Chapter 6
Just as twilight descended and I was starting to nod off, we rolled up to the next village.
Frank drove us right up to a building with a sign that had a beer mug and a bed on it, so I assumed it was some kind of tavern inn establishment where we could get a meal and spend the night.
Worked for me! I was exhausted. I was pretty sure I’d lived this day twice because I’d spent more than half of it hiking around Michigan, but then come here and spent more than half of it traveling around Fairyland. That made for a really long day.
And it wouldn’t be over for a while yet, because I still had to figure out how to keep His Highness from escaping while I was sleeping.
I’d cuffed my ankle again after changing, but now I uncuffed myself and looped the length of the chain around Solaris’s middle.
He said not one word, but his expression cursed me, my ancestors, and my future children.
And when I led him by my cuff into the tavern, I was pretty sure he was already planning my murder.
But then the most incredible thing happened.
I hadn’t been sure what kind of reception I’d get for walking in with their prince chained up and basically on a leash. Maybe they’d fight me to free him. Maybe they’d be like the last place and fight his friends instead. I hadn’t felt like I could leave Solaris in the carriage, so in we went.
After a lot of blinking from everyone, someone hollered, “Is that the prince?”
“He is, yes.” I had the cuff in one hand and the hilt of my sword in the other. “I’m taking him home.”
And the room erupted in cheering.
Solaris flinched, blue eyes wide, and his boy band looked equally startled. Had they really been so clueless? How? Seriously, how did they not know that the people were getting pissed at them?
“’Bout time you did something!”
“My crops are dead!”
“My herds are dying!”
“Even the squirrels are fleeing!”
Solaris, at least, ducked his head and blushed, not looking at anyone. I was smiling about the squirrels as I dragged him over to a woman standing behind a podium, assuming she was the one to talk to about a room.
“Hello, sir,” she said with a little bobbed curtsy. “Welcome to The Spittin’ Hen. Will you be needing a room?”
I smiled at her as she made an effort not to even glance at Solaris. “I’d love a room and dinner, if possible.”
“Of course, sir.” She checked the book in front of her. “We only have the one room left, unfortunately, but we can provide pallets for those unwilling to share either of the two beds.”
Six men in one room and only two beds. That sounded like the setup to a porno. While I doubted anyone in our party had similar thoughts, the idea of being outnumbered in a small room while trying to sleep didn’t sit well with me. I turned to the boys.
“Go find your own accommodations,” I told them. “If you want to keep traveling with us, be back here for breakfast.”
I could tell that they weren’t happy about that, but not one of them put up a fuss as they left. I wasn’t even worried that the carriage would be missing and all of them gone come morning—they wanted their prince back in his castle and doing his job, too.
If they didn’t, they’d have tried to save him long before now.
But it still seemed to shock Solaris who watched them walk away with disbelief all over his face. Had he been biding his time? Waiting for the right moment to make his move? Expecting them to have his back?
Wah-wah…
“That simplifies things then,” the woman said with a smile. “If I could have your name and two silvers for the room, meals, and water for washing.”
Right. Payment. First, I had to get rid of my sword because I needed a free hand. I didn’t have a belt to slip it behind—and I’d probably stab myself in the hip if I tried anyway—so I leaned it against her podium.
“Here,” said a man who stood up beside us. I looked over to see him unbuckling his sword belt and handing it to me. “Give me that one, and you can have all this.”
“Hey, thanks.” I handed mine over. “I appreciate it.”
Rather than hand me his sword belt and leave me to figure out how to get it on, the guy buckled it on me himself. “You want it to sit just here,” he said as he settled it on my hips. “And cross over to pull it free.”
I did that just to show us both that I could and withdrew a shiny sword that was thinner and fancier than the one I’d given him.
“Are you sure this is a fair trade?” I asked him.
“If it gets the boy to change his ways and save the lot of us, I’d give everything I own.”
Solaris tried, but the staring contest between them didn’t last long when he blinked and looked away. I gave the man a nod and put my new sword away.
“Two silvers?” I asked the woman. She nodded.
I looked Solaris over and thankfully saw a pouch hanging from his belt that seemed promising. He stepped back like he wasn’t going to let me have it, but I tugged on his chains, briefly tightening them. I smiled right into his murderous glare as I fished two silver coins from his little coin purse.
Such an angry fairy.
I handed the coins over, she dropped them into her own coin purse, grabbed a key, and asked me to follow her up the stairs.
“The linens were changed this morning,” she said, “and the mattresses re-stuffed last week. I’ll have one of my girls bring up some wash water, and one of the kitchen boys will bring up your dinners.”
She walked us over to a room at the end of the hall, unlocked it, and handed over the key.
“Thank you very much,” I said as I accepted it. I gave Solaris a nudge and cocked my head at her. He looked at me like he had no idea that I wanted him to thank her, too. “Right. We’ll work on that.”
She giggled and walked off, and I felt like I had another ally.
I could tell by the curl of his lip that Solaris was not impressed by the room at all. Admittedly, it was rough, but it seemed clean and the beds were long enough that I might actually be able to stretch out.
First, though, I unwound the chain from around Solaris and cuffed my end to a notch in the headboard of the bed farthest from the door. With as much chain as Lars had given us, Solaris could go anywhere he needed to in here.
Apparently, where he needed to go was straight to the window.
“Don’t you dare,” I warned.
He locked eyes with me and opened the window. A breeze rushed in.
“Oh. Okay. Good boy.”
The prince of this brittle land bared his teeth and growled at me. I got the feeling he was becoming less and less worried about me and my sword.
A knock at the door startled both of us. And it seemed like maybe he didn’t want to commit murder in front of witnesses, because he sat down on his bed and crossed his arms. I went to answer the door.
“Your water, sir,” the teenage girl said as she handed me a wide bowl and a large pitcher in a matching rose pattern.
“Thanks.” I took both and closed the door. There was an odd-looking wooden thing that seemed just right for holding both, so I went over and set the bowl and pitcher down.
“That’s it?” Solaris said, his tone dripping disbelief. “A pitcher?”
“What were you expecting?” I got a washcloth and a bar of soap that looked handmade.
“A tub. To bathe.”
I stared at him incredulously. “Have you not noticed the drought? I’m guessing most of what we paid for was this pitcher of water.”
I honestly had no idea, but it made sense that something in short supply would be the most expensive thing. And it didn’t surprise me at all that he was so out of touch.
“But…”
He looked utterly bewildered.
I sighed and eased up on him. “Okay, maybe way up in the castle it’s hard to see the little guy struggling, but this—” I pointed at the pitcher “—is luxury down here. Be grateful for what we have, and I’ll let you bathe first.”
Solaris’s expression snapped right back to pissed off. “I’m well aware that nothing is as it should be. My own body tells me that. My wings are a quarter of the size they used to be, and the vines that grew from my hair are gone. And my skin…” He trailed off and gulped.
Actually, that was good. Something personal was messed up for him, and I was sure that made things more real in his mind.
“And I haven’t been able to make anything grow or ripen in three years,” he went on. “I should be able to sustain this entire court through a drought, like when Hydris withheld the rains. But I can’t.”
I was already nodding but now stopped and held up a finger. “Who’s Hydris?”
“My younger brother, the Prince of the Spring Court. Manipulating the weather was one of the many ways we warred with each other.”
Oh, yeah, their dad made the curse. Little dumbasses. Who goes to war with their own brother? Yes, fine, the Civil War came to mind, and okay, some people were stupid like that. But what could they—
“What did you fight for?”
“Trade rights.” He shrugged. “Or simply because we—” He cut himself off and frowned at me like I was the one who said something wrong.
“Simply because you got bored,” I said with a smile. I pitched my voice higher, mimicking him from earlier today as I said, “Nothing was wrong with the courts before the curse.”
He crossed his arms and looked away from me, practically pouting. “I don’t sound like that.”
“But you’re acting that stupid.”
Solaris stood up fast, like he was about to rush me. I held up a hand to stop him.
“Even now, you’re refusing to just go home and do everything you can to fix this mess. I’ll uncuff you, if you’ll promise to make this journey willingly.”
I didn’t think he was expecting that because his face smoothed out and his body relaxed. Maybe being chained up for half a day was enough to get through to him.
“I promise.”
I studied him, not quite sure that was entirely sincere. It was only seconds before he was back to frowning. A moment more and he laid down on the bed, facing the wall.
“I’m just not sure I trust that you won’t fly right out that window,” I said quietly, “and I’ll never be able to find you again.
Even if there’s not one thing you personally have to do to break the curse and free your people from their struggles, I still believe you need all of us to see you trying. ”
He never said another word for the rest of the night.
I went about washing up, taking our dinner trays, and eating without him participating at all.
I only knew he ate when I saw his tray in the morning.
I sincerely hoped I’d given him a lot to think about when we climbed into the carriage to continue toward the castle.
But he never mentioned taking the cuff off.