Descent into the Depths of the Earth

daughter in mind and spirit was certainly remarkable. “I let her go to the world because it was what’s best for her.”

“Ha!” Escalla gave a sour sniff. “Don’t talk rubbish! Ifyou’d known I was skiving off in the first place, you would have stopped it.Mother must have given you hell.” The girl gave a sniff and sipped her tea“ Probably took you a whole week to realize I was gone.”

“By failing to pay attention, I was obeying unconscioushigher motives.” Lord Charn clearly shared a heritage of glibness with hisdaughter. “I knew it was right and proper that you take your place within theworld.”

“Oh bosh!”

“Bosh yourself.” Charn dusted imaginary crumbs from his tunic.“Who was it that showed you where the dandelions grew in the first place?”

Miffed, Escalla sat cross-legged on her stone. “Fine! So I’mtoo incompetent even to run away from home by myself, and my own mother is conspiring to have me executed. Anything else?”

Speaking for the benefit of the ever-patient Justicar, Lord Charn refilled his glass.

“Lord Faen is with us. He is chief advisor to the Erlking andis in charge of the investigation. He will let us clear Escalla’s name if it canbe done. If we show a love of justice, that will be better evidence of goodwill to the court than throwing a scapegoat to the dogs.” The anxious father glancedat Escalla, running his fingers through his hair. “Justicar, I know you haveexperience here. I am at a loss! As you love and value my daughter, please help us clear her name!”

Jus nodded slowly and thoughtfully. Rising from his seat, his vast bulk loomed like a giant above the faeries. “Is it possible for me to seethe body and the murder site?”

“It can be arranged, but it must be now, before thefaeries return to the palace from the first hunt!” Lord Charn rose quickly fromhis seat. “There is a gate at an archway high above, but we’ll have to run!”

Escalla, Polk, and Enid all rose together. Lord Charn looked at them in alarm.

“No! Escalla, stay hidden. This must be fast. If your mothersspies see visitors, she’ll follow you and strike. I’ll take the Justicar alone.If we’re not back here in an hour, then go wait for him in your spider bubble inthe pond!”

Lord Charn kissed his daughter, gripped her shoulders, and then whirred up into the air, his wings sparkling. Behind him, the Justicar seated his sword in his belt. Cinders swept about him like a cloak, the hell hound’s grin gleaming as the creature was fastened in his rightful place.Following him to the cellar door, Escalla anxiously wrung her hands then came to hover in front of Jus face.

“Jus, I didn’t do it.”

He looked into her frightened green eyes for a long moment, then reached out to touch her cheek. “I know.”

He nodded, then turned and walked away. Once he was gone from the room, Escalla’s night seemed suddenly frightening.

The ruins of the keep yielded an arch, and the arch had longbeen overgrown with ivy. Lord Charn hovered nearby as Jus hauled his powerful frame up the sheer stonework toward the magic gate.

“There are gates everywhere, of course, sir Justicar. Peoplejust can’t see them. This forest is a nexus, a place where dozens of themcongregate. It’s why we settled here in the first place.” The faerie lordplucked a sprig of fennel from his purse. “There! This should be the one!”

Hanging from a sheer stone wall thirty feet above the ground Jus paused while searching for a handhold.

“Fennel?”

“A key for the gate.” Charn put his other herbs away. “Eachone is triggered by a different herb or token. A copper coin, a dandelion, splash of wine… You can trigger them by accident if you’re unlucky enough.That’s why mortals think the whole forest is haunted.”

As Jus reached the rough stone precipice below the ancient stone arch, Lord Charn gestured toward it with his herbs.

“This gate leads to the palace lands, but I don’t quite knowwhere. Stay hidden until I can find Lord Faen, and we’ll bring you to the murdersite.”

Jus nodded.

Lord Charn hovered before the door, then tapped the blank space of the archway with his sprig of dried fennel. The fennel flashed and disappeared. Suddenly the archway shimmered.

“Now!”

With a heave, Jus shoved himself upward. He stepped though into a soft gray light and found himself on all fours upon a fragrant forest floor. Illusions were transparent to Cinders’ eye. The dog sniffed and thenhissed in Jus’ mind.

Trees is trees. Leaves is leaves. Flower bushes is illusion.

Jus chose the real concealment of the leaves over the illusory comforts of the bushes. An instant later, he lay in a drift of leaves, perfectly still and quite invisible with only Cinders’ black nose showing abovethe mulch. When Lord Charn appeared, he looked about in brief confusion, then shrugged and whirred off on his way.

Jus saw that he was lying amongst the plane trees-thegateways to universes of fire, flame, and antimatter. The faerie lands were no place to wander carelessly; one wrong turn might be your last.

Lord Nightshade returned long minutes later with another faerie at his side. Cinders sniffed the scent of them long before they arrived.

Escalla’s father. One other faerie, a male.

Jus heaved upward, shedding leaves like a leviathan shedding the ocean floor. Two faeries hovered nearby, impressed as the big man emerged from total invisibility. Jus brushed wet leaves from Cinders’ fur and lookedlevelly at Lord Charn and his guest.

The newcome faerie was slender and affected long gray hair and a wisp of a goatee. He sketched a bow as Lord Charn made the introductions.

“Justicar, you remember Lord Faen. My Lord Faen, the Justicaris something of a specialist. The elves of the Celadon trained him.”

The elegant, calm Lord Faen looked coolly at the Justicar. “What temples does he favor?”

The Justicar’s dark, dire voice seemed to fill the wood.“Justice flows from the heart, not from gods.”

Nodding noncommittally, Lord Faen turned in midair and said, “Come then. We have cleared all eyes away for a short time. We will show youwhat we can.”

Jus strode like a dark giant, the black hell hound skin wreathing him in shadow.

“You have interviewed everyone who might have been near theroom at the time of death?”

“We did what we could. Truth spells are seen as an insult,and at the moment, insults are something we cannot afford.” Lord Faen flew paceby pace with the Justicar, detecting a kindred spirit in the mortal’s mind. “Acertain amount of conspiracy has taken place. Maids and servants have contrived to be absent. There is only the bodyguard, who identified Escalla. Indeed, she left her dress in the murder room, and he could describe it to us exactly.”

“Escalla’s mother organized a tryst.”

“And might have reached the Sable clan guards and servants.”Faen ushered the way toward a balcony. “It is here. I’ll tell you nothing. Yourown untainted impressions will carry better force.”

The palace had not been made with human scale in mind. Still, there were enough humanoid servants to require high ceilings and large doors. Jus carefully approached the balcony, eyeing a place where he could use a tree to leaver himself up and over the fragile-looking balustrade. He then knelt in the leaves below and let the hell hound go to work.

“Smell anything?”

Faeries. Cinders thoughtfully sifted scents. Male oncewalked here- two-three hours ago.

There were tracks consistent with a single faerie waking slowly below the balcony-probably the bodyguard. Since faeries could fly,tracking was hardly likely to reveal real clues. Jus looked carefully at the eaves and railings then heaved himself up the tree and onto the balcony.