BUT THIS IS NOT THE PROPER PLACE FOR BARGAINING, she said. Follow me.
Ariana picked up Phin in her arms. Samuel looked at Gabriel.
Im okay, Doc, he said. He glanced at Ariana, then looked at me. Werewolf? he mouthed.
No, said Samuel. Thats me. Ariana is fae.
Gabriel jerked his head to Samuel. Youre . . . And then his face cleared. That explains a few things . . . Snowball?
Samuel smiled. Are you sure you dont need help?
Phins the one who was really hurt, he said. Hes gotten a lot better over the past week, but he didnt start off good.
I gave Gabriel a sharp look, but I supposed it wasnt really important to tell him that hed only been gone a day, out in the real worldif we didnt get out before Zee had to stop holding the door open, then it really wouldnt matter.
The fairy queens voice floated through the doorway. Are you coming?
Ariana nodded to Samuel, who took point again out the door, following the fairy queen. Ariana went next, and I waved my hand for Gabriel and Jesse to precede me. I took a deep breath, the kind that cleared your mind and lungs before some extreme endeavorand smelled earth and growing things in this cold marble room.
Only the fairy queens glamour would work in her Elphame, Zee had said. I paid attention to my nose as we walked down the hall in the wake of the fairy queen.
Question, I thought, as I tried to sniff out the scents that were real from the ones produced by the queens illusions. If it looks like a hallway, feels like a hallway, and acts like a hallwayis it important to figure out that it isnt a hallway?
But curiosity is very nearly my besetting sin. Gradually, as we walked, the scent of dirt, of the sap of wounded wood, and of something that might have been sorrow grew. I glanced up at the dangling lights and saw tree roots instead of silver wires, and shining rocks instead of gemstones, rocks much like the one Zee had given Ariana. I blinked, and the gems were back, but I didnt believe in them anymore, and they wavered.
I stumbled and looked down, momentarily seeing a root sticking up from a soft dirt floor, then my vision changed and the tiny white tiles, laid flat and even with nothing to trip over, were back.
Mercy? Jesse asked. Are you all right?
The queen looked back at me, and her facethough still beautifulwas different from the woman shed been just a few minutes ago. It was elongated from chin to forehead, and her eyelashes were longer than humanly possible without glue and fake eyelashes. Narrow, clear wings, like a damselflys, poked up from her shoulders. They were too small to lift her body off the ground without magic.
Fine, I said.
The long silver gown the queen had been wearing was real enough, but there were dark brown stains that might have been old blood on the hem and near her wrists. The necklace she wore, which had looked like a silver-and-diamond waterfall, was of tarnished black metal, and the set stones were uncut.
My first sight of the great hall she led us to was jaw-dropping, if only for ostentatiousness. The floors were white marble shot with gray and silver, and pillars of green jade rose gracefully to support an arching ceiling that would not have looked out of place at the Notre Dame Cathedral. Silver trees with jade leaves grew out of the marble floor and shivered, disturbed by a wind I could not feel. When the leaves knocked together, they chimed musically. Graceful benches carved out of pale and dark woods, like a wooden chess set, were placed artfully around the room, occupied by lovely women and beautiful men, who all looked at us when we entered the room.
At the far side of the hall there was a raised dais with a silver throne, delicately made and decorated with gems of green and red, each as big as my hand. Curled up next to the chair was a cat that looked like a small cheetah until it lifted its head, displaying huge ears. Serval, I thought, or something that looked a lot like the medium-sized African hunting cat. But I didnt smell a cat: the whole room smelled of rotting wood and dying things.
And then the room I was walking through wasnt a room at all.
I didnt think there were any naturally occurring caves in this area. There are a few man-made caves because some of the wineries have carved their own caverns into the basalt to age their wines. Most of our geology is igneous, which allows for lava tubes, but no limestone caves like the ones in Carlsbad. I suppose magic, if it is strong enough, doesnt care much about geologybecause we were in a huge cave whose walls, ceiling, and floor were not stone but earth and roots.
The Elphame was magic made, but I wondered if it was the fairy queens magic that had created it. Ariana had looked at the tree roots in the cave Zees entrance had brought us to, and she said that there must be a forest lord about. Looking around, I thought she was right.
The floor was woven from tree rootsI had to look sharp not to trip and draw attention to myself again. The fairy queens throne was the only thing in the whole room that had not altered when I saw through the glamour. The pillars were thick roots hanging from the ceiling or bursting from the floor like living stalactites and stalagmites. The benches were formed of living wood, not so pretty as the queens illusions, but more beautiful.
Most of the fae in the room were not prettythough there were a few as long as your tastes werent hung up on humanity as a standard for beauty. None of them looked like lords and ladiesAriana and the fairy queen herself were the most human-appearing among them, and neither would have been able to walk into a store without everyone knowing that she was other.
I didnt waste much time looking at the court fae, though. It was the creature that lay behind the fairy queens throne that caught my attention. It lay huge and still, like a great redwood cut down by the woodsmans axe. It had bark and evergreen needlesbut it also had four eyes as big as dinner plates that glowed like ruby glass lanterns. It was bound with iron chains that glittered with magic. I didnt know what a forest lord looked like, but a giant tree with eyes seemed like a strong possibility.
Next to the throne was a middle-aged woman who had the strong features and coloring of the Mediterranean peopleGreek or Italian or possibly even Turkish. She wore the collar Id begun to associate with the fairy queens thralls, but she was also chained to the throne. My nose told me that somewhere among the fae, the humans, and the dying forest lord, there was a witch. I could see a witch being tough enough that the fairy queen would want more than just a silver ring around her throat to ensure she was controlled.
Among those who call themselves witches, there are various types. Least troublesome are the humans who have adopted Wicca as their religion. Some of them have a spark of power, enough to enrich their faith, but not so much to attract the attention of bigger and nastier things.
Then there are the white witchespeople born to the witch families who have chosen to do no harm. Like the mundane-born witches, white witches are usually not very powerfulbecause witch magic gets its power from death, pain, and sacrifice, and white witches have chosen to eschew that.
Most witches of any power are black witches. They smell of it, some more than others. There are black witches who skirt the doing of actual evil. Elizaveta Arkadyevna, our packs witch, is one of those. She is very powerful as witcheseven as black witchesgo. But, as I understand it, skirting evil is difficult, time-consuming, and requires a lot more from a practitioner than true black magic does. It is so much easier to use the suffering of others to make magic, and the results are more predictable.
This witchand as we closed toward the throne, the smell got stronger and stronger, making my supposition more and more likelythis witch stank of the blackest magic. In her neighborhood, pets and small children would go missing, and even the occasional homeless man. I was betting that the iron chains binding the forest lord were hers.
The room the others saw, for all its height, was not a terribly big one. The cave I could see was bigger, but almost half of it was taken up by the forest lord behind the throne. It didnt take long for us to reach the dais.
The fairy queen sat on the edge of the seat of the silver throne and reached down to pet her witchwho didnt seem to appreciate it much. The queens wings fluttered as she sat, then folded so she could lean against the back of the throne.
Her eyelids fluttered with a faint wrip-wrip sound. Once I was facing her, I could tell that her eyes were just . . . wrong. She would stare and stare, then blink rapidly. It was hard to watch.
Jesse, she said. Tell me your name?
Jessica Tamarind Hauptman, Jesse said, her voice not quite right.
Jessica, said the queen. Isnt that a pretty name? Come sit at my feet, Jessica. She looked at me and smiled as Jesse did as she was bid.
The queen leaned forward to pet her headJesse seemed to appreciate it more than the witch had. She is half-mine already, the queen told me. Your young man, Gabriel, and I have already done this as well. Havent we?
Yes, my queen, he murmured tightly.
I havent collared him because of our bargain, Mercedes Thompson, but while a human is in my presence, unless I suppress my magic, they belong to me. It was not smart of you to bring me another thrall. She patted Jesse one last time, then sat back. But that is not all you brought into my Elphame. Tell me, Mercedes, how is it that you managed to bring not only a fae, but a wolf with you when you were not to speak of this to them?
I gave her the short version. I taped our phone conversation.
I see. She looked like shed swallowed a lemon, but didnt complain. So, Mercedes Thompson, you would cry bargain. She smiled coolly. You want to exchange the Silver Borne for your life?
Ariana gave me a sharp look, but I knew how to listenand I knew about fairy bargains that left you ruing the day you made them, even before Id read Phins book. If I wasnt really careful, I could bargain the book for my lifeand end up wishing myself dead. For instance, I could get out of here and be forced to leave Jesse and Gabriel behind.
I dont know, I said, squirming under the weight of the fairy queens gaze. I bit the inside of my lip until it bledand it hurt because human-shaped teeth arent sharp enough to cut through skin easily.
Samuel, I said, a kiss for courage and clear-seeing, my love?
Samuel turned to me, startleda kiss was probably the last thing that hed been thinking of. I stood on my tiptoes and damn near had to climb him to get to his mouth. I clamped my open lips to his and tried to get as much blood into his mouth as I could. After the barest instant he seemed to understand what I was doing. He participated fully, licked my lip, and set me down gently.
I hoped the blood would work as it had in the bookstore, and that he saw what I did. It was hard to say from Samuels reaction, but I thought it had. Maybe it wouldnt matter, but, outside of the gun in my shoulder holster and the one in the small of Jesses back, Samuel was our best weapon against the fae. Maybe he was better than the guns because hed be a lot harder to stop. It couldnt hurt to have him know what he was fighting.
Very affecting, the queen said, sounding bored. Are you courageous and clear-sighted enough to give me the Silver Borne yet?
That is not a bargain, I said, trying to keep her from seeing the blood on my mouth. It is an exchange. I would consider such an exchange only if my comrades are allowed to leave. It is having them leave here safely and soon that Im interested in bargaining for.
A true bargain? she said. Do you play an instrument?
The piano and I have a hate-hate relationship. I didnt consider that playing, and I know my piano teacher hadnt either. No.
A different bargain, then. You hold something of my choosing while it changes. For each time it changes, I release one person.
She snapped her finger, and the witch muttered to herself, and the fae nearest usa short and fine-boned creature with skin like a peach and pinkish green hairburst into flame. It wasnt glamour because the room didnt change. They were real flames even though they didnt seem to hurt the fae.
She cant hold flame, without dying, said Ariana. She hadnt looked at Samuel or me since I kissed him. I dont know if she suspected something was upor if she thought we were lovers. And that breaks the heart of the bargain. It must be something that is possiblehowever unlikelyfor the challenger to accomplish.
Fine, said the queen. If you are so particular, Silver, you may be the challenger. She laughed, and the roots in the ceiling writhed as the sound of bells echoed in the room. Of course I knew who you were, dear Silverhow could you think otherwise? Are there so many of us who chose to live so disfigured by the fangs of hounds and wolves? No. Only Silver. So you may take this bargain, and the alternative is that I will kill this almost-mortal woman who is not so human as your Phin or the boy. Half-blood is not human enough to be saved by the guesting laws of the Elphame.
Ariana didnt seem to hear the queens taunts. Instead, she said clearly and slowly, I take hold of this fae, who will changethe first shape of fire counts as one. After that, for every time he changes, one of my comrades will go free. He will change five more times, three minutes each form, and if I succeed, all shall leave. If I dont, one leaves for each shape I hold.
As she was talking, Ariana set Phin down next to Gabriel. Even under the queens thrall, Gabriel put a hand on Phins shoulder to steady him.
Four times, said the queen. Five shapes. I will not let go of Mercedes Thompson, who holds the Silver Borne.
Its all right, I told Ariana. Im a survivor. Ask anyone. I can deal with the queen about the book when all of you are safe.
Six forms, said Ariana. One for each. It is in the rules. The bargain requested, all prisoners invested in the outcome tested.
The poetry didnt flow well, but I suppose that it didnt need to be very good poetry to record the rules of a fairy queen.
The queens eyes fluttered in irritation. I had a hard time not looking awayor blinking too fast myself.