The Faerie Ring

by Kiki Hamilton

  Tiki handed over a silver coin.

  Mr. Lloyd leaned over the counter and adjusted his glasses as he handed her the bottle. “Give her a spoonful of this three times a day.”

  “What should I do if she gets a fever?”

  The man unrolled his sleeves and then took the coin she offered. “St. Bart’s will take emergency cases, but that’s only if you can get in. Long lines up there.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “And there’s the Great Ormond Street Hospital up in Bloomsbury. They only take care of children.” He flipped the silver coin in the air. “But if I were you, I’d pray she don’t get one.” He grimaced and drew a finger across his neck in a slicing motion.

  Tiki gripped the bottle as she left the apothecary’s shop and slid it into the same pocket which held the ring. The worn fabric felt warm to her touch, almost as if the flames embedded in the stone had infused her pocket with an unusual heat. But she didn’t dare keep the thing. Her brush with Prince Leo had almost been disaster. Better to return the ring to the elm tree for safekeeping until she could figure out a plan to sell it.

  The park was sparsely populated when she arrived, the cold weather keeping most people indoors. She was pleased to find the area around the elm tree vacant and she scrambled into the tree unseen. When it came time to shove the ring back into the hole, she hesitated, toying once again with the idea of keeping it with her. The flames seemed to flicker, as if sending her a secret message, and she stared, mesmerized, into the heart of the stone for a long moment.

  But in the end, common sense won out and she carefully covered the dirty scrap of cloth that held the beautiful stone with moss until the tiny package was impossible to detect. Still shaken by her close call with Prince Leo earlier, Tiki didn’t linger. She shot a quick glance around the park, then jumped from the branch and ran for home.

  The sun was on the wane as Tiki neared Charing Cross. Rather than walk through the middle of the station and possibly catch the eye of a bobby, she cut through the alley that ran alongside the station. There was a door there that led to the maintenance tunnels for the building. From the tunnels a sliding panel provided the back door to their small home.

  Her nerves were so ragged from her encounter with both Rieker and the prince that she was jumping at shadows. All the way home she’d imagined that she was being followed. She saw shadowy faces, but when she looked again, they’d be gone. Tiki shook her head and shuddered. Maybe it was just guilt over stealing the ring.

  “Are you cold, Tiki?”

  “No, Fi, I’m just tired. I ended up walking a long way today and my feet hurt.” Tiki shrugged her coat off as she moved toward Fiona, who sat on the floor near the stove at the back of the room.

  Fiona adjusted the blanket that was wrapped around her shoulders. “Well, I’m cold. It’s freezing in here today. Shamus went out to try and snitch some coal.” She pulled her makeshift wrap tighter across her chest. “I hope he finds some.”

  Tiki spied Clara huddled in some blankets next to Fiona.

  “Is she sleeping?” Clara’s hoarse breathing was clearly audible.

  Fiona nodded. She glanced down and smoothed the white blond curls from the little girl’s face. “Her cough is gettin’ worse again.”

  “She sounds like she can’t breathe.” Toots was perched in his usual spot, spying through a knothole onto one of the thoroughfares of the train station.

  Fiona adjusted the blankets around Clara. “Did you get something for her?”

  Tiki tried to push away the panic that threatened to engulf her. She dug into the pockets of her coat and pulled out a small bottle. “Mr. Lloyd gave me this. We’re supposed to give her a spoonful three times a day.”

  “Do we have a spoon?”

  Tiki cradled the small girl in her arms. “No, but she can just take a sip out of the bottle.” She gave Clara a gentle shake. “Clara? Wake up.”

  Clara opened her eyes. “Teek, you’re home.” Her words ended in a gurgling cough. “I’ve been waitin’ for you.”

  “No, you’ve been sleeping again,” Toots said from his perch by the peephole.

  “Have not.” Clara pushed herself upright to glare across the room at Toots.

  “Shhh.” Tiki held a finger to her lips, motioning for Toots to be quiet. His orange mop of hair looked bright even in the shadows. “Stop it. Clara, I need you to take a sip of this. It should help your cough.”

  Clara eyed the brown bottle. “What is it?”

  “It’s medicine. Now be a good girl and take a drink.”

  The little girl took a sip and made a face. Her shoulders shook as she slipped into a spasm of coughing.

  “Did you swallow it?”

  Clara nodded.

  “Good.” Tiki tightened her grip on the frail little girl and held her close for a minute. She would give up the ring in a second if it would buy the four-year-old’s well-being. But that was the whole problem—it took money to buy good health, to get the proper medicines to cure an ailment. And the ring was their only hope of getting enough money to afford a home of their own someday.

  “Will you tell us another story, Tiki?” Clara gave Tiki a hopeful look. “One of those stories your mum used to tell you.”

  “Yeah, I’d like to hear a story, too.” Toots moved away from the wall and came to sit closer to Tiki and the girls. “Tell us the one about the faerie who captured that soldier.”

  “Yes, please.” Fiona looked up at her expectantly.

  “All right,” Tiki said. A story might be a good way to get her mind off the ring and Rieker. “He wasn’t a soldier. He was the grandson of the Earl of Roxburgh, and it begins like this.” Tiki affected a thick Scottish brogue.

  “Oh, heed my warning, maidens all,

  Who wear gold in yer hair.

  Keep well away frae Cauterhaugh,

  For young Tam Lin is there.”

  Clara giggled at her accent. “You sound funny, Tiki.”

  “Aye, it’s because I’m Scottish, young lass.” Tiki smiled at the little girl as she launched into the story. “Even though she had been warned, a young maiden named Janet went into Cauterhaugh Wood to pick the wild roses near a certain well. No sooner had she plucked the first stem when a young man named Tam Lin appeared. He asked her why she had taken something from Cauterhaugh without his command. Janet explained that her father owned the wood and had given it to her.”

  Tiki pulled a blanket closer around Clara’s shoulders.

  “Well, this young man was very handsome, and Janet spent the day with him, dallying in the sunshine. It was near twilight when her lover suddenly disappeared, and Janet feared that he was a faerie. But even so, when she left that day, she was sure she was in love.”

  “A faerie?” Clara squeaked.

  Tiki nodded. “It wasn’t long after she returned home that Janet’s father noticed that she was going to have a baby. When he asked Janet about the father, she told him that he was a faerie and they were in love.”

  “Can faeries and humans fall in love?” Clara asked.

  “Shhh,” Fiona said. “Listen to the story.”

  “Well,” Tiki continued, “Janet returned to Cauterhaugh Wood and went straight to the well, where she pulled an herb that grew there. Immediately Tam Lin appeared. Janet was desperate to find a way to stay with her love. So she said to him:

  You must tell to me, Tam Lin,

  Ah, you must tell to me.

  Were you once a mortal knight

  Or mortal hall did see?”

  Tiki lowered her voice. “Tam Lin told Janet that he had been human once. When hunting in the wood one day, he had fallen from his horse. It was then that the Faerie Queen had stolen him away.”

  “Where did she take him?” Clara asked in a worried tone. “Did she keep him forever?”

  Tiki shook her head, a solemn expression on her face. “No. You see, every seven years faeries have to make a payment. It’s called a tithe.”

  “A payment?” Toots interrupted. “Who do
they pay?”

  “Shush, Toots.” Fiona glared at him. “That’s not important. Go on, Tiki.”

  Tiki started again. “The important part was that Tam Lin was afraid he was going to be the payment. He needed to escape before the Faerie Queen sacrificed him.”

  “How?” Clara asked. Then with a gasp she covered her mouth with her hand and looked at Fiona with wide eyes.

  Tiki ignored the interruption. “Tam Lin had a plan. But it was dangerous. He needed Janet’s help. Here’s what he said:

  Tomorrow night is Samhein

  And the Faerie Folk do ride

  Those that would their true love win

  At Miles Cross must hide.”

  “What’s Samhein?” Toots asked.

  “Samhein is summer’s end,” Tiki said. “Right around the end of October when the harvests are over. It’s said that the veil between our world and the Otherworld is at its thinnest then.”

  “Tell us what happened at Miles Cross,” Clara said.

  “So Janet went to the crossroads and hid behind a thornbush to wait. Close to midnight she heard the soft sweet sound of music. The magic strumming of a lute. The eerie cry of a bagpipe, the haunting notes of a flute.” Tiki’s voice got softer. “A procession came into view led by the Faerie Queen herself, riding on her black horse. Janet could see the faces of the faerie lords and ladies, and there in the middle, astride a great white horse, was her own beloved, Tam Lin. She remembered what Tam Lin had told her:

  First you let pass the black horse

  Then you let pass the brown

  But run up to the milk white steed

  And pull the rider down.

  “He had warned her that the faeries would change him into different shapes, making it difficult for her to hold on to him. But hold she must, for that was the only way he would be freed.”

  Tiki motioned with her hand. “As the horses drew near, Janet let the black horse pass, then the brown. When the white horse approached she sprang from her hiding place and ran over to pull Tam Lin down. Immediately he changed into a raging lion, but Janet buried her head in his chest and held on tight. Then he became a huge, coiled snake.” Tiki’s words became rushed. “Still, Janet wouldn’t release him. From there he became a water serpent and finally a burning coal. Tam Lin had told her this would be the last transformation, so she threw the burning coal into the well, as Tam Lin had instructed her to do.”

  Tiki raised her hands above her head. “A great gust of steam rose from the well and a naked man stepped out. Janet quickly wrapped him in her green cloak and hid him from view, and Tam Lin became human again.”

  Tiki looked at each of them. “The Faerie Queen blazed with anger. She didn’t think a mortal could ever outsmart her.”

  “What did she do?” Clara whispered.

  “The Faerie Queen said:

  If I’d have known of this, Tam Lin,

  That some lady borrowed thee,

  I’d have plucked out thine eyes of flesh

  And put in eyes from a tree

  If I’d have known of this, Tam Lin,

  Before we came from home,

  I’d have plucked out thine heart of flesh

  And put in a heart of stone.

  “And with that,” Tiki said, “the Faerie Queen wheeled her horse around, and with her band of faeries following, she disappeared into the trees, leaving Tam Lin with Janet.”

  “And the Faerie Queen never stole him again?” Clara asked.

  “No.” Tiki shook her head. “He lived the rest of his days as a mortal.”

  “Do you think that story is true, Teek?” Fiona asked. “That Tam Lin really lived?”

  Tiki smiled at her. “My mum said it was true.”

  “Do you think the faeries gave you the birthmark like your mum said, too?” Clara asked in a dreamy voice.

  Tiki forced a laugh. “Well, if the faeries gave me my mark, they forgot to give me any of the powers that go along with it.”

  “But you see things,” Clara insisted. “I know you do.”

  Startled at the little girl’s comment, Tiki busied herself by poking at the coal in the stove. She did see things. She always had. Shadowed faces, there one minute, gone the next. Flashes of light where none should exist. The uncomfortable feeling that she was being watched. Perhaps it was time to pay more attention to things she had previously considered to be her imagination.

  * * *

  WHEN Tiki awoke the next morning, Rieker clouded her thoughts. She’d had a dream that his smoky eyes were floating in the sky above her, staring down, watching her. Then suddenly a million sets of eyes were watching her, every way she turned. Panicked, she’d run, but her feet moved in slow motion, causing her to stumble. Instead of landing on the ground, she’d fallen and kept falling into endless darkness. She’d jerked awake with a start, her heart pounding a frantic rhythm in her chest, the image of Rieker’s eyes slowly fading.

  “You awake, Teek?” Shamus asked. He was crouched in the back of the room, poking at the stove with the metal pole.

  A deep hacking cough erupted from the blankets beside Tiki, and she sat up to pile another blanket on Clara’s tiny form. “Did the stove go out?”

  “Not all the way,” Shamus replied. “We’re almost out of coal, though. I just loaded the last in.” His eyes locked on hers with a significant look. “We’re going to have to round up some more coal, or find a way to buy some. It’s a cold one out there today, and it feels like it’s going to get colder.”

  “No luck yesterday?”

  Shamus shook his head.

  Tiki ran her cool fingers over Clara’s warm forehead and smoothed the little girl’s hair away from her face. She was asleep with her mouth partially open, her breath coming out in raspy gasps.

  “It’s too cold to go without. Use some of those coins I got from MacGregor the other night and buy some more coal.” Tiki gave Clara’s blanket a final adjustment, then moved closer to Shamus. “I’ll see if I can pick some pockets. But we need to figure out a way to sell the ring.” She paused to make sure she had his full attention. “I saw something yesterday. A handbill. The royals know it’s gone and they’re looking for it. Offering a reward, even.”

  Tiki reached for her tin mug that still had the remains of some tea leaves from yesterday and poured hot water into the cup.

  “We’ve got to be very careful,” Shamus said. “If they caught the likes of us with the queen’s ring, we’d never see the light of day again.”

  “I know.” Tiki’s voice was grim. “I went and checked on the thing yesterday and saw Prince Leopold in St. James’ Park. He practically caught me. I know he suspected something.”

  “What? Why did you go check on it?” Shamus sounded angry. “You run a risk every time you go near it.”

  “I couldn’t help it.” Tiki wasn’t even sure why herself. “I just had to. Like the ring was pulling me somehow.” She took a sip of the hot drink. “Then Rieker said something about it and I couldn’t stop myself.”

  “Rieker? Where’d you see him?” Shamus frowned at her. “An’ what’s he got to do with the ring?”

  “He was outside Charing Cross.” Tiki took another drink from her cup and tried to ignore the knot of worry that sat like a rock in her stomach. “I think he was waiting for me.” Her voice dropped. “He knows I took the ring, Shamus. I swear I didn’t tell him. But somehow he knows.”

  Shamus’s lips pressed together in a thin line. His blond hair hung long around his face, shadowing the angles under his cheekbones. “This is getting dangerous, Tiki. First thing tomorrow we pick some pockets and get some coal. Then I’m going over to Cheapside myself and find out who can fence the ring so we can get rid of the thing.”

  Chapter Seven

  TIKI heaved a sigh of relief as she sat on the bench in King’s Cross Monday afternoon. Her feet ached with tiredness from the ground she’d covered, but she was pleased with her success. As the busiest railway station in London, King’s Cross was always f
ertile ground for picking pockets. In one snatch she’d even slipped a small bag full of coins from a woman’s satchel, no one the wiser. Tiki grinned. There were times when she even impressed herself.

  Her grin faded, though, as she recalled one close call. It had only been because she’d become distracted by that girl again. Thinking of her, Tiki scanned the faces of the travelers hurrying between trains. More than once today, she’d glanced over her shoulder and seen her. Her beauty was striking, almost haunting. She had pale skin and blond hair, giving her an ethereal appearance. The graceful curve of her neck, the effortless way she moved, drew Tiki’s eyes back to search for her time and again.

  Tiki’s eyes locked on a slim figure standing at a nearby bookstall.

  There she was again.

  She wore a flowing green cloak, and her blond hair hung in perfect ringlets down her back. As Tiki watched, the girl glanced over her shoulder and gazed directly at her. Tiki was startled by the challenging look in her eyes.

  Was she another pickpocket? She wasn’t dressed as though she scrabbled for a living. Tiki pushed off the bench and hurried toward her. She was going to find out why the girl was following her.

  “S’cuse me,” Tiki called to the girl. “Do I know you?” She was close enough now that she could see the blue green color of the girl’s eyes, reminding her of the sea in summer. But there was something in the other girl’s expression, in how her eyes were fixed so intently on Tiki, that was unsettling. Her mouth curved slightly, as if she were enjoying an entertainment.

  “Not yet.” The words were barely a whisper, but Tiki heard them as if she had shouted. Then the girl turned and stepped into a crowd of people and was gone.

  “Nah, I don’t think I knows you, boy,” the bookseller said to Tiki. He scrunched his eyebrows down as he answered. “Who’s you lookin’ for?”