Page 59 of Court of Shadows
Both armored creatures carried wooden spears, and the one on the left, whose hair was longer and braided in twisting ropes over one shoulder, pointed the tip of that spear at me.
“Who is this that rides a Sky Snake into our midst and brings a bloodied companion? Speak, strangers, or be food for the forest.” She did not need to shout, for the threat was more than enough. Her voice was husky, and her lip curled in anger.
“My name is Bennu,” I said, trembling. I carefully pulled the book from its satchel and heard both women gasp. “Mother sent me. I followed the signs over a great, great distance. Please, we have come from half a world away, do not forsake us now.”
“No! No... you are welcome here,” the same creature said, giving an impressively elegant bow despite her strange configuration. She nodded to her companion, who skittered back downinto the earth. She emerged a moment later with a trio of helpers, who looked much like me but for their entirely black eyes. “We will tend to your friend, and you will give us this precious gift—”
The three assistants took hold of Khent and carried him away before I could say anything. He gave me one last look, fevered and afraid, and I worried then that our tribulations were not yet at an end. As he was led away a commotion erupted below us, and soon a whole group of black-robed men and women arrived in the courtyard from below. Their faces were painted with elaborate designs and tattooed with green spirals. One stepped forward, an elderly man, and elbowed the spiderlike girl out of the way.
He smelled strongly of the woods, of pine and nettles, and when he smiled his teeth were dyed a hideous green. “It will be taken to Father at once. You will join us.”
“What is this? Get back to your swamp, Green Healer; the Mother’s very essence is in that thing and it will go to her priestesses first.”
She leveled the spear at him but he hacked up a laugh and pushed it away. “You have precious little power while she remains on papyrus,” he hissed. He spat when he talked, and his right eye twitched constantly, his round shape and pointed face reminding me of a tick. “Father will know what to do. He is, after all, eager to be reunited with his bride.”
I felt numb all over. Of course I knew the book wasirreplaceable, but to think it carried Mother herself? My relief at having safely brought her so far was swiftly extinguished. The Green Healer yanked the book out of my arms and stumbled back, not anticipating its weight. The other robed figures closed around him, and they all oozed as one back down into the fortress.
“This is an outrage,” the other spider guardian muttered. “We cannot allow it, Coszca! Mother will not be herself. She will not have her full strength until she is released.”
“I know, Cuica, I know. You.” The one who had pointed her spear at me, Coszca, pointed her weapon at me again and nodded toward the stairs. “Follow us. I do not trust those druids; their love is for Father and, I fear, for Father only.”
We rushed down the stone stairs, and I was relieved to find the passage lit all the way down with gouts of flame shooting up from gaps in the walls. The entirety of the fortress was painted with murals, most of them forest scenes, but some showed the Sky Snake and the half women, half spiders as they triumphed in battles. I gave the pictures little more than a glance, for the women were much faster than I, and used the walls as naturally as the stairs to travel down. A wider landing came into view, and off that a door that led into a shadowy place I could not yet see.
The women tore ahead, breaking through that archway. I heard them scream an instant later as I stumbled through the opening. The druids had been waiting there. They tossed massivenets over them and pelted them with stones. The women fought, trilling loud, beautiful cries as they thrust their spears again and again. More druids smothered me with their cloaks, picking me up and hoisting me away.
I did not see what became of the warrior women and could only hope they would be shown mercy for doing nothing but demonstrating loyalty to their Mother.
I, too, fought as the robed men and women forced me along an unseen path. The ground changed from stones to mud, and my feet sank deep, sucked down by the wet earth, the mud covering me up to my knees. I smelled the primeval oldness of the forest, the perfume of dense trees and rotting leaves, and then, finally, they released me and pulled their cloaks from my face.
Before me stood a tree. I could not describe it even if threatened with death, for it was both dead and living, black and yet unburned, flourishing with leaves except those leaves were like daggers dripping poison. The druids shoved the book I had carried for so long back into my arms, and I cradled it like a beloved child. Then the robed figures vanished, leaving me to tremble in that place alone.
And then they came.
They emerged from the tree like worms from the earth. More shadow than mass, they slithered out from between the groaning cracks in the trunk before making their way to the clearing. The roots of the tree were as thick around as horses, broad and gnarled, never touched by man and rarely even glimpsed by him.The creatures came out of those roots gradually at first, but as twilight dipped into evening, they arrived at a steadier pace, a slow drip that became a constant stream....
Father was real. Mother was real. It was all real. I reminded myself that I had no allegiance, that Mr. Morningside had been kind but that he had also lied, that the shepherd had been kind but he had also sent his cruel Adjudicators, and that Father had been generous with truth but equally generous with lies.
I had no allegiance, so why was it so difficult to choose the side that counted most: my side.
I needed more. More proof, more assurance that I was doing the right thing. It took no more than passing a note to Lee during lunch to set my plan in motion. He was not necessarily part of it, but I needed one last thing from him, a favor for me that I hoped would wind up being a favor for many. By then, it had gotten around that I had thwarted Sparrow, and that she had not shown her face since the humiliation of a spider popping out of my clothes and evading Judgment.
“Lass, that was pure art.” Chijioke had retold the story at least three different times over the meal. I laughed along, but only half-heartedly, knowing full well that this meal might be the last I shared with them. My heart ached to tell him thetruth about Mary, to relieve his worries that she had passed him over. He had been wooing my master deceiver of a father, not the shy, kind young woman we both liked so much. There would be time for that truth later. I did not plan to leave Coldthistle House alone. If Mr. Morningside actually kept his side of the bargain...
The thought of reuniting Chijioke and Mary was almost too pure, too good to entertain. And it was a vanishing possibility that still lay at the end of a long, long tunnel filled with spikes and traps and twists and angry gods.
“Just: wham! And a ruddy great spider flies out of your apron! Legendary.” Chijioke doubled over with laughter. Poppy could hardly breathe she found it all so funny. Even Bartholomew, awake for once, snuffled against the girl’s leg.
“Serves her right,” Mrs. Haylam said from the range. She was toasting a last bit of bread for herself, and then turned to the stew pot to fix herself a bowl. “Your powers of transformation have certainly grown leaps and bounds since your father’s arrival. It sounds like he’s taught you much.”
I could not read her tone, so I simply nodded and minded my food. “His presence has been most instructive.”
She glanced over her shoulder at me, staring for a long, long time. “The Court should finish its business this evening. I look forward to a bit more peace and quiet around here once they all pack up and go.”
“What about Mason and his father?” I asked. “Are theystaying with us much longer?”
“No, Mrs. Haylam says I should take care of them just as soon as Mary’s well,” Poppy said brightly. “That mean old Samuel Potts did bad, bad things to folks down in Few South Ales and it’s time he paid for it. Right, Mrs. Haylam?”
“New South Wales, Poppy. And yes. I will need to have a discussion or two with Mary, and then she will return to work as usual.”
