Shadow: Bloody Fairies Part 2

"You can't help it though," Ishtar said. "What with being dropped on your head and all."

Hippy dropped her spear, tackled Ishtar to the ground and slapped her in the face.

Ishtar slapped her in return. Hippy gave a furious hiss, determined to show Ishtar she wa.s.she wa.s.she couldn't even think of anything, so she pummelled her in the ribs while Ishtar held her down and dug her knuckles into her head.

Someone cleared their throat above them.

Hippy and Ishtar paused mid-fight and looked up.

Hippy squeaked. Four pairs of pink eyes glittered down at them. Pale skin glowed in the darkness.

"b.l.o.o.d.y Fairies," said one, sounding bemused.

Ishtar went for her spear. Hippy did the same, but neither fairy got anywhere near their weapon. A hand grabbed Hippy by the hair and hauled her to her feet. Two vamps grabbed Ishtar's arms. These guys didn't waste time. The fangs were already out.

Hippy jammed her elbow backward into soft flesh and was rewarded with an "oof" of pain. She kicked the nearest vamp in the s.h.i.+ns, balled her fists and punched anything within reach until her hair was released. Then she went into her pouch, grabbed a handful of fairy dust and threw it in the face of the nearest vamp.

The distraction gave Ishtar enough time to plant her fist in her attacker's nose. Both fairies dived for their spears and went back to back. The remaining three vamps regrouped.

"Feisty little fairies," one of the vamps said. "I'm working up an appet.i.te." He licked his lips.

Ishtar shook her spear at him. "You know what I'm going to do?"

"What?" the vamp sounded bored.

"I'm going to make you into a blood fountain."

Hippy shuddered.

"I think you're going to die," the vamp said. "Slowly."

"Why do they always say that right before we kill them?" Hippy tightened her grip on her spear.

"Dunno." Ishtar snickered. "Maybe that's the only way these sparklers know how to die."

There was a second's icy silence.

"What did you call us?" the vamp said.

Ishtar drew the word out and made it hiss at the end. "Sparklers."

The vamps dived for them. Ishtar impaled one on her spear. Hippy made a wild swing, missed and accidentally sliced a vamp right down the side of the face, before Ishtar skewered the last one.

Blood spurted in every direction. Fountains of red poured down Hippy's spear and onto her hands. She screamed and dropped the spear. Her stomach revolted. She froze to the spot, staring at her wet red hands. Her head pounded.

"Hey Hippy," Ishtar said into the sudden silence.

Hippy turned her head.

Ishtar plunged her hands into the now subsiding fountain of blood flowing from one of the dead vamps. She ran them over her face, turning it red, and grinned. Her teeth glowed white.

Hippy gagged.

"It's good for the skin. You should try it." Ishtar reached for her with dripping hands.

Hippy ran. Her breath came in sobs under each convulsive dry retch. Ishtar's feet pounded behind her.

"Come on Hippy!" Ishtar yelled. "It's just a little vamp blood!"

Hippy threw herself through the door in the fortification and kept running. She stumbled to her knees in the darkness and frantically wiped her b.l.o.o.d.y hands on the gra.s.s. She could smell it. She could almost taste it. Her own blood pounded. She couldn't even remember where she was.

"Hippy!" Ishtar's voice purred through the darkness, low and soft. "I'm going to paint your face with blood. Come out, come out. You can't get away from me."

Hippy stumbled to her feet and ran for a dim light s.h.i.+ning ahead. Her feet made no sound. She slowed down when she came up to the silk walls of a row of tents and flattened herself between the nearest two.

Ishtar prowled the darkness behind her. She could smell the blood on her. Her stomach heaved again.

Hippy slipped down the side of the tents and peered around the edge. Her eyes widened. She'd never been into the muse camp. The tents surrounded a big open area where there was a huge central table and a fire pit. s.h.i.+ny banners of purple and green were hung from all the tents, making pretty, pretty walls that flickered and glowed in the firelight. A group of muses sat around the fire talking in low voices. Soup bubbled in a huge cauldron, sending clouds of fragrant steam into the air.

The sound of footsteps sent her darting into the shadows around the edge of the clearing and then down a pa.s.sage between a row of larger tents. She slowed and trod carefully over the taut ropes.

More voices, closer this time. Any minute now they'd see her and she'd be in trouble. She dropped to the ground, lifted the silk wall of the nearest tent and rolled underneath just in time to see a pair of feet go past.

Safe. She lay on her back, eyes closed, and took a few deep breaths. She couldn't smell blood any more. Her stomach unclenched. The fog in her head cleared and she opened her eyes.

Hippy stared. This tent was huge. The walls were hung with s.h.i.+ny, s.h.i.+ny mirrors everywhere, some big, some small, one very long with a gilt frame. Little tables gleamed here and there, and on them s.h.i.+ny statues stood watch. Most of the statues were of a woman holding a mirror, except for one little one of a woman with snakes coming from her head. A huge bed was draped with purple and red sheets in one corner. In the centre of the s.p.a.ce was a gleaming, polished wooden table.

Hippy cautiously sat up and looked around. She was alone. She got to her feet and brushed her fingertips over the mirror with the gilt frame. It reflected a big-eyed girl with dirt on her face and wild hair back at her. She scrubbed at a spatter of blood on her forehead.

She crept around the edge of the tent towards the door. She would just go before anyone came in. Of course she would. She had no business being here.

She glanced at the table and stopped. It was covered with a huge map of Shadow. Hills and mountains were sketched out around Shadow City. Below the city was the forest and next to that, a little purple flag marked the spot where the camp was. Hippy drifted closer, intrigued. She'd never seen a map of Shadow.

Something s.h.i.+ny caught the edge of her vision. She left the table and touched a crystal hanging around the neck of a tall statue of the woman with the mirror. It sparkled in her hand. So pretty. She picked up a little sparkly figurine of a horse with wings from the base of the statue, studied it and put it down again.

Behind the statue there was a curtain. Unlike all the rest of the hangings in here it was plain black, with just a little sheen to it. Hippy twitched it open. Her eyes got very wide.

There was no room behind the curtain. She couldn't quite figure out what she was looking at, except that it was a dark s.p.a.ce and it was somehow torn. Light gleamed through jagged edges going from the roof to the floor, s.h.i.+mmered and moved like water. It was so s.h.i.+ny.

Hippy reached her hand toward the light. The rip widened.

A voice right outside the tent made her freeze. She ducked behind the curtain and flattened herself in the corner.

Footsteps entered. Three different voices. Hippy crammed herself further into the corner, away from the rip. She shoved her knuckles in her mouth to keep from making a noise. That was Pierus out there, with Flower and Nikifor from the sound of it. Holy Shadow, she'd be in deep trouble if they found her here.

"More incursions." Pierus's voice filled the tent. He didn't sound pleased at all. "Vampires are pouring past the Bitter Tower now. We're sitting targets out here with nothing but a pack of fairies and an untried Champion. These raids are just distractions. We can't delay any longer."

"But it's madness!" Flower sounded even less happy. "Even if it did have a chance of working, who's to say you'd even find it? We're talking about a legend here!"

"My dear girl, Shadow is made of legends," Pierus said. "And I can a.s.sure you this one is very real."

"I may be untried," said Nikifor, "but I swear to you I can defend Shadow as my father did before me."

"My dear boy, your father spent one hundred and fifty years defending Shadow, and he still got himself killed. What chance does a librarian barely out of Muse College have against this horde?"

There was a brief, raw silence. Hippy winced in sympathy for Nikifor.

"That's why we need it," Pierus said into the silence.

"But did you not say you cannot wield it alone?"

"There's the rub, Nikifor my boy. The ancients didn't trust anyone with it, not even me."

"Then one of us should go with you," Flower said.

"Not a muse." Pierus paused. "It has to be someone of the blood of the first guardian."

"What does that mean?" Nikifor asked.

"Wait," Pierus said. "Something's not right."

Silence. Something moved. Hippy held her breath. The quiet stretched out.

She closed her eyes and pretended to be invisible, but that only lasted until Pierus yanked the curtain open and glared down at her. His eyebrows met like the wings of an angry bird. He reached down and hauled her out by the front of her tunic.

Hippy squeaked. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to come in here! I was hiding from my sister and then someone came along so I hid under the silk and I just ended up here and I didn't touch anything, honest!" She blinked at Pierus, who still had hold of her shoulder.

Flower and Nikifor looked stunned.

The corner of Pierus's mouth twitched. His brows receded the merest millimetre.

"Why were you hiding from your sister?" Flower's voice was gentle, but there was a flicker of amus.e.m.e.nt behind it.

Hippy's cheeks grew hot. She couldn't look away from Pierus. "I-" she stopped.

"Leave us." Pierus never took his eyes off her.

Relief made Hippy's knees weak. She went to move, but he didn't let go of her. "Not you."

Hippy gulped. Flower and Nikifor left the tent without another word.

Pierus steered her to a low-slung chair covered in furs and unceremoniously dropped her into it. Then he went over to a table and poured two gla.s.ses of pink wine from a tall, slim bottle.

Hippy watched his every move. She cautiously accepted the gla.s.s when he came back and sat across from her.

Pierus fixed her with a stern look. "Why were you hiding from your sister?"

"I-" Hippy looked away. She clutched her gla.s.s. "I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"I just can't."

"Have a drink, my dear."

Hippy obediently gulped a mouthful of wine. It was very nice and sweet and it made her feel more relaxed.

"I need to know what you were doing behind that curtain," Pierus said. "If you won't tell me why you were hiding from your sister, I'm going to start thinking you're a spy."

"I'm not a spy!" Hippy flushed a deep crimson. "It's justI mean"

"Just tell me."

"I'm scared of blood," Hippy burst out. "It's horrible, it makes me want to throw up and I can't think or move and Ishtar knows, so every time we kill a vamp she stabs them and you know how much blood that means, and tonight she smeared it all over her face and chased me." She closed her mouth abruptly, mortified.

Pierus went bright red. Then he went white. His lips trembled. He snorted. Then he burst into gales of laughter.

Hippy folded her arms and glared. "It's not funny!"

"I know my dear, it's justyou b.l.o.o.d.y Fairies" he leaned back in his chair and grinned at her like she'd grown a second head and told a joke with it.

Hippy got to her feet, cheeks flaming. "Don't you dare tell anyone!" She burst into tears and ran for the door.

For a three thousand year old muse, Pierus was fast. He made it there first and barred the way. Laughter lines still creased the corners of his eyes, but he was serious again. "Not so fast there, I haven't finished with you yet. Oh, are you crying?" He thrust a handkerchief at her. "Do stop."

Hippy slouched back to the chair and sank into it. She dried her face with the handkerchief and took another gulp of the wine. There, she felt better again.

Pierus resumed his seat.

She sniffed. "What? What else do you want, now you've had a good laugh at my expense?"

"I apologise, my dear."

He said it so seriously Hippy felt mollified. "I'm sorry I hid in your tent," she said. "I didn't mean to."

"Why did you go behind that curtain?"

She s.h.i.+fted in her chair. "I heard someone coming, it seemed like the best place to hide."

He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "And what did you see there?"

"I don't know. It was kind of a rip or something. What was it?"

"If I tell you, you must swear to me to keep it a secret." He frowned. "Fairies are not very good at keeping secrets, in my experience."

"I won't tell a soul," Hippy said. "Honest, and if I did they wouldn't believe me anyway. Ishtar wouldn't even believe me when I told her I met you. I swear you can trust me."

"Indeed." He regarded her intently. "What you saw behind the curtain is a rip in the fabric of Shadow. It is effectively a doorway into the world of Dream."