Page 97 (1/1)

52

A Fragile Little Thing

When she expressed a doubtful hope that Tinker Bell would be glad to see her, he said, ‘Who is Tinker Bell?’

‘O Peter,’ she said, shocked; but even when she explained he could not remember

‘There are such a lot of them,’ he said ‘I expect she is no ht, for fairies don’t live long, but they are so little that a short tiood while to them

JM Barrie,

Peter Pan

Capricorn’splace He hadn’t left the village He hadn’t even tried Dustfinger was in Basta’s house

It was in an alley just behind Capricorn’s yard, surrounded by empty houses inhabited only by cats and rats Basta did not want neighbours Indeed, he wanted no other coer knew Basta would have slept on the threshold of Capricorn’s room if he had been allowed to, but none of the uard there, that was all They ate in the church and slept in one or other of the e, that was the rule and it could not be broken Most of theon to another when the roof began to leak Only Basta had lived in the saer suspected he had chosen that house because St John’s wort grew beside the door, and there is no other plant with such a reputation for keeping away evil – leaving aside the evil in Basta’s own heart

Like rey stone, with black-painted shutters that Basta usually kept closed and on which he had painted the signs he believed would keep bad luck away, just like the yelloers of St John’s wort Soht Basta’s constant fear of curses and sudden disaster probably arose from his terror of the darkness within himself, which made him assume that the rest of the world er had been lucky to make it as far as Basta’s house He had run into a whole crowd of Capricorn’s men almost as soon as he stunised hio er just enough time to disappear down one of the alleys Fortunately, he knew every nook and cranny of this accursed village He had o on into the hills, but then he’d thought of Basta’s eh holes in walls, crawled through cellars, and ducked down behind the parapets of balconies that were no longer used When it caer A strange sense of curiosity had always driven hiotten corners of this and any other place, and all that knowledge had now come in useful

He was out of breath when he finally reached Basta’s house Basta was probably the only e who locked his front door, but the lock was no great obstacle to Dustfinger He let himself in and hid in the attic until his heart had slowed down, even though the wooden planks were so rotten that he feared he would go through the floor at every step Downstairs, he found enough food in Basta’s kitchen to quell the hunger that had been gnawing like a woriven anything to eat since they were put in those nets, so it was doubly satisfying to fill his belly with Basta’s food

When he had partially satisfied his hunger he opened one of the shutters just a crack, so that he could have warning in good ti footsteps, but the only sound that , so faint that he could hardly hear it Only then did he reie had read into this world that normally had no fairies

He found her in Basta’s bedroo but a bed and a chest of drawers on which a nued side by side, all of thee that whenever Capricorn had a house set on fire Basta took away a brick or stone, even though he feared fire at other times, and clearly that story was true On one of the bricks stood a glass jug with a faint light coloould have lass, crumpled up like a butterfly just out of the cocoon Basta had put a plate over the top of the jug, but the fragile little thing didn’t look as if she had the strength to fly

When Dustfinger took the plate away the fairy didn’t even raise her head Dustfinger put his hand into her glass prison and carefully took the little creature out Her liers would break them The fairies he knew had looked different, s wings This one had skin the sas were s But would she like the sas to eat as the fairies he knew? It orth a try She looked half dead

Dustfinger took the pillow off Basta’s bed and put it on the kitchen table, which was scrubbed clean (Everything in Basta’s house was scrubbed clean, as spotless as his snohite shirt) He laid the fairy on the pillow, then filled a dish with milk and put it on the table beside her She iood sense of smell and a taste for milk she seeer in the milk and let a white drop fall on her lips She licked it up like a hungry little cat Dustfinger trickled drop after drop into her s Her face had a little colour in it now, but although he spoke three fairy languages he understood not a word of what she finally said in her faint tinkling voice

‘What a pity!’ he whispered, as she spread her wings and flew, rather unsteadily, up to the ceiling ‘That means I can’t ask you if you could make me invisible, or so small that you could carry me to Capricorn’s festivities’

The fairy looked down at hi that he couldn’t understand, and settled on the side of the kitchen cupboard

Dustfinger sat down on the only chair by Basta’s kitchen table and looked up at her ‘All the saain If only the fire in this world had lass man would look out of the trees now and then – well, perhaps I could get used to the rest of it after all, the noise, the speed, the crowds – and the way the nights are so hter …’

He sat there in his worst ene round the roo, for fairies are naturally inquisitive, and this one was obviously no exception Every now and then she stopped to sip her milk, and he filled the dish a second time Once or twice, footsteps approached, but each ti Basta had no friends The air that caer drowsy The narrow strip of sky showing above the houses would stay light for h for hio to Capricorn’s festivities

Why should he go? He could get hold of the book later, soe had died down and everything was back to nor to happen to her? The Shadoould co to be done about that, not by anyone, not even Silvertongue if he were really so ue didn’t know about her, or about his daughter, and at least there was no need to worry about Meggie – not now that she was Capricorn’s favourite toy Capricorn wouldn’t let the Shadow hurt her