Emily Feather and the Starlit Staircase

by Holly Webb

“I don’t want her to see the baby!” she told Gruff. “She mustn’t. She’s poisonous, can’t you feel it?”

  But Gruff was gazing fixedly at the other door now, his ears pricked up. He pawed the ground with one front foot, and then paced across the room.

  Emily hurried after him. “Has it happened?” she whispered, but he didn’t seem to be listening to her. Emily frowned, trying to hear what the huge dog could hear, and then through the wooden panels came a thin, cross wail, and Emily knew that Wren had been born.

  Emily reached out to the door, desperate to meet her little sister, but then she drew her hand back. She couldn’t just walk in, but something – someone – inside the room was calling her. Yellow-gold feathers fluttered and swooped inside her, and she could almost see them out of the corner of her eye.

  “It’s Wren,” Gruff agreed, lifting a massive paw and scratching firmly at the wooden panels. “She sounds most determined about it. Ah!” He nosed forward curiously as the door swung open, and Emily followed him.

  Her mother was leaning back against a pile of pillows, her red hair streaming down on to the covers and coiling around the baby in her arms. She smiled at Emily, hesitating in the doorway. “Come and see,” she whispered. “Come and see her.”

  The baby wriggled and cooed, and waved a fat hand imperiously at Emily.

  “Climb up here,” Eva murmured, patting the embroidered coverlet next to her.

  Emily looked a little uncertainly at her dad, who was sitting on the edge of the bed. She didn’t want to hurt Eva. But he nodded, and Gruff nudged her forward. The big dog peered at the baby too.

  “I should have known you’d find your way here,” Eva said, smiling at him. “I didn’t think, or I’d have called you myself.”

  Emily climbed up on to the bed. She could feel the baby like a little fire burning, spreading warmth across the whole room. There was so much magic bubbling out of her. Emily leaned over to look into her face, expecting a little blonde child, like a miniature Lark or Lory, or perhaps a china-pale baby with Eva’s red hair. But the baby’s hair was dark, and she stared up at Emily with velvety brown eyes.

  “She looks like you,” Ash said, smiling at Emily.

  Emily frowned. “But she can’t. And shouldn’t her eyes be blue? Oh, I suppose fairy babies aren’t all born with blue eyes.”

  “She can look like you if she wants to,” Eva said fondly. “She knows you, Emily, look.”

  It was true that the baby seemed to be reaching for Emily with her little stubby hands, and Emily leaned close and let the child wind eager fingers into her long dark curls.

  “Don’t pull, little one,” Ash murmured. “Treat your sister gently.”

  The baby seemed to understand, for she stopped grabbing and simply beamed at Emily. She was bigger and far more awake-looking than any human newborn, Emily thought. She already seemed to understand what was happening around her, and who her family were.

  “How long must we stay?” Eva asked Ash tiredly. “I don’t want. . . You know. . .”

  Emily looked up sharply, intercepting the meaningful look between her parents.

  “What is it?” she asked, putting out a protective hand towards the baby. Nothing was going to happen to her little sister. Gruff was pressing closer against the bed too, and the fur had lifted round his neck and all along his spine, making him look more bear-like than ever. Emily could feel the baby’s warm magic. It wrapped around Emily like a young plant, growing and twining in and out of all of her. Emily frowned at her mum and dad. “Is something the matter? Is it something to do with Wren?”

  “How did you. . .?” her father began, as her mother said, “Wren! She’s Wren!”

  “She told me,” Emily agreed. “But what did you mean before? Is something wrong?”

  “Fairy babies are rare, you see,” her father said slowly. “There may be . . . interest . . . in Wren.”

  Emily gasped. She had forgotten! “Lady Anstis! She knows already; she came here. Just before we heard Wren cry. She said she wanted to visit you and meet the child,” she added to Eva. “I don’t think you should let her see Wren, Mum, she’s so creepy.”

  Eva started to sit up, and she lifted the baby gently and held her out to Emily. “You hold her. We have to go. And it isn’t Wren that Anstis wants,” she said to Ash. “It’s Emily she’s really after. I shouldn’t have brought her here. But I wanted her with me. And so did Wren,” she added, smiling at Emily. “She made it very clear that I was to bring you too.”

  Emily gripped Wren tightly – too tightly, in her panic that she might drop the tiny thing. A small pink fist flailed out and smacked her arm, and the baby wriggled crossly. Emily gasped in delight, forgetting to worry about marauding fairy Ladies as the golden-yellow wings fluttered determinedly out of the blankets round her baby sister. They were still tiny – smaller than they had been in Emily’s dream – but it was clear that it wouldn’t be long before they could lift Wren into the air.

  “Don’t fly away just yet,” Emily told her seriously. “We have to get home first. It isn’t safe here.”

  A deep curiosity about home welled up inside her from the baby, and she smiled down at Wren. “You’ll like it,” she promised. “You’ve got other sisters too – and Robin; he’s your brother. He’s funny.”

  Ash helped Eva out of bed and wrapped a velvet cloak around her shoulders. He took another one from a wooden chest under the windows and swathed Emily in it, so that the baby was half-hidden under the soft, heavy folds. Then he led them out into the main room, with Gruff pacing close behind.

  It was then that someone banged on the door, loud enough that Eva gasped and went pale. Ash whisked round, snatching the cloak from Emily and gently pushing her and Eva into the tall wooden chairs, and then went to the door. Emily could see him lifting his chin and drawing back his shoulders as he walked, and his bearing was lord-like as he flung the door open.

  “My lady.” He swept Lady Anstis a bow, and she curtseyed back to him gracefully, although Emily thought she was annoyed to see him there. Perhaps she’d hoped that Eva and Emily had come alone. There were several other fairy women with her, and Emily wrapped her arms around Wren a little more tightly as she recognized them. These were the Ladies from Anstis’s rooms, the ones who had tried to feed her fairy fruit and keep her here. Their faces were still beautiful, but Emily could see that they looked hungry, and jealous. All of them glanced curiously at the bundle of baby in her arms, but their greedy eyes kept returning to her own face.

  Emily could feel the warm, solid weight of Wren pressed close against her. She knew that however upset she had been by the thought of a new baby, now that Wren was here, there was nothing she wouldn’t do to protect her sister. She wasn’t sure if Wren’s magic would have this effect on everyone – that whoever saw the baby would love her and want to care for her – or if it was only Emily herself. But that didn’t matter. The fairies weren’t keeping Emily, or her little sister.

  “So this is the child. . .” Lady Anstis murmured. “How very lovely, Eva. A precious treasure indeed.” She leaned over Emily, reaching out a hand as though to touch the baby’s cheek, and Emily cast a frantic glance at Ash. Was it all right to let Anstis touch Wren? Could she hurt her? Or put a spell on her, perhaps? Gruff was next to the chair, and even sitting, his great head was a on a level with the baby. Could he protect them from a spell?

  Emily’s father only smiled, and made a calming gesture with his hand, but the smile was forced. She could see that he was worried.

  Then Anstis stepped back again, her hand stilled in the air above Wren’s face. It was as though Wren herself had stopped her, Emily thought, looking down at the baby, who gazed back at her with night-dark eyes. Was she strong enough to stop Anstis already?

  Anstis stood there for a second, her long hands clenched, and then she smiled over at Eva, a smile even more forced than Ash’s had
been. “You have such a large family now.” She looked Emily up and down, and added, “And so unusual,” in a flat sort of tone which Emily was absolutely certain was supposed to be rude.

  Eva was still sitting, her arms stretched along the wooden arms of the chair as though she were on a throne. She didn’t even bother smiling. “Indeed,” she agreed. “Thank you, Lady Anstis, for visiting us – so soon after the birth, too.” Eva stood up and swept her cloak around her shoulders again. She looked almost completely recovered, Emily thought. “We are returning home now, to rest, and for our new daughter to meet the others of our family.”

  “Already?” Anstis moved to the chair opposite Eva, and sat down, the other Ladies gathering themselves around her in a practised sort of pose. “We were so hoping that you’d stay longer.”

  “We?” Ash asked sharply, as Eva settled unwillingly back into her chair.

  Lady Anstis smiled, and stroked the green velvet folds of her skirt. “As you know, our dear king so generously listens to my advice,” she murmured, her voice so soft that Emily had to lean forward to listen. She could feel Wren tensing in her arms, watching the older fairy carefully. Was she old enough to understand what was happening already? Or was she simply picking up on the air of menace in the room?

  “I have confided in him,” Anstis went on slowly, “some of my concerns about your family. Your so unusual family. This child.” She waved delicately at Emily. “A human, but not. Not any more. She has been changed, hasn’t she?”

  “You only think that because I wouldn’t listen when you tried to bewitch me!” Emily snapped angrily.

  Lady Anstis raised her eyebrows, as though she was shocked at such impolite behaviour, and Ash laid a restraining hand on Emily’s shoulder.

  “As you can see, she is – not under control,” Anstis said disdainfully. “Given to angry outbursts. As one would expect, from a human child exposed to fairy magic. She is simply not meant to have such power. It may well send her mad, eventually.”

  “What nonsense!” Eva spat. “And Emily is very sensible. Far more so than our other children.”

  “Ah – but you see, she is not your child, is she? This is all some misguided form of affection for your little human pet. And without realizing it, you have let her into all sorts of secrets, given her spells to play with, turned her into some odd half-fairy thing. She is wrong. And she cannot be allowed back into the human world. She is too dangerous. She could hurt people. Or, worse, she could tell.”

  Emily shuddered. The fairy’s voice was like ice. And even though she knew that Anstis was evil, and this was all about her taking Emily’s power for her own, the picture she painted was frightening. Might she really go mad because of the fairy magic that had seeped inside her?

  Eva wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t listen,” she whispered. And then she stood up and glared at Anstis. “This is a ridiculous power play,” she announced in a voice that was just as icy. “Leave us. Now. We are taking our daughters home.”

  “No. She will stay.”

  Emily gasped as a spell swirled about her – how had Anstis cast it so suddenly? Unless it had been creeping around her since Anstis had entered the room. She had been talking to play for time, Emily realized, as she tried to tear at the magic with one hand. Whatever the spell was, it bound her tightly, so tightly she couldn’t even squeak for help. And now it was making her walk, so that she tottered across the stone floor, fighting uselessly against her own body.

  “Let go of her!” Eva screamed, and Emily stopped, gasping for breath. She was still bound, though – Ash and Eva hadn’t managed to free her, though she could feel their magic, testing and pulling at the bonds, frantically teasing the spells away. But all the time Anstis was still working, wrapping her in more and more layers of magic. It was getting hard to breathe.

  Emily looked down anxiously at Wren. The baby was so tiny, and she was imprisoned in the spell too. What if it hurt her?

  Wren stared back at her, her dark eyes glinting like jewels. “It’s all right,” Emily tried to whisper, but no sound came out. “I’ll look after you,” she breathed, but it was a stupid thing to say. She couldn’t look after anyone. The spell was so strong. Would Anstis let it choke her? Would she kill them if she couldn’t have Emily for her own?

  Wren screwed her eyes shut. Emily could feel her fat little fingers, pulling in Ash and Eva’s magic and weaving it together with something childlike and strong and very, very new. A magic that was all her own.

  Threads of gold wound in and out of the choking magic now, glittering around Emily and Wren and easing the spell-bindings apart. Emily felt the tightness in her chest slip away, and she took a deep gasping breath. She hugged Wren tightly to her with one arm, and with the other she shoved the rest of the Anstis’s magic away from herself and her little sister, so angrily that she staggered and half fell. A great, harsh tearing echoed through the room, and then a gentle pattering, like rain or falling leaves. Emily opened her eyes, and straightened up cautiously.

  Anstis’s spell had simply gone – leaving hundreds of threads of pinkish, fibrous stuff littered around her feet. Emily stirred them with her toe and flinched as they squirmed. She hadn’t realized that they were alive.

  “How did you break the spell?” Emily murmured to her sister as Eva snatched her and Wren out of Anstis’s reach and set them in the wooden chair, with Gruff standing in front to guard them. The huge dog was growling constantly on one low note, a sound full of power and fury. Emily was sure that growl would hurt anyone that came near.

  Then Emily’s parents paced towards Anstis, moving together, step by step. Anstis was surrounded by her companions, but one of them was already backing away towards the door, and Emily sensed that several of the others were about to run too. Ash and Eva looked grand, and fearsome, and terrifyingly angry. Ash was even less human-looking now, so tall, with his black eyes half filling his face and his long, long fingers outstretched towards the fairy Ladies.

  Eva’s cloak swirled around her as she walked, and it seemed to be alive, tiny creatures snarling and snapping as they raced around the folds, baring their teeth at Anstis. A tiny wolf ran up into Eva’s hair and then leaned out to howl fury at the enemy.

  As the two sides met, Emily turned her face away, burying it in Wren’s blankets and wishing as hard as she ever had. Let them be safe, let them be safe, let us all get home. She could feel Gruff’s growl deepening, and he shifted uneasily in front of them, wanting to dive in and join the fight. But his mistress had set him to guard, and he would.

  Emily forced herself to look up – her parents were fighting for her, at least she could be brave enough to watch them.

  Lady Anstis was fighting alone now; all her butterfly-winged companions had fled. Anstis herself looked different – older, Emily thought at first, and then she decided that it wasn’t age, it was simply that the fairy was having to use all her magic to fight now. She had none to spare for the spells that made her beautiful. It was her real self that was tearing and clawing and kicking as Ash and Eva’s magic fought her.

  Emily watched her mother’s hands winding together, the fingers twirling and lacing in a delicate pattern. She was drawing a spell together, shaping and weaving it into a thin, gauzy cloth, like the designs she made at home in her workroom. Emily could see the spells shimmering inside it, flickering and moving like flames, and they leaped up high as Eva tossed the spell-cloth into the air. It floated slowly down, and Ash stretched out one hand, flicking his fingers at it lazily.

  Emily leaned forward curiously. She had hardly ever seen her father do magic and didn’t have much sense of his fairy power. She didn’t really know what his magic did.

  The words came out of nowhere. Fine and black, like a swarm of tiny bees, humming as they wrote themselves into Eva’s magic in fragile scrolls and curls across the fabric. She should have realized, Emily thought. Even before she had und
erstood what her family were, she had known that her father wrote about magic. She had always wondered how he thought up all those horrific monsters, not knowing that they were real, only somewhere else. Now she could see that he wrote his spells too. There was something everlasting about those black black words, something that made Emily sure that once caught, Anstis would never be able to break free.

  Eva caught the silken spell as it floated down, and then she swirled it towards Anstis, who was already backing away, her eyes dark with horror. She could see the power of this magic that they were about to cast, a far stronger binding than the one she had used on Emily. But as she turned, flinging wild streams of magic at Ash and Eva, the very edge of the fabric flicked across her shoulder, and it had her. The gossamer silk settled softly, relentlessly, over her skin.

  “What is it doing?” Emily murmured, but she didn’t really expect anyone to answer her. She and Gruff and Wren were all staring at the spell, all struck silent by its unstoppable power. The spell-silk wrapped tighter and tighter around Anstis – Eva had chosen this spell on purpose, Emily was sure. Anstis had tried to hurt her and Wren with something so similar, this had to be a furious mother’s revenge.

  Anstis was still fighting, but her struggles were growing weaker and weaker, and Emily hated it. “Stop it!” she begged. “You’re hurting her!”

  There was a silence – no more growling, no more of Ash’s gasping breaths, no shrieking from the wolf-cloak wrapped round Eva’s shoulders.

  Her mother glanced back and nodded. “I’m sorry, Emily. We don’t have a choice.” She made one more twisting movement, like tying a knot, and then she ripped her hands apart – and the spell broke too, tearing into fragments of silk and fractured words. And then it fluttered and wisped away into nothing, and her parents stood alone in the middle of the room, their hands tightly clasped. In front of them were only a few dirty shreds of pale green velvet.

  Anstis was gone.

  What had they done to her? Emily wanted to know, and at the same time she couldn’t bear to. She looked back down at Wren instead, and wrapped the fine blankets closer around the baby. “I wish we could just go home,” she whispered. “I want to go home.”