The Seventh Daughter (18 page)

Tania lost her footing on the scree and crashed to her knees with a gasp. Edric stopped to help her up. They were at the foot of the crater now, the cone rearing above them. While Tania struggled to get her feet under her Edric snatched up a rock and stood over her, ready to hurl it at the monster.

But the mantichore had not followed them. It stood on the lip of the crater, black against the seething sky, pacing back and forth with its tail quivering and its jaws gaping. As Tania stared up it bellowed
and clawed at the ground. Stones rattled down. She got to her feet. “It isn't following us,” she said, gasping. “Why?”

“It guards the mine,” Edric said. “We're not in the mine anymore.”

Tania let out a breathless gust of laughter. “Then we did it! We've got the black amber.”

Edric's voice was suddenly full of anguish. “No,” he said. “We haven't.”

She looked at him in confusion. He made a helpless gesture with his hands, and she looked down. His tunic had been ripped open when he fell trying to reach down to her; the precious nuggets of black amber were gone, lost inside the crater.

“No!” She stared at him in horror. “We have to go back.”

“We can't,” Edric said. “We only just survived the first time. The mantichore will be waiting for us now.”

“But we were so close,” Tania cried. “I don't believe this is happening.”

Edric reached for her, taking hold of her wrist and looking at the scratches left by the mantichore's talons. “You've been hurt.”

“It's only a cut. It's nothing.”

“It isn't
nothing
. It might be poisoned. Let's get away from here and wash it out.”

Tania was too miserable to protest. As they stumbled away through the falling rain she could hear the mantichore bellowing into the stormy sky.

 

“We have lost a battle, not the war,” Cordelia said. “The creature may be fearsome, but we will find a way to defeat it.”

Tania looked bleakly at her. “What makes you think that?”

Cordelia frowned. “Because we
must
prevail,” she said.

Tania wished that she had Cordelia's confidence. How were they going to get anywhere near Tasha Dhul with that monster on the prowl? And how would they defeat it? By throwing rocks? She already knew how effective that would be.

“Keep still,” Edric said gently as she flinched away from where he was dabbing her wounded hand with a corner of his tunic.

“It stings,” she said. “Leave it alone, Edric. It'll be fine.”

“No, it won't,” he insisted. “At least let me wash it.”

She handed him her water pouch. She winced as he let the cold water run over her wound. The cut wasn't particularly deep, but it ran the length of the back of her hand and it was quite sore.

“I have a plan,” Cordelia said. “All three of us will go to Tasha Dhul next time. I shall show myself, drawing the monster off, while you two enter the mine and steal away with the black amber.”

“And what if the thing kills you while we're doing it?” Tania asked.

Cordelia's eyes flashed. “Be assured that I will do all in my power to prevent that from happening.”

Tania shook her head. “It's too risky. We need to think of a better way.”

Cordelia walked over to the cave mouth without saying anything and sat down with her arms wrapped around her legs and her chin on her knees, staring out into the distance with a grim look on her face.

“Shall I bandage it for you?” Edric offered, examining the cleaned cut.

“No, it's fine.”

“Best to be on the safe side.”

“Stop fussing, Edric.” Tania pulled her hand away. She stood up, resting her fingers in his hair for a moment. “Honestly, I'm all right,” she said.

“Really?”

“It's just…you know…” She turned and walked deeper into the cave. She stood in front of the Amber Prison, gazing into the King's frozen face. Titania had said he should have the power to get free once those iron bands were gone. Tania wanted so much to release him from that terrible prison—she wanted it so much that it was like a pain in the middle of her chest.

Tears burned behind her eyes. No, she wouldn't cry. She refused to waste her anger like that. She wanted to hold on to it, to use it to find the strength to do what they had come here to do. She reached out her hand toward the Isenmort bands. She didn't care how much it hurt. She deserved to be hurt for not doing better. Gritting her teeth, she pressed her hand against the iron.

A whiplash of pain ran up her arm and into her
shoulder, but it was nothing like as intense as it had been the last time she had dared to touch the Amber Sphere. She stared at her hand; wisps of gray smoke were rising from where her skin was pressing against the metal. The Isenmort was fizzing and melting where her hand touched it. Her
wet
hand! Her hand that was wet from the water she had brought from the mine.

Tania pulled her hand away, snatching the water pouch from her belt and emptying it over the Amber Sphere. The metal crackled and spat, melting away like ice on hot stone. “Edric! Cordie!” she called, stepping back as a cloud of gray smoke dimmed the amber globe.

“What did you do?” Edric asked.

“It was the water from the mine,” Tania told them. “Whatever makes black amber work against metal must be in the water, too.”

“Did I not tell you we would find a way?” Cordelia said, resting her hand on Tania's shoulder.

“You did,” Tania admitted.

The cloud of gray steam faded and the light of the Amber Sphere filled the cave again.

“Father!” Cordelia called. “Awaken!”

But the King lay unmoving in the globe, his glazed eyes staring at nothing.

“He should wake up now,” Tania said. “Titania said he would wake up and break out.” She reached for the globe, spreading the fingers of both hands over the warm surface, bringing her head close to the shining amber shell. “Oberon, wake up!” she called.
“Please, Father, wake up!”

For a long time nothing happened. Then very slowly Tania became aware that the surface of the globe was growing warmer under her hands, and the amber light was becoming brighter. So bright that she had to close her eyes against it.

She heard Cordelia's voice. “He awakes!”

The surface of the globe was now too hot for her to touch. She stepped back, her arm up to cover her eyes, her whole body beaten back by wave after wave of fierce heat.

An explosion of dazzling light knocked Tania off her feet. She sat up, blinking, seeing only a white blaze in front of her eyes, as though lightning was playing in her brain. Gradually her vision cleared. The globe was gone, shattered to a million pieces. Oberon lay limp on the ground.

Cordelia was already at the King's side, brushing his hair off his forehead. “Father? Wake up now. You are free.”

Edric and Tania came closer. The King didn't move. Tania saw that his eyes were closed and his face was deathly pale.

Cordelia looked up at them, tears running down her face. “He is dying!” she wept. “All is in vain! Our great father is
dying
!”

A somber group gathered at the shoreline of Fidach Ren. It had been a heartbreaking and arduous task to carry the unconscious King across the island to the waiting boat and to lay him gently in the bottom while Edric rowed them back to the mainland. There were only two consolations: He was breathing and his pale skin was warm to the touch. Tania gazed down at his face, at the golden curls of his hair and the close-cut golden beard. At the high slanted cheekbones and at the closed eyes that she knew were a vivid, piercing blue, as bright as a clear summer sky.

For the first time in many days, Tania's thoughts drifted back to her other father and mother in the Mortal World. She had lost track of the days, but she knew that they would soon be returning from their holiday in Cornwall—returning home to find the house trashed in the battle with the Gray Knights, to find Tania gone again without explanation, and to discover that Edric was also missing. She imagined their
horrified reaction, visits from the police, Edric getting the blame again…. Tania shook her head, trying to dislodge the disturbing images.

Lios Foltaigg swarmed around the sleeping king, crying out in their high, shrill voices.

“The Sun is dead,” said Clorimel, weeping. “Our land shall fall in fire and ice, Lios Foltaigg will wither and burn, and the long ages shall devour even the memory of us.”

“He isn't dead,” Tania said. “He's just exhausted. We have to get him away from here.”

“We must take him to his Queen,” Cordelia said. “And pray that she has the power to wake him and to make him whole again.”

“Will he not ride upon the horse of air?” Clorimel asked, kneeling at the King's head. “Will he not call up the four winds to bear him hence?”

“He has not the strength for that,” Cordelia said. “Have you no carriages or wagons to carry him?”

“We are Lios Foltaigg,” Clorimel replied. “We need no carriages—the air is our chariot, the breeze our gallant steed.”

“That doesn't help us!” Tania burst out. “For goodness' sake, if we can't take him back to where the Queen is waiting for him, he
will
die, and the Sorcerer King will win, and
everything
will be destroyed.”

Clorimel darted away from her in alarm, her long slender neck arching as she stared at Tania. “Thy anger is as the sea, thy need as the earth parched for rain,” she said. “Thou alone art Alios Foltaigg—we shall aid thee.” She sprang into the air, calling out
strange words. Moments later the air was full of winged people, rising and swarming away inland.

“What can they do to help?” Edric asked as they watched the Lios Foltaigg leave. “The Queen is two hundred leagues away. How can we get the King to her?”

“We shall bear him upon our backs if needs must,” said Cordelia.

The three of them sat beside the King, waiting in silence while the waves beat endlessly at the forlorn shore and the clouds scraped slowly across the sky.

 

The first Tania knew of the return of the Lios Foltaigg was the soft whirr of wings. She looked up; a group of the flying folk were descending toward them from the sky, some of them carrying something large and oblong in shape. As they swooped closer Tania realized it was a kind of hammock made of woven grasses. Loops of twisted grass had been woven into the fabric along both sides to form handles.

“We cannot pass beyond the borders of our own land,” Clorimel told them. “But we shall bear the Sun as far as we may. Then thou must speak with the Fid Foltaigg of the southlands and seek their aid on thy journey.”

“Thank you,” Tania said. “Thank you so much.”

 

It took ten Lios Foltaigg to lift the King once Tania and Edric and Cordelia had laid him on the hammock of woven grass. They slung the grass loops over their shoulders and rose into the air, carrying him along close to the ground so that Tania and the others could
walk beside him as they made their way up the long valley that led from the coastline. Clorimel gave food to the travelers: dried fish and hard flat bread and the rubbery leaves of a dark, salty vegetable. It didn't taste of much and it all smelled of the sea, but they were grateful of it as the day wore on and they plodded along the deep valleys of Fidach Ren. Many of the flying folk traveled with them, the stretcher-bearers changing as the hours passed.

They rested at midday. Tania and Edric sat together on a rock. Tania nibbled at the edges of a piece of the hard bread, trying not to think about how slow their progress had been through the morning, nor of how many mountainous miles still lay ahead of them. Cordelia stood on a high tooth of rock, staring into the south.

She jumped down after a while and came to sit next to Tania and Edric. “'Tis most curious,” she said. “The wind has shifted to the south. It is faint and far, but I can sense something.” She smiled, putting her hand inside her tunic and taking out the pipes that Bryn had given her. “Something is coming, I believe.”

“What kind of something?” Tania asked.

Cordelia put the pipes to her mouth and blew. A single high, floating note hung in the air. “You will see,” she said. “Good fortune may favor us yet.”

 

It seemed to Tania that the landscape hardly changed as they plodded on through the afternoon. Even when they came to a high hill, all that she could see ahead were more mountains stretching away forever
into a blue-gray mist. Edric and Cordelia were walking on either side of the King's stretcher. Tania was a little behind, Clorimel flying at her shoulder. Other Lios Foltaigg filled the air, talking softly together in their high, clear voices.

“Do you come this far inland very often?” Tania asked Clorimel.

“Not often do we leave the seashore,” Clorimel replied. “We are the Karken En Ynis Maw. We have our duty to perform in the Great Song.”

“It's so bleak here.” Tania sighed.

“This is our land,” Clorimel said. “Our home. In the spring, when the air comes in fresh and sweet from Ynis Boreal, life is good indeed.”

“And in the winter? Isn't it very cold?”

“Cold? Aye, it is cold, but the Fimbulstorm brings us deep blankets of snow to keep the chill winds away, and we shelter in our caves in the cliffs and tell the old tales by firelight.” Her eyes grew dark. “Once all were winged,” she said. “Once on a time all were Lios Foltaigg.”

“What happened?” Tania asked, fascinated. “How did that change?”

Before she could reply, a cry from high in the air made Clorimel look upward. One Lios Foltaigg was hovering above them, pointing into the south.

“Something comes,” Clorimel said. She rose swiftly into the air; all around her more of the winged folk were also spiraling upward.

Cordelia turned to Tania, and her face was wreathed in smiles. “He comes!” she said. “I knew it
was so, but I knew not how swift he might reach us.”

“Who's coming?” Tania asked.

“The unicorn-friend,” Cordelia said, her eyes shining. “Bryn is coming!”

It was a while before Tania heard the first faint murmur of thundering hooves, and yet more time passed before she saw the unicorns galloping toward them through the hills. There were twenty or more of the noble stone gray animals in the herd, and Bryn was riding on the leading one. Cordelia ran forward to meet them as they came nearer. Edric and Tania followed her, but the Lios Foltaigg held back, laying down the King and rising uneasily into the air.

The unicorns came to a turbulent halt and Bryn jumped down. “Well met!” he called, and Tania saw that his eyes turned first to Cordelia. “We were still a league away when I heard in my mind the call of the pipes, my lady. Then I knew you were close by and we came at the gallop.”

“I felt that you were near, Master Lightfoot,” Cordelia said. “The pipes have mystical powers, I think.”

“They are of wych-willow,” Bryn said. “'Tis said that the wood is bound about with charms.” He looked up dubiously at the flying people. “Are all safe?”

“We are,” Cordelia replied. “And as you see, we have met friends in the north, despite your fears. They are the Lios Foltaigg and they are neither savage nor murderous.”

Bryn bowed low. “Then I hope they will forgive me for my foolish words,” he said. “I spoke out of
ignorance and would gladly learn better.”

The Lios Foltaigg began to descend warily to the ground, but only Clorimel dared to come close to the unicorns. “Friends of Alios Foltaigg are welcome in Fidach Ren,” she said. “But do not fear to tell tales of our savagery—such stories are a bulwark between us and the inconstant world.”

“Then the secret of your courtesy will be safe with me,” Bryn promised, bowing again.

“But what are you doing here?” Edric asked him. “What made you follow us?”

“On the night that you departed, I was visited by ominous dreams and visions of peril,” Bryn replied. “With the dawn I gathered my friends and tracked you as swiftly as I might.” He suddenly seemed to become aware of Oberon lying on the Lios Foltaigg's stretcher. “Spirits of mercy!” he cried. “I pray that the King is not dead!”

“He lives yet,” said Cordelia. “But we must take him to the Queen. Can you help us?”

Bryn frowned. “Unicorns cannot bear him down all the long leagues of Faerie,” he said. “But the fiefdom of Shard lies not five leagues southeast of this place. The crofters there are solitary folk and wary of strangers, but they are good and trustworthy, and loyal to the House of Aurealis. We will be able to beg a wagon from them to take us to Caer Circinn. And from there the south roads are wide and straight through the Earldoms of Llyr and Anvis.”

“That sounds like a long journey,” Tania said. “Perhaps someone should ride on ahead to let everyone
know what's happening.” She turned to Bryn. “Would a unicorn take me that far?”

Before Bryn was able to answer, one of the unicorns detached itself from the herd and trotted up to Tania, bowing its sculpted head and fixing her with an intelligent, knowing eye.

“Tanzen!” she cried as the animal nudged his long head against her shoulder. “It is you, isn't it?” She patted his neck. “I'm so glad to see you again.”

“I met with Drazin and Zephyr and Tanzen in the southern wilds,” Bryn said. “They said you had been attacked by flying things.”

“That was a misunderstanding,” Edric said. “The Lios Foltaigg helped us to get to Ynis Maw.”

“But we cannot travel beyond the southern borders of Fidach Ren,” Clorimel said. “From there others must take on the burden of the sleeping Sun.”

“I will do that willingly,” said Bryn.

Cordelia stepped forward, whistling between her teeth. Zephyr trotted up to her. She stroked his neck, looking over her shoulder at Tania. “Two may travel more safely than one alone,” she said, and then she turned to Edric. “Will you journey to Shard with Bryn and see to the King's comfort and safety?”

“Of course, my lady,” he said.

“Then Tania and I shall go on ahead to bring the news to the Queen,” Cordelia said. “And you shall bring the King south as quickly as you may.”

“It might not be safe to go into Esgarth Forest,” Edric said. “The Gray Knights will probably still be there.”

“That is wise counsel, Master Chanticleer,” said Cordelia. “We shall make for Caer Ravensare instead. It is the traditional meeting place of the lords and ladies of Faerie in times of trouble. The Earl Marshal Cornelius should be in attendance, and it is to be hoped that many knights and warriors will have gathered there also.” She looked at Bryn. “I have no parting gift for you, Master Lightfoot,” she said. “Save the hope that we shall meet again in better times.”

“I could wish for nothing more,” said Bryn. Cordelia looked into his eyes for a moment and Tania saw a faint blush color her sister's cheeks.

Then Cordelia turned away. “Come, sister,” she said. “Mount up and ride with me.”

“Just a moment,” Tania said. She ran to where the King lay. She knelt by his side and gently kissed his forehead. “I'll see you again very soon,” she whispered. She stood up, looking at Edric. “Keep him safe,” she said.

“I will.”

She touched his chest with her fingertips. “And keep yourself safe, too.”

He smiled. “I will if you will.” They slipped quickly into each other's arms and held each other for a few moments.

Tania broke away from him and she and Cordelia mounted their unicorns. Tania took one final look at Edric before touching her heels to Tanzen's flanks. The powerful beast turned and sprang away along the valley, galloping hard with the south wind in its flying mane.