Free In The Coils Of The Snake by Clare B. Dunkle Page A

Five
    “Goblin King,”
said Seylin, catching up to Catspaw, “let me tell Miranda.” He glanced down at the silent elf bride. She had her eyes tightly shut, and she kept stumbling.
After a minute, Catspaw picked her up and continued walking. Her head
dropped onto his shoulder as if she were asleep.
    “No,”
replied Marak Catspaw in a low voice. “Seylin, I’ll tell her
myself It’s only fair,” he added bleakly.
    “Nothing’s
ever fair about the goblin King’s Bride,” commented Seylin,
“not even when we think it’s going to be. But you did the right thing.
Such a King she’ll give us!” He remembered Kate’s dreadful homesickness when he was a boy. “She’ll settle in,”
he said encouragingly.
    “Poor little
elf,” growled the goblin King. “Completely abandoned! I can’t
understand how he could simply hand her over like that. I would never do that to one of my people,” he added,
pleased to have another reason to despise the elf lord.
    “You wouldn’t
have much need to do it,” observed Seylin. “I don’t think the elves
are interested in a goblin bride. You’re sure about talking to Miranda? There’s
nothing to be gained by it, and there are
some things to lose. She’s bound to be distraught, but she’ll calm down
after a few days. And you’ll be facing enough hysteria tonight.”
    They came to the
cliff face and walked through into the underground kingdom. Seylin glanced curiously at
the quiet elf. She had missed her
last look at the stars.
    “I
know I will,” sighed Marak Catspaw as they walked down the polished black corridor. “I’m going to leave
Arianna in the King’s Bride chamber
with Mother while I talk to Miranda. She won’t be afraid of her, they’re both elves.
The door will be locked, and Mother can
join the women in the inner room if Arianna panics and tries spells. She
could certainly do it, with such impressive magic,” he added admiringly.
    “I’m
not so sure she could,” Seylin mused as they walked past the great
iron door. When it clanged shut behind her, Arianna shivered in Catspaw’s arms, but she still didn’t open her
eyes. “This girl’s not reacting like any bride I’ve ever read of.
She’s not fighting at all. I don’t know why not,” Seylin concluded with a
puzzled frown.
    “I
think she’s being brave,” said the goblin King complacently as they
passed the lovely grove of slender metal saplings. Sometimes Seylin still sounded like the tutor he had been. “Adviser,
I want you to go wake up Miranda and bring her to the blue throne-room antecham ber.
But don’t tell her anything about tonight, and that’s an order.”
    “All right,”
said Seylin. “Goblin King, please don’t make any promises to Miranda. And that’s a request,” he murmured gloomily.
    • • •
    Miranda paced the
small room nervously, waiting for Catspaw to arrive.
The King must have come home early from the dwarf mines and decided to hold the marriage right away. She
felt a little anxious at the thought
of the bloody ceremony, but a King’s Wife needed to be strong, so she
gave Catspaw a bright, unworried smile when he finally came into the room.
    The goblin King
stopped at the sight of that smile and just looked
at her for a minute. He realized how deeply attached to her he had become. She was so lively and interesting, so
proud and sophis ticated. They would have been very happy.
    Miranda’s
smile faded as he stood and stared at her. “What’s the matter?” she asked, nervous again. “Has
something happened? Is the ceremony tonight?”
    “Yes,”
replied Marak Catspaw. “Yes to both questions. The cer emony
is tonight, and something has happened.” He paused, but there was no point in pausing, so he went on
again. “Miranda, I can’t marry you,” he said. “I have to
marry someone else.”
    Miranda
stood there, completely stunned, her face turning white. Catspaw
tried to think of something to say that would make her understand. He had done the