Faerie (21 page)

“Cool,” Lily said. “You must show me how to do that, sometime.”

“It takes much... energy. I cannot do for long time.”

Now that they could walk in the comforting bubble of white light, Lily felt so much better – not good, but better. It cast a wonderful silvery light over them, illuminating the area for a good ten feet around – at least giving them a chance to see anything coming at them. Now she could put the torch away, Lily pulled out the taser, and clutched it to her, ready for any attack.

“What if we don’t reach Virginia by nightfall?” Lily asked. “I don’t want to be out here in the dark.”

“Is okay... if we could... not reach by night... then she w...w... would tell us to start earlier.”

That made sense she supposed, but the thought of being out in these woods in the dark was still not a prospect she relished much. Lily clicked on the iPad and looked down at the map.

“Shit. I think we’re just about to hit the boggy bit of the map. I really need a trip through the Dead Marshes right now. Where’s Golem when you need him?” she asked. She saw the blank look on Connor’s face and said, “Never mind.”

Despite the prospect of what was to come, Lily breathed a sigh of utter relief as they came out from under the last of the trees, and then drew her breath in again when she saw what was in front of them. A low mist hung over the entire landscape, stretching as far as the eye could see in either direction, and hidden beneath its nebulous vapour were deep pockets of marsh, scrubby grass and puddles of dark water that could be deep enough to drown a man. Here and there the mist was deeper, the height of a man, even higher, and so intense that she couldn’t see through it. Spindly trees spiked the sky here and there, like dead men’s fingers, and between the dark pools and scrappy banks of marsh grass and weeds, small rocky outcrops littered the landscape.

“That is not good,” Connor said.

“Can’t we go another way?” Lily asked, looking down into the dark pool of water at her feet. Her own reflection stared back at her, wan and very afraid.

Connor shook his head.

“We will... not get there by night... if we go around.”

He was right of course. If they went around it then they would definitely get caught out when night fell. This was the only way through.

They began wading through the dreadful quagmire, the mud sucking at their feet, trying to find the patches of tufty coarse grass that were the most solid. Connor went first, testing each step carefully, putting his weight down and pressing down hard before he stepped on it. The fey were very sure and light footed – but the ground beneath them seemed determined to thwart them at every step. Connor held her arm, steadying her, stopping her from stumbling a few times, and almost stumbling himself. The cloying mud was making her legs ache so much she could hardly keep them under her, they began to shake and when she finally lost her trainer to the mud's insidious mire, she sat down on a grassy bank and began to cry.

“I can’t do this. We’re probably just wandering round and round in circles getting lost, and we’re still going to be stuck out here at nightfall.”

She extricated her trainer from the mud and poured the water out of it, clutching the soggy mess in her lap, and mewling her misery.

“It is not much... further,” he said, squatting down beside her.

“Oh, stop being so bloody optimistic!” she snapped. Then she saw his face and relented. “Sorry, I just need to rest for a minute, that’s all.”

She looked up then, and peered into the misty darkness. Tiny pinpoints of light had popped into their field of view, darting in and out of the mist. For a moment Lily couldn’t work out what they were, then she realised – they were will o’ the wisps. Tiny little balls of light that hovered in the air, like fireflies.

“Hinkypunks,” Connor said, laughing his pleasure. “They... want us... to follow them.”

Lily smiled as well, as the tiny figures weaved and bobbed in front of them, a strange little buzzing sound emanating from them.

“But aren’t they supposed to lure unwary travellers to their deaths? The last thing we want to do is follow them.”

Connor reached out his hand and one of the tiny creatures landed on it. Lily could see its minuscule form quite clearly, a delicate little creature that looked like a cross between and insect and a human, its fragile wings beating so fast that they were just a blur of speed.

“We are fey. Fey do not... betray their own kind,” Connor said. “They only lure... bad people to their death.”

He was right of course – apart from the djinn and the sluagh, the dark fey that hated everyone but their own kind, the fey would not betray one of their own.

They watched as the tiny wisps of light hovered in front of them, teasing them forwards. Lily put her trainer back on, and watched as they hovered over a grassy bank, beckoning her on. It bobbed and weaved in the air just in front of her face, and was definitely having fun.

“We have nothing to lose, do we?” Lily said, “We’re totally lost. Just be careful, ay?”

They began following their guides through the bog, treading cautiously, but soon finding that the tiny creatures were leading them on the right path. It wasn’t easy, but they seemed to be able to find their way through on the safest paths until they finally found themselves standing on dry land again. The will o’ the wisps had congregated together now into an almost solid ball of light, hovering just a few feet in front of them and it was so bright it was hurting Lily’s eyes.

“Thank you,” Lily said as she took the final step. “We are in your debt.”

For one of the fey to declare that they were in someone’s debt meant far more than it did to any human. If the will o’ the wisps ever needed help, Lily or Connor were obliged to provide it. The ball of light moved up into the air, and suddenly exploded into a hundred tiny forms again, shooting off in all directions.

“We would never have made it without them,” Lily said. “We really are in their debt.”

“If the Black King wins... then they will suffer too... they understand.”

“I wish I did,” Lily said.

And so they carried on, following the map, too weary to talk now, just putting one foot in front of the other and hoping that they would get wherever they were going soon. Lily was so exhausted that every muscle, every bone in her body was screaming out at her to rest. She felt as if there was a great weight pressing down on her shoulders, trying to drive her into the earth, and when she looked at Connor she could see he was close to the end of his endurance as well. They were both soaking wet, covered in mud, hungry, thirsty and thoroughly miserable.

They were back in scrubby woodland again now, but nothing like as thick as Farthingale Woods. The trees were dotted in clumps, with a small clearing between, and although the sky overhead was still that terrible deathly grey bank of heavy cloud, Connor’s light was enough to see them through it without too many problems.

Lily suddenly felt a strange tingle running through her body.

“I think that we’re close,” she said.

Connor nodded.

When Lily turned around, she could feel the sensation rising and falling as she moved, as if she had an inbuilt Geiger counter. When she turned in one direction the tingling became either hotter or colder, sensing the arcane power in the air. She realised that she was acting as a human – or rather fey – dowsing rod. All they needed to do was to move towards the brightest field of energy and it would lead them straight to Virginia.

“We need to look for an ash tree that has an even number of branches on either side,” she said.

There were lots of ash trees around, but they all looked quite normal to her – and then Connor gave a little cry and pointed. There in front of them, in a clearing, stood a solitary ash tree, and its branches were exactly even on either side of it.

“We need to cut a branch, but I don’t think I can reach,” Lily said. Connor crouched down and said:

“Get on my... shoulders.” 

Lily, a little dubious, slipped her legs over Connor’s shoulders and found herself being boosted upwards. She gave a little scream as he wobbled, but found that she could reached the lowest branches if she stretched. She snapped off a branch a little longer than they needed and Connor dropped her back down to the ground.

“It’s hard to believe that a little thing like this can cure you, but Virginia seems to think it will work – who are we to argue?”

Beyond the ash tree was one of the low burial mounds that littered the area, neolithic remains that had been there so long they had become part of the landscape. Lily had read somewhere that there were over forty thousand of them dotted around the British Isles and many of them were entrances to the Otherworld. The problem was that these were sometimes guarded by the dead, ancient warriors who were placed there as a penance to watch over these mystical entrances until their debt was paid. Tolkien had known his folklore, that’s for sure. She was fairly certain that they wouldn’t encounter that problem at least; the Korrigan might just have mentioned if she had a demented Celtic warrior guarding her front door.

To find the entrance to a fairy mound you were supposedly meant to walk nine times around it, but as the Korrigan hadn’t mentioned that either, she suspected that might have been redundant as well.

“The entrance has to be here somewhere,” Lily said, moving around and trying to pick up the strongest waves of arcane power.

Connor ignored her and walked away from her, moving closer to the bank of grass, and following along it, holding his hand up as if he were searching for something. Of course – he could see Otherworld, to him it was as real as this one.

“Here,” he said.

He had come to a small rocky outcrop set into the green bank side, and he laid his hand on it. Then gave a nod.

Lily came up and laid her hand over his and she could feel a great wash of sensation pour over her that nearly knocked her from her feet. She felt Connor’s arm around her as she toppled and he grabbed her hand and held it pressed against the stone, supporting almost her full weight. The rock seemed to dissolve from under their fingers and Lily found herself staring into the eerie darkness of the cave.

“Why does that not look good?” Lily asked.

Connor raised his hand, palm upwards and the small ball of bright white light appeared there just as it had before. Lily stared at it and raised an eyebrow.

“How comes you can do that and I can’t? That little trick would have saved me a hell of a lot of misery over the last few days.”

Connor just gave her a benign smile and shrugged.

“Sorry.”

Lily slipped her hand into his and let him lead her through the darkness, his other hand, holding the precious light held high so that they could see where they were going, Lily clutching the taser as if it were a semi automatic machine gun. The tunnel was nothing but a rocky cave that seemed to stretch some way into the distance and the light didn’t reach the end of it, which Lily didn’t find very reassuring.

“I hope she hasn’t got a bloody guard dog,” Lily murmured. Then just ahead of them she could see the door.

It was an ordinary looking old oak door, mellow with age, a large bronze ring set in it to open it.  Lily had no doubt that it was protected by the strongest magic, to keep unwanted intruders out.

“What do we do now?” Lily asked, eyeing the door suspiciously.

Connor simply pulled his hand out of hers, lifted the knocker and rapped on it hard.

“Now why didn’t I think of that?” she asked, giving the tiniest of smiles. There was nothing for a moment and then the door swung open, leading into more darkness. She tossed a glance at Connor and said, “Are you going first, or shall I?”

Neither of them went first. From the tunnel came a willowy form, emerging from the darkness, luminous and beautiful. She was dressed in a wine coloured velvet dress, heavy with bead-work, that fitted close to her shapely figure, cut low, accenting her sensuality. She greeted them with a smile, holding out her hands in greeting.

“I knew you would find me. Come, come in, and welcome to my home,” she said, her voice as warm as her words.

She turned and walked back into the darkness and they followed her through another short passageway to find themselves in the hall that Lily had seen in her dream, a beautiful arbour of sorts, not a room exactly, because there were walls on only three sides, the other side opening out into a spacious garden, full of the most exotic plants and blossoming trees. Lily tried to look past the boundary of the high stone wall that marked the perimeter of the garden to see what was beyond, but the ivy covered wall blocked anything that might lie beyond from sight. All she could see was the golden sky above it, the colour of pale butter. There were no clouds, just an endless expanse of unbroken sky. A delicious golden light bathed the whole scene in a warm glow, and Lily drank in the wonderful smell of Otherworld. It was nothing like the foetid odour in the world of men, polluted by smoke and chemicals, even in the most remote parts of the countryside. The air here smelt alive, vibrant and energising. It wasn’t quite home, but it was close enough.

“You both look as if you’re in serious need of a bath – you’ve had quite a time of it by the looks of it.” Lily looked down at herself and then at Connor and realised just what a state they were in. “Of course, I could always use magic,” Virginia said, beaming a smile at them.