Changeling Illusion (Thirteen Realms Book 3) Page 9

  “Does anyone else get the impression that the lady doesn’t approve of me?” Raven asked the room in general. No one answered him.

  “It’s settled, then,” Kyrrim said with satisfaction. “Rowan will go to Autumn, and the rest of you will stay here and do what you can to help the Illusionists prepare.” His eyes lingered on me in particular, as if reinforcing the need for me to hide away from my enemies.

  “You know,” I said, “I understand you’re worried, but Arlo is not this impregnable fortress you make it out to be. Sure, the place is warded against random strangers gating in, but what’s to stop anyone with wings from flying in, the way Raven does? At least one of those Night Vipers that attacked the sith had Air magic. There could be others.”

  “First they’d have to know where we were,” Raven said. “This area of Night is uninhabited and very difficult to access. No one comes here by chance.”

  “But it wouldn’t be by chance, would it? The Vipers have a mission, and I bet they have plenty of resources to help them carry it out.”

  “So what are you saying?” Frustration was written all over Kyrrim’s face. “That we should just give up and let them have you?”

  “No, of course not. I’m just pointing out that Arlo may not be as safe as everyone seems to think. My hiding here is no guarantee of protection.”

  “Well, partying at The Drunken Irishman was no damn protection either,” Kyrrim ground out, annoyed all over again. “This is the best we can do in the circumstances. If I could, I’d post a dozen guards on you, night and day, but I can’t.”

  “Just as well, because I couldn’t stand that. You’re off with the king more than half the time, so you really need to give up this idea that it’s your job to protect me. You’re going to have to accept that the rest of us are pretty capable, too.”

  His eyes narrowed, but what was the point of pretending? He couldn’t be everywhere at once.

  “Maybe what Al is trying to say,” Sage said, hastily stepping into the frosty silence, “is that we need to take the fight to Kellith. We keep dodging his bullets. Maybe we should be firing a few at him.”

  Raven laughed. “I like your enthusiasm, but are you seriously suggesting we should take out a Lord of the Realms?”

  She eyed him challengingly. “Why not? I think he’s earned it.”

  Kyrrim waved a dismissive hand. “Whether or not he’s earned it, we don’t have the resources. Do you have any idea how well protected he is?”

  “Besides,” Willow said, a regretful note in her voice, “it wouldn’t be a good look for a bunch of people who are known to be working with the king to get involved in a plot against the queen’s brother.”

  Raven grinned. “Yes, one plot at a time, please.”

  Sage folded her arms across her chest, a disappointed look on her face. “Well, it was just a suggestion. It sure would solve a lot of our problems.”

  Kyrrim pushed back from the table and stood up. “An excellent suggestion, too, but sadly one we can’t take up.” He looked around at us. “I have to get back to Whitehaven, but I have a suggestion for all of you: get some sleep.”

  10

  The morning sun woke me. I opened one bleary eye and cursed myself for forgetting to close the curtains before I went to bed. I shut my eyes again and tried to go back to sleep, chasing a dream that had involved a naked Kyrrim and a lot of melted chocolate, but it was no use.

  Once awake, my stupid brain insisted on running round and round in the same old circles. My mother’s death. The many attempts on my own life. My hatred for Kellith, my worry for Squeak—all of it. How was I ever going to get out of this mess? Even when Arlo was restored to its rightful place and Illusion was no longer a lost Realm, what was to stop Kellith continuing in his efforts to kill me? Maybe that would be the one advantage of becoming the Lady of Illusion—that I’d have the kind of security that he apparently enjoyed.

  Other than that, there was nothing about the prospect of ruling Illusion that appealed. I knew nothing of governing; I hadn’t even known I was fae last week. And now the king expected me to just walk in and somehow know what to do? All the people of Arlo would be depending on me, and I was terrified of letting them down.

  “Oh, for God’s sake.” I threw back the sheet and hurled myself out of bed. “Stop thinking!”

  I was going to drive myself to drink if I kept this up. I had to find something to distract me from the endless agonising circling of my thoughts. Sighing, I threw on my clothes and left the room.

  There was no sign of my friends downstairs. They were probably all enjoying the slumber that I should be getting, too. It wasn’t as if I’d had that much sleep lately. Why couldn’t I still be snoring in my bed upstairs?

  I surprised a girl on a short ladder who was dusting the tops of the windows in the dining room, but no one else was there.

  She clung to the top of her ladder and gazed down at me in apprehension. “Can I help you, my lady?”

  I really wished everyone would stop calling me that. “Do you know where Raven is? Or any of the people who came with me last night?”

  “I couldn’t say, my lady. I think Raven might be down in the town with Morwenna. I don’t know.”

  “Thanks.”

  Well, at least that gave me a destination. But first, some food. I wandered back down the corridor in the direction of the kitchen, guided by a delightful smell of roasting meat. The place was a hive of activity, but I managed to sneak a couple of bananas from a bowl near the door before anyone could make too much fuss at my presence.

  Munching on a banana, I left the castle and headed down the hill toward the town. A handful of rainbow drakes were in the skies above the lake, reminding me painfully of Squeak’s problems. The harsh caw of a raven caught my attention, and I looked around, but didn’t see the birds.

  My feet knew the way to Morwenna’s house on their own now, though I hesitated before I knocked. This aversion to seeing Morwenna was an almost physical feeling, and I had to force myself to rap sharply on the door. What was I, twelve? She didn’t like me—so what? I ought to be able to cope with that. And I refused to take on any guilt over my mother’s death, whatever Morwenna thought. I had no control over what Anawen had done or not done. I hadn’t even seen her in over four years before the night she’d turned up dying at Jamison’s sith.

  Maybe I was a coward, but I was still relieved when Lirra opened the door and not her mother.

  “Hello,” she said. “Are you here to see Mama? I’m sorry, but she’s not here.”

  “Actually, I don’t really know why I’m here. I was sort of looking for Raven, to see if there was something I could do to help.”

  “I haven’t seen him.”

  “Ah. Well, I guess I’ll go looking for him. Unless Squeak has woken up?”

  She gave me a sympathetic smile. “Not yet. Mama says he should wake at dusk tonight.”

  “Can I see him?”

  “There’s no change.” She stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind her. “Why don’t I come and help you look for Raven?”

  “Okay.”

  “We’ll try down by the water. He might be talking to Papa.”

  I fell into step beside her, and we headed down the road towards the gleaming blue of the lake I could see peeking between the houses.

  “Your papa is a skincrafter, right?”

  “That’s right.”

  “What exactly does a skincrafter do?”

  “The drakes moult three or four times as they grow. Skincrafters collect the discarded skins and turn them into beautiful pieces of art or clothing. Or even jewellery.”

  “Will Squeak moult?”

  She laughed. “No, Squeak is an adult. Any of the drakes you see flying are adults. They don’t moult. It’s only during the growing phases that the young ones moult. All their early life, the drakes are aquatic.”

  “So your father has to find the discarded skins in the lake?”

  She nodded. “Yes, a lo
t of them he has to dive for. The very youngest drakes never leave the water. Those skins are very pliant, and make beautiful gloves. But, of course, they’re small. When they’re a year old, the drakes leave the water and spend most of their time building their muscles by climbing trees.”

  “So they don’t have wings?”

  “They have proto-wings, and as they develop, the drakes start using them to glide from tree to tree. But it takes another year at least after they’ve begun gliding before their wings grow strong enough to support them in true flight. They have one final moult before they’re ready to take to the skies for good. These skins are worth a lot more, because they’re so much bigger than the previous ones. But of course they can be hard to come by, considering they’re often lodged high in the treetops.”

  No wonder Tirgen had such well-developed arm muscles, between diving for the young skins and climbing trees for the older ones. And that was only the first part of the job. He still had to turn the skins into something beautiful once he’d found them.

  A flurry of rainbow drakes swooped overhead. I looked up and smiled at their antics as they dipped and dived, chasing each other through the air.

  Lirra pointed. “Oh, look, there’s Minki.”

  They all looked the same to me, so I didn’t know which one she meant until a small blue shape detached itself from the crowd and swooped down to land on her shoulder. Minki was very pretty, her blue shading to a deep violet around her neck and down her breast. Somehow I knew without being told that this beauty was a she. Affectionate, too. She rubbed her delicate head on Lirra’s cheek, in the same way that Squeak used to do to me.

  The little creature chirped something in Lirra’s ear, then peered at me.

  Lirra laughed. “They’re very curious creatures. She’s wondering who you are. It’s not very often the drakes get to see new faces around here.”

  “Well, that will be changing soon.”

  “Yes. It’s exciting, isn’t it?”

  “Mmmm,” I murmured noncommittally.

  She didn’t appear to notice my lack of enthusiasm. “I’ve seen a lot of the Realms from above. But I’ve never been anywhere except Arlo in my whole life. I can’t wait to see more of the world up close.” She smiled at me. “I’m so glad you came. Finally, we’re almost at the end of our exile.”

  “I’m sure it would have happened sooner or later.”

  “Maybe. But you’re a real hero. First you saved the king and now you’re saving us.”

  I glanced away, embarrassed. I certainly didn’t feel like a hero. I only did what anyone else would have done in the same circumstances—it wasn’t as if I could have just stood by and done nothing.

  We had arrived at the lake shore near the long jetty that jutted out into the water. A handful of boats were drawn up beside the jetty, some bobbing from their painters, others pulled right up onto the small stretch of sand. There was no sign of Tirgen. I shaded my eyes and looked out over the sparkling lake. No sign of him out there, either, unless he was underwater searching for skins.

  Lirra sat down on a log, picking up a small stick and throwing it out over the lake. To my surprise, Minki leapt from her shoulder and flew after the stick, catching it in mid-air before it disappeared into the water. She returned it as proudly as any golden retriever, dropping it by Lirra’s feet with an expectant look in her large golden eyes. Obligingly, Lirra threw it again, and I laughed at the little creature’s excitement as she took off after it once more.

  Lirra looked up at me shyly. “I heard you took on Blethna Arbre without even using any magic. That must have been amazing.”

  I sat down beside her on the log. “Actually, it was scary. It was sheer luck that I didn’t manage to get myself killed.” I sighed. “And, of course, it didn’t turn out so well for poor Squeak.”

  “No.” The girl looked sombre for a moment, but then she smiled as Minki dropped the stick back at her feet. “Why did you call him Squeak, anyway?”

  I laughed. “I didn’t actually mean to, it just kind of happened. Someone asked me what his name was and put me on the spot. I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Do you think it’s a stupid name?”

  She looked surprised. “Not at all. It suits him perfectly. I thought you had picked it because of the way he snores.”

  It was news to me that rainbow drakes even snored. “I’ve never seen him sleep before. We haven’t been together very long, you know. What do you mean?”

  “It’s the cutest thing. When he snores, he makes this little squeaking sound with every breath he takes.”

  I smiled. “That is cute. But I feel a bit bad that he’s the only drake without a proper name.” I paused, wondering if I should go on. In for a penny, in for a pound, as Sage would say. “I had the feeling that your mother didn’t approve of his name.”

  Lirra threw the stick again, but this time Minki wasn’t fast enough. The stick hit the water, followed a moment later by the blue body of the drake, making a great splash. She snatched the stick up anyway, and leapt back into the air, spraying water behind her.

  “Oh, no, Minki! Get off! You’re all wet,” Lirra objected as Minki deposited the stick at her feet again. The girl made shooing motions with her hands. “Go away and dry off.”

  The little drake eyed her, head tipped to one side, as if wondering whether she really meant it. Lirra resolutely ignored the stick, and after a moment, Minki leapt skyward again and went to find her friends.

  “There are a lot of things my mother doesn’t approve of,” Lirra said. “I don’t take too much notice. You shouldn’t either.”

  We both watched the drakes cavorting above the lake in silence for a while. It was a warm morning, and looked like it would be a beautiful day.

  “Isn’t it about time for you to sleep?” I asked her. “You guys keep a nocturnal schedule, don’t you?”

  “Schedules have gone out the window,” she said. “Everyone’s too excited about going home.”

  “When things calm down, I have to get your mother to give me some more lessons in magic.” Much as I would hate working with Morwenna again, I would hate even more to be unable to dispel my own illusions when I was representing the Realm.

  “Are you still having trouble? Have you been practising?”

  “I haven’t done any magic since the fight with Blethna Arbre.” Part of that was because I had been just too busy, but another part had been nerves. Without Squeak, what would I do if I got stuck? I would hate to have to ask Morwenna for help again.

  Lirra gave me a severe look that reminded me very much of her mother. “You’ll never get anywhere without practice.” Oh, joy, she even sounded like Morwenna. “You should be using this time to work on your skills.”

  “Surely there’s something more helpful I could be doing.” I stood up. “We should keep looking for Raven.”

  She didn’t move from her log. “I’m sure Mama has everything under control. Really, I don’t see what all the fuss is about. What is there for us to do? It’s up to the Air and Earth mages to get us settled again.” She shrugged. “You may as well practice. I can help you.” I must have looked sceptical, because she added, “I know I’m not as good as Mama, but I do know what I’m doing.”

  Feeling pressured, I shrugged and sat down again. “Okay. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. If we have to go running to your mother for help, I’m blaming you.”

  She laughed. “I’m not scared of Mama. Have a little confidence in yourself. I’m sure we won’t need any help. I can feel the power in you.”

  “You can?” I looked at her in surprise. “What does it feel like?”

  “Like a fire. I can feel the warmth radiating from you. You’re strong; you just have to believe it.”

  Awesome. She sounded like my old yoga teacher. “Then tell me what to do, sensei.”

  She looked puzzled. She’d probably never heard that word before. We’d have to get her some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies. That would really rock her world. �
�Change into someone.”

  “That’s it? Some teacher you are.”

  She laughed. “Don’t be such a baby. It’s not hard. You’ve already changed into at least one other person. Your magic has that image forever now. All you have to do is want it.”

  The last person whose identity I had assumed was my mother. That didn’t seem like a great choice in the circumstances. “What about someone new? Anyway, it’s not really the changing into that I have a problem with. It’s the changing back.”

  “Sure, if you want to.” She reached up and untied the ribbon that held back the long fall of her dark hair. It slithered free around her shoulders as she drew the length of blue satin out. “Here, use this.”

  “Thanks.” With it in my hand, I suddenly felt nervous. This magic thing was so new. I clenched the ribbon in my fist and looked down at it, as if the secrets of illusion would be revealed if only I concentrated hard enough.

  “Go on,” she prompted. “It’s easy. Look.”

  In the blink of an eye, Morwenna sat next to me on the log. I jerked back in surprise, and Lirra threw back her head and let out a peal of laughter. It was the most carefree expression I had ever seen on Morwenna’s stern face.

  “Did I catch you by surprise? How about this one?”

  Morwenna disappeared, replaced by Tirgen, complete with the brown vest and trousers he normally wore.

  “I don’t think I will ever get used to that, no matter how many times I see it.”

  “Your turn.”

  I nodded. She made it look so easy and, truthfully, I’d never had all that much trouble with this part. It was only my nerves about retaking my own form that held me back. I had to stop being such a wuss. Closing my eyes, I drew a deep breath and focused on the slippery feel of the ribbon in my hands, remembering how it had looked in Lirra’s hair. How pretty Lirra herself looked this morning, in a dress the same shade as the ribbon, her green eyes open and friendly.

  I opened my eyes. “How did I do?”

  She clapped. “Wonderfully! It’s just like looking in a mirror.”

  That seemed bizarre coming from the mouth of Tirgen, but I knew what she meant.