“Then it is done.” Grimalkin nodded and leaped off the bucket, landing in a patch of weeds surrounded by mud. “Let us go. We waste time dall ying here.”
Puck blinked. “What, just like that? You’re not going to tell the old chicken plucker you’re leaving?”
“She already knows,” Grimalkin said, picking his way across the yard.
“And incidentally, ‘the old chicken pluckerld ce can hear every word you say, so I suggest we hurry. After she is done with the fowl, she intends to come after you as well.” He reached the fence and leaped up on it, somehow balancing himself on a crooked skull, peering back with glowing yellow eyes. “You did not think she would let you go so easily, did you?” he asked.
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“We have until nightfal to be clear of the marsh, before she comes riding after us with all of hell close behind her. So let us pick up the pace, hmm?”
Puck shot me a sideways look, grinning feebly. “Er. Never a dull moment, huh, ice-boy?”
“I’m going to kill you one day,” I told him as we hurried after Grimalkin, back into the swampy marshland. It was not an idle threat.
Puck just laughed. “Yeah. You and everyone else, prince. Join the club.”
CHAPTER TWO
OLD NIGHTMARES
Our exit from the Bone Marsh was far more harrowing than our journey to find the witch. True to Grimalkin’s prediction, as the sun sank beneath the western horizon, a mad howl arose, seeming to echo from the swamp itself. A shudder passed through the land, and a sudden wind stole the late afternoon warmth.
“Perhaps we should move faster,” Grimalkin said, and bounded into the undergrowth, but I stopped and turned to face the howling wind, drawing my sword. The breeze, smelling of rot, stagnant water and blood, whipped at my face, but I held my blade loosely at my side and waited.
“Oy, prince.” Puck circled back, frowning. “What are you doing? If you didn’t know already, the old chicken plucker is on her way, and she’s gunning for Winter and Summer stew.”
“Let her come.” I was Ashal ayn’darkmyr Tall yn, son of Mab, former prince of the Unseelie Court, and I was not afraid of a witch on a broom.
“I would advise against that,” Grimalkin said, somewhere in the bushes. “These are her lands, after all, and she will be a formidable opponent should you insist on fighting her here. The wiser course of action is to f lee to the edge of the swamp. She will not follow us there.
That is where I will be, should you decide to come to your senses. I will 16/387
not waste time watching you fight a completely useless battle based on ridiculous pride.”
“Come on, Ash,” Puck said, edging away. “We can play with extremely powerful witches some other time. Furbal might disappear, and I do not want to tromp all over the Nevernever looking for him again.” I glared at Puck, who shot me an arrogant grin and hurried after the cat. Sheathing my weapon, I sprinted after them, and soon the Bone Marsh was a blur of malachite moss and bleached bone. A cackling scream rang out somewhere behind us, and I leaned forward, adding speed and cursing all Summer fey under my breath.
We ran for an hour or more, the cackle of our pursuer never seeming to gain, but never falling behind. Then the ground began to firm under my feet, the trees slowly gaining breadth and height. The air changed as well, losing the acrid odor of the bog and turning to something sweeter, though mixed with the faintest hint of decay.
I caught sight of a gray still ness in one of the trees and skidded to a halt, so suddenly that Puck slammed into me. I turned with the impact and gave a little push. “Oy!” Puck yelped as he careened off and landed in an ungraceful sprawl. I smirked and stepped around him, dodging easily as he tried to trip me.
“Now is not the time for playing,” Grimalkin said from his perch, watching us disdainfully. “The witch will not follow us here. Now is the time for resting.” Turning his back on us, he leaped higher into the branches and disappeared from sight.
Settling against a trunk, I pulled my sword and laid it across my knees, leaning back with a sigh. Step one, complete. We’d found Grimalkin, a task harder than I’d thought it could be. The next task would be to find this seer, and then…
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I sighed. Then everything became fuzzy. There was no clear path after finding the seer. I didng th"t know what would be required of me, what I would have to do to become mortal. Perhaps it would be painful. Perhaps I would have to offer something, sacrifice something, though I didn’t know what I could offer anymore, beyond my own existence.
Narrowing my eyes, I shut those thoughts away. It didn’t matter. I would do whatever it took.