The Immortal Realm (9 page)

Tania could hardly take this in. The King was only allowing her a day and a half to make a decision that would change the rest of her life.

For a moment she thought she was going to faint. If she had not felt Rathina's hand tight in hers, she could easily have collapsed onto the glass floor.

“Do you accept my doom?” she heard Oberon asking.

She gazed at him, her brain refusing to work.

“I will vouch for her,” said Eden, looking at Tania with pity and understanding. “She will not disobey.”

“Then are all in agreement?” Oberon asked.

Tania was vaguely aware of voices saying aye.

“The closing of the ways between the worlds will save this Realm from further harm,” she heard Aldritch say. “So let us turn now our thoughts to the coming of the Healer, for I deem that none other can hope to find a cure for the plague.”

“Who is this man?” asked Titania. “You say his name is Hollin and that he has followers—but whence comes he, and what is the wellspring of his skills?”

“Aye,” added Eden, frowning at Lord Aldritch. “I would know that, too. My sister the Princess Hopie is the greatest Healer in all of Faerie—and yet, my lord, you tell us that this Hollin can outdo her in her own craft? How is that so?”

“He is not a native of this land,” said Aldritch. “He came to Weir from Alba—from across the Western Ocean.” He looked at Titania. “As you did yourself, in glad times long past, your grace.”

Tania stared at her mother. She gasped. “You're not from Faerie? You never
said
—”

“It was not kept from you as a secret, Tania,” said the Queen. “I was born in Alba, and I came to Faerie as a young woman, following a prophecy that was made at my cradle.” She turned to Aldritch. “But I do not recall that there were any Healers in the land of my birth to outrival Princess Hopie, my lord.”

Aldritch straightened his back, his eyes proud as he looked at the Queen. “If Hollin proves inadequate to the task, then may the curse of the plague fall upon me and all my House, your grace,” he declared. “I know of
Master Hollin only that he has great healing powers—powers that I have witnessed with my own eyes.” He glanced around the chamber, his voice cold and angry. “But if any doubt me, then shall I gladly quit this palace and return to my own Earldom with Master Hollin in my train.”

“Peace, Lord Aldritch. We do not doubt you,” said Oberon. “But let us hope that this man is all that you say he is. When is he expected?”

“He comes by sea and will make landfall here at first light tomorrow.”

“Then all is decided,” said Oberon. “We shall arrange that the Healer from Weir receives a goodly welcome on tomorrow's early morn.” He turned his gaze on Tania. “In the meantime you must go, daughter, and give thought to your future. We shall meet here tomorrow eve to hear your words and thus to welcome you forever to this Realm, or if you so choose, to bid you a final, sad farewell.”

 

“Who am I, Rathina? I mean, really—tell me: Who am I?”

Tania was sitting at the top of a broad set of marble steps, her chin propped on her arms and her elbows resting on her up-drawn knees.

She and Rathina were alone in a wide, terraced garden that lay within the walls of the palace. It backed onto tall crystal towers and stepped down in gentle grassy gradients to a low balustrade that stretched in a
curve along the cliff edge. Gravel paths wound between the clipped lawns, and in pots and stone troughs grew yellow and blue flowers and tall fountains of red and golden grasses. Every stone surface in the garden was encrusted with elegant designs fashioned from seashells—from scallop shells as large as Tania's open hand to cockleshells and mussels, and green limpets and yellow nerites, and tiny blue periwinkles no bigger than a child's fingernail.

Rathina was sitting on the polished top of the balustrade, picking pieces of dove gray gravel from her hand and idly tossing them down the cliff face into the sea. She looked at Tania through a veil of windblown hair. “You are my sister,” she said with a slight shrug. “What else would you have me say?”

Clusters of hanging crystal tubes chimed together in the breeze, filling the air with a gentle bell-like music.

“I am so sick of feeling torn apart,” Tania said heavily. And that was not the worst of it; she ached for Edric. It was so hard to make this impossible choice without him, and yet she had seen nothing of him since he had left Cordelia's chamber yesterday. She had no idea where he was or what he might be doing.

The love of her Faerie parents and of her sisters meant an enormous amount to her—but their love was a comfort that came from outside. It had always felt as though somehow Edric's love warmed her from deep within.

She remembered something he had said to her once: that home for him was wherever
she
chose to be. She lifted her fingers to the black onyx pendant that he had given her. It hung from a necklace woven from the hairs of a unicorn's mane, slender as light, finer than silk. A token of his love—of his undying love, he had said.

So where's that love now, Edric?

If she chose to live in the Mortal World, would he still want to be with her? Would he take her hand and be led into permanent exile? Did she even want him to make such a sacrifice?

Tania had tried to explain details of her old life in the Mortal World to her sisters. She had hosted show-and-tell sessions with them—bringing things through from the Mortal World to intrigue and amaze them. And she had tried to explain other stuff like movies and recorded music and iPods and the Internet. Airplanes, cars, trains, skyscrapers.

Sancha and Cordelia and Zara had been to London, so they understood some of these things, but Rathina found everything about the Mortal World strange and compelling. Tania could still remember Rathina sitting on her bed in the Royal Palace, turning Tania's debit card over and over, trying to grasp its purpose.

Tania walked to the balustrade and leaned against it, turning to gaze up over the garden. She spotted a shell picture that she had not noticed before. It was of a small unicorn trotting along with periwinkle shells
hanging from its silvery horn.

“Percival…” she murmured. “My pet unicorn, Percival, is buried there.”

Rathina stiffened at her side. “You remember him?”

Tania nodded. “I read about him in my Soul Book.”

“Ahh.” Rathina sounded disappointed.

“No, you don't understand,” said Tania, excitement growing in her. “I read some stuff about walking along the beach with him when I was young—but I never read anything about what happened to him.” She looked at Rathina. “I never read that he died and was buried here.”

“What did he die of, Tania?” Rathina's voice was urgent. “Think now.”

Tania struggled to beat down the locked doors in her mind. “No,” she gasped. “I don't remember.”

“Southern unicorns only live for three years,” Rathina said.

“He died of old age—of natural causes,” Tania blurted. “I cried for days and days.” She began to speak ever more rapidly. “And…and Hopie said I should be given another unicorn to take his place, but Mother said no—because they live such a short time and she couldn't bear to see me so unhappy again.” She turned to her sister, her eyes wide. “Rathina—I remember all that. It came to me out of nowhere. I
remember
!”

“What else?” urged Rathina. “Do you remember that song we used to sing, ‘The Ballad of Perfect Love'? You would play the lute and Zara would play the
spinetta and we all would sing.”

She began to sing a simple melody.

The words of the next verse flooded Tania's mind and she joined in.

Rathina jumped from the balustrade. “Your memories are returning at last, praise the good spirits!” she cried.

But Tania shook her head. “They're still only bits and pieces,” she said. “Just…
scraps
. It's no different than before. I remembered a song the very first time I was here—I sang it with Zara—but there was nothing else.”

“Yet every new memory adds a thread to the tapestry of your past,” Rathina said. “Have patience, Tania; you shall come back to us.”

Tania looked at her. “But that just makes it harder,” she said. “The more I remember of my life here, the harder it is to decide what to do.”

“Do not attempt to decide alone, Tania. There are many here who love you, who would help you with the burden you must bear.”

Tania gave a bleak smile. “Yes, I know—and I know what most of them would say: They'd tell me to stay here in Faerie.”

“Is that such bad counsel?” Rathina asked softly.

“Ask my mum and dad back in London that question,” Tania said.

Rathina frowned deeply but said no more.

Tania gripped her hand. “I need to be on my own for a bit,” she said. “Is that okay?”

Rathina nodded. “It is. Go. Think. Decide.” Rathina's fingers wrapped firmly around Tania's. “But remember what I asked of you, sweet sister: If you choose to go to the Mortal World, take me with you.”

“Yes,” Tania said quickly. “Yes—if that's what you really want, of course I will.” She didn't share her other thought.
But if you think that going to the Mortal World will help you to outrun your bad memories, then you're going to be disappointed.
Tania ran up the broad steps and pushed through the door that led back into the palace. Crystal chandeliers chimed in the breeze as she closed the door behind herself.

“Tania.”

She spun around. Edric was standing against the wall behind her.

“Oh! You startled me!”

He didn't smile. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Waiting to catch you on your own. You didn't see me, but I was in an anteroom close to the earls' chamber when you”—now he almost smiled—“when you made your grand entrance. You made quite an impression. I heard it all.”

“So you know what's going on.”

“Yes. I know what's going on.”

Her mouth twisted. “Any helpful suggestions?”

“Remember that Sunday afternoon when we watched
The Wizard of Oz
? What was it Dorothy said? ‘There's no place like home.'” His eyes widened. “Close your eyes and click your heels three times. What do you long for? Faerie or London?”

There was a pause, and Tania suddenly had the horrible sensation that Edric was moving away from her, that a gulf was opening between them—that if she didn't do something immediately, he would be forever out of her reach.

“You,” she whispered. “I long for
you
.”

A look came over his face: a fusing, she thought, of love and desire and sadness and loss.

She ran into his arms and buried her face in his shoulder, her arms tight around him. “I'm sorry,” she gasped. “I'm so sorry. Please—Edric—help me, please.
Tell me what to do. I can't stand it anymore.” The words came pouring out of her, and it was almost as if she was listening to someone else speaking. “I'll do anything you want. I don't care anymore. I'll marry you if you still want me to. Let's do that right now. Let's get married and go right away from here—somewhere all on our own. Let's forget
everyone
.” She lifted her head and looked into his face, so close that she could feel his breath on her skin, see her smoky reflection in his chestnut brown eyes.

“You don't mean that,” he said gently. “The thing about getting married and running away. You don't really mean that.”

“Don't I?” She blinked tears away, squeezing him fiercely in her arms till she heard him gasp for breath. “I'm sorry I hurt you. I love you
so
much.” She looked deep into his eyes.

He didn't reply. She pulled away from him, looking searchingly into his face.

“Edric? Are we okay?” she asked.

He swallowed. “There's something I have to tell you,” he said.

“That sounds ominous,” she said uneasily. “It can't be that you don't love me anymore. Rathina told me all about falling in love here. Once you're in love, you're stuck with it. So you're pretty much stuck loving me, Edric—no way out of that one!”

“Tania—stop!” he said.

“No, no, you're going to tell me something unbearable. I know you are.”

The Queen and Hopie and Sancha all have the plague.

Oberon is too exhausted to keep the Gildensleep working; everyone is going to die.

“I have to leave here,” Edric said.

This was so unexpected that for a few moments Tania just stared at him. “What do you mean?
Leave
here? Leave for where?”

“For Weir, for Caer Liel.”

“What do you want to go there for?”

“Lord Aldritch has called me into his service,” Edric said. “I am to return to Caer Liel with him when the business of Conclave is finished.”

Tania stared at him in disbelief. “And you decided this
when
?”