Chapter 9: Sister Act

As soon as the old one hit the ground his illusion began to disintegrate. With the enchanted landscape falling apart around her, the Queen sat up straighter. It was as if she was awakening from a deep sleep. She stretched until you could hear her joints pop and looked around her.

The illusion was truly horrible now with trees and stones turning into what looked and smelled like decomposing corpses and the ground beneath our feet running with every imaginable effluvium—and some I didn’t want to imagine. As the landscape stretched and contracted about Her Majesty, the only fixed points were us and the wolves. Those two crouched side by side and I wondered what they were up to. It hit me, about a half a second too late.

Fortunately for the Faerie Queen, Mandrake does do thinking and the burst of blue fire he shot stopped the leaping wolves before they reached her throat.

The Queen froze them where they dropped with blue ice from her fingertips before returning to her accustomed form. She saw Moth and rapped out a question in the fae language—which is beyond my understanding. Moth broke the mind link before responding. To be honest, I didn’t much like her tone, but thus is ever the way between the sisters. And when the two of them stood nose to nose shouting I was glad not to understand what it was they said.

Mandrake wrapped his arms around me and bent to my ear.

“As a dragon should I be offended by the supposition I am incapable of thought?” he whispered.

I turned in his embrace and looked into his eyes to see he was far from angry at my deception. “I nearly got away with it.”

“You did. And to be honest if your folksy milkmaid hadn’t got him to drop his guard as far as it did we were all dead. Whilst he was busy regretting the necessity of killing you, Moth could cast an illusion and I could bash in his brains. Tell me something, though, why did he not see your wise old soul in your eyes?”

I made the tiny shift that gives me guileless brown eyes dimmed with the clouds of cataracts. Mandrake smiled.

“Very clever. Adds to the impression of vulnerability, but doesn’t it affect your vision?”

“Yes. Which is why I only do it in emergencies.”

The conversation between Moth and the Queen was becoming spikier and spikier and I hid my face against Mandrake’s chest.

“What is with those two?” he muttered.

“Apart from the fact they are half-sisters who were brought up to be in constant competition with each other?”

“Yes. Apart from that.”

“The Queen’s Majesty has more than a touch of paranoia when it comes to her siblings. Thinks they’re after her throne. Which is ridiculous. Moth wouldn’t have it as a gift, and their brother, Shadow, is gentle scholarly soul with a club foot and zero ambition. Trouble is their guardian raised them to believe the throne was their destiny and encouraged the kind of blind ambition that goes with that assumption. I think Moth even bought into it until she found me and we bonded.”

Mandrake rubbed a hand up and down my back. “Not a lot of family feeling then?” I shook my head. “And their carping echoes right through your bones doesn’t it?”

I nodded and he hugged me wrapping one big, warm hand about the back of my neck, where it eased the tension and the headachy feel.

“Thank you, loved dragon.”

He extended his loving protection like a barrier around me, and I willingly surrendered to comfort. I don’t know for how long I leaned on his formidable physicality, but I was dragged back to the business in hand by a distraught Moth. She landed on my shoulder and threw her arms around my head hugging as tight as she was able and sobbing broken-heartedly. I put one hand on her heaving shoulders and Mandrake covered it with his. We poured our love into her, and her sobs slowly subsided.

She sat back and knuckled her eyes. I proffered a small handkerchief and she mopped herself efficiently.

“Moth is sorry. Bad things happen. Shadow dead.”

“Oh no.”

Moth hiccuped. “Yes. Stupid sister still won’t see he don’t want throne.”

I sighed. “No. I don’t suppose she can. But what happened?”

“They bring his head.”

“Who?”

“I don’t understand. Black dragon comes. Brings old one. After this Sister remembers not.”

For a brief time I was too absorbed in sorrow for Moth and her gentle brother to notice anything else. However I was dragged into the reality of our situation by the unnatural rigidity of Mandrake’s body. I turned quickly and laid my hands on his face. I had thought him on the edge of the change, but he wasn’t. He was in control, just in a state beyond anger and I understood that he knew who this black dragon must be, and that it was bad.

“Are you sure it was a black dragon?” he managed to be gentle with Moth.

“Yes. Sister says black and gleaming like oiled silk.”

Mandrake made a sound deep in his chest and I felt impelled to touch my hand to his heart.

“Whatever it is, loved one, we are in it together.”

Moth laid her hand over mine. “Together.”

His smile was purest love. “Trust me? I need to do something and there’s no time to explain.”

“With my life and beyond.”

“Moth too.”

Mandrake took a step forward and flamed. Flames of the hottest blue consumed the body of the old enchanter and carried on burning until there was nothing left but a pile of ash. Divining his intention I ran to a huge oriel window and wrenched it open letting in real snow to mix with the rapidly decaying fake. Moth clapped her tiny hands and a wind picked up the sorcerer’s ashes sweeping them out into the snowstorm that now howled about Castel Seelie. When the last fragment was gone I wrestled the window closed and turned to face the fury of the Queen. She pointed a shaking finger at Mandrake.

“How dare you! I will have you skinned alive for that.”

“Won’t,” Moth declared. “Unless you want fight.”

The Queen deflated a bit. “At least tell me why that was necessary. I wanted to send his head to his confederates—as soon as I find out who they are.”

Mandrake showed her his teeth. “Oh yes, and have some necromancer reanimate a creature whose mind is intimately entwined with that of the Queen of the Fairies. That’d be great wouldn’t it?”

The Queen narrowed her eyes and stared at him but then the truth of what he said hit her and she crumpled into her throne, suddenly looking old and afraid.

“I need to stop reacting and start thinking, don’t I?”

I didn’t bother to sugar coat it. “You do. And pretty quickly unless you want to lose your throne to some conniving elf.”

Moth looked severe. “You needs help.”

“But who can I trust?”

Moth shrugged. “Who you likes least.”

“You then.”

“No. I am bonded. I will not.”

“Not even for the fate of your people?”

I stepped in. “Stop trying to manipulate your sister. Or would you contend with me?”

For about ten seconds, I thought she would be that stupid, but she pulled back.

“What’s the matter with me? I open my mouth and something stupid comes out.”

It was difficult not to explain that it happened because, on a lot of levels, she was stupid, but I held my tongue. Moth came to my shoulder in search of help and even if I would have refused the silly queen, I could never refuse my bond sister.

“We help.” Moth declared and I put my hands around the Queen’s head like a cage. Moth and Mandrake joined and the power of the gush of metaphorical water that flowed from my hands and into the Queen’s brain was such that it took all I could do to stand up. Fortunately, brain-washing doesn’t take long and I was able to remove my now freezing hands and step back before I disgraced myself by falling.

The Queen shook herself as if she had just stepped from a bath of ice water. She shivered, but her eyes were now clear—if flat and calculating.

“Oh. Right. Now I see.” She turned her flawless face to Moth and there was a catch in her voice. “Did they really kill Shadow?”

“Seems so.”

For an instant they were like real sisters, but the feeling passed as the room turned dark again and a fat moon floated in a cloudy sky. The sound of feet on the messy floor was loud and when I saw what came into the pool of light I sighed.

The goat-headed creature opened its lips. “I’ll met by moonlight, proud…”

He got no further because the sisters turned on him. Her Majesty fired cold flame at him from her fingertips, but Moth was rather more direct.

“Piss off Silenius.”

After a second of offended silence the deity disappeared. Mandrake spoke in my head.

‘There are times when Moth sounds a great deal like you.’

I poked him in the chest. ‘Hush. I have a feeling something vital is about to happen.’

Moth and the Queen had a brief conference before spitting on their hands and slapping their palms together.

Mandrake’s arms tightened around me.

‘Why do I think we aren’t going to like this?’

‘Because Moth is probably going to stay and help. And I have a bad feeling about it.’

I shivered, and Moth landed on my shoulder.

“Mothwing must stay with sister until land is secure.”

“Are you sure?” Mandrake asked.

She nodded emphatically.

“And will they listen to one who is still a child?”

“We make them listen.”

I turned my face and kissed the side of her head.

“You must do what you have to do. Take care though. And come back to us soon.”

She put her arms around my head and hugged me before doing the same for Mandrake.

I looked at the Queen on her ivory throne and frowned my most intimidating frown. “I will hold you responsible for my bond mate’s safety, Titania. Play her false and there will be nowhere you can hide.”

She nodded, although she couldn’t quite meet my eye.

Moth pulled my earlobe and spoke softly in my head. ‘I will have care.’

‘You do.’

Then it was time for Mandrake and me to leave. At the doorway I turned to look at my bonded sister. She smiled and spoke for me alone.

‘Whatever I have to do here, know that I will love you as long as there is breath in my body.’

I was glad of Mandrake’s strong arm as he led me to where the unicorn waited. In a blizzard.

“Dirty weather for flying,” it said by way of a greeting.

“It is.”

The creature looked at me expectantly, then realised Moth wasn’t with us.

“Where is the fae?”

“She stays to help the Queen.”

It stared holes in me for a minute before it nodded. “I see.” I rather thought it did, because it nodded its head three times in a sort of equine salute. “Up and over the weather then, but it will be cold.”

As if in answer to that, a brownie in an apron appeared carrying two very thick fur parkas.

“Warm,” it said and handed us one each before scuttling back indoors. We helped each other into the heavy fur.

“What the frag?”

“Orc.” With which he lifted me onto the unicorn’s broad back and leapt aboard himself.

“Back to where the dragons are?”

“Please sir unicorn.”

The less said about that journey the better, it was cold and bumpy, and the air was thin. The only mercy was it was short. We landed in deep snow right in the middle of Purslane’s wing—although not at the Lyon estate.

Mandrake jumped down and lifted me to the ground. I waddled to the unicorn’s head and touched a hand to its velvet nose.

“I thank you for a safe ride Alsviør, and blessings be on you and your herd.”

It nuzzled my hand and blew a warm breath through my fingers.

“Be steadfast, small one, and all manner of things will be well.”

Then it clapped its wings together and was gone.