Tapping the Dream Tree (48 page)

“Yeah, and why?” Ruth added.

“You're to be hostages, nothing more.”

Ruth shook her head. “You don't want to mess with us,” she said. “We've got a big brother, you know, and he's killed thirteen giants.”

“No, you don't,” the bee man said.

“Yes, we do,” Grace said. “He's tall and fierce and he eats bees like candy. Eats them by the handful.”

“He eats bee sandwiches,” Ruth added. “And bee soup.”

“Bee stew and deep fried bees.”

“And he loves fat little bee men best of all.”

“You don't have a brother,” the bee man said. “Why would you pretend that you do?”

“Why are we supposed to be your hostages?” Grace asked.

“Yeah,” Ruth said. “And what are we being hostaged for?”

“I don't think that's a word,” Grace said.

“He knows what I mean.”

“Your sister has the ‘sangman prince,” the bee man said, “and we need something to trade to her for him.”

“So trade yourself.”

“Or some of your bees,” Grace added.

“And,” the bee man went on, “if we didn't take you, the ‘sangmen would. So you're actually safer with us.”

“What are these ‘sangmen?” Ruth asked. “Are they like the weird little guy that grabbed our sisters just now?”

The bee man nodded. “They're evil, rooty creatures.”

“While you're just a bundle of sunshine and joy,” Grace said.

“At least we don't take children of the light and put them in a dark hole.”

“I think you're making this all up,” Ruth said. “I think the two of you are in cahoots. You and this sing-song man.”

“‘Sangman.”

“Don't you start correcting me,” Ruth told him. “You're not family.”

“You're in danger,” the bee man tried.

“Oh, right. Like we need to be protected from these sing-song men.”

“Whatever they think they are,” Grace put in.

“When what we really need is to be protected from you and your little buzzy friends.”

“I think we should bop him with a stone and take our chances,” Grace said.

“They've already stolen two of you,” the bee man said, “and put a glamour on your sister so that she thinks she needs to help them.”

“Which sister?” Ruth asked.

“Probably Els—”

Grace was cut off by the jab of Ruth's elbow in her side.

“Remember in the war movies,” Ruth said. “Name, rank and serial number. That's all we're supposed to give the enemy.”

Grace nodded and looked at the bee man.

“I'm Grace, daughter number six,” she said.

Ruth shook her head. “You just love to rub in that you were born one minute earlier, don't you?”

“I'm not your enemy,” the bee man said. “Please believe me.”

“At least he's polite,” Ruth said. “For a kidnapper and all.”

“If you'll just come with me, the queen will explain everything.”

“Oh, now he's got a queen,” Grace said.

“Well, he is a bee man. I wonder what it's like to live in a hive?”

“Very noisy, I'd say.”

“That's enough!” the bee man cried. “I don't know why I had to get picked for this stupid job, but I'm finishing it now.”

He made a few odd movements with his hands and the bees swept in over the girls, covering their faces, necks and arms, leaving circles around their eyes and mouths.

“Don't move!” he warned them. “Don't even breathe, or my little cousins will give you a thousand stings and you'll like that even less than being captured.”

Ruth stared at the bees covering her hands and then gasped. Riding each bee was a miniature version of the bee man who stood in front of them, each with a bow and a notched arrow. She turned her gaze to meet Grace's. They didn't have to speak. They each dropped the stone they were holding.

“That's better,” the bee man said. “Now follow me.”

He made another odd movement with his hands and the air began to shimmer, just as it had when the ‘sangman had stolen away the older twins.

“I think we're in real trouble now,” Grace said.

Ruth wanted to nod, but she was too scared to move in any way except for how the bee man told them to.

“We should have left a note for Mama,” she said.

Then she and Grace followed the bee man into the shimmering air and the world they knew was gone.

Deeper in the woods and higher up in the hills, there was no opportunity for Adie and Elsie to have any sort of a discussion with their captors. The bee man who had captured the younger twins was only a scout, and a reluctant one at that, happier to go about his own business without having to be involved in the various politics and machinations of the fairy court. The sooner he could be done with his duty and go back to his normal solitary ways, the better. Still, he wasn't mean, or even unfriendly, so he'd been willing to put up with a certain amount of the twins' comments and complaints before putting his foot down.

But Adie and Elsie had been captured by the main fairy court, led by a queen who had neither the interest nor patience for dialogue with her captives. As soon as Adie started to ask a question, the queen waved a long thin hand in her direction.

“Gag her,” she said. “Gag them both and bind their wrists.”

Footmen ran from behind the horses to immediately carry out her orders, carrying strips of cloth and ropes. Adie called out to the queen before they reached her and Elsie.

“Please,” she said. “We'll be quiet. Don't gag us.”

The queen studied her for a long moment, then gave a brisk nod.

“No gags,” she told the footmen. “But bind their wrists and if they speak out of turn again, gag them.”

Adie had a hundred things she wanted to know, but she kept quiet and held out her hands in front of her so that the footmen could tie them together, hoping that they wouldn't insist on tying them behind her back. This way, she'd feel more balanced and less likely to fall flat on her face on the uneven ground if they had a long march ahead of them. Happily, Elsie followed her lead and the footmen made quick work of their job.

The ropes the footmen used to bind their wrists seemed to be made from braided grasses, but they were no less strong for that. The sisters were led off under one of the big beech trees above Aunt Lillian's homestead, where they were kept under guard. The two girls sat down with their backs against the tree, leaning against each other as they listened to the conversation coming from where the queen and her court sat on their horses.

“Is there word on the girl yet?” the queen was saying. “The sooner we trade these sisters of hers for that wretched ‘sangman, the happier I'll be.”

“Not yet, madam,” one of the other riders replied.

Before he could go on, a footman came running up.

“The ‘sangmen have the older twins,” he reported.

“Will she choose between the sisters?” the queen asked. “Does she fancy any above the others?”

“There's no way of telling.”

“What about the younger twins?”

“We have scouts looking for them.”

Elsie leaned closer to Adie, her mouth near her older sister's ear.

“Who are they talking about?” she asked, her voice quieter that a breath.

Adie shrugged. She cast a glance to their nearest captors. When she saw they weren't paying that close attention to them, she whispered in Elsie's ear.

“I don't know,” she said. “But it's beginning to sound like Janey's got us all caught up in something we have no business being mixed up in.”

“Do you know what ‘sangmen are?”

“Haven't a clue. But I'd guess they have something to with ‘sang.”

“And Janey was going out to harvest some yesterday.”

Adie gave a grim nod. “And it sounds as though these ‘sangmen—whatever they are—have Laurel and Bess.”

“What did she mean about choosing between sisters?”

“I guess they were hoping to trade us for someone Janey has, but now things have gotten complicated because the other side has the twins to trade.”

“I don't get any of this. Janey would never hurt anyone, never mind capture someone the way these people have got us.”

“I really don't think they're people,” Adie said.

Elsie sighed. “I was afraid you'd say something like that.”

They broke off when the queen glanced in their direction. Adie returned her glare with an innocent look and the queen's attention turned away from her once more.

“Look,” Elsie whispered.

She nodded with her head to the apple tree that Root was still guarding. The fairies' dogs had formed a half-circle around him, effectively penning him in. But Root paid no attention to them. His gaze stayed fixed on the tree in front of him like there wasn't a fairy court behind him.

Oh, why didn't you run off, Adie thought. You'll be no match for that many dogs and who knows what magical powers they have.

But oddly enough, the fairy dogs showed no inclination of doing more than keeping Root penned up against the apple tree. Adie wondered why. Perhaps it was only because the fairy queen hadn't given the order for them to attack yet. Then she returned her attention to the conversation of the queen and her courtiers and the answer came.

“Has
anyone
tracked down the girl yet?” the queen was asking.

There was a moment of silence before one of her court replied.

“No, madam. We only know she's with the Apple Tree Man, but we can't reach them because the dog's barring the way through Applejack's door and no one knows where it opens on the other side.”

“Then remove the dog.”

That command drew another silence. Apparently, Adie realized, no one liked to deliver bad news to their cranky queen.

“We can't,” one of the riders said. “It won't meet our gaze.”

Adie and Elsie exchanged glances.

“Does that mean what I think it does?” Elsie whispered.

Adie shrugged. She wasn't sure, but what it seemed the fairies were saying was that you had to acknowledge their presence before they could interact with you. So maybe if they just concentrated on not believing the fairy court was here …

Before she could go any further with that, she was distracted by what what the queen was now saying.

“This should have been over long ago,” the fairy queen complained. “We should have had a dead ‘sangman by now and moved on to other matters.”

“But the princess … your daughter. The ‘sangmen still have her.”

“She's no longer my daughter,” the queen said. “Not after she's soiled herself by loving a ‘sangman. Let her live in the dirt with them and see how she likes it.”

Now that was harsh, Adie thought. She could remember when she was a little girl, reading fairy tales and watching Disney movies, how desperately she'd wanted to meet a fairy. She'd grown out of that, of course, unlike Janey, but she was happy now that she hadn't gotten her wish back then. And would have been happier still not to be experiencing this now. The fairy queen was too much like an evil stepmother. But she supposed that was what was to be expected, considering the kind of folklore that was prevalent in these hills. Many of Aunt Lillian's stories were downright gruesome.

She frowned, wishing she hadn't started this train of thought.

Elsie pressed against her and whispered, “I think we should try to follow Root's lead and, I don't know, disbelieve in these horrible people.”

It was worth a try, Adie supposed. Though she could see it would be hard. Root might be able to focus entirely on one thing, but he was a dog and what did he know? Dogs already had a one-track mind. But she and Elsie had bound wrists to contend with. Noisy captors, jingling bridles.

She was about to close her eyes and give it a try, but the chance was gone.

A new commotion hubbubbed on the far side of the fairy court. Adie craned her neck to see what was happening and her heart sank. Their arms and faces might be covered in bees but she had no trouble recognizing that it was Grace and Ruth who were under all those buzzing insects.

“This just gets worse and worse,” Elsie said from beside her. Adie gave a slow nod.

Laurel found herself wishing that she hadn't ignored Bess's common sense and simply left well enough alone. In fact, what she really wished was that they were back in the garden, doing their chores like they'd promised Mama they would. Even doing chores was way better than being here.

It was dark and damp in the place the little man had brought them. Underground, she assumed, since the floor was dirt, as were the walls. She hadn't been able to reach up far enough to touch the ceiling.

“Don't fret,” the little tree man had said before leaving. “You won't be here long.”

Easy enough for him to say.

She felt around in the dark until her fingers touched the sleeve of Bess's shirt.

“I'm sorry I didn't listen to you,” she said.

“That's okay.” Bess found Laurel's hand and gave it a squeeze. “I mean it's not okay being here, but it wasn't your fault.”

“If I hadn't been so greedy with that contest business—”

“He would have just found some other way to get us here.”

“But still…”

“Still, nothing,” Bess said. “There was some kind of magic spell in that music of his. It made my head go all fuzzy and probably did the same to you.”

Laurel thought about that. She did feel clearheaded, more so than she had in hours.

“What do you think they're going to do to us?” she asked.

“I'm trying not to think about it,” Bess said.

“I wish I'd stuck some of that garlic from the garden in my pocket. Or maybe we could make a cross.”