Heart of the Staff - Complete Series

by Carol Marrs Phipps

  Teeuh looked from face to face. “Didde I seye som thyng rude?” she said.

  “No hony,” said Celeste. “Thou symply dost enchaunten us. But thou mustest axe Ri Neron.”

  “I would be delighted to take her,” said Neron, “But you should remember that both King James and Prince Abaddon live there.” And once more the blind fish could be heard splashing in the running water outside.

  Chapter 193

  King James and Queen Mary did not just dance the line dance to Queen's Head at their wedding when they came to the New Dragon Caves those years ago, they quickly became the favorite dance couple of all the New Gairdin Elves, which is not a thing to be taken lightly, for the Elves are a kingdom of fiddlers. Mary just happened to be a splendid fiddler herself, and before too many years went by, so was James.

  Tonight was to be the New Melons Joy Dance in the great Tavern Hall, and it was an irony indeed for James and Mary to be sitting on the edges of their coronary chairs with their instruments, practicing Queen's Head itself, the very moment that Teeuh stumbled into sight. Mary gasped and dropped her fiddlestick.

  Teeuh caught her balance at once, closed and opened her wings and gave a low and ballet perfect curtsey. “Yunker Magestees,” she said, still holding her small green Fairy scrying ball. “Plese forgiff yit me, for Ich juste by Kyng Nerones taisteal fro Mount Bedd Chwiorydd Tair to the Newe Dragoun Kaaves have travayled, and thennes heere, usynge the verray ffirst taisteal I by my selve ever have ytryed. And sory to seyn am I, that I verray litel tyme do haven. Teeuh am Ich yclept and al this way I did come the tweye of yit to meete, especiallye thou, Kyng James, by cause thou art Nasteuhes fader and I nolde nat a-lyve to buen atte al, hadst thou nat hir in-to the woreld bifore me ybrought.”

  “Well!” he said, glancing aside at Mary to find her already calmly entranced by this winged woman. “You've captivated us. My word. I mean, please do go on.”

  Teeuh took a deep breath. “Ich wold alowe thise tydyngges aren hard for thou to heere and just as hard to bileven, but I to heira trewthe on peyne of deeth do swere. Kyng Neron knoweth and hee wol be heere directly.”

  “Please,” said James, setting aside his fiddle at once and looking up, “tell us.”

  “Wel, smal and wee as she ben, thy doughter Nasteuh ben an evyl sorseress.

  Sowynge peyne and horrour as beste she koude hir endeles delyte hit ben. My Ffairye mammas everych thyng didde to tryen. But soon they sagh that she koude nevere be savyn.

  “A brother yclept Rodon they han, cursed to buen a gyaunte ratte for evere.

  Nasteuh hise leg and tail smoot of, and they fond hir bounsyng and clappyng hir hondes in glewe, wacchyng hym waylen and blede. So they took hir to been un-maked by my trewe mooder Longbarke, the moost auncyen and magyk of al okes. And whan Mooder Longbarke ben un-makyng hir, she ben supprised to fynden a certeyn goodnesse atte Nasteuhes core which fro thee didde comen, Kyng James. This ygeve un-to hir what she neede for the herte of an hool newe persone. Thus in-to this world as thou seest me now I didde comen.”

  “That's quite a tale indeed,” said James. “But even though I've not had the chance to meet your Fairy mothers nor your mother Longbark, I do know some deal about them through my steward and close friend Lance, who was raised by them, and through my son Abaddon, who stayed with them and may not otherwise have been able to escape his mother's terrible influence. And you surely know about the diatrymas, Lladdwr, Ceidwad and Arwr, who were raised by your mothers. They're my friends as well. And you may not be Nasteuh, but...”

  “She does have your eyes, James,” said Mary, “though instead of your brown ones, they're the greenest green I've ever seen in my life.”

  “Ich am righte plesed to heere that, Thy Magestee,” said Teeuh. “Ich was afered Ich wolde lok lyche un-to Spitemorta.”

  “The resemblance is undeniably there,” said James as he shifted on his seat, “but where her look carries the scorn of evil, you have an innocent and captivating beauty.

  Nay. You're nothing like that beast.”

  “And I konne to seen that evene this smale tellyng of hir smyt thy herte with blacnesse,” said Teeuh. “Plese forgiff thou me if my comyng heere be a burden to beren.”

  “Oh, not at all, my dear,” he said, closing his eyes to shake his head. “In fact, you've lifted the very burden I've had to carry about for above twenty year. Spitemorta was such a curse upon those all about her that I rued having given her twins to the point that I was relieved to learn that Nasteuh's brother was born dead. And all these livelong years I've wondered what awful fate I sealed for the wee baby girl.” He met her eyes, sighed and brightened at once. “So you see my dear, I'm delighted... No. No, I'm altogether grateful that you took the time to come here. And Teeuh. Do you mind terribly if I go on calling you my daughter? I mean, aren't you just a bit, even if Nasteuh is long gone?”

  “O!” said Teeuh with a bounce and a joyous grin of shark teeth, only to see the sudden look of alarm on both James and Mary. She stopped short and looked at her feet.

  She could hear the twittering of swiftlets and water dripping from clean across the cavern. “Sory am Ich,” she said at last. “I that my teth are ne lyche un-to eny oon ellyses didde forget. They arne the oon part of Nasteuh which Mooder Longbarke for me to beren didde leve. She hath nevere me why ytold, but Ich alwey that hit ben for the beste have trustid. Perchaunce hit ben to telle me alwey in the servyse of good to lyven.”

  “Yes my dear,” said Mary as she reached out and to take her hand, “I sense that you are indeed correct. And I've a right strong feeling that you are bound for great things, my princess, though what they be I cannot tell.”

  “Mersy, Queene Mary! My mooderes as eld as the byginnynge of tyme may be, but they certeynly no perage doon haven. Teeuh wol do nycely. Maistresse Teeuh if thou most. And aboute what beth in store for me I can nought, but Mooder Longbarke bethe makyng me redy for som thyng. And Ich oh hir and my mammas and Papa Rodon my verray lyve, so that be what I shal yive un-to the rode I fynde my selve on.”

  “I have no doubt,” said Mary, “but if James may call you daughter, we shall both be right pleased to call you princess.”

  “We certainly shall,” said James.

  “Thanne I schulde calle yunc oones Herte Fader and Herte Mooder.”

  Neron came up the stairs from the garden to find the three of them standing hand in hand before the great sunlit wall of wisteria which hung in cascades from the atrium over the thrones, left there from the rocks which fell to form the dais aeons before.

  Swiftlets twittered and swooped above their heads as he crossed the great echoing vault to stop at last in the shafts of light and bow. As the echoes of their greetings died away, he turned to Teeuh. “Your first taisteal went well then?” he said.

  “Yis!” she cried with a bounce and a clap of her hands. “But whi evere didist thou walkest in heere in stede of usynge taisteal thy selve?”

  “Utter exhaustion, my dear. Mount Bedd is a very long way from here. And I'm afraid that the sooner we get underway, the sooner I shall be able to recuperate. And the dragons are waiting outside.”

  “Teeuh,” said James, taking up her hand again. “I do so hope you'll be back soon.

  We'll have you meet Nasteuh's elder brother Abaddon, if you'd like...”

  “Yis!” she said.

  “And...” he said, suddenly grabbing up the two fiddles, “we'll play some tunes...”

  “I sawe thos. What arne they?”

  “Fiddles. For tunes and dancing,” he said, quickly setting down Mary's and sawing out a quick refrain.

  Teeuh gave a wide-eyed gasp of delight, for she had never heard anything but the thin watery singing of her mammas and the tootling of Rodon's little clay ocarina. “O Ich wol,” she said. “Als soon as ever I konne.”

  ***

  The rattling declarations of the Red Desert cactus wren rose and fell on the hot gusts of wind coming up the slopes, gently heaving the boughs of Ocker and Urr-Urr's silver
maidenhair tree as if it were breathing in its sleep. Ocker was asleep. Urr-Urr waddled closer as she preened the feathers of his ruffled crown. She preened all about his eyes and ear feathers only to find him fast asleep as ever. She gave a snap of each wing as she drew back to study the top of his head with both eyes at once. Suddenly she struck him with her beak like a woodpecker.

  “Awk!” he cried, suddenly pitching upside down to hang from his perch by his feet. “Dampne hit!” he rattled, flapping his way back up. “What the ding-dong blazes was that for?”

  “You've been complaining for days that you've not been able to catch him,” she said, pointing herself like a compass needle at Meri Greenwood, sitting beside an enormous agave below, just outside the great ring of mushrooms.

  “Oh!” he said, giving her a quick nibble behind the eye to let her know that he was grateful in spite of his outburst. And he lunged into the air and swooped down to land with a quiet plop in the moss before Meri.

  “Now what?” said Meri, looking up at once from the water bag he was sewing.

  “Hey!” said Ocker. “You sound like you think I'm up to something.”

  “Seur. What is hit?”

  “Stinking toute hole!” said Ocker, standing upright at once with his neck feathers bristling.

  Meri threw back his head and laughed out.

  “Quit being a swyving toute hole for long enough and I might tell you.”

  “Verray wel, but Ich to warne thee that Ich am sittyng on oon that konnen ne quiten to buen what hit ybe eny moore than thou kanst.”

  Ocker strutted about in a circle of bristling distraction while Meri broke off a sharp thorn from the agave beside him, carefully pulling it away with its long fibers, down the length of its leaf to continue sewing.

  “I'll tell ye, if you have the sense to listen,” said Ocker, stopping to run his beak down a flight feather.

  Meri started the thorn into his fold of leather for the next stitch and looked up.

  Ocker found something in his other wing that needed attention before giving a thorough and conclusive ruffling shake of his feathers. “All right,” he said. “Urr-Urr and I have been obliged for every single day you've let us live here, all these years since the smallies swarmed into the Chokewoods.” He paused to pull loose a bit of fluff from his breast to fly away in the breeze. “Now look 'ee here. We're 'way more than just obliged, truth to tell. But I went back for a look at Urr-Urr's ledge above all the Chokewoods, and I didn't see smallies any place I looked. Anywhere. So since the Chokewoods are where we raised every single one of our broods, we won't be guarding the mushyroon portal to Gerddi Teg any more. But if you ones need something, you'll be on my trade route. So.

  What do we owe you?”

  “What woldest thou me to owen?”

  “Surely something...”

  “How koude ther be? Thou yavest bakke un-to me my derre Celeste. And thou hyngst the moone and the sterres in the skye for me in the byginnynge...”

  “But surely we owe...”

  “Farwell.”

  “I mean there's Urr-Urr's stone egg...”

  “Farwell.”

  “And I always wanted her to live forever...”

  “Farwell.”

  “And ain't you going to be bad off if we're not in our tree standing watch?”

  “Farwell.”

  “Well piss on you, hole!” rattled Ocker as he leaped into the air and flew for the top of the silver maidenhair tree. “Just see if I give a schyt.”

  “So what's going on?” said Urr-Urr as he landed on the edge of their nest.

  “Toute hole!” he awked.

  “Me?” she gasped, suddenly wide eyed and skinny.

  “No!” he rattled, lunging at her cheek feathers with a frantic preen.

  “We owe him,” she said.

  He did not seem to be listening. He was now busy, pecking at his scrying ball, which Meri had neatly mounted and fastened to Ru Talorg's gold chain for him. “Put the chain over my head,” he said, “and dig out your live-for-ever egg... Now, take your end of my stick.”

  Meri was watching with his face pushed out of the moss of the Fairy ring, just enough to see them vanish. As he sank back out of sight, his eyes were brimming with tears.

  Presently, Ocker and Urr-Urr could be seen as a speck high above Razzorbauch's keep in the Chokewoods, plummeting in a spiral, clasping beaks and feet. Suddenly, Urr- Urr let go and spread her wings, swooping all the long way down to land on her old rock ledge.

  Ocker spread wide his wings, remaining aloft until she had landed. “Awk! Awk!” he cried, echoing from all the rocky folds in the land below. “I am the great male raven!”

  “Tick-tock! Tick-tock!” cried Urr-Urr. “I be the tallest hen in the whole damned countryside!”

  Soon they were both scratching and poking about in their long unused cracks and recesses, finding places to hide their things. Urr-Urr gave a sideways trot over to the edge of her old nest. “Hit's so flat, Ocker,” she said as she pecked at this and that. “Let's go gather some good sticks, shall we?” And with a quick nibble of beaks, they dove off the ledge together.

  ***

  Just as the distant wolves were howling their last for the night and first hint of blue threatened to fade the stars, Edward and Laora dove from the mouth of their lava tube cavern into the cool desert air for their turn at patrolling Arfordir yn Gwahardd, the Forbidden Coast of Mor Dannedd, the Sea of Teeth. They flew straight south until they reached the sea at the first broad light of day, where they turned east to follow the coast across Bae Ar Goll, the Lost Bay and beyond until they had crossed the mouth of the Wraith River, looking for any distant sails which might belong to Spitemorta's navy.

  Just before noon, they were well beyond the delta of the Wraith River, and Laora was still maintaining a determined pace to the east.

  “Aren't we going wading?” said Edward. “We're 'way past where we usually turn for home.”

  “What?” said Laora, quite obviously lost in her thoughts.

  “You've hardly spoken all morning. What is it, Eflamm?”

  “You poop! It's always Eflamm these days, to hear you go on.”

  “And it usually is...”

  At that, Laora took a sudden plunge for the beach to sweep aside just above the sand and splash to a running halt in the surf.

  “Well?” said Edward, sliding off her back. “What's he done?”

  “Oh all right,” she said with a huff that could be heard over the waves. “It's just having to give in to the way you ask it. Eflamm wants to fly for Captain Bernard. That's what.”

  “So what's wrong with that?”

  “Well...” she said, carefully looking at him. “Eflamm's getting anxious to mate with me. I mean really anxious. And then... And then he wants you and me to join Bernard's regiment with him.”

  “What sense does that make?”

  “You're jealous, aren't you?”

  “Oh pshaw! No more than Aunt Lippy and Uncle Spark. How do you plan on raising a brood and flying for Bernard at the same time? I was little, but I plainly remember it being nothing but full time work, chucking sukere at you and the mob...”

  “No, no, no. I'm not nearly ready to breed him. I'm not ready, and I don't want to.

  And I thought you knew I wasn't.”

  “Well...”

  “Don't interrupt, Edward. I think you and I flying for Bernard sounds great, now that he's brought it up.”

  “Well, I hope not just because someone who might turn out to be your mate someday thinks it is,” he said as he stooped to watch the shell of a hermit crab working its way to shore against the tide.

  “It would be great with Eflamm there, but that's not why I'd want to. I want us to do it, Edward. Nobody, and I mean nobody flies as well as we do...”

  “You can't do that with a nest of eggs. What are you thinking?”

  “Are you being stupid on purpose or what?”

  “I guess so...”

  “If you
insist then, go ahead and be stupid. But I'm trying to tell you that I want to fly with you and not mate with him at the same time...”

  “At all?”

  “Is that what you want?”

  “Wait Laora. I'm not asking for something like that. I'm still trying to sort out what you're wanting to do. You're wanting to fly with me, right? And he's going to fly for Bernard at the same time. So do you want to mate with him or not?”

  “You really do need this spelt out, don't you?” she said as she nipped at the feathers in the middle of her back. “Look. I'm not going to mate with him for years and years. And if he's still being nice to me after Spitemorta's down for good, then maybe.”

  And with a roll of her eyes, she opened all of her feathers, sat down with a plop and began flinging water everywhere.

  Edward turned aside to avoid getting salt water in his eyes and watched a pair of avocets scurrying here and there along the water's edge, snapping up snails. “Big decision,” he said, grabbing for a snail himself. “You know, risking your life to help kill the witch...”

  “What did you say?” she said as she stopped short, soaked completely beyond recognition.

  “Big decision, maybe getting shot at,” he said, grabbing up a handful of black sand. “But I've wondered about us doing just that, a time or two myself.”

  “Fly for Bernard? Why didn't you tell me?”

  “I don't know. Maybe it was Lily. But there's nothing for it. I'm just her brother and she's after Herio.”

  “And you're going to hide from it all by going off and flying with me? Now who's not making sense?”

  “No, Laora. That's why I didn't mention it before now...” he said as she waddled onto the sand to shake and spread out her wings in the sun. “And I think that if we're really saying all these things, then we need to stop and decide right now, if we're ready to go off and fly for Bernard. Just us. Forget Elfamm and Lily.”

  “Are you?”

  “I actually think so. I mean I have been thinking about it already. And you're certain?”

  “I am!” she cried, springing on him with a sopping wet hug. “So when?”