The Unmaking (The Last Days of Tian Di, #2)(55)
“You smell...very nice,” said the Faery, letting go of her hair and glaring at Charlie a little.
“That cannay be true,” laughed Nell. “We’ve just been in the Dead Marsh.”
“Did you see Eliza?” asked Charlie immediately.
“Who is this fellow?” Ander asked, pointing at the Faery.
“What are you doing in Tian Xia?” asked the Faery.
For a few minutes there was a great deal of talking all at once, and every now and then the Faery swished his sword in the air impatiently. Once Charlie had explained to Nell everything that had happened between his visit to Ariston Hebe with Eliza and his sudden appearance in her backyard in Holburg, Nell told him that Nia had already been to the marsh and slaughtered the dragons. The Faery interrupted her sharply.
“Is the Warrior Witch living?” he demanded.
“I spec so,” said Nell. “But I dinnay know.”
“And you are friends of hers?”
“Yes. Sort of...friends of a friend.”
The Faery paced a bit and then said to Charlie mistrustfully, “I have heard of beings like you, who can change shape without the use of Illusion or Glamour. In the stories the Faeries tell, such beings are spies and renegades, loyal to no one.”
“That’s fair,” Charlie conceded, at the same moment as Nell protested, “Charlie’s very loyal.”
“Listen, we’re looking for this witch because we need someone who can command the Boatman to take us back home, aye,” said Ander. “As Nell here tells it, only the great beings can do that. But if you’re a Faery, praps you can help us.”
“We cannay go back yet!” protested Nell. “We’ve got to find Swarn! And Eliza! And we have to help that poor dragon!”
“I am looking for the Warrior Witch also,” said the Faery. “My name is Jalo. I am the second son of Nikias. Word came to us in the Faery Realm that the Sorceress Nia had defeated the Mancers with a powerful Curse. His Majesty the King of the Faeries could not risk summoning his allies in the usual way, for such Magic would lead the Sorceress to us immediately. Our Kingdom is hidden and ten of us were sent in quiet and secrecy to bring the Oracle of the Ancients and the Warrior Witch Swarn to the safety of the Faery Realm. I found the body of the Oracle in a cavern below one of these temples. I fear the Sorceress may already have slain the Warrior Witch as well, if what you say is true.”
“We can help you!” cried Nell. “There’s a dragon in the marsh that’s nay dead yet, only injured. But it cannay fly. If we can heal it somehow, I’m sure it could lead us to Swarn, aye. Wherever she is.”
Jalo hesitated. “I was commanded to return instantly when I found the Oracle,” he said, “and I have found her.”
“But the other Faeries willnay know where to find Swarn if she’s hiding somewhere,” said Nell, “and there’s nay time to run back and forth getting word to whomever. Do you know any Magic for healing? The dragon is hurt very badly.”
The Faery considered this a moment. “There is a witch in the mountains who is said to be a great healer. We could go to her. My myrkestra is outside but cannot carry so many.”
“Dinnay worry,” said Nell. “We have a helicopter.”
~~~
Jalo’s myrkestra was a grey and white bird half the size of a gryphon. He instructed it in his own tongue to wait for them in the Dead Marsh. Then he circled the helicopter with interest.
“It is not beautiful,” he decided.
“I’ve got to say no to this,” Ander said to Nell, glancing a bit anxiously at the Faery. “I’m glad to see your friend is better, aye, and that’s what we came here for. But your parents are going to be worried sick, and my poor ma...”
“Mr. Brady, this is very, very important!” sputtered Nell. She couldn’t bear to turn back now that they might actually be able to save the poor suffering dragon and perhaps even help in the great battle to come. “My parents are fine, they’re taking care of your mother, she’s fine, everybody’s fine! But dinnay you see, we can really do something good if we help this Faery find Swarn!”
“I just dinnay see how he needs our help,” said Ander. “He can do this on his own.”
“You will guide me to this dragon once we have found the means to heal it,” said the Faery impatiently. “Now, please – my Myrkestra is on its way to the Dead Marsh already. I wish to see how your Flying Machine works.”
Something about the Faery’s manner made it impossible to refuse, although later Ander could not have said why this was so. And so he found himself piloting the helicopter north towards the Irahok mountains with a shape-shifter, a Faery and the stubbornest girl he’d ever met, in the back.
“It is a very noisy Magic!” Jalo shouted to Nell as they lifted off. “And I do not understand it! I had been told Di Shang worlders possessed no Magic at all!”
“It’s nay Magic,” Nell shouted back. She had become fascinated by engines recently and so was quite content to bellow a very detailed explanation to the Faery as they flew north. The Faery was astounded and full of questions. Every now and then he leaned forward to give directions to Ander but for the most part he focused on Nell and her descriptions of the various flying machines in Di Shang. Charlie looked out the window, bored and wishing he’d opted to fly himself.