Herio opened the lid of the bed warmer and puffed and stirred amongst the coals.
“Ha! Now we'll light candles...”
“Well what?” said Hubba Hubba, giving himself a thorough shake. “You don't need light to talk if it's really important.”
Herio huffed at a coal as he held a candle's wick against it.
“Hey, I was asleep! I have to have my rest if I'm to keep an eye on you. Don't wake me up if you're just going to fool around...”
“I'm not, Hubba. Spitemorta and Demonica attacked Castle Niarg with their magic.”
“What?” he squawked, suddenly wide eyed and skinny. “How bad? Pebbles! The little snappers! Herio, I've got to go back now. They've got to be safe, they've just got to! Fates, Herio! Why'd you have to tell me? I can't fly anywhere with it pitch dark. I sure ain't goin' 'o sleep, either.”
“I'm sorry Hubba,” he said, sitting on the bed and rubbing his head. “Look I'm upset, too. I suppose that's why I didn't bother being quiet, but there are things I have to tell you. Razzmorten's tower has been destroyed...”
“Oh Pebbles!” he cawed. “No, don't stop. I'm listening.”
“I don't know a bit more than that about their attack,” he said, standing up to pace as Chirp, Tweet and Squeak began flitting nervously about here and there in the wavering shadows, “but as I was on my way out from taking tea to Spitemorta, she must've thought I was out of earshot, and went raving and carrying on about it. The attack's only half of it. She and Demonica aren't done yet. They plan on bringing an army here from Gwael and then they're...”
“Gwael? You mean the big sukere traders on the Eastern Continent?”
“I have no idea, but I'm dead certain it's Gwael. And they're going to attack Niarg again. And, they intend for to completely destroy at least all of what's left of the castle, and probably all the rest of Niarg if they can. This is it. This is what we came for, Hubba.
The only chance they have is for you to get word to them.”
There wasn't much else to say. Before long, the sparrows had settled again as Herio began snoring, sprawled across the bed in his uniform. Hubba Hubba wiggled his beak into his breast feathers and slept fitfully.
With the tinkling of the first lark at the faintest red glow in the east, Hubba Hubba sprang from his perch without a word and sailed out the window into the cold black air.
***
“Nay,” he said as he began to hear roosters crowing from the farmsteads below, “I'm going to do this seven day journey in six days, this time.” And then he paused to skip a few beats in his flapping. “But if Pebbles isn't there to greet me, what's the stinking point?”
“The stinking point,” squeaked Chirp, galloping along behind in a mad flutter, “is that no matter what's happened, Niarg is your home and lots of people need you no matter what. They'll die if you don't warn them. Don't forget that!”
“Where'd you come from? Hey! You don't think I'll get there, or what?”
“No!” he squeaked, bouncing alongside. I'm here because I'm you're chum. I thought you just might need one right now.”
Hubba Hubba flapped furiously. “Yea? Well, maybe I do,” he said, gliding briefly. “In fact, I'm plain grateful you came.”
“Squeak and Tweet were goin' 'o come too, but Herio made them stay in case he found out anything else important that Niarg might need to know before we get back to Goll...”
“Back to Goll? Chirp, if Pebbles is alive, there's no way I'm coming back.”
Chapter 133
The clear evening sky was quickly going dark, as scattered clouds in the west pointed their orange bellies at where the sun had just been. Larks tinkled. Far overhead, one could hear Laora whimpering from time to time as she winged her way with everything she had, straight south. “If anything happens to you Edward...” she sobbed. On and on she flew.
“Thank the Fates, the Mob!” she cried at last, flapping even harder. “No!” she gasped, suddenly diving straight for the ground. “That's far too many. Is it more of them like Trifin?” In short order she was down with a fire in her chest, running and stumbling through the brush to find cover. At last she was under a coppice of trees, craning to see the passing host of dragons.
“They probably saw me, anyway,” she panted.
“We sure did,” came a voice from behind, amidst the sudden cracking of sticks.
At once Laora wheeled about with every feather sticking straight out, dragging her wings.
“Hey Sis! What's got into you?”
“What's going on, Flame?” She slimmed down at once. “I swear there were too many of you for the Mob. There are!” she cried, fuzzing out all over again at the sight of large dragons landing all about. “Who are all these dragons?”
“They're...”
“Flame, Edward's hurt! I was flying home to get you. 'Way up the river, there's a cave. He's in it with a big dragon who hurt him. We've got to get Momma and Papa...”
“They're on their way, Sis. Uncle Tors and Gweltaz are coming, too. Where's this cave?”
“But if I show you, how will Momma and Papa find us? It's a long, long way.”
“We're leaving someone on the ground every few furlongs. We've got all kinds of help...”
At once Laora sprang into the air, flying furiously into the black night sky, not looking back once at the host following her, until at last she swooped down through the trees along the river to land in the mouth of the cave, well ahead of the others.
“Edward!” she cried, charging into the echoes.
Edward did not answer. He lay much too still by the glowing bed of coals, covered with his cloak exactly as she had left him. Trifin sat at his side. She failed to notice that Trifin had kept the fire just so all this time. All she saw was that Edward seemed not to be breathing. She turned on Trifin with panic and accusation in her eyes.
Trifin looked up in wide eyed astonishment and backed away from her. At this, she pounced, tooth and claw, furiously slamming him into the palisade of rock at his back.
“Kaoc'h!” he yelped, scuttling away. “Get off me you crazy merc'h!”
“This is all your fault!” she roared with her gnashing cutlery, running him into the palisade hard enough to wedge him fast between two onyx columns. “Why did you have to come here? Had you stayed where you belong, Edward would be alive right now!”
“Well go look at him, kiez!” he cried, jerking aside to avoid being bitten. “Your pet has spent the whole time you were gone, mumbling your name in his sleep...”
At once, Laora was at Edward's side, intently checking and nuzzling him as she carefully adjusted his cloak about him.
“...and if all the maouezed in your clan are as rabid as you are,” he said with a grunt as he heaved from side to side, pulling free of the two pillars, “I'm telling the elders back home that we should have nothing to do with the lot of you, long lost clan or not.”
“Edward,” she said softly, ignoring Trifin altogether, “It's me. I've got help on the way. You're going to be just fine.”
“He's lost some blood...”
“Yea?” she said, not looking up. “Well, I've never seen a human bleed to death, so I've no idea what I'm looking at.”
“He's not very big...” he said, pausing to eye her up and down, “so I'd reckon he'd 'ave bled clean out quite a while ago, if he was going to do that. You can see him breathing if you look closely.”
“I already saw that. But what do you know? Are you some kind of healer, or are you just blowing hot air?”
“What? You fancy that I'd make a fool of myself, trying to impress you, kalon ker?”
“Very well, does that make you a healer, then?”
“No. But my mother is, though I'm just guessing about your pet. She has only been a healer after the time of Razzorbauch and the Great Removal. After Razzorbauch, no one in the Mammvro would ever think of touching a filthy human...”
She sprang up, wheeling 'round to face him with a look of fury.
“Nevertheless,” he said, taking a step forward, “In spite of your complete lack of gratitude, I've done exactly as you asked. I kept your pet safe for you until you got back. So now, I'm going. My clan is undoubtedly out hunting all over for me by now.”
“What clan?” said Laora as she took a quick step to block his exit from the cave. “I thought you said you were from the Dark Continent. You mean to tell me...”
“Kurun! I'm not saying that they came all the way from there to hunt for me, if that's what you think. Have you any idea how far away that is?”
“I have a good enough idea...”
“You must not. We traveled for weeks to get here. A whole party of us came in search of your clan. We haven't had any luck, either. We split up this morning to spread out our search. We were all to meet back at a cave a good piece north of here at sunset. Well, I've stayed here on your account...”
“Yea?” she said with a squint. “And what made you think you'd find us in here?”
“You think it's suspicious of me to hunt for dragons in caves? They look small from the outside, but you never know what they open into, once you get inside. I drew straws and got this two league stretch of cavern mouths. And then you showed up with your hideous pet,” he said, thrusting his face at hers.
“Don't you dare!” she whooshed, shooting out a pair of blue flames from her nostrils.
“Kaoc'h!” cried Trifin, jerking back wide eyed in the flash of light.
“Don't you ever call him anything but Edward!”
“You burnt my nose...”
“Good.”
“Very well then,” he said as he sat down with a sigh amongst the rocks, “I guess I'll wait right here with my toasted nose until you have a better idea. Say. The last I knew, you left me to look after your...Edward, if you must, while you flew home for help. So what became of all that?”
“Help's coming, that's what. In fact, I expected them to be here by now.”
“Well, I suppose that makes my part of the search a success after all, so I will indeed be waiting here.”
“Then please tend the fire for Edward while we wait. I'm going outside to keep my eye out for them,” she said, making a scornful about face. “My flame!” she thought with a giddy bounce, which she was careful to conceal until she had stepped outside. “My very first flame!” At once she could hear the chorus of spring frogs and the busy water of the river, beyond the willows and the sand, glistening here and there from the light of the quarter moon darting in and out of the clouds. A pair of barred owls traded calls. She stepped through the willows and waddled out onto the sand to sit down and fluff up her feathers. “My very, very first flame!” She was most weary, and nearly dozed off.
“There she is, yonder!” came a cry from above.
At once she was on her feet. “Flame!” she hollered.
A score of great dark shapes settled onto the sand all about her with concluding wing beats, at once taking up a brief general shaking, ruffling and sorting through feathers before loping up to her.
“We finally found you...” said Flame.
“Finally?”
“You really have gotten fast, Sis,” he said, pausing to sort through a couple of flight feathers. “We couldn't keep up, so we couldn't be sure which cave you were taking us to. We've been out here, searching all this time. Where's Edward?”
“Straight back through the willows, under the bluff behind me,” she said, straining to make out the faces in the darkness of the towering newcomers who were easily half again as big as her brothers and sisters. “The dragon who tramped him, is watching over him. Well, he says he's a dragon anyway, but I'm not so sure. He doesn't look like one at all.”
She turned to the great silhouette standing by Flame. “And who are you?”
“This is Kadeg. He and all these big dragons are Fireheads...”
“Fireheads?”
“Yea. From the Mammvro,” said Flame as he turned loose a mage light from between his cupped hands so that she could see.
“You're just like Trifin!” she gasped.
The huge dragon threw back and boomed with laughter. “Does he know you can't tell what he is?”
“Well he certainly knows I don't trust him...”
“Serves him right, the little brammer.”
***
“Hoy!” cried Llewyrch, waving his arms as his bobbing head appeared above a grassy swell.
“Well, here he comes at a gallop,” said Aeron, letting his heavy pack slide off his shoulders to the ground to sit on while he allowed Jigs to browse amongst some nodding pink asters, as James and Owain dismounted to stretch their legs. A dickcissel gave its first call of the day from last year's burdock.
“When you get to that rise...” called out Llewyrch as he trotted to a halt and climbed down. “When you get to that rise, where you first heard me holler, you can see Rhiw Mawreddog. Hit's a good piece off, but you can just make out some of the old ring of stones at its crown...”
“What's this you've found?” said James, peering out over the downs as he felt of the sore on his head.
“Rhiw Mawreddog,” said Llewyrch, “Grand Hill. Hit's the old lookout for Goldtown.
“Yea,” said Owain, “back when they were still finding gold, everyone under the sun was trying to come and steal hit.
Aeron found a way to tie his pack onto Jigs's load, and they were under way, leaving paths in the dew. They decided to make straight for Rhiw Mawreddog rather than to go around, even if it would be more work, since James had never seen the view. As they sauntered along to allow Aeron to keep up, peaks of the Pitmaster's Kettles gradually rose here and there in the distance. By the time they had begun wending their way up the slopes of the Grand Hill, the dew was long gone and the sun had grown hot on their backs. At last they reached the top.
“Down there's Goldtown,” said Llewyrch, taking off his hat to wipe his brow. “There she be...”
“And Gold Lake, on another league, as you can plainly see,” said Owain.
“Yea,” said James, “and the lake's quite a bit larger than I had ever imagined. And I can see why this place up here made a good lookout during the gold rush, but earlier than that, these stone posts had to have been part of a huge ring o' the Fates. Some mighty impressive ceremonies undoubtedly went on inside this circle of stones.”
“Gold beats religion every time, I'm afraid...” said Llewyrch.
“Goldtown's gold was quite a test for the religion of King Brutelee's grandfather, back then, but I guess he finally resisted the temptation,” said James. “It's one of Spitemorta's early arguments that Brutelee's line were spineless.”
“Well, victuals beats no breakfast every time, I'm afraid,” said Aeron. “Maybe I'm the only one, since I've got the only pair o' legs that's been a-tramping the whole way up, but I'm ready to go down yonder and find Tafarn Coch.”
“Perfect idea,” said James. “And that's where I'm supposed to find Dewr, aye? I'm ready.”
***
The tavern and its stable stood out, freshly whitewashed and thatched like a new broom amongst a dozen shops along the main street.
“'Tafarn Coch' is certainly plain enough,” said James, pausing to read the red and gold sign over the door.
“To you and Aeron, maybe, sire,” said Owain, “but this be the place.”
“I'd be honored to fix that, as soon as we get some time,” said James.
“You mean teach me to read, Your Majesty?”
“By all means...”
“I'd be forever in your debt.”
“Not nearly as much as I already am in yours. But listen: I think it would best if you all left off referring to me as royalty as long as we are within earshot of anyone. Besides you all earned the right to call me James, the moment you set foot into my cell. You too, Aeron.”
There were discrete nods all 'round, mindful of the traffic.
“Why don't you go on inside with Llewyrch and Aeron, then,” said Owain, “while I stable Jigs a
nd the mounts? I'll take the house stew and a nice pint, if it's not too much trouble to have them waiting when I get inside.”
“Consider it done,” said James as he stepped inside behind Llewyrch and Aeron. At once they spied a table in the far corner and wended their way over to it.”
“Yeap. Always crowded,” said Llewyrch as they drew back their chairs.
Directly, a pretty maid was taking their orders. James watched Llewyrch and Aeron going slightly silly in front of her. “How lucky they are,” he thought, “altogether innocent of lineage and power, utterly free to be blinded by her lovely figure and smile and not by her holdings.” He swept it all aside with shudder. “Well, I've learnt,” he said aloud.
“Learnt what?” said Aeron, leaning over.
James smiled with a quiet shake of his head and looked up to see Owain coming in.
“Man!” said Owain as he took his seat. “Hit sure smells tasty.”
“It's on it's way,” said James.
“Yea!” said Aeron. “And wait 'till ye see the skirt that fetches hit out. Whee-oo!”
“No joke!” said Llewyrch with a grinning bounce in his seat.
“Pretty, aye?”
“Prettiest thing you'll ever see...”
“Here y'all be,” rasped a deep brassy voice.
At once they all looked up in shock to behold a gnarly, broad shouldered somebody with breasts, huge buttocks and muscular arms, stump to their table with a tray and begin setting out flagons and steaming bowls. She gave a cheery red-faced toothless grin and a bounce of a nod with her bush of snarled hair and turned away from the table, leaving them in wide-eyed silence.
“Llewyrch?” said Owain as he picked up his flagon. “I swear. I'm not sure what to think about your judgment.”
“There's Beli, setting out drams,” said Llewyrch, deflecting all this with a sudden nod at a rotund bald man in an apron, across the room.
“He's the one I speak to about Dewr?
“The very one.”
“I'll be right back.” said James as he rose and made his way to the bar.
Beli put away the last of the dram glasses he was drying and ambled over to James to prop himself on his splayed arms. “What'll ye have, my good man?” he said.
Heart of the Staff - Complete Series Page 144