The Mysterious Coach

The rumbling stopped. They heard heavy breathing and thumping of large feet.

“Fan out,” Adolphus whispered. “Get out of the light and see what it is.”

The girls did so, Claire and Bettina slipping through the grass one way and the twins the other. Gerhardt stayed by his brother.

A raspy country bur shouted through the night. “I’m looking for six cloche children. Name of von Hedwig?”

“Who wants to know?” Adolphus asked.

They heard a slam, like a coach door flying open. “Roots and leaves! Thank the soil I’ve found you!”

With glad cries of relief the children ran to the coach and into the arms of Lady Aubergine. Adolphus followed, taking care not to fright the horse-orchids with his torch. They shied from the light, panting nervously.

“I looked out my window this afternoon and saw a volcano where the palace should be,” Eglantine explained, “and I was afraid something had happened to you.” She looked at Adolphus, hanging back with the torch. “Of course I should have considered the possibility that you were what happened. She approached the boy, holding her hand towards the flame.

“Hotter than any spring,” she said, “brighter than the sky. And dancing! What makes it dance?”

“We can try to explain that,” Claire said, “but we’ll have to put it out before we can get into a carriage with you. Because you’re a plant you burn more easily than we do.” She looked at the long grass around them. “We could use some water.”

“Yes, please,” Annabelle chimed in, “we’re so thirsty!”

“Take the team to over the south bridge, please,” Lady Aubergine called to the driver.

“We’ll walk behind.”

They followed the carriage, telling her all that had transpired in her absence, though not in any order that made sense. When she had enough pieces to begin asking questions, she did, and put their adventures and mishaps in order.

“There is no evidence, of course, that your parents have come to harm, nor that this Count is anything but a base liar and scoundrel,” she said. “I am sure you were right, Adolphus, that he is not to be believed. He sounds like a nasty, desiccated man. Owain, the fellow with him is a datura, and they are not to be trusted.”

They were reassured, and Bettina, whom Lady Aubergine was carrying, snuggled into her purple hair. At the south bridge they all drank and drank, and Adolphus plunged the torch into the stream with great hissing and smoke. Lady Aubergine was impressed.

“No one ever goes to the volcano, you know,” she told them. “It was a popular outing some time ago but fell out of favor with the current regime. After seeing your little volcano I am quite curious to see what lies in the blighted lands. I do love to travel. Drysi wouldn’t let me out of her sight, though, once she came of age. I wonder if she’s alive?”

They could not answer, and felt terrible just thinking about it. Lady Aubergine did not mention the queen again, but settled the children in her carriage for the ride to her cottage by the sea.