Glad that he didn’t have to worry about the lizardman, Staff did worry about Miss Jindra. The fact that he had dragged the beautiful young sorceress out into the forest seemed sure to be the cause of whatever blight had settled upon her. He felt guilty—only to find out that her illness was self-inflicted, the result of her theft of magically booby-trapped money. Even after discovering this fact, Staff insisted that she remain in the apartments of the M&S Coal offices and paid for the very best care.
He didn’t have any time to sit by Miss Jindra’s bed. He spent almost all of his time during the five days after his return to Port Dechantagne, arranging for the funeral of Aakesh Mouliets, seeing to the needs of Mrs. Mouliets and her boy, and negotiating with the railroad for the construction of a spur line to the coal deposits. Staff had known that the Mirsannan culture was steeped in tradition, but he didn’t realize until now just how difficult it would make his life. There were all kinds of requirements for the burial of a Mirsannan, none of which were simple or straightforward. The coffin had to be made of cedar, a not impossible task. But the deceased had to have a pillow of ferret skins and the church had to be filled with peacock feathers, neither of which could be found within five thousand miles of Birmisia. Mirsannan men, or at least Mouliets, appreciated the demure Mirsannan woman, who as far as Staff could see, could do almost nothing on her own. Purna Mouliets did nothing but weep into her hankie, and while he could appreciate the genuine emotion for her beloved, Staff eventually wearied of her inability to stop crying long enough to approve or disapprove the elements of the funeral. Her son Sudas on the other hand scarcely took his face out of a book long enough to notice that his father was gone.
Mr. Lenahan Norich of the Mallontah and Birmisia Railroad had sent his personal assistant Anton Garner all the way to Port Dechantagne to negotiate the construction of a spur line. He arrived in his employer’s private railcar. The railroad was quite happy to build the additional track, but the guarantees they wanted in exchange were exorbitant. Had it been any other time, Staff would have asked for the influence of the royal governor, but two days before negotiations had begun, Iolanthe’s husband had committed suicide. Staff couldn’t help but have mixed emotions. At last the paperwork was signed and on the day of the funeral, more than one hundred lizardmen workers, supervised by a dozen engineers and foremen, began clearing the way for the iron rails that would soon follow.
Mouliets’ funeral was attended by about forty people. All of the M&S employees were there along with their families. Caitleen Harper, her daughter Melody Lanier, and her granddaughter Wenda were dressed in simple black. Theadora Vanita, in charcoal grey, was accompanied by a man that Staff had never seen before. It was an example, he thought, of how there was a match for anyone somewhere out in the world, because this fellow at six foot eight and at least three hundred pounds was probably the only person in Port Dechantagne capable of making Miss Vanita look dainty by comparison. A slight shudder went through Staff when he saw Mrs. Fandice. The woman, who had been remarkably helpful in arranging the funeral, wore a dress that dripped with artificial lilies. What was obviously meant to be a mourning dress looked more like something that would be worn by a street performer. She and her gorgeous niece, Loana Hewison, were accompanied by PC Colbshallow in his finest blue uniform. Staff escorted Miss Franka Rocanna, who looked as beautiful in her dark purple dress with antique lace, as she did at any other time. Her veiled hat disguised her strangely short red hair, but not her smoldering, dark eyes or dark, full lips. Edin Buttermore arrived with his wife and child. It was the first time that Staff had seen either of them since their arrival in Birmisia, and it appeared that life in the new land appealed to them. The haggard and frail appearance that he had noted on Julietta Buttermore’s face was gone, and the toddler, Easton, was as fat and happy as ever. Mr. and Mrs. Rutan wore expressions one might expect at a funeral. Of course, these were the expressions that they wore all the time. The Gliebermans, Beeman, his wife Acadia, and their six-year-old daughter Sherree all wore the same simple grey and white clothes that had originally made Staff assume that they were Zaeri. The little girl with her miniature eyeglasses and her tiny dress identical to her mother’s, carried a fluffy stuffed animal in one hand and a first year primer in the other. Ivo and Femke Kane were the last to arrive, just moments before the start of the service. Ivo Kane wore a long, black suit, and Mrs. Kane wore an identical one.
Mother Linton performed the service in Mirsannan. As a result, almost no one attending could tell what was being said, though Purna Mouliets seemed happy with the oration. Mrs. Mouliets had worn the traditional funeral outfit that Staff thought was less effective at showing grief than it was of insuring she would have a replacement husband as soon as possible. Made of multiple layers of sheer black silk, it was worn with absolutely nothing under it, and in just the right light, one could be certain of that fact. It did distract everyone’s attention away from the large arrangements of feathers around the room, which were supposed to be those of peacocks but were in fact the feathers of velociraptors. A harpist played foreign-sounding but not unpleasant music, while the mourners paid their respects at a casket, which both by tradition and circumstances, was a closed one.
The following day, Staff went to visit Iolanthe. He was aware that it might not be seemly, but he didn’t care. He hadn’t seen a glimpse of her in five days, eight hours. He hadn’t held her and kissed her in sixteen days, five hours. And he hadn’t made love to her in eighteen days, three hours. His plan to arrive when most members of the household were not up and about went awry when he forgot that it was the Zaeri Sabbath. As he was walking up the steps, the lizardman major-domo opened the front door and out stepped Yuah Dechantagne and another beautiful dark-haired woman.
“Good morning Mr. Staff,” said Yuah. “May I introduce my friend Honor Hertling?”
“Good morning ladies,” he replied.
“Don’t mind us. We’re on our way to Shrine.”
The two women went down the stairs and around the house, while Staff stepped in the open door and waited in the parlor as Iolanthe was informed by the servant of his arrival. When she entered the room she stole his breath away. She wore a pink dress, decorated all down the front with metallic brocade in the design of stems and leaves and inset with pearls where the blossoms would be. The collar was high in back, plunging down in front, revealing her long, thin neck to its best advantage. Her auburn hair had been carefully curled, long in the back and short curls falling across her forehead. The look was completed by a pink top hat with a gauzy veil that covered her face, but did not hide those remarkable aquamarine eyes.
“Going out?”
“I was,” she said. “I didn’t know when I was going to see you.”
“I didn’t know when I should come.”
“Anytime.”
Iolanthe held out her elbow and Staff took two steps forward to take it. The elbow wasn’t enough though and his left hand reached up to caress the side of her cheek. Her eyes opened wider, but she offered no protest. His hand followed up the line of her jaw.
“My God, you’ve pierced your ear.”
“Yes, both of them. I got the idea when we were in Enclep. All the women there have pierced ears.”
“They also carve magic runes into their breasts and rub ashes into the open wounds to make them stand out.”
“Well, maybe I’ll try that next week. You will note that I’m not the only one in town with my ears pierced. If both Senta and I do something, it’s sure to become the next big thing.”
“I’m surprised you are comparing yourself to Zurfina’s girl.”
“I am not comparing us. Still, there is no denying that the child is popular. Shall we take a walk around the yard?”
Staff led her by the elbow through the front door, held open for them by the same lizardman. Down the front steps, they turned left and followed the winding cobblestone pathway between the trees, rock gardens, and empty flowerbeds.
“This yard
should finally look the way that I want it to this spring. I’ve spent a great many marks to get it ready.”
“You’ve spent a great many marks overall. I understand you’ve been paying for ships full of Zaeri refugees to escape Freedonia and come here to live. If you keep it up, you may lose your reputation as a heartless and manipulative bitch.”
“Oh, I doubt that will happen. Let’s sit down in the gazebo.”
The small white gazebo on the west side of the yard had a two-person porch swing suspended from lengths of small steel chain. Staff held the swing steady to allow Iolanthe to sit down, a purely chivalrous act since the chains were hung so that the swing moved only a few inches either way in any case. He then sat down beside her.
“I didn’t want the children playing on this swing, so I had it strung like this,” Iolanthe explained. “They have their own swing and a slide out back.”
“Are they safe for the children to play on?”
Iolanthe’s neck stiffened and she slowly turned to look searchingly at his face. She found what she was looking for.
“How long have you known?”
“That Iolana was mine? Since the first moment I saw her. She looks just like a picture I have of my sister, before she died. Except for the eyes.”
“Yes, she has my eyes.”
“She’s beautiful.”
“I’ve been giving it quite a bit of thought over the past five days. She thought of Mercy as her father, though he was never affectionate toward her.”
“Did he suspect that she wasn’t his?”
“He knew she wasn’t. In any case, if you step in and you are here with us all the time, at her age it won’t be long before she comes to accept you as the only father she has had.”
“Are you asking me to marry you?”
“Don’t play stupid. It’s out of character for you.”
“Then what?”
“You will ask me to marry you. And I will say yes. And we will be married in a simple ceremony, as befits a woman whose virtue is besmirched and whose body is sullied. We will wait until one month and one day has passed as a period of mourning. And then we will be man and wife. Do you agree?”
“I don’t know if I should. I’m quite a wealthy and desirable man. Besmirched virtue is not terribly important to me, I must confess, but a sullied body could be a deal breaker.”
Iolanthe grabbed his face between her hands and smashed her lips upon his. Staff pulled her body to him, crushing her between his strong arms and his hard chest. Iolanthe kissed him for a long moment, and then stood up, and taking his hand, she pulled him to his feet, out of the gazebo, and across a short stretch of the yard to a door on the side of the house. She turned the knob and stepped inside, pulling him in after her. The room was a small bedroom with a single bed, a small dresser, and a cheval mirror. There were no other exits.
“Recognize it?”
“It’s a paramour chamber, right? I’ve heard of them before, but I’ve never actually been in one.”
“I had it built just for you.”
“What did your husband think about that?”
“He assumed that Terrence had it built.”
“What about Terrence’s wife?”
“Women always know about such things but never say anything.”
“So I was to be your strumpet?”
“You were to be my paramour. Now you are to be my husband.”
“If… I ask you to marry me.”
“You will.” Iolanthe picked up a strange object. It appeared to be a small round river stone attached to the end of a long, curved, wooden handle. “Do you know what this is?”
“I’m afraid to ask.”
Iolanthe waved the handle down her back. As the stone passed each of the many buttons on the back of her dress, they unfastened themselves. A moment later, the dress simply dropped to the floor. She used the same trick to remove her bustle and corset, her brassier and underbrassier.
“Magic,” she said.
“Oh yes. I can see that.”
She set down the magic stone and slipped her chemise over her head and wiggled out of her bloomers and panties. Once done, she had on nothing but her high-heeled boots and her pink top hat with veil.
“So?” she asked, as she stepped closer to him.
“All right, we’ll get married,” said Staff, running his hands over her warm, naked flesh. He would have agreed to anything.
Just over two hours after he arrived, Staff left the house. As he had on his arrival, he ran into Yuah Dechantagne and her friend. This time they were accompanied by three others—Mrs. Dechantagne’s father Mayor Korlann, the fiery redhead Egeria Lusk, and a shorter man with bushy eyebrows and a close-trimmed goatee. They were dressed in their finest for the Sabbath. The three women were all extremely beautiful, but Staff realized that he was appreciating their beauty in a clinical way, without the hint of desire that usually colored his interactions with women. This was not surprising considering the amount of desire that had been drained from him in the paramour chamber.
“Mr. Clipers, allow me to introduce Commander Radley Staff,” said Yuah to the short, bearded man.
“It’s just Mr. Staff now. Ah, you’re the new Zaeri Imam,” said Staff, divining the reason that he had been introduced to Mr. Clipers, rather than the other way around.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Mister Radley Staff.”
“Likewise. I believe I failed to mention earlier, Mrs. Dechantagne, how remarkable you look in that dress.”
“Thank you, Mr. Staff. You are a flatterer.”
“I think that you will find that among the reputations that I have, flatterer is not one. Lovely to see you again Miss Hertling. Miss Lusk. Mayor.”
Staff headed toward the office. There wasn’t really anything for him to do and the employees would be leaving about the time that he arrived, today being a half-day schedule, but he needed something to keep him occupied so that his thoughts wouldn’t run away with him. He had walked a little more than half a mile when he came across Graham Dokkins sitting on a fencepost, his feet resting on the barbed wire of the fence.
“Hello Graham.”
“Hey Mr. Staff.”
“What are you doing out here by yourself?”
“Contemplating.”
Staff smiled. “What are you contemplating?”
“Just stuff. You know.”
“So what have you been doing since we’ve been back? Hanging around with your friends?”
“Hertzel and I went up to the dinosaur pens yesterday, but mostly I’ve been staying at home, helping out with the chores.”
“That trip into the hills was a bit much for a twelve-year-old,” said Staff, as much to himself as to the boy. “I should have checked in on you this week.”
“Oh, hey, I’m fine. That was an ace adventure. Plus you paid me more than I make on the dock in six months. It’s just that…”
“It’s just what?”
“What do you say to somebody when you haven’t talked to them in a long time?”
“You could just try saying ‘hello’.”
“No, that’s no good.”
“Well then, maybe I could offer better advice if you told me who it was.”
“It’s a certain girl. She did something she shouldn’t have done. I got mad about it, and I was mad for a while. But I’m not mad anymore. After seeing Mr. Mouliets get killed, I figured what’s the point of staying mad.”
“That’s quite a realization for a boy your age.”
“Oh I’m really good at realizationing.”
“Well, I have found that flowers and a compliment will smooth over just about any transgression you can make with a young lady. And believe me, I’ve made plenty.”
“Kind of sappy.”
“Yes, but it works. Do you want to walk into town with me?”
“No, I’m going to hang around here. Hertzel’s going to be along pretty soon and I’m going to buy him a Billingbow’s.”
&nbs
p; Staff nodded and left the boy sitting on the fencepost where he had found him. He took a roundabout way to the center of town, looking at some of the large houses that he hadn’t seen before, and by the time that he arrived at the offices of M&S Coal, most of the employees had already gone home for the day. Only Edin Buttermore and Franka Rocanna were still in the building. Miss Rocanna was in fact, halfway out the door.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Staff,” she said.
“You look extraordinary Miss Rocanna.”
She did look extraordinary too. She wore a day dress made entirely of white lace over peach chiffon, covering her up to the top of her very long neck. Her short red hair formed tiny little curls at her temples.
“Thank you. I’m off to see my young man.”
“You have a young man?”
“I do.”
Staff stood for a moment waiting for her to continue, but she didn’t.
“I hope you have a nice time then,” he said, ending the increasingly awkward silence.
“Thank you,” she said, and opening her parasol, sashayed away down the street and around the corner.
“Mr. Staff,” called Edin Buttermore from inside, pulling Staff’s attention away from the point at which Miss Rocanna had disappeared. “I’m so glad that I saw you.”
“Oh? Why is that?”
“Julietta wanted me to invite you for dinner tonight. Will you join us?”
“Yes.” The word was out of his mouth before he realized that he had said it and for a moment Staff was sorry that he had. Then he mentally shrugged. “I’ll be happy to join you.”
“Good,” said Buttermore, taking his coat from a hook by the door. “Then I’m off to tell Julietta that you will join us at 6:00. Number 42, Forest Avenue. Just up from the train station.”
“I will see you then.”
Buttermore went out the door leaving Staff alone. He stood thinking for a moment that he might sit down and go through some paperwork, but he decided instead that he would go upstairs and check in on Miss Jindra. Though the young sorceress had not awakened since they had brought her back from the forest, her appearance did improve daily since Senta had taken away the money that Miss Jindra had allegedly stolen from Zurfina. Making his way up the stairs in the back of the office, Staff walked down the hallway to the last door on the left and knocked. He didn’t expect an answer and he didn’t get one. When he opened the door though, he found the room empty. He checked the room across the hallway, where some of the young woman’s belongings had been stored. It was empty as well.
The Drache Girl Page 28
