“Maybe,” said Eadric. “But there must be some fairies around if Nightshade found one to talk to.”
“That’s true,” I said, my eyelids suddenly too heavy to keep open.
When Eadric pulled me to his side, I rolled over to face him, pillowing my head on his chest.
“This is nice,” he said, kissing the top of my head.
“Mmm,” I murmured, snuggling closer. A moment later, I was asleep.
I woke the next morning to Acorn saying, “Wake up, sleepyheads! The sun is shining and we have a long way to go today. Here, have some apples. I found an apple tree and brought back breakfast.”
“How thoughtful,” I said even as Eadric groaned.
“Do I have to get up now or can I keep sleeping?” he asked, tugging his blanket up around his ears. “I’m already on the carpet.”
I laughed as I got to my feet. “I guess it won’t matter if you’re awake or not. Stay where you are if you want. Just don’t roll over and fall off when we’re flying.”
“I won’t,” he said, and was asleep again a moment later.
Not wanting to take any chances, I had the safety straps wrap around him so he couldn’t roll off in his sleep. When I was sure he was secure, I chose one apple from Acorn’s gift and put the rest in the cloth sack. A minute later, we were flying toward Soggy Molvinia. I had finished eating my apple before we were out of sight of the Purple Mountains.
For most of our journey, I traveled in silence with Eadric asleep beside me and Adara curled against his back. The fairies flitted around the carpet, resting on it when they grew weary. I enjoyed watching the scenery pass under us as we flew east toward Soggy Molvinia. Vast forests melted into farmland where stone walls and hedgerows divided the fields, reminding me of pieced-together quilts.
Eventually the farms were farther apart. Soon there were none at all—just swamp grass and bogs with no signs of roads or people. I knew then that we had almost reached Soggy Molvinia, and it was time to start looking for Queen Willow. Only a few minutes later, the gentle breeze that had accompanied us most of the way became stronger. Our ride became bumpier then, and Eadric woke as rain began to fall. Grumbling, he sat up to look around, saying, “Where are we now?”
“The border is just ahead,” I said. “I’m not sure how we’ll find Queen Willow, though.”
“Maybe the fairies can help with that,” Eadric suggested.
I nodded. “Good idea. Nightshade! Acorn!” I called.
The fairies flew through the rain, looking wet and bedraggled when they reached the carpet. “Can you find the queen from here?” I asked.
“We can try,” said Acorn.
“I’ll talk to the others,” said Nightshade. “This won’t be easy, though.”
The two fairies flew off, and I soon saw all four darting across the landscape. It wasn’t long before Acorn came back. “I didn’t see her, but I think she must be that way,” he said, pointing south. “When I went in that direction, the rain got heavier. As soon as I turned around, it let up behind me.”
“That could be a coincidence,” said Eadric.
“Maybe,” Acorn told him. “But it’s the kind of thing Willow would do if she didn’t want anyone to find her.”
“It’s worth a look,” I said, and turned the carpet in that direction.
The rain had been steady, but as we flew south, it suddenly became much heavier. When I tried Acorn’s experiment and turned around, the rain nearly stopped. I turned back and it instantly became a deluge.
“I think you’re right,” I called to Acorn. “She must be somewhere up ahead.”
We flew on, but the storm only grew worse until it was impossible to see in any direction and the wind was trying to push us backward. Although I soon lost all sense of direction, I realized that as long as the wind was coming at us from directly ahead, we were going the right way. Twice we got turned around and the wind let up. Both times I turned us back so we were facing into the wind and kept going.
Eadric and I sat huddled together in the middle of the carpet with Adara crouched under the edge of my gown. The fairies had given up trying to take shelter under the carpet, and were under a fold of my gown as well. A particularly bad gust nearly flipped the carpet over and we almost fell off. I was starting to think that we might have to walk when suddenly the carpet shook as if something had hit it and took a nosedive, dumping us the last few feet. No one was hurt, including Adara, but when I tried to get the carpet to move, I couldn’t even get it to wiggle.
Not only were we completely wet and miserable, we now had no choice but to walk. I picked up Adara and tucked her in my pocket. She shivered and snuggled against me, too wet and cold to complain that Eadric wasn’t carrying her.
The fairies grew big then, unable to get anywhere in the rain when they were tiny. Leaving the carpet where it was, we started walking into the rain with our heads down and our shoulders hunched. We hadn’t gone far when the rain let up altogether.
“Thank goodness!” Adara squeaked.
“You can say that again,” Eadric said as he wrung out the hem of his tunic.
Thirteen
We turned to smile at each other, certain that the worst was behind us. And then the mosquitoes arrived. They settled on us like a gray, humming cloud, biting every inch of exposed skin. The insects buzzed in our ears and tried to get in our eyes and noses.
“Do you think Willow sent these mosquitoes, too?” I asked Acorn, instantly regretting it when the insects flew into my mouth. I spit, trying to get them out.
“Probably,” he said, “if she was determined to keep everyone away.” I knew he had gotten mosquitoes in his mouth, too, when he started spitting just like I had.
“Can you get rid of them with a spell?” Eadric asked, barely opening his lips.
Desperate, I covered my mouth with my hand before saying, “I can try, but I doubt it will work.”
Saying the first thing that popped into my head, I recited:
Mosquitoes small, mosquitoes large
We don’t want you near.
Fly away and make it fast.
Then stay away from here.
The irritating hum stopped suddenly. I was beginning to think that my spell had worked when another swarm descended on us, joining the first. The noise was louder than ever. Not only had my spell not worked, it had actually made our situation worse.
“I’m sorry I asked,” Eadric said with his hand over his mouth. “No more spells, please!”
After that, we tried to walk with our eyes nearly closed, but it wasn’t easy. Eadric took my hand so we could stay together, which meant that I had only one hand to brush away the mosquitoes. Each time I slapped my cheek, I squashed at least half a dozen. When I saw that my hand was red with my own blood, I wiped it on the skirt of my gown.
We went on and somehow the swarm of mosquitoes got thicker. With my eyes squeezed nearly shut, I couldn’t see much of anything, and might not have noticed when Eadric suddenly disappeared if he hadn’t been holding my hand.
“Eadric!” I shouted, and spat out more mosquitoes. Turning toward where he had just been standing, I nearly stumbled into the same hole that had swallowed him. I caught myself at the very edge and staggered back a step or two. Putting my hand over my mouth, I shouted, “Eadric, are you all right?”
“I’m down here!” he shouted back. “I fell in a hole, but I’m fine.”
I crouched at the crumbling edge, careful not to get too close. “How deep is it?” I called to him.
“Not very, but I could use a hand up!”
Suddenly Acorn was there, reaching past me. Even as he pulled Eadric out of the hole, the mosquitoes vanished as quickly as they’d appeared.
“It was the weirdest thing,” Eadric said when he was standing beside me again. “The ground was under me, then all of a sudden it wasn’t. I’ve heard about that happening, but it’s never happened to me before. I think that’s called a sinkhole.”
“Whatever it’s
called, I hope there aren’t any more around here,” I said, eyeing the ground in front of me.
“Wow! You have so many mosquito bites, you look as if you have the pox!” Eadric said when he finally looked at my face.
“So do you,” I told him, and looked around. “So does everybody!”
“I hate mosquitoes!” said Nightshade, scratching the back of his hand.
Glimpsing movement out of the corner of my eye, I turned my head to get a better look. “Eadric, do you see what I’m seeing? Am I imagining it or is that a will-o’-the-wisp?”
Eadric turned as another hazy ball of light appeared. “You’re right!” he said. “I’ve never seen one in the middle of the day before.”
“Whatever you do, don’t follow them!” I told him as more and more appeared.
Eadric gave me an exasperated look. “I know better than that! I wonder if they’re trying to lead us to more sinkholes, or just away from the queen.”
“Either way, we’re going straight ahead regardless of what those things do!” I announced, as much to the will-o’-the-wisps as to my companions.
I was starting to get hungry, so I opened my sack and offered apples to Eadric and the fairies. When I peeked in my pocket at Adara, she was curled up with her tail wrapped around her nose, snoring gently.
We started walking again and the balls of light came closer. None of them stayed for long, however, when it looked as if we were about to walk right into them. They scattered then, and the next time I looked around, every one of them was gone.
“There’s a lake ahead,” Acorn came to tell me. “I don’t know if we should go to the right or the left to get around it.”
“This is taking too long,” Nightshade grumbled, and gestured to the left. “We should go that way.” When his friends gave him pointed looks, he shrugged and started walking.
“Why is that?” I asked him. “The ground looks equally wet on both sides.”
“It’s just a feeling I have,” the fairy replied, and continued on with his friends trailing behind him.
“A feeling, huh?” said Acorn. He shook his head and turned back to me. “I was going to suggest we try some magic. There’s a search spell I know that might work. I just had to get close enough to try it. After all we’ve been through, I think we must be getting pretty close.”
“I’m not sure if you should use magic,” I told him. “I tried a spell to get rid of the mosquitoes, but it just made them worse.”
“This spell isn’t like that,” Acorn said as he pulled a wand from his sleeve. “It can’t possibly hurt us.” With a few muttered words and a wave of his hand, he sent a bolt of blue light speeding through the air. It went only a few yards, however, before it hit an invisible wall. There was a twanging sound and the bolt came back at us, although now it was green. Eadric, Acorn, and I dove for the ground. Even so, the bolt hit the three of us with such force that it blew us into the air, throwing us a few hundred feet.
“Emma, are you all right?” Eadric asked, bending over me.
“I’m fine,” I said as he pulled me to my feet and hugged me.
Eadric turned to Acorn, saying, “I don’t think using magic of any kind is a good idea right now.”
Acorn was careful when he touched a place on his cheek that was already starting to swell. “I think I have to agree with you. Willow is doing her best to keep people away, and her best is very, very good.”
“Do you hear that?” Eadric asked, tilting his head. “It sounds as if someone is shouting.”
Acorn squinted into the distance. “It’s one of Nightshade’s friends. I think he’s jumping up and down.”
“He certainly looks agitated about something. Either they found the queen, or someone is in trouble,” said Eadric.
“I’ll go look,” Acorn told us. Turning tiny, he beat his wings and rose into the air, only to be blown back the way we had come when a strong wind sprang up out of nowhere.
“I guess Willow doesn’t care if they turn tiny, but she doesn’t want them flying any closer to her,” I said to Eadric. “It may be a while before we see Acorn again.”
“Then it’s up to us to see what’s going on,” said Eadric. “I’ll tell you right now, I don’t have a good feeling about this.” After sharing a glance, we both started to run.
The land that surrounded the lake was marshy and riddled with puddles so that we splashed with every footstep. Nightshade’s friends were standing side by side with their backs to us while they looked down at something. It wasn’t until we’d almost reached them that I realized there were only two figures when there should have been three.
“Where’s … Nightshade?” Eadric huffed as we ran.
“Good … question,” I panted back.
Oleander looked up and saw us. “Don’t come any closer!” he said, holding up his hand. “There’s quicksand and we can’t tell where it starts and ends. Nightshade stepped in it.”
“Have you used magic?” Eadric asked.
“Nightshade did,” said Persimmon. “He tried really hard, but it just made him sink deeper.”
“Then Willow must have put it there,” I said.
Eadric nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. We’ll have to try something non-magical.”
“I don’t care what you do!” Nightshade shouted. “Just get me out of here!”
Eadric and I stepped closer to the fairies. When we spotted Nightshade, he was up to his chin in wet brown muck, with his arms floating on the surface. He was still struggling and sinking deeper by the second. “Hold still, or you’ll go under soon,” Eadric warned him.
“I could use my carpet if it still worked,” I said.
Eadric was poking the ground with the toe of his shoe, trying to find where solid dirt ended and the quicksand began. “He didn’t get far before he sank,” he finally announced, pointing at the ground. “All we need is something he can hold on to, like a branch. I’d use Ferdy’s scabbard, but it isn’t long enough.”
“I don’t suppose anyone has a rope,” I said, not really expecting that anyone did.
We all looked around, but there was nothing to see except flat land, water, and swamp grass. Eadric sighed. “There’s no other way to do this,” he said, and began to pull his tunic over his head.
“What are you doing?” I asked, afraid that he planned to go in the quicksand after Nightshade. Instead he began to twist his tunic into a thick coil, knotting it as he went.
“There’s nothing else we can use to pull him out. This ought to be long enough. Nightshade, I’m going to toss this to you. Grab hold, and relax your body. Let yourself float.”
I held my breath as Eadric tossed the end of his tunic. It took four tries before Nightshade had a good grip. Although Eadric tugged and pulled, the fairy didn’t budge.
“Maybe if you make yourself small, Nightshade,” I suggested. “There wouldn’t be so much of you to pull out.”
“Or I could end up stuck down where my feet are now!” said Nightshade.
“Let me help,” Acorn said, coming up behind us.
“How far did the wind blow you?” I asked him.
“Back to that sinkhole. I ran from there, but those darned mosquitoes got me all over again,” he said, rubbing fresh bites on his face.
“Here, take this,” Eadric said, handing the end of the twisted shirt to Acorn.
The two of them pulled as hard as they could, but Nightshade didn’t move an inch.
“This isn’t working!” wailed Oleander. He and Persimmon were standing on the other side of Eadric, but neither of them had made any effort to help.
“Oh, never mind! I’ll get small and see what happens!” grumbled Nightshade.
“Pull!” Eadric shouted as Nightshade turned tiny. They yanked and the fairy shot out of the muck and flew headlong into Oleander, knocking him to the ground.
A moment later, Nightshade was big again, standing beside his friend. Muck dripped from his clothes as he staggered to get his balance. Grimacing,
Eadric wiped the muck off his tunic and put it back on.
“I want to go with Eadric!” Adara declared, peeking out of my pocket. “I’ll feel a lot safer with him. Did you see how he rescued Nightshade?”
Sighing, I handed the little mouse over.
I was wondering how we were going to get around the quicksand, so I walked all the way to the edge of the lake. There had to be solid ground between the two, or the muck would flow into the lake’s water. Without a stick or anything else to use, I tested the ground with my foot and found that the boundary between the muck and the water’s edge was only a few feet wide. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for us to walk on.
“If we stay at the very edge of the lake, we should be able to get past the quicksand,” I told Eadric.
He nodded. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll go first. Grab me and pull me back if I start to sink.”
“I think Nightshade should go first,” said Persimmon.
“Not this time,” Nightshade said, wiping dirt from his neck.
We walked single file, following Eadric around the edge of the lake. After walking for a few minutes, Acorn started testing the ground on the side of the path. “We’re past the quicksand,” he finally told us. “Just be careful in case there’s more up ahead.”
“I think there’s something other than quicksand in front of us, but I don’t know what it is,” said Eadric. “There’s a funny colored line crossing the ground. It starts somewhere to the left and goes all the way into the lake.”
I hadn’t noticed the line, but I had noticed something else. Up ahead, so far away that I almost couldn’t see it, I thought I spotted something that didn’t quite fit into the marshy landscape. “Look over there,” I said. “Is that a tree?”
“There aren’t any trees around here,” Eadric began, but when he looked where I was pointing, his eyes grew big. “That wasn’t there a minute ago!”
“Or at least you didn’t see it,” said Acorn. “If I’m not mistaken, that’s a willow tree.”
It was hard to make out what kind of tree it was because of the green haze that surrounded it, but the more I studied it, the more I was convinced that he was right. “It looks as if we’ve finally found Queen Willow. Now all we have to do is figure out how to get to her.”