Shadow: Bloody Fairies Part 37

Hippy's eyes widened. She tilted her head. What a pretty, pretty light it was. It was just small, about the size of her hand. Little sparkles floated around it, danced, made rainbow trails. She giggled. It was so pretty it made everything warm and bright and shiny again.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT.

Intense fury seared every brain cell, rolled through her blood like thunder. Hippy slammed her fist into the nearest target.

She yelled in pain and hopped up and down. She'd just punched a stone wall. Tears sprang to her eyes. Where had her shiny thing gone? It was all dark and cold and she'd been in the nicestloveliestshe dropped her aching hand and said a very bad word.

A flame hissed into life across the room. The glow of a gas lantern lit up the s.p.a.ce around Pierus's shadow. The white dress shone like a ghost. The light grew to encompa.s.s the whole bedroom.

Pierus took a few steps, stumbled, then fell to his knees in the middle of the floor.

Hippy backed away from him. She wondered if the door was locked. She'd rather chance an encounter with Badora than listen to another one of his depressive episodes. She pressed her back into the wall.

"Pandora," he said Too late, there he went. She edged along the wall.

"Pandora, I'm afraid." His voice was hoa.r.s.e.

"You could try smacking your head into the wall. I hear it works." Hippy brushed past the wedding dress. Her insurance. If anything had happened to Clockwork she was going to have trouble deciding whether to use it to smother the vamp king or the muse king.

"Every time I look at her I'm afraid," he said. "From the first moment I saw her, it was you come back to haunt me. I had to have her. Now I have to kill her. Only then will you be dead to me."

Hippy picked up her pace and pushed at the door. It was locked fast. Great. She wondered if Pierus had any idea at all what he was saying, or to whom. She asked the first question to pop into her head. "Well then, why haven't you done it already?"

"And waste an opportunity?" He curled up and clutched his stomach. "Oh Pandora my love, you were always simple."

"Opportunity?" Hippy continued to push at the door. Just in case.

"Oh yes. She was so perfect. I knew I needed a fairy to get the Apple of Chaos, and then to start another war to keep the irritating creatures busy for a few more years. Decimate their numbers still more and turn them against my enemies, all in one stroke."

Hippy felt sick. "What war?" she whispered.

He laughed. The gravelly sound descended into a coughing fit. "Kill her. Blame Fitz and Ana Falls. The fairies go to war on the forest people. And on the Invisible Army. If I play the right cards the b.l.o.o.d.y Fairies will declare war on the Freakin Fairies too, and there will be a decade of chaos while they all kill each other off. When I offer law and order the rest of Shadow will fall in behind me."

Hippy tried to control her breathing. And her fists. He was right, she knew he was. If her family was told she'd been murdered by forest people, Invisible Army or not, they'd go to war. It was required. "But why marry her first?" she whispered.

"There are muses who work against me," Pierus said. "There are always rebels and dissidents and traitors. They pretend loyalty and then say behind my back that I'm mad. But if my enemies were to murder my wife, then they could not refuse me. They must fight for their king. Oh Pandora, I promised you one day I would make you a queen. Why did you leave me?" He arched his back and raised himself up on his arms.

So she was safe, at least until the wedding. Hippy flattened herself against the door. He got to his feet and turned in a slow circle. When he finally saw her his eyes were vacant. The Pierus she knew and despised wasn't home.

"Pandora." He reached out a hand. "Come to me."

"I don't think so."

"Pandora." His voice developed an edge. He stalked toward her, curled his hand into her dress and pulled her against him. Then his fingers were in her hair. They squeezed her scalp. He put his mouth on hers.

Hippy pushed against him. This wasn't a kiss. The familiar cold seeped into her toes. She hooked her nails into his arms and dragged them along his skin. When he flinched away she broke free, balled a fist and punched him in the face.

He dropped like a stone.

Hippy scowled, kicked him in the ribs and went to bed. It was going to be a long day tomorrow.

It was hard to wake up the next morning. Her eyes felt like they were glued shut. The bed was warm. Too warm. A weight pressed her down.

Hippy forced her eyes open. Pierus's arm laid across her shoulder and one of his legs was tangled with hers. She didn't know whether to laugh or throw up. He had two black eyes.

She disentangled herself, slid off the bed and brushed herself down. When she tried the door it was open.

She bolted downstairs and didn't even stop to say h.e.l.lo to Nikifor, whom she glimpsed in the kitchen. She ran outside, washed her face in the fountain to wake herself up and then ran around the castle to the old fig tree.

"Clockwork?" She looked up into the branches, but could see nothing.

Silence.

She scrambled up the tree, only to have it confirmed he wasn't there.

It felt like somebody squeezed her lungs with a big, calloused fist. Hippy searched all of the other trees, but there was no sign of Clockwork. Or Fangs. Her mind sent her nasty pictures of what might have happened to them, trapped out here with Rustam Badora on the hunt while she was hypnotised inside by shiny things.

Shiny things. Something gleamed under a tree ahead. Hippy swooped on it and dragged Clockwork's axe out of the long gra.s.s. Her knees would no longer hold her up. She collapsed. A big fat tear ran down her nose. She hugged the axe.

A thin, high-pitched whine threaded through the trees.

Hippy snapped to attention. "Fangs?" she scrambled to her feet, followed the sound around the side of the castle and ran back into the garden. Nikifor had been busy at some point, because most of the bushes had resumed their fantastical shapes.

A gleam came from a little clearing between two bushes shaped like rearing winged horses.

"Fangs! Thank Shadow you're okay!" Hippy ran toward her.

Shadows raced over the garden. Before Hippy could get any closer, twelve shiny shapes plummeted from the sky and landed in a circle around Fangs.

Hippy held her breath. She slowed to a creep. Pierus's fake fetches clawed at the gra.s.s and hissed. Fangs let out a second piteous whine.

The fake fetches tightened their circle. Then they leaped. Fangs disappeared under a tumble of shiny scales.

Hippy screamed, bolted forward, raised the axe over her head and swung it into their midst.

She hit two fetches hard enough to split their scales. They exploded into clouds of foul-smelling gas. Oh Shadow. Hippy retched, but she swung the axe again. With five swipes, she blew up every single fake fetch.

Then she could hold it back no longer. She dropped to her knees and threw up under a winged horse.

When her body would let her she stopped, took a deep breath and went to Fangs.

But there was no more Fangs. There was nothing left except three shiny scales and a wing tip.

At a time when even a fairy would have been forgiven for crying, Hippy's eyes were dry. She put the last remnants of Fangs in the pouch Fluffy Ducky had once lived in, picked up the axe and looked at the castle. She'd thought it was so beautiful when she arrived an eternity ago. So had Pierus. And he'd been planning to kill her from the day they met.

She walked straight to the castle wall and climbed up it. There must have been a hundred beautifully carved fetches on that wall, under each window, over each door. Somebody had crafted them with the same love and care she and Clockwork had given Fangs after rescuing her yesterday.

She raised the axe over her head and smashed it down on the first carving. Its head flew off, bounced on the wall below and broke. She moved onto the next one.

Flying chunks of rock. Clang and flash of steel. Broken wings and shattered scales. Nothing existed but her world of destruction halfway up a castle wall. Nikifor had at some point come out and begged her to stop, but he'd quickly given up when she ignored him. Then he'd sat on the fountain wall and watched her frenzy like a man under a spell.

It was a methodical frenzy. She walked along the castle wall and smashed every carved fetch she could find into tiny little pieces of rubble.

She was almost done when she heard Pierus calling her from below. He looked terribly small from here, just a gaunt, long-haired figure with a face she wanted to smash. She raised a finger. "Wait. I'm almost done." Then she turned her attention to the last unsmashed carved fetch, raised the axe and smashed it into tiny little pieces. The rubble clattered on the ground below.

"Hippy." Pierus's voice was stern.

She let go of the castle wall with her feet, plummeted to the ground and landed evenly in front of Pierus, axe poised across her body. "What?"

He didn't look angry, which was disappointing. In fact he looked mildly amused. "What are you doing?"

"Smashing your fetches. What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Why?"

"Your fake fetches tore my little Fangs to pieces." Hippy's fury rose and hissed out with the words, but still there were no tears. "So I killed them. Then I smashed up your carvings. I was thinking about your teeth next, to go with your black eyes. Should I warn you, you are now at war with a pregnant b.l.o.o.d.y Fairy?" She raised the axe and stepped toward him.

Pierus stood his ground. "I'd be careful, if I were you."

"Why?"

"Because I may be disinclined to prevent Badora from doing further harm to your little friend when he awakes tonight."

Hippy froze. "What? What have you done with Clockwork?"

Pierus closed a hand around the axe and took it from her numb fingers. "Nikifor," he said, without looking around. He held the axe out.

Nikifor walked over and took the axe. Hippy met his eyes over Pierus's shoulder. He gave her a single nod.

"There. Now we're all friends again." Pierus curled his fingers into Hippy's shoulder a little harder than was necessary. "Come along my dear, and I'll show you where your little friend is. Nikifor, get rid of that thing. I don't want her wandering around with any sharp implements."

Hippy walked into the castle with her head down. She didn't want to look at him. Or at the castle. Right now she'd have braved the roses if she had Clockwork with her. She wondered if Pierus remembered any of what he'd told her last night.

The stairs rose up beneath her feet. Of course they went up all three flights and into the laboratory. Where else would he keep a prisoner?

"There now." Pierus settled his arm around her shoulders. "You see? He's quite happy. As were you for some time last night."

Hippy looked up. Clockwork did indeed look quite happy. He stood in the corner near the Apple, just where she remembered being. His eyes were fixed on a glow that was contained inside his cupped hands.

"Clockwork," she said.

He didn't react.

"Clockwork!"

Nothing.

Pierus grinned. "It's all down to you, my love. You gave me the idea when you asked how shiny things could possibly harm anyone. There you see the result. I can take you and all your kind prisoner and you will know nothing. In fact you'll be happier than if you were quite free to run around being destructive like you normally do. Genius, is it not?"

Hippy moved aside the stained collar of Clockwork's shirt. On his neck was a gaping wound, a tear crusted over with dried blood that looked as though it had been made by a set of fangs.

"Oh yes," Pierus said behind her. "This fairy trap is just a prototype. When I build bigger, better ones, entire tribes will cl.u.s.ter around them, ripe for harvest. My love, I'm going to turn all your people into vampire food."

Hippy spun around. "Not if I throw you from the roof of this castle." Her fist curled and she stormed toward him.

"Tut, tut." Pierus shook his finger. "You're going to behave from now until we wed tomorrow morning. If you don't, I will make you watch him die."

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE.

Hippy felt like Pierus had put his hand through her ribs and torn out her heart. Her fists unclenched. She wondered if she'd just fought the shortest-lived war in history. How could she have ever thought she'd win against the muse king? He had three thousand years of experience at tearing people's lives apart. He was going to destroy her, just like he'd destroyed Pandora. Her legs wouldn't hold her anymore. She collapsed to the ground at his feet and buried her face in her hands.

There was silence above her. Then Pierus crouched next to her and she felt, of all things, an awkward pat on her shoulder.

"Come now Fairy," he said, his voice gentler than it had been. "This is your surrender? This is all it takes?"

Hippy turned her face away. A huge tear leaked from one eye, ran down her face and splashed on his coat.

"You're crying?" There was an edge of exasperation to his voice. "Really, you are the most impossible creature. You know I can't stand to see you cry. Come on." He put an arm around her shoulder and drew her to her feet. "Let's go downstairs. You must be hungry."

She wasn't. She was too upset, but Pierus wouldn't even allow a backward glance at Clockwork. His hand obscured her view while they left the room. He didn't let go of her all the way down the stairs. Her numbed brain failed to make sense of his actions altogether. He couldn't stand to see her cry, but he planned to kill her. The man was completely insane.

They went into the kitchen and found Nikifor sitting at the table, head resting on his hands. When he saw Pierus enter he jumped as though a bolt of electricity had hit him. "My king?"

Pierus gave him a smile as pleasant and fake as anything Hippy had ever seen. "Nikifor my boy, don't look so frightened. The fairy has surrendered. Why don't you make her a nice cup of tea? She's rather upset. And me a coffee."

Nikifor gave him a blank look. "What's coffee?"

"You have coffee?" Hippy asked in surprise.

Pierus sat her at the table. "I had a supply smuggled in a long time ago, but I only drink it on special occasions." He disappeared into the pantry.

Hippy could hear him instructing Nikifor on how to make the coffee and why it should never be given to fairies. She opened the pouches at her belt and went through them. Fang's scales glittered. A knot developed in her throat. If she choked on her own grief, she'd just be making Pierus's job all the easier for him.

Choking. Ishtar.

She frowned. She'd long since fit all of Ishtar's gifts into the various pouches she carried. With trembling fingers she went through them. Yes, there it was. Just a tiny little hard ball, to be dropped into any liquid. She hid it inside her hand.