Chimes at Midnight

“I do not believe Duke Torquill and I will be friends any time in the near future,” said Tybalt. “Still, he did not eject me on sight, and I did not gut him, so we can both be said to have shown admirable restraint. He is on his way, along with those of his fiefdom who are willing to make an active stand against the Queen. He said they would take an alternate route, and that you would know it.”


I stared. “He’s getting Luna to open a Rose Road.” Sylvester’s wife, Luna, was a Blodynbryd—sort of a Dryad who was connected to fields of roses, rather than a single tree. Maybe because she was the daughter of two Firstborn, or maybe because she was old enough to have access to some pretty unusual magic, she knew how to open the Rose Roads, one of the old paths that ran through Faerie like roots through soil. But those roads had their costs, and she’d never opened a Rose Road for more than two people at once in all the time I’d known her.

Tybalt nodded. “They should be arriving shortly.”

“And the forces from Goldengreen?”

“Already on their way.”

I looked across the receiving room to where Arden was pulling down more cobwebs, revealing hand-carved redwood bas-reliefs all along the walls. “We’re really going to do this. We’re going to put this girl in charge of a Kingdom.”

“Are you having second thoughts?” Tybalt finally moved, ignoring the grime that covered every visible inch of me as he walked over and put his arms around my waist. I relaxed into his embrace, wishing more than anything that I could smell the hot pennyroyal of his magic. I hadn’t realized how much I would miss it until it was gone.

And that was why I couldn’t be having second thoughts. I shook my head. “No. We’re past that now.”

“Good. My cats are outside. They won’t engage the Queen’s forces unless they are challenged; if they are, they’ll win.” It wasn’t a boast. Tybalt was telling the truth as he saw it.

“Okay.” I pulled away, gesturing for him to follow as I made my way across the receiving room toward May and Danny.

My Fetch had solved the problem of height by climbing onto Danny’s shoulders, and was wielding her redwood branch with a gleeful violence that sent sheets of dust and cobwebs cascading down onto them. The floor, which hadn’t been exactly clean when she started, was rapidly turning an undifferentiated shade of ashy gray. She stopped when she saw us approach, although I’m not sure how she saw anything through that mess.

“Is it time?” she asked, passing her redwood branch down to Danny.

“Soon,” I said.

“Okay.” She slid back down to the floor, tucking her dirty hair behind her ears with one hand as she walked toward us. “Hey, Tybalt. How do you like the place?”

“It’s charming,” he said blandly.

“Don’t listen to him,” I said. “The Court of Cats is just as bad.”

“Sweet Oberon, will you look at this place?” The question was asked in a tone of shrill delight, like the speaker couldn’t imagine her luck. All four of us turned to see Melly and Ormond in the entryway, mops in their hands and blissful expressions on their faces.

I blinked. “Tybalt, you told Sylvester we’d need more than just the Hobs, didn’t you?”

“I did,” he said, sounding as bemused as I felt.

Meanwhile, Melly had spotted us. Beaming, she trotted across the dirty floor and seized my hands before I had a chance to step away. “Isn’t this just the finest of all fine messes?” she asked. “Oh, October, it’s beautiful, and you’ll see, we’ll have it all shipshape in no time!”