The Immortal Realm by Frewin Jones Page A

anything Tania could have imagined. Its rooms and hallways were full of dancing light and the subdued play of soft colors, the white surfaces sending pale shadows leaping and colliding. Gentle music played everywhere, coming from the trembling crystal droplets of chandeliers and from water that ran in fountains of colored glass.
    People gathered at first in the airy atrium inside the gatehouse, putting down their burdens and waiting patiently while Lord Brython and the earl marshal spoke with the palace retainers and made preparations for this sudden influx of unexpected and uneasy guests.
    Tania stood to one side, wishing she could help but knowing at the same time that she would only make the Faerie folk more fearful if she approached them. She felt useless—and worse than useless: She felt a crushing responsibility for what was happening. She could no longer pretend this was anything other than a Mortal disease brought into Faerie by her Mortal parents.
    She heard a sudden murmuring and the rustleof hasty movements behind her. She turned to see Titania and Hopie lead the floating golden cocoons of Gildensleep in through the gateway, pushed gently forward by wardens. The other folk backed away from the cocoons, their faces filled with fear as they huddled in the far corners of the wide antechamber of the palace.
    â€œWe will place the sick all together in Cerulean Hall,” said Titania. “Its windows face east to the rising sun. Though they will see it not, the sun may comfort their souls.”
    Tania watched in sorrow and distress as the cocoons were guided through the doors of the hall and into a soft blue radiance. More folk came in through the gateway, and Tania saw that Sancha was among them.
    â€œWell, my love, will you aid us now?” Sancha asked, looking solemnly at Tania. “Our need is great.”
    â€œI know that,” said Tania. “But what can I do? Everyone is scared of me. They think I brought the plague here.”
    â€œI am not scared of you,” Sancha said simply. “The library here is not so extensive as my own in the Royal Palace, but mayhap there are books that will be of use to us. Would you come with me to fetch them?”
    â€œOf course.” Tania was glad to be asked; she was desperate to help in any way that she could.
    Sancha led her up a long winding staircase to the first of a series of wide galleries that overlooked the entrance hall. She pushed open a door, and Tania sawa room filled with laden bookshelves. “We will take those books I deem relevant down to Cerulean Hall. I would be with Hopie and our mother while I work. Together we may find a way to defeat this thing.”
    It took Sancha a while to pick the books she wanted. They smelled old and timeworn to Tania as Sancha heaped them into her arms.
    At last the two of them made their way back down the stairs. The atrium was beginning to empty as people were allocated rooms. Tania noticed Edric a little way off helping a woman with three small children. It was the first time she had seen him since Leiderdale.
    If he saw her, he showed no sign of it, and she made no attempt to speak to him. What could she possibly say? Even looking at him tied knots in her stomach.
    A warden had been put on the door of Cerulean Hall, but he stepped aside to let Tania and Sancha through. A floor of pale blue marble stretched away from them between sapphire walls. The hall was long and slender and empty of furniture or decoration; it seemed to Tania to be a place where grand balls might take place. The air all around her was awash with light that shimmered as it poured in through the huge open windows.
    The cocoons of Gildensleep had come to rest along one wall, hovering a little above the ground, sending out their own golden glow. Tania’s heart ached to see them. The number of sick children had grown to eleven—and there were now seven sick adults as well:four men and three women. At Eden’s