Wicked Chill (Away From Whipplethorn Book Four)

by Hartoin, A. W.

  “Not when there’s dragons around.” I shooed Percy away. “If you have to be here, you can at least stay back.”

  Percy gave me a yawn and didn’t move. He stayed right on our wings as we went up the stairs and into what Lysander called the grand stage. I was ready to be wowed, but the grand stage wasn’t what I expected. It was a pretty modern-looking oval with a stage at one end. Hundreds of human-sized upholstered seats covered the floor in rows and there were five levels of balconies around the oval. The seats were filled and the humans were still. Some held programs in their laps, but their eyes were focused on the wide stage. A woman was singing by herself. She wore a lovely pleated gown, silver tiara, and had a thick rope binding her wrists together. I can usually hear humans and I could tell by the way her chest heaved that she was quite loud. I couldn’t quite make out her words though. We were too far away.

  Lysander glanced back at me, his eyes alight with pleasure. I smiled back. He didn’t want to see my disappointment, so I wouldn’t show it.

  He led me to the second floor balcony and we landed on the gleaming railing in front of some rapt humans. Percy landed right beside us. His landing wasn’t delicate and even the humans in the front seats heard the thump and began looking forward curiously. I put my fingers to my lips and Percy yawned again. He walked across the railing letting his long talons scrape the shiny gold paint. That really got the humans excited and Lysander hurried me away.

  Our seats were in the partition separating the sections of seats. It was a small box with four red upholstered seats just like the humans had. Happily, there was no room for fighting dragons and Percy had to stay on the railing, most of him anyway. His tail snaked in the box as Lysander and I sat down. The delicate tip touched my shoulders and face and then Lysander’s. Then it poked him hard in the chest three times and settled down like a headless snake.

  Lysander watched the tail for a second and then mouthed, “Alone at long last.”

  “Kind of,” I mouthed.

  He grinned and kissed me on the cheek. Then he pulled his long hair back into his ribbon, discreetly concealing his small horns. I pretended I didn’t notice, but I was dying to know what the deal was with those horns.

  I found a program under my seat and offered it to Lysander.

  “I don’t need it. I know this by heart.” He put his hands on the railing and leaned forward, concentrating on the woman.

  The program was in German and I could read about half of it, so I wasn’t quite getting what was happening. Instead, I looked at the people watching, how they moved and breathed with the swells of music coming from the woman. There were so many humans sitting quietly. Their reactions were quite muted and it gave me a chance to really look at them. They wore fine clothes in silks and satins. Jewels encircled the womans’ necks and quite a few men wore diamond tie pins. Marie would’ve been totally at home.

  Ferdzik was right. I wasn’t close to being dressed for the occasion, even if you ignored the fact that I was wearing a maid’s uniform. But maybe it was just the humans. I started looking for the other fairies. There were boxes in each partition with every kind of species in attendance from Irish sidhe to tree dryads. I didn’t see any trolls though.

  After looking at a bunch of boxes, I found the one I should’ve noticed first. It was the same size as all the others, but it had black and gold bunting hanging in swags on the railing. Inside was the emperor. He looked just as stern as when I’d seen him in his office. There was no enjoyment on his face. He seemed to be enduring the performance more than anything. The lady next to him was much more animated. She smiled and swayed slightly. Despite the happiness, her face was painfully thin and pinched. The emperor’s face was full of color. He bloomed with health. The woman looked as though she ought to be lying down. I couldn’t make out her age. Illness changes everything from the skin to the eyelashes.

  I tapped Lysander’s shoulder. “Is that the empress sitting with the emperor?”

  He glanced over and nodded.

  What had Ferdzik said? The empress is very well. Not hardly. I watched the woman who was bound to be my patient. I could now see the need for secrecy. Even the rumors weren’t this bad. She really shouldn’t have been out, but I guessed they were trying to prove she was alright. It wasn’t going to work.

  I tapped Lysander again. “How long has she been sick?”

  “How do you know that she’s sick?” he whispered. “You shouldn’t listen to the rumor mill.”

  “Look at her.”

  He did, his diamond-patterned brow creasing. “She always looks like that.”

  “How long have you known her?” I had to get an idea of how long this had been going on.

  “I don’t know her. I see her during performances. We’ve never spoken.”

  “Don’t you work for her?” I asked.

  “The emperor made me kapellmeister in her name. He speaks to me when necessary.”

  “You don’t like him,” I guessed.

  Lysander’s eyes went wide. “I like him very well. No one but him would’ve given me the position. It is the highest place for a musician in Austria. I’m very lucky.”

  “You’re very young.”

  He gave me an odd, questioning look. “Yes. Very young. The youngest kapellmeister ever.”

  “You must be incredibly talented.”

  He blushed. “The emperor thought so. I’ve been composing since the age of five,” He gestured toward the stage, “like Herr Mozart. He was a seer, you know.”

  “Really? I didn’t know that. Is there a Mozart fairy family?” I asked, thinking of how we were Whipplethorns because we lived in Whipplethorn Manor.

  “No. The Webers were the fairies he knew. They still live here in Vienna. His wife was a seer, too. It’s thought that she helped him to see. His greatest works were composed after he saw Aria Weber for the first time.”

  Lysander’s shoulders went limp and he focused back on the stage.

  “Have you been seen?”

  He shook his head sadly. “No, but the emperor took me into court anyway. I will never be truly great if I am not seen.”

  “It’s that important?” I asked.

  He took my hand and pressed it to his chest. “It is the most important factor in success. Talent can only take me so far. For my gifts to focus and gain their full power, I must be seen.”

  I sat back, feeling his heart pound against my hand. His desire to be seen was as strong as mine had been when Tess first saw me. I’d always known being seen was extremely rare. The idea that it could change your gifts and make them stronger was new to me. Could that be why my fire and healing gifts were so strong?

  “Would being seen have mattered to the empress?” I asked.

  “Yes. All the kapellmeisters have been seen. It is tradition. The empress is known for her strong traditional values. If she wasn’t, she might’ve placed Archduke Franz-Joseph in front of his brother and then where would I be?”

  “Has the empress actually heard you play?”

  “Many times.”

  “When did you first see her?”

  “I was presented a year ago,” he said.

  “How did she look then?” I asked.

  Lysander gazed across to the imperial box. “Better I think. We are far away, but I think she was not so thin or pale. Why do you want to know?”

  “Just curious. She is the empress.”

  He squeezed my hand tighter. “You won’t tell anyone what I said about her, will you?”

  “Of course not.” I squeezed back and he leaned close. His lips brushed mine with the softest of kisses.

  “Good. I knew I could trust you,” he said.

  I wish I could trust you with my secrets.

  Lysander kept my hand and scooted his chair closer to mine. We had a good view of the stage and I stopped looking at the empress, the humans, or anything else. Hints of the singing made it through my rotten ears, not nearly enough, but I found it didn’t matter. Lysander was right. T
he opera wasn’t just about the sound. The air was rich and perfumed. The humans and fairies were elegant and worth seeing on their own. The players on stage sang with such passion I felt I could almost know what they were saying. And the costumes were gorgeous. Delphine needed to come to the opera. Maybe it could reignite her love of beautiful things and she could forget about Roberto for a few minutes. I’d have to clean her up. The opera would be worth the struggle though.

  The third act began with beautiful staging and movement. So beautiful, I didn’t notice what was going on below us in the center aisle. Lysander dropped my hand and said, “Oh, no!”

  “What?”

  “They got in.”

  We leaned over the railing and I saw who Lysander was talking about. A motley group of fairies was flying down the aisle. They carried signs and banners, saying things like, “Speak to the people,” and “We need the truth.”

  There were several unwinged species on the floor, including dryads and trolls. Their signs only had the number five. It was an angry five, written in red slashes. The unwinged fairies climbed up the human’s seats and stood pointing at the imperial box.

  “Who are they?” I asked.

  “Protesters. I don’t know how they got in here.”

  “Percy got in.”

  “Good point.”

  At the sound of his name Percy peeked around the partition.

  “It’s okay,” I said.

  “It might not be,” said Lysander, pointing to the winged fairies that were flying for the imperial box. The empress’s guards were crowding in front of the empress to shield her.

  “What do they want?” I asked.

  “The empress has closed the borders. Fairies trying to flee France are being kept out.”

  I clapped my hand over my mouth. Mom and Dad. Even if they escaped and were trying to get to us, they couldn’t. Lysander didn’t notice my reaction. He’d jumped to his feet and was leaning over the railing as was every other fairy in the boxes. When I joined him at the railing, I expected to see the empress’s subjects coming to her defense. There were so many fairies there, at least a couple hundred, but none of them did anything save watch. The protesters picked up speed. Some of them brandished clubs but I didn’t see any swords. There were only about forty winged protesters. It wouldn’t take much to get them to back off.

  I started to climb onto the railing. Lysander yanked me back down. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m not just going to stand here.”

  “You’re a maid. Let the guards handle it.”

  I’d seen royal guards in action in Paris. “Yeah, right.”

  I shook off his hand and went for the railing. It was too late. The protesters were up on the guards. I don’t think anyone really expected it. The protesters were trying to break and the anubis had unsheathed their swords but were stumbling backwards as they engaged.

  Lysander jumped up on the railing with me. “The empress is screaming!”

  “Come on!” I launched myself off the balcony. Percy was right at my side.

  In a second, we were at the imperial box and it was a mess. The protesters had overshot their goal and had tumbled into the box. The anubis guards were hacking at them with swords, but except for a few clubs the protesters were unarmed. I grabbed the collar of a wzlot and yanked him back out of the way of a sword swipe that would’ve taken his head clean off. He turned to me, eyes unseeing.

  “Retreat!” I yelled in his face and shoved him down away from the melee.

  Percy snatched a couple of protesters out of the air and flew off with them as I tried to get on the balcony. An anubis drew back his blade to engage me and I had nothing, not even a sign. He’d lost his dog mind. I lit the tiniest of sparks in his pants. Probably not the best idea, but I was certain it wouldn’t leave a mark. He yelped and clutched his pants. His sword careened over the edge of the balcony. I wanted to go after it, but that would show me for the fighter I was, so I let it go.

  As the anubis jumped around clutching his rear, I got a glimpse of the empress and her son. They’d been knocked to the floor. The emperor was trying to lift her up and she was sagging in his arms. Golden blood was gushing from her ear and mouth. Every time he moved her, a fresh gush spurted out.

  “Stop!” I shoved my way past an anubis who’d just taken a club to the head and jumped into the imperial box. About thirty more anubis guards were trying to force their way onto the balcony. They stepped on the emperor in their eagerness. They appeared to be well-trained, but at the same time completely unprepared for an aerial assault. The anubis that got onto the balcony were trampling her majesty’s legs. Their swords were drawn with no space to maneuver and they kept hitting each other. Spatters of orange blood hit my face as I tried to get to the empress.

  “Your Majesty!” I yelled. “Order them to stop!”

  The emperor looked up. The lithe black bodies of the anubis blocked his view. I was driven back into the railing, dodging swords, and the occasional sign. Percy’s tail whipped an anubis away from me and rammed him into the wall.

  “Call them off!”

  He didn’t or at least the anubis didn’t respond. A group of uniformed fliers darted up and pinned the protesters between them and the anubis. They were screaming and bloody. They wanted to back off, but no one was going to let them. A brown winged fairy like those I’d seen in Paris was neatly beheaded from behind. His head hit me in the shoulder before landing on the floor with its eyes still blinking.

  I grabbed the head. I don’t know why I did it. It was about the grossest thing I’d ever done. I had the head by the hair and shoved it at anubis coming at me with his sword high for a strike. He froze and I shoved the head in his dog snout. He jumped out of the way and I spun in a circle, holding the dripping head out at arm’s length. It’s amazing how nobody bothers you when you’re holding a severed head.

  I got through the melee quite easily after that and found the emperor still struggling with his unconscious mother at the back wall. I used the head to get the four anubis that were stepping all over them away. I dropped the head in the empress’s lap and grabbed the screaming emperor.

  “End this!” I yanked his hands off his mother and pulled him upright.

  He didn’t yell any orders. He just kept screaming. He didn’t recognize me, not that I expected him to. He probably wouldn’t have recognized Casper at that moment. I gave him a good smack across the sideburn and pushed him in front of his mother.

  “Order them to stop!” I yelled in his ear. “They’re killing unarmed civilians!”

  A shiver went through the emperor’s body like someone had poured ice water over him.

  “Halt!” he yelled in German. “Get in formation! Halt!”

  The emperor got in the face of the closest anubis. “Halt!”

  The anubis spun around and began yelling in a language I couldn’t read on his lips. It definitely wasn’t German.

  The anubis all began yelling in the same language and I dropped down beside the empress. The blood was still flowing from her ear and mouth. She’d taken a pretty strong blow to the head. I concentrated, pictured the capillaries closing, and the flow stopped. Not a moment too soon. The empress was pale before, now she was practically translucent with a hint of gray around the edges. I pushed the heavy blond hair off her temple and saw a long reddish indentation. It was narrow, but hadn’t slitted the skin. The back of a sword had hit her. Thankfully, it was the blunted back. The sharp side would’ve killed her outright. I would’ve considered using Ibn’s spell on her, but I’d just done it on Bentha. I couldn’t take any more injuries.

  I turned back to the fight to call to the emperor and saw Lysander at the edge of the balcony, trying to get through to me. Most of the anubis were backing off, but the flying guards hadn’t got the message. They hacked at the few protesters that were still standing. One particularly large wzlot was doing pretty well with his club and had managed to take on two of the flying guards and one anubis at once. Impr
essive.

  Lysander managed to get his feet on the railing. “Mattie!”

  Had I told him to come with me? What the heck was I thinking? He made Gerald look tough. I put up my hand. “Go back!”

  He went to jump onto the balcony just as the anubis got past the wzlot’s club. The wzlot reeled backwards as the anubis struck him in the shoulder. His club swung wide and grazed Lysander’s temple. He tottered on the railing for a split second, arched his back, and then tipped backward, disappearing over the edge.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “PERCY!” I SCREAMED.

  A flash of red went by the balcony and an instant later Percy came back up with a limp Lysander in his talons. He hovered and then let out a terrific screech that blew my hair back. The dragon had had enough. Everyone stopped in terror. I presume to see who he was going to eat first. Percy just hovered, eyeing them and snorting fire.

  “Bring him here,” I said.

  Percy twisted in the air, stuck out a leg, and dropped Lysander on the balcony in a heap. He groaned and rubbed his temple. The emperor finished yelling at the anubis and looked down.

  “Kapellmeister?”

  “Your Majesty.” Lysander tried to get to his feet, but the emperor told him to stay where he was.

  Lysander didn’t look so bad, considering, so I went back to the empress. She was still unconscious and she really shouldn’t have been.

  The emperor knelt on the other side of her. He didn’t take her hand and he didn’t seem upset. Anger flowed out of him so strong I wanted to back away, but, of course, I didn’t. Backing away isn’t my style.

  “You shouldn’t have brought her here,” I said taking her pulse. Strong but inconsistent.

  “You must not have been schooled in the ways of court. You don’t speak to me until after I have spoken to you,” he said nastily.

  “I considered all that screaming to be speaking.”

  “Those of imperial blood do not scream, girl.”

  “Someone should tell your mouth.”

  The emperor yelled at the nearest anubis. “Take her away.”