by James Fahy
Robin was barely listening to them, he was fumbling with his mana stone, trying to quell the rising tide of worry that he had just basically agreed to go monster hunting in the Netherworlde. Alone against some boogeyman beast that so far had killed everyone and everything it touched. Was he completely mad?
Hawthorn peered so hard at the boy, clearly seeing the worry he was trying to conceal on his pale face. After a moment, he nodded to himself slowly, his old eyes crinkling.
“Listen to me, Robin Fellows,” he said, kindness at the edge of his gruff tones. “The Elderhart is vast. The largest forest in all of the Netherworlde. It lies across the plains of grass, and the river Nyx. It is a ride of many days on fast horses from here before you even reach its borders. There are many dangers before you even arrive at the treeline. And once you pass its leafy edge, you will then be in the realm of dryads and the Swarm, both worrying concerns. The Elderhart may be breathtaking and wild, but it had no paths, and much darkness and danger there, even without this scourge.”
“If you’re trying to make me feel better about this, it’s really not working,” Robin said.
The Fae shook his horns. “No, Son of Wolfsbane. What I am saying is this. I will accompany you, if you will have me. I know the land well, better than most. I can at least get you there.”
Relief and surprise flooded through Robin. “But, aren’t you injured?”
“I will be well enough to travel again by the time the moon rises tonight,” Hawthorn replied, shrugging off Robin's concerns. “I am used to the wilds. I told you, I heal fast, and your nursemaid here at Erlking is incredibly skilled. The short angry one. Although her bedside manner is rather grating.”
“You must leave tonight, Scion,” the redcaps demanded harshly. “There is no turning back on the agreement now. And there is no time to waste. We shall report back to Deepdweller and confirm the terms of the debt are agreed.”
“Tonight?” Robin’s mind raced. “But … I mean … I don’t have a plan yet. I've got no idea what to do when we get to this forest. I don’t even know anything about the place, or about dryads, or how to kill a Shard-possessed beast. I need time. To study, to find the books I need in Erlking's library and–”
“You have none,” the redcaps both said at once, utterly dismissive. “The time to act is now. Blood seeps into the soil even as we speak. You need books? Bring them. You need plans, make them on the way. But tonight is Halloween, and the veil between the mortal realm and the Netherworlde is at its thinnest. Best time to cross without alerting the Empress to your use of a Janus.”
“This charmless pair are right,” Hawthorn nodded. “If Strigoi is already in the area. You don’t want to give him a heads up that you’re on your way, believe me. I don’t wish to cross paths with that one. Leave under moonlight, travel carefully. Soft and silent into the forest. That is how we must tread.” He sighed, leaning back slightly with a creak onto the sofa. “We must leave tonight, though I admit, I dearly wish for some decent sustenance before we do.”
Robin stood, his mind already racing, making a mental list of things he might need, and how he was going to go about telling the others he was going.
“Well,” he said. “Seeing as you’re here now, and this goes for you redcaps too…we do have a spare Halloween feast prepared which no one is eating. It would be a shame to let it go to waste. Please, be my guests.”
The redcaps’ beady eyes lit up hungrily. “There is … meringue?”
THREE FAE AND A FAUN
As night fell and Erlking played host to the most unusual Halloween guests, Hestia plying them with all manner of food, visibly relieved that her preparations would not go to waste after all, Robin explained the situation to Karya and the others.
“A marauding monster in the Netherworlde?” the girl repeated, her brown set in a frown. “Something that has come out of the forest? And they think it has been awoken by the finding of a Shard of the Arcania?”
“How is any of that your concern?” Jackalope wondered, tucking heartily into a plate of Halloween sausage rolls. Robin gave him a weary look.
“Because people have been killed by this thing,” he explained. “Whatever it is and wherever it has come from. Redcaps and Panthea alike. It’s destroying villages and it’s made this forest a dangerous place. It’s even killing the woods in parts. It’s my concern because, if I hadn’t woken up the Shards in the first place, then chances are it never would have appeared at all.”
“The Elderhart forest is a pretty dangerous place at the best of times, Scion,” Karya said. “You’re way in out of your depth. It’s the largest forest in the Netherworlde. Bigger than some of your countries here in the mortal realm. There’s more in there than rumoured dryad settlements, that’s to be sure.” She drummed her fingers on the tabletop in an antsy manner. “Very few people have passed all the way through the forest and come out to tell the tale. I think Hammerhand himself is the only person who knew how to navigate it. Who knows what else lives in there? It’s a vast, vast kingdom.”
“One with no king,” Woad pointed out. He had taken a plateful of pigs in blankets from the table and waggled one at Robin before popping it into his mouth. “Well, not since he probably got eaten by this beastie. Although the Hive has a queen now apparently. Horrible-sounding place.”
“Look, it doesn’t matter how dangerous a place it is,” Robin argued. “Or what might be lurking in there. The point is, one of those lurking things got out and is being powered by a Shard. I have to try and stop it.” He glanced up at the far end of the table towards the redcaps, who were noisily devouring the feast and chattering in low voices to one another. “It’s not like I really have any choice at all in the matter, is it? I owe the redcaps a debt.”
Karya nodded. “I knew no good would come of that,” she sighed. “I knew it. It was only a matter of time before they collected on it. Redcaps always do. Vile little things. But to be honest, I was hoping they would eventually ask for some treasure from Erlking, not for you to go off into the Netherworlde on a dragon-slaying quest that sounds like a suicide mission.”
“Nobody said it was a dragon,” Robin said quickly and worriedly.
“So don’t go,” Jackalope said. “Why do you all make things so complicated? Let someone else hunt and kill this monster.”
Karya glanced at the boy, her stare hard. “It’s not that simple,” she said. “Do you know absolutely nothing about honour? Responsibility?”
He narrowed his eyes back at her. “I know about survival,” he said. “And I’m not stupid enough to stick my neck out for people I don’t even know.”
“See, this is why you're not the Scion,” Woad muttered conversationally around a mouthful of bacon-wrapped sausage.
“I can’t ‘let someone else deal with it’, Jack,” Robin said, exasperated. “What if Strigoi or the Grimms find this thing before I do?”
“Maybe it would kill them,” Jackalope shrugged.
“Or maybe they would gain a Shard.” Robin shook his head. “Too risky. I can’t have that on my shoulders as well as these people being hurt in the Netherworlde.” He put his hands flat on the table. “I’m going, that’s all there is to it.”
“What does your tutor have to say about you wandering off in the Netherworlde into the maw of certain danger?” Karya asked.
“Calypso?” Robin shrugged. He had explained things to her before they all retired to the hall for the feast. “You know her. She sighed a little, then told me to take a coat. It’s cool weather there this time of year apparently.”
“That does sound like her,” Woad grinned.
“She’s upstairs now,” Robin continued. “Packing some books, supplies and maps, she said. Wanted me to stay down here and keep an eye on our guests, specifically the redcaps.” He lowered his voice, glancing up the table at them. “Apparently, they shouldn’t ever be left alone at Erlking. Their thievery would make Ffoulkes look like an honourable knight. I don’t think Hawthorn is too happy about
being rescued and dragged here by them. He’s been polite to them, but he hasn’t been gushing about owing them his life or anything.”
“That’s because he knows they’d collect if he did. Some people are smart enough not to get themselves into debt with redcaps.” She pursed her lips at him and he made a face in return. "Calypso has a point though. I wouldn’t leave them alone here either. They would steal the shine off a silver candlestick, that’s for sure,” Karya said.
She folded her arms and thought for a moment. “At least you won’t be alone out there,” she said.
“Hawthorn knows the way to the forest,” Robin agreed. He barely knew the Fae, he was practically a stranger, but he had helped them once before … kind of. He seemed trustworthy … sort of. Robin tried not to worry about it too much. The man had known his father, that must count for something, surely. “He said he would guide me there.”
“Not him, dolt. Us,” Karya rolled her eyes.
“You think you could leave us behind?” Woad giggled. “This faun will never miss an opportunity to go to the Netherworlde. The shadows are softer there, the grass is greener.” He looked critically at the remaining scraps on his plate. “And the food is definitely more faun-centric.”
“And the wildlife, the people and even the terrain are all much more likely to kill you all,” Jackalope interjected with scorn. “But I was due to take my leave tonight anyway. To cross over into the Netherworlde. Before that fiery thief mucked things up. I will come to the grasslands with you if you are crossing over. I want to put some distance between myself and this place.”
They all glanced at him.
“But that’s as far as I go,” he said firmly. “We part ways then. I’ll find my own way in the world, and I can guarantee you it won’t be in any stupid direction that takes me within fifty miles of a deadly forest full of monsters. I didn’t sign up for any of your ridiculous adventures.”
Robin grinned at them all.
“You do know none of you are contractually obliged to follow me into danger, right?”
“Yes we are,” Karya said simply, her face as serious as ever. “That’s what friends do. We’re all coming and that’s that.”
*
It wasn’t as simple as they had hoped.
The sun had set and the moon risen long ago. To everyone's relief, Terp and Tine, the wickedly gruesome redcap twins took their leave of Erlking, both bowing deeply to Robin as they left and promising, with hints of an underlying threat, that news of his repayment would be conveyed immediately to Deepdweller, who would be watching closely to ensure the terms of the favour were satisfied. Very closely. And woe betide if it wasn't.
He was glad when they were off the property.
Hawthorn spent some time talking alone with Calypso, whilst the children pored over a large yellowed map which Karya had fetched from the library with the help of Wally. She had laid the huge map out on the dining room table, using leftover cups and plates from the hurried Halloween feast to pin the corners flat.
Robin was unfamiliar with the Netherworlde's geography. He had no idea how far it was to this forest. Karya showed him where the ruins of Erlking stood on the map, with the large Barrowood Forest at the north-eastern base of its hill. The first time he had travelled beyond the human world, she explained, they had passed through this wood, and then on further east, over the high moorlands, seeking the Temple of the Oracle. From there, northeast to the Singing Fens and the mountains beyond. The second time Robin had encountered the Netherworlde, they had been much farther afield still, in the far far north, up by the high snowy tundra of the Gravis Glaciem.
This trip, she indicated seriously, using a spoon as a pointer, to which still clung a small modicum of jelly, would take them in a different direction. From Erlking's ruins in the Netherworlde, they would need to head southeast. It was grasslands there. The odd farm and village, but largely a wild and open wilderness, with only a few small woodland areas. Not much cover to evade any Peacekeeper patrols. Wild hills and grass, like a prairie. After a few day’s march through this high sea of tough grass, they should reach the low, undulating hills, the most famous of which was Briar Hill, a legendary place in Netherworlde lore, though merely an abandoned ruin these days. They would avoid the hill altogether, she explained. Abandoned places tended to attract revenants and other unpleasant things.
Robin nodded, following the line across the map she was tracing with the spoon.
Beyond the hills, she told them, was the Redcaps' solitary surface town, Spitrot, or whatever was left of it anyway. It stood close to the borders of the Elderhart Forest itself. She tapped the map firmly, and Robin’s eyes roamed over the ink and parchment, taking in the forest.
It looked huge. It rolled across so much of the map, a huge swathe of tiny inked doodled trees and a blob of jam.
“It seems such a long way,” Robin said, slipping his pack onto his back. He was incredibly grateful for the Swedenborgian satchel. Hestia had filled it with enough food for a month at least, and Calypso had provided Robin with an armload of books and maps, including his trusty edition of Hammerhand's Netherworlde Compendium, along with the book of Netherworlde legends he had received for his birthday. All of it fit easily into the pack and seemed to weigh nothing. The pack also held the Mask of Gaia, so recently discovered. It might be safer at Erlking, but they were heading into dryad territory and it was a dryad treasure, after all. It might come in useful.
“It is a long way,” Karya agreed. “But not to worry, I can tear us back and forth between here and the Netherworlde, and cut our journey time to nothing. Just like we did when we needed to get to that human city, remember?”
“That won’t be an option,” Hawthorn said, the long-limbed Fae walking up behind them and peering down at the map. His feet were utterly silent on the floorboards. Robin glanced up at him, noticing how much healthier he looked already. His old face was lined, his eyes still hooded, but they glimmered. The Fae, it seemed, really did heal quickly.
“Why not?” Karya bristled. “You haven’t seen me in action.”
“It’s not a matter of skill,” the Fae replied calmly. “We have to leave now, because Allhallows is the point at which the two worlds touch naturally. Using a Janus station is smooth and quiet, and unlikely to be noticed by Eris at this time. But you cannot then tear back and forth between the worlds, flipping us across them like a skipping stone on the surface of a lake.”
“I assure you, I can,” Karya insisted haughtily.
“Not without causing ripples,” the Fae shook his dark head. “Big ones. And ripples are the last thing you want when there are sharks in the water.”
“You mean Strigoi,” Robin said, rolling up the map. He took Hawthorn's point. “He’ll sense we’re in the neighbourhood.”
“He probably will anyway,” Hawthorn said. “He sniffs out his quarry. They don’t call him the Wolf of Eris for nothing. But let us not actively invite calamity. Softly and without tearing, that is how we shall go. Best not to telegraph our position any more than we have to.”
The Fae patted both Robin and Karya on the shoulder. “We leave now," he said. “I want to put some distance between Netherworlde Erlking and ourselves before the sun rises over there.”
“But Henry isn’t here!” Robin argued, as the others shouldered their backpacks.
Henry still had not replied to his hex-messages. Robin couldn’t understand why. His father was down in London with Irene. The cottage he lived in would be empty and dark. It was incredibly unlikely that the boy would choose to go back there after school rather than up to Erlking, especially when there had been a party planned, and yet he hadn’t arrived.
“We can’t leave without him. He’d be livid.”
“We must,” Hawthorn said simply, bowing politely to Calypso and Hestia and thanking them for their aid and hospitality. The entire company began to make their way up the stairs, to the red door of Erlking through which the sisters and Ffoulkes had not long since passed
.
“Henry is my best friend,” Robin argued. “He’ll want to come. He wouldn’t miss a trip to the Netherworlde for anything.”
Jackalope raised his eyebrows. “Perhaps it is for the best that the human is not here,” he said. “The Netherworlde is no place for such soft creatures. It is not safe.”
“Nowhere’s safe according to you,” Karya grumbled. “At least Henry wants to be with us.”
“Apparently not,” Jackalope retorted. Robin glared at him.
“Your human friend will have to follow after us, if he is so insistent,” Hawthorn said, as they reached the door. “Your tutor and the keeper of the house can let him know what has happened, as and when he arrives.”
Robin placed his hand on the door, feeling the familiar heady rush of mana as the will of Erlking flowed through and around him. The handle vibrated and the door swung open with a whoosh.
“But he won’t be able to,” Robin realised. “This door only opens for me. He can’t use Janus stations. I don’t even know where the next nearest one to Erlking is in the mortal world. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t either. He’s going to be stuck here, on his own.”
The view beyond the red door, the portion of Netherworlde Erlking they could see, was impressive. This time the portal had opened onto the top of a wide sweeping staircase which fell down away from them, shadowy polished obsidian flanked by great black pillars, dotted here and there with crumbled masonry and stones. At the foot of the steps, some distance below, Robin could see an archway through which silvery moonlight streamed, and the pale movement of grass under a breeze. It seemed to lead out to a courtyard.
“Robin is right,” Karya said. Her face was set as she seemed to be considering something. “Henry won’t be able to join us. Not on his own.”
She looked around at them all. “I will stay.”
“What?” Robin frowned.
“I’ll wait here for Henry, we’ll follow you.” She glanced at Hawthorn before he could argue, “And yes, we will have to use my skill at tearing to get through to the Netherworlde, but you should have a decent head start on us by then. It certainly shouldn’t telegraph the location of either you or the Scion to any unwanted eyes.”
