Silence and Stone (7 page)

Gavin held completely still.

Alida held tight to the magic inside herself.

None of the guards looked up.

There was a silence, then another man spoke. “Maybe he's gone.”

“Where?” the first guard demanded. There was no answer. “Turn the bed over! Go through the blankets! He has to be here!”

“I am going to move you a little,” Alida breathed.

Gavin nodded without opening his eyes.

While the guards ran to Gavin's cot and shook out the blankets, she concentrated, reweaving the magic, so that Gavin floated along slowly, away from the gap in the stone, away from the little bit of daylight that found its way inside.

By the time the guards decided to glance upward
at the high stone ceiling, they could not see Gavin in the shadows.

“Check the corridor!” the first guard shouted suddenly. “He must have slipped out after we walked in!”

They ran out, slamming the door closed behind them.

In the silence, Alida could hear Gavin breathing. She sat back, measuring the gap in the stone. If he stretched out, his hands over his head…

“They will be back soon,” he whispered.

“I think I can get you out,” she whispered back.

There was a long silence. Then he whispered three words.

“I trust you.”

Alida slowly moved Gavin toward her.

She could feel her own heart beating, but she could also feel the magic working, steady and strong.

When he was close enough, she explained what he had to do. “Move slowly and carefully. Straighten
out. Put your hands above your head like you are stretching.”

Without opening his eyes, Gavin did it.

Alida moved him again, lining him up with the gap in the stone.

Once he was positioned perfectly, she leaned forward.

“Hold still,” she reminded him. Then she lifted him straight up. His right shoulder bumped the stone, but he stayed still. Alida lifted him a little farther, then moved him to the side.

“Even once you feel the roof beneath you,” she said as she set him down, “don't move before you look. You could fall back in.”

Gavin opened his eyes and lifted his head, just enough to see. Then he eased his way out from beneath the little roof.

Alida ducked out after him.

Gavin was standing up, looking at the forest, his eyes wide.

“Crouch,” she said. “Just in case a guard looks up.”

He sat down. “Magic,” he said softly, “is real.”

She nodded and smiled.

Then they both laughed—very quietly.

11

Standing on the ridge, on top of the giant's-tooth rock, Alida and Gavin could see the castle. They watched the guards gallop off down the road.

That evening they saw the guards come back, and Alida knew it was safe to travel.

Lord Dunraven had given up the search, at least for now.

John was happy to see them both when they came late that night to say good-bye. He gave Gavin a sack of fresh bread and loaned him the white mare again.

They waited for the moon to set.

Then Alida flew around the castle, listening. Besides the usual guards, no one was outside.

They led the mare quietly into the woods, and this time no one saw them leave.

All the way to Ash Grove, they hid in the daytime and traveled only at night.

Now and then Alida would spread her wings and fly straight up, to look around, to make sure no guards were on the road behind them.

When they got to Ruth's house, Molly was so happy she cried. She cooked an herbed stew for the humans. Ruth picked a dozen fresh roses and some sweet phlox for Alida.

“What will you do now?” Ruth asked while they ate supper. “You are welcome here, both of you.”

Alida thanked her. “But I can't stay. I don't want to bring trouble to the kindest people I know. And I really want to find my family.”

“The queen will be uneasy about all this,” Molly said quietly. “You must be careful.”

“The queen?” Alida asked.

“Your mother,” said Ruth. “She's the queen of the faeries.”

Alida blinked. “
My
mother is a queen?”

Molly nodded. “She must be. You know that all the stories say old Lord Dunraven forced the faeries, the unicorns, and the dragons out of his lands forever?”

Alida nodded, imagining how scared her family must have been.

“The guards rode through the forests day and night,” Molly told her. “They hunted the unicorns with arrows and spears and they harried the dragons in their cliffs so they couldn't hatch eggs and raise their young. But the faeries made a promise.”

Alida stared at Molly, already knowing what she was going to say.

“They gave up a faerie princess, to be kept safe in Dunraven's castle. But she would only be safe if
the faeries went away, and never spoke to another human being.”

Ruth was nodding. “No human has had a friend among the magic folk since then.”

“Except my grandson,” Molly whispered.

Alida glanced at Gavin. “Will you come with me to find my family?” she asked him.

He glanced at his grandmother. She nodded. “Yes, Princess Alida,” he said.

Alida made a face at him—and they all laughed.

As they cleaned up the kitchen, Gavin asked Ruth to return the white mare to John. She promised she would. And then there was nothing more to say.

Alida lay awake a long time before she slept.

Even so, she woke at dawn, scared and excited.

Everyone cried a little, hugging, saying good-bye. Then they just looked at one another without speaking for a moment.

Alida faced Gavin. “Are you ready?”

He nodded.

She pulled the feather-light shawl over her wings.

Then they started off, walking side by side away from Ash Grove—toward the wild lands.

 

The sun was rising.

It would be a warm, fine day.

Alida turned back to wave good-bye to Ruth Oakes and Gavin's grandmother.

They smiled at her, but Alida could tell they were worried. She was a little scared. She didn't want to leave Ruth's wonderful house near the town of Ash Grove. But she had no choice.

She glanced at Gavin.

He looked a little nervous too.

Alida was so grateful that he was coming with her.

They stopped at the edge of the woods and both waved one last time.

Then they walked into the trees.

The grayish light of dawn was even dimmer beneath the old oaks. The trees smelled like home to Alida. That made her so happy—and so sad—that she stopped and closed her eyes, breathing deeply.

When she opened them, Gavin was looking at her. “Do you know which way we should go?”

Alida shook her head. Gavin had thought Ruth might know where the faeries had gone when old Lord Dunraven made his law, but she didn't. No one did.

“We have to find the meadow I remember,” Alida said. “I'm hoping my mother left something there for me.”

Gavin lifted his eyebrows, but he didn't ask questions, and she was glad. She wasn't at all sure they would find anything in the meadow, and she had no idea what she would do if they didn't.

“Will you recognize the right place?” Gavin asked.

“Yes,” Alida said. She was sure of that, even though she hadn't seen it in a long, long time. She remembered her family's home very clearly.

There was a noisy stream that ran across one end of the meadow.

At the other end there was a huge egg-shaped rock.

And there were many old oak trees, perfect for faerie nests. Everyone had slept in the treetops. She and her older sister had snuggled together if the night was chilly. Terra had been patient with her, holding her hand when there was no moon and she was afraid of the dark. Terra was the eldest, so when their mother got old, she would become queen. Alida knew she would be kind and fair, like their mother.

Alida sighed. She missed her family so much. “I hope it isn't too far from Ash Grove,” she said, and turned to look at Gavin.

He nodded. “We'll just keep looking until we find it.”

Alida smiled at him.

They had both brought rolled-up blankets to keep them warm at night.

Alida's was magical—her mother had woven it before she was born.

Gavin's was warm and soft, a gift from his grandmother. And he had a flint and striker in his pocket in case they needed to make a fire.

He was carrying a cloth sack full of bread and cheese too.

Alida didn't have to bring anything to eat; she would be able to find proper faerie food—there were spring flowers everywhere.

Walking through the oak trees, Alida was very happy. The air was perfumed with dew and sunshine and spring. It was as beautiful as she remembered.

She was so excited.

She couldn't wait to find the meadow.

Many faerie families had lived there when she was little.

All the faerie children had played games and were taught magic. Alida had just begun to learn when Lord Dunraven took her away.

Alida sighed, remembering the faerie lights, the stars, and how the stream had chuckled and whispered. Oh, how she had missed that sound. Oh, how she longed to see her family. She had taught herself to fly, and she knew they would be proud of her.

But of course they wouldn't be living in the meadow anymore.

Old Lord Dunraven's law had changed everything.

Alida walked a little faster, staying ahead of Gavin.

She didn't want him to see how sad it made her to think about her home being empty. Once she had blinked away the tears, she glanced back at him.

“I wish Ruth Oakes and your grandmother had known where my family ended up.”

“I think it was probably part of the faeries' promise not to tell humans where they were going,” Gavin said.

Alida slowed until they were walking side by side. “Did your grandmother tell you that? Was it in the old stories?”

Gavin shook his head. “But it makes sense. If old Lord Dunraven wanted to keep people and faeries from being friends, he wouldn't want them living close.”

“And to make the faeries keep their promise, he took me away,” Alida said quietly.

Gavin nodded. “It must have been a terrible decision for your family.”

Alida felt a stirring in her heart.

Locked in the tower in Lord Dunraven's castle, she had often wondered why her parents never came to help her. But now she knew why. They had been forced to make a promise to old Lord Dunraven.

Alida glanced up at the trees.

Her mother had known that Lord Dunraven would not hurt her as long as the faeries kept their promise to stay away from humans.

And he hadn't.

No one had said a single harsh word to her.

But she had been locked in a stone tower.

It had been so lonely.

“Don't worry,” Gavin said.

She glanced at him. “Do I look worried?”

He nodded. “But John will keep his word. Lord Dunraven won't have any reason to suspect you are gone.”

Alida knew he was right.

But she had to be careful.

She could never be sure when they might come upon a human being.

And if anyone realized she was a faerie, not just a small girl, people would talk.

The news would spread.

And then Lord Dunraven's guards
would
come looking for her.

“Alida?”

She turned; Gavin was pointing at a narrow road that ran between the trees. Without saying a word, they both veered away from it.

And as they walked, Alida pulled her shawl higher, making sure it covered her wings.