‘They’re not breathing,’ Sofia said. ‘But their hearts are still beating. They’re just … not moving. At all.’
‘They’ve been enchanted into stillness.’ Alfric looked across the kitchen with calm acceptance, as if nothing about the sight bothered him at all. ‘It is Her Majesty’s preferred method to subdue any groups she considers too harmless to require any more aggressive magics.’
‘Too harmless?’ Aventurine repeated. Against the wall, her shadowed wings rose around her, and her reptilian mouth opened wide. In her human face, before me, her golden eyes glowed with deadly fury. ‘I’ll show her harmless!’
‘No.’ I stepped forward, swallowing down the last of my bile. ‘I will.’
I was the one who’d brought Marina and Horst there in the first place.
I was the one who’d flown away from my own parents tonight, after they’d given up everything for me and Dieter.
I didn’t have claws or fire or food magic like Aventurine. I didn’t have the fabulous riches or power of a princess. I would never gain the safe home at the palace that I’d dreamed of – I’d broken the palace walls instead – and I’d been sacked by the crown princess herself.
But I had true friends who cared about me, and more than that: I had myself.
If my time in this palace had taught me one thing, it was exactly who and what I truly was: not a spy after all, but a storyteller. That was something that no one could ever steal from me, no matter how powerful or magical they were.
‘You make my chocolate,’ I told Aventurine. ‘I’ll handle the rest.’
I was ready to bargain with the fairies.
CHAPTER 26
Golden lights gathered around me with every step as I walked down a broad palace corridor not long afterwards, balancing a heavy tray in my hands. Fairy sentinels flew towards me from all directions, buzzing and swooping suspiciously around me in a cloud of dangerous, hot, sparkling light. All together, they let off a high-pitched collective hum that pierced my ears and sent pain shooting through my head with every step.
Alfric had kept the kitchen clear of them while I’d worked, but they rocketed wildly back and forth in front of me now, their sparks exploding in my eyes until I had to blink again and again to clear my vision. My fingers wanted to tremble, but I tightened my grip around the tray and didn’t let myself flinch or slow.
I walked forward in my borrowed boots with my chin held high, not letting a single cup rattle in its saucer against the tray. Marina and Horst had opened their home and hearts to me. I wouldn’t disrespect them with careless waitressing now. The tray in my hands was a silver statement of who and what I really was, and the fiery aftertaste of Aventurine’s special hot chocolate filled my mouth like a reminder: I had been braving the world by myself since I was seven, but I didn’t have to stand on my own any more.
When Alfric began to pull open the door to the grand gallery, another several lights shot through the widening crack towards me, joining the anxious cloud.
Just a few more steps …
Two hot sparks touched the skin under my chin, and I almost jumped out of my boots.
They swept back into place on either side of my neck, just as they had earlier.
I knew these lights.
They pressed against my skin, humming with unmistakeable panic and doing everything they could to push me back out of danger.
When I was a little girl, I had always tried to do what my parents told me. Now I took a deep, steadying breath and held my ground instead. I’m sorry, I said silently to them both, but you have to let me save you this time.
Blinding white light spilled out to meet me as the door swung open. The golden lights in front of me scattered, clearing the way between me and their masters. Magic billowed through the air, tingling and terrifying.
I was in far over my head, and I knew it.
Ahead of me, the fairy king and queen sat, glowing and magnificent, on hulking, diamond-and-ruby-encrusted thrones in the centre of the long gallery. Those thrones hadn’t just been placed on the gallery floor; they’d been planted there with massive, knotted tree branches that speared up through the tiled floor to anchor them in place. It was as if the earth itself had risen up to install their rule.
All around, bodies lay sprawled across the floor: armoured guards and battle mages, the strongest warriors in our kingdom. Every one of them lay as still as death, unbreathing.
Beyond them, the opposite doors stood cracked open, leading into the green darkness of another realm: Elfenwald.
Now our kingdoms really were connected.
Behind the thrones, the two fairy princes lounged against the tall, pitch-black gallery windows, looking as elegant and gorgeous as ever despite their yawns. A shifting crowd of colourfully robed fairy courtiers attended them as if this, tonight, were only another courtly function.
But not a single one of them could hold my attention once a flash of colour shifted in the corner of my vision. I wasn’t the only human still awake in this room after all.
On my left, facing the two lavishly encrusted fairy thrones, sat my own crown princess, her dark eyes alert and watchful over the sparkling white web that tied her to a plain wooden chair. Her father lay slumped on the floor beside her, one big pink hand flung out against the tiles, but Princess Katrin watched everything with calm curiosity … and when I caught her eye, she gave me a tiny, approving nod.
‘Silke,’ the fairy queen said, and yanked back all of my attention. The force of my name in her bell-like voice rocked through my bones, until her shining, bitterly beautiful white face was all I could see. ‘So,’ she purred, leaning back in her throne, ‘you came crawling back after all. Did you ever really think you could escape us? Our sentinels are everywhere now. Soon the whole city will be under our control – and then the kingdom.’
‘Is that what you imagine?’ At the sound of Princess Katrin’s voice, I jerked my gaze away from Queen Clothilde and found the crown princess watching us with her head tilted enquiringly. ‘You may find it rather more difficult than you expect to control two kingdoms at once,’ she said. ‘Our nation will react with outrage to this invasion.’
‘Pah.’ Queen Clothilde snorted. ‘We dealt well enough with the rebellion in this palace, didn’t we?’ She pointed the tip of one polished red shoe at the black-robed man who lay closest to her. ‘Those fools were the strongest battle mages you had. I hardly think your unwashed peasants will provide a greater challenge.’
‘I beg your pardon?’ I said. ‘You’re planning to send everyone to sleep if they argue with you? Across the entire kingdom?’
The crown princess gave a small, indulgent smile. ‘Do let me know exactly how you plan to bring in the harvests with sleeping subjects, Your Majesty … much less raise taxes, build new roads or –’
‘Enough!’ Queen Clothilde slammed one bejewelled hand down on the silver arm of her throne, her perfect face contorting with fury. ‘We will do whatever it takes to preserve our safety, even if that means running this petty human kingdom into the ground!’
‘But perhaps that won’t be necessary.’ Leaning back, King Casimir watched me through heavy-lidded eyes, his long, glowing brown fingers lying loosely along the arms of his own throne. ‘I believe this girl is here to make us an offer. Aren’t you, Silke?’
As I met his deep, sparkling gaze, I couldn’t stop my throat from moving in a convulsive swallow. King Casimir’s eyes always saw too much. As he looked at me now, I could swear he was inspecting me right down to the bone, peeling past all the layers of disguise that I had assumed over this past week.
I was just a girl from the riverbank. Who was I to even try to stand against him when all those adult battle mages and soldiers had already fallen in defeat?
I was me, that was who, and I was finished with trying to pretend to be anyone else from now on. So I lifted my chin and gave him my best storyteller’s smile, clenching the muscles in my arms against the weight of the tray that I still held balanced i
n my hands.
‘Your Majesty,’ I said sweetly, ‘isn’t all this more trouble than it’s worth? I know you’ve been hoping to destroy the dragons for good, but you’ve lost the only serious hostage you had. More than that, you’ve lost any chance of tricking the dragons into coming here on friendly terms and then ambushing them with whatever plan you’d cooked up.’
Queen Clothilde gave an impatient sniff. ‘Do you think you know more about our plans than we do, little girl?’
‘No,’ I said, ‘but I know more about dragons – because, unlike you, I want to understand them instead of killing them.’ Ignoring the disdain on her face, I turned back to the fairy king. ‘They would never have bothered to attack you before. Once they find out that you tried to abduct their hatchling, though, nothing will hold them back – certainly not her safety!’ I tilted my head towards the tied-up crown princess. ‘So you need to run now if you value your lives.’
‘Nonsense.’ The fairy queen’s fingers tightened around the arm of her silver throne. ‘Those beasts signed a treaty of mutual protection with Princess Katrin, and we’re keeping her awake to remind them of that herself. They cannot risk harming her by attacking now.’
‘You think not? Unlike you, dragons aren’t magically compelled by their bargains.’ I smiled slowly. ‘You really hate that about them, don’t you?’
‘It hardly matters.’ Queen Clothilde glared at me. ‘Do you think us fools? Who else could have made the chocolate on your tray except that dragon-girl you’ve been trying to protect? She’s clearly hiding somewhere here in this palace. Our sentinels will track her down within the hour, and –’
‘Your sentinels?’ I snorted. ‘Your prisoners, you mean. What loyalty do you think any of them have to you? They hate you even more than I do!’
‘You –!’ She started up from her throne, already beginning to fling up one hand in preparation for attack.
I braced myself.
‘Wait!’ King Casimir gestured her back into her seat. ‘What exactly are you saying, Silke? Why don’t you take a moment to explain it all to both of us – and believe me …’ his deep, rich voice wrapped around me like invisible ropes holding me in place, ‘it would be most unwise to lie to us now.’
Magic tingled with a sudden shock against my tongue. It felt thick and strange as I gulped, understanding that he would sense any lie that I tried to tell him from now on.
Luckily, a good storyteller knows how to use the truth.
‘Let me tell you both a story,’ I said with composure, and held out my tray. ‘But first, would either of Your Majesties care for a hot chocolate to sweeten my tale? No?’ I held the tray out a moment longer, expectantly, before I lowered it again, my muscles trembling with the strain. ‘In that case …’
I could feel Alfric’s gaze on my back, waiting. It felt like support, even though he couldn’t step in to help me if I failed.
Every story needs a good audience to succeed. And Alfric wasn’t alone: all of the fairy courtiers I’d mingled with earlier were drawing closer to the thrones now, as if they couldn’t resist the lure of a good tale either.
Alfric had told me that storytellers were a rarity underground.
I took a deep breath and smiled. ‘Let me begin.’
‘Once upon a time,’ I said, ‘there was a group of dragons who lived in the mountains near Drachenburg. They told stories to their hatchlings of the fairies who’d once caused them so much trouble, who would never stop their trickery or attacks, until the dragons finally gave in to necessity and ate the pests simply to be done with them.’
Outraged breaths hissed all around me, but I didn’t let them slow me down. Horst and Marina were lying as still as death in the palace where I had brought them. I would not cosset their attackers’ feelings now!
‘Those fairies finally moved underground, much to the dragons’ relief. They stayed there for over a century, until they’d been gone for so long that they became legendary mysteries to humankind, with nothing but stories and silver left to remember them by. Even among the dragons, the younger ones only really knew that fairies were tricksy and never to be trusted.
‘What none of them realised was the more important truth: fairies never trust. That was why the fairies were so frightened of dragons in the first place: because full-grown dragons are immune to fairy magic. Those fairies couldn’t bear for anyone to be their equals in power – much less their superiors. In fact, their own vulnerability frightened them so much that, after their last failed attack upon the dragons, they’d fled underground to escape even the possibility of any future defeats.
‘Of course, they had to leave spies above ground to protect their kingdom. But they wouldn’t risk the safety of any of their own kind – who were, after all, the only ones they cared about. Instead, they found another way.
‘Some rulers might have made treaties or simple agreements, respecting their partners and trusting their word. If they’d ever considered it …’ I had to clear my throat to keep emotion from thickening my voice. ‘There are so many humans in the world who need real homes and help. There were even refugees from the wars up north who crossed their borders in search of safety, six years ago.’ The lights against my neck pressed closer, and I had to restrain myself from tipping my chin to meet them.
‘If those fairies had only offered them sanctuary in their green, forested kingdom above ground, they could have won themselves loyal friends and protectors for life. Those refugees would have been grateful to settle there forever as the fairies’ eyes and ears above ground.
‘But the fairies only trust creatures who have no choice but to obey them. So instead of inviting humans to live above ground as their friends, they captured human after human as their prisoners. They forced them, using threats and trickery, to accept poisoned bargains that turned them into magical golden lights, sentinels bound forever outside their own human bodies. Those fairies wouldn’t accept anything but forced obedience forever.
‘And they were so obsessed with protecting themselves from outside dangers that they didn’t even realise what a dangerous mistake they were making … or what a very large crack in their own armour they had created.’
‘What crack?’ Queen Clothilde demanded, leaning forward in her throne. ‘What gibberish are you talking, girl?’
‘You really can’t see it?’ I raised my eyebrows, scanning the crowd of watching courtiers. Then I turned to the crown princess, still tied into her small, plain, wooden seat. ‘You see it, don’t you, Your Highness?’
‘Oh, I see it.’ Princess Katrin smiled with deep satisfaction, as the fairy queen glowered down at her and the fairy courtiers rustled with unease and interest.
I smiled at my ruthless ruler with, for once, perfect understanding. ‘Of course you do,’ I told her. ‘You’re famous for your diplomacy. In your political negotiations, everyone agrees to what you want, but you leave them thinking it was somehow what they wanted, too. You make every single group in the kingdom feel heard, so that everyone will think you’re wonderful.’
‘So?’ The fairy queen shook her head impatiently. ‘Weak human methods of gaining power don’t concern us. We have magic beyond your mages’ wildest dreams!’
‘But diplomacy isn’t weakness,’ I said gently. ‘It’s strength. What do you think all of our weak human citizens will do when they hear you’ve taken over our kingdom and imprisoned our royals?’
King Casimir’s fingers tapped lightly against his chair arm.
Queen Clothilde snapped, ‘I told you already, they can’t possibly stand against us.’
‘But they’ll try, because they’re loyal and they actually care.’ My hands were still occupied with the tray, but I tilted my head meaningfully towards the open door at the other end of the gallery, where green darkness led into another realm. ‘Whereas in your kingdom …’
Someone in the crowd sucked in a sharp breath.
‘What exactly are you trying to say?’ King Casimir enquired in a tone full of pu
rring menace.
I looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes. ‘Your Majesty,’ I said sincerely, ‘I know it feels safer not to trust anyone else, so you never have to risk being betrayed … or abandoned.’ My voice shook, uncontrollably, on those last words. ‘But humans – even humans without magic – aren’t nearly as weak as you imagine. They think. They plot. They tell each other stories to build their courage when they’re frightened. And because they’re not all powerful, they work to build alliances.’
I let a smug smile spread across my face. ‘Your sentinels are everywhere now, you’ve told us. That’s not only true in our city, is it? You’ve spread them all across your own kingdom, too, to guard every secret entrance from invaders. That would be wise if they were your loyal spies and servants, but do you really believe that they’re loyal to you? That they want to do any more than they absolutely have to?’
I stopped myself, with an effort, from glancing back at Alfric, who had taught me this final lesson just in time.
‘You may have given your sentinels specific instructions when you left,’ I said, ‘and in their current forms, I know they’re magically bound to obey … but every instruction has a loophole if you search hard enough. Especially if you’re clever with language! So if someone very clever indeed – say, a storyteller who knows exactly how to twist her words – offers them dangerous new allies with fire and claws to win them freedom in a manner that doesn’t break the exact orders they were given …’ My smile widened even more.
‘Enough!’ King Casimir’s glowing fingers tightened into fists. ‘No. More. Trickery!’ Leaning forward, he pierced me with his glittering gaze. ‘What bargain are you offering us, little girl?’
I straightened my shoulders like a soldier making a report. ‘I’m offering you the chance to free every one of your sentinels and all of the humans here, too, from their magical bindings – now and forever after.’
The Girl with the Dragon Heart Page 18
