What? My breath caught in my throat. Were they truly planning to kill Aventurine’s family?
I’d known their plans couldn’t be good, but this …
Aventurine’s low growl rumbled through the darkness. I grabbed her arm and squeezed hard to silence her.
‘What was that?’ Prince Ludolph’s voice was sharp, and it grew louder as he approached the wall. ‘Did you hear that? It sounded like –’
‘You’re imagining things again.’ There was a soft thumping sound – Franz throwing himself down on to the bed perhaps? I could just imagine him crossing his long, glowing fingers behind his head and smirking at his younger brother. ‘Too much time above ground and you start seeing enemies everywhere. Poor little brother, too scared to face the big, bad outside world. What was it that your future bride called you earlier, when you made that amusing little comment about her home? A “blind mole”?’
Oh, Sofia.
Naturally they’d taunted her into losing her temper – I’d seen that on all three of their faces when they’d arrived in the long gallery together. But if she didn’t learn some self-control soon –
Prince Ludolph’s growl cut off my thoughts. ‘I’ll show you!’
Footsteps thudded across the room, followed by a grunt. As the unmistakeable sounds of a scuffle broke out, accompanied by streams of strangely coloured light that shot through the peephole like fireworks, I clenched my teeth with frustration.
Talk now, fight later!
Panic was flaring like wildfire all across my skin, wanting to send me leaping head first into action, but I still needed more information. It wasn’t enough just to know that the fairies wanted the dragons dead, no matter how sick with horror that made me feel. The crown princess already knew they hated Aventurine’s family, and it hadn’t stopped her from betrothing her own sister to Prince Ludolph. After all, she’d only allied with the dragons for their power in the first place. For all I knew, she might be happy to trade them for a stronger ally if the fairies offered her that choice.
So if I wanted to win back my place here, find my parents and keep my best friend’s family safe, I had to learn exactly how the fairies planned to kill the dragons – and find a seriously persuasive reason why the crown princess couldn’t go along with it.
And there was only one way I could discover any of that now that the fairy princes had stopped talking.
I remembered the fairy king’s gaze resting thoughtfully on me earlier. ‘My wife and I would quite like a word or two with this unusual Silke …’
A shiver of fear rippled through me.
I didn’t want to spy on the fairy king in the darkness. Or on the queen either. The high, eerie, jingling sound of her laugh; the way she’d heard me even when I’d whispered …
I remembered Marina’s disapproving words when I’d first been hired. Sending a thirteen-year-old girl to spy on a set of visitors who frighten the life out of any adults with common sense …
If the fairy royals caught me listening through their walls tonight …
No! I shook the thought away, stiffening my spine.
I’d made my way through the guest wing undetected so far, hadn’t I? A true heroine didn’t give up halfway through her story just because she got a little scared.
Besides, what else was I going to do? Go running back to Dieter with my tail between my legs so I could cower in my tent and give up on ever seeing my parents again?
Never.
‘Come on,’ I whispered to Aventurine, and started forward.
She followed in simmering silence.
At the next turn in the corridor, I stopped.
Carefully, quietly, I tipped my head round the corner.
Nothing.
No glowing lights.
No candlelight either, to show where the peepholes were hiding. The narrow corridor was as black as obsidian … or as the tunnels of underground Elfenwald.
I peered into the darkness, straining my ears for any fraction of a sound, but I couldn’t hear a thing.
Had the fairy king and queen really gone to sleep already?
Maybe they’d blown out the candles but weren’t sleeping yet. Maybe as soon as I got close enough to their peephole, I’d overhear them murmuring all of their wicked plans, in detail, to each other. Then I’d have everything I needed to save my parents, Aventurine’s family and my lovely, safe position at the palace for evermore.
Even to me, it didn’t sound a likely story. But it was the only story I had left tonight.
Holding my breath, I crept around the corner.
Total blackness.
Not a single golden light in sight … and I was still at least fifteen feet from the next peephole.
I took one soft, careful step … another –
Snick! A tinder struck in the darkness just before me.
Flame sparked into life.
‘Boo!’ A three-foot-tall, green-skinned creature, wearing a dark tunic and a bright red cap, grinned up at me with long, sharp teeth smeared red with blood. ‘Got you!’
CHAPTER 17
‘Rrrr!’ Aventurine charged forward.
My outflung arm stopped her just in time, even as the fairy’s guard dropped one hand to the hilt of the long, curving knife that hung from his leather belt.
‘Sir!’ Inside, panic was rioting through my chest. But I beamed with all my might as I dipped into an awkward curtsey, still holding my best friend back with one hand.
Think fast!
‘We must be here on the same mission,’ I whispered to him.
The guard’s eyebrows rose. His moss-green lips twitched. His small, strong-looking hand settled firmly over his knife hilt, which was coloured the same bright red as his cap … and his teeth. Ugh. I couldn’t let myself think any more about his teeth. Not unless I wanted to start gibbering.
‘I doubt it,’ he said, lowering his voice to match mine.
Aventurine snarled, ‘Definitely not. Goblins always do the fairies’ snooping!’
Goblin? Well, that explained the green skin and his height.
Now I knew why I’d glimpsed all those flashes of red throughout the day. He must have sneaked in while the court was distracted with fairy jewellery and then spent the rest of the day watching everything, without us realising.
It was enough to send chills down my skin. How much had he seen?
And where had that blood on his teeth come from?
I intensified my smile, pushing all of those other questions out of the way.
‘What an honour to meet you,’ I whispered brightly. ‘You must be one of Elfenwald’s famous red-capped goblin guards!’ I gestured grandly to the cheery velvet cap propped on his head. ‘Why, everyone’s heard stories of how impressive you are!’
‘Mmm,’ said the goblin. His hand didn’t loosen its grip on his knife. But at least he hadn’t pulled it out yet.
I shifted in front of Aventurine, who had her lips pulled back over her bared teeth and was letting out a low, ominous growl as she glowered at him. Luckily, I was a good five inches taller than her, so I could keep her expression safely hidden.
‘The corridor’s clear all the way behind us,’ I whispered. ‘Is it clear on your end, too? My mistress asked us to check that it was safe, for your comfort.’
‘How … thoughtful of her.’ The goblin guard’s eyes rested first on my white nightgown and bare feet, and then on Aventurine’s garish turquoise-and-orange gown. ‘I wouldn’t have taken you two for palace guards.’
Aventurine snorted.
I shot one foot back and kicked her ankle.
‘Oh, we’re not guards,’ I said. ‘But I work for the princess –’
‘Princess Sofia,’ said the guard. ‘I know. I saw you earlier.’ His green lips curved into a wide, knowing grin. ‘You’re the storyteller.’
‘Um … ?’ I blinked to a halt.
‘I heard the story you told the fancy folk, earlier. An adventure and magic tale of the highest order.’ He tipped back his
large head to study me, his eyes dark pools of shadow. ‘We respect our storytellers in the deeps. Do they honour you up here, storyteller, in the way that you deserve?’
In the tiny golden circle of candlelight, with darkness surrounding us on all sides, his square green face looked ageless and eerily still, like an ancient fortune teller waiting to tell me my future.
It took Aventurine nudging my back with one pointed finger to break my trance and make me stumble back into speech.
‘I’m fine!’ I said hastily. ‘I mean, I’m one of the princess’s ladies-in-waiting, and –’
‘And now you’re trying to sell me one of your stories,’ said the goblin. ‘We would pay you in fresh-cut jewels for that in the deeps, and drape your cavern in the softest green moss to show our appreciation.’
‘She doesn’t want any stupid moss.’ Aventurine pushed free of me to glare down at the goblin with her arms crossed. ‘She wants you to let us go, now. And don’t go running to your tricksy masters to tell them all about us either!’
‘Oh no?’ The goblin guard’s eyes narrowed. ‘I know what she is,’ he said softly. ‘But I don’t know what I should tell them about you. All I know is what you smell of, little girl: chocolate … and dragon.’
Aventurine let out a ferocious snarl.
‘No!’ I lurched forward. ‘She’s not … I mean, she’s –’
‘Oh, I know,’ said the guard. ‘Chocolate so sweet, it brokered a brilliant treaty.’
Argh! Was there anyone in Elfenwald who hadn’t read my handbill?
I had never meant to buy this kind of publicity.
His eyelids never blinked as he held Aventurine’s burning gaze. ‘How much time have you spent with those monsters, chocolate girl, ever since your masters made that treaty?’
Aventurine’s mouth dropped open in thunderstruck outrage.
I seized the opportunity.
‘Chocolate!’ I whispered and softly clapped my hands together. ‘That’s it! Why don’t you come down to the kitchen with us now, and we’ll make you some lovely chocolate of your own? Aventurine makes wonderful hot chocolate. Everything always feels better when you drink it.’
And if I could talk my food-mage friend into using some persuasive magic on the hot chocolate she made for him, then within half an hour, he would forget ever having met us.
It would be perfect.
But the goblin was shaking his head, his voice rueful. ‘I would have enjoyed that, storyteller,’ he told me. ‘But I have made a bargain, so I must serve my masters just as you both serve your own.’
‘I don’t have any masters!’ Aventurine muttered.
I said, ‘Wait!’
But he wasn’t listening to either of us.
The rapping of his long, knobbly fingers against the wall echoed up and down the hidden corridor like a drumbeat of doom.
‘What’s going on out there?’ the fairy queen demanded, her voice querulous and faint through the distant peephole. ‘Alfric? Is that you?’
‘Uninvited visitors, my queen,’ called our guard. His voice lowered as he turned back to us. ‘A pity.’ He slid off his cap and gave a low, respectful bow in my direction. ‘May the memory of your stories live long in your listeners’ hearts.’
‘Bring our visitors to us.’ It was the fairy king’s voice, pouring through the wall to resonate along the corridor with an unnatural power.
As I looked into Alfric’s regretful gaze, I was filled with a cold, sick certainty: I wasn’t going to be able to talk myself out of this one.
But Aventurine smelt of dragon. I couldn’t take her in there!
Grabbing my friend’s arm, I turned to run.
Too late.
Golden balls of light swarmed into the corridor from both directions. They whirled in a flashing, dazzling cloud all around us, pushing us closer and closer together and nearly blinding me as they swooped past my face.
As Aventurine batted at the sparking balls, the wordless roar that ripped out of her throat didn’t sound even remotely human. In fact …
Oh no.
I twisted round, desperately peering through the mass of whirling golden lights to the floor beyond, where Aventurine’s shadow ought to lie.
Lights flashed past at high speed. I had to blink and blink again, with dark aftershocks flickering against the inside of my eyelids.
But through all the flashing confusion, I could just make out the shadow of a giant tail lashing furiously against the floor.
No, no, no!
‘Aventurine!’ I grabbed her shoulders and stared down into her feral golden gaze. ‘Chocolate. Hot chocolate. Chocolate creams!’
She twisted in my grip, swiping at the balls of light that whirled closest to her face. Her upper lip peeled back to show her teeth.
Could the goblin guard see her through the lights?
No, wait. The lights could see her! They were going to report everything to their masters and then they’d take her away, just like they’d taken my parents.
‘Aventurine, look at me!’ My eyes were burning, but I refused to blink. I had to hold her gaze, no matter what. ‘Marina will be in danger if you do this!’ I tried to shake her, but her shoulders were too strong. ‘Horst will be, too! And …’
Stop. I slammed my mouth shut before the pathetic words could come out:
You can’t leave me, too!
Two familiar balls of golden light shot through the rest to attach themselves to either side of my neck, vibrating against my skin with a high, buzzing keen that sounded almost as if they were panicking, too.
What did they have to worry about? They were about to be proven right in all of their earlier suspicions. They weren’t the ones who were about to lose everything again.
‘No one’s hurting Marina or Horst,’ Aventurine growled, her voice thick with draconic rage. ‘Especially not any tricksy fairies!’
‘They won’t want to,’ I hissed back, ‘if you just keep control! We don’t need teeth and claws right now. We need –’
‘Yes?’ A deep voice drawled the words behind me, low and amused. ‘Tell me, my uninvited visitor. What is it that you need, exactly?’
I spun around.
The fairy king stood in the corridor like a shining star in the darkness. Beams of bright light radiated from the beautiful lines of his face, and his magnificent, full-length robes swirled around him against the dusty floor. His dark eyes glittered as they rested on us … and then moved to study the corridor beyond.
He couldn’t see Aventurine’s dragon shadow all the way from there, could he?
It was the second time that the rulers of Elfenwald had held the future of my family in their grasp, in the middle of a dark night with eerie, glowing golden lights floating all around.
But I wasn’t seven years old any more. I wouldn’t sit back and stay silent this time, or be distracted by those two particular lights that were bobbing urgently against my face as if to warn the fairy king against me.
‘Your Majesty!’ I swept out the skirts of my nightdress and sank through the cloud of fairy sentinels into a deep, respectful curtsey.
Alfric had called me a storyteller, hadn’t he? It was time to live up to that title.
‘We are so honoured to have the chance to speak to you in private,’ I said warmly. ‘We carry an important message from my mistress, Princess Sofia –’
‘Oh, but you don’t really work for Princess Sofia, do you?’ The fairy king tilted his head, his long, shining black hair rippling over one robed shoulder as he studied me. ‘No, you have quite a different set of employers, don’t you, Silke?’
‘Um … ?’ My throat felt as dry as if all the old, forgotten dust in the corridor had risen into it at once. I swallowed desperately, my thoughts whirling. Did he mean that I’d once worked at the Chocolate Heart? Had the fairy sentinels worked that much out? Or …
‘The dragons planted a spy in the royal palace,’ the king said softly. ‘And look – she came straight to us, our first night
here. What a delightful welcome gift – even better than everything I had planned.’
His lips curved into a smile. He nodded to someone past my shoulder, and I suddenly realised that we’d been surrounded while I wasn’t looking. The fairy gentlemen-in-waiting were assembled around us now – even Karl, who dropped his gaze when I looked at him – along with a second goblin guard, who watched us with an impassive gaze and a long knife shining in her green grasp.
‘Tie up the chocolate girl so she can’t alert anyone,’ the king told his entourage, ‘and bring the spy inside with us. She’s going to give us exactly what we need to destroy the dragons.’
CHAPTER 18
I didn’t even try to run. Instead, with my heartbeat thrumming against my throat, I said, ‘Don’t worry, Aventurine, it’ll all be fine –’
But no one threatened Aventurine’s family without a fight.
Her roar of fury blasted through the air.
I’d thought that nothing could ever budge the solid walls of this palace, but as Aventurine erupted into her full form, the narrow corridor buckled and crumbled around us.
Screams and shouts broke out from the fairy gentlemen-in-waiting as they scrambled out of the way of flying mortar. Golden balls of light shot outwards through the chaos – all except for my own particular pair of lights, whose high-pitched keens nearly deafened me as they hovered against my neck, vibrating hotly against my skin.
They might have been determined to hold me captive for their rulers, but I wasn’t even thinking of escape. All I cared about was the gigantic, terrifying, reptilian beast who stomped, roaring and thrashing her tail at the centre of the chaos.
‘Aventurine!’
Plunging forward, I ducked and rolled with my arms wrapped around my head, and landed safely beneath my best friend’s massive, armoured body. Chunks of mortar tumbled around us. Her giant, taloned feet planted themselves firmly on the ground on either side of me, and her crimson-and-silver wings flared wide, reaching well into the room beyond. Her long, twisting neck reared high above through the broken ceiling as she bellowed, ‘You aren’t taking her anywhere!’
The Girl with the Dragon Heart Page 12
