Fablehaven: The Complete Series (88 page)

“But who ever heard of nipsies at war?” Doren questioned.

“We’d better have a chat with the Seventh Kingdom,” Newel resolved. “Hear their version of things.”

“We will return,” Doren declared to the nipsies on the tower. He and Newel began walking away.

“Who are you?” the voice chirped from the megaphone. “The one without horns.”

“Me?” Seth asked, placing a hand against his chest. “I’m Seth.”

“O wise and prudent Seth,” the voice resumed, “please prevail on the goat giants to come to our aid. Do not allow the wicked elders of the traitorous kingdoms to seduce them.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Seth said, hurrying after Newel and Doren, watching the ground carefully to avoid flattening any nipsies. He caught up to the satyrs outside of a walled kingdom built of black stone and flying sable banners. The streets of the kingdom were virtually empty. Many of the nipsies in view wore armor and bore weapons. This kingdom had a tower with a megaphone as well.

“The wall is new,” Doren remarked.

“And I don’t recall everything looking so black,” Newel said.

“They really do appear more warlike,” Doren conceded.

“Here they come up the tower,” Newel observed, nodding toward the black megaphone.

“Greetings, worthy overlords,” a voice squealed. “You have returned in time to witness the culmination of our labors and to share in the spoils.”

“Why are you waging war with the other kingdoms?” Newel asked.

“You have yourselves to thank,” the speaker answered. “The Seven Kingdoms sent out many parties in search of methods for preventing your return. No party ventured farther than mine. We learned much. Our vision expanded. While the other kingdoms constructed defenses, we quietly rallied support within the Sixth and Seventh Kingdoms and developed engines of war. After all, as you have long known, why
make
when you can
take?
”

Newel and Doren shared an uneasy glance.

“What would you have us do?” Doren asked.

“Victory is already inevitable, but if you help hasten our hour of triumph, we will reward you far more generously than any of the other kingdoms. Most of our riches are below ground, a secret they would never share. Surely the others have solicited your aid in stopping us. Such action would prove disastrous to you. We are in allegiance with a new master who will one day rule all. Stand against us, and you stand against him. All who defy him must perish. Join us. Avoid the wrath of our master, and reap the handsomest reward.”

“Can I borrow your lens?” Doren asked.

Seth handed the satyr his magnifying glass. Doren stepped over the city wall into a vacant square, squatted, and examined the figures on the tower. “You two will want to have a look,” he advised soberly.

Doren moved out of the way, and Newel took a long look through the magnifying glass, followed by Seth. The tiny men on the tower looked different from the others Seth had seen. Their skin was gray, their eyes bloodred, and their mouths fanged.

“What has happened to your countenances?” Newel asked.

“Our true form revealed,” the voice responded from the megaphone. “This is how we look with all illusion stripped away.”

“They’ve been corrupted somehow,” Doren hissed.

“You won’t actually help them?” Seth said.

Newel shook his head. “No. But it may not be wise to resist them either. Perhaps we should avoid involvement.” He looked to Doren. “We do have an appointment elsewhere shortly.”

“That’s right,” Doren said, “I had almost forgotten our other engagement. We don’t want to disappoint the, uh, hamadryads. Can’t afford to get behind schedule. We’d better head out.”

“You don’t have an appointment,” Seth accused. “We can’t just abandon the good nipsies to be destroyed.”

“If you’re so big on heroism,” Newel said, “you go stop the navy.”

“My job was to get us in here,” Seth replied. “If you want batteries, you need to earn the gold yourself.”

“He has a point,” Doren admitted.

“We don’t need to earn anything,” Newel asserted. “We can go take what we need from the Third Kingdom treasury and be gone.”

“No way,” Seth said, shaking an upraised hand. “I won’t accept stolen payment. Not after what happened with Nero. The Third Kingdom offered an honest reward if you help them. You were the one telling me the nipsies can’t harm us. Is that any different just because some turned evil? Tell you what, I’ll even waive my extra twenty-five percent.”

“Hmmm.” Newel rubbed his chin.

“Think of all the shows,” Doren urged.

“Very well,” Newel said. “I’d hate to see this little civilization ruined. But don’t blame me if the eerie nipsies and their nefarious masters come hunting us down.”

“You’ll regret this,” the hostile nipsies cried through the megaphone.

“Will I?” Newel asked, kicking a hoof through the city wall. He ripped the megaphone off the tower and threw it over the side of the excavated hill.

“I’ll go stop the siege of the Fifth Kingdom,” Doren offered.

“You stay put,” Newel ordered. “No need to give them a score to settle with both of us.”

“They really got under your skin,” Doren chuckled. “What are they going to do?”

“There is a dark influence at work here,” Newel said grimly. “But if I’m going to defy them at all, I may as well finish the job.” He tore up the roof of a solid-looking building and scooped out a handful of minute gold ingots, dumping them into a pouch he wore at his waist. “Here’s a lesson for you,” Newel said, reaching into the treasure house a second time. “Don’t try to threaten the supreme gigantic overlords. We do as we please.”

Newel strode off into the pond, which was never any deeper than his furry shins. He rounded up the flotilla of ships and began carrying them back to the Seventh Kingdom, snapping off the masts and scattering the vessels around the city.

“Careful not to kill any of them,” Doren cautioned.

“I’m being careful,” Newel replied, sloshing through the pond, sending ripples of water crashing into the fragile docks. When he had dumped the final ships in an empty marketplace, Newel crossed to the Fifth Kingdom and began smashing the little siege engines and catapults that were attacking fortified locations around the city, including the principal castle.

Seth watched the proceedings with undivided interest. In a way, it was like witnessing a spoiled child destroying his toys. And yet when he looked more closely, he beheld the numerous lives the satyr’s actions were affecting. From the perspective of the nipsies, a thousand-foot giant was thundering through their world, changing the course of a desperate war in a matter of minutes.

Newel scooped hundreds of attacking troops out of the Fifth Kingdom and placed them in the Seventh. Then he demolished several of the bridges that gave the Sixth Kingdom access to the Fifth. He stole several golden decorations from the proud towers in the Sixth Kingdom and systematically tore down their defenses. In the end, Newel returned to the tower of the Seventh Kingdom where the megaphone had been.

“Be warned—cease to make war, or I will return. Next time I will not leave so much of your kingdoms intact.” Newel turned to face Doren and Seth. “Come on.”

The three of them walked over to the Third Kingdom, near the engraved tunnel that led back to Hugo. “We have done what we can to halt your war,” Newel declared.

“All hail the supreme gigantic overlords!” a small voice called through the pearly megaphone. “Today will ever be a holiday to honor your gallantry. We will raise and refurbish your monuments to unsurpassed splendor. Please take what you wish from the royal treasury.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Newel said, prying open the wall and scooping out infinitesimal gold, silver, and platinum coins along with some relatively large gemstones. “You nipsies keep your guard up. Something is grievously wrong with your cohorts over in Kingdoms Six and Seven.”

“Long live Newel!” the squeaky voice approved. “Long live Doren! Long live Seth! Wise counsel from our heroic protectors!”

“Looks like we’re done here for now,” Doren said.

“Nice job,” Seth said, clapping Newel on the back.

“Not a bad day’s work,” Newel sniffed, patting his bulging pouches. “Several kingdoms saved, a couple of kingdoms humbled, and a treasure won. Let’s go weigh our loot. We’ve got shows to catch.”

Chapter 2

Reunion

For Kendra Sorenson, there was no such thing as total darkness anymore. She sat in a chilly hall in the dungeon underneath the main house at Fablehaven, her back to a stone wall, her knees drawn up to her chest. She was facing a large cabinet with gold trim, the sort of cabinet a magician would use to make an assistant disappear. Despite the absence of light, she could make out the contours of the Quiet Box without difficulty. The hall was dim, the colors muted, but unlike even the goblin wardens who patrolled the dungeon, she needed no candle or torch to navigate the gloomy corridors. Her heightened vision was one of many consequences of her having become fairykind the previous summer.

Kendra knew that Vanessa Santoro waited inside the box. Part of Kendra desperately wanted to speak with her former friend, even though Vanessa had betrayed the family and almost gotten them killed. Her desire to communicate with Vanessa had little to do with nostalgic feelings about the conversations they had shared. Kendra yearned for clarifications about the final note Vanessa had scribbled on the floor of her cell prior to being sentenced to the Quiet Box.

Upon discovering the note Vanessa had left, Kendra had immediately shared it with her grandparents. Grandpa Sorenson had scowled down at the glowing letters by the ghostly light of an umite candle for several minutes, weighing the unsettling accusations left by a desperate traitor. Kendra still recalled his initial verdict:

“This is either the most disturbing truth I have ever encountered, or the most brilliant lie.”

Nearly two months later, they were no closer to either verifying or disproving the message. If the message were true, the Sphinx, the greatest ally of the caretakers, was actually their archenemy in disguise. The message accused him of using his intimate association with the protectors of the magical preserves to further the sinister schemes of the Society of the Evening Star.

Alternatively, if the message were false, Vanessa was vilifying the most powerful friend of the caretakers in order to create internal dissension and provide a reason for her captors to release her from her imprisonment in the Quiet Box. Without outside assistance, she would remain trapped inside the Quiet Box in a suspended state until someone else took her place. Potentially, she could wait there standing upright in black silence for centuries.

Kendra rubbed her shins. Without another person to take Vanessa’s place temporarily, releasing her one-time friend from the Quiet Box for a brief conversation would be impossible. Not to mention the concern that Vanessa was a narcoblix. Over the summer, before she was unmasked, Vanessa had bitten nearly everybody at Fablehaven. As a result, once outside of the Quiet Box, she could control any of them whenever they were asleep.

Kendra would have to wait for a chat with Vanessa until everyone else agreed. Who knew how long that might take! The last time they had discussed the subject, nobody had been in favor of giving Vanessa a chance to further explain herself. Under a strict vow of secrecy, Grandpa and Grandma had shared the troubling message with Warren, Tanu, Coulter, Dale, and Seth. They had all taken measures to investigate the truthfulness of the note on the floor. Hopefully tonight, with Tanu and Warren returning from missions, they would have better information. If not, might the others finally conclude that the time had come to hear what else Vanessa had to say? The narcoblix had tantalized them by hinting that she knew more than she had revealed in her note. Kendra felt convinced that Vanessa could shed more light on the subject. She resolved that once again she would argue in favor of hearing more from Vanessa.

A flickering light danced at the end of the hall. Slaggo rounded a corner. The creepy goblin carried a crusty bucket in one hand while clutching a guttering torch in the other. “Skulking in the dungeon again?” he called to Kendra, pausing. “We can put you to work. The pay is unbeatable. You like raw hen flesh?”