Claire looked away, wanting to give the newly found family privacy. And she also needed to ask the unicorn a question—so many questions!
She made to move out of the tent, but the dizziness she’d felt earlier swung back in, and suddenly, Claire found herself falling, tumbling toward Nadia’s plush carpet.
“Claire? Claire!”
She heard someone calling her name. Sophie. Maybe Nett.
“What’s wrong with her?”
She was on the ground, and could feel someone grasping her arm. Then she heard words, full of fear, reply: “Slug soot, that’s a Spyden’s bite! How long has she had it? Claire, hold on!”
But Claire had already let go.
CHAPTER
25
Claire woke to constellations painted on a stone ceiling—strangely familiar constellations that reminded her of the tower bedroom she and Sophie had shared at Starscrape Citadel. But Greenwood was at least two weeks’ journey from Stonehaven. So she couldn’t be at the Citadel unless … Had she slept for two weeks? Startled, she tried to sit up.
“Hold up there, no need to be in a stitch,” said the warm and friendly voice of Aunt Nadia. Her aunt’s face broke into a smile. “Everyone will be very glad to see you’re awake.”
“Claire!” Nett popped his head over. “About time!”
“Nett!” Claire said. This was all getting more and more confusing. “What are you doing in Stonehaven? Where’s Sophie? Where’s the unicorn?”
Nett shook his head. “I thought I asked a lot of questions.”
Leaning against the pillows, Claire saw she was indeed back in their room, but with some adjustments. A few chairs had been pulled up around her bed, along with crumpled blankets. “Sophie and Sena and her parents have been checking on you, though I came in so they could help with the war preparations,” Nadia explained as she followed Claire’s gaze.
“War?” Claire asked. “How long have I been asleep?” She was worried. Magic had never before exhausted her so much.
“Not so long,” Nett said, coming to stand next to her. “Especially when you consider the fact that you let Spyden venom fester in your blood for days! Why didn’t you tell anyone that a Spyden bit you? The poison is slow-acting, but if not removed, it starts shutting everything down.”
Claire shook her head. “It didn’t hurt anymore, so I didn’t know!”
Nett shook his head incredulously. “Well, you’re fine now, Nadia made sure of that. Anyway, after we freed the Steeles and the unicorn from the Way Between, you passed out for the entire day, and now it’s nearing midnight.”
“Of the same day?” Claire asked incredulously. “But how did we get here so quickly? And are all the guilds with us? What did the grandmasters say? Where are the tines?”
Nett came to sit next to Claire. “It’s the unicorn,” he said. “With him around, everything is just … more.” He shook his head, seemingly at a loss for words, which, considering it was Nett, was something. “The chimera move twice as fast and the Spinners’ cloaks can catch even the tiniest breeze, as though they were great gales.”
“And then there’s the jumbled magic,” Nadia added. “As non–Woven Root people are realizing, the combination of crafts can lead to incredible innovations, like Ten League Horseshoes.”
Nett nodded. “As soon as the guilds saw the unicorn, there could be no mistaking what we had told them. They ended up listening to Nadia pretty snappily, especially after the unicorn galloped to her.”
“Where’s the unicorn now?” Claire asked. The wonder of it all still hung with her, even though it did really feel like a dream, between the mist and now being in Stonehaven.
“Around,” Nett said, waving his hand vaguely. “He kind of appears and then reappears as needed. Celina Cerebella once wrote that unicorns were more fact than matter, which means, of course—”
“Nettle, hush,” Nadia said. “You’re just confusing her more! I’ll explain.”
And so Claire settled back in her pillows and let her great-aunt make sense of it all for her.
When the unicorn had arrived at dawn, the Tillers, Spinners, and Forgers had quickly come to believe what Nadia, Claire, and her friends had shared. And all agreed on one thing: it was essential to protect the unicorn, especially if Estelle’s goal was to make the wraiths able to withstand sunlight by some use of his heart.
Messages of all natures had been sent throughout Arden, informing the many villages and towns to up their wraith protections, while all those who had been at Hilltop Palace and fled to Greenwood would now make up the unicorn’s escort and guard at Starscrape Citadel, the only place big enough and secure enough to house them all.
“But what about the Everless Wall?” Claire interjected. “I thought Queen Estelle did something to it so that it wouldn’t let anyone out or in!”
“That’s true,” Nett said. “But Estelle hadn’t counted on the Forger Blades working in tandem with Tiller Roots and Spinner Ropes. The entrance revealed itself pretty quickly.”
The goal, Nadia continued to explain to Claire, who could hardly believe her ears, was to draw out Queen Estelle, away from everyone else and have her meet … Queen Nadia.
“Queen Nadia!” Claire said, surprised and delighted. “You’ve been crowned!”
“Not yet,” Nadia said.
Claire’s delight faltered. “But we did it! And everyone’s here! Why haven’t—” she stopped as Nadia held her hand.
“We’ve been waiting for the last tine.” Nadia stared meaningfully at Claire.
“I—oh!” Heat rose in Claire’s cheeks as she remembered how she’d taken the Stone Tine from the Seed Cellar. “It’s in my pocket.”
“And that pocket,” Nadia said with a slight smile, “happens to be a Lock-it Pocket, which as you know—”
“Means only the person who puts the thing in can take it out,” Claire said, quickly slipping her hand into her tunic’s pocket to pull out the Stone Tine.
As one, Nadia, Claire, and Nett stared down at the crown’s point. It was as smooth as night on water, and just as mysterious.
“Yes,” Nadia said quietly, her expert eye taking in the treasured artifact. “That is, indeed, the Gemmers’ tine.”
“Take it!” Claire said, holding it out to Nadia. “Join it with the others! Go be queen!”
But Nadia tucked Claire’s fingers gently back over it. “The other three tines are being reforged at this very moment. It’s been difficult and delicate work to combine the tines, and has taken up the whole day and night, but they should be ready for you now.” She stood up. “If you’re feeling up for it, would you do me the very great honor of bringing it to them now? I need to watch over the more complicated jumbled magic we’re adding to the wall.”
“I’m fine!” Claire said, swinging her legs over the bed. It wasn’t a lie. The room hardly spun at all. She pressed the precious bit of metal to her heart once. Its thin song flowed into her. “Where is it being reforged?”
After Nadia gave her directions, she and Nett—who wanted to help with some preamble training—left Claire so that she could change into fresh clothes.
After peeling off her dirt-streaked Forger shirt, Claire quickly pulled on a thick woolen tunic in a soft red, tugged on some goat-hair boots, slung her Hollow Pack across her shoulder, and tucked her pencil behind her ear. Last, she checked to make sure the Stone Tine was secure in the front pocket of her bag. She was ready. But before she hurried out, a gleam caught her eye. Next to the standing wardrobe was a silver breastplate, and a note:
Light as a petal but strong as steel, please wear this with our gratitude. It will never rust but do make sure to run a polishing rag over it now and again.
—Mathieu and Sylvia
Grinning, Claire snapped the breastplate over her clothes. There was a slight clanging as the metal adjusted to her, contracting itself ever so slightly so that it was a perfect fit. Glimpsing herself in the polished stone mirror that stood next to the wardrobe, Claire caught
her breath.
She didn’t just look brave. She looked fearless.
And she felt fearless.
All her friends were here, with her. Sophie was safe. The guilds, for the first time in three hundred years, were working together. The unicorn had returned. And soon enough, Nadia would be crowned queen.
She ran out the door and stepped into the hallway—and almost stopped in her tracks.
Starscrape Citadel was a large and sprawling complex, and while it was home to a few hundred Gemmers, it had never felt even close to full. Tonight, however, it was full to bursting. For the first time, noise rang out in every section of the marble hallways. Claire had to dodge and duck Forgers adding sun steel to the tips of the Spinner nets, while outside through the windows, Claire could see Tillers coaxing as much foliage as they could: roses, vines, mosses—anything that could help protect them from the wraiths. Gemmers raced up and down the corridors, carrying polished Gemglows and guiding the new arrivals through the labyrinth Citadel. As she watched, she saw kindly Master Pumus lead a group of Gemmer and Forger journeymen, bows slung over their shoulders, in the direction of the armory.
From what Nadia had shared, Claire knew that they did not expect Estelle’s attack until tomorrow night. News of the unicorn’s return and the Everless Wall opening again had probably reached the Royalists by now, but grandmasters and generals didn’t think she would have had time to react. Tomorrow, too, would be safe—until sunset, at least.
“She won’t attack without her wraiths,” Nadia had said with confidence. “Especially not now, when she knows we have two unicorns with us.”
Claire hoped her aunt was right.
She ran by a few classrooms and saw that while the apprentices weren’t allowed outside, many of them were crouched over Lode Arrows and Mulchbombs, making sure that the watch would be well equipped whenever the queen attacked. Another turn and she passed a courtyard filled with Spinners and Gemmers being led in sword drills by Sylvia and Sena Steele. At another door, she recognized the pearly light of Nett’s marimo trickling out, and as she hurried past, she saw he was busy teaching a bunch of Gemmer preambles how to water plants properly. “Everyone should be able to do this,” he was saying. “Even if you’re not a Tiller. Happy plants equal more sunlight equal no wraiths, got it?”
Soon, Claire found herself in a dark courtyard lit by Gemglows, where a makeshift forge had been built. She recognized the large figure of Scythe looming over the anvil. With each swing of his hammer, he sent orange sparks into the night sky, which illuminated the other figures standing around him, assisting: Grandmaster Carnelian, Mathieu Steele, and, to her utmost astonishment, Mistress Weft. With a look of great concentration, she used a silk fan to direct wind currents to specific parts of the blaze, adjusting the fire’s heat.
“Elaina! Er, I mean, Claire! ”
Surprised, Claire turned to see Lyric rush at her, her many braids flying out behind her. With a squeal, Lyric wrapped her arms around Claire’s waist. She still wore bits and pieces of her white Starfell costume, but a Forger’s warm leather coat had been thrown over her shoulders. “I can’t believe what you’ve been up to! Your stories even make our Spyden adventure seem tame. How did you—”
“That’s enough, Lyric,” Mistress Weft called, looking up. Smoke had tinged her ruffled apron gray, and though she looked weary, she didn’t seem mad that Claire had lied to her. “Hello, Princess Claire. Did you bring the Stone Tine?”
Claire nodded and pulled the tine from her pack. Grandmaster Carnelian smiled at Claire. He seemed thinner than before, and now he sat in a wheeled chair with tourmaline spokes—the consequence of his great battle with Jasper and the ensuing days of seige by Estelle. His eyes flashed as he accepted the Stone Tine.
With expert fingers, he examined the piece of crown. “Are the flames hot enough, Scythe?”
“Yes, sir,” the Forger called back.
Carnelian rolled his chair toward the flame. “Then let’s finish this and go after that miserable, mesmerizing manipulator. Now please, everyone stand back!”
Claire did, and she watched as the Grandmaster of Stonehaven used his glassblowing instruments to manipulate the tine in the heat. Its edges warped, looking almost molten. With a look of great concentration, he slipped the tine into its place.
“Water!” Scythe called, and Mathieu hurried forward with a wooden bucket. A second later, there was a hiss and enough steam for Claire to wonder for a second if they were back in Silver Way.
The four adults collapsed on a nearby bench, clearly spent.
Scythe gestured for Claire to move to the bucket. There, at the bottom, sparkled the Crown of Arden, each of its tines submerged beneath the water.
The most powerful object ever crafted, capable of twisting rivers and moving mountains—reforged, once more.
Claire plunged her hand into the water and grasped the Crown of Arden. It was whole in her hand and she felt a warm flush of triumph race through her, but as she lifted it from the water, she began to frown.
The song, it was there, but it was still so quiet. Claire had thought that when the tines were connected, they would be as loud as they had been in the pencil’s memory.
“Go on, then,” Grandmaster Carnelian said. “Bring it to Nadia. Hurry!”
Clare tried to shake her uncomfortable feeling loose. She had the Crown of Arden. In just a few minutes, her aunt would officially be queen.
“I’m not sure where Nadia is,” Claire admitted. “She said she would be on the wall, but I don’t know where.”
“Here!” Lyric said, and she pulled out her ball of yarn. She tied a knot around Claire’s finger and the string began to gleam. Lyric made one last twist then said, “The B.P.S. should take you straight to Mayor Nadia. I mean, the almost-queen! Oh, this is so exciting!” She threw her arms around Claire, giving her a spontaneous squeeze.
“Thank you,” Claire said, trying to smile, but something was pushing on her. Something about the crown and Lyric … but she couldn’t think what.
And so, she let the B.P.S. drop from her hand and began to jog after the gleaming golden thread and back into the Citadel. Following the B.P.S., Claire found herself in a part of the Citadel she’d never been in before. While she could still hear the clamor of Starscrape’s preparations, no one seemed to be working over here. The only things she saw were goat-chewed signs proclaiming the following corridors off-limits—for good reason, too, Claire was sure. Bits of the Citadel were always in danger of crumbling off the mountain.
She wondered if the B.P.S. was really working. After all, Nadia had said she would be outside, overseeing the jumbled magic. She clutched the Crown of Arden so tight, she could feel the Love Knot pressing into her palms.
Claire was about to turn around and head back when a pearly glow caught her eye. The marimo? But she knew Nett was in the classroom. Which meant …
The unicorn.
And suddenly, she realized what had bugged her. Why the crown’s song wasn’t as clear as it should be. Lyric had said the Crown of Arden had been blessed by unicorns.
Before it could be truly whole again—could sing again—the unicorn needed to set his horn upon it!
Claire turned left, ignoring both the B.P.S., which continued to roll right, as well as the signs that read Forbidden. There was no more room in her for rules, not when her question had grown so big. She had to speak to the unicorn and make him listen to her. Make him understand what he’d done when he’d transformed the wish into Sophie’s heart and turn her back into only a human girl, and nothing else.
Claire broke into a run.
But she always just missed the unicorn, catching only a glimpse of white as he rounded another corner. Her breath came loud and fast, and her first steps echoed heavily. She reached the next corner, then stopped. Two corridors branched in front of her, one left and one right … but neither held the glow of the unicorn. Holding her breath, she tried to make out the delicate clip of hooves on stone, but all she
heard was a slight rustle to her right, behind a closed wooden door. She pushed it open.
“Claire?”
“Sophie!” Claire stepped inside. It was a small room for the Citadel, and aside from two sapphire Gemglows in one corner and a looming statue of someone Claire thought might be King Anders, there was just Sophie here. No unicorn—well, not a four-legged one.
Sophie gasped as she saw what was in Claire’s hand. “The Crown of Arden! It’s been remade!”
“Yes,” Claire said. “I need to give it to Nadia but I’m looking for the unicorn first. What are you doing here?”
Sophie made a face. “Nadia didn’t tell anyone about my, um, condition, but she did tell them that Queen Estelle would be targeting me, as the oldest Martinson girl. So everyone’s roots and spectacles and whatnot have all been on me. Hovering—and you know how I hate hovering!”
Claire did.
Sophie shook her head. “I needed to go someplace where I could just be …” she trailed off and finished with “be.” She waved her arm around them. “So here I am.”
“Which is where?” Claire asked, pulling out her pink marble to take a better look. Its rosy light mixed with the sapphires’ blue, washing everything in lavender. The room was octagonal in shape, and the ceiling arched into a dome above them. Claire realized they had to be in one of the many squat little towers that ran the edge of the precipice, one of the towers long ago abandoned by the Gemmers as superfluous and left to collapse. No wonder there had been so many Forbidden signs.
“I’ve never been here before,” she said, and her eyes fell to the floor. Among the marble flagstones sparkled a mosaic of a unicorn. Its hooves were lifted proudly, and its spiraling horn glittered in the light. It seemed to have been set with bits of opal shards and diamond dust.
“I don’t think many people have,” Sophie said. “I discovered it when you were taking your Gemmer lessons— Don’t give me that look! I wasn’t snooping. A goat got stuck down here. Anyway,” Sophie said, giving a dignified tug to the narrow sleeve of her gown, “it just seemed like a place I could be alone and, you know, try to do magic.” She nodded toward the statue’s base, where Claire could just make out a pile of loose jewels as well as some books, remnants of a time when Sophie didn’t know she was a Spinner or what the unicorn had done to her.
Fire in the Star Page 22
