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She had a point.
We wound our way down a spiraling set of stairs that protruded from the stone walls, a seemingly endless black drop down the center of the tower. All of us, except Darling, clung close to the outsides of the steps, away from that daunting abyss. The gremlin guards swarmed over the walls, clinging like locusts with spiny feet and hands and waving their spears, chittering.
For once, the noises made no sense to me. If the dragonfly girls—with the dramatic exceptions of Thumbelina and Dragonfly herself—were the mental equivalent of intelligent fruit, then these fell several levels below that.
Starling, descending right in front of me, hunched her shoulders. “I hate those things.”
“No kidding.”
The air grew warmer as we descended, becoming downright hot when we finally reached a level surface. We entered a great hall, enormous columns of the same gray stone rising up out of sight, into cavernous shadows. No furniture or anything else to designate what the room was meant to do. We had to be in the heart of the castle, deep inside the craggy island. Walter waved his arms expansively.
“Biggest throne room in all of Faerie. Those nobles can stuff it!”
So big it swallowed the throne, apparently, but I held my tongue. The floor burned through my soles and Darling trotted faster, then asked to be picked up. The gremlins crawled up the pillars and on the walls, watching us and staying off the floor.
“Why is it so hot?” Starling muttered.
“Dragons!” Walter shouted, still marching onward through the unending room. “Screw geothermal heat when you can have dragon heat.”
“I don’t suppose he’s one of your apple customers?” I asked Blackbird and she shook her head, uncertain.
“But I mean to find out,” she answered.
“Thumbelina—are your feet okay?”
She grimaced at her bare toes. “Hurts like a son of a bitch. Can you give me boots or something?”
“Sure.”
“Actually—” she waved a hand at her silky fairy frock, “—how about pants too? Something less…silly.”
I took a moment to concentrate, ignoring the wilder suggestions Darling inserted into my thoughts, and dressed her in a fighting outfit of dark blue leather, worthy of Angelina Jolie in her scariest roles.
Thumbelina surveyed herself and gave me the thumbs-up. “Awesome, Lady Sorceress Gwynn.”
“Just hope Walter doesn’t pop that spell too and leave you naked.”
“Better naked than silly.”
Words to live by. It occurred to me that she’d never lost her enhanced intelligence even when all the other spells failed—undoubtedly because of the permanence conveyed by the crystal cave.
“Oh, sweet Gwynn and entourage, where aaaaarrre yoooouuu?” Walter’s call echoed uncannily off the stones.
We picked up pace and found him perched on a huge throne. Of course, to be truly in scale with the room, the chair would have to be the size of a blimp, but Walter had clearly gone to great effort. Unfortunately, it dwarfed him, making him seem to be an overfed toddler perched in his dad’s armchair.
He frowned at Thumbelina, sniffing the air. “No fair, Gwynnie. No more magic without permission.”
At least I was smart enough not to ask “or what?” The answer to that could be gruesome and I didn’t dare risk my companions.
“All right, Walter. Thank you for explaining that rule. What are the others?”
A gremlin skittered up to me with silver bracelets on a platter. It danced from foot to foot impatiently, waiting for me to take them.
“You’ll wear these so you can’t do magic until the duel.”
Involuntarily, my fingers went to my pulse. At least I managed not to touch my throat, as I remembered the silver collar my trainers had made me wear. Silver prevented me from using my magic, taking away my only real weapon. I’d never be that helpless again. “Absolutely not.”
“But you have to.” He frowned, petulant, then brightened. “I’ll kill you if you don’t.”
