Beyond the Blue Moon (Forest Kingdom Novels) (64 page)

“It’ll either be a medal or a kick in the arse,” said Hawk. “That’s all Royalty ever hand out at sudden, unexpected meetings.”

Fisher buckled on her swordbelt, and went over to look at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mess and there were deep shadows under her eyes. She stuck out her tongue, grimaced, and reluctantly put it back again. She looked moodily at her blond hair.

“I wonder how people will react to seeing us,” she said slowly. “I’ve suddenly gone fair, and you’ve got two eyes again.”

“The Seneschal and Lament know who we are,” said Hawk.

“I think the Seneschal always did. Do you think they’d talk?”

“Hell with them all,” said Hawk. “We’ll bluff it out.”

When they finally entered the Court, breezing past the guards at the double doors like they weren’t even there, Queen Felicity was sitting on the Throne with a drink in one hand and her long cigarette holder in the other. She didn’t seem unduly upset at her guests’ tardiness, which rather annoyed Fisher, and beckoned for them to approach the Throne. Hawk and Fisher ambled forward, taking their time and casually checking out who else had been invited to this special Court gathering. Sir Vivian and the warrior woman Cally were standing on one side of the Throne, surprisingly close together. In fact, Cally was being openly affectionate to Sir Vivian, who seemed embarrassed but quietly appreciative. As if that wasn’t astonishing enough, Jericho Lament and Duke Alric were standing on the other side of the Throne. Lament had given up his traditional long trench coat for more usual Court attire, and was in actual danger of appearing fashionable. Fisher barely nodded at him, amazed that Felicity let their father, the Duke, stand in such a favored position, and actually astounded that the Duke was standing comfortably erect without any of his usual metal and leather supports. He was even smiling slightly. Fisher couldn’t help wondering if perhaps the Rainbow had brought them back to the wrong world, and seriously considered pinching herself to see if she was awake.

The Questor, Allen Chance, and the witch Tiffany were standing together before the Throne, and Hawk and Fisher stopped to chat with them. Chance and Tiffany had that special glow that comes from recent bedroom gymnastics, though Fisher had to quietly point this out to Hawk before they got there. He never noticed important things like that. The two couples greeted each other happily, indulged in a few rather obvious double entendres, and did their best to ignore the dog Chappie, who was currently lying on his back at Chance’s and Tiffany’s feet, all four paws in the air, tongue lolling out and showing everything he’d got.

“A lot’s happened while you were gone,” said Chance.

“So I see,” murmured Hawk, and Tiffany blushed.

“What’s happened with the Duke?” asked Fisher. “Where’s that cage he usually lurches around in? Where are his guards? And he’s
smiling
, dammit. Who died?”

“He gave up the Candlemass Charm to save Felicity’s life,” said Chance.

“The Duke did
?” Fisher had a hard job keeping her voice down.

“It was very brave of him,” Tiffany said firmly. “Once the Charm was gone, I was able to cure him. He’s almost been in a good mood since.”

“You pinch me,” Fisher said to Hawk. “Better yet, slap me round the head. I don’t believe I’m hearing this.”

“You’d better move on,” said Chance. “The Queen’s been waiting for you very patiently, but … well, she is the Queen.”

“Hell with that,” said Hawk. “Sir Robert? Is that you?”

He and Fisher moved over to join Sir Robert Hawke and Ennis Page, standing grinning together, just a little apart from everyone else. Hawk clasped them both by the hand, smiling so hard, his cheeks hurt.

“What the hell happened to you two? You look twenty years younger!”

“The Magus did it,” said Sir Robert. “Not exactly out of the goodness of his heart, but … We both feel like ourselves again. Strong and sharp and ready to cause trouble in all directions. You know, Lament and the Seneschal have been telling your recent exploits all over the Castle, and singing your praises in quite embarrassing detail. You two are the heroes of the moment. Pretty much what I expected, really. I always knew you’d save us all.”

Hawk gave him a sharp look, and turned to Ennis Page. “You’re looking much improved from when I last saw you. Do you remember—”

“I remember everything,” said Page. “You were kind and honorable to an old comrade, not that I would have expected anything less from you.”

“Hold everything,” said Fisher. “What are
they
doing here?”

Not too far away, in a little space all their own, stood the Shaman and his Creature. The Shaman stood hunched over, looking and smelling as foul as ever, glaring at everyone from behind his mask of woad and clay. As always he was fuming with barely suppressed anger, but surprisingly he wouldn’t meet Hawk’s or Fisher’s eyes. The Creature stuck close to him, crouched on all fours, showing nasty yellow fangs as he snarled at everyone.

“The Queen said she wanted them here, so here they are,” said Sir Robert distastefully. “I just know he’s got fleas. And God knows what the Creature’s got. If you want to know why we’re all here, well, a lot’s happened in your absence, and the word is the Queen has a lot she wants to say about it all.”

“Anyone else expected?” asked Fisher.

“Just the one,” said Sir Robert. “And the Seneschal’s never been on time for anything in his life. I think he does it on purpose, just to annoy people.”

“Yeah,” said Fisher. “That sounds like him. Though he has mellowed. I haven’t seen him spit at anyone since I got here.”

The double doors flew open and the Seneschal bustled in. He nodded briskly to everyone, sneered at the Shaman, and hurried forward to bow before the Throne. He was carrying a long sword in an old scabbard, which rather baffled Fisher. Everyone knew the Seneschal wasn’t allowed weapons. Not since the unfortunate incident with the insolent visiting dignitary and the blunt end of a pike. Fisher watched with interest as the Seneschal had a quiet word with the Queen, glanced back at Hawk and Fisher, and then moved over to stand with Lament and the Duke.

“All right,” said Hawk. “That is the last straw. We leave you lot alone for ten minutes, and the whole world goes through changes. Has someone been putting something in your coffee? What the hell did happen in our absence that could bring so many disaffected people together in one place without trying to kill one another? Don’t tell me sanity’s broken out at last.”

“Well, to start with, we put down a rebellion against the Queen,” said Chance as he and Tiffany and a reluctant Chappie came over to join them. “The Duke started it, but was in turn betrayed, and risked his life to save the Queen, so everything’s all sweetness and light in that department now. Supposedly. Anyway, the Duke and his armies are no longer a threat to the Kingdom.”

Fisher sniffed dubiously. “I’ll believe that when I see it. The Starlight Duke never gave a damn for anyone but himself and his own ambitions.”

“No, really,” said Tiffany, radiating sincerity as only she could. “I’ve offered to set up some conciliation meetings, where they could discuss abandonment issues and the like, and they almost said they’d think about it.”

“Yeah,” growled Chappie, scratching his ear fiercely as though determined to dig something interesting out of it. “There’s so much harmony and good will in the air these days I may puke. It’s not natural. Still, at least these two idiots finally got it together. I was beginning to think I’d have to draw pictures. They’re inseparable now, of course, so I’ve had to adopt her as well as him. I always wanted to raise some puppies.”

“We don’t plan on having any children just yet,” Tiffany protested, blushing again.

“You were trying hard enough last night,” said the dog. “Though if you do want children, one of those things you were doing won’t—”

“Shut up, Chappie,” interrupted Chance. The dog sniggered and started licking his balls. Everyone looked away quickly. Chance fixed his gaze on Hawk. “Lament’s been saying the returned Cathedral is no longer a threat to anyone. Is that right?”

“I would like to hear the answer to that one personally,” Queen Felicity said loudly. “If you could spare the time, Captains Hawk and Fisher …”

Hawk and Fisher approached the Throne, and nodded briefly to everyone there. They didn’t bow to Felicity, but no one said anything. “The Cathedral is back to normal,” said Hawk. “Back to what it was always intended to be, a beacon of light in a dark world. That’s the good news. The bad news is that magic is going out of the world. Permanently. It won’t happen overnight, the Magus said it could take centuries. But it does mean the Rift is fundamentally unstable. So make the most of it while you’ve got it.”

“You mean we could be cut off from the south again?” asked Felicity, taking a large gulp from her glass. “Sweet Jesus, that’s all we need. There’d be riots. I think I’d join them. I couldn’t live without my morning coffee anymore.”

“As magic goes out of the world, the Deadlands will settle down, too,” said Hawk. “If I were you, I’d start planning trade routes and new territory acquisitions.”

The Queen thought about that, and then smiled suddenly. “If the Deadlands were to become habitable again, we could be on the verge of the biggest land rush in history. And if we could grab and control most of it, we wouldn’t need the Rift anymore!”

“Don’t get too excited,” said Fisher. “The Magus said there was so much magic seeped into the warp and weft of the world that it would take ages to disappear completely.”

“You’re sure the Magus is gone?” asked the Queen.

“Quite sure,” said Hawk.

“Good,” said the Queen. “He always disturbed the hell out of me.”

“Has anyone got around to telling Lightfoot Moonfleet that the Magus is dead?” asked Fisher. “They always seemed very close.”

“We were,” said the tiny winged faerie, appearing suddenly in their midst before the Throne. She grew quickly to human size and looked coldly about her. She was wearing a long black dress for mourning, and her face was scrubbed clean of all makeup. She looked somehow less human without it, more alien, otherworldly. Her delicate wings shone with a pale pearlescent light. “I always loved him,” she said flatly. “Even though I knew he wasn’t Real, and that one day he’d have to go where I couldn’t follow.

“Now it’s time for me to go. He was the only reason I stayed in the mortal world anyway. All my faerie kith and kin are long gone, walked sideways from the sun. I am the last faerie, and there’s no place for me in a world without magic. I go to join the rest of my kind, in the place where shadows fall. Good-bye, everyone. It’s been fun.”

She blew Hawk a kiss and winked at Chance, and then shrank down to nothing and was gone.

“It’s started,” said Lament. “The world is changing.”

“Everything’s going to change,” Hawk pointed out. “Nothing will ever be the same again.”

“Sometimes that’s a good thing,” said Lament. “I’m going through changes myself. I am no longer the Walking Man; just a man now, as any other. No faster or stronger, and certainly not invulnerable anymore.”

“Don’t I know it,” said the Queen. “He stubbed his toe earlier, and you’d have thought he was dying.”

Lament looked at her fondly. “And to celebrate my newly restored humanity, I have chosen of my own free will to marry the woman I have loved for so many years. Felicity has agreed to be my wife. Which to my mind says more about my courage than my common sense, but I never could resist a challenge.”

“Oh, I’ll make you suffer for that later,” said Felicity, smiling.

“Hold everything,” said Fisher. “You mean you’re going to be King of the Forest?”

She looked quickly at Hawk, who was staring thoughtfully at Lament, but for the moment he had nothing to say.

“I will be King to Felicity’s Queen,” Lament answered carefully, “but we’re both really only Regents for Stephen, until he comes of age and takes the Throne for himself. And then the Forest and Hillsdown will join together, peacefully, uniting two long-sundered Lands into one, as they were originally. No more wars, no more border skirmishes, no more young men going off to die too soon.” Lament smiled. “I spent far too much time dreaming of heaven. I’m going to spend what’s left of my life trying to make some here on earth, for everyone.”

“This all seems rather sudden,” Fisher said.

“We’ve waited a long time for this,” said Queen Felicity. “God knows, if we hadn’t both been so damned stubborn we’d have done this long ago. Do you have any objections, Captain Hawk?”

“Not my place to make any,” Hawk said mildly. “I think you’ll make a good King, Jericho. You always did care more about other people than yourself. Just try to remember you’re not the Wrath of God anymore.”

“With magic leaving, the world will, I hope, become a quieter, saner place,” said Lament. “A world that will no longer need a Walking Man.”

And then everyone turned sharply as there was a loud growl to one side, but it was already too late to tell whether it had come from the Shaman or the Creature. The Shaman was glaring fiercely at Felicity and Lament, and hugging himself tightly, as though to keep from flying apart. His eyes were fierce and piercing behind the clay skull mask, but his lips were pressed tightly together. Disturbed by the Shaman’s anger, the Creature stirred restlessly at his side, showing his fangs and flexing his claws. His slow cunning eyes moved restlessly back and forth, searching for an enemy he could attack. But the Shaman said nothing, so everyone turned back again.

“You’ve done very well, Captains Hawk and Fisher,” said the Queen, finishing the last of her drink and tapping ash from the end of her cigarette. “You’ve saved the Forest Kingdom from another Blue Moon and changed the lives of everyone you’ve met. A shame you couldn’t find my late husband’s killer, but—”

“Oh, but we did,” said Hawk, and it suddenly went very quiet as everyone looked at him. “It really wasn’t that difficult to work out once we’d got all the distractions out of the way. There was only one person it could have been. Only one person with the means, the motive, and the opportunity. Only one man who could do such a terrible thing.” He turned to look at the Shaman. “Isn’t that right … King John?”