The Faeman Quest

Twenty-Five

Mella felt a presence behind her and glanced around to discover her Aunt Aisling had found enough of her courage to creep on to the balcony. She was staring over Mella’s shoulder down into the conference room below. ‘What’s going on?’ she whispered. ‘Who are these people? Can they help us?’

Mella pushed her back through the doorway and carefully closed the door behind them. Even with the door closed, she kept her voice low. ‘Let’s not make too much noise. I think we’re in Haleklind,’ she said.

Aisling looked at her blankly. ‘Aren’t we in Fairyland? The Faerie Realm, or whatever you call it?’

‘Yes. Yes, we are,’ Mella said impatiently. ‘Haleklind is a country in the Faerie Realm.’

‘I think,’ said Aisling severely, ‘it’s about time we had a little conversation, you and I, about everything’s that’s been going on. I knew Henry was up to something – I’ve known it for years. Is he really living permanently in the Faerie Realm now?’

Mella nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘And he’s really married to the Faerie Queen?’

Mella nodded again.

Aisling’s face broke into a frosty smile. ‘I can’t believe Henry married a fairy! It’s insane, even for him!’ The smile disappeared and a thoughtful expression crossed her face. ‘If he’s married to the Queen, that makes him King, doesn’t it?’

‘Well, King Consort…’ Mella didn’t know where this was heading, but there was something about her aunt’s tone she really disliked.

‘But that still means he’s a very important man, doesn’t it? I mean he has subjects and servants and things like that? He rules people?’

‘Well, he helps Mummy rule,’ Mella said. ‘He gives her advice and stuff and sometimes she takes it.’

‘I expect he’s rich now? Gold, gems, lives in a palace?’

This was really making Mella uncomfortable. ‘Aunt Aisling, we’re -’

‘Rich!’ snapped Aisling. ‘Is he rich?’

‘He gets an allowance from the State,’ Mella said reluctantly. ‘I expect it’s quite large. And half of Mummy’s family money automatically went to him when they got married, although I don’t think he actually took it, and they do live in a palace, the Purple Palace. Because Mummy’s Queen and Daddy’s King Consort.’

A distant look crept into Aisling’s eyes. ‘My brother is King of the Faerie Realm!’ she breathed. ‘My brother is King of the Faerie Realm!’ She refocused on Mella abruptly. ‘I’m the King’s sister, you’re the King’s daughter. Why are we creeping round like criminals? We shall order those people out there to stop their silly little meeting and provide us with transport to this Purple Palace of yours. I want to have a word with your father. He’s behaved disgracefully. He’s behaved disgracefully for years. I think it’s time he tried to make amends, don’t you? And not just to me, but to Mummy as well. I don’t know what she’s going to think about all this when I tell her. But first, I want a word with Henry!’ She half turned to reopen the door.

Mella caught her arm hurriedly. ‘You can’t just order those people to provide you with transport – this is Haleklind.’

Aisling looked at her blankly. ‘What’s that got to do with it?’

‘Daddy’s not King of Haleklind – it’s an independent country. Actually Mummy’s not really Queen of the Realm, not the whole Realm: that’s just one of her titles. She’s Queen Empress of the Faerie Empire. It’s rather big, but there are still some countries outside it. Including Haleklind.’

‘How do you know this is… where did you say? Haleklind? This building could be anywhere.’

Mella licked her lips. ‘I’m not sure. But I think that might be a meeting of the Table of Seven, and the Table of Seven rules Haleklind.’

‘Is Haleklind an enemy of the Empire?’ Aisling asked quickly.

Mella stared at her. Haleklind didn’t have an alliance with the Empire as far as she knew, but then again she didn’t pay much attention to politics. She’d never heard anybody describe Haleklind as an enemy. The wizards kept themselves to themselves, except when it came to trade, and they were really, really paranoid about people entering their country for anything else (which would make things doubly difficult if this actually was Haleklind) but that was about it. Except for what she’d just heard. Our invasion of the Empire may proceed as planned. Haleklind couldn’t be planning to invade the Empire, not her mother’s Empire: it was too big, too strong. No single country could possibly hope to win a war against it; and Haleklind was surely too suspicious of everybody to have formed any alliances. Mella racked her brains trying to remember if there was any other empire in the Faerie Realm, wishing she’d paid more attention to her geography tutor, wishing she’d paid more attention to her politics tutor, wishing she’d paid more attention to…

Wait a minute! Hadn’t her history tutor once mentioned a Chlorostrymon Empire? It fell hundreds and hundreds of years ago, but didn’t the tutor say there was a remnant of that empire somewhere in the north? A little frozen alliance of Chlorostrymon states? Maybe that was what the Table of Seven was planning to invade, although for the life of her she couldn’t imagine why: the only thing the Chlorostrymons had now was seal blubber. What Mella needed to do was get home at once and tell her parents what she’d heard: let them sort it out. Although in her heart of hearts she’d already sorted it herself. Nobody invaded to get seal blubber. But for now she had her aunt breathing down her neck.

‘I’m not sure,’ she said.

‘Oh, you’re being ridiculous!’ Aisling snapped. She pulled the door open and nodded in the direction of the balcony. ‘You think that’s Haleklind’s ruling council?’

‘Yes.’ The more she thought about it, the more sure she became. She wished Aunt Aisling would leave her alone to figure out the situation. Actually, she wished Aunt Aisling would just go away!

‘Well,’ said Aisling firmly, ‘if Haleklind isn’t an enemy, it must be a friend, or at least neutral; and that’s the ruling council. If you knew anything about the way these things work, Mella, you’d realise that as the sister of the King and daughter of the King we are entitled to be treated as visiting dignitaries, will be treated as visiting dignitaries. I shall go down now and explain we are here as the result of an unfortunate portal accident and request – request politely, even though I represent a powerful empire they would do well to respect – request that they arrange transport for us to our Purple Palace, where, I can tell you, I shall be speaking very frankly to King Consort Henry. Very frankly indeed.’

‘Aunt Aisling, I -’

But it was too late. Aisling swept through the open door and, without any attempt at concealment, strode along the balcony towards the staircase leading to the council chamber below. Mella started to race after her, then stopped. If the Table hanged her aunt for breach of security or impertinence or stupidity, that was nobody’s fault but Aisling’s. It would do no good at all if she took Mella with her. Best to wait and watch and see what happened. Mella crept carefully to the edge of the balcony and looked over again.

The Goblin Guard appeared before Aisling was halfway down the stairs. In the old days, Goblin Guards used real goblins, silver-suited demons conjured from Hael and bound to service by the occasional sacrifice. But around the time Mella’s mother was a teenager, the demon guards were replaced by cleverly crafted illusions with enough solidity to maim and murder with the same ferocity as an actual goblin. The illusion had originally been developed in Haleklind, but spread quickly when the wizards offered it for sale. Mella knew a Guard was coming, even before it actually appeared. She heard the distinctive insectile chittering underlaid with a click-clack sound like lobster claws.

‘Don’t move, Aunt Aisling!’ Mella screamed as the goblins began to materialise. So much for waiting to see what happened. So much for maybe sneaking off while Aisling made a fool of herself. Seven heads turned towards her. She was absolutely caught. But what could she do? Aisling was her aunt and Goblin Guards killed people.

Aisling stopped. She could never have seen anything like a goblin in her life before, but to be fair, she took the Guard in her stride. From her vantage point halfway down the stairs, she called calmly to the seven round the table, ‘I am the Lady Atherton, sister of His Consort Majesty King Henry of the Faerie Empire. Please ensure these creatures do not harm me.’

The Lady Atherton? You couldn’t help admire her. But at least the demons were no longer moving and wouldn’t move as long as she stayed still. Mella stayed still herself. If she moved while there was a Guard about, they might well attack her – and go straight through Aisling to get to her.

The woman at the end of the table pushed back her cowl to reveal sharp, almost cruel, features. She glared at Aisling. ‘How did you gain entrance to our chamber?’ she asked with more than a hint of quiet malice.

This had to be Haleklind, Mella thought. Only in Haleklind would that be the first question. Not what do you want? Not what are you doing? Not who did you say you were? But how did you get in? It occurred to her suddenly that Halek defences would be set to stop anyone portalling from the Faerie or the Hael Realms. It would never have occurred to the wizards to worry about the Analogue World, where nobody used portals, or magic of any sort, or even believed in wizards.

‘I have no idea,’ said Aisling, as if the question were of no importance. ‘But if you will kindly instruct these things to step aside and allow me to come down so I don’t have to shout all the time, I will tell you what I want you to do.’

One of the men round the table said, ‘Consort Majesty King Henry of the Faerie Empire does not have a sister in this Realm.’

Mella focused on three of his words: in this Realm. Not doesn’t have a sister, but doesn’t have a sister in this Realm. This was Haleklind all right. The reach of the wizards’ intelligence service was legendary, at least on a par with, if not actually ahead of, Madame Cardui’s own. They knew her father had a sister back in the Analogue World, probably even knew her name. Mella just hoped Aisling wasn’t going to lie to them. She’d already chanced it with her ‘Lady Atherton’ business.

‘I have not come from this Realm,’ Aisling said clearly. ‘I have come from -’ She stopped suddenly, obviously wondering what they might call the Analogue World, then went on, ‘- the Human Realm.’

There was an immediate buzz of conversation around the table and, even though she couldn’t hear a word of it, Mella knew they were back to their old concerns, wondering how somebody from the Analogue World had broken through their defences to gain access to their chamber. The man who had spoken earlier cut through the buzz to ask, ‘What is your forename?’ He frowned, as if searching for the correct term, then added, ‘Your Christian name?’

‘I am the Lady Aisling,’ Aunt Aisling told him, probably having figured Lady Atherton might not be the right form of address.

‘ Lady Aisling?’ the man echoed. He raised an eyebrow. This was not going well, not going well at all. Mella wondered if she should simply cut and run, leave Aisling to it. But run where? The transporter was broken, so there was no open portal behind her. Running back the way she came might take her out of this building or might not. Since they’d entered on stairs, it might simply lead to an upper storey. And even if she did get out of the building, what good would that do her? She was somewhere in Haleklind. There were bound to be securities surrounding the building where the Table of Seven met. She would be captured the moment she ran into them. Captured or killed.

A cowled figure leaned across to whisper something in the ear of the woman at the head of the table. They both turned to look directly at Mella. ‘Are you sure, Companion Aubertin?’ asked the woman at the head of the table.

‘I saw her once at a State occasion, Companion Ysabeau,’ the man told her.

The woman Ysabeau called out, ‘Are you Culmella Chrysotenchia?’

Mella swallowed. ‘Yes, ma’am,’ she called back.

‘And this… lady, is your father’s sister? From the Analogue World?’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ Mella repeated.

Ysabeau made a gesture and the Goblin Guard vanished. She stood up and walked towards the staircase. ‘Lady Aisling, Princess Culmella, on behalf of the Table of Seven, may I welcome you to Haleklind.’