Green

by Laura Peyton Roberts

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  The impact must have stunned him, or maybe he just couldn't breathe facedown in the dirt. Before he could muster a proper fight, I whipped off my trusty sweater belt and hogtied his hands to his feet. Flipping him onto his back, I read the truth in his lying eyes. Cain was the traitor I'd been looking for.

  "Aw, Cain," I sighed. "I really liked you."

  "I like you too, girl. What does that have to do with gold?"

  Footsteps charged up behind me--Balthazar, red-faced and out of breath. I heard Fizz whistle for the dogs.

  "We have to go now!" Balthazar barked. "Get in the cart, Lil. Leave this rogue to me."

  Lights were beginning to fill nearby windows. Kneeling, Balthazar grabbed the ends of Cain's mustache, crisscrossed them through his mouth like a gag, and knotted them behind his head.

  "Don't hurt him!" I begged as Balthazar pulled on Cain's whiskers with all his strength.

  Ludlow stumbled out, half dressed and wearing a flannel nightcap. "Lilybet! What's hap--" he began.

  "In the cart!" Balthazar shouted at him. "In the cart now!"

  "Not dressed like this? My hat!"

  "Leave it!" I said. Dashing back to my hiding place, I returned dragging the stolen gold.

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  Four sets of leprechaun eyes just about fell out of their heads. Fizz and Balthazar looked proud enough to burst, Cain looked furious, and I thought Ludlow might faint. Somehow he pulled himself together enough to help Balthazar hoist Cain into the wagon. I hefted the gold in with him and we all scrambled in beside it.

  "Go, Fizz!" I cried as red lights spread from building to building. Shouts rang out over the town. There could be only seconds before Scarlet guards showed up. "Go, go, go!"

  "Hie!" Fizz hollered. The dogs took off at rocket speed, knocking me over backward. I tumbled about with three leprechauns, two bags of gold, a random boot, some dog biscuits, and a bottle of clover ale before I was able to sit up again.

  Fizz lay flattened to his dog, driving like a maniac. The cart bounced dangerously, threatening to throw us out with every bump. Ludlow held on with white knuckles, but Balthazar didn't seem concerned about our imminent death. His eyes went to the stolen gold and watered up like he wanted to cry.

  "Did you, Lil?" he whispered, as if he barely dared to believe it. "Tell me true: did you really?"

  "Aye, that I did," I replied, smiling broadly. "Two bags of Scarlet gold."

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  "And a lot of good if it gets us all killed," Ludlow whimpered.

  "Silence, idiot!" Balthazar roared. "How dare you speak that way to the keeper o' the Clan o' Green?"

  That was when it dawned on me. I was keeper. I was keeper already . And Ludlow had my key.

  "Give it," I demanded, shoving my hand under his nose. "And if you tell me it's back with your hat, I'll throw you out of this wagon."

  Ludlow went three shades paler, gripping the wagon rail for dear life.

  "Fitting justice that would be," Balthazar said. "But the coward doesn't have your key. No, that's with the traitor here."

  Leaning over the hogtied leprechaun, Balthazar felt unsuccessfully through the pouches on Cain's belt. Then he grabbed Cain's green lapels and yanked them in opposite directions, stripping the coat to Cain's waist. My gold chain was around Cain's neck; my key rested on his bare belly. But it was another sight that made me gasp. Just below Cain's right shoulder, a raised four-point scar disfigured his arm, swollen like an angry welt and glowing red in the moonlight.

  I wasn't the only Green who'd been bitten by a pisky.

  "By gold and by glory!" Balthazar exclaimed. "What is the meaning o' this?"

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  Before he could untie Cain's 'stache for the answer, Fizz cried out up front.

  "Balthazar! Lil! They're coming!" Riding as if he were part of his dog, Fizz shouted his team into a turn. "Haw! Haw! Hie!"

  The cart veered left so abruptly that I fell over again. Flat on my belly, I grabbed the railing and pulled my head up for a peek. We were flying across the front edge of town on an angle toward the bridge, and suddenly I realized how vulnerable we still were. If the Scarlets managed to cut us off before the river, we'd be trapped. I glanced backward over my shoulder. Surging after us like an angry red tide was an army of torch-wielding Scarlets.

  "Fizz!" I yelled, terrified. "Hurry!"

  And then I saw something even scarier. A gang of leprechauns riding fast dogs was charging toward us through the woods, followed by a tall, loping shadow that could only be Kylie. Ducking below the rail, I grabbed my keeper key and yanked it off over Cain's head. If I was going down, I wasn't going without that. Pulling the chain on around my neck, I peeked back up again.

  We were nearly to the bridge. Its narrow arc rose over the river a hundred yards away. We were going to beat the mob on foot, but the pack riding dogs was closing fast.

  "They're gaining," Balthazar said grimly.

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  "No, we'll make it," I said.

  "Over the bridge, maybe, but that's not the border. We're all in a spot o' trouble now."

  "All?"

  "Aiding a gold thief," Ludlow moaned, "is punishable four different ways."

  "You're completely safe, then," I retorted. "If we're caught, I'm going to tell everyone that you were no help at all!"

  Even through his mustache gag, Cain snorted with laughter.

  We raced through the tunnel of trees. Boards rumbled under our wheels as we hit the bridge. The Scarlets trailing on dogs were barely an arrow shot behind.

  And suddenly I knew what I had to do.

  Snatching the last six Life Savers out of my pocket, I started shredding off wax paper.

  Balthazar's eyes bugged out. "Are those--?"

  "Find me that bottle of ale. Hurry!"

  He scrambled to trap it.

  "Slow down, Fizz!" I shouted. "I'm getting out."

  "Ho!" Fizz reined back the dogs. Stepping over Cain, I grabbed the ale from Balthazar and tumbled out the back of the moving cart.

  "Go, go, go!" I shouted, scattering Life Savers on the narrow bridge as Fizz spurred his team on. The Scarlet dogs were nearly to the boards. Alone high above the river, I

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  smashed the bottle's top against the bridge rail and sprayed fizzing ale on the candies.

  I was not prepared for what happened next.

  The Life Savers absorbed the ale instantly. For one horrifying split second, I thought I didn't have enough liquid. Then all six candies literally exploded into trees. Roots, branches, and trunks shot in all directions with a crack like heaven splitting. Wheeling around, I tried to run, but it was already too late. The dog cart reached the opposite bank as the bridge broke apart and I fell, plunging through the darkness beneath it.

  I'm going to die , I thought, surprised by how calm I felt. There was nothing I could do to save myself now. My hand went to Gigi's key, one last good-bye.

  I smacked into water so icy it took my breath away. Churning, swirling darkness closed over my head. My feet kicked instinctively. My arms flailed in the current. Every bit of calm deserted me as, lungs burning for breath, I tried to find my way up. My sweater snagged, then tangled in something submerged. Yanking and kicking and choking, I broke free all at once and popped up through the river's surface.

  "Lillllll!" Balthazar's anguished cry hit my ears as I came up gasping for air.

  "What?" I hollered back.

  There was a split second of stunned silence. Then about a million leprechauns all started shouting at once.

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  "There she is! I see her!"

  "This way, Lil! Over here!"

  "Get her! Get her!"

  "Keep your head down, Lil!"

  I treaded a circle to get my bearings. On the Scarlets' side of the river, a whole town's worth of leprechauns swarmed up and down in frustration. The bridge was gone, having collapsed just in time to strand the Scarlets on dogs with the others. And in the middle of the river, st
opping me from drifting downstream with the current, a tangle of fallen peppermint trees choked my chunk of water like some sort of trippy beaver dam.

  I grabbed a white branch. The once-chalky bark felt slick in my hand. It's dissolving , I realized. Like normal Life Savers do .

  I suddenly wondered if other candies made magic here too--and if so, what they did--but I didn't have time to think about that. Balthazar was standing in the cart atop the other bank, jumping up and down and waving his hat frantically.

  "Lil! Pull yourself across on the trees, Lil!"

  But I didn't need help from the trees. Glancing back, I smiled to see that not a single Scarlet had ventured down to the water after me. Leprechauns don't swim . So long as no one shot me, I had it made.

  Pushing off the dissolving tree, I kicked toward Balthazar.

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  In water safety class, they'd taught us to ditch loose clothes and shoes during emergency swims, but I wasn't about to part with Gigi's sweater or the silver flats. They churned like miniature swim fins, propelling me along.

  "Look at our Lil!" Balthazar bragged. "She's swimming!"

  I angled up current, swimming strong and enjoying myself despite the freezing water. Not only had I escaped the Scarlets, but the Greens were cheering me on like an Olympian. Fizz stood upright on his dog, Ludlow jumped wildly next to Balthazar, and even Cain had wriggled his head up over the rail. I did a few backstrokes, showing off. When I flipped over again, the Greens were hollering their heads off.

  "It's not that hard," I called modestly, lifting a hand to wave. That was when I realized my team was no longer cheering. They were pointing behind me.

  Kylie was at the river's edge, kicking off his boots. As I watched, he stripped off his vest and shirt and splashed into the water, egged on by the screaming crowd above.

  Leprechauns don't swim. But Kylie did.

  Putting my face in the water, I started kicking for all I was worth. As soon as I cleared the fallen trees, the current became stronger, fighting me for every inch. I could practically feel Kylie gaining on me, making me afraid to lose even the second it would take to glance back. At last my fingertips raked slimy gravel. Gathering my legs

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  beneath, me, I found my footing and charged up out of the shallows.

  "Run, Lilybet! Hurry!" Ludlow cried anxiously.

  The slope between me and the cart was steep and slippery. Loose rocks spurted from beneath my shoes. Grabbing protruding roots, I pulled myself up over the bank's edge and belly flopped in the dirt at its top. Rolling to a crouch, I turned and braced for impact with Kylie.

  To my amazement, he was dog-paddling back to the opposite shore, his own clan booing and jeering as he returned in soggy disgrace.

  Fizz drove up alongside me. "Never made it halfway out," he reported. "Not a bit o' the swimmer you are, Lil."

  "Aye, true enough," Balthazar said. "But there could still be sentries this side o' the water, so if you two don't mind gloating later ..."

  I jumped into the wagon, sprawling on top of my stolen gold. "Go, Fizz! Go!" I cried. If I had learned anything, it was to listen to Balthazar.

  I took one last look at Kylie's miserable silhouette as he hauled himself out of the river. Then the cart found the road, and we were off, riding full speed for the border.

  Balthazar, Ludlow, and I watched tensely in all directions, holding our breath against a surprise attack from behind the rocks and trees crowding our winding path. Finally, the trees started to thin. We passed the last patch of rocks.

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  Nothing but clover spread out before us.

  "Is this ... Are we over the border?" I asked hopefully.

  "Not yet." Balthazar stared straight ahead as if we might still be ambushed from beneath a clump of clover.

  "When?"

  "You'll know."

  I had no idea how I was supposed to know, in the dark, when the border wasn't even marked. I'd only been over it once, and I'd been a little preoccupied at the time. If the sun were out, I'd be able to tell by the clover , I thought. Maroon on their side, green on ours .

  I squinted up at the moon, trying to gauge how much longer until daylight. Then I looked back down and gasped.

  "My hands!" I cried, holding them up. Even by moonlight I could tell my right one was no longer red. They both looked completely normal.

  Balthazar took one glance at me and smiled as if his birthday and Christmas had come on the same day. "Didn't I tell you you'd know? That's the amnesty, Lil!"

  "You mean ...?"

  "Aye, free and clear, every one o' us. Might as well o' never happened." His grin stretched impossibly wider. "Except for this," he added, thumping the nearest sack of gold.

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  Chapter 18

  The sun was high and warm when we rolled back into the Meadows. The dogs pranced as they pulled our cart through town. Balthazar held a bag of stolen gold up over his head, and crowds of Greens ran out to meet us, cheering until they were hoarse. I sat tall in the wagon, my keeper key gleaming around my neck, and basked in their admiration.

  I deserve this , I thought happily. I totally kicked Scarlet butt!

  Mother Sosanna and her council were waiting on the dais in Green Field. I walked boldly into their presence accompanied by raucous cheers. Guards prodded a bare-chested Cain up

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  the stairs behind me, his wrists shackled and his wet mustache still tied through his mouth. His puffy pisky scar oozed nastiness in the sunshine, so inflamed as to be almost unrecognizable.

  Hustling up between us, Balthazar bowed to the council. "Lilybet Green has passed her final test," he said. "She awaits your confirmation. Meanwhile, this weasel"--he kicked Cain behind one knee--"is a traitor to his clan. He tried to make Lilybet fail!"

  Gasps ripped through the crowd. Sosanna looked alarmed.

  "Why would he do that?" she asked me.

  "I don't know, but he tried to run off with the dogs and get me caught with stolen gold. Maybe it's to do with that cold-succession thing, but if Cain and I are in the same line, I don't see how that works. Do you?"

  Mother Sosanna looked absolutely stunned.

  "It could be anything!" Balthazar put in nervously. "Look at him--he's pisky bit!"

  The leprechauns packing the field babbled with shock and excitement, straining forward to see.

  "Ungag the prisoner," Sosanna demanded.

  A blade flashed in a guard's hand and Cain's knotted mustache fell to the ground, cut loose from his lip on both sides. A caterpillar's length of trembling whiskers was all that remained, making him look somehow smaller.

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  "Cain Green!" Sosanna said. "I will know your involvement in this. Explain immediately."

  "He'll lie!" I whispered to Balthazar.

  "Not to the chief, Lil. Pain o' death--and she'll know, believe me."

  Cain shot Balthazar a nasty look, then bowed before the council. "Not much to tell, is there?" he rasped. "Had the key, got an itch, and caught myself a pisky."

  "I'll have details!" Sosanna insisted.

  Cain heaved an enormous sigh. "When our Maureen passed on and the key flashed its beacon home, I found it first, didn't I? I reclaimed eight bags o' Maureen's gold for the clan, and I won the honor o' guarding the key for our next keeper. I was the one who held it safe--until you chose him and his lads for delivery," Cain said with a disgusted nod toward Balthazar.

  "Yes, yes," Sosanna said impatiently. "Everyone already knows that."

  Not everyone , I thought, fascinated. Eight "reclaimed" bags of gold could explain a lot about where Gigi's money had disappeared to!

  "So I had the key, didn't I?" Cain went on. "The key to the whole inner keep in a wee pouch on my belt. But I couldn't use it."

  "O' course you couldn't," Balthazar broke in. "You're a leprechaun!"

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  "Shh!" Sosanna hushed him.

  Cain gave Balthazar a superior look. "Right," he said at last. "A lep
rechaun can't use the key. But a leprechaun with one bitty drop o' human blood could."

  Horrified gasps ran through the crowd.

  "No such creature exists!" Mother Sosanna objected. "That would be ... that would be a reverse lepling! How could such a thing even be possible?"

  "The pisky bite," I said.

  Cain grinned ruefully. "Aye," he admitted, "a scheming horror o' a pisky, wasn't it? Gave me a good nip too. But I caught it fair and square, and it had to give me a wish."

  Balthazar looked ready to hurl. "You asked to have human blood in your veins?"

  "Hey!" I protested. "Don't say that like it's an insult."

  "Beg pardon, Lil, but--" Balthazar shuddered convulsively, along with the council and most of the crowd. "No sane leprechaun would dream o' doing that."

  "Aye, and where's the leprechaun who could stay sane with that key in his hands?" Cain asked. "It called me out o' sleep! Tormented me every second o' seven days and nights. 'Keep me. Use me,' it begged. 'All the riches o' the clan will be yours.'"

  "Can the key really talk?" I asked Balthazar.

  "No!" he scoffed.

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  "It talked to me!" Cain insisted. "I heard it, didn't I? Over and over ... the gold!" He moaned. "All that gold."

  The lust in his eyes was a fever, a sickness he couldn't control. Remembering my time in both keeps, I almost understood. I had felt that fever myself--and I was only the teensiest part leprechaun.

  "So, you caught a pisky," I filled in for him. "And what did you ask it for?"