The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making - Catherynne M. Valente [14]
But a machinist’s daughter can be shrewd and practical. And can’t there be snow and enemies and red lanterns and somersaults? And at least one mushroom ring? That would be the best thing, really, if she can manage it.
There must be blood, the girl thought. There must always be blood. The Green Wind said that, so it must be true. It will all be hard and bloody, but there will be wonders, too, or else why bring me here at all? And it's the wonders I'm after, even if I have to bleed for them.
Finally, September stepped forward and quite without knowing she meant to do it, dropped to one knee before the witch Goodbye. She bent her head to hide her trembling and said: “I am just a girl from Omaha. I can only do a few things. I can swim and read books and fix boilers if they are only a little broken. Sometimes I can make very rash decisions when really I ought to keep quiet and be a good girl. If those are weapons you think might be useful, I will take them up and go after your Spoon. If I return,” September swallowed hard. “I ask only that you give me safe passage back to the closet between worlds, so that I can go home when it is all over and sleep in my own bed. And…a favor.”
“What sort of favor?” said Goodbye warily.
September frowned. “Well, I can’t think of anything good just now. But I will do, by and by.”
The moon peered over the clouds at them. With great solemnity, Hello and Goodbye spat into their hands and shook on the bargain.
“What about the lions?” Goodbye said fearfully.
“Well, I have some experience with big cats. I expect lions are no more fearsome than leopards,” answered September, though she was not quite so sure as she sounded. “Only, tell me, where does the Marquess live? How can I get there?”
As one, the three witches pointed west, through a cleft in the cliffs. “Where else?” said Manythanks. “The capital. Pandemonium.”
“Is it very far?”
They all looked shamefacedly at their feet. More than very, then.
“Goodbye,” said Hello.
“Many thanks,” said Goodbye.
“Farewell,” said Manythanks, and kissed her very lightly on the cheek. The wairwulf’s kiss joined the Green Wind’s there, and the two of them got along very well, considering.
The full moon shone jubilantly as September strode up over the dunes and into the interior of Fairyland with her belly full of witch-cake. She smelled the sweet, wheat-sugar scent of sea grass and listened to distant owls call after mice. And then she suddenly remembered, like a crack of lightning in her mind: check your pockets. She lay her sceptre down in the grass and dug into the pocket of her green smoking jacket. September pulled out a small crystal ball, glittering in the moonlight. A single perfectly green leaf hung suspended in it, swaying back and forth gently, as if blown by a faraway wind.
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Chapter IV: The Wyverary
In Which September Is Discovered by a Wyvern, Learns of a Most Distressing Law, and Thinks of Home (But Only Briefly).
September woke in a meadow full of tiny red flowers. She had walked through the night, watching the moon slowly fall down into the horizon and all the dark morning stars turn in the sky like a silver carousel. It was important, she reasoned, not to fall asleep in the dark where deviant things might carry her off. No matter how tired she was, how sore her bare foot, she would wait til morning, when she could be assured of the sun to keep her warm while she dreamed. And the sun had pulled up a warm blanket of her light over the little girl, tucking her in with gentle beams. September’s long hair had dried on the meadow-grass and her orange dress was only a little stiff now, from the salt of the sea. She yawned and stretched.
“What happened to your shoe?” said a big, deep, rumbling voice. September froze in mid-stretch. Two blazing, flame-colored eyes danced before her. A dragon was staring at her with acute interest, crouching like a cat in the long grass. His tail waved lazily. The beast’s lizardish skin glowed a profound red, the color of the