She puzzled over the thought, perplexed as she moved on to the next two lines which only added to her confusion. “How could you be large and small at the same time?” she lamented. “Or flat, sharp, and round all at once? And—” Felicity turned in a circle— “I looked all around and I still can’t answer the riddle. That does not make any sense.”
She glanced to the round mouth of the entrance. Was the sun sinking more quickly than usual?
“Okay, okay, Felicity” she murmured. “Don’t get flummoxed! It’s not good for thinking.”
Turning back to the stone she mulled over the bottom two lines which seemed to be one last hint about the name of whoever the poem described.
“As I grow old and older still, the smaller then, I grow.”
Felicity shook her head at this.
No creatures shrank as they got older. They all started out small and got bigger as time went on.
Felicity looked down at the rocky floor beneath her toes. She had a feeling that the answer should be obvious. That she ought to know it but that her mind couldn’t quite grasp it.
She returned in her memory to the story Augustus had read to her and the last riddle the small featherless two-foot had solved by accident. The answer had been completely different than anything he might have guessed on his own.
Felicity narrowed her eyes and lifted her face again to the riddle. Perhaps she needed to think a different way. She was imagining creatures the poem could be talking about. Of living folks. But what if the answer wasn’t a creature at all? What if it was a thing?
If it was a thing, that made sense. But how could it be different sizes and shapes all at the same time?
Felicity blinked and her eyes widened. What if the poem described more than one kind of this thing? That might explain why it could be different shapes at the same time and—
Felicity’s breath caught as she grasped onto the fragments of a thought. She grew still, fearing that if she moved, the fragile idea might be lost in the same way the weak shreds of a spider’s web could be blown away by the faintest breeze.
Her beak lifted and she studied the words of the riddle once more.
What thing, not creature but thing, was at the tops of the highest mountains and in the bottoms of the deepest caves? What was all sorts of sizes and shapes?
What thing got smaller as time went on, not bigger?
Felicity dropped her eyes to the rocky floor beneath her toes then looked around at the ragged grey walls and at last up at the poem carved into the doorway.
What could she see all around her? Right now?
A chirrup of laughter escaped her beak. Of course!
“You’re talking about yourself!” She flapped her wings in triumph. “You’re a rock!”
The echo of her voice had not even died away when the grating of stone grinding across stone filled the little cave. Felicity fluttered as the door scraped open on hinges she could not see, revealing a tunnel that led away into darkness.
She gulped hard. Ooh, if only Colin was with her. Or anyone to help her be brave.
As she stood on the threshold, her little heart throbbing, the door started to scrape over the floor again. But now it was closing!
Good gracious!
Felicity hopped across the threshold and into the long dim corridor.
Once inside, she turned and watched the sliver of daylight rapidly disappear. The stone door shut with a resounding thump and Felicity fluttered.
Only a thin ray of light made it in through some tiny crack high at the top of the door.
Felicity turned and gazed into the shadows.
“Oh dear,” she said and her voice echoed away into the fading darkness of the tunnel.
Chapter 10
Felicity hopped along the tunnel, listening to the beating of her heart. The little bit of light that squeezed in at the mouth of the tunnel had faded behind her. But as she continued deeper into the darkness and her eyes adjusted, a dim bluish glow began to illuminate the walls.
From its light she could just make out the rough contours of the cavern walls. In the darkness, the curving stone walls of the tunnel seemed like the throat of a giant monster. Felicity shivered.
The tunnel continued straight for several dozen hops before veering off to the left. The source of the dim light seemed to come from that direction.
Felicity drew in a breath, ruffled her wings, and continued in slow but steady hops toward the bend. Her throat grew dry as she went. She swallowed several times but it didn’t help much.
She lifted her eyes to the walls around her as she hopped along, cringing at a damp streak that oozed down the wall. Her feet hit a slippery patch but she fluttered her feathers to keep her balance and did not fall. This did nothing to rid her of the unpleasant idea she’d conjured up that she’d been swallowed. Neither did the complete silence that filled the tunnel.
Aside from her own breathing, and the soft sound of her feet on the stone floor, Felicity could hear nothing.
Rounding the bend in the tunnel didn’t show her anything but another bend several more hops away, this time curving off to the right.
How long did this tunnel go?
The faint blue light grew a little stronger as she hopped to the next bend.
Felicity’s stomach twisted in knots. Pulling all her courage in, Felicity peered around the corner.
This new length of tunnel went straight forward for about a dozen hops then widened into an open space where the blue glow was strongest.
Hopping as quietly as she could, she moved along the tunnel and stopped on the threshold.
Her beak gaped as Felicity took in the large cave that opened before her. A floor of smooth stone stretched across to rocky walls that rose so high, the weak blue light almost couldn’t reach the domed ceiling.
The light came from across the room where a ragged crack veined down the rocky wall from ceiling to floor. Where the wall met the floor, the break widened, making a small broken pocket of darkness in the base of the cracked wall. Up and down the ragged line of broken stone, something that looked moldy and dark grew out of the fissure, feeding off of the wetness that oozed out and bled darkly down the wall. And out of this damp gunk, a half dozen fat mushroom heads swelled, their plump bodies issuing a faint bluish glow.
The bioluminescence of the mushrooms glowed weak and pale. But as Felicity slowly turned her head, she realized that it still lit the room well enough to illuminate a hulking figure near the other wall.
In the gloomy light of the mushrooms, the sleeping creature looked morbidly headless, perched on a low rock that jutted a couple of inches from the floor. Felicity shuddered.
Behind the huge bird, a single mushroom grew within a little alcove indented into the wall. This mushroom glowed as well, exuding a sickly green light.
The effect of the green light washing one half of Grak while dismal blue light bathed the other half, added to Felicity’s fear and she found herself unable to move as dread froze the blood in her veins. Grak looked at least ten times bigger than she did, even without his head. The little alcove in the stone that held the glowing green mushroom rose high above Felicity’s head. But it barely reached Grak’s shoulder. He looked so big that if he spread out his wings, they would probably stretch clear across the cavern!
Forcing her eyes away from the terrifying bird she scanned the cave, wondering where the queen was.
She shifted her weight a little, and the faintest glimmer of— something— caught her eye. She turned her focus back to the mushroom covered wall to see a tiny metallic gleam in the shadows where the crack in the wall widened at the floor.
She narrowed her eyes and peered into the deep, shadowy space.
Hmm. Something was wedged back in there, almost out of sight, and as she studied it, the shape grew clearer.
Tiny wires, bent and dented, rose up from a round base, coming together in a dome. A little arching door sat at the base with a rusty hook latched through a twisted loop of met
al, locking the door in place.
Felicity’s forehead wrinkled in distaste as she recognized what was shoved back there in the wide, shadowy crack. And she hated the sight of it, as any proper bird would. A birdcage! A birdcage had been crammed into that miserable little space!
And inside the shadows of the cage— Oh, it was hard to see!
Felicity turned and looked across the room at the sleeping hawk. A drowsy snort from the huge bird made her jerk and flutter back. But Grak merely shifted his weight and continued sleeping, his body swelling and shrinking with each breath.
Good gracious. She did not want to cross the room with that hawk there, breathing in and out and looking for all the world like he had no head at all!
But then she looked back at the cage in the shadows again. Was that the queen inside? How long had she been here? Colin and his dad had not said. And Felicity hadn’t asked. Days? Weeks? Whatever it had been, the fairy queen had been in that birdcage way too long. Even if it had only been five minutes!
Puffing herself up, Felicity took a determined hop out of the passageway and into the large chamber. She looked over at the sleeping bird. Grak’s body swelled and shrank with his breathing.
Felicity turned her gaze back to the birdcage. She took another hop toward the cracked wall, then another. Drawing in a deep breath, she began to hop more quickly. She didn’t dare look over at the huge bird again or slow down for fear that she would lose heart. On she hopped toward the ragged opening.
As she got closer, the occupant of the birdcage grew clearer and hope jumped in Felicity’s heart.
A figure in a begrimed silver dress sat dejectedly upon a stone inside her prison of tarnished metal wires, long pale hair hiding her face.
Queen Lilia! Felicity had found her!
The little sparrow reached the mouth of the small tunnel, and hopped into the shadow.
Either the fairy queen didn’t hear Felicity or she didn’t care, but the fairy didn’t look up when the little sparrow stopped at the bars and peered in at her.
“Um, hi,” Felicity whispered.
The fairy’s head finally jerked up at the young sparrow’s voice. Bright eyes gazed at Felicity in uncertainty. Despite the pale, gaunt look on the lady’s face, Felicity could see the resemblance between Queen Lilia and Colin. Felicity’s beak drew up in a faint smile at this.
“A sparrow?” the fairy asked, rising shakily to her feet. “How— did you—?”
“Yes, um— hello. My name’s Felicity,” she whispered. “I’m here to rescue you.”
The queen tipped her head, the dull wistfulness fading a little from her face. Hesitant, she stepped toward the bars of the cage and grasped onto them. The fairy’s long, silver hair hung over one shoulder. It would have been pretty except for the dirt and grime streaked through it.
“Where is Taron?” she breathed. “Why didn’t he come himself?” Her eyes filled with fear, and her voice grew tight. “Is he hurt? Is he—”
“Heck no!” Felicity blurted. “He’s— um—” She paused, remembering the king’s injured arm.
She swallowed. “He’s okay.”
It wasn’t completely true, but he wasn’t dead. That was probably what the queen wanted to know.
“And my son?”
“Colin’s fine too,” Felicity said, looking away as she remembered her friend’s poor wings. “They’re both— they’re both alright. But Grak enchanted the trees at the border, and fairies can’t get past them. That’s why they sent me. They needed a bird who could read the riddle. And, oh, they wanted me to give you this.”
Felicity bowed down and the crystal necklace appeared out of her feathers. She bent her head and caught the crystal in her beak.
Speaking past the gem she said, “King Taron gabe me dis for you.”
The queen’s eyes became shiny with tears, even as she laughed a little. One hand lifted to cover her mouth. “May I have it?” she said, her voice quavering.
“Surbe,” Felicity mumbled, stepping to the bars. “Id’s yourbs, anybay.”
The queen reached a hand through the narrow space. Felicity released the crystal into the queen’s hand then bowed so that the chain could slide over her neck and off her head.
Queen Lilia pulled the necklace into the cage and held it close to her heart with both hands. The fairy seemed to be crying a little. But she managed to look up and give Felicity a brave but trembling smile.
“Thank you, brave sparrow. Thank you so much,” the queen said, her voice quivering.
“You’re welcome, um, ma’am,” Felicity said, realizing that she had no more idea how to address the queen of the fairies than she had the king. She shifted her wings. “Now, all I have to do is get you out.”
The queen heaved a sigh and her smile faded. “Escaping is not as easy as you might think.”
“That’s alright,” Felicity returned.
She hopped to the door where the rusty hook held it in place through the loop. It looked loose. It even jiggled a little when Felicity nudged the door.
“It’s just a rusty little hook.” She bent and took the hook in her beak. “I’ll hab you out ibm two—”
Though the hook seemed loose where it stuck through the loop of the door, it didn’t budge when she tried to pull it free.
Felicity let go and stepped back, studying the hook. It didn’t look very tight.
“Come on,” she muttered before she seized it again in her beak and gave a more forceful tug.
It did not move.
“It’s no use,” the queen explained. “It’s locked in place with magic.”
Felicity’s heart sank at these words while she spat out the taste of rusty metal.
She took an experimental peck at one of the tarnished bars. Despite being thin, the wire was strong and unbending. Augustus would have been strong enough to bend the wires back, she lamented silently.
Out loud she said, “There’s got to be a way to get you out.”
“There may be,” Queen Lilia said. “But I’m afraid it will be rather— difficult.”
The queen sighed, then pointed over at Grak. “Do you see that pattern of stones?”
Felicity turned and looked up at the gigantic sleeping bird bathed in eerie mushroom light.
“There. On the wall of the little hollow behind Grak,” the queen said. “Just above the green mushroom.”
Felicity saw it now. She had not noticed before, but on the back wall of the alcove where the green mushroom grew, a little square of nine small stones reflected the mushroom’s green light. Three small rows set one above the other.
“Oh. Yes,” she said.
“Sometimes, Grak has me clean his cave. When he lets me out, he pecks a pattern in those stones, and the door opens.”
“Those stones?” Felicity said with a shudder. “That’s the only way to let you out?”
With sad eyes the queen looked down at the crystal necklace she held in both hands. “I’m afraid so.”
Chapter 11
Determined to stay hopeful, Felicity shifted her weight and fluttered her wings. “And which stones did Grak push?”
Queen Lilia heaved a sigh.
“I only wish I knew,” she said. “He’s very careful to hide which stones he pecks. I’ve only seen him press the upper right one once. Then his back blocked the rest.”
Felicity’s head sagged.
If she possessed magical powers like the heroes in some of her books, she could wave her wand and open the queen’s cell. But she had neither wand nor magic. She didn’t even have a good pecking beak or strong talons like Augustus.
“But that would mean I would have to go over there, right there where Grak is, and fly up to that shelf,” Felicity whispered. “I have to go right past him!”
Queen Lilia’s hands tightened around the bars of her cage.
“It is terribly dangerous for you,” she said, her voice softening with sympathy. “Grak doesn’t seem to want to hurt me, other than keeping me prisoner. But
he would eat you if he caught you. I would not blame you if—”
“But he’ll keep you locked up the rest of your life if I don’t get you out,” Felicity said. “That’s about as bad.”
Felicity lifted her head, and saw the kindness and sympathy in the queen’s gaze. She remembered Colin’s face, and the king’s. She could not let them down.
“I’m going to get you out!”
Queen Lilia reached through the bars of her prison and touched Felicity on the wing. Just like the king had, and Colin. Her eyes delved into Felicity’s. “Be careful.”
Felicity smiled a little. “Okay.”
Turning toward the giant bird, the little sparrow drew in a deep breath.
And despite the dread that made her legs feel heavy and her stomach clench, she hopped out onto the floor of the cave.
She took a hop toward Grak.
Then another one.
Felicity’s throat grew drier the closer she hopped toward the enormous sleeping bird. But she did not let herself stop.
Grak seemed to swell in size as she drew nearer. And as she hopped closer, a smell began to waft through the air.
It was a harsh, wild smell.
And it scared her.
In spite of her fear, Felicity forced her feet to keep hopping.
The huge bird did not move except for the steady rise and fall of his breath. But this did not help her feel any better.
At last she found herself at his feet staring up at his seemingly headless body. A giant monolith washed in pale blue light on one side and weak green light on the other.
A single molted feather, dirty grey, lay on the stone floor at his feet.
Felicity gaped at its size.
Just one of his feathers was longer than her whole body!
And more frightening than the size of his feather, Grak’s talons looked large enough to curl clear around her. Twice! The hawk’s sharp claws glimmered wickedly in the pale light of the mushrooms where they gripped the stone perch that stuck up from the floor.
The huge bird’s harsh scent filled her nostrils, stiffening Felicity’s limbs into bits of wood.
“Felicity Sparrow!” the fairy queen hissed behind her. “Don’t let him frighten you!”