Spitemorta sat forward on her throne. “Why didn't you say something before now, Demonica? What sort of game do you think you're playing?”
“No game at all, dear. And I did say so before. You just don't listen well. Why do you think I urge you to sail to the Eastern Continent to employ the Marooderyn Imshee?”
“Goll has always fought her own battles in the past,” said Spitemorta between her teeth. “I see no reason for this time to be any different.”
“No reason at all dear, if you don't mind losing.”
“I have no intention of losing.”
“Oh? Do you intend to go forth and strike down King Hebraun and his queen with the Great Staff, dear? I'll admit that by now your people must realize that you have magical gifts, but if you use them in ways that look evil to them, do you reckon they'll keep on cheering you and fighting for you? But if these things truly don't matter to you, I say: by all means carry on. Of course, even the most powerful sorceress is still a mere mortal...”
“What in the deep dark pit is that supposed to mean, Demonica?”
“It means that if you're cut, you'll bleed just like anybody else. History will show you, if you bother to consult it. Powerful leaders who are considered to be evil by their subjects tend to meet the most gruesome ends.” Demonica smiled and swept out of Spitemorta's throne room without another word, leaving her to stew on her parting words for quite some time.
***
Captain Bernard bowed before Hebraun and Minuet. “Visitors from afar to see Your Majesties,” he said, finding it terribly difficult to keep from smiling. They exchanged a hopeful look and in spite of himself, Captain Bernard could no longer hide his grin.
“Well,” said Hebraun, “send them in at once, Captain.”
“Very good, Your Majesty,” said Bernard, scurrying out.
When Razzmorten, Yann-Ber, Fuzz and Rose entered the throne room, Rose rushed forth and threw her arms around Minuet and then Hebraun.
“Oh, Rose!” cried Minuet joyously. “We've missed you so. And look at you. You're simply glowing. I must say traveling has done you a world of good.”
Razzmorten stepped up with a hug for Minuet. “Indeed it has,” he said, as he motioned forth Fuzz to stand between Rose and him. “Though I daresay this fine fellow is actually the reason for Rose's radiant appearance.”
Rose blushed, but Minuet and Hebraun saw at once the sparkle in her eyes as she looked aside at this “fine fellow.”
“It simply cannot be,” said Hebraun springing to his feet with a look of astonishment. “Karlton? Is it you? Karlton Strong?”
“That's my name,” said Fuzz, surprised to find himself recognized, “though, I haven't gone by it for above twenty year.”
“But you're far too young,” stammered Hebraun. “I don't see how this is possible.”
“Father,” said Rose, “Captain Strong has been under Ugleeuh's curse since he vanished from Niarg. He went to the Chokewoods looking for Gastro and she turned him into a fuzzy old bear. He's the very Fuzz who hid us from her and helped us escape from the Peppermint Forest. When the curse left him, he went back to the very way he was when he left Niarg.”
“That's astounding,” said Hebraun. “Welcome home. I'm right sorry to say that we've a long-standing Captain of the Guard in your stead, Captain Bernard. He was the one who announced you, actually. We thought you'd fallen victim to foul play, and it seems you did.”
“Well I certainly felt played foul, and I had no choice but to bear it,” said Fuzz, as everyone laughed. “But sire, I never imagined I'd simply walk in here and resume my old life.”
“No, of course you wouldn't. But we're certainly happy to have you back, and it'll be no trouble at all, finding a position for you.”
“I'm right honored sire, but, the only reason I came back to Niarg at all is because of your daughter.”
Hebraun's eyes went wide as he looked at Rose, then Fuzz and then at her firm grip on Fuzz's hand. He looked at Minuet, who was smiling broadly. “Oh, I do see. Sometimes I'm a bit slow at picking up these things.”
“I came so that I might ask Your Majesties' permission to wed your daughter,” he blurted out.
Hebraun sat back down. “Yes, yes,” he said with the grandest grin Minuet had seen on his face in some time. “I had just started grasping that, I believe. Well! This is wonderful. This has to be the surprise which Lukus was talking about when he sent his message globe.”
“It is,” said Rose. “I take it Father, that Fuzz and I do have your permission?”
“Well my word yes,” said Hebraun with a frown as he glanced at Minuet. “Absolutely. Both of our permissions. And both our blessings. And surely you remember our deciding long ago that you would simply marry the man of your own choosing?”
“Well, Fuzz wouldn't have it any other way than to ask you.”
“Well, that's only to be expected from Captain Strong, Rose. He's a man of impeccable honor, and he's from a generation where anything less is unheard of, you understand.”
“Oh if you must,” said Rose, rolling her eyes. “But I certainly don't think of him as out of the past. He's the man I love and want to spend my life with.”
“I certainly see, Rose. And you couldn't possibly have picked a better man.”
“Of course I agree,” said Minuet happily. “Say. How about Spark and Lipperella, Father? How many little dragonets did they finally have?”
“A complete two dozen,” said Razzmorten with a smile at the thought of them and their pin feathered wings. “And they will fly, don't you know.”
“Oh yes,” said Minuet. “I guess that's right. Razzorbauch put a permanent spell on the ones who were alive when he took them as slaves on the Dark Continent by taking away their feathers, didn't he?”
“Yes,” said Razzmorten, “and only Spark and Lipperella escaped being made sterile.”
“And you, good sir?” she said, noticing that Yann-Ber looked better but not cured. “Here you are, standing by politely, being rudely ignored. How was your journey?”
Yann-Ber bowed and smiled as much as he could. “Quite good, Your Majesty. I've met and made many new friends and learnt a great deal. I've been examined and treated by the Elves and by a White Witch of the Chokewoods, known to us as Mary, and I'm greatly relieved by, and ever so grateful to you for having been.”
“For reasons which we shall all explain in due time, my powers have been diminished,” said Razzmorten, “and I've been unable to help Yann-Ber at all. However, I do have hopes that in time I shall be able to do so. In the meantime, he does seem more comfortable than when you sent him out to find me.”
“There are evil times on the horizon, Father,” said Minuet as a shadow came over her eyes, “and I fear that all of your news will not be joyous.”
“Yes, and I can see by your eyes that not all of your tidings are good. What happened while we were gone?”
“Enough that we need time to discuss it all,” she said. “Why not have everyone enjoy a nice bath and a hot Niargian meal, and then we all can delve into what bodes?”
“I daresay that would suit, Minuet,” he said with a sigh. “In fact if you don't mind, I'll just go up and get started on that bath.”
“Go right ahead, Father,” she said as she watched him go. “Oh, wait just a minute.”
“Yes?” said Razzmorten from the doorway.
“Where are my birds? Nothing's happened to Hubba Hubba or Pebbles, has it?”
“Hardly, my girl,” he said with a chuckle. “They're simply right busy with your new grandchildren. After their brood, they're compulsive parents, I'm afraid. Now after all the baby dragons and twins, I'd lay odds that they'll lay a fresh clutch when they get back.”
“I see...”
“Of course,” he said, reaching into his hat, “if you simply must have us returning with something to fly about the castle, Taflu here will be doing that in a few more hours.”
Minuet's eyes widened as she studied the fuzzy creature
with its hideously wrinkled face, stretching and yawning with its shiny white fangs. “A bat?” she said.
“Vampire bat actually. Desmodus rotundus, not to put too fine a point on it, and he's already saved Captain Strong's life, and maybe the rest of us as well, but we'll talk about this after supper.”
“What did you get me up for, Razz?” gritted Taflu with puzzled red eyes. “It's a good two hours till dark.”
“I just wanted to introduce you to my daughter, Queen Minuet and her husband, King Hebraun.”
“Hey,” squeaked Taflu as he fluttered over to land on Minuet's wrist. “I'm Taflu, at your service. Right pleased to meet you. You're Rose and Lukus's mother and father, ain't you?”
“Why yes,” said Minuet, wide eyed at finding herself conversing with a bat.
“I'm Fuzz's pet,” he said as he flew to Hebraun's knee, bobbed once and flew back to vanish within Razzmorten's hat.
“Well, you know, it isn't his best time of day,” said Razzmorten with a shrug as he turned to go to his tower.
Minuet rested her head on Hebraun's shoulder as servants arrived to show Fuzz and Yann-Ber to their rooms. Rose had already set off for a reunion with Jamali.
***
James entered the throne room of Castle Goll to find Spitemorta scowling into a skinweler. “I can see that you are ecstatic at my return, darling,” he said, giving her a start.
“James!” she croaked. “I didn't think anyone was there.”
“That's obvious,” he said. “So, what's this that you're doing?”
She glanced at the skinweler in front of her as though she were surprised to see it sitting there, momentarily at a complete loss for words. “Well,” she said, getting her bearings, “I'm scrying, James.”
“My word! Spitemorta, that implies that you are some kind of witch, or I should say: sorceress?”
“Very good, James. You've managed to be right on two counts. I would need powers to be scrying, firstly. And secondly I am indeed a sorceress and not a witch.”
James felt pole-axed as he took his seat beside her. This was so obvious. Why had he never any inkling? “Since this is undoubtedly true,” he thought, as he sank back into the cushions, “I'll have to be careful day and night to keep from being murdered like Father. How could I have been so idiotically naive? Her real mother was an evil witch, after all. And even though she forbids discussing him, Razzmorten's her grandfather.”
The very thought made the nape of his neck bristle. “So, just how long have you known this?” he said, hoping she had just found out, as he turned aside to her.
“Since I was sixteen,” she said as if she were merely discussing the development of breasts, “though I suspected years before that.”
Chapter 87
“The council has relented, Lipperella,” said Spark as he plopped onto the huge feather cushion in the parlour. “They've agreed to send three envoys to Niarg to consult with Razzmorten and King Hebraun before doing anything so rash as evacuating the Dragon Caves.”
“That's wonderful news, Spark,” she said, taking him by the hand. “If anyone knows the danger posed to the clan by a war, it will be Razzmorten. I hope it turns out that we're worrying needlessly.”
“Perhaps,” he said, putting his arm around her and staring through the doorway into the nursery. “It would be wonderful if our young ones could grow up and live in these caves without fear and slavery.” His eyes narrowed with memories of Razzorbauch. “I'd rather that they had to survive the smallies and the dorchadas in the Chokewoods than to have them live in slavery,” he said fiercely.
Lipperella sat upright and studied his vehement look. “I understand,” she said as she leant against him and joined him, staring into the nursery at the first clutch of dragonets born in the caves the clan had lived in for nearly three hundred years.
Presently Laora blinked her big eyes and stretched, then sat up flapping her wings. At once Edward rushed into the nursery and up to her side. He patted and whispered to her, but neither Lipperella nor Spark could tell what he said, not that it mattered. Laora calmed at once, meeping contentedly as Edward gave her chunks of sukere while he patted and scratched her. In short order Laora was asleep again as Edward slipped out of the nursery without disturbing any of the other dragonets.
“That was amazing,” said Lipperella. “Edward and Laora are so bonded now that he seems aware of what state she's in from any other part of the Dragon Caves.”
“Right unusual, isn't it?” said Spark.
“I've never heard of such a bond between one of us and a Human. Perhaps some of the elders have, though. When I get the chance, I certainly intend to ask them.”
“What have you asked Edward?”
“He told me that he gets a certain feeling inside and he knows that Laora wants him to come.”
“That's certainly how it looks,” said Spark.
“I wonder if they'll actually be able to communicate with just their minds when Laora starts talking?”
“They are already, dear. Laora's got it behind her...”
“Oh?”
“Absolutely, dearest Truth-Bearer. And if Edward has even a dash of your skills, then they're going 'o be. And Lipperella, I just saw you stirring even before I caught sight of Flame, Brand and Blaise starting to move, and I was watching all of you the whole time. I see this happen every day.”
Lipperella smiled a secret smile as she ambled into the nursery and turned around to hand Spark an arm load of raw sukere bundles. “Don't despair, love,” she said. “They're feathered out. We could take them flying tomorrow, I'll bet.”
“Lipperella! Have you forgotten we can't fly? Who's going to keep an eye on them in the air?”
“We're just going to have to trust them, aren't we?” she said as she patted his arm.
***
James paced about his apartment trying to sort out all he had learnt lately about Spitemorta. He could see that he had never had any real idea of what he had married, and his failure to grasp had simply fallen squarely on him. As the years went by, he had come to face that he had been arrogant and selfish in his dealings with the ladies. Had it blinded him? “What was that old word which Rose was supposed to have called me?” he said as he pulled at the hair on the nape of his neck. “Oh yea, asyn. Old Niarg for ass.”
He kicked the legs out from under a stool, sending it skittering to halt in front of the hearth. “Very well, ass then. That's one thing, but just plain blind? Blind isn't even a luxury in this case, it's simply perilous. Ha! And the joke's definitely on me. If Rose was one to be amused by just deserts, she'd like my fix.” He shook his head. What was he doing, thinking of Rose? He had indeed not quite forgotten her, these past five years since he and Spitemorta had been married, but he had certainly not dwelt on her either, until Spitemorta accused him of calling out for her in his sleep. And he had no idea at all if he had. There was only Spitemorta's word on it.
He walked over to the balcony and gazed out at the naked trees in the garden below, standing in a crisp yellow carpet of their freshly fallen leaves. He'd had his shock. Now he must decide at once how to deal with this dilemma. Spitemorta was unmistakably a sorceress and a right powerful and perversely evil one at that. If she even suspected him of going to Niarg, she would arrange for his immediate death. “I'd say that my plans of accusing her of Father's murder are altogether out,” he murmured with an awed chuckle, “and if I plan to stay alive, I've no choice but to play along with her game...”
“James?” said Spitemorta, giving him a start as she pushed by the door with a rustle of satin. “Grandmother and I are sailing to the Eastern Continent on business. We're leaving as soon as I say goodbye to Abaddon and finish arranging things with his new nanny. Her name's Gina Barnhut in case you wish to be personable. So you'll stay put and keep an eye on things until I return, won't you?” She pecked him on the cheek as if that would make it all worth while.
“Of course, love,” he said faintly, “but it would have made
it quite a bit easier for me, had you given me a just little more warning about your trip.”
“Please don't go moody on me, James,” she said with a sigh. “You're the one who's been away all this time, don't you know, and I just didn't think to discuss it with you last night, with you just getting back and all.” She smiled. “Besides, I wouldn't have anyway, since it would have spoilt your homecoming.”
He smiled back, at once feeling conspicuously artificial for doing so. “She's too busy with her own deceits to even notice,” he thought, “as he massaged his forehead, It's certainly safest for all when mad dogs are simply shot outright.”
Without warning she put her hand tenderly upon his cheek. “I was going to surprise you with this when I got back,” she said with a gush, “but I just can't keep it from you, James.”
“Well, you're doing a right fair job of it, Spitemorta,” he said, looking lost.
“We're going to have another child, James,” she said with a wide eyed bounce. “Isn't it wonderful?”
James worked his speechless mouth as surges of guilt and paralyzing fear made him doubt his sanity.
“James?” she said, sounding practically alarmed. “It is wonderful, isn't it?”
“Of course,” he stammered, smiling with dry white lips. “I'm just stunned. Here I was thinking that we'd not likely have another...and...this is...this is unexpected news. Joyous, unexpected news.”
Spitemorta beamed and again pecked him on the cheek before turning on her heel and heading for the door. “I've got to rush, now,” she bubbled. “Remember to check in with Mistress Barnhut, now and again. I hope I don't get seasick in my delicate condition.”
***
Ripples coursed lazily across the faces of the banners hanging from the trusses above the great table in the dining hall, while crickets called from every corner in the waning light. The evening air was beguilingly warm for this late in the year. Everyone had managed to carry the sumptuous supper well passed midway on small talk alone, but now the table was falling silent.
Heart of the Staff - Complete Series Page 93