Stanley looked around the cave and said, “I like it. It’s cosy.”
Leonard let out a deep chuckle. “I don’t spend much time in here. I’m always out running. I love the feel of the wind blowing through my fur as I race along. I’d run all day if I could, but I have to sleep and rest sometimes.” He very gently stroked Stanley’s back. “Do you like running?”
“Like Cassia, I only run when I have to,” Stanley replied.
I said to Leonard, “Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you now? If we can help in any way, we will do.”
Leonard sighed and looked towards the opening of the cave. He began, “It’s Xodia. She’s been pestering me a lot recently about that Festival she’s organised. She keeps telling me I should compete in the races, but I’ve told her I’m not interested. I run for the fun of it, not to compete with anyone else. I’ve told her that over and over again, but she won’t listen. She keeps turning up here and shouting at me. She’s very loud.”
I nodded. “I know, we’ve met her.”
Leonard shook his head sadly. “I just want to be left alone. Why can’t everyone see that? I just want to run and be left alone.”
I was surprised to see a tear rolling down his furry cheek. I immediately left my seat and went over to join him on the stone bed. I felt a slight draught around my legs as I lowered myself.
I said, “Do you want me to have a word with Xodia? As a justice witch, I think I have the authority to do something like that. If she’s becoming a nuisance to you, I can stop her.”
Leonard’s chin trembled and he gave me a nod.
Stanley snuggled closer to Leonard and said, “Don’t get upset. We’ll deal with Xodia.”
Leonard sniffed and gave us a wobbly smile. “Thank you. That’s very kind of you. I’m about to go on a run. Would you like to come with me?”
I shook my head and noticed Stanley doing the same. I said to Leonard, “We’ve taken up enough of your time. I’ll go and have a word with Xodia now. She won’t be bothering you anymore.”
“Thank you. Do come back and talk to me again. I like your company, both of you.” He smiled down at Stanley and gently stroked his back.
“We will do,” Stanley promised him.
We stayed with Leonard a few more minutes and then headed back to the main residential area. The snow had stopped falling by this time.
We found Xodia standing outside the gazebo with her hands on her hips and an impatient look on her face.
As soon as we walked along the blue carpet towards her she yelled at me, “Where have you been? I’m about to start judging soon. I wanted to talk to you about the different competitions first.” She tapped her foot in annoyance.
Irritation flashed through me and I said, “Actually, we’ve been to talk to Leonard. He doesn’t want you to bother him anymore and I –”
“Don’t talk to me about that lazy yeti!” Xodia declared, “He is not fulfilling his potential. He should be ashamed. I’m ashamed of him! But it’s not too late for him to join in the games. I’ll go and have a word with him soon.”
“No!” I said loudly. “You will leave Leonard alone. He has said no to you various times and you need to get the message. Leave him alone.”
Xodia stared down at me for a moment with confusion on her face. “He wants me to leave him alone? Why? I know what’s best for him. There’s obviously been some confusion. You’ve probably got the wrong end of the stick. We’ll talk about this later. We need to get on with the judging.”
She abruptly turned away and began to walk towards a line of tables on the ice.
Stanley shook his head and said, “Some creatures just won’t listen to reason.”
“I’m going to make her listen to reason. Come on.” I placed my foot tentatively on the ice to see how slippery it was. It wasn’t slippery at all and I was able to follow Xodia without falling on my behind and making a fool of myself. Stanley walked at my side and said he couldn’t even feel the coldness of the ice through his paws.
When we caught up with Xodia, she was glowering at a small creature behind a table. She thundered, “Is this the best you can do? These are pathetic-looking sleigh bells. Do they even make a noise?” She picked the sleigh bells up and gave them a dismissive look. She shook them vigorously and a delightful tune sounded out. It wasn’t enough to appease Xodia and she said, “That’s a ridiculous noise. See if you can fix it before the competition officially begins.” She stormed away on her long legs.
I gave the trembling creature behind the table a sympathetic look as I went after Xodia.
Xodia looked over her shoulder at me and said, “Don’t feel sorry for any of the residents here. They know this is a competition and they have to perform their very best. Don’t meet their eyes and don’t give them any smiles. You are not their friend. You are here to judge them, not comfort them.”
I lifted my chin and said, “If I want to smile at someone, then I will.”
“Smiling is overrated,” was Xodia’s curt reply. “We’ll be judging the sledge-making competition first. Then we’ll look at the ice sculptures at the far side over there. I hope they’ve made a decent attempt. There’s going to be an ice skating event later on and I’m expecting good things because I’ve been helping some of the residents with their training. Some of them do have a small amount of potential. There have been a few accidents during the training, but that’s all part of the learning process and I’m sure they’ll heal soon.” She lifted her right arm and continued, “I’ve broken this arm four times and I never made a fuss about it. Bones heal.”
I said to her, “Do the residents here actually want the Festival? Some of them don’t look happy to be here.”
Xodia snapped, “They didn’t know they wanted the Festival until I pointed out the benefits to them. Where I come from, it’s drummed into us at an early age that we have to fulfil our potential and improve ourselves constantly. The residents here were very lazy when I first arrived, but I soon put them right.” She stopped talking and looked me over. “Are you fulfilling your potential?”
Stanley came to my defence and said, “Cassia is an amazing justice witch. She is also a wonderful human being. And may I just say, I don’t care for the insulting tone in your voice.”
Xodia gave Stanley an admiring look. “I admire your spirit. What special talents do you have? I could put you down for an event or two.”
Stanley backed up a couple of steps and said, “Leave me out of your festival.”
Xodia’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t be like that. I’m an expert in these matters. Run across the ice and I’ll time you. Go on.”
That was the last straw for me. I said firmly, “Stop interfering in everyone’s lives. And that goes for Leonard too. You can’t force people to do things they don’t want to. You are harassing the residents.”
Xodia abruptly sneezed and then muttered, “I don’t know why I came to this terrible town. No one understands me here. It was a mistake to come here.” She took a crumpled tissue from her pocket and blew into it. I did have cleaner ones on my person, but I wasn’t in the mood to give her another tissue.
I said, “Where have you come from?”
“It’s none of your business.”
I was about to say it was my business if she was interfering in everyone’s lives here, but a scream suddenly shot out from behind us.
Xodia looked at where the scream had come from and horror flashed into her eyes. She muttered, “No. Not that. Not now.”
Chapter 10
Xodia raced over to where the noise had come from and I was straight behind her. I hoped we weren’t going to be confronted with a murder scene.
We stopped at the line of ice sculptures. One of them was in pieces. A little polar bear was standing next to the shattered sculpture and was sobbing loudly. Next to him stood a large polar bear who was wearing a floral headscarf and pink lipstick. She had her big paws on her hips and there was fury on her face.
Xodia looke
d down at the destroyed structure and said, “What happened? Who did this?”
The large polar bear snapped, “It was one of the other competitors, obviously. They’re jealous of Boris’ artistic endeavours. As soon as he placed the sculpture here yesterday I could see the jealousy in their eyes.” She waved a paw in the general direction of the other residents on the ice. “It was one of those, I know it was. When I get my paws on them I’ll – ” She stopped talking and her gaze rested on me. “You! You’re a justice witch or something, aren’t you? Sort this out. My little Boris is distraught.”
Even though the mother bear was shouting at me, I couldn’t take my eyes off the little bear called Boris. He was incredibly cute despite the tears running down his cheeks. I’d always had a thing for polar bears and used to have posters of them on my bedroom walls. I’d even had a cuddly toy which I’d named Pete.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Stanley sniffing around the bottom of the ice sculpture and then walking towards the snow-covered area behind it. What was he up to?
Xodia said, “There’s no time for arguments now. Boris, bring out the spare one that you’ve made. I’m assuming you did make a spare one? That’s what professionals do. They’re ready for any event. Tell me you’ve made a spare.” She glowered at the little bear who began to tremble.
Boris muttered, “I didn’t make a spare. Sorry.” He moved away from the destroyed ice sculpture with his head bowed.
Xodia turned her attention to the mother bear and said, “Ravette, why didn’t you see to it that he had a spare? What sort of a mother are you?”
Ravette’s eyes turned black and she growled, “I’ll show you what sort of a mother I am.” She raised her paws and advanced on Xodia.
I was about to intervene when I felt something licking my hand. I looked down to see Boris there. I gave him a friendly smile but my smile vanished when I noticed the sharp fangs in his mouth.
Boris was abruptly yanked away by his mum and she shouted, “What have I told you about biting? You know we don’t do that anymore.”
Boris looked at me and said, “But she looks so tasty. I just wanted to have a little nibble.”
I shot a worried glance at Xodia and said, “What’s going on here? Why does the little polar bear want to bite me?”
“These are vampire polar bears,” Xodia explained impatiently. “As far as I know, they haven’t bitten anyone in a long time.”
Ravette hadn’t finished telling Boris off yet. “You apologise to Cassia right now. You know we’re not that kind of bears anymore. We’re vegetarian.”
Boris pulled himself free from his mum’s grip and yelled, “I can’t help it! It’s in my nature and you can’t stop me.” He scampered away and ran towards a line of log cabins. He disappeared down a path at the side of one of them.
Ravette shook her head in despair. “I don’t know what I’m going to do about him. He’s becoming quite uncontrollable. I’d better go after him.” She walked away from us.
Xodia said, “What a nuisance this is. Well, we’ll just have to ignore this damaged sculpture, there are still others to judge. I’d better go and sort my timetable out and take Boris’ name off my list. You’ll have to make a start on the judging without me. Be tough with your decisions. Don’t fall for any sob stories. I’ll be back to check on you later. Don’t make a mess of this.” She shot me a warning glance before striding away.
Stanley came over to me and said, “What just happened? What was Xodia saying to you?”
I picked Stanley up and said, “She wants me to start judging the competitions now. I’ve no idea how to do this. Will you help me?”
Stanley nodded. “Of course I will. Do you think there will be any food and drink to sample?”
I turned him in the direction of a table not far away and said, “I noticed there’s a pie competition over there. And they’ve got cake and biscuits at the next table. I think that’s a good place to start, don’t you? If we’re going to judge, then we’ll need to sample the wares.”
I looked around the square and noticed everyone seemed a lot happier and there was a celebratory feel in the air. Was that because Xodia had left the area?
We spent the next few hours judging the various competitions that were going on and we had a wonderful time. Despite Xodia’s warning talk, I took the time to chat and smile at each resident as I judged what they had prepared. It was clear they were a happy bunch and none of them were taking the competitions too seriously. Even when I had to reluctantly tell someone that they hadn’t won, they laughed and said it didn’t matter and they were having a great time anyway. I finally got to see what kind of creatures they were and there was a mix of the beings who I’d met in Brimstone town such as vampires, goblins and fairies, but the residents here had a light covering of fur.
Giovanni came to join us at one point and I appreciated his help in talking to some of the more reserved residents.
All too soon, I’d judged the last table and declared the winner of the hot chocolate competition to be Giovanni. He really did make the best hot chocolate in Brimstone. Giovanni pulled me into his arms and kissed me on both cheeks in celebration.
The residents worked together and began to clear the tables from the ice. A band of fairies took to the gazebo and happy music soon filled the air. The residents began to dance around the ice and I was abruptly pulled into Giovanni’s arms yet again.
“We must dance!” he declared and he started to twirl me around the ice.
When he’d finished with me, he picked Stanley up and held him firmly as they moved around in time to the music. I could hear Stanley laughing as he was moved back and forth around the ice. He was having a wonderful time.
It was only when Stanley returned to my side without Giovanni, that I remembered he’d been examining the broken ice sculpture earlier.
I said to Stanley, “What were you looking at earlier? I saw you having a look at that broken sculpture and the area behind it.”
Stanley nodded. “I caught a scent of Leonard on the broken pieces. He’s got quite a distinctive smell. I saw his footprints in the snow behind. Those are quite distinctive too. When we were with him earlier, I looked back at his footprints in the snow and noticed how big they were and the shape of them. He must have paid a visit to this area after the snow had stopped.”
I looked towards the ice sculptures which were still standing. “You don’t think it was Leonard who smashed Boris’ ice sculpture, do you?”
Stanley replied, “Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know, but I’d like to have another word with him to make sure Xodia hasn’t been pestering him again. I haven’t seen her for hours. Let’s take Leonard some of Giovanni’s winning hot chocolate.”
“That’s a good idea. Let’s take him some of that fruitcake too. I think he’ll like that.”
The events of the afternoon had made me quite weary, so I nipped back to the log cabin to get my broomstick. It didn’t take long for Stanley and me to arrive at the entrance to Leonard’s cave. As soon as we walked inside, we could sense that something was wrong. There was a horrible stillness, one which we’d experience many times.
We looked towards the stone bed and the creature who was lying motionless on top of it.
In a half-choked voice, Stanley said, “Cassia, it’s Leonard. Please don’t tell me he’s dead. Not Leonard.”
Chapter 11
We didn’t move for a full two minutes. We couldn’t. It was too dreadful.
Stanley broke the silence by saying hopefully, “Maybe he’s asleep.”
I looked down at Stanley. “He’s not asleep. You know that and I know that.” I walked slowly over to the still yeti and stared down at him. His eyes were closed and he had a peaceful look on his face. Hope reared in me for a second and I thought that Stanley was right and Leonard was sleeping. I reached out and touched his furry forehead. It was icy to my touch. I placed my hand on the side of his neck to see if I could feel a pulse. There wa
s nothing. Still not satisfied, I checked the inside of his arms and searched for a pulse there. There was still nothing.
Stanley was watching my every move. He said, “Do you think he died of natural causes?”
I continued to look at Leonard. “No. There’s a dreadful atmosphere in here and we’ve experienced it before. I think we could be looking at another murder case.” Something caught my attention at the opening of the cave and I looked that way to see snow softly falling. My heart sank. “I noticed some footprints before we came in. I should have looked at them more closely before coming in. It’s too late now; the snow’s already covered them up.”
“Don’t blame yourself, we didn’t know what we were walking into. I noticed the footprints too but I didn’t pay any attention to them. Let me just see if any are still visible.” He turned around and ran to the opening of the cave and looked down at the snow outside. He shook his head slowly. “No, they’ve all gone now.”
I walked over to Stanley and said, “We’ll have to contact Dr Morgan. She needs to come here and examine Leonard. Can you see any butterfly trees anywhere? I want to use one to send a message.”
“I can’t see any butterfly trees, but it might be possible to summon one by asking out loud for one. I think I’ve seen Blythe do that before.”
“We can give it a go.” I looked out over the scene before me and said, “If any butterflies are nearby, please could you come closer as I’d like to give you a message to deliver.”
A yellow Brimstone butterfly suddenly appeared at our side. It was a male one and I hadn’t even noticed him flying towards us. I held my hand out and he rested on my palm while I gave him a message to deliver to Dr Morgan. The butterfly flapped his wings in response and lifted off my hand. I added, “It’s an urgent message, please.” I wasn’t sure if the butterfly would understand that or not.
The butterfly flapped his wings once more and abruptly disappeared.
Stanley shook his head. “Just when I thought there were no surprises left with these butterflies, they do it again. He must have teleported himself back to Brimstone. Either that, or he flew faster than the speed of light. That wouldn’t surprise me.” He hesitated before saying, “What do we do about Leonard? Do we just leave him there? Do we need to put a sign up outside this cave warning residents to stay away?”
Brimstone Witch Mysteries - Box Set 2 Page 36
