A Crystal of Time (The School for Good and Evil The Camelot Years #2) - Soman Chainani Page 0,110

the mistake of leaving the pieces of it behind. And Dot’s mother is the best tailor in the Woods.”

“My mother?” Dot called, poking her head from the back like a mole. “My mother died when I was a baby!”

Robin gave the Sheriff a look. “’Course she did!” the Sheriff called back.

Dot frowned. “Then how could she stitch up the—”

The Sheriff barreled on: “Sack divides friends from foes, so I used it to catch pirates and keep them trapped while getting our crew from place to place. Well, until those fairies let the pirates free during the battle. Must have smelled ’em in there.”

“Given how you smell, surprised they didn’t set you free with ’em,” Robin quipped.

“Hold on.” Agatha frowned at Robin. “You told me that you and the Merry Men wouldn’t help me. And you and the Sheriff hate each other. How did you get here?”

“Tedros’ mum has the answer to that,” said Robin.

“Actually, Sophie does,” said Guinevere.

“I do?” Sophie said, wringing out her hair into her empty milk glass.

“That night, when you had dinner with Rhian, you kicked me under the table,” the old queen explained. “You said Tedros was on his own. That you weren’t Tedros’ mother. You were challenging me. Right there in front of that monster. You pushed me to keep fighting, even if it seemed impossible. Yet I had no way to send word out of Camelot, not with that scim on my face. But outside the queen’s chamber is a tree with songbirds that I used to feed every day. In return, they acted as my little spies, singing louder whenever it was safe for me to sneak out and see Lance in the Woods. So after dinner, I slipped back into my old chamber, pretending to clean it, and there they were, my songbirds, singing outside the window like always. But when they saw me, with that disgusting eel on my face, their songs stopped. Their sad eyes asked how they could help. So while I cleaned, I hummed a song . . . a song every bird knows. . . .”

She hummed and Robin crooned along:

“Oh help us, Robin,

Dear dashing Robin,

Come save us Robin Hood!

Hear our song, the son of Good,

All the way through the Green Wood!”

“Hate that song,” the Sheriff snarled.

“That’s ’cause the only song people sing about you is ‘Sheriff, Sheriff, Farty Sheriff,’” said Robin. “When the birds came singing of Gwen’s ills, I told my Merry Men, but those lazy louts wouldn’t ride for Agatha and they wouldn’t ride for Gwen either, even though Arthur and I were mates. But then Sheriff, of all people, sends word he’s riding to Camelot to save his daughter from the dungeons and begs me to help him.”

“Bollocks,” the Sheriff scorned. “I didn’t beg you for anything. I said you’re a pink-bellied chicken for letting the girl who saved you from jail rot in a cell and I hope the Storian would reopen our tale and tell the world what kind of man you really are.”

“Sounds vaguely familiar,” said Robin. “Anyway, then Marian piles on and asks what I’d do if it was my own daughter that Rhian had taken. And wasn’t Dot the closest I had to a daughter? Marian knows how to push my buttons.”

“You and me both,” mumbled the Sheriff.

“Couldn’t go back to putterin’ away at the Arrow. Not after all that,” Robin sighed. “So I joined the Sheriff and rode for Camelot. Sent Gwen a lotus so she’d know we were comin’.”

“Wore it in my hair to give myself hope,” sighed the old queen.

“Then while we’re on our way, we hear that Dot and some others escaped the dungeons,” said the Sheriff. “Even so, I wasn’t lettin’ this Rhian bastard win. Our Woods has a law and order and I ain’t restin’ until the pig’s head is on a spike.”

“Which is why we’re all here now in King Teapea’s palace, praying he’ll help us,” Robin Hood finished.

“And if he doesn’t?” Agatha asked—

A trumpet blared, making her jump.

A guard gnome in a sparkly blue hat and stiff jacket appeared out of the darkness behind the throne. “Greetings, human enemies! You are here at the invitation of Crown Royal Regis Teapea. Please stand in honor of the king!”

Fireflies on the walls and chandelier beamed their orange glow at the throne.

Quickly Agatha and the rest of her friends rose to their feet.

“Listen to me,” she whispered to Robin. “The gnomes have a vengeance against King Arthur for banishing them, which means they’ll