In The Coils Of The Snake by Clare B. Dunkle Read Free Book Online Page B

him.
    “Blue. Gray.
Green. Blue. Green,” he enunciated carefully.
    “It
doesn’t sound as if they are from the nobility,” said the goblin King.
“I reserve the right to take any female child, even a baby.”
    “To keep like a
penned sheep,” retorted the elf lord angrily. “Then I demand a right
as well. I want to see the elves you already have penned up. I need to see for
myself that these women are not mistreated
before I let another one fall into your hands.” He glanced down at the
goblin King’s hands as he spoke, saw the great paw, and looked away with
a grimace.
    “Very well,”
replied Marak Catspaw. “When will we meet?”
    “I can return
with my band in six nights,” replied the elf. “We will be here on the
night of the new moon.”
    “Then I wish
you a safe journey,” concluded the goblin King. He turned and left the truce circle. As he and his lieutenants reached the outer ring of
trees, he glanced down at his chief adviser. Follow him, he told Seylin
in his thoughts.
    Seylin
gave the barest of nods and dropped behind as they walked
into the forest, assuming his cat shape and cloaking himself in shadow. He
waited a prudent amount of time and then crept through the forest to the other side of the circle. The elf was already gone.
Seylin hissed the Tracking Spell. Now he could see the elf lord’s footprints,
bright against the dark grass, only a few minutes old. Seylin didn’t follow
them directly; this elf might be watching for him. Instead, he slunk on his
belly within sight of those prints, keeping to the thickest shade under the trees.
    In
the morning, he woke up and stretched luxuriously from head to
toe. He was very stiff. Stiff and cold. He had fallen asleep out in the woods.
Seylin glanced down, a little confused. He had fallen asleep as a cat!
    He jumped and
sputtered as memory broke in on him. The elf lord! The tracks! What had gone
wrong? Fluffy tail drooping, he looked around. The great trees of the truce
circle towered behind him. The elf had stopped him before he had gone thirty
feet.
    • • •
    As Miranda came into
the royal rooms to accompany Catspaw to breakfast, she could hear Seylin
speaking loudly and a little frantic ally. Not
just any lord, either,” he was protesting. “I’m telling you, goblin King, he’s one of the great elf
lords, a descendent of the elf King’s own lieutenants!”
    “Maybe;”
Catspaw answered, unruffled and a little amused. “But you should tear yourself away from your books, adviser,
and practice your spells a little more. Great elf lord or not, you
gave yourself away.”
    Miranda
put her head in at the door, and the two men looked up, startled.
The Guard, knowing that she would be the King’s Wife in a week, didn’t bother
to announce her anymore.
    “Who is a great elf lord?” she asked. There
was a slight pause.
    “An
elf has turned up,” replied the goblin King. “But don’t mention it to
anyone, Miranda. It shouldn’t be known.”
    “Of
course not,” she said with a smile. “Are you ready for breakfast?”
There was another slight pause.
    “No.
I don’t have time,” answered Catspaw. “Go without me.” So Miranda went on her way. She was feeling
cheerful this morn ing. A great elf
lord, she thought idly. She liked the sound of that. The men watched the
door shut. Then they stared at it for a few seconds.
    “For pity’s
sake, Seylin!” exclaimed the goblin King. “What do I do about
Miranda? I don’t want to marry some wailing elf girl. I want to marry her!”
    “I’m fond of
her, too,” agreed Seylin bleakly. “But the King has to think of his people, and you know what an elf
bride means for the magic of the Heir.”
    “I’ll tell you
this, I refuse to give her up for some commonplace elf,” threatened Catspaw. “Not for anything less than a lord’s
daugh ter.” He sighed. “But
I suppose we have to plan for that possibility.”
    “She
will still be a strong human bride,” noted Seylin.