by Jeffrey Cook
“Where are we eating?” Megan asked.
“At the Market, I hope,” Lani said.
“Dad said he wanted us away for a bit,” Megan said.
“He got his bit,” Lani insisted. “Now I've got a hunch.”
“Definitely not going to bet against your hunches. You okay with this, Justin?”
“Okay is a very complex term. I trust Lani, certainly.”
They arrived at the Fremont Solstice Fair just in time for the dog parade. Lani wanted to get food, but agreed to pause on the side street while the various dogs, costumed and not, were led, or led their owners, through the streets. Megan, meanwhile, did her best to explain some of the costumes to Justin, who seemed more interested in these than he had the various body-painted people the day before. At least until she was reduced to an unintelligible squee as the dachshunds passed, two dressed in traditional Germanic festival dress, and the third, missing its back legs, with its mobility-assistance wheels and body partly encased in a little rolling beer keg.
Ashling and the Count conducted a few flyarounds, scouting out the sprawling fairgrounds, then eventually settled atop one of the canopy tents, once the teenagers picked out food after the parade. Cassia found them as they were finishing their lunch, the satyress joining them on the grass.
"Everyone okay?" Lani asked.
Cassia shook her head. "All of the band made it back safely. I'm giving all of them some space, since things back in Faerie are a mess. People found one more of the wight barrows, but the inhabitant was gone."
"And they haven't gotten the Huntsman and his hounds out after him?" Justin asked.
"Or a bunch of pixies, or, I guess, sprites might even be useful," Ashling added.
"That's just it," Cassia said, "They've done those things. Both courts have people looking. It's like the Butterfly Collector either doesn't exist, or we don't have enough information on him to give them a place to start, and the wights, well, something is protecting them."
Megan glanced at Lani, who was currently managing to look more irritated at the situation than she looked smug at being right about the level of preparation involved. "What could do that?" Megan asked.
"We saw some pretty powerful wards back on one of the wight barrows," Lani said, "The Fomoire had magic to rival the fae, and sometimes even the Gods. Maybe they're hiding out in one of the other burial mounds that wasn't on our map?"
Cassia nodded. "We have people in Ireland searching. Unfortunately, there's a lot of tombs out there. But we'll find them."
Megan said "We? But you're here. Looking after your girlfriend and the band and everything?"
Cassia shook her head. "Ric let me evacuate them, but asked me to do some scouting here, instead of joining the hunting parties in Faerie or Ireland."
"Scouting?" Justin asked, "What are they looking for here?"
"The Butterfly Collector had to have come from this side. He certainly didn't go through An Teach Deiridh. This is my stomping grounds, so Ric asked me to collect Ashling, and see if we can find any sign of him on this side. Knowing who he is might help. Or give the Huntsman a name."
"Just knowing his real name would help that much?" Megan asked.
"The Huntsman's magic is powerful, powerful stuff,” Cassia said. “Ric doesn't think he had possession of the map for long enough, didn't use it enough, for it to count as his, or I'd be borrowing that. But yeah, a real name, and those hounds might be able to get past whatever protection he has hiding him."
"What about a receipt?" Megan asked.
"What are you talking about?" Justin said.
Megan glanced at Lani, who brightened, catching on to the idea quickly. "She's right," Lani said, "We don't know who he is, but we know where he's been shopping."
"We have to get back to the Goblin Market and find out where he bought the map." Megan said, getting up, with the others right after her.
"Are you sure that they can release that kind of information?" Lani said. "I mean, it seems like those kinds of shopping records are usually private, right?"
Justin said "They're still faeries. We have to convince them that it's in their best interests to tell us."
Ashling shook her head, letting Megan put the butterfly on her shoulder, while the Count took off and circled above. "That's not how it works. They have rules, but..."
"But," Megan said, "Even if they won't tell us just because, we can still get the information from them. The rule is that everything is for sale at the Goblin Market, right?"
"If you can pay for it," Ashling said, "Now you're catching on. I'm so proud of you."
They hurried to the stage as best they could through the people, moving around to the back to collect their passes. There, they found Finn sitting on the ground, laying back against the stage, eyes shut, snoring. One hand rested atop a red toy Volkswagen.
Robin Goodfellow was standing beside him with a smirk—and worse, with all of Finn's passes fanned out in front of him. "Now, now, you wouldn't be looking for these, would you?"
Justin's eyes didn't leave Robin, but he reached back and began to unzip the instrument case in which he was once more keeping the Sword of Light.
This was met with a countertenor giggle, which prompted Justin to pause in place. “Oh, yes,” Robin said. “Please, yes. Pull out a weapon in the middle of 60,000 Seattleites. Doesn't matter if people can see the flames or not: the Sword is always a sword. You'll be waving it around in public, threatening a younger kid, 'cause I'm not staying put backstage if you try anything. At worst, you'll be stopped. At best—” there was another giggle and a toss of the long hair. “Panic in the crowds. We'll see if Fremont can manage a proper riot. Either way, when the police come, someone will end up looking into whatever visa you had 'arranged.' It may hold up normally, but not against assault charges. You'll be deported to some city just east of Wales that you'll almost—but never quite—recognize, and you'll never see her again.”
Justin glared, but he zipped the case back up.
"Why are you doing this?” Lani asked. “You're part of Faerie too.”
Robin laughed, a sound that got more troubling the more times one heard it. "Faerie is just a dream. And what is a dream with too many rules? As soon as you start putting limits on dreams, they become something else. Sometimes I just need to remind Orlaith, and all the others, with their pretty songs and dances, of that fact."
"Even if you burn everything down in the process?" Lani asked.
"Any life worth living has risks."
"We have enough risks, thanks." Megan said.
Robin was about to respond, when he was cut off by Cassia's fist smashing into his face, sending him tumbling. He sat up, rubbing his jaw. "Nice punch, Cass."
The satyress moved to follow up, but by the time she reached him, Robin had disappeared.
"I'm going to kill that son of a—" Cassia stomped the ground where he'd been.
"Later, Cassia," Lani said.
"I think I have working counter-magic now, maybe. I might be able to wake up Finn," Megan said, not sounding very sure, remembering what had been said about the strength of Robin's magic.
"But he still won't have the passes, and we're in a hurry," Lani said, "We need to get to An Teach Deiridh, now."
Chapter 25: Calling In
Despite the teens all jumping at shadows all the way to the correct park, the trip was uneventful. Megan finally ventured to ask, "Why isn't he throwing out another illusion now, or putting us to sleep?"
"Because as much as he doesn't want to believe it, Robin has rules too." Ashling responded as she started circling the mushroom ring to check the passage into Faerie.
"Such as?" Megan asked, looking around nervously.
"No cookies until after dinner, and do not meddle in the affairs of dragons," the pixie answered.
Cassia shook her head. "There's a reason faeries like him mess with lone travelers, or kidnap one kid, or maybe mess with a small group. He's powerful, but he's all tied up in his illusion
s. He casts one on five people, he needs to fool five people. He messes with the fair, he needs to fool 60,000 people. And when it starts breaking down, it backlashes on him. That's why he tried something subtler today."
“So, when we broke through his illusion before—wait, what are you calling subtle, the putting trolls to sleep, or the theft?"
"The part where he tried to magically mess with your mind, right before I hit him. You didn't think I did that just because I wanted to, right? I mean, yes, I wanted to deck him, but there was a good reason. And yes, when you figured out how to get through his illusion earlier, it weakened him a little. He'll be more careful, wait 'til we're alone, and then hit us hard with something."
"Comforting thought." Lani muttered.
"The path is ready." Ashling announced, stepping through.
Faerie, on the other side, was busier than any of the other times Megan had crossed into the realm. A unit of sidhe, and a handful of redcaps, backed up by a few others, patrolled the area around the gate, as if expecting someone else. Seeing a chance to travel in greater numbers, Cassia quickly indicated to the redcaps that she needed to go to the city to report.
"What's she doing?" Megan whispered to Lani.
Lani whispered back, "The passage to the Market is a long way, and traveling alone, we're in danger. In An Teach Deiridh, we can get some help."
"What kind of help?"
"Kerr kind of help. Maybe having some illusions of our own will help. And anything else we can get. Robin will definitely mess with us on the way."
"Can't we, you know, mention we have an idea, and get an escort or something?"
"Sure, if you want strings attached, or the risk of the Queen or Inwar interfering. Or maybe run into someone who'll sympathize with Robin. We need help, but we need help we can trust."
"But—" Megan began.
"But they're still faeries, Megan. Even when their world might end, they'll be true to their nature. We need to be more careful right now, not less."
Despite that, when Cassia indicated she had important information to report, others fell in to get them to the city quickly enough. Unfortunately, they learned, Riocard had stayed at the Market, though there were plenty of sprites more than willing to take news to him. Cassia remained with them to pass on what Robin had done with the gate, distracting the sprites while the teens and Ashling went to the kitchen that Kerr managed.
They entered to find a few members of Peadar's usual gang stocking up on supplies, while Peadar was talking to Kerr, who shifted about even more nervously than usual.
Lani was prepared to wait patiently for Kerr, staying well out of the way, but Megan, after a few moments of consideration, marched right up to the redcap.
"You want something?" Peadar asked, turning and glaring.
Megan let the march of inspiration play through her mind while not backing down, even looking directly at him. "I need you to do something for me."
“Kinda busy right now.”
“You owe me.”
“You're calling that in now?”
“Yep.”
Peadar sighed. “What do you need?”
“Robin Goodfellow out of our hair.”
“Great. Robin Freaking Goodfellow, on top of everything else.”
"That's right, on top of everything else. And I'll even give you a head start. We're going to the Goblin Market. Somewhere along the way, he's going to mess with us."
"Not if we have a whole escort going with you, he won't." Peadar growled.
"No," Megan shook her head, "Then he'll mess with us later. That's not the deal. If you want the debt cleared, you and whatever buddies you need to take along deal with him for us, so we can deal with other things."
"And just how do you figure we're going to do that, huh?"
Megan smiled. "I'd love to say that that's your problem. I really would. But this is important, so I'll help you out. I remember how it goes. Pixies are good at finding somewheres, Sprites are good at finding somewhens. Specifically, interesting ones. So, we're pretty sure, if he thinks we're traveling alone, Robin will show up somewhere along our way to the Market, that'd be a pretty interesting when, right?"
Peadar considered that, looking around at some of his gang. "And I do this for you, debt cleared, and we go back to the way we were?"
"I know more than I did back then. And Justin still has the sword. But yes, no more debt for letting you guys off the hook. No hard feelings."
Peadar considered that, then nodded. "All right, but I still need to get these supplies off to other crews, and send word I ain't going to... well, where we were headed. But you got a deal. Get moving, we'll be along when you need us, and not a second before." He turned back to Kerr.
“One other question,” Megan said, not flinching when the nightmare face turned back at her. “What's with the hat? The way it looks mortal-side, I mean. I get that it's convenient for it to be more... commercial, but is it just random or... for instance, are you really a '49ers fan?”
Peadar somehow grinned wider, in a way that didn't reach the yellow eyes. “I'm whatever you don't want me to be, Princess.”
Chapter 26: Semper Paratus
Brownie work ethic conflicted with an obvious desire to be helpful, as Kerr apologized but explained that with all of the out-of-town visitors An Teach Deiridh was putting up for the duration of the market, the kitchen couldn't go unsupervised. They also learned that, unlike Robin's, Kerr's illusions wouldn't last long beyond their leaving the kitchens. Still, they arranged a bit of invisible cover to leave under, hoping it would buy them a little time as they headed for the passage to the Market. Kerr also gave them some homemade granola squares for the trip.
Ashling took the lead as they followed a twisting route through Faerie, sometimes on a path, often working their way through tall grasses and between fruit trees and berry bushes. While it seemed to Megan, at times, like there had to be a more direct route, or that Ashling might just be having fun with them, she'd traveled enough with Ashling to know that, whatever else she was, she was an excellent guide, and this route was almost certainly, somehow, faster than any other they could have taken.
Megan wasn't certain how long the full trip was supposed to take, but an hour into the journey, once they were well away from the staging grounds and the portal back to Fremont, a heavy fog rolled in. Megan started to sing up a whirling wind to drive it away, but found it hard to breathe. The others seemed to be having the same reactions. The Count was forced to the ground, while the cats both started coughing.
Justin drew the Sword of Light, and the fog parted away from him, forming a clear pocket, but only for a couple feet. The rest of the group closed in on him, and Megan started taking in the breath to open her song. The thick mist in the air might have muted the sound, but to their left, there was a loud crack, and the fog quickly began to dissipate.
"First Cassia, now you. Why is violence always your answer?" asked a smirking Robin, rubbing his chin.
Peadar, two other redcaps, a handful of sprites, and a single hag stood nearby, while more sprites moved between trees full of five or six different colors of apples. Peadar, club in hand, stepped forward. "Violence is never the answer. I got it wrong on purpose."
Robin eyed the crew in front of him. "So it's going to be like that, is it?" He gestured towards Megan and her friends. "Over them?" As he spoke, he was backing away, the smirk remained, with no hint of fear in his expression.
"It's going to be like that," Peadar said.
“Bring it, Boy Scout.”
Megan blinked. “Did the blood-obsessed psycho with a baseball bat just get called a Boy Scout?”
“Yes,” Lani replied, eyes fixed on the confrontation.
When Peadar lunged, Robin disappeared. "Damnit," the redcap swore, before looking to the hag. "You're certain he can't go far?"
The hag held up one hand and twisted a jet-black ring around on one finger. "I've hexed him so. He'll be near, but hiding," the huge woman croaked.
The sprites took wing at Peadar's gesture, gathering up like a flock, and sweeping out over the fields.
Megan was transfixed at the spectacle, watching dozens of sprites acting as one, with perfect coordination, the whole flight twisting and turning, before diving, trying to drive their quarry out of hiding, while the hag and redcaps sniffed around.
Lani tugged on Megan's sleeve. "We need to move now, while he's distracted."
"You don't think they'll get him?" Megan said.
"Whether they do or don't," Justin said, keeping the sword drawn and held out before him, leading the way, "We still have our own mission to fulfill."
Lani added, as they picked up their pace away from the confrontation, "And even if they do, I don't want to be alone in the middle of nowhere with either side."
"Good point," Megan agreed, picking up the pace, following Ashling.
It wasn't long before Megan started to get very tired. That was reasonable, in the long and winding walk. She tried to just keep trudging forward.
“Sleepy?” Ashling asked.
“Yeah,” said Megan. “Long day already, and it wasn't that great a night.”
“Yeah...” Ashling said slowly. “There's that. Hey, can you try to sing some of it off.” Megan started in on the march, but the pixie shook her head. “Inspiration's not so much the thing right now. You need a stimulant. You know what might fit, magically? A little Sax & Violins. 'The One with the Complicated Rhyme Scheme.'”
Cassia smiled and happily sang along with Megan.
"You'll really want to try a villanelle.
If that's a pace you think that you can keep.
It's always worse than you at first can tell,
But if you want to ride a carousel
That's less of ponies than Victorian sheep,
You'll really want to try a villanelle."
Megan could feel how the patter of the words seemed to fall into place, to percolate in her mind like magical caffeine, but she tried not to overthink it. She didn't want to jinx anything when it was starting to work.
