“A week,” said Hubba Hubba proudly. “That's how long it took me to get here from Niarg, now that I'm in shape.”
“How long did it take you the first time?”
“Lukus!” said Rose.
“Its all right, Rose,” said Hubba Hubba. “Why would I mind? It's not like I'm still fat. It took us a fortnight of grueling travel to reach Niarg, the first time. And now? Seven days, easy.”
“Say Fuzz,” she said, turning aside. “The fish in the ocean here, are they ordinary fish, or are they some kind of crazy sweetened up version?”
“Oh no,” he said. “The ocean was just a little too big for Ugleeuh to tamper with. The only thing in it that she controlled was poor old Gastro.” He turned his watery brown eyes to the waves and shuddered at the sight of the place where Gastro sank.
Rose took a deep breath and nodded. “Then, unless anyone disagrees, I'm for staying right here on the beach and camping until Mother and Father arrive. Of course Fuzz, I'd understand if you'd rather return to your den to see the changes caused by Ugleeuh's death. There would be some, wouldn't there?”
“Oh yea,” he said, “but mostly minor.”
“Because she used the Staff for lots of what she did?”
“Yea, I'd say so. When she muttered, she waved her hands. When she hollered, she waved her broom.”
“I'd give anything to have had the sense to grab the Staff when I had the chance.” said Rose. We'll never be able to pry it out of Spitemorta's hands.”
“Are you absolutely certain she can't be reasoned with?” said Fuzz. “I've heard that King Brutlee and Queen Bee are well liked. Couldn't they be convinced somehow?”
Rose chewed on her lip, but saw Hubba Hubba shaking his head. “Why not, Hubba Hubba? What do you know about it?”
“Spitemorta's parents were murdered. Poisoned. And there's a rumor that she did it.” he said, leaving everyone wide eyed.
“Well Rose,” said Fuzz, “I'm anxious to see my den again, but I'd not want to without knowing you were safely returned to Niarg. I say: camp here. We can build a bonfire on the beach end of the jetty to keep out the frill drakes.”
“My,” said Rose. “I'd almost forgotten them.”
“I haven't,” said Lukus.
“We're up for staying,” said Spark, as he and Lipperella gave hearty nods.
They had a supper of fish caught by Fuzz, Spark and Lukus. Even the sukere addicts amongst them thoroughly enjoyed the bounty. When the sun went down, they set ablaze Ugleeuh's body. By morning, the fire was out and her coals had turned to cinders. After a quick breakfast and farewells, Hubba Hubba and the sparrows launched into the blue to wing their way back to Niarg.
***
A fortnight and three days later, a ship appeared. A boat came ashore with Razzmorten and Minuet.
“Mother!” squealed Rose, rushing to give her a hug.
Razzmorten smiled broadly and nodded. “We must be off at once,” he said. “The entire castle is anxiously awaiting our return.”
Lukus shoveled things into his pack as Rose bit her lip and looked wistfully at Fuzz. Lukus stopped and sat upright, suddenly realizing that he might never see Fuzz again.
“I'm afraid I belong here, now,” said Fuzz, heaving a sigh as he stood watching them. “A scruffy old bear would be completely out of place in Niarg, don't you know.”
“But Fuzz, you're not really a bear,” said Lukus. “Maybe Grandfather could change you back into your human form.” He looked at Razzmorten sadly shaking his head.
“Well, if you ever get your hands on the Staff, remember I'm out here,” he said, grabbing the two of them into a big hug. “We'll see each other again,” he said at the sight of their tears. “I'm right sure of it.”
“You'll be coming with us at least,” said Rose turning to the dragons. “There's no way you can get past the clan. Surely they can't be reasoned with yet.”
“Remember Rose, Lipperella is the clan's Truth-bearer,” said Spark. “Once she explains to them all that has happened, particularly about Razorback being Razzorbauch, and about Ugleeuh being dead, she's certain that it will be safe for me to stay in the forest, if not the swamp. You surely understand that as Niarg is your home, this is ours.”
After more tears, hugs and vows to return to visit, Rose and Lukus at last stood next to Minuet and Razzmorten, giving a conclusive wave before turning round to be seated as their dinghy was hauled forward into the surf.
***
Rose and Lukus had been home less than a week, when a page knocked on her door and announced the arrival of Prince James. Rose's heart fell at this. “I shall meet him directly, in the second drawing room off the dining hall,” she said with a quiver to her voice that she didn't expect.
“Very good, Your Highness,” said the page. “I shall convey this at once.”
Just as she was about to go out the door, Minuet arrived with an encouraging smile. “Rose, your Father and I have discussed your marriage at length since your return. We've decided that if you still find James objectionable after you've seen him, we'll make some sort of reparation to King Edmond and cancel the wedding.”
“But...you said that such an action might start a war.”
“Anything's possible, but we think that war is very unlikely for the time being. King Edmond would fare very badly in a war and frankly, a tidy windfall might be exceedingly beneficial to him.”
“Why Mother, what's happened in Loxmere?”
“It's a right lengthy tale, I'm afraid,” said Minuet as she put her arm around Rose and walked her out the door and down the stairs. “There's no time now. James awaits. Go to him, and let your heart and nothing else decide, Rose.”
Rose hugged her and hurried through the dining hall to the drawing room, relieved to be able to make short work of her childhood nightmare. She entered softly. There was James, standing with his back to her, warming his hands at the fireplace. She studied him for a moment. “He's certainly not the short, pudgy thing he used to be,” she thought. “James?” she said.
He turned in surprise, having been lost in thought. His eyes sparkled at the sight of her. She was astonished, for he was the most gorgeous man she had ever seen. Could this truly be the pig boy?
“But, you can't be James.”
“Ah,” he said with his easy smile as his eyes danced in amusement. “You were expecting the pea slinging pig boy, terror of young maidens and the populace at large, weren't you?”
Rose blushed hotly and wished she could vanish on the spot.
James already wore an expression of apology. “Oh, Rose,” he said, coming closer. “Please don't think I'm making fun of you. I've a fair idea of how I struck you as a child.”
Rose reddened further and said nothing.
“Please, I seem to be doing nothing but embarrassing you. Truly, that's the very last thing I want to do. I want more than I've ever wanted anything, to make a good impression on you at last. Though teasing you was certainly a childish way about it, that is all I ever wanted to do, Rose. Don't you know that I've always loved you?”
Rose found herself utterly tongue-tied as the handsome young man who'd just proclaimed his love to her gently took her hand and gazed adoringly at her.
“And I swear to you Rose that I always shall, if you'll allow it.”
Rose felt dizzy and breathless, and she felt herself give a nod, though it seemed far away, as if in one of her dreams.
“This is wonderful!” he said, sounding so relieved that Rose realized at once that he'd been fearing a rejection. “My word,” she thought. “He must have reckoned my running away to be my attempt to avoid marrying him.” She felt very guilty. Even though she'd fled to find Ugleeuh, she had been pleased that her flight had gotten her well out of his reach. “Thank the Fates that he doesn't read minds,” she thought as he took her by the hand to lead her to the garden where their parents waited.
Minuet and Hebraun beamed at the sight of their joyous smiles, and Rose was certain that they
were relieved. King Edmond merely looked as if he had expected nothing else. However, Queen Myrtlebell managed to convey haughty contempt, even as she curtsied behind her flawless congratulatory smile. Rose shuddered. “How could King Edmond have possibly married such a venomous little tart?” she thought. “And, Fates forbid, that vicious trollop for a mother in law. Mercy! What a grandmother for our children.” Now that was almost enough to make her back out, even if James was the most handsome man she had ever seen and was madly in love with her. She glanced aside at his joyous expression. No, she couldn't refuse him now. She sighed. She'd just have to make the best of Myrtlebell, somehow. “Maybe she could be quietly retired to a country estate after King Edmond was out of the way,” she thought. “He wasn't young, after all, and his health was supposed to be slipping. Yes, perhaps that would be the way to handle things. Retire the widowed Myrtlebell to a country estate. Someplace distant and inaccessible, like Chokewoods.” She smiled a secret smile, then gasped and steadied herself against a trellis. “Fates!” she thought. “I've spent too much time with Ugleeuh. I'm getting vengeful.”
***
Once again it was a gorgeous sunny May morning, the day before Rose's seventeenth birthday and wedding to Prince James. The castle was alive with preparations in her honor. Rose drifted outside to seek solace in her rose arbor, her childhood sanctuary at the far end of the garden. Mali surprised her to trot silently along at her heels, then vanished, chasing butterflies. She was drawn to a tiptoed halt at the sound of whispered conversation coming from near the fountain in the center of the garden. She eased forward to find Lukus giggling with Soraya and Ora, the lovely Elven girl who had once drawn her bath. She shook her head and smiled as she backed away to go a different way to the arbor. It was hard to believe that Lukus was even interested, let alone on the verge of betrothal. Their lives were changing so fast now, but surely for the better. She picked up her skirts and her pace and was surprised to run into James.
“There you are,” he said. “I've been looking all over for you.”
“Then you’re in luck,” she said with a smile. “It seems you've found me.”
James pulled her into a quick embrace, then led her to a nearby bench to sit. “I know I really shouldn’t be bothering you with this before the ceremony, but I have news that I'd enjoy sharing with you.”
“Really? It must be good then, since you appear so excited.”
“It is quite good, actually,” he said as he sat down beside her. “You've been kind enough to let me ramble on quite a bit about Loxmere's financial woes of these past few years. I'm always afraid that I'll bore you, but you're always good enough to insist upon listening. Mmm!” He put a kiss on her collarbone.
Rose giggled, then turned to sit straight and face him. “The pea blight, right?” she said.
“My father has brought in such a number of scholars to study the situation that he's incurred an outrageous expense. But according to them, the land has become worn out for peas. They say that unless a different crop replaces the peas, yields will fail altogether.”
“I thought you said you had good news, James. And you're right, we have discussed this at length.”
“I do have. Just thought you'd appreciate some history. My father has managed a deal, two actually, to save Loxmere.”
“That’s wonderful then,” said Rose.
“Well as I said, peas have seen their day and must be replaced. And, after a great deal of consideration and consultation with all manner of the wise, my father finally decided that the realm would benefit most from raising sukere cana, so the fields of Loxmere are being prepared for the planting of the cana, even now. By the time you and I return from our honeymoon journey, the first plants should be up.”
Rose went heartsick. She looked at James and couldn’t say a word with the horrible lump in her throat.
“What is it, beloved?” he said as he finally realized that she wasn't speaking and drew back to study her face. “Are you ill?”
“James,” she said in a hoarse whisper that added her voice as she spoke, “what is the other deal your father has made?”
“Oh, he's opening the Port of Loxmere for the export of sukere cana to the other continents, of course. Spitemorta, as you know, is landlocked in Goll, except for going overland to the Fairy Valley River from Fairy Valley Junction to Gollsport, which is 'way too restrictive to support enough traffic to suit her, so she is right willing to pay a tidy export tax to use our seaport. In fact, it was she who approached Father with the suggestion. How ironic. Help from the likes of her,” he said, shaking his head with a smile that vanished when he looked at Rose. “What is it? If you're ill then I surely must...”
“No James,” she said, putting her hand upon his arm. “I'm not ill. If I look grave, it's because I just realized that I can't marry you.”
“What? Why not? I thought... I thought you loved me.”
“James, do you think that after what I went through in the Chokewoods, I could possibly be involved with the sukere trade? James! That stuff is insidious! It seems so innocent and innocuous, and it is pleasant, even tantalizing at first. But don't be mislead. It's dangerous and addictive. It breaks bones and rots teeth. It makes a person fat and sick and tired. A person under its influence seems not to notice until he tries to give it up. I know. I've experienced it. Surely James, there must be some other crop that would benefit Loxmere without having to stoop to trade in such a harmful substance.”
“Come on, Rose. You don’t really believe all that nonsense about sukere, do you? I mean, everyone knows that your parents, particularly King Hebraun, are daft about it and all, and most figure it has to do with that batty old auntie of yours, but come on. It's just pure lunacy to not only pass up the chance to save one’s country from ruin, but to pass up overflowing the coffers doing it. So look. Let’s forget all of this for now, shall we? I’m sure that after the wedding, and after you’ve had time to really think it all out in a reasonable manner, you’ll agree that it's the right thing to do.”
“I don’t think so, James.”
Suddenly he was altogether different. “Don’t be a silly little girl, Rose!” he snarled with churlish eyes. “You're going to be my wife, and you shall do as I say!”
Rose shot to her feet, trembling with indignation. “No James! I will not do as you say, nor will I marry you now or ever! You may be dashing and charming on the outside, but inside you're the same old pea brained pig boy you always were!” With that she hiked her skirts and ran to the castle.
Chapter 54
James stood up to watch Rose run to the castle. When she vanished, he paced about in tight little circles, stretching his neck as he seethed with baffled anger and humiliation. “What does the fool girl think she's doing, refusing to marry me now, mere hours before the wedding, with the castle crawling with wedding guests?” he said between his teeth. “What did she do? Did she plan this from the beginning to even up some idiotic childhood score she felt needed settling? That would be lunacy. But lunacy runs in the family. Her aunt was sure loony.” He ripped the leaves off the length of a lilac stem and tossed them into the air. “Can't be that, but it has to be something like that,” he thought as he flung a rock, crashing away through the foliage. “Fates! I've been so careful to say just the right things to make her think that I practically worship her. Apparently, little miss perfect isn't quite as manageable as she appears. Oh well, she's not the biggest loss there ever was. I can easily have any available princess I choose to suit my fancy. It's just that no other princess gives me such easy access to Niarg...”
“James?”
His back stiffened at the unexpected sound of his name. The voice was feminine and familiar, though he had not placed it by the time he wheeled 'round to see. He strained to make out the approaching woman, whose face was shaded by her hooded cloak.
“James?” she said again as she walked up and lowered her hood to reveal her beautiful face and her dark shining mane of hair.
; “What are you doing here, Spitemorta?”
“Why I'm an invited guest, of course,” she said, clearly offended, as her large dark brown eyes lit with an inner fire.
“I know that. And you surely knew that I was asking what you were doing down here in the garden alone.”
“Oh,” she said. “I could very well ask you the same thing James, except that I saw dear Rose run into the castle and she did seem so very upset. I wanted to ask her what the matter was so that I might console her, but she ran right past me as if I weren't even there. Anyway, I was just out here for a breath of fresh air. You know, that stuffy little room they gave me to stay in doesn't even have a window in it. It's just stifling in there.
“So after Rose ran past me, I decided to continue on with my stroll, just to help me sleep in that claustrophobic closet of a guest room, you see. And then I saw you standing here, looking upset and all. So it seemed only good manners to stop and inquire.”
“Since when did good manners ever motivate you to do anything, Spitemorta?”
“Since it became convenient, of course,” she said, her sly smile sharpening the sparkle of her eyes. “I'm certain, you of all people, understand that.”
“Yes, perhaps better than you realize.”
Spitemorta raised an eyebrow.
“In answer to your 'polite inquiry,'“ he said, “Rose called off the wedding. So do you plan to console me, Spitemorta?”
“Why James, do you need consoling?” she said with a look of amused curiosity. “It seems to me that you're more angry at having been thwarted than you are heartsick from having been jilted. Or am I mistaken?”
“Clever girl.”
“I'm a queen now, James. Cleverness is necessary to survive.”
“Not to mention that your cleverness was how you became such a young queen in the first place.”
“I thought we were talking about you, James,” she said, putting on irritation over her smile.
Heart of the Staff - Complete Series Page 60