The racket in the courtyard woke Aislin shortly after dawn. Springing from her bed, she ran to her window to see the men shouting below as disguised fairies led saddled horses from the stable. King Tyburr was there, giving orders. A moment later, “King” Nurlue emerged from the castle.
“Are you leaving us so soon?” asked Nurlue.
“I thank you for your hospitality, but I’m needed at home and we must be off!” declared King Tyburr.
“If you must leave …,” Nurlue began.
“Strange things go on in this castle,” King Tyburr interrupted. “Two of my men claim they saw ghosts outside their door last night. Others swore that giants carried us to our beds. I believe them. It rained before dawn and I saw enormous wet footprints inside the door when I came down just now. I slept through the night, but I received reports of strange monsters in the hallways, and beasts roaring in the night. Three of my men saw tiny faces peering at them through the windows. I noticed myself that many of the people here are unnatural. No normal person moves as gracefully as a cat or smells like flowers when they sweat.”
Aislin was practically hanging out the window, trying to hear what they said.
“I swear I’ve never seen ghosts or giants inside this castle,” Nurlue told him. “Many of my people wear scented oils to make themselves smell like flowers. Your men must have been dreaming. Perhaps it was the wine.”
“Your wine was indeed powerful and gave me the best sleep I’ve had in years, but I trust my men’s judgment, and I know that things are not as they should be here,” said King Tyburr. “I’ve half a mind to search your castle and purge it of the monsters before I leave. Perhaps I should stay one more day and make this place safe for your family, since you seem unwilling or unable to do so. I wouldn’t make the offer, but your daughter saved my life yesterday, and I feel that I owe her this much. Craiger, tell the men we’re staying to hunt down the monsters!”
Aislin gasped. If those men went looking for monsters, they were likely to find her family hiding just out of sight. The humans had to leave and they had to leave now! There was only one thing that would make them go, and she refused to take the time to really think about it. Throwing on an ordinary gown, she ran down the stairs to the courtyard just as the humans prepared to come back inside.
“Aislin, wait!” Poppy cried when the princess ran past. But Aislin scarcely noticed that her friend followed her.
“King Tyburr, please save me!” Aislin exclaimed as she ran out the door. “I can’t stay here another minute. I’m so frightened in this castle at night. It’s all right during the day, but at night the monsters come out and I have to lock myself in my room until dawn.”
“Are you sure, child?” asked the king. “I can stay and slaughter the monsters. I swear we’ll search every inch so there’s nothing left to terrorize you and you’ll be safe here in your own home.”
“But the ghosts will still be here!” wailed Aislin. “You can’t slaughter the dead. Please just take me with you. I want to leave right away!”
Aislin was indeed afraid, not of any monsters, but of how the humans could hurt the people she loved. The fairies could use magic to stop them, of course, but then they’d be revealing the very thing they wanted to keep secret. Someone was bound to get hurt if Aislin didn’t put an end to this now!
The men on the stairs stopped and turned back to King Tyburr.
“Please, Your Majesty,” Aislin said to the human king. “Please take me away from here.”
King Tyburr nodded. “Very well, dear girl. Craiger, we’re going now. Have the men mount up. You, over there!” the king called to Poppy. “Go fetch the princess’s things. Enough for two days’ travel. I’ll see that she gets all she needs when we reach my castle. You, go with her to make sure that she hurries.”
Poppy looked horrified, but she turned and ran back down the corridor with one of King Tyburr’s men behind her.
Aislin tried not to think about what she had committed herself to doing. But letting these men back inside might very well mean death for her family, who were so obviously not human. According to the old tales, humans often considered anyone who was different from them to be a threat. Who knew whom the humans would consider monsters now?
The men were leading a horse toward Aislin when Poppy came back carrying a large sack. The scarf covering her head was askew, as if she’d put it on in a hurry. Aislin caught her eye and tucked her own hair behind her ear. Poppy understood and fixed her scarf while one of the men took the sack from her. When no one was looking, Poppy patted the base of her throat. Aislin glanced down. The mood stone was glowing bright red. Turning away from the men, she ripped the chain from her throat and clutched it in her hand to conceal the glowing color; she didn’t want to show King Tyburr even that much magic.
“The maid should come with us as well,” King Tyburr said, pointing at Poppy. Aislin hated to drag Poppy into this mess, but she couldn’t help but be relieved she’d have a friend by her side.
But one last thing first. “I have to say goodbye to my father,” she cried, and ran to Nurlue.
“Here, give this to my mother,” Aislin whispered to Nurlue, slipping the mood stone into his hand.
“Do you want us to do something?” Nurlue whispered back. Aislin knew that he was talking about magic.
She shook her head, mouthing the word “no.” “I’ll be fine,” she said out loud. After giving him a quick hug, she headed down the steps to the courtyard.
“As it happens, my son is looking for a bride,” King Tyburr told her from astride his horse. “You’re brave and have good sense, things that are sorely lacking in most of the young ladies he’s met. You can meet him and see if you’re suitable for one another. Now it’s time to leave. We have a long ride ahead of us.”
As the men hustled the two girls to the waiting horse, Poppy leaned closer to Aislin. “The man didn’t think I was fast enough when I packed your bag. He shoved some things in, including Twinket.”
Aislin nodded. She was leaving her beloved family behind, but at least she’d have some allies with her. A moment later, one of the men picked her up and set her on a horse. A second man plunked Poppy down behind her while another rider took the horse’s reins. Then they started off, barely giving Aislin time to wave to Nurlue before they were passing under the portcullis and across the drawbridge. The king was in the lead again, with Aislin only a few horses back.
The group was just entering the forest when she turned around one last time to gaze at the castle glowing in the morning sun. She watched it for as long as she could, wondering if she’d ever see it again. Once the castle was out of sight, she rode with her head down, thinking hard. She’d wanted her mother to have the necklace so that the family didn’t need to worry. As long as they could see the colors change, they would know that Aislin was all right. As far as she knew, it would work even from far away. But if she really didn’t want them to worry, she would have to be as calm as possible. She knew her parents well; if she wasn’t happy, her father would use whatever means necessary to get her back—even if it meant ending their centuries-old seclusion and revealing the fairies to the world again. Considering how important their reasons for leaving the human lands had been, she didn’t want to be the one responsible for making them return.
Aislin turned around when she felt Poppy shaking behind her. “Are you all right?” she asked.
Poppy nodded even as she bit back a sob. “I’m fine,” she said. “It’s just that I’ve never been away from my family before. What will I do without them? What will they do without me?”
“We’ll be back someday,” Aislin said, trying to be reassuring.
“You don’t know that,” Poppy said, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. “We’ve both heard all the horrible things that humans can do. What if they eat us, or worse?”
“I don’t think they’d do that!” Aislin said, even as she wondered what could be worse.
“But you don’t know for sure!” Poppy wailed.
Aislin sighed and turned to face forward again. Apparently, she was going to have to worry about Poppy’s happiness, too.
After that, Aislin was too caught up in her thoughts to notice where they were until they were actually entering the pass. It was a narrow opening that allowed only one rider at a time, and the horses were skittish about going in. Some were so frightened that their riders had to dismount and walk the animals through. One rider elected to ride through and had to fight for control of his mount the entire way. While the girls waited, Aislin patted the horse they were riding and Poppy murmured soothing words in the horse’s language. When it was their turn, Poppy held tightly to the princess, and both girls were relieved when their horse walked docilely through the narrow pass.
Even if she’d closed her eyes, Aislin would have known the moment they left the kingdom behind. The forest air that had smelled so fresh and pure in the land between the mountains smelled stale on the human side. When she listened, the sound of birdsong seemed thin and flat to her ears. She looked around and noticed that the foliage wasn’t as lush, or the green as intense as it had been at home. The more she saw, the more she realized that none of the colors seemed quite right, almost as if she was looking through a gray-tinted veil.
It was dusk when they came to a deep river where a large boat was waiting for them. The boat was big enough to hold all the horses and their riders, and the sailors waiting on board seemed happy to see the king return. Aislin and Poppy dismounted and boarded the boat, running to the rail to look over the side as soon as they were able. The water was murky, unlike the clear lakes and rivers they were used to at home.
When the boat set sail, the girls remained by the railing. As Aislin tried to gaze into the river’s depths, she saw an occasional fish, but no sign of water nymphs or any other water beings. To her eyes, the river looked lifeless without the sparkle it had at home; she realized that the world of the humans was nothing like the land between the mountains. There was no magic in it, at least not as far as she could tell. Aislin felt truly homesick for the very first time.
Looking back the way they’d come, it occurred to her that the king had gone a long way to hunt, with a lot of unnecessary effort. Unless, she thought, he hadn’t gone to the land between the mountains to hunt game. Gazing in the direction of the pass, she wondered if he had been looking for game at all, or something else entirely.