Free Wolf Notes and Other Musical Mishaps by Lari Don Page B

trees. “I found Sapphire but lost you! How dare you leave me alone in the middle of a spell?”
    “I had to stop them ripping each other apart, Lavender!”
    Sylvie, flickering between wolf and girl, spoke in bursts of snarls and words. “Let me rip … hrrrr … coward … hrrrr … stop me? … oooowwww … protect you, girl … hrrrrr… skulking hiding traitor…”
    “I had to hide in the trees to keep our teamwork secret from the Queen, Sylvie.” Lee slid his sword back in its scabbard. “I had to keep you hidden too, even if it was at sword-point. Helen didn’t need protection, did she? She fed the boy, she got back safely. Mission accomplished.” He smiled around at everyone, trying to spread calm and happiness.
    Lavender said sourly, “ That mission is accomplished . The next one might be trickier.”
    Lee looked at Helen. “What next mission?”
    “I … em … I agreed to get the Fairy Flag from Dunvegan Castle by tomorrow night in exchange for James.”
    “And …?” prompted Lavender.
    “And … em … and if I don’t succeed, then I promised to provide music for the Queen’s midsummer revels.”
    Sylvie and Lee looked at each other, united for the first time in horror at what Helen had done.
    Helen leapt to her own defence, because it didn’t look like anyone else would. “What else could I have done? I had to save James! She would have fed him faery food, if I hadn’t agreed.”
    Lee allowed exasperation to show past his usualcharm. “I warned you not to say anything you didn’t mean! ”
    “I didn’t say anything I didn’t mean! I do mean to get the flag … and I do mean to save the boy.”
    Sylvie looked at her through narrowed eyes. “You are either enchanted by her, or too full of your own abilities. You have done a very stupid thing, human child.”
     
    Helen barely noticed the trees and flowers as Lee led them back. Was her bargain with the Queen really that stupid? It hadn’t felt stupid. It had felt brave and clever. But no one had congratulated her on her courage and quick thinking.
    When they stumbled into the beech tree clearing, Yann and Sapphire were playing ‘dagger paper stone’ by the campfire.
    Yann leapt cheerfully to his hooves. “That didn’t take too long! Will we have to do the same tomorrow night?”
    “Not quite,” said Helen.
    He raised his eyebrows.
    “Tomorrow night we need to bring her the Fairy Flag.”
    “The Fairy Flag?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “From Dunvegan Castle?”
    “Mm-hmm.”
    Yann’s voice was deep and cavernous. “Why did you agree to that?”
    “Because it was the only way to save James!”
    “And if you fail to bring her the flag? What’s the forfeit? With the faeries, there’s always a forfeit.”
    “If I fail, I have to provide music at midsummer.”
    Yann swung away from her, his hooves drumming on the dry ground.
    “We can do it, Yann! Dunvegan is a tourist attraction, not a bank vault. The flag is a bit of fabric, not the crown jewels. Lavender and Lee can do magic, you and Sapphire are fast and strong, and Sylvie … well, Sylvie’s pretty scary. How hard can it be to get the Fairy Flag?”
    Yann spun round to face her. “If it was easy to steal the Fairy Flag, human child, then the MacLeods wouldn’t have kept it for hundreds of years.”
    “Well, I’m sorry!” Helen yelled back. “As the alternative was a little boy never seeing his family again, I thought I did the right thing.”
    “The right thing for whom, girl?” demanded Sylvie. “For your people, for this forest, or for your own ambition?”
    Yann turned on Lee. “You understand the dangers of faery bargains. If you are on our side, why did you let her agree?”
    “He ran away,” said Sylvie. “As soon as the faeries appeared, he was off like a rabbit down a hole.”
    “And did you change and chase him, because you can’t resist running prey, wolf girl?” Yann asked. “Or did you stay and help Helen?”
    “Once I’d caught up with him, I did