Midwinter Mischief: A Variation of Emma Volume 2 by Nina Clare

Author:Nina Clare [Clare, Nina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction / Fantasy, Z-Library, fairy tales, Emma - Jane Austen
ISBN: 9798679034624
Google: 5UIdzgEACAAJ
Goodreads: 54504045
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: 2020-07-14T04:00:00+00:00

13

The Fair Lady

The winged chariot alighted in a courtyard of pearl.

Rue slid from her mount, feeling exhilarated from the flight, and wishing she could fly again – fly across all of Faerie, and then across all the mortal world!

She knew exactly where she was, there could be no mistaking the spires of green stone she had passed over – it was the Green Lady’s palace.

When the first few moments of bedazzlement passed, she remembered the sick dragon, and her shining eyes looked for him to see how he fared. A team of worker elves had sped to the sleigh, bundling the dragon away in a sling. Rue moved to follow, but someone blocked her way.

‘Follow me,’ said the fairy who had brought her from the woods. The cloud she moved in shimmered and stretched and where there had been a ball of light, now stood an elf. She was not like any elf Rue had seen in Highbury; she had a height and grandeur about her that marked her out as an elf of high-standing. She wore a gown of pale green, and a emerald pendant.

‘Will it be well?’ Rue asked the elf, casting a look over her shoulder at the dragon being borne away. It looked dreadfully limp. She would have thought it was dead if she’d not heard it groan as they lifted it down.

The elf did not answer. Rue hurried after her, for she moved quickly; Rue wished she didn’t. She would have liked to look about her and take in the beautiful surroundings. She caught glimpses of gardens through archways, and views of fountains and trees and flowers unlike anything seen in England.

They passed through pearl doors and into a hall so high and cavernous it made Rue feel dizzy to look up. They sped through hallways and rooms with jewel-like walls, where coloured light flooded the rooms, each colour having a different meaning and mood, as though the light and colour spoke things.

The swift walk ended in a throne room. The Green Lady was waiting.

Rue knew she had never properly seen the colour green before until she met the Green Lady. She certainly had never understood the colour green before. Being bathed in green light, as it radiated from the throne and saturated the room, was strange and beautiful at the same time.

Green was life. It was growth; it was faithful and active and yet it was also restful. Rue felt all her restlessness ebb away. In that moment she saw that all her impatient energy was a kind of dissatisfaction, a searching for something that she could never find. Something elusive, something like this. A search for the life inside of things. She felt calm and content as she waited before the throne. She did not strain after anything new, did not wish for anything bigger or brighter or better. A pinch to her arm jolted her out of her tranquil state.

‘Ow! What was that—?’

‘Bow before our lady!’ hissed the elf.

Rue mumbled a ‘Sorry,’ and made a clumsy bow.

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