The Doorway and the Deep by K.E. Ormsbee Page A

healthy wisps for a skirmish, let alone war. Iolanthe knows we’re powerless to fight back, as does Starkling. He ordered this destruction knowing full well that we cannot retaliate.”
    â€œBut
why
?” demanded Lottie. “You haven’t done anything to the Southerlies. You’re plagued as it is. Why would he do something like this?”
    The guard hiccuped. “I heard them whispering as they dragged me from the apple tree. They said Starkling’s trying to build a
gorge
.”
    Lyre and Silvia both started at this.
    â€œWhat?” said Lottie. “What’s a gorge?”
    â€œNothing that concerns you little ones,” said Silvia.
    â€œYou know what this means, Seamstress,” said Dorian. His voice was urgent. “They’re no longer safe here.”
    Silvia nodded. She turned to Lyre and said, “They must leave.”
    â€œWait,” said Eliot. “Who’s ‘they’?”
    â€œUs,” said Fife. “They can’t protect us anymore, so we’ve got to evacuate.”
    â€œBut,” said Lottie, panic sweeping inside her, “but—but
Eliot
.”
    â€œThe silver-boughed tree is gone, Fiske,” said Dorian. “You can’t go home that way.”
    â€œBut we
promised
Mr. Walsch,” Lottie said. “He’ll be worried. He’ll be so frantic. We can’t just—”
    â€œIt’s gone,” Fife said softly. “You don’t have a choice anymore.”
    â€œThere is a silver-boughed tree in the Northerly Court,” said Dorian. “I feel that bears mentioning.”
    Lottie turned to Eliot. “I’m so sorry,” she said.
    â€œHey,” said Eliot, forcing a smile. “We’ll get home. If that means going north first, then we’ll go north.”
    â€œCHARLOTTE GRACE FISKE!”
    Lottie turned at the sound of her full name, yelled with enough force to knock a hat off a head.
    Mr. Wilfer and Oliver had entered the Royal Bower, accompanied by a fuming Adelaide.
    â€œWhat do you mean by sneaking off like that?” Adelaide yelled. “I was worried senseless about you when I woke, and then for Father to come barreling in with news of a tragedy, and I thought—I
thought
—”
    Adelaide threw her arms around Lottie and burst into a sob. She choked out, “We’re
friends
. Friends stick together. They go places together.”
    Lottie, startled as she was, put her arms around Adelaide.
    â€œI’m sorry,” she said. “I thought you wouldn’t want—”
    â€œYou didn’t ask me. You didn’t ask me if I wanted to come along!”
    She cried into Lottie’s shoulder, and though Lottie felt very bad about Adelaide’s current emotional state, she was also a tiny bit pleased. Adelaide had the funniest ways of telling Lottie she cared about her.
    While Adelaide sopped Lottie’s shoulder with tears, Silvia brought Mr. Wilfer and Oliver up to date on the current state of affairs, the most pressing of which was Dorian’s suggestion that they leave for the Northerly Court that very moment.
    â€œOh, but surely not,” Adelaide said, letting Lottie loose. “We haven’t had any time to prepare!”
    â€œYou mean,” said Fife, “you haven’t had time to brush your hair and pack your nicest dresses.”
    Adelaide shot Fife a murderous glare. “Some of us actually
care
about our appearances, you slovenly snippet.”
    â€œThank Titania you do, sweet Ada. It’s hard enough to look at you as is.”
    â€œSeamstress and Tailor,” said Dorian. “Moritasgus. I’m formally requesting permission to lead the expedition north immediately, before any more Southerly soldiers infest this wood. Rebel Gem will provide far more protection than your yews can now afford.”
    â€œBut it’s nearly dawn!” Adelaide wailed. “We haven’t even had a full