Fairy Metal Thunder (Songs of Magic, #1) (4 page)

“Forget it.”

“I won’t run!” The creature gave a toothy,
yellow smile, as if trying to appear innocent. “I swear it by the
Sacred Cesspool of Gorbulorgh.”

“The what?”

“The ancestral homeland of goblins!” The
little creature looked at him indignantly.

“You’re a goblin?” Jason asked.

“Naturally. What did you think?”

“I don’t know…a leprechaun?”

“Leprechauns! I spit on leprechauns! I tie
their shoelaces together to make them trip and fall! Leprechauns,
indeed!”

“Just give me her necklace.”

“As I said, I cannot search my pockets in my
present position. You must put me down.”

“Don’t even think about running again.”

“I had truthfully not considered it, young
sir.”

Jason carefully set the goblin on his feet,
but held tight to the collar of his coat. The goblin reached into
various pockets, pulling out rings, jeweled broaches, golden
watches. “Necklace…necklace…ah! There you are!”

The goblin held out a silver, heart-shaped
locket.

“That’s not it,” Jason said. “It’s gold, with
emeralds, like I said.”

“So picky!” The goblin pulled more shiny
objects out of more pockets. “I don’t seem to have such a thing. I
do apologize, young sir.”

“Where is it?”

“I must have added it to my stash-hole at
home. Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer a nice diamond bracelet
instead?”

“I want that necklace,” Jason said.

“Understood, understood,” the goblin said.
“Allow me to make an offer. You return home the way you came, and
never speak of what you saw here. Tomorrow night, I will return
this necklace to your home.”

“No. I want it now.”

“That’s not possible!” the goblin said. “I
cannot take you with me into Sidhe City. The Queen would have me
killed for leading a human here. And you too, for entering her
realm uninvited.”

“I’m not letting you go,” Jason said. “I’m
not stupid. I know you’ll never come back.”

“I am insulted, young sir.”

“Just take me to where her necklace is. I’ll
leave as soon as I have Erin’s necklace in my hand, okay?”

“It would be better if you waited here,” the
goblin said. “Hide behind those trees. I’ll be right back.”

“You’re not getting away from me,” Jason
said.

The goblin sighed and slumped his shoulders.
He looked ahead on the road, in the direction where he’d been
walking.

“Slouch,” the goblin said.

“What did you call me?”

“I’m telling you to slouch. Make yourself
shorter. Snarl up your lips and try not to look so…human. You
don’t want everyone in the city staring at you.”

“I shouldn’t look
human
? Where are we,
really?”

“Your kind call this the Otherworld.”

Jason gave him a blank stare. “What are you
talking about?”

“Annwn. Tïr na nǑg. Faerie. Am I jingling
anything loose yet?” the goblin asked.

“Fairies? Like little people with wings?
That’s crazy…” Jason thought of the small woman with the
translucent wings who’d just driven past. “Are you serious?”

“Obviously, you know nothing of fairies,” the
goblin snorted. “Or you would show more fear.”

“We’re talking about little people with
little wings, right? Like in Peter Pan?” He pointed ahead. “You’re
saying that girl was a
fairy
?”

“The most fearsome creatures in the realm,”
the goblin said. “It’s why they get to name the realm, you
see?”

“Whatever.” Jason shook his head. He couldn’t
imagine little pixies with colorful wings as dangerous. The goblin
was obviously just trying to scare him. “Let’s get going. I need to
get back home.”

“More than you know,” the goblin said. He
began walking, and Jason stayed close beside him in case he tried
to run.

“What’s your name?” Jason asked. “Do goblins
have names?”

“We have names!” the goblin snapped. “I am
called Grizlemor the Cranky. And you?”

“Jason.”

“Just Jason?”

“Jason the Guy Who Wants That Necklace
Back.”

The goblin sighed again. “When we reach the
city, look no one in the eye. Say nothing. Just keep behind me and
try not to draw attention to yourself.”

The road led them to a great mound of a city,
where the buildings were made of stone and live trees with
sprawling roots and limbs. The city was arranged in terraces rising
up the hillside. High above them, the top of the hill was encircled
by a towering wall built of golden hexagonal bricks.

“What’s that?” Jason asked, pointing to the
huge wall.

“Don’t point!” Grizlemor slapped Jason’s hand
down. “It’s rude. That is the Queen’s palace. We want to stay far
from there. Don’t even look in that direction.”

“Okay, calm down,” Jason said. “You really
are cranky.”

They walked under a high stone archway carved
with the images of flowers and animals. As they stepped into the
city, the cobblestone road beneath their feet turned into a street
of brightly colored crushed pebbles.

Big swarms of fireflies lit up the city in
red, golds, oranges, blues and purples. The stone and living-tree
buildings all had round, curving shapes—he didn’t see a square
corner or a straight line anywhere.

Though it was nighttime, the fairy creatures
crowded the city streets, and Jason saw long pastel hair and
colorful transparent wings everywhere he looked. The fairies were
selling flowers, jewels, rugs, shoes, pottery…all of it strangely
small, designed for these people who stood no more than three to
four feet high. Cheerful music played everywhere, strings and
flutes and bells.

While most of the city dwellers appeared to
be fairies, Jason also glimpsed other kinds of creatures mixed in
here and there—little people with animal horns, or tusks, or long,
pointy ears. He felt dizzy at all the strangeness, and he stooped
over as far as he could so he didn’t stick up above the crowd. He
kept close behind Grizlemor.

“This way! Hide!” Grizlemor snapped, grabbing
Jason’s arm. They ducked behind a cart full of small, polished hand
tools made of stone and flint.

“Why are we hiding?” Jason asked. Grizlemor
covered his mouth with a calloused hand that smelled like sour
spinach, and then the goblin pointed.

A group of three male fairies stalked down
the street, and the crowd parted to make room for them. Their faces
were youthful, like all the fairies, but their eyes looked hard,
dark, and old. They wore segmented black armor, with their wings
jutting out the back. Long swords hung in black sheaths at their
hips. They ate fruit and flowers from the merchants they passed,
but they didn’t pay for it. The merchants just looked down at their
feet and let them take whatever they wanted.

“The Queensguard,” Grizlemor whispered.
“They’ll kill us both if they see you.”

“Ho there!” The tool-seller bellowed at
Grizlemor. He was short and stocky, with a beard that nearly
reached his belt. “What might I sell you today? We have the finest
flints from the Valley of Gog, lovely stone hammers from the Caves
of Dormundy—”

“Quiet, dwarf!” Grizlemor snapped. The three
armored fairies approached them along the street.

“You’ll not quiet me, goblin!” the dwarf
replied. “Why, I’ll speak all day of the fineness of these
hand-crafted tools, good for all manner of carpentry, masonry,
sculptory, or makery! Only the best stones, only the best—”

“Fine, fine, I’ll buy one!” Grizlemor handed
the dwarf a golden ring from one of his pockets.

“Ah, the gentleman goblin would like to trade
at last!” the dwarf said. He sniffed the ring, licked it, then bit
it with his wide teeth. “And what is your pleasure today? I have
chisels of the greatest quality—”

“I don’t care, just be quiet!” Grizlemor
whispered.

“Perhaps your friend would like….” The
dwarf’s brow furrowed as he stared at Jason. “What manner of Folk
are you?”

“He’s an ogre,” Grizlemor said.

“An ogre! He’s hardly ugly enough for
that!”

“Among his people, he is considered the
ugliest ogre of all,” Grizlemor said.

The dwarf turned to face the three
Queensguard fairies approaching his cart. “And how might I serve
you, great fairies of the Guard?”

Grizlemor tightened his grasp on Jason’s
mouth. If the armored fairies leaned too far over the cart, they
would see Jason and Grizlemor hiding there.

“Dwarves require a special license to sell
inside the city walls,” one of the Queensguard fairies said. “Do
you have your paperwork in order?”

“Oh, yes, sir…” The dwarf reached under the
cart and patted his hand across an empty shelf. “I’m certain I have
the scroll here somewhere…”

“There is a fine if you don’t have your
scroll,” the Queensguard fairy said.

“Of course, of course,” the dwarf said. He
held out the gold ring that Grizlemor had given him. “Will this
suffice for today?”

The fairy took the ring and inspected it.
Then he closed it in his fist, and the three black-armored fairies
continued along the street.

The dwarf frowned at Grizlemor. “I suppose
you’ll want to complete your purchase now.”

“Forget about it,” Grizlemor said. He stood
and pulled Jason to his feet. “Come along, young…ogre. We have
business ahead.” Grizlemor led him along the street.

“Thank you, good sir!” the dwarf yelled after
him. “This was my best sale of the day! I would appreciate your
repeat business, gentle goblin!”

“Why won’t he be quiet?” Grizlemor muttered
under his breath.

The goblin took them to a quieter area of the
city, where mossy stone walls lined the street. Little round wooden
doors were built into the wall, only a few inches apart from each
other.

Ahead of them, Jason could hear enchanting
music, like nothing he’d ever heard before. It soothed him and
energized him at the same time. He wanted to dance his way down the
street.

“Here we are.” Grizlemor approached one of
the round wooden doors. “My very humble home. I shall check my
stash-hole…where are you going?”

Jason had passed right by, barely hearing the
goblin. The music drew him forward, as if it had taken control of
his feet.

Grizlemor hurried to catch up. “We’ve just
passed my house.”

“What is that music?” Jason asked. He
followed the curved street around until he saw the source of
it.

Ahead of him, there was a small park full of
wildflowers at the intersection of two curving streets. People
danced at the middle of the park—and they didn’t look like fairies,
but normal people, between the ages of ten and twenty, boys and
girls, all different races, all dressed in very different clothes.
They danced within a ring of large, spotted mushrooms.

Four musicians sat outside the ring of
mushrooms on a woven-grass blanket. A hairy orange creature, bigger
than a normal man, pounded a hand drum. Tusks jutting up from his
lower jaw kept his face in a permanent snarl. A pink-haired female
fairy played a small silver harp inscribed with floral-shaped
runes. A young man with goat horns and hooves blew into an
instrument made of a row of hollow reeds, arranged from shortest to
longest and lashed together.

The leader of the band seemed to be the fairy
with dark, violet-streaked hair and a matching violet heart tattoo
on her arm. She played a six-stringed instrument with a neck that
bent sharply back toward her. Jason recognized this as a lute, a
kind of medieval guitar. She sang as she played, in a language
Jason didn’t recognize, and her voice was beautiful. She walked
among the other musicians, nodding in approval as they played.

“We’ve missed our stop, young sir,” Grizlemor
said.

“What’s happening here?” Jason said. “That
music…”

“Makes you want to join in the dance, doesn’t
it?” Grizlemor smiled with his blunt yellow teeth.

“Those people dancing aren’t fairies, are
they?”

“They are human children. Like you.”

“I thought you said humans weren’t allowed
here.”

“They’ve only come to dance. They stumble in,
here and there, all over the world. Through fairy rings—”
Grizlemor pointed to the ring of mushrooms “—and other little
doors to Faerie. They dance until exhausted, then return home in
the morning.”

“Why?”

“Because they cannot help it. The music draws
out their energy, and their energy recharges our magical
atmosphere.”

“Are the instruments magic?” Jason asked.

“All things in the realm run on magic,”
Grizlemor said. “Now, if we could go back and conclude our
business, young sir…”

Jason continued to watch, hypnotized by the
fairy music. His body swayed, and his feet moved, wanting to
dance.

“I want to stay and listen,” Jason said.

“You should come with me.”

“Just a minute longer,” Jason said.

The goblin sighed again. “Stay right here if
you must. But do nothing to call attention to yourself. I will
return with your necklace, and then
you
must return
home.”

“Sure, sure…” Jason said, barely able to
pay attention to the goblin. The music was amazing, opening his
heart, making him feel every emotion at once. He hardly noticed
when the goblin shuffled away.

Then the dancers began to fall, exhausted.
When they hit the ground, they disappeared. The kids faded from
view until the circle of mushrooms was empty, and the musicians
stopped playing.

Jason blinked several times as he remembered
himself. For a minute, he’d been unable to think of anything but
the music. He’d never heard anything like it, music that made him
feel excited and blissful while it played, and then sad and lonely
when it stopped. The instruments really must have been magic.

The lute-playing fairy lifted the strap from
her shoulders and laid the lute down on the grass blanket. She
stretched and said something to the band. The four of them walked
across the street and into an open-air cafe, where they bought
drinks served in large, cup-shaped yellow lilies. The two fairies
and the little goat-man sat at a stained-glass table, in chairs
made of delicate little strands of wood. The huge, hairy drum
player had to squat beside them because his giant orange butt would
have obviously crushed the fairy chairs.