The soldiers- if that’s what they were- took them up a set of neatly-paved paths tp the top of the nearest hill.  They seemed to be heading towards a building in the distance, a big farmhouse made out of brown bricks and wood.

Kai sat in Sally’s ear and whispered.  “So, I just realised I haven’t talked in front of them yet.  They probably think I’m a pet, if they’ve noticed me at all.”

“Right,” whispered Sally.  She was glad he was there.  Her chest was beginning to feel tight.

“Don’t mention me until we work out what the situation is, yeah?  You might need me as a secret weapon.”

“Do you think this lot are working for the Iridescences?”

She felt Kai shake his head.  “No.  You’d know them if you saw them.  This lot are from somewhere else.”

Which meant they had no idea what was going on.  Which meant anything could happen, no matter how terrible.

They reached the house.  Close-up, even the windows looked brown.  The rest of the group stopped while the soldier in the lead (the one who’d spoken earlier) walked up the driveway and knocked on the door.

A woman in a black dress answered.  She had the same golden hair and white skin as the soldiers.  “Yes?”

“We need to see High Priest Tavin,” the soldier told her.

She closed the door, and for a couple of minutes, nothing happened.  Sally looked around at the driveway.  It was surrounded by a short brick wall (brown bricks) with heathery bushes on top that blocked it from anyone standing outside.  Sally wondered what it was for.  Did they have cars here, or horses? 

And are we going to live long enough to find out? she tried not to think,

The door opened again.  “High Priest Tavin would see you in the board room.  Follow me.”  The woman in the black dress walked off down the hall, and the soldiers pushed Sally and her sisters to follow.

It was dark in there.  There were no windows, just little blue lights on the walls that looked a bit like weird candles.  There was a dusty, sandy smell as they walked through the hallway, but Sally couldn’t see anything.

They ended up in a big room that wasn’t much better lit than the hallway.  Sally thought it looked a bit like a library, but she couldn’t be sure.  A man (with curly blond hair and pale skin) sat at a desk, while another man (ditto) stood around in fancy riding clothes, trying to look important.

The head soldier bowed his head to the riding-clothes guy.  “High Priest.  We picked up these trespassers around the fringes.”

The High Priest didn’t respond to this.  He just gave Sally and her sisters a dirty look and said, “State your names.”

Rube cleared her throat.  “I’m Ruby Warbeck, and Sally and Jeanette are my sisters.  We’re in…”

“And what are you doing in Kindling Grove?”

We have a name! thought Sally, and almost burst out laughing with sheer nervousness. 

If she had, it might have distracted Rube from how nervous she was.  “Well, um…  Do you know Colwyn Ballantine?  He’s our uncle, and he’s been…”

The High Priest snorted.  “Oh, this is a mission in the name of Dovecote Gardens, is it?”

Rube didn’t seem to know what to make of that.  “Um…  I guess?  He’s been…”

“Dovecote Gardens.”  He made a noise with his teeth.  “I have the greatest respect for the owners of Dovecote Gardens.”

Sally relaxed a bit.

“They were noble.  And wise.  And completely lost to history.”

Rube made a funny, wounded noise.  “What do you mean?”

“Don’t try to tell me you’re from Dovecote Gardens.”  He took a couple of steps towards Rube so he could stand over her threateningly.  “You may have been there, but you’ll never understand it.”

“OK, but…”

The guy writing at the desk tutted, and turned to the High Priest.  “I hate it when chancers come through here claiming to be the owners.  I bet if the real owners could see some of the people claiming to be them now, they’d be horrified.”

The High Priest gave him a quick nod, and turned back to Rube.  “I just need to look into your eyes, and I can tell.  Dull,” he pronounced.  And he turned to the lead soldier.  “Take them to the cells.”

(To be continued)

After they’d been walking for half an hour, they came across a wide green meadow at the foot of some hills, and Rube told everyone that this would be a good place to stop for lunch.  Sally couldn’t believe it was only just lunchtime.  They hadn’t even spent a whole day here yet.  And after this one, there would be thirty-three or thirty-four just as long.

Sally and her sisters had crusty baguettes stuffed with sliced cheese (which tasted nice but tended to slice up your gums if you weren’t careful), while Kai got a container of fruit salad that Rube had found at the bottom of the bag.  He’d just finished a bit of pineapple when Rube started asking him questions.

“Kai, do you remember much about the day the Iridescence family kidnapped you?”  She’d finished her sandwich, and now her hands were clasped in her lap, fidgeting a bit.

Kai shrugged.  His wings twitched whenever he did that.  “Oh, bits and pieces…  I remember thinking my parents were right behind me, until they weren’t…”

“Right,” said Rube, sounding as if she was being strangled.

“Next thing you know, I’m in a city.  Just like that.  The bushes parted, and suddenly there was silver and neon everywhere.  And then there was something, at first I thought it was a tree…”  He made a movement as if he was trying to click his fingers.  “You know how the Opal City guys can combine, right?”

Sally almost rolled her eyes.  Of course they didn’t!

“We haven’t met any of them yet, remember?” said Jeanette.

“Well,” said Kai, “Their thing is that hey can join up into a weird pod with their siblings.  So, mothers in their world usually give birth to five or six children at once, like litters of puppies or kittens, and all the children who are born at the same time can form into a pod together.  It’s supposed to be for protection or something, but its been a long time since they’ve actually had anything to protect themselves from, so…”

Rube interrupted.  “So the tree you saw, was that actually the Iridescence family combined?”

“Oh,” said Kai, stopped in mid-flow, “No, actually but I think it was one of their friends.”  He went quiet for a few seconds.  “Anyway, it wasn’t long after that that I ended up in the Iridescence folks’… villa?  Chateau?  What would you call it?  It’s made out of fancy white stone…”

Rube fidgeted again.  “When do you think you lost track of…”

And that was when a group of strangers appeared from behind the nearest hill.

They were wearing red uniforms that made Sally think of the “Nutcracker” film she’d seen once at Christmas, but that was the most ordinary thing about them.  They looked as if they were made out of china and gold- that was how pale and blonde they were.  Their hair was piled up on their heads in delicate little ringlets, like chain links on a necklace.

As they approached Sally and her sisters, their leader drew a sword.  “You need to come with us,” he said.

(To be continued)

As soon as they’d explained what had happened, Kai was adamant- he wanted to come with them.

“But you’re safe here!” protested Sleet.

“Colwyn’s not!  The whole reason they took him prisoner is that they think he helped me escape!”

“He wanted you to escape!  He’d want you to stay here!”  Sleet looked at Jeanette and her sisters as if asking them to confirm it, but the horse’s head hadn’t said anything about what he wanted Kai to do, so they were out of luck.

Rube tried anyway.  “Kai, we’ll get him back.  Don’t worry.”

“But I know the area!”  Kai waved his furry front legs in frustration.  “I broke out-I can help you break back in!”

“But it’ll be horrible for you,” said Rube.  She was crouched down so that her face was level with Sally’s shoulder and she could (sort of) look Kai in the eye.  “You only just got away from them- you need some time to rest.”

“I’m rested!  Trust me!”

Jeanette found herself listening closely to Kai’s voice, trying to work out how old he was and what he might look like if he was still human-shaped.  There had been a little high-pitched crackle on the vowels there that made him sound like a musician.  A guy about Rube’s age with a wide-eyed, slightly craggy face.  “If he wants to help us, I think we should let him,” she said.

Sleet gave her a wounded look.  “But he’s still recovering!”

Jeanette looked over at Kai, who seemed to have made himself comfortable where he was.  “Well… he can recover on Sally’s shoulder, right?”

“Not if he’s going back to Opal Hill!”

Kai decided to cut in.  “You said yourself, the council are useless!  What if they won’t help?  What are Sally and the others supposed to do then?”

“Of course they’ll help!” snapped Sleet, “It’s Colwyn!”

“You don’t know that!  It’s never happened before!”

Sleet went quiet.  It was hard to tell whether or not a face had gone pale when it was already grey, but Jeanette thought theirs had.

Sally looked at Kai, and then at Sleet.  “If he does come, we’ll take care of him,” she said, a little meekly.

Rube gave Sleet an apologetic look.   “I guess… he’ll be safer in a group, right?”

Sleet made a noise- a kind of defeated growl that Jeanette had sometimes heard from her mum (usually when she was on the phone to Dad).  “I don’t like this.”  They paused for just long enough for Jeanette to think of a response, then added, “Look, Kai, if you change your mind… if any of you change your mind… just come back here.”  They pointed to the pool behind them.  “You’re always safe here.  That’s a promise.”

It was impossible to know for sure, but Kai definitely looked as if he was smiling.

(To be continued)

(I am heartily sorry that I took so long to write this chapter. Next one will be quicker, honest.)

*

This time, they got to approach Wallfruit Cove at a leisurely pace, not tearing ahead in a fit of worry about a missing sister.  That meant that Rube noticed the way the trees changed as they went on.  Around a certain corner, you went from knotty, bent old oak trees to something stiff and aromatic, covered in dense ferns and lianas.  It was like crossing from the part of the zoo with the penguins to the part with the tigers.

Rube had found that it made things easier to concentrate on one thing at a time.  If she thought about the trees, then she wouldn’t have to worry about running into Dad when they crossed from Wallfruit Cove to Opal Hill.  If she thought about running into Dad, then she wouldn’t have to worry about what they were meant to do when they got to Opal Hill.  If she thought about Opal Hill, then she didn’t have to think about everything she’d learned this morning.

They rounded another corner, and the pools opened up before them.  Cool and blue and tempting, but full of strange people.  She’d only seen Sleet and Comet up close, but she’d seen grey and green, and she thought she’d seen markings like the suckers an octopus had on the underside of its tentacles.  You had to take things a little bit at a time.

Sleet saw them coming, and splashed their way out of the pool they were in.  They looked as if they were trying to run through syrup.  “You came back!” they cried, waving their arms (with definite sucker-marks) in the air, “I thought you weren’t coming back ‘til tomorrow?”

“We got in touch with Colwyn,” said Rube.  (And never mind how, she thought.)  “The Iridescence family thought that he helped Kai escape, so they’re holding him prisoner.”

Sleet’s mouth fell open.  (Rube tried not to look at what was in there instead of a tongue.)  “They can’t do that!”

Rube wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say to that.  She ended up just staring blankly.

“They’ve always been…”  Sleet shook their head.  “But this?  Kidnapping Colwyn?  We need him!  They can’t do that!”

“Well, they did,” said Jeanette, sounding a little impatient, “So…”

Rube spoke quickly, to pre-empt Sleet taking offence.  “We’re going to go to Opal Hill and get him back.  Do you think the council will listen to us if we talk to them?  I know you said they…”

“They’ll have to!” said Sleet, “How are we supposed to…?”

Just then, a little shadow appeared on Sally’s shoulder.  “What’s going on?” asked Kai.

(To be continued)

(A lot sooner this time)

The horse’s head was talking.  Every minute, Jeanette had to remind herself not to freak out about that.

“I think people must have known that this place existed for thousands of years.  There’s evidence, you see- local stories about what you should do if you found yourself lost on the paths. But people preferred to stay away from it.  The first people to build on this site arrived around two hundred years ago.  I don’t know much about them.  I don’t know if they planned to be in the middle of the paths and find out as much as they could about them, or if they just found an empty space to build on and got more than they bargained for.  But that was the start of what is now Dovecote Gardens.  It was another hundred years before it was called that, though.

“There’s an old folk tale you might have heard at some point.  An elderly midwife is called out in the middle of the night to deliver a baby.  She is taken to a mysterious grove, and it gradually becomes clear that the expectant parents aren’t human.  The midwife is shocked, but remains professional and successfully delivers the baby, earning the parents’ eternal gratitude.  Something similar happened here, two hundred years ago, but I don’t think it involved delivering a baby.  I think it was more to do with communication.”

They had a plan.  They’d pack some lunch, some toiletries and a couple of changes of clothes, and then they’d go off to Wallfruit Cove to tell Kai what was going on.  After that, on to Opal Hill to break Colwyn out of prison.  Somehow.  Supposedly, this information he was giving them was going to help, but Jeanette couldn’t see how.

“You see, the people of the paths- there really isn’t any other collective term for them- they can’t visit each other.  They can come to our world, if they want to, but they can’t go to each other’s.  Dovecote Gardens is the hub- if they want to pass on a message to each other, they have to go through us.”

“Which is why Sleet and Comet couldn’t do anything about the Iridescence family, right?” asked Rube.

“Sleet from Wallfruit Cove?  Yes, exactly.  All they could do was offer Kai shelter when he got there.”

“Why do they need to pass on messages?” asked Rube, “What kind of thing do they talk about?”

The horse’s head raised its chin for a moment, then looked back down at Rube.  “They exchange knowledge.  That’s the only thing they can exchange, you see.  They can’t trade with each other, and they definitely can’t declare war on each other, so they’ve got no choice but to be interested in each other’s point of view.”

“They probably could trade with each other,” said Jeanette, “They’d just have had to go through you.”

“That would be a lot of trust to put in one person.  And far too much work for me.”  The horse… smiled?  It was hard to tell.  “I’m their messenger.  Their ambassador to each other, I suppose.  The job comes with the house.”

Something occurred to Rube.  “If Mum grew up here, then she’d have known about all this, right?”

“She did,” said the horse, “That’s how she knew you’d be safe here.”

“Kai wasn’t,” said Jeanette.  The words seemed to come out on their own, without consulting her first.

Rube gave her a pointed look, but the horse just looked sad.  “Kai’s parents didn’t know where to look,” he told them, “I would have.”

“Then why didn’t you look for him at the time?  When he first went missing?”

The horse… shrugged?  Its neck seemed to go up and down, anyway.  “I didn’t know,” he said, “I didn’t know anything about him until two weeks ago.  His parents never reported him missing.”

(To be continued)