristled. Macon was against me. Anything to take the blame off himself, I supposed. But this could be bad for me and my brothers.

  “Macon!” Mary shouted. “You are assuming too much. An artifact like hers is likely filled with light magic and not from the dark region.”

  “She stole it, then,” Macon said.

  “The huntsman is making some sense,” said the old man. “You know any newcomer to the village could be bad news. I’ve been saying this for years. Those portals always seem to dump them right around here.”

  Mica stood up, which shut down Macon and the old man instantly. “This new girl is clearly in trouble,” he said. “She wouldn’t have been picking all those flowers if something wasn’t wrong. We need to give her a chance. She’s not someone I would expect to be working for Alric, especially if something’s at stake. I know a burden when I see one.”

  Behind him, his mother turned away and let her face drop to her hands. It was clear she wasn’t on my side, either.

  I could only watch in horror. These people were deciding my fate.

  “She’s trying to weave something,” Mica continued. “It looks like she’s trying to make clothing out of those flowers. I think she used the yarn to find that patch of flowers, not us. If we could find that book again, or another copy, we might be able to tell which story she’s from, if she is from a story.” He turned to Mary. “Are you sure you don’t remember which one she’s from?”

  Mary shook her head. “I’ve read them all, but I’ve spent my focus on the more important ones.”

  Mica took a step towards her, but she still didn’t stand. “Every story in that volume is important, and I have the feeling she is a part of one.”

  Macon continued to glare. What was his problem? Even some of the villagers shifted. The seeds of suspicion were planted.

  I ran back to the cottage I’d been staying in, stepped over the fallen flowers, and grabbed the yarn off the nightstand where I had left it the night before. I had to get back to the meeting. If I went in there, waved this, and used it to warn them about the dark spot, I might win some points. I needed them. Letting this fester would be a disaster.

  But when I exited the cottage, I stopped.

  The dark spot was worse now. Much worse.

  On the edge of the village worse.

  A huge river of darkness had made it up to the village’s edge, right next to the dirt road that led into the forest. The grass it had crossed was blackening and dying and the ground cracking. The darkness was still growing, moving a good foot per second and spreading like a dark bloodstain from the world had torn open and was bleeding. It was angled towards the meeting as if seeking out the people within.

  My heart raced. I stood there for a second, then broke into a run.

  I ran back to the stable as fast as I could, almost tripping over a chicken.

  Not wasting time, I shoved the doors open and everyone stopped.

  And stared at me. Even Macon stopped talking. Now what?

  I pointed outside and frowned. Macon glared at me but I ignored him. Then I held up my yarn and pointed in the opposite direction. We need to move, I was trying to say.

  “Is there danger?” Mica asked, getting up and running over to join me.

  I nodded.

  He unsheathed his sword and I motioned for him to follow.

  Everyone poured out of the stable behind us. I ignored another glare from Macon and I led Mica back through the village square.

  Mica stopped and held out his arm to keep me from going further.

  "Oh, no," he said.

  The grass around a couple of houses had turned almost black, like burnt plant life, and the flowers growing between them had turned the color of the night sky. Even as we watched, the dark spot grew, flowing over the grass and towards us. Ten feet away. Five.

  Mica put his hand on my back. "We have to get everyone out of here. Alric might be close."

  We ran back to the stable. Thankfully, Mica could talk now.

  "Everyone out," he ordered. "The dark spot's coming. We need to evacuate the village. Alric or another dark being is nearby and willing this to happen. Or a story could be falling."

  I realized what was happening too late.

  The old man and Macon turned their glares on me again and I shrunk back. I'd come here yesterday. Now the dark spot was growing. It was obvious who was responsible to them.

  Mica took my arm. "Go and get your flowers," he said. "Then you need to show us the way to the other world. Meet me here."

  He let go and I broke into a run. I'd left the door to my cottage open and I gathered armloads of the flowers, stuffing them into the bag. Once I'd gathered most of them, I tucked the yarn under my armpit and dragged the bag back to the stable. Mica was waiting there and everyone else was running around between houses. Ladies in black dresses carried baskets full of clothing. Mary stood between the elf and the girl who'd been sitting next to him. They were supporting her under both arms. The woman was exhausted and might not have slept all night. She wasn't the energetic woman I had met yesterday.

  "I'm not sure I'm ready for a run," Mary said. "But I am ready to see my old world again."

  "You will," the elf told her. "And it won't be through Alric's mirror."

  The yarn grew warm under my armpit and I wanted to say something, anything. Mica appeared at my side and the women in black gathered around. The dark spot was leaking between another couple of houses now, trying to reach for us.

  "Everyone!" Mary shouted. She had a voice for an old woman. "This girl will show us how to escape."

  I was shocked at how organized everyone was, as if they had rehearsed the escape. No one spoke or screamed. The women were all calm, holdin
g baskets of supplies. The men did the same, holding farm tools and leather packs. I stood before two dozen people who were ready to go.

  The elf whispered something to the girl he was with and more people gathered around. Macon kept his distance, though I had the feeling that was more because of Mica than me. Mica's punch hadn't even left a mark. I was disappointed. The king had hit him pretty hard.

  Darkness spread towards us. The ground under my feet turned dry and very cracked as if it had never rained here since the beginning of the world. A sense of dread hit me in the stomach and Mica shuddered next to me. I felt less weak seeing him have the same reaction. I'd felt this before when my brothers and I stood next to the dark spot back home.

  He grimaced at me. "It's here," he said.

  And then I heard the distant sound of cawing.

  Lots of it.

  Mica reached out and took my arm. "Ravens," he said. "Alric's ravens. If they find us they will peck us apart. Show us safety. Now."

  Next to us, the glass shattered in one of the windows as ruin spread around us. The ground cracked more with an eerie groan. The ravens remained distant, but I had no doubt they were coming this way. I held up the yarn, which glowed in defiance of the darkness.

  Macon cleared his throat. "Actually, we can hide in the tunnels."

  "Shut up," Mica told him. "They can get into those or leave us trapped. Ravens are smart." Then he turned back to me while the women all muttered amongst themsevles. Some of the men had joined in, too. Everyone was scared and panic was coming if I didn't do something.

  Show us how to hide, I thought, holding up the yarn.

  It obeyed, unraveling and shooting towards the forest so fast I could barely follow it. It kept moving while everyone watched.

  The cawing got louder but no flock had appeared over the trees yet. I waved everyone forward and we all broke into a run. The yarn was leading us right into thickened trees which were darker and scarier than they were before. That was great. It was making me look really good.

  Mica ran beside me. Macon trailed behind us and I could almost feel his breath on the back of my neck. We cleared the village and the houses which were cracking and growing old. The darkness had spread out as well as forward. The entire field stretched out, with yellow grass and cracked earth.