Descent into the Depths of the Earth

6

It was amazing just how long polished wood could burn. Oneentire corner of the palace had gone up in flames from Escalla’s fireball.Walking over the deserted lawns, Jus came over to the edges of the blaze. He pulled a choice coal out of the ruins of the palace and popped it into the hell hound’s mouth. Cinders mumbled happily, making contented little noises.

Polk sat beaming happily into the empty air. Jus sighed, sat down facing him, and carefully removed his protective ring. He slipped the ring onto Polk’s finger then slapped the man hard across the face.

Polk’s eyes rekindled with wits. He turned a hurt expressionon the Justicar. “Hey! Son, that hurt!”

“Good.” Jus relieved the teamster of his ring and put it backon his own hand. “You were under a charm spell.”

“Who me, son? Never! I was lulling, making a falseimpression, quieting their suspicions!” Polk swelled like a turkey in heat.“I’ve been freeing you for action. What are the faeries’ plans? Do they have aquest for us?”

“No.” Jus pulled his sword half from its sheath and inspectedthe weapon’s edge-sharp enough to shave hairs and flawlessly polished. “They’retrying to take Escalla.”

Polk stared in shock. “Will she go?”

“I don’t know.”

The thought of there being no Escalla seemed like a chunk torn out of Jus’ heart. Cinders fell quiet. Polk seemed to shrink. All threelooked over the far end of the gardens, where a distant summer house lay beneath a giant cherry tree.

Jus looked away, slamming his sword back into its sheath. Aware that hundreds of faeries spied on him from afar, he pulled Cinders into his lap and silently brushed the hell hound’s fur.

* * *

In the summer house, Escalla stood facing her mother. Theolder woman kept her hands folded in her lap, her slanted eyes cold and serene. The woman had the same thin face and long, straight golden hair as her daughter, but there the resemblance ended. Escalla was a creature of pure passion, and she paced like a leopard in a cage.

“What the hell were you thinking-that I’d be a good daughterif you asked, that I never meant to run away?” Escalla whirled in a rage. “What?Are you totally stupid!”

Escalla’s father and sister stood by the windows. Tiellelooked over at the burning north wing of the palace and smiled. “The prodigalreturns.”

“You can shut up for a start! You spend about as much time athome as I do!” Escalla flung a bitter jab at her father. “If she wants to playat being the good girl, then have that Sable idiot marry her!”

“It must be the heir.” Lord Charn paced, no longer the happyfather as he glared at his willful child. “To seal our return, we must marry ourheir into the Seelie Court.”

“I’m not doing it!” Escalla flexed her fingers as thoughwanting to choke something. “I can’t believe you thought you could round me uplike a wildcat and just marry me off!”

Escalla’s mother looked down her nose at the angry girl. “Ifnecessary, a spell might calm you.”

“Just try it!”

Lord Charn chewed his moustache. Escalla had moved to a far window where she stared angrily out at her mortal friends. The faerie lord paced toward her, raising a spell to keep away curious ears and eyes.

“Daughter, this is the marriage of dreams. Clan Sable is atthe pinnacle of the Seelie Court.”

“Well those are not my dreams!” The girl turned, andtears stood out in sharp green eyes that seemed so suddenly vulnerable. “Notmy dreams!” Tired and trapped, Escalla ran fingers over her little skull.“It’s been five years. For Erythnul’s sake, how did you find me?”

“You happened to fall in range of our scrying spells justwhen your mother needed you.” The faerie lord twiddled his fingers. “It’s a bigworld. If you wanted to stay lost, you should have kept your distance and kept your shields up.”

“I have other uses for my spells. I do stuff thesedays! Important stuff! Stuff that matters!” Escalla rubbed her eyes. “Fiveyears, Dad. Surely that was a clue that I’d gone for good.”

“A mayfly flicker.” Lord Charn waved a hand at the gardens.“Escalla, the council is almost at war over this. Clan Half Moon has convincedthe queen to reprieve us. Clan Sable is furious. When Nightshade left the court, it was Sable that seized power. By welding Sable to Nightshade, we prevent a rift in the court! It is the only way to return and bring peace!”

“Why do they want us, dad? Why now?”

“Because they need what we can do.” Lord Charn paced the roombeside his daughter. “We are the only clan with experience on the primal plane.We have spied and studied, intermingled and coexisted with the powers peculiar to this layer of the universe.”

“It sounds thin.” With the slowglass necklace clenched likebrass knuckles in her hand, Escalla turned away. “Who’s this Tarquil, anyway? Adamned duelist?”

“He’s a sorcerer and a swordsman.”

“A murderer.” Escalla tugged her clothing tight abouther little frame. “I won’t do it.”

Escalla’s father put a denser shield between himself and hiswife, then leaned quickly closer to his child. “Escalla! Your mother knowshow much you value those mortal friends of yours. You refuse to do this, and she will kill them.”

The little faerie turned pale. She swung about to face the window. Behind her, Escalla’s father hissed quietly in her ear. “Escalla, do notunderestimate your mother’s ambitions for power. The court means everything toher. Nothing else matters! If you want your friends to leave here alive, do exactly what she says. She will watch you, Escalla. Every word you say, every person you meet will be spied on. Your mother wants the Seelie Court in her hands.” Escalla’s father took the chance to kiss his daughter hurriedly on theear, fearing his wife’s ability to break his spell. “It will be all right.You’ll get used to it. I’m doing what’s best for you.”

The moment passed. As Lord Charn’s spells faded, Escallafound herself staring blankly at a windowpane. Outside in the gardens, music and laughter sounded as alien and distant as the surging of a sea. Numb, Escalla flexed her hands, her mind blank of anything except her friends. Escalla’smother waited. The girl bowed her head and looked blankly at the floor.

“I will marry Tarquil.”

Jus and Polk rose from the grass where they had sat waitingfor a long and silent hour. Finally they saw two small figures approaching them from the garden path. Dressed in sheer white lace, Tielle drifted coyly above the ground. Beside her, a little figure in mother-of-pearl silk flew in quiet misery.

Escalla landed before Jus and Polk. She wore her shimmering gray dress demurely. Her blonde hair had been pulled back, and her leathers were bundled in one hand. The girl dropped her clothes at Jus’ feet and staredpalely at the grass.

“Justicar.”

“Lady Brightflower.”

Jus’ voice was hoarse and quiet. He looked down at thedelicate little faerie before him and felt infinitely sad. Escalla curtsied to him slowly, unable to meet his eye.

“Justicar, there is a time in all lives when… when achange must come.” The girl’s voice caught in her throat. “For the good of thosewe love, we have to… to accept what has to be.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Escalla’s head bowed. A tear fell to speckle the back of onedaintily gloved hand.