“Hob, no,” Wynn said.
He yanked on her hair, and pointed. “In there.” He motioned to a place where mud had washed out from between a tangle of roots forming a cage of roots at the bottom of the tree. Wynn tucked herself inside. Hob hopped around the roots, furiously kicking and scratching wet and slimy leaves over the tree roots, until he made a little den of leaves around her. Some fell on Wynn in cold clumps. The scratching continued as Hob gathered big bunches of leaves in his little arms and threw them over her until she was completely hidden by the pile of moldy leaves.
“It’s okay, Mildred,” Wynn whispered, stroking her hen’s neck. Mildred didn’t make a sound, but she pressed her neck against Wynn’s cheek. Wynn peeked out of a tiny gap in the leaves. She saw one of Hob’s shiny amber eyes.
“I will keep you safe, friend.” His long finger came up to his lips. He gave her a short nod, then hopped into the clearing. A howl filled the air around them.
The reaper was here.
CHAPTER SIXElric
ELRIC RAN AS FAST AS he could back to the heart of the palace. The shadow of the great stone archways passed over him as he crossed into the courtyards. The archways towered hundreds of feet high, more magnificent than any structure man had ever made, a perfect ring that old druids attempted to mimic with their own circles of stone in the Otherworld. Swirling runes shimmered in the enormous towers, set off by the light of the great shield that protected this place.
In the center of the circle, the great tree grew, its high branches reaching out over the stones. Patterns of circles upon circles in endless woven druid knots had been set in colorful stones paving the way to the palace. He ran toward the steps that led up the large roots of the tree, and passed through the doorway carved in the center of the enormous trunk.
As he entered the great throne room, a glowing crystal floating in the center of the cathedral-like chamber, pulsed with a soothing white light. Like a heartbeat, it set a calm rhythm. The magic flowed through the chamber, unseen, but as present as the air around him. It settled over him with the warm feeling of sunlight on his shoulders. Normally it both awed and calmed him, but it couldn’t help him now. He was in too much of a panic. His heart skipped and raced with terror. They didn’t have any time to lose.
He stopped at the edge of the great magic seal on the floor. The queen’s symbol, an iris blossom imposed over a star, took up most of the chamber. A small crowd of fairies were gathered there, drawing magic from the crystal. It flowed to them in waves of colored light.
“Where is the queen?” Elric shouted. His voice echoed through the chamber and carried up through the trunk of the great tree. All the fairies stilled and looked at him in shock. He’d never caused a stir before.
A tall, very thin fairy with narrow eyes and a pointed chin turned to him. It was Lord Raven, the queen’s adviser. He wore dark indigo robes and a haughty air that always floated around him along with the overpowering scent of lilies. He looked down his long nose at Elric. “You are supposed to be practicing fighting techniques with Master Elk. Why are you shirking your duties?”
“Wynn is missing!” Elric shouted at him. A loud gasp and a couple of worried cries followed his words as the fairies gathered around him. “She’s wandered into the Nightfell Wood.”
“That’s impossible. I left her in her room not that long ago,” Raven said. “A child like her cannot sneak away unnoticed. She must be in the palace.” He waved an imperial hand toward the fairies near the crystal. “You there. Search the rooms in the eastern branch.”
At his words, several of the fairies broke away, flying through the hall and out the doors and high windows to search.
Elric held out the ribbon from Wynn’s dress. “Zephyr found this on the other side of the barrier. She’s trapped out there. We have to find her; there’s a reaper in the woods. It already attacked Master Elk.”
The voices rose around him, filled with terror.
Fairies rushed this way and that, disappearing into thin beams of light or streams of mist and smoke. The frantic motion was like standing near a beehive that had just been struck with a stick.
Elk and Fox entered the chamber. Their color looked diminished, as if a part of what made them solid and real had disappeared, and now they were something like a reflection. Elric ran to his master.
“Wynn is missing,” Elric said. “I left her safe in the garden when the reaper attacked. I didn’t want her to cross any bridges on her own. Now she’s gone.”
Elric choked on his words. This was his fault. He never should have left her alone. He should have found someone to watch over her first. But he had no reason to believe she would do something dangerous. If he hadn’t been at the battle . . .
Elk placed a hand on his shoulder. It steadied him, but it didn’t make him feel any less guilty. Wynn was gone.
“Are you certain she didn’t return to her chambers on her own?” Elk asked, his voice weak. “She found you by herself. She could have returned.”
At Elk’s words, what little color that was left in Raven’s cheeks fled. “You saw her outside? How close was she to the shield? Could the elf spies have seen her?”
A chilling wind blew through the chamber and the air filled with the crackling sound of delicate ice forming on the walls. The queen appeared, a blizzard of snowflakes swirling
