Wings

by E. D. Baker

“I must discuss it with my advisers, but I don’t think your request is too unreasonable.”

  Titania and Targin were still talking when Jak came up behind Tamisin trailing a dozen cats. “Are you all right?” asked Tamisin. “What happened with you and Nihlo?”

  “Nihlo didn’t have the stomach for a real fight once he saw that his poison no longer affected me. I guess he’d already used it on me too many times, plus his father gave me the antidote a few days ago. Nihlo took off when I didn’t collapse after he pricked me,” Jak said, showing her a hole in his sleeve. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine now that you’re back.”

  “If you two are finished,” said Titania, “we’d like to go.”

  “Is everything settled?” asked Tamisin.

  “Her Royal Majesty will be convening a meeting of the heads of all the goblin clans,” said Targin. “She assures me that we will be able to work out something.”

  “Good,” said Tamisin. “And I want you both to give me your word that neither fairy nor goblin shall bother us should Jak and I return to the human world.”

  “So be it,” replied Titania. “No fairy under my command shall follow you or cause you mischief or harm in the human world.”

  “And I give my word for my goblins,” said Targin.

  “Oh, there’s one other thing,” Tamisin added after glancing at the lamias. “You should know that loud noises hurt the lamias’ ears. It tends to make them angry. I don’t think you want to make them angry, do you?”

  “No! Of course not!” said Targin. “I never knew …”

  “I thank you for your help, ladies,” Tamisin told the lamias. “You may go now.” The collective sigh of relief from fairies and goblins sounded like a breeze passing through the clearing.

  “It’s ’bout time!” Tobi said as he climbed down from the tree and hurried over to join them. “I thought ya’d keep us here till morning. Uh-oh!” Tobi scurried behind Jak and Tamisin as the lamias slithered closer. The cats hissed and drew nearer to Jak.

  The goblins were already disbanding when Herbert trotted out of the forest. “Lamia Lou,” he called. “Are you ready to go? You said you wouldn’t be long. I’ve missed my slithering sweetie.”

  “I’ve mithed you, too, Thtud Muffin!” replied Lamia Lou. “Come over here and let me introduthe you to my thithterth. Thith ith Lamia Lee and thith ith Lamia Lynn and thith ith Lamia Thlamia, my baby thithter. Girlth, thith ith Herbert!”

  “Ladies!” Herbert said, whuffling his lips in admiration.

  “Tamisin, I’d like to talk to you,” said Titania. “That was clever of you to dance the way you did down in the goblins’ cave. I don’t know why, but your dancing draws my fairies like no one else’s can. Unfortunately, it took longer to locate you when you were underground. My warriors were unable to find you until the cats showed them the hole in the clearing. Thank goodness the cats like you so much, Jak.”

  “Yeah,” said Jak, nudging a persistent cat away with his foot. “It’s great.”

  “Are you really returning to the human world now?” asked Titania. “You’re both welcome to stay with me for as long as you’d like.”

  Tamisin glanced at Jak, then back at Titania. She wanted to answer her mother without hurting her feelings, but she wasn’t quite sure how to do it. “That’s kind of you,” she finally said, “but you were right when you told me that I belong in the human world. I have family and friends who care about me there, and Jak’s family … well, he’d be better off there, too.”

  Titania nodded. “It’s probably just as well. You’ll be safer in the human world, at least until I’ve met with the heads of the clans and things have calmed down. But even there you’ll have to be careful. I meant what I said about my fairies leaving you alone. However, there are some fairies who don’t listen to me. And I’ve only just learned that my former handmaiden Lurinda stole one of my most valuable rings. Shortly before she left my service she made it appear as if another handmaiden had taken it, but I’ve always suspected Lurinda. She’s proven her guilt by taking you the way she did, which she couldn’t have done without the ring. It’s a ring of power that can open any Gate, at any time, which is how she brought you here, Tamisin, and how she got away. I have to find her and get the ring back. Lurinda has already used it more in the last few days than I did over all the years I had it in my possession. The ring shouldn’t be used lightly. Using it too frequently will weaken the fabric that divides the human and the fey, with potentially disastrous consequences. I don’t know what she hopes to accomplish, but I doubt it will benefit anyone but her. Remember, she can use my ring to go anywhere she pleases, so be careful, whatever you do. I just hope that the human world is safer for you than this one has proven to be.”

  “We’ll keep our eyes open,” said Jak.

  “If you’re going back today, I have it on good authority,” Titania said, darting a glance at her fairy warriors, “that a Gate is open across the Sograssy Sea at the edge of Deep Blue Lake. Ordinarily it would take you a day to reach it and you wouldn’t get there before it closes, but considering who your friends are …”

  “That sounds perfect,” said Tamisin.

  Targin had joined them while they were talking to Titania. “I wanted to apologize to you, Jak. You were doing what you thought was best, and since I never told you what I was doing or why … Let’s just say that things might have gone differently.”

  Jak nodded, but didn’t say anything.

  “What about me, Princess? Are ya still mad at good ole Tobi?” the little goblin asked, peeking out from behind Jak.

  “That remains to be seen,” said Tamisin.

  “Herbert and I would be happy to take you acroth the thea,” said Lamia Lou. “We’re going acroth anyway. I want Herbert to meet the retht of my family.”

  “How many are there?” Tamisin whispered to Jak.

  “I don’t think anyone has ever counted them,” Jak whispered back. “And I doubt anyone really wants to.”

  Chapter 24

  Once again Lamia Lou gave Jak and Tamisin a ride across the Sograssy Sea, this time with the lamia telling endless tales about her family. Only Herbert seemed genuinely interested.

  “…And then there wath Great-Grandma Lamia Zalina. That old woman wath a real hoot! Thhe filed her teeth to pointth tho thhe’d look thcarier, but it made her teeth rot and they all had to come out. Without her teeth her face collapthed and thhe had to gum her food. No one thought thhe looked thcary after that.”

  “That’s too bad,” murmured Herbert.

  “You would have liked my grandmother Lamia Mia. Thhe perfected the art of thlithering through the grath without dithturbing a thingle blade. That woman thcared more people to death than anyone elthe in the family.”

  “She sounds delightful,” Jak said through gritted teeth.

  “I bet none of them were as beautiful as you are, Sweet Lips,” said Herbert.

  “That’th true,” said Lamia Lou.

  After what seemed like half a day, Tamisin had heard enough stories. Since Lamia Lou had assured them that she and Jak could come and go freely across the sea, she was ready to try it without an escort. “We’re not taking you out of your way, are we?” she asked. “Which direction would you go to see your family?”

  “That way,” Lamia Lou said, pointing at a right angle to the way they were traveling.

  “Then I think this is where we part company,” said Tamisin. “If you wouldn’t mind stopping …”

  Lamia Lou slithered to a halt. “Are you thure? The other thide’th thtill an hour away. We really wouldn’t mind taking you there, would we, Herbert?”

  “Not at all,” said the unicorn.

  “We’ll be fine,” Tamisin said. “I’m sure you have other things to do than spend the day helping us.”

  “If you inthitht,” said Lamia Lou as Tamisin and Jak climbed off her snaky tail. “But you’re mithing a lot of great thtorieth.”

  “We’ll be back to hear them some
other time,” said Jak.

  The lamia had already started telling Herbert about another relative when they disappeared into the shoulder-high grass. “Thank you,” Jak told Tamisin. “After riding a hipporine this morning I wasn’t sure that I’d ever sit again. I don’t think I could have stayed on Lamia Lou’s tail much longer.”

  “You mean you didn’t want to get off because of her stories?” asked Tamisin.

  “That, too. And I thought my relatives were strange!”

  “Gammi’s not. I really like her,” said Tamisin. “I’m glad she’s going to join you soon. I didn’t know she liked living among humans that much.”

  “Neither did my uncle, Targin. She nearly took his head off when he tried to forbid her to go back. I’d never seen him look browbeaten before.”

  Tamisin laughed. “She is his mother. I don’t think he would have turned out to be such a strong leader without her.”

  “It’s amazing how much of an impact mothers can have on their children, even when they’re not around. At least now you know who your mother is and that she really does love you.”

  “I suppose,” said Tamisin. “I mean, I want to go home and everything, but I was a little disappointed that she didn’t say anything about seeing me again.”

  Jak laughed. “Oh, but she did. She kissed you goodbye right before we left, didn’t she? When the queen of the fairies kisses you, it means that you’ll have to return to her someday. Even people who want to stay away are compelled to go back eventually. They have no choice, and neither will you.”

  “She could have just asked me back for a visit,” said Tamisin.

  “Aren’t you ever satisfied?” Jak said, laughing again.

  They had made good time crossing a patch that was no more than waist high when they entered the last of the taller grass. Tamisin considered opening her wings and rising into the air to see where they were going, and it even crossed her mind that they could get to the other side much faster if she were to fly them there, but Jak wanted to stretch his legs, and she was enjoying their conversation now that Lamia Lou and Herbert were gone.

  “Tell me something,” she said as Jak took the lead. “When we get back to the human world will everything still be the same between us?”

  Jak’s back was to her as he worked his way through the taller grass, so she couldn’t see his face when he said, “I don’t know. Are you still going to want to see me? After all, you are a princess and I’m just a halfling.”

  “The important word there is ‘halfling,’ “ said Tamisin. “Who else can understand what it’s like to be a part of two different worlds and not really belong in either? And who else can see the things that I can see and know that they really exist? And who else can I show off to when I want to fly?” Laughing out loud, Tamisin threw her arms in the air and twirled just as she did when she was dancing. She was on her fourth spin when she heard a sound like a strangled cough. “Jak,” she said, stopping in midtwirl. “Are you all right?”

  Jak wasn’t where she thought he’d be, so she turned around, thinking she’d gotten disoriented. “Jak?” she called again, but there was no answer. There was no one around and nowhere he could have gone. She forged ahead, pushing the grass aside, and tried again, louder this time. “Jak!” When there still was no response, Tamisin felt a twinge of fear. This wasn’t right. He had to be there, didn’t he?

  Tamisin retraced her steps, examining the flattened grass. This was where she had walked. This was where she had twirled. And over here … Tamisin’s breath whistled between her teeth when she saw where the grass had been flattened to one side. Someone else was here, and something was very wrong.

  Opening her wings with a whoosh, Tamisin took to the air. It was easy to see the trail from above; although it was straightening, the grass that had been trampled caught the light differently from the grass around it. There was a hill and a dip and … Tamisin gasped when she finally saw Jak. He was on his feet, with his fists raised, and he wasn’t alone. Nihlo had found them again.

  When Tamisin’s shadow passed over Jak, he shouted, “Stay back, Tamisin,” without taking his eyes off the knife in Nihlo’s hand.

  Jak had no knife, or anything he could readily turn into one. When Nihlo lunged, jabbing with his knife, Jak danced aside, then kicked with his opposite foot, knocking the weapon out of the goblin’s hand. Nihlo was on his hands and knees rooting through the trampled grass when Jak shaded his eyes from the sun and called to Tamisin. “Give me your hair clip.”

  The emerald green clip was made of plastic and looked like two interlocking sets of claws. He caught it as it sailed through the air, then quickly looked to see what Nihlo was doing. His cousin had found his knife and was just getting up off his knees.

  “What do you think you’re going to do with that?” Nihlo asked when he saw the clip. “Pinch me to death?”

  “Actually,” said Jak, “I had something else in mind.” He knew it was risky when he closed his eyes because Nihlo might take advantage of it and throw his knife, but he was hoping that curiosity alone would stay the goblin’s hand. Jak thought about the clip, then pictured what he wanted it to become. He felt the tingling and when he pushed, he no longer held the clip.

  “Hey!” exclaimed Nihlo. “What’s that?”

  “It’s a cage to keep you in,” said Jak. Made of steel, the cage was thirty feet across and enclosed both Jak and Nihlo. The sides rose for ten feet, then arched together to form a ceiling over their heads.

  “How did you do that?” asked Nihlo. “Everybody knows that halflings can’t transmogrify anything.”

  “Then everybody must be wrong,” said Jak.

  Nihlo sneered and took a step closer. “You think you’re so smart, but that was the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. You made a cage for me and put yourself in it.”

  Jak nodded. “That was really stupid, wasn’t it? Although you have to admit, it is a nice cage.” While his cousin watched, Jak reached up to run his hand over one of the bars. “Good quality metal, too. It should last a really long time.” Jak’s back was turned when he closed his eyes again. When he opened them, a door had appeared in the cage. He stepped through before the goblin could react and closed the door behind him. Nihlo started running, but Jak had the bars changed back before his cousin was even close.

  “You son of a sea witch!” Nihlo shouted. He lunged at Jak, hitting the bars with his chest and shoulder, but Jak was already well out of range.

  Jak waited for Tamisin to land beside him. When she took his hand, he squeezed hers, then turned to Nihlo and said, “What I don’t understand is why you’re here at all. You must have heard about your father’s promise that no goblin would come after us.”

  Nihlo looked as if he’d tasted something foul. “I’ve forsworn my father. I don’t follow his orders anymore.”

  Jak nodded. “You follow Lurinda’s orders now, don’t you?”

  A rustling in the grass announced the arrival of Lamia Lou and Herbert. Nihlo swore and stepped away from the side of the cage.

  “I heard the thouting. Ith thomething going on?” asked the lamia. She clasped her hands in front of her chest and gazed at the cage in delight. “Thay! Thith ith nice! What’th it for?”

  “It’s here to hold this piece of trash until Targin can come get him. I’m sure my uncle will know what to do with his son. Would you be able to get word to Targin that Nihlo is here?” Jak asked Lamia Lou.

  “It would be my pleathure!” she replied.

  “But first, why don’t you share with him some of the stories you were telling us,” said Jak. “Tell him about your grandmother who could slither up to a victim without making a sound.”

  “And the one with the filed teeth,” added Tamisin.

  “I’d love to!” said Lamia Lou, smiling so broadly that her fangs glistened in the sunlight.

  “I wonder what day of the week it will be when we get back to the human world,” said Tamisin. The edge of the Sograssy Sea was in sight, and just beyo
nd it sparkled the waters of the Deep Blue Lake.

  “Does it matter?” asked Jak.

  “Not really,” said Tamisin. “It’s just that admission to the movie theater is cheaper on Tuesday night. I thought we could go if something good was playing.”

  Jak pretended to be surprised. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

  “I sure am,” said Tamisin as she turned to face him. “And it’s going to be indoors, where no fairies or goblins can surprise us.”

  “Goblins surprised us in my house during the Halloween party,” Jak reminded her. He took her hand in his and pulled her toward him.

  “True,” said Tamisin. “But then everybody knew about the party. We’re not inviting anyone else on our date.”

  “Not even Tobi?” Jak asked with a grin.

  “Especially not Tobi,” said Tamisin. “This time everything is going to go right.”

  “I think it already is,” said Jak. And he kissed her.

  Don’t miss the newest book in the Tales of the Frog

  Princess, in which Audun—a dragon—is determined

  to win (human) Princess Millie’s heart.

  Read on for an excerpt from Dragon Kiss,

  Book Seven in the Tales of the Frog Princess

  One

  What do you mean, you’re going after that girl?” de-manded Audun’s grandmother. She set the sack she’d been carrying beside the pile of the family’s belongings waiting at the mouth of the cave and turned to look at the fifteen-year-old dragon. “You know she’s really a human!”

  Audun looked at her in surprise. After everything that Millie had done for them, he hadn’t expected anyone to object to his plans.

  “I thought all of you liked her,” he said, glancing from his grandmother to the rest of his family.

  “We do,” said his mother while his father nodded. His grandfather just shrugged and looked apologetic.

  “Liking her has nothing to do with this,” his grandmother, Song of the Glacier, replied.