emnus led them down a spiral staircase and into the Fey’s courtroom. Ned’s heart was pounding so hard he thought it might actually burst. They walked now as thieves, carefully dodging and ducking, as the spectacle continued around them. The fairies in the court were in a trance, but Lemnus made it clear that bumping into them or treading on their toes would rouse them just as surely as it would a dreamer from any dream.
“Gorrn?” whispered Ned.
“Arr?”
“Do not leave my side.”
There was little chance – Ned’s familiar clung so close to his shadow that he was almost completely invisible. As they walked, Ned looked at the food and drink on the tables. He’d never seen anything more appetising or so perfectly cooked. The apples looked juicier and the grapes brighter; goblets of drink seemed to call out to him till his throat ran dry with thirst. A cat-eared fairy walked by with a tray of drinks and before he knew what he was doing, his hand reached out to take one, or at least it would have done if his occasionally useful familiar hadn’t bitten his calf.
“Unt!” he warned quietly.
“Oww! Err, thank you,” mouthed Ned.
Gorrn went back to shivering in his shadow and Mr Fox was so overcome by his surroundings that he had gone completely silent. It was like being in a music video or a film without any sound, only there was sound – the fairies laughed and their feet shuffled, but all to music that Ned couldn’t hear. Finally they passed by an empty throne and into the adjoining room. Wherever King Oberon was, he was not at the ball.
They found themselves standing in the hollow of a giant oak tree. Light spilling down from hundreds of feet above them shed a greenish glow over everything. And there, sitting on three chairs made of vines, were Ned’s parents and Benissimo, eyes open but apparently asleep. The fairy had been true to his word – they were, at least to Ned’s eyes, completely unharmed.
Ned ran up to wake them when Lemnus grabbed his shoulder.
“Steady, child – slow and steady, if you will. To wake them suddenly is to hurt them.”
“Then how?”
“Take the stone and they will wake slowly, peacefully.”
In the centre of the room was a small wooden plinth, and at its top sat a black stone just larger than a man’s hand. It was perfectly smooth and shone gently with a light of its own. At the plinth’s foot was a more worrying sight, though it was, like Ned’s parents and the Ringmaster, sound asleep. It had deep red fur with bright turquoise stripes and looked to be some mix of both tiger and lion. Mr Fox’s hand hovered over his gun.
“Lemnus, what exactly is that?”
“That, sir, is a ligron. Part tiger, part lion, but mostly magic. The only one in existence and utterly fearless. It is also mine.”
“Handy,” said Mr Fox and left his gun in its holster. “Well, Ned, I’d rather like to get out of here, wouldn’t you?”
Ned approached the Heart Stone. The more he looked at it, the more it seemed to shine.
“When you take the stone, your parents and the Ringmaster will wake from their slumber. Slowly at first, Mr Fox. I would suggest that you help urge them from their seats, then move at a pace. The court will also wake, you see, and you will have little time to escape.”
“What?!” Ned’s eyes bulged out of his head. “Lemnus, how are we supposed to get them through that blinking room if every fairy in Dublin wakes to find us running off with their magic pebble?”
“On the back of my ligron.”
Ned stared at the creature. Even asleep it oozed power, but it was still no larger than a normal tiger or lion.
“No offence – I mean, he’s a wonderful creature and everything – but we can’t all get on him.”
“He grows.”
“Very handy,” said Mr Fox.
Lemnus pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and passed it to Ned.
“Elven silk. It will protect you from the Heart Stone’s power until you are ready to use it.”
Ned took the handkerchief and wrapped it round the stone.
“Mr Fox, Lucy, get ready to help them,” Lemnus said, indicating towards the three sleepers.
Ned approached the stone and slowly put his hand to it. It was warm to the touch but otherwise surprisingly “stony”. It was far heavier than it looked, but he was able to lift it from the plinth with little effort.
“Try not to drop it,” grinned Lemnus.
There was a stirring from the foot of the plinth and in the chairs to their side. Ned’s mum and dad, Benissimo and the ligron opened their eyes slowly.
At the sight of her son, Olivia Armstrong smiled giddily before getting up and falling flat on her face.
“Jeffrey?” she winced. “My darling boy, is that you?”
“Ned, Mum. It’s Ned.”
“Course it is, Cuthbert, I’d know your face anywhere. Peter, look, darling – it’s our darling.”
Ned’s dad blinked over and over till he finally settled to take Ned and his companions in.
“Oh, yes, Daphne, you’re right! How ever did he wind up here? Jack, my boy, we have so missed you.”
Ned shot a look to Lucy and Mr Fox, before turning on Lemnus. “What has happened to them?!”
“Don’t worry, child. I think you have an expression, no? ‘Away with the fairies.’ I’m afraid they’re still a bit ‘away’, but fear not, they’ll be back to their old selves in a moment or two.”
Lucy was trying to help Olivia off the ground and Mr Fox was doing his best to rouse Benissimo, who was still drifting in and out of sleep.
Suddenly the room began to rumble and the ligron rose.
“Hello, old friend,” said Lemnus. “I have a job for you. You’re going to carry my friends on your back and get them to safety. Can you manage that?”
The ligron bowed its head solemnly and stared at Ned and his party. His eyes weren’t the usual orange-yellow of a big cat, but the same bright turquoise as his striped fur. He was beautiful, almost regal in the way he held himself, and utterly terrifying. Gorrn gave a low “Unt” to his gaze and promptly slid into the shadow of Ned’s pocket, where he would no doubt stay.
“Coward,” whispered Ned.
“Quickly now, I hear them stirring next door.”
Ned and the others manhandled the sleepers on to the back of the ligron; as they did so, it started to grow, inch by stripy inch, till it was the height of a large stallion and the width of two bulls. Within moments a staggered Ned found himself looking down from its mane and only Lemnus remained on the ground. The fairy clearly had no intention of going with them.
“But, Lemnus, when they find out what you’ve done you’ll be—”
“Dealing with a small rebellion, and not my first, young lady! Oberon, our king, has seen many such troubles, though this I’m sure will be the worst.”
“Come with us!” urged Ned. “Oberon is going to kill you for this, Lemnus.”
“Unlikely – it’s on his orders that I have helped you. It is time to save our people. Though they won’t thank us for it, and they will try to kill you to get the stone back until we can calm them down – if we can calm them down. Quickly now, back through the courtroom – my ligron will take you to the surface.”
The extraordinary creature that was Lemnus Gemfeather put his hand up to the ligron’s mane and led them towards the courtroom.
“Lemnus,” asked Ned, turning back one last time, “the Heart Stone – how am I supposed to use it?”
“With courage and conviction, dear boy, and with the help of your friend!” He then turned to Mr Fox all mischief removed. “And, Mr Fox?”
“Yes, Mr Gemfeather?”
“Listen to yourself – your role is more important than you know.”
Ned had no idea what the fairy had meant, and at first glance it seemed like Mr Fox hadn’t either. As they entered the throne room, something in front of them stirred. The fairy put his cheek to the ligron’s fur.
“Move swiftly, my pet, or your charges will be torn to shreds.”
The first of the court to break from their curse was a thumb-sized hummingbird. It was thrumming its way towards them, a gentle flurry of green and yellow. Its minuscule rider looked to Lemnus and bowed with a smile. Then it took in the ligron’s passengers. As its eyes honed in on Ned and the silken bundle on his lap, its tiny face turned to confusion then outright rage and the hummingbird’s rider screamed. It was a piercing scream, a loud and desperate scream, and it was heard in every corner of the fairy king’s realm.