3

Three Tests

The child's screams echoed throughout the Summer Palace. Princess Maeve Highgarden winced as the little girl she had brought to her home sobbed into the satin pillow and hollered again for her missing parents.

"Mama! Papa! Mama! Want my Mama!" Ava shrieked, her beautiful cherubic face all splotchy with tears and red from screaming. "Papa, where are you?"

Maeve winced, her sensitive ears throbbing in time to the little girl's howls. She had never known that a child could yell so loud. Or one that was resistant to her charms of forgetfulness and glamourie. But this child clearly had some magic in her, for with her screams also came objects that flew about the room, like a fork and a spoon, the bowl of porridge she had tried to get the child to eat was now decorating the glistening jeweled walls, flung there after the little girl had realized that her parents weren't with her in the strange room with the equally strange lady with the silvery hair and pointed ears and large shamrock green eyes wearing the pretty green and blue gown.

"Child, please stop screeching," Maeve tried again to reason with the little girl. "Your . . . err . . mama and papa will be back soon." She gave the child a smile, one that had never failed to enchant Sidhe men, especially her late husband, and even mortals.

But Ava was having none of it. She had woken from her nap to find herself in a strange place, and without her parents. Usually she woke in a good mood, but today she was cranky and wet, and she didn't like the fact that this lady had tried to . . . do something to her . . . something that made her head hurt and her skin itch. Frightened and out of sorts, she reacted like any toddler would, and started crying for her mama and papa.

Suddenly, the door to the suite banged open and a little man dressed all in green popped into the room. He was only five inches tall, with a pointed hat and shiny black shoes with silver buckles. He had a shock of red hair and goatee as well, plus the biggest pair of pointed ears. "Yer Highness, forgive me, but the youngling be screaming so much she scared the kelpie outta the lake and caused cook's sponge cake to fall. I think ye should take her back where ye got her from!"

"Nonsense, Shea!" the Sidhe princess snorted. "She'll settle into her new home by and by."

A stuffed dragon suddenly flew across the room as Ava howled.

"It just might take some time."

Shea, who was a leprechaun, frowned. "Why hasna the glamourie calmed her down?"

"I don't know. She's got magic and she . . . resisted me," Maeve said, pouting a little.

"Resisted ye?" Shea raised an eyebrow. "The lass must have powerful magic to resist ye, Princess of the Sidhe." He shook his head. "Take her back, Yer Ladyship. I told ye not to take a mortal child—"

"And I told you to mind your own affairs, Seneschal!" Maeve snapped. "The mortals can have other children to replace this one. They breed like rabbits! Unlike us," she trailed off, twisting her wedding band around her finger. She would never admit that perhaps Shea was right, and she had made a mistake.

She had seen the child playing at the park two days earlier, and had been instantly smitten with her pretty face and huge blue eyes, and the way she had laughed and run after the auburn haired woman and the man with the light brown hair made her grieving heart cease its mourning for a moment. And it was then that she knew she must have the child . . . for the child could make her happy.

So she had done what one of her folk had not done in centuries . . . she had stolen into the little girl's nursery and swapped her for a changeling made of sticks, spiriting her back to Tir Na Nog in a twinkling. If she could get the child to eat some of the fae food, then the girl would become linked to Maeve's world, and grow and age like a Sidhe would. And Maeve would have a child she could raise with love and laughter.

If the little imp would cooperate!

"What be wrong with the little lass?" asked Shea, coming forward into the room, which was a round bower with a small table and chairs, a vanity, and a four poster bed, which the child was currently on, bawling and throwing a fit worthy of a boggart.

"She wants her parents!" Maeve said crossly.

"Hmm . . . and mayhap there's sommat else wrong too," said the leprechaun. He sniffed the air. "Did ye no change the lass, Yer Highness? I think she wet the bed."

"What?" Maeve looked horrified. "She peed on my bed? Like . . . like an animal?"

Shea coughed. "'Tis a baby, Yer Ladyship. She canna help it." He hopped on the bed and waved a hand at the crying child, and her soiled jeans and underwear was replaced by a little pink gown and ruffled panties and cunning little slippers. Then he usd magic to clean the bed too, so the child wasn't lying in her own urine. He had told his ruler that this had been a mistake, not the least because the princess had no idea how to care for a child.

"There now, lassie," he crooned, making a silly face at the little girl. "I be Shea." He bowed to her. "And what's yer name?"

Ava suddenly topped crying. For one thing, she was no longer wet and for another, she had never seen anything like the leprechaun before. "Funny! Funny Shea!" she clapped her hands and smiled.

"Aye, I be Shea. And ye?"

Ava pointed to herself. "I Ava. Ava 'driana Gold."

"Well met, Lady Ava," Shea bowed to her and then turned a back handspring.

"Where Mama?" she asked, looking about for Belle.

"Umm . . . she's not here," Shea began.

Immediately Ava's face crumpled and she started crying again.

Shea groaned and tried to make her laugh again, conjuring balls of light and juggling them and doing cartwheels and tumbling across the bed, anything to make the little girl stop crying.

When Ava saw the magic balls, she reached out with her chubby hands, hiccupping, and calling, "Papa? Papa!"

Shea halted and said, "You . . . see these? Yer papa, was he a juggler?"

Ava sniffled. "Papa! Papa do magic!" She held out her hands and the stuffed dragon flew into them.

Shea's eyebrows went into his hair. "Sun and Moon, Yer Ladyship! Ye've taken a sorcerer's child!"

Maeve looked slightly alarmed. "The child could be mistaken. I sensed no magic about the house."

"She recognized it when I conjured, and she has her own magic," Shea reminded her. "'Tisn't wise to traffic with wizards, yer Ladyship."

Maeve huffed. "They'll never find her, Shea. Tir Na Nog is closed to mortals unless they have a token or know how to spin a portal. Even if her papa is a sorcerer, he must not be a very good one, for I didn't even sense his aura while I was there. Quit being a worrywart. The child is mine now!"

"The child has a name. 'Tis Ava," Shea reminded her.

"Ava, won't you eat something?" Maeve cooed, vanishing the porridge coating the walls and waving her hand. A new bowl of steaming oat porridge sweetened with dates, cranberries, and honey appeared.

The toddler shook her head. "No! Want Golden Grahams!"

Maeve looked puzzled. "Golden Grahams?"

Shea spread his hands. "I dinna know what that is, Yer Ladyship. Mayhap sommat mortals eat?"

Before Maeve could snap at him, since he was the closest one of her advisors to the mortal realm, as he had been to visit it in the last century, a brown and white cat sauntered into the room, fastening its green eyes upon her. "Ah, Grimalkin."

"Hello, Your Highness," purred the cat. "And how is our little . . . guest doing?" The cat was almost the size of a small dog and flicked his tail lazily as he came to peer at the child.

Suddenly Ava brightened. "Kitty! 'Mere! I pet you, kitty!" She scrambled off the bed and ran at the cat, who was actually a fae creature who bore a cat's shape.

Before Grimalkin quite knew what she was about, Ava had grabbed him in a hug and kissed the top of his head. "Mm-ma! Kiss the kitty!"

Grimalkin squirmed and meowed in a most undignified fashion. "Help! She kissed me! Ick! I have people germs! Ugh! Now I need to groom myself for an hour!" He grimaced, looking utterly disgusted. "Maeve! Why are you standing there laughing? It's not funny! This is awful!"

"Oooh, looks like you're her new object o' affection, Grimalkin!" chortled Shea, his green eyes dancing. "Such a pickle for such a grumpy cat!"

Grimalkin struggled, but Ava was quite strong and had him in an arm lock, plus he knew better than to damage the prospective heir to the Highgarden throne. So he flattened his ears and looked totally put out. This was totally embarrassing! Here he was, a high ranking emissary of the Seelie court, being embraced and kissed by a mortal!

Then Grimalkin got an idea. So the child liked cats did she? He gave a long summoning yowl . . . and ten fae cats popped into the room at his call.

Ava squealed in delight! "Yay! More kitties!" Then she released Grimalkin, who shuddered from nose to tail tip, and ran giggling into the group of cats, trying to hug, pet, and kiss them all.

"Why thank you, Grimalkin," Maeve told her eldest advisor.

"Happy to be of service, Your Highness," Grimalkin said sourly.

While Maeve watched her new child playing with all the grimalkins, Shea slipped unnoticed from her quarters. The leprechaun was loyal to his mistress but also had a conscience that was bothering him right then. He knew what Maeve had done was not right. The child had a home and a family who cared about her. She did not deserve to be snatched away from them, no matter what Maeve wished in her grief over losing her husband Donal and their unborn child.

Just then, Shea sensed that intruders had entered the Sidhe realm and transported away to confront them. He had an uneasy feeling he knew who they were.

Page~*~*~*~Break

Belle and Robert continued walking for what felt like over an hour, but it was hard to tell because the tunnel was so featureless, just endless miles of faceted emerald stone. It almost gave Belle a headache.

Bobby limped along grimly beside her, gritting his teeth, for his leg was throbbing unmercifully.

Belle could tell by the set of his jaw that he was in pain, but he'd die before admitting it, the stubborn man! She touched him gently on the shoulder. "Bobby, let's stop and rest for a bit. I'm getting tired and hungry."

"Sure, dearie."

They halted a few more feet up the tunnel, and sat down on the ground. Gold rubbed his leg while Belle got out the canteens and some granola bars and dried fruit and turkey jerky from her pack. "Here. We need to eat to keep up our strength. I know you're not supposed to eat the food in Tir Na Nog, so . . . that's why I brought these."

"Very smart, Belle," Bobby said approvingly. "I'm so glad I married an intelligent woman this time around. Milah was attractive, but that woman was stupider than a sheep sometimes, and that's the God's honest truth." He bit into his granola bar, saying wistfully, "If Ava was here she'd say she wanted some of this."

"I know. These are Golden Grahams bars," Belle told him sadly.

"I thought I recognized the taste," he sighed, and ate another bite, though remembering his missing daughter caused a bitter taste in his mouth.

They had just finished their meal and drank some water when a small man dressed all in green popped up in front of them. "Top o' the mornin' to ye! Or is it afternoon now? Hard to tell time here in Tir Na Nog!"

"Is that meant to be a joke, leprechaun?" Robert demanded sharply, one hand coming up in a defensive gesture.

Belle gripped her gun. "Sir, we want to know something. We're looking for our daughter. She was . . . err . . ."

"She was stolen from us!" Gold hissed in rage. "And we want her back!"

Shea held up a hand. "Aye, I can see ye do." he gave them a shrewd look. "But once someone enters Tir Na Nog, it sometimes takes a great sacrifice to get them back."

"We're willing to pay any price to do so," Belle interjected.

"Do you want to make a deal with us, dearie?" queried Gold.

"If it's a bargain ye be seekin', I can do that well enough," Shea nodded. "It so happens I know where your little lass is being kept. But in order to go there, ye have to pass three tests."

"What three tests?" demanded Gold.

"Tell us!" Belle urged.

"I shall . . . if I have ye're word in return that ye'll help me," Shea bargained.

Gold narrowed his eyes. "Help you do what?"

"Help protect me from my mistress."

"And who is that?" asked Belle. "Titania?"

"Nay. She be her daughter, Maeve. Princess Highgarden. Can ye do that?"

"If we agree to do this . . . you'll help us get our daughter back?" Gold asked shrewdly. "Why would you do this?"

"Because I know what she has done is wrong," Shea answered. "She did what she did out of grief, but hers is not me story to tell." He spread his hands. "Do we have a deal . . .?"

"Robert Gold," Gold replied smoothly.

"Aye. So do we?"

"Deal!" Gold held out his hand, and the leprechaun shook his finger. "Now, what three tasks do you speak of?"

"There's always three, ye ken. For three is the sacred number, the trefoil," Shea began. "The first is a test of knowledge, the three riddles of Finnulaugh, our Riddlemaker. Answer all three and ye may go on . . . to the River Nye, where you'll meet the kelpie. Ride him across and ye'll be within sight of the castle . . . and the path be guarded by two black dogs, Ocras and Ainle—you'd say Hungry and Warrior. Get past them and I'll show ye where Maeve's quarters be."

"And that's all?" asked Bobby.

"All? No mortal has ever done all three!" Shea chuckled. "Not since the time of the old heroes."

"Perhaps the time has come again," Belle said quietly.

"I hope so, milady. For yer sake and that of yer child." The leprechaun turned and gestured. "Keep on going this way, ye'll come to a fair meadow where be an auld crone. That be Finnulaugh. Answer her riddles and then go on. If ye can. Best of luck to ye!"

Then he bowed and vanished.

Gold levered himself to his feet. "Let's go, dearie." He began to walk up the tunnel, his cane making a soft tapping noise as he did so.

Belle followed, her hand on the gun in its holster. Whatever riddles this Riddlemaker came up with, she would solve them. Because nobody took her daughter, for whatever reason!