Page 47 of The Guardians of Dreamdark
“That very night?” repeated Pup.
“Aye! And they drifted off together on a lily pad down Spinney Creek. After a week, when Kite’s wings had healed, Robin brought his bride back to Never Nigh.” Orchidspike’s look of fond remembrance became clouded. “She was not well received.”
“Lady Kite? Why not?” asked Pup.
Orchidspike shrugged. “Half the lasses were in love with Robin themselves. How was Kite to make friends among them? Nay, she was never happy here. It was good you birds came along when you did!”
“And good for us,” added Bertram. “If not for her long-life potions, we’d be dust long since.”
“And how spry you are! ’Tis a fine bit of sparkle!”
“Aye, she tricked it off a witch doctor. Wicked lot, but they have their uses,” answered Calypso.
In the corridor, Talon’s head was swimming with witches and witch doctors, hooded snakes and love at first glance and long-life potions. Such a world beyond Dreamdark! He could well imagine how Robin must have felt back then—but without the love part, sure. Of course, without that.
“ ’Tis a bad crush, indeed,” Orchidspike said in a low voice to Calypso, over by the window. “But I can mend it. Don’t frazzle yourself.”
“But Lady, it en’t just the wings. I don’t like the look in her eyes. It’s like she en’t inside herself.”
“She’s in there, dear. She’s just gone deep. She’s in shock.”
“But what if...” Calypso hesitated. “What if itdidsomething to her, right? That devil.”
Orchidspike considered this. “Do you know what it was?”
“It’s being called...Blackbringer.”
Orchidspike raised her eyebrows. “Blackbringer?”
“Aye, Lady. D’ye know of it?”
Her bright eyes drifted into memories, back and back through the centuries. She said, “He was just a fireside story, something to frighten bad sprouts. A bogeyman, like old Rawhead.”
“Ye’re saying he weren’t real?”
“Nay, I don’t know. If he ever was real, it was long before my time. Understand, bird, no devil has troubled Dreamdark all my long life, and much longer still. Not since the Dawn Days.”
“Ye think anyone could remember that far? Remember the old stories?”
“I can’t think who.” Orchidspike shook her head wistfully.
“We could ask the trees?” suggested Calypso.
“Ah,” Orchidspike answered sadly. “Bless us, we lost that language long ago.”
Calypso cocked his head. “Truly? Flummox me, I had no notion how rare she was.”
“Who, bird?”
“Poppy Manygreen, Lady. Magpie’s friend. She could speak with ’em.”
“What?” the healer asked abruptly, startling Calypso. “A Manygreen? A faerie with that gift? Here, in Dreamdark?”
Calypso nodded.
“A lass?”
Again he nodded.
