Abbey and Ariel shared a look. “That would work,” said Abaddon.
“Good!” said James, thumping the sticky board with his fist. “So how soon can Mary and I expect to be grandparents?”
There were wide eyes and snorts of laughter all 'round.
***
Minuet wanted nothing to do with Spitemorta's bower. In fact, she had the hogs below its balcony hauled out to sea and fed to the sharks for fear that someone be grievously harmed by eating meat tainted by the witch's foul heart. And where would she sleep? She refused to long for her bed in the Black Desert. She began dividing her private hours between Spitemorta's solar and the largest of the guest suites, two storeys below.
She destroyed every last black shield and red hourglass that she found, be they leaded into the windows or set into the back of the monstrous onyx throne. She smote the throne into a pile of egg sized rubble and found a large wooden chair to sit in. And for some time she found herself wandering from window to window, sighing at there being not a sheep nor apple tree nor arbor of roses to look out upon.
Not being able to see what she had yearned to see from her windows had her taking to the streets. She reminded Fuzz that he was still Sir Karlton Strong, made him captain of the Royal Guard at once and went riding with him most mornings, throughout the town of Niarg and the outlying countryside. This morning, they had Razzmorten with them, riding back into town from South Cross between the rows of locust trees in full bloom. “Look at them Father,” she said, riding alongside him.
“What am I supposed to see?” he said.
“They know who we are.”
“And?”
“Well they're practically avoiding us. They nearly wince if I happen to look at one of them. They used to wave and smile and press in to shake hands.”
“Twenty years of Spitemorta would make a 'tater altogether boss-eyed,” said Fuzz. “Anyone who looked at her wrong died for it. And often as not, slow as can be and right out where everyone was made to see. And speaking of seeing, they say she watched people in their own homes, through the very skinwelers she spoke to them with...”
“Skinwelers,” said Minuet. “The chambermaid. Padell Lwch, is it? She found Spitemorta's ball and asked what to do with it. I told her to put it on the chair by the door.”
“Someone might take it,” said Razzmorten.
“I'll put it in a drawer,” she said. “And Fuzz. You just might be on to something.
I want you to organize a skinweler round up. Collect every last one of them. I'd allow that they'd all be put at ease, knowing that I'd never be a-spying on them.”
“At once,” said Fuzz with a nod and a salute.
“We'll see,” said Razzmorten.
“You don't think it'll do any good?” she said, peering under her hand.
“I didn't say that. It could. It might,” he said, shifting in the saddle to have a look at her. “What are you hunting for?”
“Anything familiar,” she said. “And there's not one damned thing. Every single place, where I look for what I wanted to return to, is just not there. Gone. Well.
Argentowre's still here and Pilar Paleys, Fates forbid, and the Silver Dragon. And what's left of Fates' Hospital. But everything else is clean gone, along with most of the trees and shrubbery.” She glanced overhead. “It's right neigh eleven. They'll have dinner, directly.”
Minuet took her seat at the head of the long board in the great hall. Lukus, Soraya, Daniel and Rose were already waiting.
“So how was Niargtown, Mother?” said Rose.
“It just refuses to seem like Niarg,” said Minuet. “Especially the people. I'm having Fuzz gather up the skinwelers. Maybe they'll start acting more like themselves when they get over being afraid of their shadows.”
“It may take more than that,” said Daniel. “That first tavern down the street? What ever its name is. As I was in there yesterday, eating some fried catfish and 'taters, I heard a fellow complain that he didn't know what to think about your coming back after abandoning Niarg to Spitemorta for all those years.”
“Were there others upset?”
“Nay. He was pretty quiet about it and kept looking over his shoulder.”
“I swear...!” said Minuet, pausing to smile at Teeuh, Nacea, Alvita, Rodon, Ceidwad and Lladdwr as they found places around the table. “This brooding castle casts a black mood on the whole blooming town. I dread holding court in it. I'd set masons to work, a-turning it white, if it weren't for all the labor and expense.”
“It's not so bad in here, is it?” said Razzmorten.
“Not this very hall,” she said. “But her bower, the whole sixth storey of that wing is naught but an archive of the damned.”
“Thy Magestee,” said Teeuh. “Byforn the kycchyn us to feden, I schulde lyche thou to thanke for thy kynd hospitalyte and to lat thee knowe that weo for the Chokewodes arne ylevyng after weo ete. And hit looketh as thogh Meri and Celeste heere a-lone for a fewe moore days wol bene bifore folwynge.”
“I don't see Arwr and Meinir, either,” said Razzmorten. “Aren't they going with you?”
“They joynynge us lattir as wel wol buen,” said Teeuh. “They to visiten Queene Mary and Kyng James in Goll do vowen, and som tyme of thaire owene as wel to haven.
They have ne mochel of that sithence thaire matyng han hadden and now that pees hath comen, a place to nest they wol yfynden.”
“That's wonderful news...” said Minuet.
“And,” said Teeuh as she rose to her feet, “I schulde lyche a yifte to leve for thy hospitalyte and especiallye for thy kenes havynge freeden us fro Mount Bedd. Sir Stronge and a honde ful of wardes I shal neden, for amonges the peple heere in this crowded place I seme to creat a stere.” And with that, she picked up the Heart and Staff and started for the door.
Fuzz shared his surprised look with Minuet and Rose, shot to his feet and hurried after.
The moment she was outside, Teeuh pumped her wings, took the Heart and Staff in one hand and planted it at her feet as she held her other hand against the outside of the castle. The Heart hummed like a tuning fork and glowed with a blinding white light. At once the entire castle and all of the black stone walls of its inner and outer curtains became dazzling and impossible to look at. Cries and shouts rose up hither and yon down the nearby streets.
“My very word!” gasped Fuzz, the moment he dared to look. “Every bit of it is as white as the drifting snows of winter...”
“Quyk!” said Teeuh. “Seest me in-syde.”
Fuzz offered his arm.
“Plese shewist me to the wicches bour,” she said.
Soon every trunk and chair, curtain and stick of furniture that had ever been Spitemorta's was gone, and every wall, truss, cruck and timber throughout her apartment was as white as the walls of the castle. After Fuzz had returned her to the great hall and they had all enjoyed a dinner of pullets and gravy, beet greens and new peas with Bethan's steaming buns and honey, Teeuh rose and scurried 'round to Minuet and Rose and gave them quick hugs. As Minuet was stammering something about thanks and please come back, Teeuh smiled, gathered Nacea, Alvita, Rodon, Ceidwad and Lladdwr into to a huddle, peered into her little green ball and vanished with all of them.
***
Just as the first fire of the sun peeped above the crater rim, Teeuh patted Longbark's trunk, slowly pumped her wings for a time and set out by spell with the Heart and Staff to the Chokewoods to do exactly as the great oak had bid. She appeared on a tall prominence overlooking miles upon miles of gnarled and twisted choke oaks. With a decisive thump, she planted the Heart and Staff in the soft earth of a bed of moss where it remained standing as she stepped back. With a rolling boom that echoed away through the trees, it shot white fire into the sky with a thundering roar that lasted into the late afternoon as one by one, each choke oak became the true oak that it had once been. When every last tree in the forest was now tall, straight and virgin, the Heart and Staff went silent. When titmice began singing in the ca
thedral of trees, a raven flew down from the treetops with a leather bag to land before her and begin setting out diamonds on the top of a fallen log.
“What artow doynge, Ocker?” she said.
“You don't know schyt,” he awked. “My stars, quiente.” And with that, he put all the diamonds back into the bag and flew away.
Teeuh took her little green scrying ball and the Heart and Staff and returned to Longbark in Mount Bedd. “Redy am I thee to taken, Mooder,” she said, reverently resting her wings and forehead against the ancient tree's trunk. “The Chokewodes aren oones agayne the Forest Primycies.” The Heart gave a blinding flash and Teeuh found herself back on the great prominence in the Forest Primeval where she had been all day, but Longbark was now deeply rooted in the great bed of moss beside her. She looked all about at the forest with the deepest sense of peace and satisfaction. She could feel the joy pouring from the great old tree and it made her heart sing. “But ther be som thyng elles,” she said, as she looked about at the vast hall of trees. “Som thyng needeth doynge stylle.”
She took to the air and flew, fluttering about above the trees until at last she came to a tiny cottage in a clearing overgrown with briars. She landed before its sagging porch and walked in. “A yis!” she cried. “Ich hered Mammas this tale to telle. They aboute Rose and Lukus and the Peper Mynt Forest didde telle. This be the verray thyng.” She clapped her hands with a bounce of glee and dashed out into the briars where she swept the Heart and Staff in a grand circle, watching the magic and peppermint trees return to this wee piece of woods.
She took a deep breath and giggled at the heady wafts of mint in the air. “Ocker!” she cried, stopping short.
“You got hit right this time, quiente!” he awked as he came. And he swooped down before her to hover with his leather bag and dumped out a swarm of blinding sparks which shot straight away into the heavens.
***
The one part of Spitemorta's private quarters which Minuet accepted was her solar. Once the casement sashes were removed from its long row of windows and sent to the glazier's for the removal of Spitemorta's black shield and red hourglass, Minuet began making use of the board in the great room on days when the weather permitted. The view was indeed spectacular, since being the seventh storey of the castle undoubtedly made it the highest man-made lookout on the continent, and she could see the vastness of the Orin Ocean forming the horizon beyond the Port of Niarg. Today she was seated with Razzmorten, Rose, Lukus, Soraya, Daniel, Herio and Sulacha before the steaming carcass of the one hog which could not possibly have gobbled up Spitemorta's heart.
“Are you putting more hogs in the pens downstairs?” said Herio, as he took a helping of dripping pudding.
“The witch might have been satisfied with a stinking wallow below her window and mud smears on the castle walls,” said Minuet with a wave of her knife, “but I'll have sheep keeping the grass down in my orchard when it gets planted, thank you.”
“I beg everyone's pardon,” said Fuzz as he hurried in and took his place beside Rose. “I expect it's almost noon.”
“Did I hear right, Daniel?” said Razzmorten. “Are you now Loxmere's court wizard?”
“I reckon I am,” said Daniel. “I can’t imagine being any place other than where Ariel and Abbey are. And why should I argue with that? All I have to do is appear there and I shall have a whole mess of prestige.”
“And one endless responsibility. But I can't imagine anyone better suited than you.”
“That's right nice of you to say Grandfather, especially after I slept through all the fun with the witch.”
“Yea? Well don't forget that your dart in the neck might well have been the very distraction that allowed Ariel to get Demonica and live to tell it. Remember that I was out of action myself.”
“What's the matter, Fuzz?” said Minuet. “Did something go wrong, this morning?”
“I'm not sure, truth to tell,” said Fuzz. “Weren't we thinking that gathering up all the skinwelers was going to put everyone at ease about your coming back to the throne?”
“Well yes.”
“Then it doesn't look as though it's working,” he said. “People are astonishingly resistant to turning in their balls. In fact, every last person we talked to this morning flatly refused.”
“My very word!” said Minuet. “I should think that those abominations in their homes would only remind them of Spitemorta's hair raising tyranny.”
“One would think. But they have other ideas.”
“Such as?”
“They think that you should continue giving addresses every morning at ten, the way Spitemorta did,” he said, parking his knife and pushing back from the board with an apple. “They want to know what their monarch is up to each day. And believe it or not, I kept hearing that they're afraid of their neighbors. Now get this. They actually kept telling me that they felt safer with Spitemorta watching everyone. And another thing I kept hearing which left me altogether puzzled was that they consider their skinwelers to be a kind of entertainment which they have a right to. Now even if I didn't quite grasp all that they were talking about, they were quite obviously angry and suspicious of our asking for their skinwelers. I think that if we force matters, we might very well stir up something we don't want.”
Minuet slid her plate out of the way and stared out at the ocean as everyone sat silently listening to the pigeons outside. “What in all Fates has Spitemorta turned loose?” she said at last. “In all the years we spent working to find a way to return to Niarg, I never imagined in my darkest dreams that we'd return to a world like this. I realize that time is a river and that one can't stick his foot into the same water twice, but I scarcely recognize this place and I can see that it will never be the home I thought we were coming back to. I wonder if it will ever seem like home again.”
Table of Contents
GOOD SISTER, BAD SISTER Book 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
THE COLLECTOR WITCH Book 2
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
STONE HEART Book 3
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter
76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
THE BURGEONING Book 4
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132
Chapter 133
Chapter 134
Chapter 135
Chapter 136
Chapter 137
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141
Chapter 142
Chapter 143
Chapter 144
Chapter 145
THE REAPER WITCH Book 5
Chapter 146
Chapter 147
Chapter 148
Chapter 149
Chapter 150
Chapter 151
Chapter 152
Chapter 153
Chapter 154
Chapter 155
Chapter 156
Chapter 157
Chapter 158
Chapter 159
Chapter 160
Chapter 161
Chapter 162
Chapter 163
Chapter 164
Chapter 165
Chapter 166
Chapter 167
Chapter 168
Heart of the Staff - Complete Series Page 220
