The Raven Queen (13 page)

They all leaned over, holding their breath. Seconds ticked past. Still the Morrighan lay as still and lifeless as a statue.

Nero looked up into their faces. ‘What's supposed to happen now?' he asked.

Fachtna screamed with rage and struck at the funnel, slamming it off one of the bedposts. ‘WHY ISN'T IT WORKING?!' she roared.

‘Maybe she needs a different type of blood,' suggested Danny. ‘Maybe waking the Morrighan is the same as unlocking the mound.'

Fachtna turned to look at Roisin.

‘Oh no,' said Roisin, backing away and turning to run. She screamed as Fachtna lunged at her and grabbed her wrist, dragging her back toward the bed.

‘Let go of her!' yelled Danny, but Maddy stepped in front of him before he could do anything. Nero crouched and snarled, looking from Fachtna to Maddy, uncertain what he should do.

‘It's still a good deal, Danny,' she said.

‘What are you saying?' said Danny. ‘You want me to stand and watch while Fachtna cuts her? You can't force her, Maddy!'

‘You're right,' said Maddy. She looked over her shoulder at Roisin. ‘Ro, you need to do this,' she said gently. ‘You know you do.'

‘I'm sorry,' said Roisin, tears spilling down her cheeks. ‘I'm such a coward.'

‘No, you're not,' said Maddy. ‘You can do this.'

Roisin squeezed her eyes shut, holding out her arm. Fachtna let go of her and began to roll her sleeve up while Roisin sobbed, snot bubbling from her nose. ‘I'll be quick, little chick,' she said gently. ‘You'll hardly feel a thing.' Roisin squealed as Fachtna's blade flashed down and she wept while the funnel was held against her arm and then over the Morrighan's face.

This time the effect was electric. The figure in the bed sat up and her wings flew out to the sides, stretching to their full length and sweeping them all off their feet. Her veil was sucked back against her face as she dragged air into her lungs, and as she reached out to a bedpost for support Maddy saw that the nails on her hands were curled into little black spirals too, just like those on her toes.

As her wings beat the air, sending up clouds of dust, the veiled face turned to look at Fachtna, who was crawling through the bones to prostrate herself at the Morrighan's feet, her forehead touching the ground, her wings folded tightly against her back and her arms outstretched.

‘Fachtna,' she said, in a voice that sounded like three people talking simultaneously – the high tones of a young girl, the deeper ones of a mother, and the cracked voice of an old lady. ‘My captain.'

‘My favourite has returned to me,' said the Morrighan, bending down to cradle Fachtna's pointed face in her hands. ‘You were always so pretty, but war has made you beautiful.'

‘My queen,' said Fachtna, looking up at the Morrighan. Maddy was horrified to see tears, actual tears, rolling down the faerie's mottled face. Maddy didn't even realize Fachtna could cry. ‘I have missed you.'

‘And yet you did not love me enough to stay,' said the Morrighan. ‘You left when the rest of my court stayed to watch over me. You deserted your post and abased yourself by serving one who had only risen high by my hand.'

Maddy looked around the dusty, rotten room, with its carpet of bones.
Yeah, because you'd be mad to leave all this
, she thought.

Fachtna grovelled with her face to the ground again. ‘Forgive me, my queen,' she rasped. ‘I was weak. I craved the sunlight and the wind on my skin. I craved the excitement and the glory of battle and I longed for the taste of blood on my lips.' She looked up at the Morrighan, who cocked her veiled head toward her. ‘But Tír na nÓg is in turmoil once more and I have returned to you, to fight again by your side.'

‘Ah, but you do it for your own selfish reasons,' said the Morrighan. Fachtna looked up at her, her eyes widening in confusion. ‘I have been asleep, child, not dead. I still know what happens in my realm and I can still see into the heart of my former captain. Robe.'

Fachtna sprang up and picked up a black velvet robe that had been lying at the foot of the bed. She held it out to the Morrighan, who slipped it over her naked body, her wings stretching out so they could slip through wide slits slashed through the back of the garment. It had a small, high collar and wide sleeves, and fell away from the Morrighan's shoulders in a straight line to her ankles. It was covered in silver embroidery depicting dragons much like the carved ones that guarded the door to this place. Little clouds of dust puffed into the air as she moved but the Raven Queen continued to glow in the moonlight.

Fachtna was still standing behind her, smoothing the
fabric over her neck and back when the Morrighan said, ‘You come to me now, Fachtna, because you have grown greedy with your new queen. You no longer think of how you can serve, but rather what you can gain. And as your new mistress dooms herself with her madness, your hungry eyes are cast upon her crown. You have forgotten your place.' Behind her Fachtna froze, her face a mask of despair. ‘You are a good servant, Fachtna, but you would be a terrible monarch. Be content with what you have and look no further. I have already raised an outsider to a throne, and look at the harm she has done. I will let no other assume a Tuatha's place in this world.'

Fachtna looked at Maddy, her eyes burning with anger. Maddy felt her heart sink. There would be no deal, no protection. And now the Morrighan was awake, Maddy could only hope the coming battle would go her way and they could all go home alive.

‘You have brought me a Hound,' said the Morrighan, her veiled head swinging toward Maddy. Maddy felt Danny and Roisin tense beside her. ‘How the smell of a hero's blood fills the room.' The Morrighan continued, walking toward them, her spiralled toenails snapping off as she moved down the steps of the dais. She leaned down to Maddy, her wings spreading, casting a shadow over all four of them. Nero laid his ears back and cringed as the Morrighan's head drew closer. ‘I do not know how
to feel, having a young Hound in my hall. Do you know the trouble your kind has caused me? And yet I see the bonds that bind you. Why does Meabh want a Hound in her court? Why does she extend her protection over you?'

Maddy swallowed as the Morrighan cocked her head to the left and to the right. After a couple of tense moments and an elbow in her side from Roisin she realized the faerie was looking for an answer.

‘I… I don't know,' she said. ‘She says she wants me to run for her.'

The Morrighan leaned closer and brought her huge hand up to Maddy face, stroking her cheek with the pads of her fingers. ‘But where does she want you to run to, little Hound? That is the right question.'

Maddy looked at her, her mind blank. Then a bright light flared through the windows and illuminated the hall as if it were day.

‘Ah, now come the rest of my greedy kin,' said the Morrighan. ‘Fachtna, attend me.'

Fachtna crossed the room and hefted a heavy carved chair into her arms. She carried it to the foot of the dais and beat at its velvet seat with her hand to clean some of the dust from it. The Morrighan seated herself, her clawed hands resting on armrests shaped as a lion's paws, her back straight and proud. They waited, listening
to the sounds of booted feet on the stairs outside. The heavy stone door swung open and Tuatha guards filed in, dressed in the green and silver livery of the Spring Court. They were helmeted and armed for war, every one with their hand on the hilt of a sword belted around their waist. Butterflies fluttered into the room as the light that radiated from the Spring King and Queen began to filter through the doorway. They flew and skipped in the miserable tomb, the jewel-coloured wings bringing flashes of life to the shadows. Maddy drew in her breath as the light became stronger and then Queen Sorcha and King Nuada walked toward the Morrighan, Sorcha's hand resting on her husband's arm.

They were so beautiful. Sorcha's long blonde hair almost reached the ground, straight and fine as water; it hung in glossy curtains around her face, kept back from her eyes with a gold circlet. Her eyes were a violet blue, her lips a warm cherry red, and butterflies flitted all around her, stroking her skin adoringly with their soft wings to leave streaks of glittering pollen on her face and neck. Her simple white dress was bound at the waist with a golden belt and embroidered with birds and animals. Nuada, her husband, could have been her twin, with his thick blond hair curling to his shoulders and his dark blue eyes. They walked with their backs straight, their faces cold and proud. The glow of spring
that radiated from their bodies brought colour and freshness back to the hall, showing what it had been like before the Morrighan lay down for her centuries-long sleep and it rotted all around her.

Maddy craned her neck to look up into Sorcha's beautiful face as she swept past, herself and her husband inhumanly tall and regal. But even though she loved to look at the Spring Queen, instinct still made her step back into the few shadows that still lingered in the hall. Danny, Roisin and Nero crept after her. They had not forgotten how much Sorcha hated humans and the Hound most of all. Sorcha had wanted Maddy killed as soon as the Tuatha had found out she was the new Hound. She had been furious when she discovered Meabh had taken her into the Autumn Court.

Next came Meabh's Tuatha soldiers in their red and black livery. Maddy smiled to herself as she imagined the argument that must have taken place on those narrow stone steps over who should walk up them first. She was surprised that Meabh, a consummate politician, had lost. Perhaps her soldiers simply hadn't rowed fast enough?

Meabh's light was more subtle, a shifting flicker of candlelight that mingled with the scent of rain. Having lost two husbands in mysterious circumstances, she walked without a consort, only the Pooka, pressed close
to her side as usual. The storm hags scuttled in her wake, trying not to step on the tangled red hair that dragged like a train on the ground. Her golden circlet was studded with rubies and she looked around the hall with an amused expression on her face. The soldiers from her court lined up on the opposite side of the hall to Sorcha's, Autumn Tuatha jostling Maddy, Danny, Roisin and Nero deeper into the shadows. The three monarchs went to stand before the Morrighan and bowed deeply from the waist.

‘The Spring Court rejoices to see you awake, Great Queen,' said King Nuada. ‘The joy of your awakening ripples through Tír na nÓg and brings your subjects to your side to feast their eyes upon your countenance —'

The Morrighan gave a hiss of irritation and a twitch of her shoulders at the Spring King's elaborate speech. Nuada stuttered and trailed off into an embarrassed silence.

‘We knew you would not desert us in our hour of need,' said Sorcha simply.

‘Need?' said the Morrighan. ‘I find that a strange way to describe the situation, Sorcha. It seems that once again I have been awoken to sort out the petty squabbles of monarchs, monarchs who cannot be happy with the powers and the territories that I have gifted them.'

‘In our defence, Great Queen, this war has been forced upon us by one who is not a Tuatha—' said Sorcha.

‘And yet raised to a crown by me,' interrupted the Morrighan. ‘Are you daring to suggest that the coming war has been caused by me because I did something… foolish?'

Sorcha's pale cheeks flushed. ‘I would never dare to suggest such a thing.'

‘But yet, you think it?' asked the Morrighan, an edge to her layered voice.

‘No, my queen!' said Sorcha.

‘I think what my dear sister is trying to say,' said Meabh, her voice oozing honey, ‘is that the experiment of allowing an outsider to rise to high estate in our world in the interests of keeping balance has failed. Liadan has proved to be too unstable, too mentally and physically feeble, to carry the responsibilities of a Tuatha crown. It is time to put an end to her reign and to consider anew the best way to keep peace between us all.'

The Morrighan sat back in her chair. ‘I agree. What do you think, my beautiful and clever witch queen, is the best way to do that?'

‘Bestow the Winter crown on a Tuatha, as it should have been all along,' said Meabh. Sorcha and Nuada both gave a scornful bark of laughter, but the Morrighan
silenced them by holding up one hand. Her face was still turned toward Meabh.

‘Do you have anyone in mind?' she asked.

‘I think that the crown would best come to Autumn,' said Meabh. ‘I think I am the strongest of the monarchs and best able to lead two courts.'

‘It should go to my husband!' said Sorcha. ‘He could become King of Winter while I rule Spring and that way balance is restored.'

Meabh laughed. ‘Please, Sorcha, do not pretend your husband has a mind of his own. Everyone knows he does exactly what you say and how tight his leash is. Giving the Winter crown to Nuada would be no better than giving it to you. And frankly it would be wasted on you.'

‘You dare to insult me …' began Nuada, his face going red with anger, but the Morrighan interrupted him as if he hadn't spoken. ‘And why would it not be wasted on you, Meabh?'

Meabh drew herself up to her full height, all seven feet. ‘Tír na nÓg must move on, it must evolve,' she said. ‘Things have remained static for too long. We must be brave and reach out into new territories, and that will take a strong ruler if you are to return to your sleep. One ruler, with a single purpose, not swayed by the influence of a spouse.'

‘Meabh, you have schemed for this for so long, your
motives are transparent,' said the Morrighan. ‘By new territories, you mean old ones, the mortal world. By evolve, you mean step back into the past. No Tuatha will return there to rule as long as I am High Queen. We made a pact with the mortal world when they drove us beneath the mounds – access to their nightmares and dreams for the nourishment of faeries and the maintenance of Tír na nÓg, in return for peace.'