The Frostwoven Crown (Book 4)

by Andrew Hunter

  "The fairy that taught me to speak Fae," Garrett said, "I just did it to set her free."

  "You did what now?" the fairy asked.

  "I had... I had a friend named Lampwicke," Garrett said, "She's a fairy... I don't know her fairy name. She taught me to speak Fae, and I promised her that I would help her get free of the vampire cage she was in. I found where the Breaking Word was hidden, and I brought it back... I can't even remember how."

  "And set her free?" Shortgrass said.

  "Yeah."

  "The same way ye did for me, back in the slaughterhouse?" Shortgrass said.

  "Uh... yeah, pretty much," Garrett said.

  Shortgrass brushed back his long coppery hair with his hand, blowing air through his cheeks as he thought about it. He gave Garrett another incredulous look. "An' you've no idea at all how you do it?" he demanded.

  "I dunno," Garrett said, "I just sort of... do it."

  "Mother o' Melody, I'm dealin' with a simpleton!" Shortgrass cried to the sky.

  "Hey!" Garrett said.

  "No, that settles it!" Shortgrass muttered to himself, "I've got to take him back. The dreamers'll know what to do with him."

  "The who?" Garrett asked.

  Shortgrass looked up, as if just noticing Garrett again. "Listen close, you great dufflehead," he said, "Yer comin' back with me to the forest, and we're leavin' now."

  "I'm not going anywhere," Garrett scoffed, "I've got stuff to do here."

  "You had stuff ta do here," Shortgrass growled, "Now ya don't. Yer bound to answer the charges o' yer crimes before the Amber Court."

  "What crimes?" Garrett demanded.

  "You'll find out when we get there," Shortgrass quipped.

  "I'm not going anywhere with you," Garrett snorted, shaking his head as he turned to go.

  "Don't make me put the cosheili on ye!" the little fairy shouted.

  "Have a nice trip," Garrett laughed as he walked away.

  "I warned ye!" Shortgrass cried, and then he barked out a strange phrase in Fae, "Te vaardre tu cosheili, na'verrden sha!"

  Garrett felt a warm wave of power wash over his shoulders and dissipate into nothingness as it passed over him without effect.

  "Didn't work," he called without looking back.

  "Te vaardre tu cosheili!" Shortgrass cried out again, louder this time.

  "Still didn't work," Garrett said as he rounded the corner and stepped back onto the street. He nodded again at the naga girl and turned to make his way home.

  Garrett heard a furious buzzing sound and then felt a solid impact against the back of his head.

  "Ow!" Garrett said, spinning to face the blazing golden fairy who swayed drunkenly in the air as though the blow had stunned him far worse than it had Garrett.

  "Yer goin' nowhere but where I say you go!" Shortgrass roared, shaking his head to clear his vision.

  "You're gonna hurt yourself," Garrett sighed.

  Shortgrass darted in again like a flash of golden light, striking Garrett in the center of the forehead.

  "Ah!" Garrett cried, his hand going between his eyes and stars swirling in his vision.

  "Had enough?" Shortgrass mumbled, his light flickering as he circled Garrett in an unsteady arc.

  Garrett shook his head.

  Shortgrass zipped forward again, but this time, Garrett got his elbow up fast enough to block the fairy's attack.

  Shortgrass dropped in a senseless heap at Garrett's feet as the young necromancer danced around, wincing in pain at the impact to his elbow joint.

  When Garrett regained his composure, he looked around to see that a small crowd of satyr children had gathered to watch the rather unusual fight. He smiled and waved at them before stooping to pick up the unconscious fairy and then fleeing the scene.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Garrett paused at the door of Warren's house, realizing only then that it was a real door and not the ragged canvas flap that had hung in the doorframe for as long as he could remember. He looked down at his feet and noticed then that the walkway had been swept clean all the way out to the shadowy lane of the subterranean neighborhood. He squinted and held his witchfire torch a little higher, marveling at the fresh coat of paint that now covered the old stones of the ancient house, though its color was impossible to make out in the flickering green light. A warm, honey-colored glow emanated through curtained windows of real glass in the frames where only broken shards and cobwebs had been before Lady Ymowyn's arrival.

  Garrett snuffed out his torch and stuck it in his bag before knocking lightly on the door of the house.

  The door wrenched open to reveal Warren hulking in the entryway beyond.

  "Hi, Gar," the ghoul greeted him, "What happened to your face?"

  "I got in a fight with Claude," Garrett said, "Can I come in?"

  "Yeah," Warren said, stepping aside to wave him in. "What's that?" he asked, indicating the unconscious fairy cradled in the crook of Garrett's left arm.

  "I got in a fight with a fairy too," Garrett said as he stepped inside.

  "Evenin' Garrett," Bargas called from the fireside where he lay upon a low cot, covered with an enormous quilt with a patchwork pattern of eggs and hens checkering it.

  "Hi, everybody!" Garrett said.

  Lady Ymowyn rose from the chair where she had been snapping pea pods for their evening meal. She looked Garrett up and down, her green eyes wide. "What happened to your face?" she demanded.

  Garrett touched his fingertips to the claw marks on his left cheek. "Vampire fight," he said, and then touched the tender spot on his forehead, "Fairy fight."

  Ymowyn's lips curled incredulously. "I know I said to do something stupid, but, Garrett..."

  "I also broke into the temple and almost got turned into a skeleton... oh, Banden's gone now."

  "What?" Ymowyn choked.

  "No, I mean he left, after the skeleton thing," Garrett said, "He's all right though, but they did try to kill us, so I had to go and join the Templars for real, but I don't really like it much. Last night we went outside the city and attacked a bunch of Neshite people, I guess because the roach guy was Neshite, and the High Priestess wanted to question the other Neshite people. The Templar guys wanted me to beat up a bunch of kids, but I didn't do it, so now they're mad at me, I think..."

  Lady Ymowyn stared at him with her mouth open.

  "Aaand I tried to become a vampire, but the vampire guy wanted me to kill this fairy, and I wouldn't do that either, so he said I wasn't ready to be a vampire and kicked me out... um, then the fairy guy wanted to arrest me for stealing the Songreaver word or something, and I wouldn't go with him, so we fought about that, and I... accidentally knocked him out... I was hoping that you could help him."

  Ymowyn said nothing, her eyes going to the fairy and then back to Garrett's face. She squinted at him in disbelief.

  Warren shrugged. "Made sense to me," he said.

  "You wanted to be a vampire?" Bargas groaned, "Why, boy?"

  Garrett's eyes fell. "I just thought I could be with Marla then," he said.

  Bargas shook his head. "No, boy..." he coughed and then coughed again.

  Ymowyn leaned across to offer the old ghoul a cup of tea.

  Bargas sipped at the cup and nodded his thanks with a pained expression.

  "What happened with Claude?" Warren asked.

  "He was being a nob," Garrett sighed, "and I told him to stuff it... we started fighting then, and I sicced the zombie rats on him. He scratched my face pretty bad, but I knocked one of his fangs out."

  "Really?" Warren asked, his face brightening.

  "Yeah!" Garrett said, "But then Klavicus came in and broke it up... He pretty much told me not to ever come back to the vampire embassy again."

  "That's not fair!" Warren rumbled.

  "No, I think he's afraid of what the other vampires would do if they found out about the Songreaver thing," Garrett said.

  "He knows?" Ymowyn asked, stepping forward to take the fairy from Garrett
's arms.

  "Yeah, he figured it out somehow when he licked me," Garrett said.

  Warren pulled a disgusted face.

  "You don't want to know," Garrett shuddered.

  "Will he tell anyone?" Ymowyn asked, setting the unconscious Shortgrass down on a small mound of napkins on the table.

  "I don't think so," Garrett said, "but Mister Jannis, the vampire tailor, figured it out when I was asking him about how to become a vampire... He's gonna tell somebody for sure."

  Ymowyn shared a worried look with Bargas.

  "Maybe you'd better stay with us for a while," Warren said.

  "No, I'm fine," Garrett said, waving off their concerns, "You know, the more I think about it, the more I think I could've taken Claude if Klavicus hadn't shown up." Garrett remembered the splintered broom handle hefted in his hands like a spear. He pantomimed a sure thrust directly at the memory of Claude's stupid chest. He laughed, and a little cloud of frost rolled from his lips.

  "Cramps, Garrett!" Warren exclaimed.

  "What?" Garrett said, breaking from his reverie to see Warren and Ymowyn staring at him, wide-eyed. Bargas shook his head and coughed out a ragged breath.

  "Never shoulda gone diggin'..." Bargas coughed, "You don't dig that deep, boy... not that deep."

  "This is going too far, Garrett," Lady Ymowyn hissed, "You need help!"

  "Yeah," Garrett said, "That's why I'm here. I don't know what to do with this fairy guy. He says he's some sort of important fairy official or something and he wants to take me back to the fairy court to stand trial, and I've gotta get back to Logate in like an hour... Cramps! I still have to run home and get dressed for Templar stuff! Can you look after this fairy guy for me?"

  "Garrett, let me look at you!" Ymowyn said stepping up to grab his shoulders.

  "No, really, I have to go!" Garrett said, pushing her away gently... only she staggered backward as though he had shoved her.

  "Garrett!" Warren barked, reaching out with a restraining paw.

  "I'm fine!" Garrett insisted, shrugging free of the ghoul's grasp.

  Warren's eyes went wide, and he looked at his father.

  "Hold him, boy!" Bargas growled as he rolled out from beneath his blanket.

  Warren lunged toward Garrett, but Garrett shoved him back with such force that the ghoul cracked the fresh plaster on the entryway wall.

  "Sorry!" Garrett said, lifting his hands in apology, "I really have to go! I'm sorry!"

  Ymowyn glanced at Bargas with fear in her eyes, and the great patchy-haired ghoul growled as he faced Garrett, flattening his long ears against his head.

  "I'm sorry!" Garrett said again, "I'll be back later, but right now, I 've really got to go!" He backed toward the door, feeling for the handle.

  Warren let out a long, warbling howl, and then joined his father's wary advance toward the young necromancer.

  "You guys are taking this way too seriously!" Garrett laughed, "I really am fine! I just..." he wrenched the door open, breaking the unopened latch in the process.

  "Oh, crix! Sorry about that!" Garrett said, looking down at the broken latch.

  Warren lunged forward tackling Garrett, and the two of them spilled out onto the front walk.

  "Get off me!" Garrett roared, shoving Warren away with all his might.

  A cloud of icy mist trailed Warren's body as he hurled through the air, smashing into one of the two columns of stone that marked the original location of the yard's front gate. The column crumbled into ruin atop the stunned ghoul.

  "I'm fine!" Garrett shouted, standing up and dusting himself off as he spun to face Bargas who had just emerged from the doorway.

  "I don't want to hurt you, boy!" Bargas yelled, his long arms spread wide.

  "Then leave me alone!" Garrett cried, frost billowing from his lips.

  "You need help, Garrett!" Ymowyn said, almost weeping, "Garrett, let us help you!"

  "Back off!" Garrett said, holding his hands out between himself and the advancing elder ghoul.

  Suddenly, Warren hit him again from behind, his massive arms locked around Garrett's waist as he drove him to the ground.

  Garrett screamed in rage as he hammered blow after blow down upon the shaggy gray monster that held him fast. Another one snatched him by the right arm, a larger beast still, and Garrett slammed his free fist into the thing's nose, knocking it away.

  Garrett managed to get his feet under him and levered himself upward, smashing his elbow down into the face of the monster that held him from behind. Three solid hits were all it took to free him from its grasp.

  Garrett staggered away, facing the injured dog creatures as he retreated. An icy storm howled in his ears, scattering his thoughts, and a fine blue mist trailed from his lips as he swayed, trying to regain his balance.

  "Don't touch me!" he shrieked.

  More of the beasts had gathered, surrounding him now. He was going to have to fight his way out.

  "Garrett, what's wrong?" said one of the creatures, leaner than the rest.

  "Don't touch him, Scupp!" the one that had tackled him shouted, but the lean dog creature did not heed the other's warning and reached out toward Garrett with its loathsome paw.

  "Get back!" Garrett shouted, driving his fist into the side of the dog-thing's head.

  It went down with a startled yelp.

  "Scupp!" another of the beasts howled, springing to the fallen creature's side. It looked up at him with confusion on its bestial face.

  "It's not Garrett now!" the fox-thing shouted from the doorway, "Don't touch him!"

  "Don't ever touch me!" Garrett screamed, turning to face the creatures that circled him, "Not ever!"

  Garrett stared down at his hands then. They were flexed into claws with frosty vapors steaming off of his ice-crusted skin. He smiled at the sight of it, letting out a boyish giggle.

  "Hey, Warren," Garrett laughed, "Look at this..."

  Garrett's body crumpled as an icy river crashed in upon him, driving him down into the soft, black, bottomless mud below.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  "Why did you bring him here?" Annalien spoke from somewhere above the surface of the river, her voice muffled as though he heard it through a thick layer of ice. A golden glow shimmered through the ice, sending little tendrils of light down into the cold darkness below.

  "The message on his arm," Lady Ymowyn's voice answered, "I didn't know what else to do."

  "Cover that up!" Annalien hissed, "Cover it up now!"

  "You know what he is, don't you?" a thin, weary voice spoke next, the fairy known as Shortgrass.

  "I know," Annalien answered sadly, "It's my fault he's done it."

  "Your fault?" Shortgrass cried, "Bless ye for it, then, but couldn' ya have chosen a more worthy vessel o' deliverance fer our people?"

  "Deliverance?" Annalien spat, "Deliverance? Do you not know your own doom when you look upon it?"

  "He's a boy!" Ymowyn cried, "He's a good boy, and he needs our help!"

  "He's dead, girl!" Annalien cried, "Can you not look in his eyes and see it for yourself? Is it my curse as well to go on seeing and seeing what others cannot, long after I should have left this foul, wretched nightmare of a world?"

  "Pah! Spare me yer moanin', she-elf," Shortgrass snapped, "Yer dead, I know, but ye serve the same Song as I, so focus, dear, and tell me what ya know."

  "He went off in search of the Songreaver's power," Annalien sighed, "He did it to save a fairy he loved... Forgive me, but he got the idea from me... I talk too much sometimes... tell too many stories."

  "You mean this whole time the Wyrd's been here under yer nose," Shortgrass cried, "and you let it rot... while our people languish in chains above?"

  "You think he brings your freedom?" Annalien scoffed, "You think this is the face of your savior, here before you?"

  "Well, 'tis an ugly mug, I'll give ya that," Shortgrass laughed, "but I'll lay a thousand kisses upon it or any other part he offers up, if he'll do fer others what he d
id fer me!"

  "You are a fool then for not seeing the price of that freedom," Annalien said, "Believe me, there are worse fates in this world than slavery."

  "I take it ye've not spent much time as a slave then?" Shortgrass asked.

  "It doesn't matter now!" Ymowyn said, "What's done is done, and this boy needs your help!"

  "This boy needs a tomb to sleep in!" Annalien hissed.

  Garrett tried to protest. He didn't feel dead. Then again, the weight of the icy river on his chest held him down in the soft black mud, and it seemed too much effort to talk.

  "He's not dead!" Ymowyn cried, desperation in her voice.

  "And what interest is it to you, soul-eater?" Annalien asked, "Thought you'd have a try at a taste of old ghost, or have you come to gloat over the Lost Sister's bones?"

  "No," Ymowyn sighed, "I have nothing to gloat about... There is nothing I have done of which I am proud."

  "Mother o' Mystery!" Shortgrass groaned, "Kin ye both spare me the dramatics an' give me a straight answer? How am I haulin' this great icy ball o' songreavin' back to tha folks at home?"

  "You think I would help you take this abomination into the very heart of the wood?" Annalien scoffed, "Send you home with this cold, twisted thing that will only unravel every blessed song the Fair Mother ever wove?"

  "Well, yeah, that's a pretty fair appraisal o' what I'm goin' ta do," Shortgrass said, "I don't know that you've had much a look around since ya... you know... died, but things are awful bad out there, and gettin' worse by the day. Weren't for this boy, I'd be naught but a shriveled husk in a pretty wee cage by now."

  "You're free, be glad of it!" Annalien said, "But don't expect that's the only trick this thing knows how to play. First he'll unravel all the black spells that the vampires wove, and you'll all stand around singing his praises... but then he'll start in on the other spells, the bright, happy spells, plucking at the loose threads of magic, because he just can't stand to leave 'em alone. Then the trees start to die, and the unicorns forget their names, and the summer turns to frost, and all that is good and green in the world begins to fade. Then maybe you'll look back and wish you hadn't lived to see it after all."

  "Yer the dreariest old ghost I've ever met. I'll give ya that!" Shortgrass laughed.