Heart of the Staff - Complete Series

by Carol Marrs Phipps

  Spitemorta shot to her feet. “A spy?” she said as she began pacing about the room. “From Niarg? They don't begin to have it in them. They're too proper to put spies in the courts of their enemies, let alone their allies...”

  “Niarg's your ally?”

  “Well they were,” she said with a laugh, “though when I...when we did in King Hebraun, they might have considered us something else.”

  “Yes,” said Coel with a studious nod as he watched her pace. “I can see where that might have broken their alliance with you. And they just might've put spies in your court after something like that, don’t you reckon?”

  “Well I certainly thought of the possibility, but Demonica didn't think so,” she said, stopping to tap at a tooth. She sighed and sat back on the bed with a bounce. “But there's no one it could've been. Until you and General Cunedda came, we'd not been allowing anyone into Goll. Nor had we hired any help, except for a couple of serving boys, just children. I mean Niarg would never use children if they used anyone at all.”

  “Well tell me, did either one of those children leave your service?”

  Spitemorta frowned. “Well no,” she said. “I don’t think so. Not that I know of. Oh, I had to put one of them to death, but that's not really leaving.”

  “He must have been a stinker.”

  “Yea. He knocked over a vase.”

  Coel gave a rocking chair sort of nod, as if upsetting a vase were a capital offence, regardless of the vase.

  “But now that I think about it... Now that I do think about the other one, he did indeed run off.” She looked up with sudden wide eyes.

  Coel gave a tight little smile and returned a most knowing nod.

  Spitemorta was back on her feet at once. “Herio, damn him!” she said. “That's who he was. He's just plain dead, next time I see him. And if he really did spy for my dear Auntie Minuet, I'll make sure that he takes all week to die.”

  “Auntie Minuet? Queen Minuet? The red haired corpse back at Castle Niarg? Somehow I missed you all a-saying that you were even connected with the House of Niarg.”

  “So? Why would it matter? Enemies are enemies, after all, and Auntie Min sure played the part, a-wanting revenge for King Hebraun, even though they started everything.”

  “Niarg started the war?”

  “Absolutely,” said Spitemorta as a flicker of fire came and went in her eyes. “You didn't think Goll started it, did you? I mean, if you thought that, why'd you agree to help us?”

  “You made the deal with King Vortigern, Your Majesty,” he said, putting his hands behind his head. “We've had an arrangement with Vortigern all along and he commanded it. Of course he had to make a good deal in order to give his command. And you and he gave us quite a generous tract of land as payment. It's a good investment for me. It's my ago-marghogyon, as we say. I'm in this for the payment. I command a mercenary army. Who starts a war is no concern of mine. I'm only concerned with who finishes it. Make no mistake about that, Your Majesty.”

  “Good for you,” she said, stepping over to the bed to pick up her staff. “So what about Cunedda and his battalion of Gwael regulars?”

  “I'm not sure that I understand your question. You made the deal with King Vortigern. They're strictly taking orders, as I can't imagine you don't already know. And they do follow their orders.”

  “Yes,” she said, suddenly finished with the conversation. “They would want to, just as you want to be certain that you earn your land.

  “Now. We need to discuss what comes next. Let's fly over to the Morsarf and see General Cunedda.”

  “Nay,” said Coel, shaking his head as he held the door for her. “I'll vomit. You can fly back with Cunedda or I'll row over. And by the way, what about Demonica? Isn't she going to be in on this?”

  “Not when she's dead,” said Spitemorta as if he were contemptibly daft. She threw her leg over the Staff and shot away into the air toward the Morsarf, leaving him to wonder what had happened to the greatest sorceress of the age.

  ***

  Two white blurs suddenly came dancing toward them through the tall waving grass. “Shawkyn spooghey!” cried Obbree as he drew his bow. “Too late for eggs!”

  “Inney!” cried Trammen as he loosed an arrow. “Get Rose out of sight, now!”

  Jeeleys and Aalid leaped and collided with the great white birds, springing at them out of the grass to strike and slash with their feet. The feathered fury, tinged with red, was impossible to sort out. One of the birds already had intestines hanging. At the sight of Tramman and Obbree holding back their shots, Fuzz and Karl-Veur rushed in with their swords, only to think better of it and warily stand aside as the Elves pressed fourth, picking spots to stick their arrows into the wild birds.

  Inney grabbed Rose by the hand and sprinted away into the grass with Sheshey bounding alongside them for far enough that when at last they stopped, they could scarcely make out the sounds of shouts away behind them.

  Inney stood heaving, catching her breath as she looked at the fuzzy chick in Rose's arms. “Are you keeping her?” she said as Sheshey stepped nervously all about them, straining to see what was going on back through the grass, as he popped his beak and ruffled his feathers.

  Rose nodded. “'Cara' means 'friend' in Elvish, right?”

  Inney gave her a quick hug. “It probably did. It's 'carrey,' now.”

  “Then she's Carrey.”

  Presently, the wild birds were down with Tramman and Obbree planting their final arrows and Fuzz and Karl-Veur helping with plunging thrusts of their swords.

  “No!” cried out Obbree, falling to his knees.

  Rose and Inney came running wide eyed out of the grass to find him cradling Aalid's head in his lap, rocking back and forth, sobbing and wailing out his name to the clouds. Sheshey jogged up to give him a careful one eyed inspection before turning aside to help Jeeleys tug and rip at the carcasses of the wild strike falcons.

  When at last poor Obbree turned his back on the ashes of his bond mate Aalid and headed on through the tall big bluestem grass for Balley Cheerey, he was cradling a hatching egg in his leine. Here and there meadowlarks called. At the sound of peeping, he stopped and peeked into his shirt. “You've pipped!” he cried. “You're Ennoil, my beloved.” He squeezed shut his eyes and held the egg over his head for a moment before putting it back into his shirt. “And I promise that when our time comes, we'll die together.”

  ***

  The grass waving over their heads 'way back where they had found the eggs may have been taller than any that Rose had ever seen, but it was nothing compared with what they had found themselves walking through for the past three days. This grass was tall enough to completely hide a man on a unicorn, and so thick that it utterly ruled out any glimpse of the table flat countryside for league upon endlessly long league. She had not known quite what to think about the raw strike falcon thigh skins when they were being sewn onto her feet, but after all this long way she was grateful to be wearing them. Carrey was quite a burden at times, but was very lively and alert to everything with her big orange eyes and already quite able to keep up with her, following on her heels for short spells at a time. Field sparrows called everywhere they went, and just now they were being scolded from above by another circling pair of redwing blackbirds. “Fuzz!” she cried. “Look yonder. “What is it?”

  “Why, it looks like some giant rusty red rock.”

  “Tramman?” she hollered. “What's that thing up yonder?”

  “Good luck for you is what,” he said, waiting for them to catch up. “That's Creg Boayl Arrey. The first one to see it has good luck. That means we're home. Balley Cheerey's right east of it. The Creg's big. We've got a pretty good hike ahead of us yet, though we're already into grazing land.”

  “Grazing land? How can you tell?”

  “Auroch piles, see?” he said, pointing at dry manure close by.

  “Auroch?”

  “Yea. If your brother's married into the lost Elves, you prob
ably already know about cows. They took all the cattle with them when they rowed away a millennium ago. Aurochs were the wild cattle of the Strah at that time, so that's what we raise.”

  Soon, tramped-down paths meandering all through the grass were appearing here and there, and before long they found themselves following a particularly large one, strewn with auroch dung, headed toward Creg Boayl Arrey. “Hooves!” hollered Inney. “Someone's coming.”

  “Hoi!” cried a lone unicorn rider as he appeared in the distance. “Kys t' ou?” called out the gnarly Elf in black spiked leather as he drew near on a spirited Doolish unicorn. “Tramman, Inney as Obbree!”

  “Ta shiu heet!” cried Tramman. “Olloo!”

  Olloo drew to a halt, spit and dismounted. “Quoi ad shen?” he said with a nod at Rose, Fuzz and Karl-Veur as he walked up to Tramman.

  “They speak that sea trade tongue, like some of the Gwaels, and also a little bit of the old time Elven,” said Tramman. “This is Princess Rose and her husband Fuzz from Mooar-Rheynn Twoaie, which they know as Deatalamh because her brother is married to Neron's great-great-granddaughter. The lost Elves live, Olloo!”

  “M'annym da'n jouyll!” cried Olloo, holding out his hand at once. “I will be damned!”

  “And this is Prince Karl-Veur of Mooar-Rheynn Dorraghey...”

  “Mollaght!” cried Olloo.

  Olloo was keenly interested in the encounter with the wild strike falcons and made a point of carefully examining the hatchlings now being carried by Rose, Fuzz, Karl-Veur and Obbree. “We have three new austringas, Inney,” he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “It will be your job to mentor and train each of them.”

  Inney nodded solemnly, then rushed aside to give Rose a quick hug.

  Olloo insisted that Rose ride his unicorn. He helped her up, put the reins into Fuzz's hand and left them to follow as he led the party down the meandering auroch path to Balley Cheerey.

  “Remember when we rode across the Saddle in the mountains to Soraya's birth at Oilean Gairdin, Fuzz?” said Rose.

  “It was like a dream,” he said, putting her hand to his cheek, “but the Strah is the most endlessly flat land I've ever seen instead of mountains, and you're the one with child...”

  “You are?” cried Inney, prancing up to her other side to squeeze her hand. “Oh! This is wonderful. You've got a new eyas and you've got a baby coming. And I'll not only help you with your eyas, I'll help you with all kinds of baby things.” And with that she dashed ahead and did a cartwheel.

  “Eyas?” said Rose. “Inney, what's an eyas?”

  “Carrey's an eyas. A baby shawk spoogh's an eyas.”

  By the early afternoon the great Creg Boayl Arrey rose up to greet them as the relentless grass of the Strah gave way to a broad common, grazed by several large flocks of sheep, tinkling with bells, which flanked the great orchards and the houses, gardens and barns of Balley Cheerey. Rose studied the sod buildings, low, broad and thickly thatched like decorative brooms, not at all like the tall crystal glazed wattle and daub cottages of Oilean Gairdin. As throngs of excited Elves came to meet the strangers, Olloo gave word that Rose, Fuzz and Karl-Veur be shown to quarters where they could rest before being introduced to the council and the people of Balley Cheerey.

  ***

  “I never expected the like,” said Rose, looking about the room as she enjoyed a long and comforting hug from Fuzz. “We have a whole house and Karl-Veur has the house next door. I sure never expected anything like that... Someone's at the door.”

  Fuzz opened the door to two strange Elven maidens who brought in two huge armloads of clothing, laid them out on the bed, curtseyed, giggled and departed.

  “My word!” said Rose, “Shoes, two pair apiece. And this looks like several changes of clothes for each of us... and they fit. And Fuzz, these are all nice. Do you think they expect us to stay?”

  “They not only gave us eyas baskets for Carrey and Sidoor, look in the bedroom.”

  “A cradle! Fuzz, our bedroom's a nursery.”

  “Well, if we live up to that,” he said, “we'll be here for at least another six or seven months, and you heard Inney. She's determined to help you clean through to the end of your lying-in and beyond.” He looked about for a bit, opening cupboards and peering into drawers. “Big bedroom, a room just to take baths, a big parlour... positively huge kitchen. And everything completely stocked, furnished and outfitted. “This place is even better than my den.”

  “Oh?”

  “Absolutely. You're here,” he said, grabbing her into another hug and giving her a kiss.

  “And how do you reckon we'll ever get home?” she said, looking up at him suddenly. “And what about poor little Edward? He'll know something happened to us.”

  “Well something did happen to us, but we will indeed get home. Just where that puts Karl-Veur and his mission, and Demonica, Spitemorta and the doom of the world, Fates only know.”

  For some time they said nothing, glancing all about. “Did you look at that bathing tub in the room for taking baths?” said Rose. “It's a mosaic of a quail and her chicks and it's sunken into the floor. It actually reminds me of things we saw in Azenor's palace, back on Head. If Carrey and Sidoor stay asleep in their new eyas baskets, You could help me with my bath and wash my back.”

  “My pleasure indeed, O Mother-to-be.”

  ***

  Swallows twittered and swooped, darting in and out of the mews as Olloo and Tramman scattered the last of the bedding. Olloo stuck his fork in the straw and leant on a gate in the doorway to watch the hens outside chasing after each other over a scrap of raw meat dropped by the strike falcons, as he waited for Tramman to finish. “Now let me get this straight,” he said as Tramman picked up his waist and gave it a shake. “You said Rose was approached by a little white skinned woman in the swamp who called herself a Fire Sprite and claimed to glow in the dark and talked by putting her thoughts into Rose's head without speaking, right?”

  “That's what she said.”

  “What else did she have to say?” he said with a thoughtful squint as he cut off a fresh chaw from his dark twist of red maidenhair leaves.

  “That's all that I remember.”

  “Well now, didn't you tell me the moment that I rode up out there, that her brother was married to some of Neron's people?”

  “That's what she said...”

  “Let's go,” said Olloo, giving the top board of the gate a slap. “We've got to go talk to Queen Vorona, right now.” He was off at a pace that nearly had Tramman jogging to keep up.

  They came up behind the withered old queen in the back garden of her rambling manor house, where she had set down her basket of peas in order to cut some roses, singing in a high watery voice: “Churn, churn, make some butter, for a little bad girl's supper...” a bit short of breath in places, inhaling her words here and there. “Hush now baby girl, don't say a word, Momma's goin' 'o buy you a mockin' bird...” pausing here and there for a particularly stickery stem. “Damn!” she said, jerking back to suck on a fingertip.

  They had not spoken at first out of respectful restraint, but now they hesitated for fear of startling her.

  She returned to cutting stems. “Olloo,” she said, beneath her wispy snow white hair without looking up, “fetch me the other basket I forgot and left back by the peas. And good morning to you and Tramman too, while I'm at it. And ain't the pair of you ones a little old to be skulking about, all daft and bashful? I heard ye crunching gravel long before you got to the gate.”

  “Why didn't you say something?” said Olloo.

  “I just did. Now what do you want? You ones all roiled up over some problem that came with the Humans ye brought back with you?”

  “Yes, actually,” said Olloo.

  “Well now, that's going to take some cherry pie that Grayse ought to have cooling by now,” she said, glancing at them with her piercing brown eyes as she handed the roses to Olloo and the peas to Tramman. “And fresh cottage cheese. We've g
ot that going to waste. It'll have to go to the hogs if you ones don't smother your pies.”

  Inside, Vorona called for the kettle to be put on and seated them at the board.

  “Water's already hot,” said Grayse. “I'll start you all on some pie.”

  “So what about these people that we're going to see, this evening?” said Vorona. “The young woman and her husband know the whereabouts of Neron, don't they? Did I hear correctly, that she's a princess? Now her husband must be the prince, right?”

  “No,” said Olloo, “the other one's the prince...”

  “Here's the tea. Milk first?” she said, already putting a dollop in each cup.

  “Well... a good place to start would be with Princess Rose having seen a Fire Sprite...”

  “Where?” said Vorona, still standing with the milk.

  “In the swamp by the sea, just inland from the blister kelp. And it was out in broad daylight, would you believe? But 'way back when Balley Cheerey was Baile Tuath, and you sent Oisin and Kieran and me to Baile Gairdin for the old book, wasn't there something in it about Fire Sprites and Humans?”

  “Why?”

  “I thought it might be good for you to meet with Princess Rose, in fact all of them before the meeting, this evening...”

  “Why?”

  “In the book, didn't some of that have to do with an Elf having children by a Human?”

  “Why?”

  “Well, Rose knows about Neron because her brother married his great-great- granddaughter,” said Tramman, “and they have kids...”

  Vorona sat down slowly and had a sip of tea in the dead silent room. When she set down her cup, everyone heard the saucer chatter.

  Chapter 149

  Spitemorta could hear excited shouts far below her as she surged up into the deep blue sky over the ships Captain Jockford was sailing for General Coel. She squealed with glee as she threw herself into a grand backward loop and came plummeting back down to shoot out over the waves as she raced for the Morsarf, her kirtle fluttering and popping in the wind. “Niarg-Loxmere-Goll!” she cried as she overtook and scattered a flock of black skimmers. “Mine! Mine! Mine!”