Queen Mab (7 page)

"I am not for the keeping," she replied.

"Ah," Mercutio laughed, "Do you think I desire to clip thy wings?  Nay.  Better to soar like a hawk and come down to the falconer when in need of meat or drink than to be kept in a cage like a pretty songbird who is all color and no spirit."

She ran her hand along the collar of his doublet.  "I do not know how to give you what you seek."

"Give me your name," was all he replied.

The words caught in her throat.  A name in the mouth of an enemy could bind her, entrance her, spell her as Faunus once used it to spell her.

Mercutio took her chin in his fingertips and guided her down to his lips.  "Please."

She looked into those eyes that matched the stormy sea.  They held mirth, but no guile. He was a lion, content and fed, with no need to rip out the throats of those that crossed his path.  Instead, he asked her to trust him with her name.

"Queen Mab," she breathed before lowering herself to press her mouth fast to his, to silence anymore questions with the act that answered them all.

In an instant, she was once more in his room.  Once more he slept.  And once more, she knew she should leave.

"Perhaps one more night," she whispered before flying off to fill the heads of the other dreamers of Verona, knowing that their dreams would pale next to the silent quiet she found in the arms of this, her Mercutio.

F
aunus sat upon a rock beneath the bower of an olive tree.  It jutted like a broken tooth from the top of the hill.  This was his throne of nature, the seat of his power.  From here he looked upon his domain of rolling hills and fertile vineyards.  From here the nymphs and satyrs played.

A young man stepped forward.  Faunus continued to play his pipes as he watched this boy, a lad of fine leg and just old enough to join the season, spread out the foods of pleasure: the ripe grapes plump with the early season's drought, honeyed figs, and wine.  Faunus felt his mouth hunger for these fine offerings.  He rose and walked to the feast that had been laid out just for him, plucked the plumpest of fruit and allowed the juice to burst over his tongue.

The boy wore the colors of Capulet in both attire and face.  Such a foolish soul to come and seek him out, reflected Faunus as he regarded him.  Still, in this game that he and Mab played, this willing and desperate child might be a useful tool for unraveling the thread of Mab's existence. 

The boy interrupted Faunus's thoughts.  "I am Tybalt," he stated with pride.

"You are," replied Faunus.  "You shall have no argument from me.  Is telling me your name the reason you brought me these delights?"

"Do you enjoy my gift?" asked Tybalt.

"Indeed," replied Faunus.  "Most do not remember the old gods, they seem so wrapped up with the new."

"He does not show himself to us like the gods who were here before."

"Then you have chosen wisely to bring such offerings to my feet, for I am glad to show you my face.  I shall listen to your petition for as long as your gifts bring me pleasure."

"I wish to be a great leader," Tybalt stated.  "I wish to rule with justice and strength and to bring glory to the House of Capulet."

"You shall bring very little if you continue upon the road that the fates have decided."

"What?" asked Tybalt, taken aback.

"Your life shall be quite short, for in this goblet of wine that you have brought me," said Faunus, peering into the cup before taking a drink.  "I see that you shall be cut down by a sword in a petty street brawl, your potential cut short, your house destroyed, all because of a Montague who feigns friendship with the House of Capulet."

"This cannot be," he cried.

"But it is and shall be, unless you become a better swordsman than a boy named Romeo.  For should the House of Capulet join with the House of Montague, both shall fall.  Prevent it.  Nip it in the bud and you shall have your dreams.  But when the foot of a Montague crosses the threshold of the Capulet's House, so shall the wheels of change be set in motion that none shall be able to halt."  Faunus looked at Tybalt's stricken face. "Take heart!  The words I gave you were meant to encourage, not depress."  Faunus wiped his hands upon his wooly thighs.  "I have eaten and I have drunk, and now I hope you may go forth to be merry.  Farewell, human!"

And as Tybalt watched him disappear into the woods, the demigod's words seared themselves like a hot brand upon his mind.

Indeed, he thought, he would devote himself to be the greatest swordsman in Verona so that no man would be his match.  And never would his heart be moved for those named not Capulet.

*****

F
aunus paused in a glen, turning to see what Tybalt would do.  He watched through the leaves of the trees as Tybalt gathered up his empty vessels like a child putting away his toys.

"What human was this?" asked a woman.

Faunus turned to find Juno standing there.  Unexpected, he bowed before her and stammered out his response.  "One who dreams of upsetting the delicate balance of the politics of Verona."

"And what did you tell him?"

"The truth," said Faunus.  "That men like him live and die by the sword, and if he hopes to live, he had better choose to be a man."

Juno glanced at the boy who now ran through the fields, as if he could not waste a moment to follow Faunus's advice.  "Strange for you to take such an interest in the House of Capulet.  Tell me, Faunus, what do you seek?"

"Peace and harmony to reign upon the land."

"Liar."

"It is my duty to temper or feed the dreams of day, to adjust their reality so that by the longing or excess of it, the dreamer seeks out more.  I relish my duties and do not wish for them to come to an end, but..." Faunus dragged out. "...I have learned of one who seeks too much."

Juno looked at him sharply.  "Who?"

"It is as I tried to warn you.  Queen Mab conspires to pull down the House of Montague."

"This complaint once more?" Juno dismissed.

"I have met her in the streets and heard of her plans.  Mab's cruelty is great and her heart that of stone."

Juno stood looking up at the bright, blue sky, as if its existence could chase away the threat of eternal stars.  "Take down the House of Montague, you say?"

Faunus nodded to where he had left the boy.  "That child, Tybalt, is of the House of Capulet, but even I can see that if he dies, so goes the Montagues.  And yet, he comes and seeks out me instead of turning to his patron.  Why?  For him to meet his end would accomplish the same end that Mab has long desired.  It is a strange thing, Juno, and yet true.  She seeks too much.  Heed my words.  You would not listen to me before, but listen to me now.  You must banish her, take away her power over the night."

"And who would plant the seeds of dreams in the sleeping heads of all Verona?"

Faunus pulled out his pan pipes and regarded their form.  Offhandedly he mentioned, "I could rule both night and day."

Juno laughed.

Faunus spoke with deadly seriousness. "She has been too long a queen and a cruel ruler to those who fall within her domain.  Look at the boy as he walks back to the House of Capulet and know my words are true."

Instead Juno regarded Faunus with passive judgment, weighing his heart.  "Perhaps you are correct.  Perhaps the dreams of those at night and those of day should not be split longer."  She nodded her head as the decision was made.  "Very well.  If the House of Montague should fall, Faunus, I shall give you her powers all."

Faunus smiled.  He would ensure it would.

M
ercutio was waiting for her the third night, standing on their knoll.  She entered his dreams like a thief, causing the colors to shift and the light to sway.  As she appeared, at once not there and then there, watching him before he turned.

"Queen Mab," he said, tasting her name like melting chocolate on the tongue, then holding out his arms to welcome her in.  She rested against his strength, listening to his heart mark out the minutes and moments they had together.

"Mab," he murmured, exhaling the word like a kiss against her hair. "Wishing and wanting makes even a single touch divine.  Stay with me.  Do not disappear tonight."

She pulled away as he tried to meet his mouth upon hers, to confess the great sadness which she bore.  "Ah, my gentle Mercutio, I cannot bring my lips to lie.  If I had the power to stay forever, I would never leave your side.  But alas!  It cannot be.  So hide with me in these stolen moments with grateful abandon, for, alack!  No matter what we wish, the hour shall come with its demands and wants, and with its call, I must go back."

"And what is it that draws you away from me?"

She motioned to the world that the stood within.  "I am Mab."

"And what is a Mab?" he replied, stroking her cheek.

She took his hands in hers, staying their wanderings.  "I am the bringer of dreams.  With my touch, the minds of all Verona slumber in fear or ecstasy.  Without me, they would go mad.  I birth the fantasies of the evening, bringing justice and delight to men and women no matter how poor or rich."

Such words did not cause him to recoil or repent.  Instead, he kissed the fingertips entwined with his.  "And what does the queen dream when she closes her eyes?" he asked.

Mab paused, her truth laid bare.  "Everything which you know as true."

She took out her want and waved it.  They were in her chariot high above the city roofs.  "I dream of riding a hazelnut across the Verona sky drawn by creatures too small to see."  She pointed to each detail.  "See?  The wagon wheels made from spider legs, the canopy from grasshopper wings.  In my dresses made from cobwebs, I visit the homes of sleepers.  And in these nightly rides, I meet people such as you."

Mercutio laughed with joy, soaring with the sensation of flight. "We float like a thistle caught up in the wind!"  Mercutio looked at her in wonder.  "I thought you but a dream, and never knew you to walk the world."

She showed him her home.  "This is my palace.  It lives outside of town.  It is where I spend my nights and invisible days, a place that even you could find me now that you know my name."

"Then why do you not appear?  Why do you not come during my waking hours to share the passing hours?"

"Because, my dear, your Verona is but my dream."

It gave him pause.  "If these are but your dreams, what do you see when you're awake?"

She looked at him.  "Do you truly wish to see?"

"Aye, my queen."

"Of all the worlds I could show you, all the pleasures a man could want, you wish to see my prison?"

"If it is a prison, then let me share your cell.  It is only the solitary confinement that makes it seem to you a hell."

She waved her rosewood wand and the lush emerald hills melted to white.  The stars began to fall, replaced by the icy kisses of snow.  Here lay her mirror world of Verona, her home entombed in ice.  A century of neglect faded its pretty face. Its untended gardens decayed and death seemed to cling to every corner. The moonlight made the world seem almost bright as day, but day would never come.  They looked upon this winter, the unending cold that she alone had to endure.

Mercutio stood behind her, wrapping her in his arms to give her his warmth.  "This is your world?"

"Indeed, your world is my dream, my love, and it is here, in this land of ice and cold, that I exist.  One touch of the sun wakes me and I find myself here until the sun sets in your world and I can sleep once more.  It has been my curse for one hundred years."  Mab reached down and picked up a ball of snow.  She passed it to Mercutio, and in his warm hands, it began to melt.  She then took it again, and it turned to ice.  "This is my tomb."

"Why are you banished, my Mab?" he asked gently.

Mab thought back to that war, to that night that she had long forgotten, the pieces she had put together over the years, and the days and dreams that followed.  "There was a man that I could not sway and in my anger, I attempted to steal the heart of one whose heart was already spoken for.  I was a fool and angered the gods, and so I must stand alone in these winter woods when the rest of the world frolics in the heat of the summer sun."  She pointed to her palace.  "I do not know which world is the more real, but I know they are both equal in emptiness and cruelty."

"No, my queen."

"No?"

Mercutio smiled and turned her towards him.  "No.  You are not alone to endure winter, for I am here with you now.  For the first time, my fiery temper is cooled.  My soul is sleepy like a hibernating bear."

"Indeed," replied Queen Mab, "and in you I finally find the warmth that I have always sought."

"Then together," suggested Mercutio, "Let us live in a shared world of dreams.  As you gave to me, I give to you the key to escape.  Live in my mind and heart.  Rest with me, not in this icy prison, but with me, and we shall leave behind the trappings of mortal life and discover what more the world has in store." He took her chin in his hands and tilted her face towards his.  "What do you desire?"

Mab whispered, "To dream of you."

F
aunus waited for her outside Prince Escales's palace like cat watching a mouse a-hole.  He was patient, knowing she would have to emerge before sunrise, but his muscles were tense and ready to pounce.  His pipes were lifted to his lips and he played a haunting tune to pass the time.  As the bell tower ran one o'clock, he paused.  In the darkness, Mab emerged, looking no more than a firefly exploring the highest tower, but he knew the ways of his old friend.

Faunus began to play once more, charming her down to his side.

Her chariot rested upon the wall, and with a step she was human-sized. 

"What brings you here?" she spoke in challenge.

"Strange you should come here night after night.  I stop to ensure that all is right."

"I have no need of your intercession, Faunus.  Begone and pretend not to lighten this pressing darkness."

Faunus tapped his chin.  "Methinks you are hiding a secret, Mab."