Mae smiled at the mop swirling anxiously in the corner.
“I saw a sewing basket in one of the piles,” Poppy said.
Mae yawned and pulled off her boots. How she wished she had her bag with the special clothes-cleaning pocket. That would have made things much easier.
“Maewyn?” Poppy whispered.
Mae turned toward her friend. “Yes?”
“Do you think the others are okay?” Poppy sniffled.
Mae thought of Tory and the way her stomach had flip-flopped when he held her hand. “I hope so.”
Poppy shifted next to her and let out a huge sigh. “I feel horrible complaining about this hard floor when who knows where the others are sleeping tonight. At least we have a warm fire.”
Mae swallowed a lump in her throat. How could she even think of sleeping when she didn’t know what was happening to the rest of the travelers? Despite her worries, her eyelids grew heavy as the fire warmed her toes. Soon, she promised herself, she would find out where the rest of the hapennies were being held.
Chapter 9
Mae wiped the sweat from her brow. Poppy had stuffed an old pair of bloomers she’d found in the laundry pile into the hole in the window to block the draft, and Mae was beginning to think that maybe they should’ve left it open. She and Poppy had cleaned out the copper bath and filled it with water, hauled from the kitchen and boiled over the fireplace, before they began washing every garment they could find in the chamber. They had woken early in the morning to get started, and now clothing was hanging to dry on every piece of furniture or empty nail in the wall they could reach. Mae pulled the plug on the tub and listened to the water drain into the grate in the floor, the swirling current carrying away the dirt and grime.
The queen had already slept away half the morning, and it was starting to look as if she was never going to wake up when a ripple of the bed curtains captured Mae’s attention. She caught Poppy’s eye and nodded toward the bed. Mae wiped her wet hands on her skirt and tiptoed toward the queen’s bed.
Huldfrejya yanked back the curtains and stuck her head out. Her brows were knit together and her mouth was bent into a frown. “What are you two nitwits doing?”
“Good morning,” Mae said.
“Good morning…good morning, she says! Well, what’s so good about it?” Huldfrejya scrambled off the bed and stepped onto the floor. She sucked in a breath and pulled the hem of her shift up to her calves and looked down quickly at her feet, which were still a little pink, though the green color was beginning to spread again. “Something is wrong with the floor. It’s…warm.”
Poppy gestured toward the hearth. “We’ve been feedin’ the fire all morning!”
“Open the window,” the queen screeched. “I feel as if I’m about to melt.”
Mae started toward the window.
“Stop!”
Mae and Poppy exchanged glances.
Huldfrejya’s hands were clenched in her mussed and tangled hair. She groaned deep in her throat. “Never mind, just get me some clothes. You shouldn’t have let me sleep all morning. I have things to do, servants to boss, trolls to appease!”
Mae pulled down a fresh shift that was hanging on a hook by the fire. Thankfully, it was dry. She held it up for the queen.
“What have you done?” Huldfrejya looked from the shift in her hands to the clothes hanging around the room. “I never told you to wash my clothes!”
“Excuse me, miss, but you did order us to clean your chamber,” Poppy said. Her chin was thrust forward and her arms were crossed.
“We thought you would like to have your dresses cleaned and mended. We thought it might make you feel better,” Mae said.
The queen turned her back to the girls and changed into the clean shift, all the while mumbling under her breath. “Nothing makes me feel better.”
Mae climbed onto the bed. Huldfrejya’s frown had smoothed, and the angry wrinkles in her forehead looked as if a hot iron had been laid on them. She ran her hands over the soft fabric of the shift as if she’d never felt something like it before.
“Would you like me to tie it for you?” Mae whispered.
Huldfrejya looked up. Mae thought she saw a small spark of light reflect from the queen’s eyes, but just as suddenly the scowl returned and Huldfrejya snarled at her. “Of course I want you to tie the shift! You are here to serve me.” She pulled her chin up and away as Mae looped the ribbon and tied a loose bow.
“My skirt now.” Huldfrejya snapped her fingers, and Poppy ran over with a royal blue skirt and bodice. The fabric was faded with age. The golden trim was now bronze, but still beautiful. The queen stepped into the skirt and Mae tightened the bodice.
Huldfrejya stepped away and caught a glimpse of herself in the reflection of the window. She froze as if entranced by the image. Her hand rose to touch her matted hair. Then she shook her head and stomped across the room with a scowl. The door whipped open in front of her, creating a large draft. The fire roared and danced. The gargoyle above the mantel squeezed his eyes shut.
The queen stopped and spoke to them without turning. “You two will serve me in the Great Room this evening. Folkvarus will fetch you. And put out that fire.”
The door shut as the queen made her way down the hallway.
Poppy ran her hand through her hair, catching a tangle and working at it with deft fingers. “Well, she would’ve made a much better reflection if she’d combed that piskie’s nest on top of her head.”
“Uh-huh!”
Mae and Poppy started and turned toward the voice. The gargoyle was nodding.
“You can talk?” Mae asked.
The gargoyle’s eyes dropped as he shook his head. “Huh-uh.” His lips worked around his pointed teeth.
“Oh, you can’t open your mouth,” Poppy said.
The gargoyle nodded with sad eyes.
“Well, at least we know we can talk around him, since he can’t tell anybody what we’ve said.” Mae shrugged.
“And the other gargoyles might be able to talk,” Poppy said, “which makes them dangerous. They could be spies for the queen.”
The gargoyle’s eyes grew wide and he shook his head furiously. “Nuh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh.”
Mae tilted her head, thinking. “The other gargoyles aren’t spies?”
With a determined look on his face, the gargoyle turned his head to the right and then to the left in a firm gesture. “NUH-uh!”
“Well, that’s a relief,” Poppy said.
The chamber door opened, and the mop bucket clanged into the room, sloshing water as it drew closer. It dumped its water into the tub. Steam swirled above the copper rim as Mae shooed the bucket back into the corner.
“Do you think it’s safe to check out the passageway when we finish the laundry?” Poppy asked as she pulled the sheets and blankets off the queen’s bed.
Mae bit her lip and shrugged. “I guess now is as good a time as any.”
They dumped the blankets into the washtub and scrubbed them as fast as they could. After wringing and spreading the linens out to dry, the girls looked for the opening in the wall, but all the bricks were tight. Mae searched for a small finger hold or latch, but she saw nothing.
“How did the door open yesterday?” Poppy asked.
“Ish,” the gargoyle said.
“The mop came up the stairs when I magicked the cleaning spell,” Mae answered. “The mop opened the door.”
“So, do you know a spell that will open the door now?”
“Ish!” the gargoyle repeated.
Ish? Mae’s lips quirked to the side as she ran the spells she knew around in her mind. There was one that would open locked cupboards and trunks. Perhaps it would work on locked doors as well. She drew out her wand and pointed it at the door. “Hunigar!”
A flash of blue light filled the room, and the bricks shimmied and shook, but the door did not open. Mae sighed and scrunched her nose with frustration.
“Ish!” the gargoyle yelled.
“Ish?” Poppy raised her eyebrows and hitched a shoulder.
Mae scratched behind her ear. “Ish…fish…wish!”
“Wish? Perhaps the door only opens when we need something that’s down there!” Poppy said.
“So, we should think of something we want that might be down there,” Mae said. It made sense.
A faint roar filtered up the stairway behind the wall and into the chamber.
Poppy shivered. “I don’t think I want anything down there.”
“What if Tory is down there?” Mae asked.
Poppy pulled her lips into a thin line. Her eyes welled with tears. The hidden door creaked open. Mae smiled as she pulled it open farther. She’d had a feeling mentioning Tory would work. “Memories are strong magick.”
Poppy blushed. “I don’t have any magick.”
Mae decided not to argue with her.
The passage was dimly lit by small, rectangular windows cut into the outside wall of the staircase. The smell of fresh dung wafted up, but an autumn breeze also carried cool air into the queen’s stifling chamber. Another roar rose up the staircase, louder this time. The hair on Mae’s ears stood on end.
Poppy gripped Mae’s arm, her nose twitching nervously. “Do you think it leads to the beast Folkvarus told us about? Maybe we should wait.”
“Let’s just go to the bottom of the stairs. If we don’t like what we see, then we’ll turn around,” Mae said.
Poppy chewed her lip. Her ears swiveled forward, alert. “Okay.”
Mae pulled out her wand. “Shine brightly.” The end of her wand illuminated the dim stairway. Poppy twined her arm around Mae’s, and the girls made their way slowly down the curving staircase.
“Why are some spells so fancy and others so plain?” Poppy whispered.
“Some spells are really old, so they use really old, fancy words—those kinds of spells work great for Callum and Aletta, but my magick seems to work best when I just speak my intention.”
The walls were wet and covered with moss and ivy. Tiny streams of water cascaded over the steps, dribbling and dripping toward the bottom. Every ten steps, a new rectangular window shed a little light into the passage. Poppy’s grip on Mae’s arm intensified as they reached the landing. “Is that because you’re a hapenny and not a wizard?”
Mae shrugged. “I’ve never really thought about why it works the way it does.” Her ears swiveled forward as she tried to listen past the sound of dripping water. She heard voices and shoved her wand into her pocket, snuffing out the light.
The girls clung to each other as they peered around the wall.
A large rivulet of water streamed down to their left, and a massive, high-ceilinged chamber opened up before them with cages lining the walls. Their ponies were kept in wooden stalls along the far wall, all nervously rolling their eyes and stamping their feet. It seemed the poor beasts hadn’t gotten used to the trolls yet. In the middle of the room was a huge pile of straw. A copper-colored head bobbed at the bottom of the pile.
“Tory!” Poppy gasped.
Mae barely kept Poppy from bolting across the chamber. She tightened her grip on Poppy’s arm and held her finger to her lips as she gestured to the far side of the room.
A large troll stood watch over the hapennies, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed. More trolls sauntered around the dungeon, poking sticks into the cages and yelling rude remarks. Some sat at rickety tables playing dice, and still others snoozed against the dungeon walls.
Tory, Bailey Bluehill, Horace Brightpath, and Dale Fullmeadow shoveled straw into wheelbarrows. Then Thorain Grumblebrook rolled a full wheelbarrow toward one of the cages. Squinting in the low light, Mae could see a large, furry animal. The head of the animal looked like that of a large bird with piercing gold eyes. The body was thick and heavily pawed. Large wings grew from his back, and his tail swished wildly as he let out a roar that shook the very foundation of the castle.
Mae shivered at the sound.
“That’s the sound we heard in the passageway when we arrived. What kind of animal is it?” Poppy whispered, her voice shaking.
“It’s a gryphon. I saw a drawing of one in a book,” answered Mae. “They normally live at the snowy tops of mountains.”
Thorain held up his hand and talked softly to the beast. The swishing of his tail ceased and the flashing eyes softened. Thorain placed a shaking hand through the bars and on its beak and continued to talk in soothing tones. Mae cringed as a massive paw took a swipe at Thorain, and the beast master snatched his hand away and scrambled out of reach. Poppy sucked in a breath as Tory carried a bucket of water toward the cage and Bailey Bluehill dumped some slop in between the bars. The boys walked backward away from the animal. Mae was sure she wouldn’t want to turn her back on the gryphon, either. Thorain wiped his forehead with his sleeve and nodded to Tory and Bailey. “I guess he doesn’t get any new bedding today, boys.”
Just then, Tory caught sight of the girls peering around the wall. Confusion and then shock filled his face. His eyes shifted around the room, taking in the position of the trolls who lined the walls. He grabbed the water bucket and strode toward them.
Mae’s heart beat hard. What if a troll saw them? Tory stuck the bucket under the streaming water and whispered in a fierce tone, “What are you two doing down here?”
“We found a passageway from the queen’s chamber and wanted to see if it would lead us out of the castle,” Poppy said.
“Go back!” Tory hissed. “The dungeon is not a place you want to be.”
“Is Callum down here too?” Mae asked.
Tory shook his head. “Nor is Arwen, Gilbey, Cook, or Mr. Whiteknoll.”
“Don’t worry about Cook or Mr. Whiteknoll—they’re in the castle. We’ve seen them,” Mae said.
“The others and I are coming up with a plan to get out of here,” Tory said and glanced at the girls. As if seeing them truly for the first time, he gasped.
Maewyn felt her face grow hot.
His gaze swerved to Poppy. “Maewyn, Poppy…your hair!”
Poppy fingered her one braid. “It will grow back, and we’ll figure out a way to get out of here. Mae thinks the castle is enchanted.”
“What’s takin’ ya so long?” A gruff voice echoed off the dungeon walls, and a large troll shuffled toward Tory.
Mae and Poppy pulled back into the stairwell.
They heard Tory walk away, water sloshing from the overfull bucket, and then gathered their courage to peek around the wall once more. Thorain was trying to calm another beast—this one looked like a goat, but he was a little taller, with tufts of hair around his hooves and at the end of his tail. He had a shaggy mane down his neck too, and only a single horn grew from his forehead. A unicorn. As the hapenny laid his hand on the unicorn’s muzzle, a dazzling light filled the dungeon.
The trolls covered their eyes and grumbled about the brightness. Poppy pulled on Mae’s arm. “C’mon, before a troll finds us.”
They scrambled back up the stairway and pushed through the door. “Did you see their reaction to the unicorn?” Mae asked.
Poppy crossed her arms. “The only thing I saw was a bunch of nasty trolls and no way out.”
“Oh, there’s a way out. We just need to find it.” She plopped onto one of the armchairs. The gargoyle above the mantel nodded. His eyes were wide. Mae sat forward. “There is a way out, isn’t there?”
The gargoyle nodded again, but his eyes were sad.
Mae flopped back into the chair and ran her hand through her hair. She was so frustrated she wanted to scream. “But you can’t tell us, because you can’t talk.”
The gargoyle shook his head and lifted his lips, showing off his pointy teeth. He looked like a snarling dog.
“C’mon, we have to remake the bed before she finds out we’ve washed the covers.” Poppy stood and gathered the linens, tossing them onto the bed.
“It’s too bad we didn’t have time to wash the curtains too,” Mae said as she grabbed a corner of t
he bedsheet.
“Oh well, there’s always tomorrow, I guess. It’s not like we are going anywhere soon.” Poppy’s lower lip trembled.
“We can send the owl out and see what happens,” Mae said.
Poppy nodded as she swiped at her tears. The girls made short work of the bed, and as they fluffed the pillows, the chamber door opened. “It’s time to gather with the nasty ones,” the wood nymph said in a singsong voice.
Folkvarus stood in the doorway. “Come, girls. It’s time to learn how to serve your queen in the Great Room.”
“She’s not my queen,” Poppy said under her breath.
Folkvarus struck her with a steely gaze. “She is until you’re back in the Wedge.”
Poppy and Mae exchanged a glance. “How do you know about our village?”
Folkvarus turned and walked down the hall toward the Great Room with Mae and Poppy following on his heels.
“I remember the Wedge as clear as if I’d seen it yesterday.” Folkvarus’s voice was soft. “Rolling green hills, little homes tucked into tree roots or hillsides, the town square with its white statue of an ever-flowing cornucopia, the rune stones that protect the bridge—”
“The rune stones are gone now,” Mae interrupted.
Folkvarus stopped short. “Gone?”
Mae nodded. “Yep.”
“So trolls can come into the village?”
“Not likely,” Poppy said. She hooked her arm with Mae’s and strode past Folkvarus. “Thanks to Mae, your kind won’t be getting in ever again.”
Mae thought she saw a small smile curve upon Folkvarus’s lips as she peered over her shoulder.
Chapter 10
Poppy stopped short of entering the Great Room, her bravado vanishing like the last lavender honey muffin at a hapenny picnic. There were even more trolls in the Great Room today than there were yesterday. Piles of bones littered the crumbling stone floor, mounds of food were piled high on the tables, and fat candles dripped everywhere. Trolls fought over the choicest meats and snatched full goblets from one another, spilling the contents onto themselves, the benches, and the floor. Snarls and growls echoed through the room. They were like a pack of wild dogs fighting over scraps.
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