I need to reach Dad. Elia has been taken by goblins. He needs to bring the elves.
"Hurry, Keelie. I think I know where she is," Sean said.
She followed him down the street. Hundreds of muddy paw prints marred the sidewalks. She had never been so relieved to see anyone in her life as she was to see Elia with Ermentrude.
She ran to Elia and hugged her. "I"m so glad you"re safe."
Elia hugged back, pressing her teary face into Keelie"s shoulder. "Me, too. I was so scared for my baby, especially after what he said."
Ermentrude handed Elia a handkerchief embroidered with dragons.
"I know," Keelie said.
Elia pulled away from her. "Knot and Coyote guided me out of there, and the cats and crows came around and attacked the goblins. We got away, but some found us, but when they saw Ermentrude they ran."
Knot and Coyote grinned at Keelie.
"Good job, guys." She nodded toward the dragon. "Thank you."
Ermentrude shrugged. "I"m a mother myself. I understand these things. Mess with a baby, you mess with me."
Keelie looked up at the black ribbons flying from the maypole, where the goblins had been dancing. The place was filled with negative magic.
She closed her eyes, concentrating on the current of energy beneath them, and found it-tainted with dark magic, oily with evil. She touched the wood of the maypole, and to her surprise discovered the same essence she"d detected in the Under-the-Hill grove. It had the same telepathic imprint.
"We need to leave," Ermentrude said in an urgent tone, looking around nervously. "I"ve sensed this darkness before."
"Ow! That hurts," Sean yelled as Keelie pulled out the last small shard of gla.s.s with tweezers from the side of his face. They were back at the No-Tell Motel, which had a charred wing but was still habitable. Their new rooms were smoky, but it was actually an improvement.
Elia was asleep in a different room, guarded by Coyote and Knot. An army of cats patrolled the motel, along with additional Dread Forest jousters and Northwoods elves. Ermentrude had given them orders to let her know if they saw any goblins.
The dragon dug through her huge purse and pulled out a tin of salve. "My very own creation. I make a batch every hundred years. I use crushed fire blooms, which grow at the base of an internal volcanic pool. It"s highly prized among the dwarves."
It was hard to concentrate on Ermentrude or think about Elia. Sean was shirtless, and Keelie wanted to run her hands down his chest and over his chiseled abs. His skin was warm, and she wanted to press her body against his.
"Keelie? Keelie!" Ermentrude"s voice rose.
"What?" She forced herself to look at the dragon, who gave her the pot of salve. "Thank you." She looked at the little pot"s label. The letters were written in a scratchy calligraphy, but she knew what they said. Fire Bloom Salve.
"Can you read that?" she asked Sean.
"No. Can you?"
"Yes."
"I don"t understand how you can read that. It looks like code to me. Runes, maybe?"
"You drank the tea Herne gave you. It enhanced your fairy abilities," Ermentrude said.
"Herne again." Sean snorted. He reached out and pulled Keelie closer to him, as if the very act would shield her from the nature G.o.d.
Keelie pushed him away, but he reached out for her hand and squeezed it. "Is it a permanent change?" he asked, staring at her. "Is it to make her more like him? More like a dark fae?"
Keelie didn"t look away from Sean, but she"d had the same thought.
Ermentrude returned to the lumpy chair in the motel room. "Due to the fairy blood flowing through a matriarchal lineage, the answer is yes. But the tea wasn"t bad for her. It just makes her magic work more efficiently."
"I still don"t like it," Sean said.
Ermentrude sniffed. "Of course not, but you"re going to have to accept the fairy magic within Keelie because it"s part of who she is, and you certainly do like the rest of the package."
"It"s always wise to listen to the words of a dragon." Sean quirked an eyebrow. "Practical advice."
"How do you know that? Ermentrude is the only dragon you know, and you just met her." Keelie tried to open the salve, but the lid seemed to be welded closed.
"Sean"s grandfather is well-known among the dragons, Keelie," Ermentrude said. "He defeated a mighty tyrant and has our grat.i.tude."
Sean shrugged. "It"s family lore."
Keelie wondered what else Sean had never told her. It must be an elf-guy thing, because she"d uncovered a lot of her own history when she visited her father"s house in the Dread Forest for the first time.
"I"m going to check on Elia. Make sure the cats and elves are keeping guard." Ermentrude shoved her bag onto her shoulder.
Keelie wrenched the tin of salve open and scooped up a glob of the medicinal-smelling stuff. "You said you wanted us to be honest, but you never bothered to tell me about dragons." She rubbed the salve on Sean"s shoulder where a goblin had stabbed him.
Sean jumped. "Easy."
"Sorry." She"d applied it a little more roughly than she"d meant to do.
"That"s okay. I think it"s helping." He moved his shoulder. "My grandfather battled an evil dragon named Avenir and put him into an enchanted sleep, not far from here. Avenir had hurt hundreds of humans."
"How near here?" Keelie felt a tingle in her neck, which didn"t stop until it hit her tailbone. "Wait a minute. Your grandfather didn"t kill the dragon? Could Avenir be awakened from his enchanted sleep?"
"Not that I know of." Sean shook his head. "It was hundreds of years ago. And I don"t know exactly where it happened. Under a mountain, according to our family lore."
She absentmindedly rubbed some more salve, gently, on Sean"s wound. Amazingly, the wound began to heal before her very eyes.
"Wow. Ermentrude was right, this stuff works. No wonder the dwarves want it." Keelie ran her hand over Sean"s shoulder and down his chest. He lifted her face until she was level with his gaze. His green eyes burned, intense.
"I"ve thought about what you said, about Herne saying you would live as long as me." Sean lips were close to hers. "I know this has been one of the things that has kept you from wanting to take our relationship further."
He wrapped his hand around her neck and brought her face closer to his.
"Yes," she said.
"Good." Sean kissed her, and frissons of delight traveled through Keelie"s body. She realized she"d been afraid to enjoy her relationship with Sean, but not anymore. She leaned against him and deepened the kiss.
When their lips gently parted, he pushed her back against the wall and pressed his body against hers. Resting his forehead against hers, he said, "I think your father will probably hear about us being in a motel room alone."
Keelie laughed. "And you"re half-dressed, Lord Sean o" the Wood."
"You"ve seen me like this before, in the smithy." Sean"s hand rested on her backside.
"Yeah, well, we weren"t alone there."
The door opened and Knot and Coyote marched into the room. Knot"s cat jaw dropped, and Coyote snickered.
"I think our moment is over," Sean said.
Knot glared at Sean, and a low growl rumbled from his throat.
"You"re right," Keelie said. She leaned close to him. "But we can meet later."
"We will." Sean kissed her lightly on the lips. Knot fell over onto his side and placed his paws over his eyes.
Sean shrugged into his shirt. "I"ll go and help Bromliel. The goblins could still be in the area, and we"re trying to pick up their trail."
Keelie nodded. "I think I"m going to work on some notes. I want to write it all down while it"s fresh in my mind. Dad wants to know more about the Under-the-Hill forest."
Sitting down at the motel-room desk, Keelie drew a sketch of the forest and made notes on the page about the differences in the trees in the grove. She sketched the mountain, too. Ermentrude had said that somewhere underneath the mountain was a volcanic pool that was bubbling through the rift. Perhaps the way the Under-the-Hill trees gathered energy to live was widening the rift.
Or not.
Earth magic, quicksilver, and fairy magic ... all were used in the areas where goblins had been seen. Keelie couldn"t see how the dots connected, but it was there. She leaned her head into her hand.
Peascod had killed Linsa when she"d discovered he was forming a goblin army. Vania needed to know the truth about her sister"s death. If the truth was revealed, then maybe Herne and Vania would work together to help seal the rift. Not that Vania would believe them. They needed to capture Peascod and force him to tell Vania what he had done. Keelie sighed, frustrated.
Knot rubbed against her legs, warm and furry. She reached down to rub his head, but he swatted at her. She pushed him away with her foot and he purred, an old game of theirs.
Keelie looked at her drawing again. She didn"t have all the pieces to the puzzle, but maybe others had some answers. It was time for everyone to put their cards on the table.
That evening, Elia and Ermentrude brought their suppers to Keelie"s room-cold sandwiches and warm cola. Miszrial, on guard duty, joined them, oblivious to the "go away" vibes the others were sending her.
Keelie ate the unappetizing meal with them, thinking that it still was better than the twigs-and-mushroom steak the Grey Mantle elves had served.
"I still find it strange that humans could use magic," Elia said. "At the Ren Faires, humans think that every trick is magic. Are you sure they were actually accessing the rift?"
"You saw what was going on in Big Nugget before the goblins came." Keelie took another eye-watering sip of cola. "Kids floating through the air, people with wings. We didn"t get to stick around to see it all, but it was the real thing."
"Dariel said the spirit world"s gate might come down, too." Elia shuddered.
Ermentrude nodded. "I"m afraid it"s true. When the rift first opened, I had the ghost of a dwarf take up residence in one of my treasure chests. Claimed the gold was his. He"s still there. Sings all the time. Drives me crazy."
"So you knew there was going to be a problem with the dead, and you didn"t tell me." Keelie stared wide-eyed at Ermentrude. "Everyone"s keeping information to themselves around here."
"I didn"t know if it was the one ghost or if we were going to have a problem with a crop of them." The dragon woman smiled. "I really could use a smoke, but I"m not going to light up around Preggers. If you ladies will excuse me, I"ll be right back."
Once Ermentrude left, Miszrial turned to Keelie. "I can talk to the other elves and try and convince them to listen to you, but Terciel has convinced the others that you"re behind the problems, especially after Herne"s proclamation that you are his consort."
"Herne is still part of the solution. I need for you to convince them of that, and to meet with the fairies and the dwarves. I"ve been looking at everything I"ve learned so far"-she gestured toward her notes-"and there are a lot of holes in the story."
"You ask for a lot, Keliel Heartwood." Miszrial glared.
"We"re all united by one common purpose: to seal the rift," Keelie said.
"Except Herne has goblins in his realm," Miszrial said. "How can I guarantee my people you"re not bringing them to attack us? Terciel is not the only one to question your alliance with the Green Man, and the fact that you"re part fairy yourself."
Keelie felt insulted. "I was asked here for that very reason. And if I was allied with goblins, then we wouldn"t be sitting here."
"Yes," Elia said. "The Grey Mantle elves were the ones who sent for us, so I suggest you tell the Council that the fairies, the dwarves, and whatever else needs to show up is coming, and they should get over their snitty att.i.tudes and work for the common good."
Pregnancy had turned Elia into a warrior elf.
Miszrial"s eyebrows rose. "I will go and talk to my people, and I will contact you as to their decision."
A weak answer, but it was a start. Keelie nodded and watched Elia walk the elf woman the short distance to the door, then close it behind her.
Two cats had jumped inside while the door was open and now twined around Elia"s legs, rubbing their heads against her.
"Why are you attracting all these animals?" Keelie asked.
"Yeow child calls them," Knot said.
Elia looked horrified and shrank against the mildewed wall, warrior elf no more. "I"m going to find Dariel. Maybe he can make sense of this."
Keelie looked up from the drawing on the table. "Don"t go alone."
"The guards are right outside. One of them will walk with me." Elia slipped out quickly, as if she couldn"t wait to get away from Knot"s explanation.
Moments later, the door banged open and Fala and Salaca entered. The cats hissed and scooted out the door.
"h.e.l.lo, Keliel." Fala picked up the dragon magic book and thumbed through it. Salaca skipped the greeting and was scanning the map on the table.
"Nice manners," Keelie said, outraged as well as shocked to see them. She stormed over. "How dare you go through my stuffy"
"Dragon magic?" Fala held up the book. "Expanding 11 your repertoire.
"Where were the court fae when we were fighting the goblins?" Keelie demanded. "The dwarves and elves joined together with Herne"s forces-but we could have used you." She struggled to keep a calm voice. She wanted to scream at them.
"This is very interesting. Look, Fala." Salaca tossed Keelie"s drawing of the Under-the-Hill grove to him.
Catching the sketch with one hand, Fala laughed. "Our Keliel has been a busy girl indeed. Hanging out with dragons. Visiting Under-the-Hill. Who is collecting this information?"
"I"m trying to solve the problem of the rift," Keelie said. Fala whistled. "Trees that use the magic of crystals. This is very new indeed, even for Fairy. Makes you wonder what Herne is really up to."
Keelie reached for her sketch, but Fala turned away, keeping it out of her grasp "No. no. Queen Vania wants to see this." He rolled her sketch up like it was a parchment.
"Are you ready?"