Elric turned as the faint body of Master Elk appeared next to him. He looked transparent, like he was slowly turning into a soft silver mist. He was diminishing.
No.
Fighting to his feet, Elric half stumbled, half crawled to Elk. He pushed under the ancient warrior’s arm, and used whatever strength he had left to drag Elk toward the grove.
The elves still sang, but their voices were growing fainter. Monsters charged toward the trees even as elves and fairies battled together to protect those sheltered there.
Flame cried out. Elric looked back to see her locked blade to blade with the Grendel.
They were running out of time. There was only one fairy with enough ancient magic to defeat the Grendel. Only one fairy who could draw the power from all the fairies in the kingdom. They needed the queen. Their only hope was Wynn.
“Come on, little sister,” he whispered as he dragged Elk’s fading body inch by inch toward the grove. “We need you now.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINEWynn
WYNN RAN VERY FAST. HER mouth was dry and she could feel her heart pounding. The shield in the sky had fallen. The storm clouds gathered over the great tree at the heart of the palace. She had to reach the queen and help her get better. The Grendel was here and Elric needed her.
The sky thundered overhead and the palace looked darker than she had ever seen it. As she approached the great stone pillars circling the tree, the blue lights within them had faded away. They looked just like rocks. Mildred strutted up to her ankle and clucked in alarm as they stepped into a soft drift of snow.
Wynn looked at the palace. It glistened with ice as heavy drifts of snow piled against the stone pillars and buried the gardens. Snow came from the queen’s magic. When a fairy died, they turned into their magic. The queen was turning into the snow. This was very bad. She had to hurry. Wynn fought through the heavy drifts of snow in the courtyard. Mildred hopped and struggled in the ice. Wynn lifted her and tucked her in an alcove created by the curling roots of the massive tree. “Stay here, Mildred. You be safe,” she said.
This time Wynn wouldn’t be tricked.
The snow crunched under her boots as she climbed the steps and into the heart of the tree. The enormous room where she first met the Fairy Queen opened in front of her. The floor shimmered. Wynn took a tentative step on it and her boot slipped. It was covered in ice.
No one was around. The room was usually filled with fairies. Now it was empty. Snow settled along the wall, and ice dripped into sharp icicles in the windows.
In the center of the room, a single figure hunched over. His back was covered with a robe of black feathers. Wynn cautiously stepped closer to him, crossing over the edge of the great seal. It was dark in the room. She glanced up and realized the crystal that hung over the seal was gone.
No, it wasn’t gone. It was lying shattered at the feet of the dark figure. “Lord Raven?” She stepped closer to him.
He didn’t look at her. Wynn wasn’t sure he really heard her. “The Grendel is here,” he said without turning to her. He stood over the shards of the broken crystal. “It is over. The queen is dying. Save yourself while you can.” In a flash he turned into a raven, and with a throaty caw, he flew out of the window without ever looking at her.
The sound of his cry chilled her. She had heard a raven’s cry before, on the day she found her mother dead.
Tears filled Wynn’s eyes. No. She didn’t like this. She had to change things.
Her first mother had grown sick and died. There was nothing Wynn could do to save her. She had tried to bring wood for the fire, but she had failed. Elric said that the fire wouldn’t have helped. That there was nothing Wynn could have done, but it still felt like she should have been able to do something. She hated that feeling.
The thunder rumbled overhead. She would not let her second mother die. Wynn slipped and slid on the ice until she reached the great spiral staircase that led to the top branches of the tree.
The steps were coated in ice. Wynn put her foot up on the first one. She had to climb. Keeping a hand on the slippery wall, Wynn climbed the endless stairs. Her fingers burned at first, then turned numb in the cold. She could see her breath coming out in puffs around her. Through the windows, she caught glimpses of the storm clouds with their bright lightning and thunder. In the distance, she heard the sounds of a great battle.
Elric was there. So were Osmund, Lexi, and Hob. Biting her chattering teeth together, she climbed faster. Her foot slipped, and she fell hard, knocking her chin on a step before she slid down several more. She threw her hands out, and her legs crashed into the wall.
She touched her lip. It was bleeding. She couldn’t worry about that. She had to get to Mother. She had to reach her before it was too late. She would build a fire if she had to and melt the ice. She would find a way. She tried to do that for her first mother, but she couldn’t help in time. Now Wynn didn’t have any sticks for a fire, and she didn’t have any fairy magic.
Bruised and shaken, she got to her feet. A tear slipped down Wynn’s cheek as she moved up the staircase again. She wished Flame was with her
