by Nina Smith
A small, round pebble hit her in the arm. When another one whizzed through the air, Hippy raised her hand and caught it. Right. That was it. She jumped off the back of the cart, pulled her feet out of the mud they promptly sank into, then dashed into the trees as soon as she was on firm ground.
The forest was green and close. She could just hear the donkeys plodding away down the road. Huge leaves slapped against wooden trunks. A big black and white bird landed in a branch and made a noise like a rusty hinge.
“Right,” Hippy said. “Whoever you are, you’d better come out right now and tell me why you’re throwing rocks at me!”
Silence. A shadow flitted behind a tree. Yet another pebble flew through the air and bounced off her forehead.
“Ow! That’s it, you’re for it now!” Hippy bolted after the shadow.
The shadow darted from tree to tree, keeping just ahead of her. Hippy kept on it, determined, even though whoever it was disappeared every time she got close enough to reach out and grab hold.
Only when she realised they’d gone a long way into the forest did she stop. The figure had disappeared.
Hippy turned in a slow circle. Trees everywhere. The undergrowth was thick with spindly plants with little white flowers. She wasn’t sure which way led back to the road. If the forest people caught her alone out here they might do anything. Fairies weren’t supposed to stray this far into the forest. She gulped.
Twigs crunched. A rush of air. Someone knocked her to the ground. Hippy balled a fist and launched it, but she stopped an inch before making contact with her attacker’s face. Her eyes widened when she saw who’d landed on top of her. “Clockwork!”
He didn’t look the least bit happy to see her. “Yeah, it’s me. Surprised?”
“You shouldn’t have come.” Hippy studied every detail of his face, from the little cut under his eye to the dreadlock that was plastered to his cheek with sweat. “How did you get here?”
“I followed you through the door Pierus opened. I’ve been following you ever since.” Clockwork reached a hand toward her face. It trembled. He snatched it away before he touched her. “Maybe I shouldn’t have. I don’t understand. What are you doing with the pretender? I thought you liked me.”
Hippy reached up and brushed the dreadlock away from his face. She blinked back tears. “This is bigger than just you and me. I’m sorry Clockwork, but–but something happened and it’s too late to go back now.”
“What happened?” Lines of confusion marred his smooth forehead. “I need to know Hippy, because I left my dad behind to follow you here. I thought you’d come back with me if I rescued you.”
Clockwork was the last person she wanted to tell. Her cheeks burned. She looked away.
“What is it?” This time he did touch her face and his voice was so concerned she almost let a tear escape.
“It’s complicated.”
“Tell me.”
Hippy took a deep breath. “Promise me you won’t be mad?”
“Why? What have you done?” Clockwork slid off her, sat on the damp ground and helped her into a sitting position.
Hippy poked at the grass. “The thing is, your dad said I should go with Pierus if he took the Apple of Chaos, because somebody would have to take it from him again. He said I was the only one who could do it.”
A grin blossomed on Clockwork’s face. “Then you don’t like him better than me?”
“Of course not! He’s an ass, just like Poppy said.”
The grin dropped from his face just as quickly. “What do you mean my dad said you should do this?”
“He said the future of Shadow could depend on it,” Hippy said. “And he made me promise not to tell you.”
“Not to tell me? Why?” Clockwork’s lower lip trembled. “Why you?”
“Because–because he thinks–” Hippy gestured in the direction she thought the road might lie, then dropped her hand. “Please don’t be mad, if we weren’t mixed up in all this I would never have let him do it. At least I don’t think I would have, I can hardly remember how it happened, except I had to prove to him I was loyal, so I could take back the Apple of Chaos later–I’m sorry–”
Clockwork laid his hand over hers, his eyes wide. “What? What did he do?”
“He made me pregnant,” Hippy whispered. Her hand went involuntarily to her belly. “I’m sorry. But now you know why it’s so complicated.”
Clockwork stood up. He walked to the nearest tree, balled a fist and punched it. Then he leaned his forehead against the trunk. “Why in Shadow would my father send you up against him?”
“Because I can get close to him.” Hippy rose to her feet.
“But you don’t even know what you’re doing!” Clockwork burst out. “You’re no match for him on your own! And pregnant? No. You just can’t. I’m taking you back to Dream, Dad will just have to send someone else!”
Hippy marched up to Clockwork and slapped him across the face. “No!” She put her hands on her hips and glared. “Don’t even start on that rubbish, Clockwork Silver. I haven’t come this far just to turn back. I didn’t get banished by my family and put up with Pierus being so mean for all this time just to be told I’m not good enough! People have been saying that all my life, and you know what? I don’t give a bearfly’s butt cheek what you all think of me. This is my battle now and I intend to fight it, pregnant or not. You can either help me or you can go back to Dream, that’s totally up to you, but I will not be told I’m not good enough!” She stopped, panting for breath.
Clockwork inched back into the tree. “Oops,” he said. “I forgot about pregnant fairies.”
“Don’t you pregnant fairy me.”
“I’m sorry.” Clockwork let out a long breath. “I just wish it was different.”
“So do I.” Hippy held out her hands. “Maybe when all this is over it can be.”
He moved cautiously forward and held her hands. “Maybe.”
Hippy flung herself on him and buried her face in his shoulder. “I lied. I do care what you do. Please stay close, however you can manage it, I can’t stand to think I’m all alone with him. I don’t even know where we’re going.”
Clockwork put his arms around her shoulders and stroked her hair. “I promise,” he said. “I’ll be close, no matter what.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Hippy and Clockwork had outrun the donkeys strapped to the laden cart, got a good way ahead and climbed a tree to wait without even breaking a sweat. The vehicle swayed like a ship in a storm down the road below them.
Clockwork watched the cart like it was full of poisonous snakes. “I suppose there’s nothing I can say to make you reconsider.”
Hippy shook her head and eyed the donkeys. She had to time the jump just right.
“I’ll find a way to see you once you get where you’re going,” he said. “I’ll never be far.”
“Be careful. Watch out for forest people.” Hippy squeezed his hand, kissed him on the cheek and then leaped off the branch.
She rushed through the air. The cart trundled closer. Damn! She was off by half a cart’s length.
She landed evenly on both feet on the bench seat right next to Pierus.
Pierus started violently and jerked on the reins. The donkeys broke into a clumsy trot, causing the cart to teeter to one side. A wheel hit a rut too fast, bounced off it and veered to the side.
Pierus pulled up hard. The donkeys made grunts that sounded distinctly like swear words. The cart shuddered to a halt. “Nikifor check for damage!”
Nikifor slid off the cart and went to look at the wheels.
The muse king gave Hippy a lethal look. “What are you doing?”
Hippy returned a sunny smile. She patted her belt. “Fluffy Ducky ran away after his fight with that big mean vamp hand of yours, so I had to go find him. I just got back.”
Pierus looked startled. “You left the cart?”
She nodded.
“You went into the forest?”
“He does like to climb trees.”
“On your own?”
“I’m hardly on my own if Fluffy Ducky’s around.”
“That spider has got to go.”
Hippy scowled. “Touch my Fluffy Ducky and I’ll kill your vamp hand.”
“My king,” Nikifor said from beside the wheel. “There is no damage, but I suggest we resume moving immediately.” He climbed back onto the cart.
Pierus scanned the road, made a clicking noise with his tongue and started the donkeys moving again. “Hippy,” he said. “Sit down.”
Hippy pouted. She’d been enjoying balancing on the seat while the cart moved, and besides, it gave her a good view of the treetop where she could still see Clockwork watching them go. “But I like it up here.”
“Sit.” Pierus curled a hand around her arm and yanked her down next to him.
Hippy landed hard on her rear end on the wooden seat. “Ow!”
“You’re going to learn to do as you’re told if it kills you.” Pierus said this with a pleasant smile on his face that struck Hippy as odd, until she realised they weren’t alone. Her eyes widened. Forest people emerged from the trees everywhere she looked. They didn’t step onto the road; they just stood and watched. Their hair and clothes were tangled with leaves. Their hooves were caked with moss and mud. Every single one of them was armed with a crossbow or an axe.
“You see my dear, I have only your best interests at heart when I give you an order,” Pierus said, still with that pleasant smile on his face. “You make far too easy a target standing up there.”
They trundled on down the road at what seemed a snail’s pace. The further they went, the more forest people appeared from the trees.
“Are they going to attack us?” Hippy whispered.
“Only if we stop in their territory or venture into the forest without their permission.”
“Do they know you’re the muse king?”
“Of course they do. They know I live beyond their forest. We have a treaty, of course. They leave me alone. I return the favour.”
Hippy gave a disconsolate sigh. “I miss Poppy.”
“That dreadful woman? Why?”
“She made long rides like this interesting. How come you haven’t got a car? There are cars in Shadow City.”
“Because there is not enough silver in Shadow to run a car further than a short distance.”
Hippy flinched. “Silver?”
“My, you are a provincial little creature, aren’t you? Fairies really need to educate their children.”
“Hey! I learned my pictograms.”
“Pictograms?” He snorted. “Cars, my dear, need fuel to get anywhere, and that fuel is liquid silver. Which of course is so jealously guarded by your dear friends the Freakin Fairies that nobody can run a car outside of the city for fear of running out of fuel.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Of course you didn’t. You’ll find you don’t know most things about your world, which is why you need to pay attention to what I tell you. First and foremost, between now and when we arrive home, do not leave the cart without my permission. The forest is dangerous for little pregnant fairies.”
Hippy shrugged. “If you say so.” She eyed the forest people. “But the cart is boring.”
“Didn’t I give you a nice shiny crystal to play with?”
“I’m not a child, Pierus.”
“Yes you are. Your entire species is juvenile and distractible and has the combined intellect of a moth colony.”
Hippy stared at him, stricken. “Yeah? Well you’ve got a face like a moth-eaten cabbage.”
“What did you do with the crystal, Hippy?”
“I threw it at Nikifor.” Hippy swung her legs over the seat and into the interior of the cart. “If this is how you talked to Pandora, no wonder she left you.”
Pierus curled his fingers around her arm before she could move further away. He never took his eyes off the road. “Don’t leave the cart under any circumstances.”
Hippy made a face at him, pulled away and clambered over the pile of boxes. She scowled at Nikifor until he looked away, then threw herself onto her stomach at the back of the cart, where she could happily glower at the diminishing forms of the forest people until they were out of sight.
Hippy woke with a start from a very pleasant dream about Pierus punching himself in the head. She smiled sleepily and laid her cheek against the wood of the cart. The forest trundled by. No forest people to be seen. It was late afternoon, judging by the mellowing of the light. The road surface had hardened up, making the ride smoother.
Something sparkled in the trees.
She sat up and leaned over the side of the cart. There, it sparkled again. Wow. She’d never seen anything quite so shiny. She looked over her shoulder. Nikifor was asleep and Pierus had his back to her.
Don’t leave the cart, he’d said.
Shiny white light sparkled through the trees.
Hippy glanced over her shoulder once more. Then back into the forest. The shiny light had a sprinkle of blue in it.
Blue was one of her favourite colours.
Hippy leaped off the cart, landed on the road and bolted into the trees. Nikifor yelled out almost as soon as she’d gone and the cart lurched to a halt.
Hippy tiptoed toward the shiny thing bouncing up and down in a low tree branch. When she got closer, she pulled the leaves out of the way so she could see what it was. Her eyes widened when she found a little glowing creature struggling on the branch. At first she thought it was a dragon, but it was no bigger than her forearm, and everyone knew dragons were at least as big as donkeys. Besides, its face was rounder and it had little pointed ears and weird, featherless wings. Its claw was tangled in a thorny plant growing up the tree. Drops of blood stained the bark.
“Oh, you poor thing.” Hippy ignored the heavy footsteps in the foliage behind her and reached slowly for the trapped claw.
The creature looked up at her with big, sad eyes and made a little whining noise.
Nikifor’s hand landed on her shoulder. “I’m sorry Hippy, but you must return to the cart.”
She turned on her heel, balled a fist and punched him in the stomach. Nikifor doubled over and apparently lost all his wind, because his next attempt to speak didn’t work.
“Not until I’ve rescued the shiny thing.” She returned to the trapped creature, gently prised the thorns away from its foot and removed one thorn from the pad altogether. The creature sent up a thin howl.
“There, it’s okay, you’re free now.” Hippy lifted it off the branch and held it up. “Fly away.”
The creature stretched its wings. It lifted off her hand, flapped the wings once and made an ungainly leap for her shoulder. When it landed there it nuzzled her neck.
Hippy giggled. “What are you doing?”
Nikifor, who had got his wind back, approached her more cautiously this time. “Please Hippy, Pierus said you must return to the cart at once.”
Hippy shrugged. “So?” She headed for the road while giving the creature her hand to sniff. It nibbled at her fingertips with a hooked beak. “Are you hungry, little fella? Are you a boy or a girl?”
“She’s a girl, and what we call a fetch,” Nikifor said.
Hippy glanced over her shoulder. The muse blocked any path back into the forest. “A fetch?”
“They’re very rare. Unless you travel to the mountains where nobody lives and find a colony.”
“Well, you’re very pretty. I think I’ll call you Fangs,” Hippy said.
“You call your killer spider Fluffy Ducky and a harmless shiny fetch Fangs?” Nikifor herded her down to the road.
“Yeah. So what?” Hippy sighed when she saw Pierus leaning against the back of the cart waiting for them.
“I thought I told you to watch her,” Pierus said, the moment they were in earshot.
“I’m sorry my king,” Nikifor said. “She’s fast.”
“Bring her here.”
&
nbsp; “Touch me and I’ll break your teeth.” Hippy marched across the road, pulled herself onto the edge of the cart, sat there and gave Pierus an enquiring look. “Well?”
“I told you not to leave the cart.”
“But I saw something shiny.”
Pierus went to speak, changed his mind and rubbed his forehead instead. “Bloody Fairies,” he said. “What is that on your shoulder?”
“The shiny thing.”
“Forget I asked.” He turned to walk away, then came back and put his hands on either side of her face. “What do I have to do to make you behave?”
Fangs stretched her leg out, hooked her claws and stabbed Pierus in the back of the hand.
He yelled and snatched his hand away.
Hippy giggled. “Pregnant fairies don’t behave for anyone. Weren’t you warned?”
Pierus took a step away from her. He rubbed the wound on his hand and looked like he was working up some very nasty words.
Hippy gave a big, insolent yawn. Finally, this trip was starting to be fun again. “Are we there yet?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The hooting didn’t bother her. For as long as Hippy could remember, she’d lain awake in her bed in the darkest, most silent hours of the night and listened to the Thump Owls’ night conversations.
It was the screeching she didn’t like. She’d never heard a bird make that noise. The regular tap-tap-tapping in the tree tops that followed the cart along the road also made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. She told herself not to be afraid. There would be no more vamp attacks for a very long time. Nothing in the forest would harm her.
She lay on her stomach with a gas lamp set beside her. The light it shed only went as far as the edge of the cart, making the road and trees around them all the darker. They trundled on. Pierus had decided they should travel through the night rather than camp in unfriendly territory.
Fangs made a pretty bluish glow by her left hand. Her scales glittered and glowed in the gaslight like they were made of fairy dust.
