A strong hand reached out and pumped mine. All resemblance of harshness had left the man’s face so that now he looked jovial—a feat Commander Larue couldn’t pull off on one of his best days.
“Pleased to meet you, Miss Wren,” the man said. “I am Jules Larue. This is my wife, Cecily.”
The woman was beside herself with excitement. She squeezed me tight as a long lost relative then let out a shriek of horror when she saw the bloodstain on my shirt.
Thinking somebody had been shot, I ducked and covered my ears.
“Oh, sweetie, what happened?” she asked, staring at my wound. “Just you come right in here this instant and we’ll get you patched up. Are you okay? Do you feel faint? You look a little peaky. Here let me get you some tea.”
“Just let her breathe for a minute, Cecily!” her husband said, laughing. “Where are the girls? Girls, come on out and meet our guest!”
Somewhere a door squeaked. Two bright curly blue heads, one slightly taller than the other, bounded out onto the patio. Two round, freckled little faces clambered around my knees and two high-pitched voices spouted questions even more quickly than their mother.
“Is it really her?”
“The girl Bazzy told us about?”
“Look at her ears.”
“How’d you get so dirty?”
“Is it true you come from hu-man land?”
Somehow Mr. Larue managed to interrupt them. “Girls, this is Emma. Why don’t you tell her your names?”
“I’m Alice,” spoke up the taller one, who looked to be in the neighborhood of six years old. She held her hands behind her back and rocked on the balls of her feet.
“I’m Harriet!” piped up the younger one. The smile she flashed me had some gaps in it. Her hair was bright electric blue, a color that would probably fade to something more subdued with age. “I’m this many!” She held up a hand of sticky fingers.
“No, you’re this many,” said her dad, holding up four digits.
“And that’s my other sister, Elizabeth,” said Alice. She pointed to another girl whom I hadn’t even noticed. The surly young teen leaned against the house and looked unimpressed with the racket the others were making.
“It’s Beth,” the teenager said as she surveyed her fingernails. “Daddy, can I go down to the village? Some of my friends are going to a party at the old mill.”
“No,” Mr. Larue said. “You’ll stay up here with us. We have company.”
Beth rolled her eyes and trudged into the house.
Harriet giggled and whispered, “She’s mad ‘cause Daddy doesn’t like her boyfriend.”
“I don’t either,” Alice said. “He’s a pimple face, and he makes loud, smacky noises when he kisses her!”
Such were the scandals of the Larue household. I got all the dirt from Alice and Harriet as I was given the whirlwind tour. The airy kitchen was where Momma had exploded a whole bag of grain trying to make bread. The sitting room was where Alice had made a pet of a mouse, but then Daddy had accidentally stepped on it. The upstairs parlor was where big brother Bazzy first made his wings appear. So it went from bedrooms to pantry until we emerged on an observation deck atop the house.
Mrs. Larue was having fits over my bloody shirt, so her husband made her go prepare lunch to give her something to do. I was grateful. I wasn’t used to being worried over and that was clearly what Mrs. Larue did best.
Mr. Larue crossed his arms and looked out over his house. “So what do you think of Chateau Larue?”
I looked down. The ground was still invisible because the clouds had not thinned any. “It’s great but…”
“…But?” Mr. Larue said, grinning. “Why build it all the way up here? Just a whim, really. It was actually built on the ground like all the others, but then I figured, why be like everyone else? Now we get great views on clear days and we aren’t bothered by beggars or solicitors…or teenage boys with bad intentions.”
“Or mechamen,” I added.
“Right,” Mr. Larue said. “I saw those things at the king’s funeral. Nasty buggers. Good thing we’re all first rate flyers around here or we might have been in trouble.”
I leaned on the railing of the observation deck and let the breeze lift my dirty, matted hair. Pretty soon I’d have to take Mrs. Larue up on her threat of a bath. First I needed to figure out a plan. I couldn’t take advantage of the Larues’ hospitality forever, nor did I intend to. I needed to find Garland and Lord Finbarr as soon as possible.
“Has Bazzlejet been here?” I asked.
“He pops in and out at odd hours,” Mr. Larue said. “It’s safer that way.” His voice took on an edge. “The duke has put out a reward for him. They traced his ties to Othella. Anyone who was close to the royal family might as well consider themselves an outlaw.”
“That’s a load of crap!” I exclaimed before I could get hold of myself.
Alice and Harriet were eavesdropping nearby. They giggled.
“Sorry,” I said to Mr. Larue. “It just makes me so mad. It’s like the duke was handed the throne and now he can do whatever he wants. It’s not fair!”
“No, it’s not,” Mr. Larue said matter-of-factly. “But it’s understandable how it happened. You’ve lived in Ivywild the whole time you’ve been here so you probably aren’t aware of it, but there’s a big difference between the regular folks in the outlands and the nobility. People out here don’t lead such easy lives. There are some of us who have our magic and we can make things a little better for ourselves, but most people have to work so hard just to keep food on the table that they don’t have time to bother with cultivating their magic or even getting an education. Half of the people Loosestrife can’t even read—and we’re a nice town. You should see some of the others. Of course, nobody in Ivywild has ever lost any sleep over it. In those walls you’re safe. I’m sure nobody gave it a second thought until the mechamen appeared and outlanders started demanding the same protection as the nobility. In a situation like that, an inexperienced young thing like Princess Chloe doesn’t look so good to common folk or nobles. Then along comes the Duke of Briar with promises to clean things up and make this place safe again and, well…”
“But—”
“But I know you’re her friend,” he said. “And nobody else has the right to come in and take over. King Theobald was a good man. With time Chloe could be a good leader, too.”
“She hasn’t been given the chance!” I said. “And the duke is rotten! I know he is!”
Mrs. Larue leaned out of the kitchen window. “Is everything okay out there?”
“We’re fine,” Mr. Larue said. “How’s the fish coming?”
“It will be done in a minute!”
I bit my lip, holding back another outburst. “If everyone knew Chloe half as well as I do, there wouldn’t be a question as to who should be on the throne.”
“I’m not saying I disagree with you,” Mr. Larue said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “But I know your type. I’ve heard the stories. Don’t think you can go taking on the duke by yourself. If he really is up to no good, it will come to light soon enough.”
I let that stew for a while. I was mostly quiet during lunch, content to let Alice and Harriet jabber nonstop. Mrs. Larue wouldn’t let my plate go empty for a second. The woman scarcely sat down at all. She was too busy shuffling between the kitchen and the table. Beth sat and twirled her hair. She acted bored, but every so often she snuck glances at me. I was careful to keep my eating habits restrained even though I was ravenous.
“Don’t be shy,” Mr. Larue said, watching me cut my fish into tiny pieces. “Tuck in!”
I dove into my meal with a little more gusto. I wondered with amusement if the Larues had ever seen a Slaugh eat. It was fascinating and disgusting. Sharp teeth ripped meat from bone without regard for etiquette. Of course, Lev could dine in a perfectly civilized manner when he wished to.
I winced and squeezed my eyes shut in anger.
Mrs. Larue froze with th
e teapot held over my cup. “What’s the matter? Is it a toothache? I knew I made the glaze too sweet!”
“No, no, it’s fine!” I assured her. “It’s just um… this shoulder is really starting to sting.”
It was all the invitation Mrs. Larue needed. She marched me upstairs where she cleaned the arrow wound and then insisted that I soak in the tub with salts for my body aches. Then she went to rummage through her old clothes for something I could wear.
She emerged from her bedroom with pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and a tunic to go over it all. The pants were a little on the short side, but the rest fit well.
“I used to be quite slender before I had kids,” Mrs. Larue said, patting her hips. “Now you just need shoes. You and Beth look to be the same size. The poor girl’s only fourteen but she’s going to have large feet, just like her brother.”
“Mine will be fine once they’re dry,” I said. I didn’t want to part with my beloved boots.
Mrs. Larue didn’t look convinced. “I’ll try a few little spells to tidy them up. Now you just go take it easy and let me know if you need anything.”
I’m sure she meant for me to go lie down in the parlor, but I couldn’t bring myself to be still. Instead I went up to the deck and watched the day’s last light sink below the clouds. As usual, my mind was only halfway focused on the scenery. The rest was hard at work trying to figure out the next step.
According to Mr. Larue, Garland and Lord Finbarr had taken the northern route out of town, but nobody was certain of their next stop. Still, the news was helpful. Everyone was in the dark as to where Commander Larue had been stationed.
It was too late to go anywhere and, exhausted as I was, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to take another day or two to recuperate. Mrs. Larue set me up in Bazzlejet’s room.
“We’ll put him in the den if he shows up,” Mrs. Larue said as she removed some sheets from the clothes line. “He rarely does. I do worry about the boy.”
I ended up staying four more days. My imprisonment in the cathedral had left me weaker than I cared to admit, but Mrs. Larue caught on. She let me help with light chores while she and the girls invented reasons to bake.
“We made a cake!” Alice shouted, running into the den where I was folding laundry. There was flour in her hair and frosting on her fingers. “Harriet lost another tooth, so we have to celebrate!”
“Cake for losing a tooth?” I said. “That’s much better than in the human world. All human kids get is a few coins.”
The human world was an endless source of fascination for the little girls. Alice and Harriet followed me around and asked questions faster than they could say them.
“Are there trolls in the human world?”
“Yes. We call them guidos, though.”
“When do humans get wings?”
“They don’t. If they want to fly, they have to ride in a big, metal machine called an airplane.” I demonstrated by holding my arms out like wings and making zooming sounds.
The girls imitated me, running around the room with their arms outstretched. Harriet took off through a doorway and collided with her father’s knees.
“What do we have here?” Mr. Larue asked, scooping her up. He wore a jacket and boots. I took it to mean he was going somewhere.
“Put me down, Daddy! I’m an aweopwane!” Harriet squealed.
Mr. Larue put her on her feet and she took off again.
“Are you going to town?” I asked.
He nodded. “Cecily gave me a shopping list. She’s run the pantry dry.”
I felt guilty since they’d been cooking extra food for me. “Do you need help?”
“No, no,” he said, waving me off. “It’s safer for you to stay here. Truth be told, I’m more interested in the local gossip. I’m going to visit the pub and see if there’s any news from Ivywild.”
Mrs. Larue poked her head out of the kitchen. “Did you say pub?”
“Calm down, Cecily,” Mr. Larue said. “I’m not going to have a pint. I just want to hear what people are saying.”
Mrs. Larue dabbed her face with a dish towel. “Ask if anyone has seen Bazzy. I know he has his little—” she glanced quickly at me “—um, club, but it’s not like him to keep quiet this long.”
“I know about W.R.A.I.T.H.,” I said. “They disbanded.”
Mr. and Mrs. Larue stared at each other in surprise.
“He didn’t tell you that?” I asked.
“Find him,” Mrs. Larue said tersely to her husband. “Get my boy home.”
Without another word, Mr. Larue took off.
The mood was noticeably dimmer in the house the rest of the afternoon. Mrs. Larue’s lips were pinched in a tight line as she worked over laundry and put away dishes. I kept my mouth shut, helping where I could. The girls must have sensed that something was wrong because they retreated to their room to play with dolls. Beth was quiet and sullen, but that was nothing new.
Without the usual lively chatter, it was difficult to keep my mind distracted. I kept thinking of Chloe, wondering where she and Violet and Othella had gone. I worried about Bazzlejet and Anouk. What if they’d been captured and tortured for helping me? Without Commander Larue at the castle, they had nobody to come to their defense.
By the time Mr. Larue returned, I was wound tight as a spring. So was Mrs. Larue. We both jumped when we heard the flagpole give a twang. The pulley started to move and a few seconds later, Mr. Larue appeared at the top. He flew to the house, holding a couple of bulky bags.
“What did you hear?” Mrs. Larue asked before he made it through the door.
“Very little,” he said.
She raised her eyebrows. “Bazzy?”
“The shopkeeper saw him just the other day,” Mr. Larue said.
Mrs. Larue let out a huge sigh. “Thank goodness. Get in here. I’ll take the groceries.”
Somehow we all ended up in the kitchen, even Beth. Mr. Larue told us that more of the duke’s red-capes had been dispatched throughout the villages. The duke and the Seelie Court had made true on their promise to open the castle to anyone who felt unsafe. Outlanders could even earn a proper home near the castle and good wages if they signed up to join the duke’s army.
“What is he up to?” I butted in.
Mr. Larue shook his head. “As far as most people are concerned, he’s doing what’s best. That attack on Mag Mell really rattled folks. They’re willing to trade in tradition for protection.”
“Have there been any other mechaman attacks?” I asked.
“Not recently,” he said.
I thought back to the coronation. Free from the poison fruit, the events of that day now rang through clear as a bell. Something Kesper had said chimed louder than the rest. “How convenient.”
“What?” Mr. Larue asked.
“When the judges accused Chloe of being under Robyn’s influence, they said how convenient it was that the attack happened while so many people were at Mag Mell. It was the perfect scare tactic. Until then, the mechamen were just rumors to most people. What better way to cause a panic than launch an attack when thousands can see it?”
“Very convenient, indeed,” Mr. Larue said. “But for whom?”
“Who has gained from it?” I said. “Who is sitting on a throne that isn’t his? Who has eyes in every village and an army of willing peasants now that people have seen those monsters?”
“Careful, Emma,” Mr. Larue said.
“But—”
“It’s one thing to say that the duke has taken advantage of the fear caused by the attack,” Mr. Larue cut me off. “It’s quite another to accuse him of plotting the attack in the first place. That would mean he has control over the mechamen. There’s no evidence of that.”
He had a point, but I wasn’t convinced. The attack on Mag Mell was not random. Of that much I was certain. Whether it was the duke, or Robyn, or even Hugo working for Robyn, there had to be a mastermind. The dead-eyed mechamen weren’t intelligent enough to time it that well
on their own.
“But what of Bazzy?” Mrs. Larue asked. “Did the shopkeeper say how he looked? Where has he been staying? Where was he going?”
“He said he looked well enough, Cecily. He was in disguise. He only revealed himself to the shopkeeper because he bought some food on our tab.”
“Oh, the poor boy is out there without any money!” Mrs. Larue exclaimed.
“He’ll be okay,” Mr. Larue said, patting her on the back. “He’s resourceful, just like Emma here.” He gave me a small smile.
“Any news of Commander Larue?” I asked.
At this, his smile faltered. “One of his men had been through town the day before. He said they shipped Frayne and several other Master Casters off to guard Helm Bogvogny.”
“Helm Bogvogny?” I asked.
“It’s a prison in the east,” Beth spoke up.
We all stared at her in surprise. It was the first time she’d done more than roll her eyes in days.
Returning to form, she rolled her eyes and scowled. “What? I’ve told you guys like, thirty times that Dirk’s older brother did time there for stealing carriages. You never listen to me!”
“Of course we do, Lizzy Beth,” Mr. Larue said. “How could we forget that your charming boyfriend has criminals in the family?”
Beth muttered something and skulked off. Mr. and Mrs. Larue exchanged a look, only to shrug in exasperation.
“So he’s guarding a prison?” I said. “If you’re worried about Ivywild’s protection, why would you send your strongest guy to guard some backwater jail?”
“Frayne shares your views,” Mr. Larue said. “It’s no secret that he doesn’t like the duke. Better not to have him at the castle where he can influence people.”
“This is all so unpleasant!” Mrs. Larue said. “The duke can go choke on his beard for all I care! I just want my family back together!” She burst into tears.
I quietly excused myself while Mr. Larue comforted her. The night was warm, so I went up to the observation deck. Lots of low clouds dotted the sky beneath the house. Above them, the sky was clear. The dome of stars brought to mind similar nights spent atop Ivywild’s spires. Suddenly homesick, it was all I could do not to burst into tears just like Mrs. Larue.
The Flute Keeper's Promise (The Flute Keeper Saga) Page 18
