Page 21 of The Guardians of Dreamdark
Poppy looked at her, surprised. “Oh,Iknow that!”
“You do?”
“Aye. Well...I don’tknowit, quite. But I don’tbelieveit. It all happened too fast, her showing up here and getting crowned queen.”
“But...howdidit happen?”
Poppy shrugged. “She had Bellatrix’s crown and tunic. She had some scroll proving who she was. And she had...well, she had a city full of folk whose legends were worn out. They just wanted to believe herthatbad. To have a new legend, you ken?”
Magpie remembered how, for a moment, she, too had wanted to believe in Vesper. Ashamed, she grimaced and asked, “Are faeries so bored they got toinventlegends?”
“Bored, aye, and afraid. I knowIam. Afraid nothing exciting’s ever going to happen again!”
“Not all excitement’s good,” Magpie warned. “Most isn’t.”
“Well, boredom’s none so fine either. There’s only so much dancing a faerie can do. And it’s not just faeries,” Poppy said. “The imps and creatures have a story of their own. They’ve been waiting for years—so I hear—for the faerie they believe will bring back the Dawn Days.”
“Bring back the Dawn Days?”
“Aye.”
“The creatures got a story about a faerie?”
“Asecretstory,”
Magpie was flummoxed that she’d never heard it herself. The crows couldn’t keep secrets to save their beaks. “But...you don’t think they mean Vesper, do you?”
“Nay. When first she came I wondered. She does make you want to believe! Wait until you see her; you’ll understand.”
Magpie let out a humorless laugh. “Ach, I’ve seen her!”
“Oh, aye?”
“And she’s not like to forget it soon...” Magpie chewed her lip.
“What do you mean?”
“I, er...sort of...turned her hair into worms.”
Poppy stared at her for a long moment, her face frozen in disbelief. At last she whispered, “Nay...”
“Aye.”
A guffaw erupted from Poppy that threatened to knock both faeries from their branch. Her face turned as red as her hair, and she couldn’t stop laughing. Magpie had to start in, too, and soon both lasses were clinging to the branch, wheezing with laughter.When she was able to gasp out the words, Poppy asked, “How did you do it?”
Magpie’s laughter died away. “I don’t know! I didn’t even vision any glyphs. I don’t know what glyphs I’d even use if I was trying. It just...happened.”
Poppy looked puzzled. “Are you sure it was you who did it?”
Magpie shrugged. She knew how it sounded. That wasn’t how magic worked. She thought of the curls of light that had wavered off her fingertips. She wasn’t about to tell Poppythatand get a blank stare in return, so she said, “Well, Vesper believes it, so I reckon I’ve made a nice new enemy, my first day back in Dreamdark.”
“Oh, Vesper, she—” Poppy began, but fell suddenly silent. “Old Father,” she said with surprise, her eyebrows shooting up as she glanced at Magpie. “Blessings to you and the earth at your roots.” Her head cocked toward the linden tree in an attitude of listening. “Aye, very pleased she’s come back.Why?I don’t—” She looked at Magpie, wide-eyed, and said, “Old Father Linden wonders why you’ve come back to Dreamdark.”
“For true?”
Poppy nodded, seeming stunned that the ancient tree was speaking.
“Well—er...” Magpie stammered, caught off guard. “I...I came to find the Magruwen.”
