The Prince of Two Tribes (31 page)

“Run!” Delia cried. Turning on her heel, she followed her own advice.

She didn’t have a plan. She was just trying to get away. Harold, Dmitri, and Chester set off after her. They wound their way through the maze, walls of silk funnelling them along.

“Stop!” Kim’s voice called to them. “Guys, wait!”

They paid no attention. All of them were driven by a desire to be far away from this place as soon as possible. They were on the verge of panic.

Suddenly, a young girl stood in their path. She wore a hoodie and jeans. She was Human. One of them!

“Come,” the girl said urgently. “Hide in here.” She held open the flap of a tent and motioned them inside. Something about her inspired trust. Delia made a decision. She didn’t want to be caught. It was hard to think. Something was keeping her from concentrating.

“In here, guys,” the girl cried and led the boys into the tent. Delia ducked in after her.

Kim pelted around a corner to find the way empty. She had been gaining on the little group of interlopers. All she wanted to do was get them away from the Faerground and off the island before they were discovered. Now they were nowhere to be seen.

Puzzled, she stood in the alleyway between the tents, wondering how she could have missed them. Without any other options, she decided to retrace her steps. Slowly, listening hard, she jogged back toward the Faerground, passing the closed flap of the tent where the group was huddled, waiting for her to leave.

When they were confident Kim was gone, the group of Humans let out a collective sigh of relief. In the gloom of the tent’s interior they allowed themselves to relax.

“That was close,” Delia said.

“She almost caught us,” Harold added.

Dmitri frowned. “Would that have been so bad?” They all looked at him, confused. In response, he shrugged and continued. “I mean, why did we get so panicked? We just ran. Doesn’t that strike you as an odd thing to do? There was no reason to assume that Kim meant to hurt us.”

Harold thought about that. “Yeah, I guess that’s true. I just felt this total panic. I had to run.”

Delia realized they were right. “I don’t know.”

“Something made us do it,” Chester said heavily. “Or someone. Where is she?”

“Who?” Delia asked, confused.

“The girl,” Chester said. “The one who told us to hide here.”

“Uh … ” Delia couldn’t concentrate.

“Here I am!” came a playful voice from the gloom. A girl danced out into the light of the single lamp that hung from a tent pole. In the golden light, all pretense of Humanity was gone. As she came out of the shadows, she cast aside the hoodie. Beneath it she wore a ragged black dress, and her hair stood out in a wild tangle around her pale, childlike face. Her eyes had a mad gleam. She grinned, displaying glittering pointed teeth. “Who wants to play with me?”

Instinctively, the group backed toward the tent flap. They turned to flee but found the opening filled with the bulk of a tall, silver-haired man with cold grey eyes.

Chester stepped in front of the others and raised his hands in a defensive stance.

“Let us go,” he demanded.

The silver-haired man tilted his head to one side and stared at the boy as if considering the challenge, then said a single word.

“No.”

⁶⁰
 Most Humans see what they want to see, what is easiest to believe. We explain away the amazing by convincing ourselves that magical, bizarre, or impossible events have mundane causes. UFOs are weather disturbances. Ghosts are hallucinations brought on by indigestion. Faeries use our willingness to disbelieve our eyes to help their glamours work. Brendan, an untried Faerie with little control of his powers, seems to have left an unconscious suggestion in Chester’s mind that allowed Chester to see the Faerie world. Now Chester has transferred his power of Sight to his friends, not because he has any Faerie abilities himself, but because he has made them
want
to see. No amount of will can turn me into a cat, however. Believe me. I’ve tried. A lot.

⁶¹
 Indeed, it is not good, as we will soon discover.

PROVING

Delia! Always manages to be annoying. Now she’s annoying in two different worlds! I’ll kill her if somebody hasn’t already. So it was Harold and Dmitri who’d been spying on me, but Chester? How did he get involved? And how could my sister possibly stand dealing with my friends? She wouldn’t normally be caught dead with such nerds.

With effort, Brendan pushed the questions from his mind as he made his way through the crowd of silent Faeries. He had to have a clear head if he was going to succeed. The crowd watched him pass with watchful, appraising eyes. Here and there he saw someone he recognized.

Leonard stood with his massive arm around Saskia’s waist. He flashed his gold teeth in a smile and Saskia winked.

Og patted Brendan on the back, almost knocking him off his feet. “Good on ya, lad.”

BLT flitted out of the crowd. She didn’t speak. She merely tugged on his earlobe with both hands and zipped away.

Brendan was almost at the rock when Finbar reached out and took his arm. The old man pulled him close in a rough embrace. Brendan was surprised at this show of emotion. The Exile barely spoke to anyone. A hug was quite out of character.

“Good luck, lad,” the old Exile whispered in his ear. Finbar let him go and melted back into the crowd before Brendan could react.

Brendan’s eyes turned to Pûkh. The Lord of Tír na nÓg stood beside the rock, smiling enigmatically. Brendan didn’t return the smile, keeping his face as straight and determined as he could. This only seemed to tickle Pûkh more, broadening his grin. Brendan started forward again, covering the last few metres to the rock and stepping up beside Ariel. Ariel nodded, acknowledging his arrival.

“Brendan Morn.” Ariel spoke loud enough for all in the Faerground to hear. “You have been called forth to be Proven.” He turned to Pûkh, Kitsune, and Deirdre. “Who will judge Brendan Morn?”

Pûkh stepped forward and smiled his irritating cocky smile. “I will. Lord Pûkh of Tír na nÓg.”

Deirdre stepped up beside Pûkh and said, “I will judge him. Deirdre D’Anaan: Weaver and head of the Clan of D’Anaan.”

Kitsune Kai waved a hand dismissively, blowing a pink bubble and popping it loudly as she studied her nails. “Let’s get on with it.”

“Very well,” Ariel said gravely. “Let the Proving begin.”

Ariel stepped down from the rock, leaving Brendan feeling horribly exposed and alone. He looked out at the sea of faces and felt faint. They all had the same eager look in their eyes. Brendan imagined that this was what convicted criminals felt like when they stepped out onto the gallows. His eye was drawn to a flicker of movement at the edge of the crowd. He saw Kim returning. She met his gaze and shook her head, shrugging. Kim hadn’t managed to catch Delia and the others. Brendan supposed that was a good sign. Perhaps they were gone, out of reach of any reprisal. He had to hope that was true.

His aunt Deirdre handed her harp to one of the attendants and mounted the stone, graceful and sure despite the long gown she wore. Brendan mentally crossed his fingers that she might go easy on him. Then he remembered how she’d terrorized his dreams when he first found out about his true heritage. Brendan glumly braced himself for the worst.

Before she turned to face the throng awaiting her Challenge, her eyes met Brendan’s. His aunt always made him a little uncomfortable. She was a powerful personality, and he sensed that she had to work to keep hidden a strong current of emotion that flowed close to the surface. It made her hard to be around. Brendan had often interpreted this as disapproval or anger. Today, in her eyes, he saw that emotion clearly as deep, irrevocable sadness and loss. He longed to reach out to her, here in front of everyone.

She turned away and addressed the crowd in her clear, powerful voice.

“This Proving was never necessary in my mind. I know this is my sister’s son. He has her eyes, her smile, and most importantly, her kind spirit. Bir-Gidha lives in him. He is my only link to her. I merely wish to show you how I know.”

With that, she began to sing.
⁶²

Her song was light and plaintive, a lonely little melody that twisted around Brendan’s heart and tugged at it, trying to unravel it.

He couldn’t understand the words, if they were words at all. They were sounds, merely, nonsense but fraught with meaning. He found himself joining in.

Any fear of embarrassment was absent. He matched her note for note, instinctively following her lead and then soaring away on his own into harmonies that came as naturally as breathing.

At some point in their duet, Brendan reached over and grasped her hand. The connection crumbled his final reserve of self-consciousness. He sang with abandon now, lost in the ecstasy of the sound they were creating together. He had never felt so free. He closed his eyes and revelled in the glorious feeling of being alive and completely involved in this single moment.

He had no idea how long their song went on, but finally the melody wound down and dwindled into silence.

Brendan opened his eyes. The entire Faerie throng stared in wonder. There were tears on some faces. Kim had moved through the crowd and stood directly below him, her face shining.

Brendan turned to his aunt. She was smiling at him.

“This is my nephew, Brendan. He sings with his mother’s voice. I am satisfied.”

The crowd erupted into applause and wild cheering as she wrapped him in her arms. Brendan hugged her back, breathing in the lavender of her golden hair.

“I’m proud of you,” Deirdre whispered in his ear. “And she would be, too.”

Brendan felt an ache in his throat as he let Deirdre go. He’d never understood how painful it must have been for Deirdre to see him, the image of her lost sister, knowing that Brendan’s birth had taken her away. This was a proving for them both. He smiled at her and she returned the smile. With a final squeeze of Brendan’s hand, Aunt Deirdre stepped down.

And Kitsune Kai stepped forward.

Brendan had no idea how she managed to stay upright on her stylish shoes. Without the shoes, she would have stood well under five feet. Even with them, she had to crane her neck to look up at Brendan perched on the rock.

“Okay,” Kitsune said, planting her hands on her hips. “You want to prove to me that you are one of us? It won’t be easy!” She glared up at him, her dark eyes tinted pink by the lenses of her sunglasses. She seemed to be expecting an answer.

Brendan shrugged. “Okay.”

“Yeah, you’re right it’s okay! I say so. I am Kitsune Kai, the Number One Fox Spirit. I am going to test you. Are you ready, Brendan?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Kai narrowed her eyes. She snapped her elegant fingers. “Kappa! Fetch the tea!”

One of her bodyguards jogged forward carefully carrying a porcelain cup in his hands. The liquid inside steamed. The cup was filled almost to the brim. She accepted the tea and the Kappa bowed, retreating to join his fellow. She turned, holding the cup, and with a flick of her tiny feet that was almost too fast to see, she removed her shoes. They tumbled through the air into the hands of her Kappa servants.

“Tea?” she asked Brendan, holding the cup out to him.

Brendan shrugged. “I guess?”

“Do not guess!” she snapped. “Do you like tea or not?”

Puzzled, Brendan nodded his head. He took the cup. She bowed to him. He returned the bow.

“Okay,” she said. “Your test, Brendan, son of Briach and Bir-Gidha, is to hold the teacup and not spill a drop. Do you understand?”

“I think so, yes.”

She locked his eyes with her steady black gaze. For an instant, he could see how ancient this creature before him was. In her eyes was a feral flicker of hunger, a cold animal stare.

“Sounds easy, no?”

“If I’ve learned anything from becoming a Faerie, I’ve learned this: if it sounds easy, it will probably be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”

She smiled, revealing sharp, white teeth. “Ha! That’s good! You’re not as stupid as you look. Don’t spill a drop.” With that, she leapt at him with a wild scream. He clumsily ducked her attack and staggered backwards. He looked down at the cup and was relieved to see that it hadn’t spilled. Then he looked up in time to dodge a punch aimed at his nose.

Uh-oh!
Brendan cried in his mind, ducking as fast as he could. The punch went high and he felt the familiar sizzle in his blood as he forced his body into warp mode.

He held the cup in both hands and did his best to keep ahead of the wild Fox Spirit who was trying to smack him.

After half a minute, she hadn’t managed to land a blow.

Brendan was quite pleased with himself until he saw Kitsune Kai stop, stretch, and smile. “Okay. The warm-up

is over. Let’s begin in earnest.” She coiled her whole body like a panther about to spring.

“Crap.” Brendan gulped.

With a snarl, she launched herself at him again.

Fists and feet came at him with blinding speed. It was all he could do to avoid her flurry of blows. She held nothing back. Brendan had to warp faster than he ever had before or he was finished.

Come on! Come on!
he screamed in his mind.
You can do this!

Then he remembered what Charlie had suggested. He started to sing.

“Who taught you to live like that?”
he sang suddenly.
“Who taught you to live like that? Who taught you to live like that?”
It was a song by Sloan, one of his favourite bands.

“What are you doing?” Kitsune Kai frowned.

Brendan ignored her and concentrated on the lyrics, singing them in his head.

She came through inspections

Towards me in sections

The life disappeared from the room.

She asked me politely

May I put this lightly

The death that you thought was exhumed

It’s buried beneath us

Since I wrote the thesis

I think I know better than you.

He felt the fizz of the warp begin in his blood.