Of Sorcery and Snow (20 page)

“Oh my gumdrops,” Lena whispered.

“Wow! They're gorgeous!” Miriam cried, and I just sneezed.

I'm
really
allergic to horses, even if they happen to be from a magical talking herd that lives in southern Atlantis.

The black one lifted his head and stared straight at me. “Not
you
. I have been insulted by Rory Landon's sneezes for the last time.”

They were magical, not superfriendly.

“You know him?” Lena hung back, clearly too freaked to go any closer. Not Miriam. She started stroking the palomino's nose. Looking a little jealous, the chestnut one nudged her shoulder.

“He's the one who raced me to the Unseelie Court,” I explained to Lena.

The dark one preened a little until Chase said, “Dude, how many boons do you owe? You must get trapped a lot.”

The other two let out great whinnying laughs. “All the time!” said the chestnut. “He's the fastest of us, but he's also the clumsiest.”

“Because he never looks where he's going,” said the palomino, who was a mare, judging by her voice. “But if you're going to owe someone a boon, it might as well be—”

She couldn't reveal Iron Hans in front of the Snow Queen's allies. Solange would hunt him down and force him to rejoin her side.

Luckily, the grumpy Dapplegrim thundered, “We do not speak his name!”

“Yes, Brother,” said the palomino meekly. Oh wow—these two were the dark Dapplegrim's younger siblings. I liked him a lot better after meeting them. Come to think of it, I liked Philip a lot better when Miriam was around too. I wondered if Brie's baby—

No. I wouldn't let myself think about that.

In a tiny voice, the palomino added, “Well, our mutual acquaintance always sends us to the best places.”

“We're the first Dapplegrims to ever set foot in Kiivinsh,” said the chestnut excitedly.

“Yeah, and you're about to become a legend.” Chase stepped toward the suit of copper armor and touched its shoulder with one finger.

It rippled and flew, like a hundred giant metal butterflies taking off at once. It clanked so loud I had to step back, wincing. When I looked again, a giant copper knight swung up onto the dark Dapplegrim's back. Chase looked a lot smaller on top of that huge horse.

“Hey, I didn't get a saddle!” I said, noticing the Dapplegrim's saddle and reins.

“You didn't have armor,” said Chase's Dapplegrim. “Armor pinches.”

The silver armor rippled onto Miriam, and she climbed on the palomino.

“Who's our third rider?” said Chase.

Lena and I glanced at each other.

“You have experience,” Lena pointed out hopefully.

“I also have allergies,” I replied.

We'd hurt the chestnut's feelings. “Fine,” he said. “I'll take a tour of the city if you don't need me. I'm just here to visit the Arctic Circle anyway.”

But Forrel touched the golden armor. As it rippled over his skin, he bowed low to the chestnut. “I would be honored if you would consent to be the first Dapplegrim to carry a dwarf in three centuries.”

For a shocked second, no one said anything. Not even Chase.

“The honor is mine, dwarf,” said the chestnut.

Forrel took a running start and leaped in the chestnut's saddle, landing surprisingly lightly for a guy wearing gold armor. “Well?” he asked, waiting for one of us to challenge him.

Chase just turned to me and Lena. “Meet us out front.”

Then all three Dapplegrim leaped up on the restaurant's roof. Wow. They'd obviously decided to make an entrance.

Lena and I ducked inside, weaving through the tables in the dining area. She hesitated before she opened the front door. “Do you think Forrel will sabotage the plan?”

“I really hope not.” If he rode straight to the king's stage and turned us in, it would be our fault for not volunteering.

Outside, the Dapplegrim had definitely gotten everyone's attention on the roof. The archers and loggers had stopped competing to stare at them. Then the Dapplegrim and their riders leaped down. Dwarves stumbled back, clearing a path to the ice hill. Sparks flew up from the three horses' hooves, spooking the other mounts. Cranky Beard's reindeer actually threw him as it skittered out of the way.

But no one tried to stop the Dapplegrim. Only Hadriane looked like she might protest. She stood up, clutching her skin-cloak to her like a polar bear defending her territory, but the Dapplegrim were too quick.

In a few lazy strides, each Dapplegrim conquered the hill. They paraded around the flat top, circling the dwarf princess until she tossed each of them an apple of Living Stone. Chase and Miriam caught theirs and guided the horses down immediately. Forrel must have said something when the apple hit his golden glove, because suddenly, Hadriane looked a lot less sullen and a lot more freaked out.

The king waved them over. “Let me congratulate our winners.”

My insides started churning, like a thousand mini Dapplegrim were galloping around my stomach. “Why do I have a really bad feeling?” Lena whispered to me, and I couldn't answer her.

Forrel offered a golden arm to the princess, and after giving him a dirty look, she swung up into the saddle. Then the chestnut Dapplegrim leaped down and joined the other two in front of the king's stage.

Hadriane dismounted and marched up the steps to her father, without breaking the withering glare she was aiming at poor Forrel. Maybe she didn't think this counted as keeping an eye on us prisoners.

“Please remove your helmets,” said the king, oblivious.

The three disguised knights all glanced at each other—we hadn't planned this far ahead—but when Forrel flipped up his visor, Chase and Miriam did too.

“We give her hand in marriage
back
to the princess!” Miriam tossed her apple.

Hadriane's eyes widened as she caught it, and then the apples Chase and Forrel threw her way. She peeked around her polar bear hood to see what her father thought.

If he'd looked ticked after I won the ring event, that was nothing compared to the fury on the king's face now. But this time, he pointed straight at the dwarf who'd helped us. “Forrel, son of Freidel, you were given a direct order not to compete in the tournament.”

Forrel had definitely not mentioned that.

“I had good reason, Your Majesty.” Forrel's tiny irritating smile was back. “I saw no one in this city more suited to lead the dwarves than your daughter.”

I didn't realize it was an insult until Princess Hadriane buried her face in her hands and groaned. Apparently, the “no one in the city” included the king himself.

So they threw us in the dungeon. I wasn't shocked.

Only Chase resisted arrest. He tried to make a break for the city gates. Knowing him, that had probably been his backup plan all along. But his mount stood still and announced, “
No
. You used your boon for three Dapplegrim to win the tournament. Freezing to death was never agreed upon, and that will happen if we step outside Kiivinsh.”

The Dapplegrim didn't seem to mind getting arrested at all. They were pretty docile when the dwarf soldiers marched us all—questers, Dapplegrim, and Forrel—out of the square, down a long boulevard, and into a building with metal sheets frozen into its walls. Then the dwarves locked us behind iron bars glistening with ice.

Two stayed behind to guard us—Rebdo and Cranky Beard.

“Now we're the first Dapplegrim who've ever been in Kiivinsh's prison!” said the chestnut gleefully in the cell next to ours.

“Be silent,” whinnied the grumpy Dapplegrim.

“And hope the transportation spell of our mutual acquaintance brings us home swiftly,” added the palomino. “All this ice makes my hooves ache.”

Everyone else took a seat, even the three in armor, but I couldn't sit still. I paced up and down the length of the cell.

I'd made such a huge mistake.

The dwarf king must have reported our capture to the Snow Queen. She was probably sending someone right now to fetch us. The dwarves may not have been our enemies, but they were definitely not helping us.

Mom would be terrified if she knew where I was. If I never came back . . .

No. I refused to believe that it was that bad already. We would just have to wait for our moment.

I squeezed in between Lena and Chase. She scooted over to make room, but Chase just kept scowling down at his copper armor. He probably couldn't believe he'd used his awesome boon just to land us in prison. That was my fault too—Chase had just wanted to escape. I wouldn't have blamed him if he'd said,
I told you so
.

“It was really cool of you. To use your boon,” I told Chase. What I really meant to say was that I understood why he wanted to help out another half human, but I couldn't say that in front of others.

He brightened. “Don't worry. I'd do it for you too.”

“I
know
you would do it for me and Lena,” I said. He deflated a little, but I hadn't meant to insult him or anything. “I'm saying it was cool of you to do it for Princess Hadriane and Miriam.”

“I didn't do it for Miriam,” Chase said, mock-horrified. “George would kill me if I tried to win Miriam's hand in marriage.”

Instant awkward. Miriam stiffened, but she didn't say anything. Neither did I.

Then Cranky Beard spoke up. He had become a lot crankier after losing his chance to become the next king. “The beardless should never enter the tournament. You're a fool, Forrel.”

Rebdo didn't turn around. “We're not supposed to talk to them.”

Forrel flipped up his golden visor and stared hard at Cranky Beard. “Perhaps less of a fool than you. At least my mistress looks after her own, unlike your Snow Queen.”

“You won't disrespect Her Majesty with that traitor's mouth!” Rebdo launched himself at Forrel, reaching through the iron bars.

But then the three suits of armor vanished, leaving our riders with severe cases of helmet hair. Apparently, the Dapplegrim vanished too.

“The hooved prisoners have escaped!” Cranky Beard ran out
for backup. I don't know why. No one could do anything about Iron Hans's three-horse return ticket to Atlantis.

Lena sighed. “When I finally get to meet our mutual acquaintance in person, I've
got
to convince him to share that transportation spell.”

“You would need fifty boons for that,” Chase warned her.

Then Forrel grabbed the arm Rebdo had stretched into the cell and yanked. The guard's head hit the iron bars so hard that the ice cracked off, and Rebdo slumped to the frozen floor, unconscious.

Poor guy. He was going to hurt when he got up, but at least we were getting out of here. “Can you unlock the door, Chase?” I asked.

“No need.” Forrel jangled some skeleton keys. “Present from Rebdo.”

“We need our packs back,” Lena said anxiously. “We can't leave the city without casting more heating spells.”

Chase took the keys from Forrel and set to work on the door. “We have a better chance of finding them outside of this cell.”

“Yeah. It would help if someone told us where they took our stuff.” Miriam turned to the dwarf. The skin around her eyes was red and puffy—she'd obviously been crying under her helmet. “Any ideas?”

The dwarf was silent.

I couldn't believe he was refusing to help us
now
. “You owe us a little information, Forrel. You should have told us you weren't supposed to enter the tournament. The king wouldn't have been as mad if it had just been us.”

The cell's lock clicked. Chase pushed open the door. “Save it. We can interrogate him after we escape.”

Miriam stepped over Rebdo's unconscious body and out of the cell.

“I'm not going with you,” Forrel said.

“You are,” said a steely voice in the doorway. Princess Hadriane had changed back into her riding clothes, and the straps of our carryalls hung over her arms. “And that's a direct order from your captain.”

Maybe we were never meant to win over the king. Maybe we were just supposed to convince Hadriane to disobey her father.