Heart of the Staff - Complete Series

by Carol Marrs Phipps

  Lukus followed her inside as Neron, Strom, Danneth and Jerund came behind.

  “Hey,” he said at the sight of the dour innkeeper. “He's the very same fellow, except his fiery red hair's all gone white.” He walked right up to the man. “Good evening, sir,” he said with a buoyant grin. “My kin and I'd like very much to have a good meal and a room for the night.”

  “You'll 'ave t' get rid o' them two things, first,” said the innkeeper, nodding with cold grey eyes at Hubba Hubba and Pebbles sitting quietly on Lukus's shoulder.

  Hubba Hubba and Pebbles craned their necks, looking for something objectionable on Lukus's shoulders.

  Lukus wasn't certain that he heard right.

  “This is a clean inn,” said the innkeeper, “and we intend f'r t' keep it that a-way.”

  “Yea? Then you'd do well to get your stinkin' carcass out of the doorway so ye won't scare off decent customers!” squawked Hubba Hubba. “Come on Pebbles. Let's roost in better quarters in the coach.” With a flurry of furious feathers, they dropped off

  Lukus and streaked out just above the floor.

  “That bird's got a bad mouth,” said the innkeeper, squinting up and down Lukus as shamelessly as a tailor making tucks. “You've been here before, ain't ye?”

  “My word,” said Lukus with a grin. “I most certainly have sir, but that was six years ago and I wasn't quite grown then. You have an incredible memory.”

  “Aye, I've 'n eye f'r faces right enough. It pays t' know y'r customers in this business,” he said as he gave a squint eyed glance about Lukus's party. “I don't 'member none of your companions, though. Now, you was a-travelin' with a handsome blonde lass when you were here, weren't ye?”

  “Yes indeed. That was my sister. Your memory is nothing short of amazing.”

  “Not really. It's kind 'o hard to forget King James 'is se'f, when 'e was still Prince, bargin' in right after you'ns left, all worked up a-huntin' f'r yer.”

  Lukus went wide eyed at this this. He turned aside at once and drew forth Soraya to stand beside him. “This is my wife and our two newborns,” he said. “And these are my kin by marriage.”

  “Wee babes, aye?” said the innkeeper. “More'n one? What kind o' racket d' they make?”

  Lukus was stunned at this. “Why, practically none, good sir,” he said, “Actually, we think they must be that way because there are two of them.”

  The innkeeper had a blank look.

  “They keep each other comforted, you see, since they're always together and always have been together...”

  “I'd think twice the racket or better, myself, an' I got payin' customers t' think of.”

  “Could be true of some, but not these two,” said Lukus with a shake of his head.

  The innkeeper paused to squint and thrust out his chin as he bit at something teensy between his teeth. “Here,” he said with a sigh as he shoved the register, quill and ink bottle at Lukus. “And, that'll cost ye one full sovereign for each room. So how many rooms do ye want” Two? Three?”

  “Three,” said Lukus, handing over the amount without hesitation, as his eyes went wide at the price. He had plenty of money, but even a couple of shillings a room would have been difficult for most people.

  The innkeeper shuffled away with the money as though he had been charging such amounts all day long, leaving Lukus to sign in. He returned just as Lukus set down his pen, followed by a withered old hunchback, wearing a filthy white apron. “Stamson here'll see t' y'r baggage an' show ye t' y'r rooms,” he said, almost friendly. “I 'spect ye c'n find the dining room. The house special's still our famous stew.”

  “Exactly what I wanted to hear,” said Lukus roundly. He took Soraya's arm and was following the old hired man down the dark narrow hall, when the innkeeper hollered after them: “Now mind ye, if them young'n's of you'ns's gets to carryin' on and disturbin' the other patrons, you'ns'll 'ave t' leave right now! And if ye break the rules o' th' Suds an' Steer, we keep y'r rent!”

  Lukus drew in an angry breath to set him straight as Soraya pinched his arm and shook her head. “Let's go see our room, Lukus.”

  “If it weren't for being absolutely famished,” he said under his breath, “I'd say hang this place and leave.”

  Soraya nodded, squeezed his hand and gave it a shake for him to be still as they followed the shuffling Stamson, brushing his shoulders against first one wall then the other, as he maneuvered his stiff hips step by step, up the cramped flight of stairs.

  Their tiny room was clean, but had nothing more than a narrow bed with a straw mattress, an austere straight backed chair, a pitcher and basin on a rickety stand and scarcely enough room to turn around in without hitting things. The crooked little window faced the street (had they known), but its sash was sealed with layer upon layer of lacquer and its four panes were blown from thick purple glass, full of bubbles and ripples.

  Stamson had vanished to show Neron, Danneth, Strom and Jerund to their rooms when Soraya turned back to tell him that the room would do.

  “Well, at least I can assure you that the food's good enough to make up for most of this,” said Lukus, smiling at her.

  “It had better be,” she growled, earning a look of shocked surprise from him. She broke out with a gale of laughter.

  Before long, Neron, Danneth, Strom and Jerund had come for them.

  “Are you sure it's still necessary for you all to hide behind your cloaks?” whispered Lukus to Soraya as they came down the stairs. “I mean off the street's one thing, but coming from our rooms, won't that look odd?”

  “I don't know,” she said with a shrug, “but I think we want to feel out the mood in the dining room, first.”

  “If you say so.”

  Lukus was delighted to find everything as he remembered it. Under the dining room's low ceilings were tables spread with faded green and white checkered cloths and fat lumpy candles. Throw rugs gave splashes of bright color to the room, much as he remembered and the bear rug before the hearth must have been the very one he remembered, though more than half of its fur was trod away. And as before, the inn was full of diners. “Isn't it great?” he said, turning to Soraya.

  “It does smell inviting, Lukus.”

  “Just wait 'til you taste it,” he said as they were all seated. “Ha! She's still here.”

  Here came the immense waitress, heaving herself between the tables. Her greasy grey hair was no longer the black that Lukus remembered, and her skin was sagging with dimpled checkers of jiggling wrinkles, but if anything she was heavier by a hundredweight and she had a sour smell about her.

  “Whew,” he thought as he got a whiff, “No wonder the innkeeper's hair's turned white.” To his astonishment, she gave them the exact delivery she had given Rose and him those years ago, right down to warning them about the scorched pea soup.

  “Do they even fix pea soup?” he thought. “All they need to make is the stew.” It seemed strange ordering the stew when there might have been no other choice.

  Lukus was disappointed that the waitress did not recognize him in the least, though he clearly knew better. It merely made her like nearly everyone else on earth.

  Soon she was back, huffing and shuffling and sidling between tables as she brought forth the stew. She labored to breathe as she strained to set out the steaming bowls beyond the reaches of her girth without tottering. As she straightened up, Soraya lowered her hood and unbuttoned her cloak in order to eat.

  The elephantine serving woman stopped wide eyed and rigid, jowls a-jiggle. As a look of hatred swept across her lardy face, she furiously snapped up both bowls at once, slinging stew onto both Soraya and Lukus. “We don't serve y'r stinkin' kind in here!” she screeched as she wheeled away to the kitchen with their meal.

  Lukus sprang up, knocking his chair flat as he started after her.

  “Hey,” said Danneth, intercepting him. “Perhaps it would be wise if we just left quietly.”

  “No,” said Lukus between his teeth. “Not until that s
ow gives me a better reason than she just did.”

  “I'd say there's a very good chance she'll not,” said Danneth with a sigh as he stepped aside.

  Lukus zigzagged between the tables, catching up to the waitress just as she put her shoulder to the swinging door to the kitchen. “Please excuse my abruptness ma'am,” he said as polite as he could manage, “but I'd truly like to know why you refused to serve my wife and me the meal we just ordered. Our money's as good as anyone's.”

  “I'm s'prised you'ns even 'ave the nerve t' come in here a-flauntin' y'selves amongst decent folks,” she huffed in a thin falsetto, as her eyes turned to hot slits in her red face. “Ye think we don't know what you're all about? Ha! The queen told us 'erse'f, she did.”

  “She what? So just what did the queen say about the Elves?”

  “You ain't no Elf!” she screeched.

  “No, I'm not. Now, will you please be kind enough to answer my question? Just what on earth did Spitemorta say about the Elves?”

  She looked across the room at Soraya. “Why are ye traveling with an Elf?” she said defiantly. “Don't y' know they're dangerous?”

  “What makes them dangerous, then?”

  “They're after our land. They're out t' kill us all for it, too,” she said with wild piggy eyes. “Y' best get shed o' that Elf right now! She'll sooner slit y'r throat as look at ye, young fool!” And with that, she shoved past him through the door with a shriek and a yank of her tray, sending the bowls skittering across the kitchen floor on the other side.

  Lukus looked up from his shocked disbelief to find the entire room astir like a kicked hive, every single eye on him. Across the room Soraya and her kin bore emphatically urgent looks. Things were well on their way to getting ugly and they needed to get out.

  Lukus tramped across the dining room, put the bail of one traveling basket in the crook of his arm and the other one in his left hand as he grabbed Soraya with his right, pulling her to her feet and heading for the hall to the stairs, surrounded by Neron, Danneth, Strom and Jerund.

  “Just get our belongings and go?” he said, bounding up the steps.

  “You mean there's a choice?” said Neron.

  “Is there a way out up here?” said Danneth.

  “Everyone grab up your things!” cried Jerund as he hurried ahead. “Good job no one unpacked. I'll go see.” As everyone raced to his respective door, Jerund reached the window at the end of the hall. “Cac! Léan air! A leithéid de chac!” he cried. Suddenly he broke out the glass and waved out the window. “Hey! Get the coach and the unicorns around front! Now!” He dashed back, by the rooms as everyone came out. “No way out!

  We got 'o go back the way we came in! If we're lucky the coach will be somewhere...!”

  Lukus fumbled with buckles, strapping the claymore to his back for the first time. He grabbed up the twins, put his arm around Soraya and was ready. “It's a mercy no one chased up here after us,” he said. Down they went, plunging into the dining room full of glares, angry jeers and shaking fists. They shoved their way through the jostling and spitting, but miraculously got to the front door. Soraya, Strom and the twins got shoved outside, stumbling onto the steps before the door got slammed painfully on Danneth's arm.

  “Get 'em, Homer!” came cries all around, as a hateful face stepped forth and ran a rapier through Jerund's shoulder.

  Lukus instantly went white hot, lunging forward with a furious two handed swing. Gearr Téigh Síós rang with a sharp ping and Homer's head rolled away across the plates on the floor with a bloody bounce under dancing feet as the crowd gasped, taken by surprise. Suddenly a rotten toothed man with a tar tail charged up with a cutlass to be impaled by Neron, who yanked out his claymore from the fellow and neatly cleaved two heads, while Lukus took off another's arm. When the crowd hesitated, Danneth pulled Jerund outside, as Neron and Lukus backed out and slammed the door.

  “Hey!” screeched Hubba Hubba. “Don't stop! Here's the coach! Get away from the door!”

  As Danneth and Neron helped Jerund to the coach, the coachman heaved a bucket of lamp oil at the inn, followed by a flaming twist of tow, to send fire up the door with a whoosh, the instant it swung open. Danneth and Strom got Jerund into the coach with Soraya and King Neron, then sprang out with their claymores to clamber up on top with Lukus as the coachman gave the reins a furious shake and drove them out of Sweet Pea as fast as the team could go. He didn't slow down until he had gotten a good mile or so beyond town, where he stopped long enough for Danneth and Strom to switch to their mounts.

  Lukus climbed down with them to have a look at Jerund, afraid of what he might find inside. He took a deep breath and shared looks with Danneth and Strom before slowly opening the door. Soraya's face was drawn and white.

  Neron looked up and met their eyes. “He'll live,” he said gravely. “And I'd expect he would, since he's the orneriest of the lot of ye. He's asleep, just like you were, Lukus, but his wound is a bit worse than yours was. He's right weak from losing his blood. He'll be fine.”

  Everyone shared relieved looks. Lukus kissed Soraya and started to shut the door.

  “Hey Lukus,” said Neron. “Ye acquitted yourself right well back there. Makes me glad I chose you for to be Gearr Téigh Síós's new master.”

  “I'm right honored, sire,” he said.

  After another good four furlongs, they pulled off the road and Soraya set right to work, fixing a long overdue meal for them all. Lukus, Danneth and Strom joined in the preparations while keeping a wary eye out for what might appear along the road. Before long they were enjoying a hearty stew and flat bread.

  “The stew is truly delicious, Soraya,” said Lukus.

  “At least we can eat it in peace,” she said. “Do we dare camp here Grandfather?”

  “All things considered I'd say we've probably pushed our luck as far as we dare by stopping to prepare a meal while still within the Loxmere-Goll borders,” he said, rubbing his chin. “I think we should push on until we're well across the border.”

  Lukus climbed into the coach with Soraya, the twins and Jerund and fell fast asleep at once, not to awaken until they were nearly to the border of Far and Niarg. As he sat up, he felt a profound sense that he was nearly home, but an uneasiness kept reminding him that sweeping changes were on their way for Niarg, and they were not at all changes for the better.

  Chapter 95

  “Look!” cried Edward, as he pointed to the ground from astride Laora's back. “Fly lower.”

  “Why?” said Laora, as she stopped flapping and looked at him with one curious eye. “What's so special about a pair of big ground runners?”

  “They're diatymas.”

  “So what?” she said as she started gliding down in great sweeping spirals.

  “They're my friends, that's what. They brought me to the Dragon Caves after the Beaks captured my momma and the White Witch and those bad sore sissies.”

  “Oh,” she said as she began studying them minutely. “Why do you think they're coming back here?”

  “I don't know, but I hope it's nothing bad.”

  “Me, too,” she said. “Well here goes.” She swooped in for a sidling trot down the path as she came to a halt a good ten rods ahead of the diatrymas, to allow them stopping distance.

  The diatrymas bobbed their heads in unison and jogged to a springy stop. “Good day to you, Master Edward,” said one of the giant birds.

  “Oh, Ceidwad!” he cried, running up and hugging her. “I missed you!”

  “And we missed you,” she said, rattling her beak along a strand of his hair.

  “Who's your lovely young friend?”

  Laora's eyes widened at this and she self-consciously found some flight feathers that needed an immediate sorting through.

  Edward trotted back to her and threw his arms around her. “This is Laora and she's my very most bestest friend in the whole world.”

  Ceidwad nodded, and turned to Laora with a dignified bow. “I'm Ceidwad, my dear,” she sai
d, “and I'm delighted to make your acquaintance.”

  “As I am as well, my fair feathered young one,” said Lladdwr in his deep reedy boom as he bowed low.

  Laora gave her feathers a good shake and sleeked down. “If you're good friends of Edward's, then you're good friends of mine,” she said with a nod of her own.

  Formalities aside, Ceidwad turned quickly to Edward. “We've been sent in haste to the Dragon Caves to speak with your elders,” she said. “Would you fly ahead and tell them of our arrival?”

  “Certainly,” said Edward and Laora in chorus.

  “Thank you,” said Ceidwad. “Then we shall see you directly.”

  “We're on our way!” cried Edward as he and Laora dashed off at a trot. He skipped in the dust and threw his leg across her back as she made a lunge, flapping aloft.

  ***

  “How long do you think the three of you will be gone?” said Lipperella, looking sadly at Spark as she stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the tumbling milky river, several hundred feet below. She offered pickled voles, rolled in sukere crystals, from her hors d'oeuvres tray to Tors and Kast before turning to him.

  Spark took a vole and squeezed the pimentos out of its eye sockets and licked his fingers thoughtfully before biting off the head with a yank. “No more than a month. Probably less. I sure hope a lot less,” he said, looking at her with doleful eyes.

  “I wish we knew the secret of the Elves' message globes,” she said wistfully.

  “So do I. Tell me to stay and I will. Maybe Gweltaz has settled down with Loeiz enough to reconsider going with Tors and Kast.”

  “You know better'n that, Spark. They've only been mated for a fortnight. How 'bout us? It's been six years and we don't feel like being apart.”

  “I don't see why Kast and I couldn't go by ourselves, Spark,” said Tors. “We're grown up. We can ask directions. And surely with two of us, any humans too stupid to see that we mean well would most likely be afraid of us. We'll get to Castle Niarg.”

  “I really don't know, Tors,” said Spark, as he knitted his brow and reached for another pickled vole. “King Hebraun and Queen Minuet are one thing, the general populace is quite another. Razorback was the last dragon in Niarg, as far as anyone knows, and he was out to burn all their crops. There were a number of people he burnt to death while he was at it, too.”