A Star Shall Fall Part 11

It gave him a sense of kins.h.i.+p with her, though. Neither one of us is half so polished as this place would like us to be. Neither one of us is half so polished as this place would like us to be.

"What is the idea?" Galen asked, and listened as Irrith summed it up. No one, to his knowledge, had suggested hiding from the Dragon; he had to admit the notion held some appeal. As for how to make it happen, though, he was forced to admit he had no more notion than she did.

Floundering for a starting point, he said, "Don't fae have some means of hiding from mortals? Charms and the like?"

"Yes, but we aren't trying to hide from a mortal, are we?" Irrith gesticulated with the porcelain hound, and Galen spared a moment to hope she wouldn't throw it into a wall for punctuation. The piece was a gift from the French amba.s.sador, the faerie one-though in truth, Galen wouldn't miss it all that much.

What protected mortals against faerie-kind? Iron. Christian faith, whether expressed through prayer or church bells or other signs. But London was already armored with those-and besides, they didn't conceal conceal anything. anything.

Edward coughed discreetly. Galen looked up, ready to insist on just a few more minutes' delay, and found his servant had put aside the hat and shoes. "Begging your pardon, sir, but I believe there's a way for mortals to hide from faeries. Dame Irrith-if a man turns his coat inside out, doesn't that give him a measure of invisibility?"

Her s.h.i.+fting green eyes went wide. Irrith stood, gaping, and then a grin split her face. "You're a genius," she announced. "What's your name, anyway? Geniuses should have names."

The servant gave her a shallow bow. "Edward Thorne, ma'am."

"Edward Th-" Curiosity flared to life. "Are you Peregrin's son?"

A second, deeper bow. "I have that honor, yes."

"Hah! You're cleverer than your father, Mr. Thorne. Ask me sometime about when he first came to Berks.h.i.+re, the adventure he had with a milkmaid. Just don't ask when he's around." Irrith bounced on the b.a.l.l.s of her feet. "Inside-out clothes! I should have thought of that." Her face fell as she turned to Galen. "But London isn't wearing any clothes."

He didn't have an answer to that, but Edward had at least given him a notion of what advice to offer. "Her Majesty may have instructed you to make this happen, Dame Irrith, but I doubt she meant you must do it on your own. May I suggest recruiting help? Others may have useful suggestions, which you can coordinate into a proper plan."

Irrith wrinkled her nose at him. "Do I look coordinated to you?"

"You are a model of grace."

"That isn't what I meant, as you well know," Irrith said, but she colored a little. Galen had spoken the words in jest, but they were also true; she moved like a young fox, with natural rather than studied elegance.

Edward had picked up the shoes and hat again. Galen sighed and beckoned him forward. "I have every confidence you can make this happen, Dame Irrith, and it may do us crucial good. If time in the Calendar Room would aid your thoughts, I'm sure her Grace will approve it. In the meantime, I must beg your forgiveness, but-"

She was nodding before he finished. "Right. Sorry I kept you. But this helped a lot."

"I'm glad," he said, settling the hat upon his head. "Let me know if I can be of further use."

The Onyx Hall, London: April 6, 1758 Ktistes might have been a statue of a centaur, his hooves planted foursquare on the gra.s.s, looking off into the distance where several courtiers were chasing each other around a fountain. Their giggles and false shrieks of surprise made Irrith want to bellow at them to be quiet, but she had no illusions as to the weight her knighthood carried. Even if she told them she was trying to save their frivolous little lives.

"Difficult enough," the centaur finally said, "to hide London. The City itself, within the walls, that could be done; it is only a square mile or so. Since that is the part reflected in the Onyx Hall, and the power of this palace is what the Dragon craves, it might be enough."

Irrith shook her head. "Do you really want to wager that it will will be? It's already burnt enough, Ktistes. I'm not going to let it do the same thing again." be? It's already burnt enough, Ktistes. I'm not going to let it do the same thing again."

He sighed, hooves s.h.i.+fting restlessly, breaking the illusion of the statue. "Then will you hide the entire world? There are cities elsewhere, and faerie realms, too. You cannot be certain it will not strike the Cour du Lys, or my brethren in Greece, or folk in lands you've never heard of. Folk who are not prepared."

"It might," she admitted. That was the worry that, as the mortals said, kept her awake at night-or would, if she slept. The nervous intensity of Galen and all the rest had infected her, making sleep a luxury for later. "I don't think it will, though."

The centaur rarely wasted words; he merely studied her patiently, awaiting an explanation.

Biting her lip, Irrith said, "You never saw it, Ktistes. I did. I was there when it tried to eat the Onyx Hall. After it's eaten London, it will turn somewhere else-all those other places you named. Because it can never eat enough. But it won't move on until it has this this place." It had the scent-or rather the taste-like a bloodhound. And it needed no huntsman to chivvy it on. place." It had the scent-or rather the taste-like a bloodhound. And it needed no huntsman to chivvy it on.

"Then as I said before: you need not cover the entire island."

She grinned. It was better than showing her uncertainty. "Well, I don't want to bet it wouldn't gobble up Oxford on its way to London. Better not to let it get a foothold, right?" The grin faded, though she tried to hold on to it. "Never mind the scale. Help me figure out how how to do this, and then we can argue over whether it can be done so widely. What counts as clothes?" to do this, and then we can argue over whether it can be done so widely. What counts as clothes?"

Ktistes lifted one hand, letting the quaking leaves of an aspen trail over his fingers. "What clothes the land," he murmured to himself.

Then his horse part swung around sharply, so that he faced his pavilion. A dazzling smile split his face. "There is your answer, Dame Irrith."

She stared. "Your... pavilion?"

"Buildings! Towns. Houses, and churches, and all the things mortal kind has built upon the face of the land. Do they not clothe its nakedness?"

Irrith blinked once, then a second time. Her voice seemed to have gone missing. When she found it again, it came bearing words. "You want... to turn London... inside out. inside out."

Ktistes paused, hands in midair, where he had swept them in a grand gesture. "How would that be done?" he mused. The note in his voice was pure curiosity, a clever mind given something to play with. "The Onyx Hall-but no, this place is not the inside of London, and to put it 'outside' would only deepen our problems. Perhaps an earthquake, though, to open the buildings themselves? We caused two some years ago, quite by accident, but if we arranged one deliberately-"

"Then it would destroy London destroy London," Irrith said. "And every other town you want to hide. Ktistes, the idea is to prevent prevent destruction." destruction."

His face fell. After a moment, so did his hands. "True," he admitted. The powerful centaur briefly sounded like nothing so much as a little boy, chastised by his mother. "I did not think of that."

This is why Lune has a Prince. The thought flew out of nowhere and lodged in Irrith's mind like an arrow. Ktistes was Greek, and had spent most of his life somewhere in that Mediterranean land; the differences between him and the English fae were many. In the final weighing, however, he had more in common with Irrith than Galen. They might hover on the fringes of mortal places, drinking the intoxicating wine of mortal pa.s.sions, but that was not the center of their world, the first thing their minds went to; human life, human society, was an afterthought. The thought flew out of nowhere and lodged in Irrith's mind like an arrow. Ktistes was Greek, and had spent most of his life somewhere in that Mediterranean land; the differences between him and the English fae were many. In the final weighing, however, he had more in common with Irrith than Galen. They might hover on the fringes of mortal places, drinking the intoxicating wine of mortal pa.s.sions, but that was not the center of their world, the first thing their minds went to; human life, human society, was an afterthought.

That was why Lune kept at her side a man for whom it was the first first thought. However much effort she devoted to considering mortal needs, there would always be these moments, when they slipped from her mind. As they had slipped from Ktistes's. And only a mortal could be trusted to always do as Irrith had done this once, and catch the Queen when she slipped. thought. However much effort she devoted to considering mortal needs, there would always be these moments, when they slipped from her mind. As they had slipped from Ktistes's. And only a mortal could be trusted to always do as Irrith had done this once, and catch the Queen when she slipped.

The centaur was still thinking, oblivious to Irrith's distraction. One front hoof tapped a restless beat against the ground. Does he miss galloping? Does he miss galloping? Irrith wondered. The night garden was large, but nothing like the open gra.s.s of Ktistes's land. Or did he, as a learned centaur, live so much in his own mind that it hardly mattered where he made his home? Irrith wondered. The night garden was large, but nothing like the open gra.s.s of Ktistes's land. Or did he, as a learned centaur, live so much in his own mind that it hardly mattered where he made his home?

Maybe that was why she'd thought to stop him, when he spoke of earthquakes in London. The prospect of losing her home-either of them-horrified her to the depths of her faerie soul.

"We'll think of something," she said. Perhaps she should take Galen up on his offer of the Calendar Room? The thorough shudder that followed the possibility was answer enough. Locking herself in the same room as that clock, for days on end... fae were capable of madness, in their own way. She had no desire to experience it herself.

"I will continue to ponder," Ktistes said, still repentant.

So would Irrith. But not here, with all these black shadows stifling her spirit. The Queen had commanded her to find a solution to this puzzle; surely that would be good for squeezing a bit of bread out of the royal stone.

If she was to turn London inside out, she would have to go study it in person.

London below and above: April 9, 1758 Irrith could not quite believe her ears when the Queen told her to go ask the Lord Treasurer.

She had enough experience of the Onyx Court to know that Lune, like England's mortal rulers, surrounded herself with a circle of people who were both advisers and deputies, dealing with various matters so the Queen herself didn't have to. Wayland did the same thing, though without the fancy t.i.tles and so on. But Irrith thought she'd heard of them all, and the Lord Treasurer had been nowhere on the list.

It seemed, however, that the problem of t.i.thed bread was serious enough that Lune had taken the precaution of appointing someone to oversee it: what came in through the Onyx Court's trade with other lands, who it was paid out to, and-as much as anyone could track this-what happened to it after that. Trade wasn't the only source of bread, of course; some fae kept mortals on a string just to provide them with a regular t.i.the. And all of it, regardless of source, was h.o.a.rded, wagered, gifted, stolen, used as bribes, and given over in underhand deals, before eventually being eaten; attempting to record those transactions was nothing short of madness.

"Come to think of it," Irrith said to the clerk behind the desk, "Ktistes told me a story once, of a fellow d.a.m.ned to roll a stone forever up a hill... have you heard it?"

The clerk, an officious little wisp of a thing, was unimpressed. "I do as her Grace and the Lord Treasurer bid me. At the moment, they have given me no orders concerning the disburs.e.m.e.nt of bread to you. But if you would like to present your case to my master-"

"I would." It came out through Irrith's teeth. Mab have mercy: they're treating it like coin. Mab have mercy: they're treating it like coin. Irrith had always thought secrets the most valuable currency in the Onyx Hall, but it seemed that was changing, as the mortal world did its best to shake off the faerie superst.i.tions of its past. Irrith had always thought secrets the most valuable currency in the Onyx Hall, but it seemed that was changing, as the mortal world did its best to shake off the faerie superst.i.tions of its past.

She presented her case to the Lord Treasurer, who surprised her by being a stolid, methodical dobie named Hairy How. Most of the officers of Lune's court were elfin types, but she supposed that when it came to careful bookkeeping, a hob was ideal. This one seemed more sensible than your common dobie-too sensible, in fact. Convincing him was none too easy. But the magic key word of Dragon, Dragon, combined with a believable explanation for how her use of bread could benefit the court, finally talked him around, and he commanded the clerk to give her a week's worth. combined with a believable explanation for how her use of bread could benefit the court, finally talked him around, and he commanded the clerk to give her a week's worth.

Irrith would have liked more; she owed more than seven pieces to various fae already. Segraine might be willing to let the debt go for a century, but others would not. Unfortunately, this was obviously as much as she would get today. She watched, bemused, as the clerk counted out the seven pieces with excessive care, then counted them a second time before making his tally and wrapping them in a handkerchief. When Irrith tried to pick it up, he swatted her hand. "All disburs.e.m.e.nts from the royal treasury must be recorded," he said, getting out a pot of ink and a moth-eaten griffin feather for a quill. "It's the law."

"Law!" The clerk, by his glare, didn't appreciate her scornful laughter. "That's a mortal thing."

"And a faerie one, too, Dame Irrith. By order of the Queen and Lord Alan."

One of the old Princes. Irrith waited, not attempting to hide her impatience, as the clerk made a note in his ledger, then wrote out a receipt, which he handed to her.

The slip read, Seven (7) pieces from the Treasury, as follows: three (3) rye, two (2) barley, two (2) brown wheat, one (1) white wheat. Disbursed to Dame Irrith by Rodge, Clerk of the Treasury, on 4 October 1757. Seven (7) pieces from the Treasury, as follows: three (3) rye, two (2) barley, two (2) brown wheat, one (1) white wheat. Disbursed to Dame Irrith by Rodge, Clerk of the Treasury, on 4 October 1757.

Irrith threw it away in disgust. "You might as well be a mortal clerk, with your dates and numbers." A small clock sat on the desk in front of him: probably the work of the von das Tickens, and the reason why the clerk could date the receipt. The Onyx Hall wasn't detached from human time as the deeper realms of Faerie were; it would render interactions with the mortal world too difficult. But in the unchanging darkness of those stone halls, most fae lost count of the date. And few of them cared.

Rodge apparently saved his lack of care for the fae he dealt with. He didn't even look up as Irrith took the bread and departed.

She stowed six pieces with Ktistes; the centaur was always near his pavilion, and few would risk stealing from him. But the safest place in the world was her stomach, where it could do its inexplicable work, s.h.i.+elding her from threats. Irrith ate the white bread, grimacing at its chalky taste, and went into the streets above.

Darkness greeted her, but this time it wasn't the strange murk of last fall; just ordinary nighttime. The sky was overcast enough that she couldn't guess the hour, though. Irrith had chosen the Billingsgate door, which put her in a less-than-savory part of the City; after a moment's consideration, she cloaked herself in a charm that would encourage strangers to look past her. Cutpurses and other criminals were as fascinating as any other part of mortal society, but not one she wanted to experience right now.

Voices from the direction of the fish market told her it must not be long until dawn. Soon boats would crowd the little harbor, unloading the day's catch; then the fishwives would go to work, with their powerful arms and vivid profanity, hawking their wares to the cooks and cooks' servants, laboring housewives, and finally the poor on the edge of starvation, who would buy what no one else wanted, after it had begun to smell.

She drifted, silent and invisible as a ghost, in the direction of the wharves, for they showed more life than the predawn streets. The river was little more than a black slos.h.i.+ng sound, wavelets receding from the mudflats of its banks, their tops gilded by the occasional bit of torchlight. Here, in the darkness, it was easy to forget about all the changes that entranced her; Irrith could half-convince herself she'd stepped out into the London she first saw a hundred years ago. Many things stayed the same.

Indeed, that was what made the changes so entrancing.

The sun gradually emerged as a flat gray disk on the eastern horizon, barely penetrating the clouds. It allowed Irrith to see the buildings around her, the eighteenth century replacing that fleeting illusion of the seventeenth. Brick and stone, not the timber and plaster of the past, which had burnt in the Fire. But some places were familiar, beneath their new clothes; rich men still gossiped in the Exchange, the Bow Bells still rang out over Cheapside, and a cathedral still crowned the City's western half.

How was she supposed to turn all this inside out?

The streets slowly filled with people. At this hour, London belonged to its lower cla.s.ses: the servants and laborers, porters and beggars. Men thick with muscle, and men wasted down to skeletons from illness and starvation. Women in the drab clothes of maids, hurrying to buy for the day's meals. Yawning apprentices, surly cart drivers, a half-grown girl with a flock of chickens. Watching them go by, Irrith thought of her words to Ktistes. The buildings didn't matter so much, but the people... they were the ones Lune, and Galen, and all their allies were trying to protect.

Ktistes thought like an architect. He saw the land, whether he was on top of it or inside it, and the structures that could be shaped to it. People mattered because they would use what he built, but that was the only point at which they entered into his plans. When it came to hiding England, he didn't think of them. He thought only of the land.

It won't be enough, Irrith realized. London wasn't its fabric; it was its people. Lune had taught her that. And surely it was true for other places, be they Berks.h.i.+re or Yorks.h.i.+re or Scotland. Irrith realized. London wasn't its fabric; it was its people. Lune had taught her that. And surely it was true for other places, be they Berks.h.i.+re or Yorks.h.i.+re or Scotland.

She had to hide all all of it: the ground, the trees, the houses and shops and churches, and most especially the people. of it: the ground, the trees, the houses and shops and churches, and most especially the people.

If the buildings weren't the clothing, then what was?

Something smacked her shoulder hard, and knocked Irrith sprawling into the chilly mud.

"Blood and Bone!" she swore, and got baffled stares from the porters carrying kegs into a nearby tavern. Irrith swore again, then threw a hasty glamour over her faerie face, so that they blinked in confusion and went back to their work. A charm of concealment could make people look away from her, but it did nothing to protect her from collision, and the attention that brought.

Time to get below, or to find a quiet place where she could improve her glamour and continue her wanderings.

But before she could climb to her feet, something caught her eye-and then she began to laugh.

Flat on her back in the mud, with the porters staring again and carts rumbling past her unprotected toes, Irrith laughed and laughed, because the answer was right there, wrapping England in a gray and frequently rainy cloak.

Clouds.

The Onyx Hall, London: April 18, 1758 Lune laid her head against the back of her chair in a rare gesture of frustration. "I don't suppose any clever mortal has designed a scheme for influencing the weather?"

"Designed one?" Galen said. "Almost certainly. Executed it successfully? That, I fear, is another matter."

She sighed in acknowledgment. "Then it must be faerie magic." One pale hand rose to rub at her eyes. "We have some ability to call rain when we need it, but nothing of sufficient force, nor duration-not to hide this entire island, certainly not for months on end."

Silence ruled the chamber for a few minutes. They were not alone; Lune had called a small convocation of her closest companions: Amadea, the Irish lady Feidelm, and Rosamund Goodemeade, whose sister was occupied elsewhere. With an air that suggested she knew her words would be unwelcome, the little brownie offered, "We do do know folk who might manage it." know folk who might manage it."

Lune winced. Rosamund, upon Galen's quizzical look, said, "Those who live in the sea."

"Mermaids?"

"And stranger things," Lune replied, lifting her head. "You're right, Rosamund, and if we must, we will ask them. But I would very much like to find another way. For aid of this kind, we'd be heavily in debt to them, and the folk of the sea are strange enough that I cannot begin to predict what they would demand in return."

A faerie was calling someone else strange? Galen bit down on the urge to ask whether that meant they were of surpa.s.sing normality. The unease Lune showed at the thought of dealing with them told him now wasn't the time for such a jest.

The chamber door opened, and Lewan Erle slipped through. The foppish lord bowed in meticulous apology before approaching the Queen, a sealed letter in his hands.

She broke the seal and perused it, first with a disinterested eye, then with a very interested one indeed. Upon finis.h.i.+ng her second reading, she turned to the waiting lord. "He's in the Onyx Hall?"

"Yes, madam. But he waited at the Crutched Friars entrance until Greymalkin found him-I believe he was there at least an hour."

"Very courteous." Lune folded the paper again and turned to Galen. "This is a letter of introduction from Madame Malline le Sainfoin de Veilee, formerly the amba.s.sadress of the Cour du Lys. It recommends to our attention a certain foreigner now waiting-"

"Still at Crutched Friars, madam," Lewan Erle supplied, when Lune paused.

She pa.s.sed the folded letter to Amadea and rose. "We shall receive him in the lesser-no, the greater presence chamber. And Lord Galen and myself will take the time to dress more formally. If he is the first faerie of his land to set foot in England, then we can at least make his initial impression a grand one."

Bewildered, Galen likewise rose from his chair. "What land is that, madam?"

He heard an echo of his bewilderment in Lune's answer. "Araby."

Galen couldn't help but wonder whether Lune, like him, drew some strength from elegance of dress, and for that reason had ordered a delay while they both changed into more suitable clothing. Whether she did or not, he was grateful for the deep-cuffed coat and powdered wig Edward put him into; they helped him stand proud as the ma.s.sive bronze doors of the greater presence chamber swung open to admit the traveler.

The chamber itself was such a wondrous s.p.a.ce that Galen might have thought any additional wonder would seem at home. Soaring black pillars served as a frame for panels of silver filigree and faceted crystal, bestowing a degree of lightness on what otherwise would have been a grim and ominous s.p.a.ce. The figure who entered, though, brought with him a different kind of wonder entirely.

It wasn't that his countenance was especially grotesque. His bearded face was darker skinned than Galen expected of an Arab, more like a Negro, with a powerfully hooked nose, but beyond that he looked almost human. His dress was moderately odd, being a long, straight robe confined at the hips with a broad sash, and of course his head was wrapped in a neatly folded turban; that was not the cause, either. In the years Galen had been among the English fae, their alien natures had become almost familiar-but this fellow awoke that frisson frisson again, the awareness that there was always more strangeness beyond his ken. again, the awareness that there was always more strangeness beyond his ken.

The lords and ladies a.s.sembled for this audience rustled and murmured amongst themselves, watching him approach. When the visitor reached a courteous distance from the dais upon which Lune and Galen sat, he sank gracefully to both knees, bowing his head just shy of touching the floor. "As-salamu alayk.u.m, O fair Queen, O wise Prince. Peace be unto you. I am called Abd ar-Ras.h.i.+d, Al-Musafir, At-Talib ul-'ilm, of the land known to you as Araby." O fair Queen, O wise Prince. Peace be unto you. I am called Abd ar-Ras.h.i.+d, Al-Musafir, At-Talib ul-'ilm, of the land known to you as Araby."

"Welcome to the Onyx Court, Lord Abd ar-Ras.h.i.+d," Lune said, smoothly enough that Galen suspected she had practiced the foreign name while dressing. "Never before has our realm been visited by one of your land. Do you come to us as an amba.s.sador?"

"I do not, O Queen." The stranger had risen from the lowest part of his bow, but remained on his knees. The stone of the presence chamber carried his voice to them, clear despite the distinct and oddly French-tinged accent. "I an individual only, traveling the faerie Europe courts these many years."

Galen, content to let Lune manage the niceties of welcome, had been studying that hook-nosed face, chasing a wisp of memory. It was the French letter of introduction that did it; his tutor had given him several books for practicing the language, years ago, and one of them had mentioned something like this creature. Galen's mother had confiscated the volume in horror once she saw the t.i.tle-too late to protect him from the scandalous bits-but he'd read enough to remember the word. "If you will pardon me for asking, sir-are you a genie?"