The Quicksilver Faire (27 page)

Keelie turned. Her grandmother's voice was the same as she remembered, but in this place she was so young and beautiful. Another woman stood slightly behind Grandma Jo, and as she stepped forward, Keelie cried out with every bit of grief and anguish in her heart and soul.

"Mom!" The word floated and echoed around the mountain.

The wind blew and rustled her mother's dark hair. Tears streamed down Keelie's cheek as she stared at her through blurry eyes.

"Hey, sweetie," Mom smiled lovingly at her, but there was sadness in her eyes. "You've grown so much."

Knot and Coyote ran to Keelie's side, then bounded in front of her, blocking her way as she was about to run to her mother.

"No, Keelie," Coyote yelled. "They're here to give you a message, but you cannot touch them. The fairy magic that flows within you, and within them, is what is allowing the contact between this realm and the spirit realm."

"The magic is leaking into the spirit world," Grandma Jo said. She placed her hands across Mom's shoulders as if to give her comfort.

"What?" Keelie wanted to run to Mom so badly, but Coyote stopped her by sinking his teeth into her shirt and tugging her back.

"There is a dark force who wants to release the dead to do his bidding, if he is allowed to be free. He has slept for a long time. You have to mend the rift within the Earth to stop him," Mom said. "Mend the rift first, to stop the wild magic. Then you'll be able to use your tree magic to mend the crack in Gaia's Dome."

"Our time is almost up," Grandma Jo said sadly.

"What? You just arrived," Keelie protested.

"I know, my darling," said Mom.

Knot rubbed his head up against Keelie's leg. He purred. "Meow time."

"It can't be time."

Keelie looked at Mom, wanting to memorize everything about her so she'd never forget what she looked like. "Mom, I'm sorry I said I didn't love you the morning you left. I love you. I love you. I love you."

Tears formed in Mom's eyes. "I know, Keelie. I love you, too. Rest your heart. I know you didn't mean it."

Grandma Jo turned her head. "They're calling us. We have to go. Beware of the jester, Keelie. He is very dangerous, and he seeks your death to gain your power."

Fear pulsed through every fiber of Keelie's being.

"Will I ever see you, again?" she asked.

Coyote turned to Knot. "Let's go."

Keelie wanted to shout no. Mom and Grandma Jo were beginning to fade, growing smaller as if they were being pulled away.

Mom's voice wafted back, as pale as her image. "Keelie, tell your father that I love him."

Pain lanced through Keelie as she felt herself leaving the mountainside. She whirled through a smoky vortex of fire, and she landed on the lumpy motel mattress with a loud squeal of bedsprings.

Knot and Coyote crashed to the motel floor in a bundle of fur.

"Yeow off meow."

"Get off of me, you fat cat."

A red ember of smoke from a lighted cigarette glowed in the dark room. "Told you it was a dragon magic book."

Keelie's head pounded like she had cannons going off inside her skull. "Was that real?"

Ermentrude clicked on a light, and though she was still in human form, she had claws instead of hands. She was knitting with them, rapidly working yarn. Knot and Coyote were still trying to disentangle their legs from one another.

"Yep, it was all real." Ermentrude took another puff of her cigarette. It smelled like a charcoal grill in the small, cramped room. Keelie wished desperately for some Febreze.

"The magic is leaking into..." She didn't quite know how to explain it to Ermentrude.

"The spirit world," Ermentrude answered.

"Yeah, the spirit world."

"Exciting stuff." Flames appeared in Ermentrude's nostrils, then snuffed out.

"I saw my mother and grandmother."

"You were given a rare gift."

"Yes, I was."

"You miss your mom, don't you?" Ermentrude asked.

Keelie nodded. If she said anything, she'd choke on the words.

"I wish my daughter would miss me. She's too busy avoiding me."

"Is your daughter a ... ?"

"A dragon. Yes."

Ermentrude untangled her claws from her knitting, then put out her cigarette in an ashtray. She picked up her knitting again and threaded the loops onto her claws. "Yeah, but she's working, traveling around the United States from faire to faire. I'm hoping she'll get it out of her system, come back, and hatch some eggs. I'm ready for a batch of granddragons, but she has to meet the right guy first."

Keelie had a sneaking suspicion she knew Ermentrude's daughter. "What's your daughter's name?"

"Rose. Her father's idea, to name her after her grandmother. You might know her. She goes by her father's name. In dragon society, it's the mother's name that is passed on."

"What is the name she goes by?"

"Finch."

Keelie sat down hard. Finch, the horrifying administrator from the Wildewood Faire who hated Keelie's guts. She was not one bit surprised that Finch was really a dragon.

"Do you know her? She's got great people skills." Ermentrude sounded as proud as any mother bragging about her kid. Keelie wasn't going to tell her otherwise. "She's working at a faire in Colorado this year," the dragon added.

"Really." Keelie shuddered. Whenever this drama in the Northwoods was over, she and Dad were going to the High Mountain Renaissance Faire in Colorado. She briefly wondered who was minding their woodworking shop there while Dad was here.

Ermentrude stood up and packed her knitting bag. "I'll leave you to sleep. You haven't had much of that lately."

She left, and Keelie got ready for bed. She wanted to slip back into her dream world, to freeze Mom and Grandma Jo's images in her mind. Maybe she could go there alone if the magic walls were thin. It suddenly occurred to her that she hadn't asked how Grandmother Keliatiel had discovered about their dark fairy blood.

Something hard landed on her stomach.

"Ah." Keelie bolted upright. It was Coyote.

He stared at her. "Don't try and go there without me or Knot. If you get stuck, your soul can't return back to your body. And you can't go where your kin have gone unless you're dead."

She'd be stuck on that hillside forever, alone. "I've got it. I won't go back." Unless she really needed to.

"How did you two get there?" Keelie asked Coyote and Knot the next morning as they walked to Ermentrude's room for breakfast. She was still thinking about the dreamworld.

Coyote shrugged one furry shoulder. "I'm a spirit walker. I've told you before that I walk between worlds."

Knot swished his tail, and Keelie heard a distant sound of meowing.

"And that means you can walk to the world of the dead? Agh-" Keelie almost tripped over several tabbies and calicos sitting outside Ermentrude's door. The cats didn't flinch, just stared at her.

"What's with the cats?" Keelie looked at Knot for an answer. He lifted his nose in reply. Keelie knocked, then opened the door. Inside, Ermentrude sat at a tiny dinette table. Elia and Dariel stood next to her, their arms wrapped around each other.

"I have to leave," Dariel said. "We're still in Council meetings with all the big wigs. Herne is sending trolls."

"When will you be back? I'm starving," Elia said.

"Soon. Don't leave. I'll send food." Dariel kissed her and headed for the door.

Elia sat down gloomily. "I need to eat now, and if I don't get anything I'm going to be very grumpy."

"As an expectant mother should be," Ermentrude said soothingly. "I've decided to knit you a baby blanket."

Elia smiled tentatively. "Thank you." She moved to sit at the tiny table with Ermentrude.

"Don't worry, all of my yarn is fireproof." Ermentrude dug through her bag and pulled out a skein of fluffy white yarn spotted with ash.

Knot hopped on the arm of the chair and purred at Elia. She ignored him. Coyote sat at her feet like a loyal lap dog. Outside the motel, the cats' meowing escalated.

Keelie covered her ears. "Are you using some kind of elven cat charm?"

"I don't know," Elia snapped. She ran her hands through her golden curls.

The door suddenly crashed open. "Goblin attack!" the elven guard cried. "They've set the motel on fire."

Everyone leaped to their feet. "Ermentrude, can you put it out?" Keelie cried.

"I only start fires," the dragon snapped. "Get your coats and go outside."

Elia was already struggling into her cloak. "I have to pack my ceremonial robes, and my pink gown, too. Keelie, don't forget to get my hairbrush."

"No time." Keelie pushed her out the door. Obviously the Lore Master did not teach fire safety to elven kids.

Outside there was chaos. Armed men rushed back and forth in the motel's smoky parking lot and Keelie could hardly see for the choking, acrid gray billows.

She held her sleeve over her face and Elia bent over, coughing. Ermentrude didn't seem to have any trouble breathing smoke, and she helped Elia get away from the motel.

Three figures appeared out of the gray haze and followed them. Keelie turned to confront them, unsure what she could do to defend herself, when she saw that they were armed elves.

"We are to escort you to a place of safety," one said. His eyes were half-shut against the smoke. A wind arose, clearing the smoke but fanning the flames.

"Why don't we go into town to the Crystal Cup?" Ermentrude suggested. "It's enclosed and you could defend the doors, and maybe the goblins left some food inside."

"Maybe I can call on Herne to send a troll out there with us," Keelie added.

Sean jogged up to them, his chain-mail shirt jingling. "Dariel sent me to help guard you."

"Good," Elia said. "We're going to the Crystal Cup."

"Dariel didn't say anything about the Crystal Cup."

"He forgot my breakfast," Elia cried. "He doesn't love me. I'm going to starve, and my clothes will all be burned to ashes."

"Let's feed the pregnant elf-she's scarier than the goblins," Keelie said. Behind them, flames flickered from the long, low motel and black smoke billowed up and was pushed back down by the wind.

Ermentrude leaned on her walking stick. "It smells a bit like gasoline."

Keelie could only smell smoke. "If the goblins are trying to smoke us out, where would be the most logical place for us to go?" She spoke softly.

The guard elves leaned in. "Back to Grey Mantle," one suggested.

Another nodded. "Or to the City Hall building. It's sturdy, all brick."

Sean eyed Keelie, a smile growing on his face. "I get what you mean. The roads to those places might hold an ambush, but the way to the Cup won't."

"Right." Keelie nodded in Elia's direction. "Besides the hysterical mother-to-be, we have a dragon on our side. I think we'll be pretty safe, especially with you guys along."

"Let's hurry then," Sean said. "Walk behind the women," he told the elf warriors. "I'll take the front."

Ermentrude went to Elia and put an arm around her shoulders. "Come on, dear, let's get you something to eat. I'm afraid we'll have to walk."

"This is the worst trip of my life," Elia sobbed. "I want to go home."

"I understand, dear."

Keelie stomped after them. She felt the same way, but she wasn't about to whine about it to the world. Warmth for Sean flowed through her. She knew he was doing this as much for her as for Elia.

"Let me give you some relationship advice," Ermentrude said, glancing back at Keelie. "I dated an elf once, and they need time to think about things."

"You dated an elf?" Elia asked in a disbelieving tone.

The dragon chuckled to herself as if she was savoring a sweet memory. "He was very athletic."

Keelie didn't want to know.

When they finally reached the abandoned streets of Big Nugget, Keelie tried to ignore the fact that about fifteen cats and at least twenty crows were keeping pace with them. Knot and Coyote walked at either side of Elia, who seemed oblivious of the animals. "How far to the Crystal Cup?"

"Just a little bit more." Keelie, Ermentrude, and the elves kept a wary watch for goblins.

At the cafe, Keelie and Elia went inside. The building seemed frail compared to the No-Tell Motel. The cats and crows, dragon and guards stayed outside while Elia hunted frantically for food. There were some old bagels under a glass dome. Keelie would have loved to have some coffee, but the coffeepot had been destroyed. No other food remained.

Elia sat down with a bagel and sniffed it. "I guess this is it.

"This is it."

Outside, the skies darkened and a cloudy sense of doom enveloped Keelie. "Elia, we need to go. This was a bad idea."

Elia was reading the menu as she gnawed on the bagel. "I'm not leaving. I'm eating."

"We need to leave now." Keelie grabbed Elia's wrist.

"Not until..." Elia stopped and looked around as if she sensed something was wrong, too. "I think maybe you're right."

Keelie heard the discordant jangle and her stomach dropped down to her feet. She was going to have to face a pissed-off Peascod and protect Elia.

The floor cracked and splinters flew everywhere. Peascod and several goblins spun upward.