Heart of the Staff - Complete Series Read online

  “I am, Your Majesty,” said Razzmorten as he rubbed his forehead and looked up. “But there is another matter that I need to tell you about.”

  “And it doesn't appear that I'll like hearing it.”

  “No. Prince Neron came to Peach Knob in the middle of the night, last night, while I was still away, hoping beyond hope that I might have a way to cure his wife, Nessa. My daughter tells me that she's dying.”

  Henry smacked the arm of his chair with his fist and shot to his feet to begin pacing. “This is foul news if there ever was. We tend to forget that the Jut of Niarg, where she lies ill, is indeed in Niarg. An invading army couldn't have done a better job of picking three points to invade. Jutwoods, Castle Niarg and Far,” he said, pausing to count out three fingers in front of Razzmorten. “We just found out this morning that Princess Branwen is dead and that the king himself has got it.”

  “Please give my condolence to Prince Hebraun.”

  “He only met her the one time, but an annex through the marriage wouldn't have hurt us one bit,” he said, pausing with a sigh. “We're really going to need your cure with all speed.”

  “I'm not surprised about Far, sire. It was only a matter of time...”

  “Yea. Only a matter of hours.”

  “Precisely,” said Razzmorten as he sat, following the king's pacing. “I'm convinced that the Elves have it right when it comes to contagion, sire. So if you don't reckon me out of place for my saying so, you need to close the border to Far immediately. No one should cross going either way until both sides have this under control.”

  Henry sat down heavily on his great chair. He chewed on a strand of his beard as he studied the banners hanging all about the hall. “There's no choice about that, I'm sure,” he said with a sigh. “We could take them some oil after we get on our feet, I suppose.” He looked up suddenly. “Behind you.”

  Razzmorten quickly looked all about to find the owl flying to the ridge pole with another rat.

  “I've never seen them inside so bad in warm weather,” said Henry.

  “Yea, this has been quite a year for rats.”

  ***

  Razzmorten found Minuet in the kitchen, shelling peas with Bethan. “We've got a whole mess of beets coming on, too,” she said as she nodded at a large pile of them on the end of the board.

  “That'll make a fine supper,” he said. “Can you come outside?”

  Minuet picked up her pile of un-hulled peas by the corners of her apron, ducked out of the straps and followed him out into the calls of pewees and the tinkling of sheep bells. “So what's up?” she said, squinting into the afternoon sun.

  “I don't want to bother you, but I need to have a talk with all of the hired help about the distillery and the plague, and before I do, I just wanted to see if there's anything I need to know first.”

  “You're no bother. That's Leeuh's job,” she said, giving a sudden wide-eyed gasp. “I'm sorry! That's terrible of me.”

  “No it's not. I had a rotten sibling too, don't you know.”

  “I've never ever heard you refer to Uncle Razzorbauch or to Leeuh as anything but wayward. You always said...”

  “I wanted to raise you to have love, forgiveness and patience,” he said as he found an overturned wash tub to sit on. “But over the years, people like that just keep getting worse until one day you're forced to wake up and see that they've turned wicked.” He took off his hat and set it in the grass. “Now, I'm not calling Leeuh wicked, but I've always had my secret hopes for Razzorbauch. And when I was getting my load of oregano, I saw Dyn Gwyrdd, you know, Meri Greenwood. And if he's not mistaken, Razzorbauch has found a way to ruin every square mile of the vast Forest Primeval.” He looked up at her wide eyes. “So if he has, there's no running away from the fact that Razzorbauch is indeed wicked. When did he turn wicked? I have wrung my hands watching him all my life, but I have no idea when. Maybe it's better if you do call her a 'bother' once in a while.”

  Minuet knelt in the grass and reached out here and there to pluck clover heads as a warbling vireo called from one of the big maples shading the house. “I think you need to know this,” she said, looking up to catch his eye.

  “Which one, your sister or your Uncle?”

  “Uncle Razzorbauch called with a gift for Leeuh right after you left for the castle, this morning. They had quite a long visit. I left them alone, especially since Uncle Razzorbauch always ignores me anyway. I saw him leave about noon, but what seems strange to me is that Leeuh hasn't come to show off her gift, particularly since his gifts to her are always much grander than any which he would give me. I haven't even seen her, truth to tell.”

  Razzmorten sighed and looked around for his hat. “The chief armorer is on his way out here to help set up the still,” he said as he got to his feet. “I've got to see if I can't have a place ready for him. And I must talk to all the help before he gets here. Do me a favor and see if you can find Leeuh to learn as much as you can about her visit with Razzorbauch. Would you?”

  “I'm on my way.”

  ***

  Razzorbauch tramped the length of the crimson runner in Demonica's receiving room and out a side passage, muttering at her empty throne as he passed by. Down the long hallway he went, the heels of his riding boots pounding out a determined rhythm of echoes under the Gothic arches. At the bottom of the stairs he found Joran and Remont sitting on kegs on either side of a barrel, arm wrestling. Joran looked up wide eyed in time for Remont to wrench his arm flat against the barrel head.

  “So what are you two doing?” said Razzorbauch with an impatient bounce on his heels.

  “Why, a-guarding the prisoners for Intron Demonica,” said Joran as he rocked back and forth, cradling his painful elbow in his lap.

  “It takes two of you?”

  “That's what she says,” said Reymont, rising to stand submissively beside the barrel.

  “I don't see any prisoners.”

  “We've got two of 'em.”

  “Yea,” said Joran. “We had three, but one of them went to stinking...”

  “So we cleaned him out good,” said Reymont with a nod. “We swept up the maggots and scattered clean straw. We even piled it up deep over his stool in the corner and everything.”

  “Well since you're on your toes and all, have you seen her?”

  “Who?”

  Razzorbauch hesitated for a moment before turning smartly on his heel and starting up the stairs.

  “Who?” hollered Reymont.

  “Thank you, gentlemen!” he called out in the echoes as he disappeared from sight. Once more he crossed the length of the castle, hunting for Demonica.

  “The very least she could do is leave word with the hired help about where she's going and when she’ll be back,” he said as he stepped his way up the winding staircase of his tower. At last, he reached his library. With an impatient flicking of fingers and a wave of his arm, a massive oak door rolled aside quietly into the left wall, uncovering another door which immediately rolled away into the right wall, leaving a set of heavy double doors which unlatched themselves and swung silently inward in time to reveal Demonica in the act of fitting the ruby red crystal Heart of the Staff into the Great Staff of Power. Razzorbauch's eyes went apoplectically wide as he noiselessly swept to her side like a great owl. “Demonica!” he bellowed, grabbing the Staff and her arm at the same time.

  With a shriek and a lunge, she tried to wrench away.

  “So this is what you do when I'm away!” he growled, clamping down on her frightfully hard. “My trust in you has been grossly misplaced, I see!”

  “No! You're wrong!” she cried, jerking against his grasp. “Please, love! Let go! You're hurting me!”

  “Certainly pet,” he said between his teeth, “as soon as you answer me.”

  “What?” she said with sudden gravel in her throat. “So I'm answering to you, aye?”

  “Well, just what were you doing in here by yourself with the Heart and the Staff?”

&nb
sp; “My love! How could I mean anything by it? I missed you so much that I came in here to spend a few moments amongst the books you love. I browsed the shelves for a spell, and stumbled onto the Staff leaning against the shelf with the Heart. I wondered how it felt to hold them, and all at once you scare me to death, shouting at me. And you're not letting go!”

  “No. Not when you've left out the part about my Staff and Heart being locked away and sealed with spells inside that glass fronted book case which I see standing open right yonder.”

  “What's the matter with you!” she growled as if she had flattened ears. “Of course I overhear your spells. I'm with you all the time. How would I know you didn't want me in here? Why would I ever expect that out of you? This is my keep after all!”

  “Right!” he said, flattening her across the top of his library table as he pressed the Heart to the side of her throat. “And for absolutely no reason under the shining sun, I'm all mean and terrible...”

  “Let me up! Hey! That thing burns!”

  “Oh you have no idea,” he said as the Heart began giving off a faint flute-like hum. “It could cause you more pain than you've ever felt in your life. Just don't be stupid. So. What was it that you were doing with the Heart and Staff without asking?”

  “You're burning me!”

  “Won't leave a mark, dear. The more you fight, the worse it'll get. So, what were you doing?”

  “I told you...! Aaaa!”

  “No you didn't.”

  “All right, all right!” she wailed, turning white. “I went to a lot of trouble to learn your spells any time you didn't think I was watching. And I decided to come in through all the doors and spells in order to try out the Heart and Staff since you were gone. I had a right to, because I was the one who got it out of the Niarg Treasury in the first place. Just for you. I even had to marry your stupid brother. And you refused to let me try it, even once. Not even once,” Suddenly she was heaving with sobs.

  Razzorbauch jerked away the Heart in disgust, shoving her off the table onto the stone floor, where she cried out in shocked anguish. “This is about power, sweetheart,” he growled. And with that, he stepped smartly out the triple door, followed by three thundering slams.

  ***

  “Lee-Lee?” said Minuet as she pecked on her door. She waited and knocked again. “Leeuh?” She hesitated a moment more and then turned about to leave. Before she had managed to take a step, the latch behind her clicked and the door swung wide. There was Ugleeuh sitting up in bed looking cross, as though she had just been asleep. “You look far too awake to be sitting under the covers like that,” she said as she stepped inside.

  Without warning, the door slammed shut behind her, giving her a start. Ugleeuh laughed uproariously, suddenly going completely silent in the midst of it, as if she had never uttered a sound.

  “Games like this are why Father hasn't taught you very much, Lee-Lee. You're 'way too awake to have been sleeping. What are you hiding?”

  “Oh woof, woof, big sister,” said Ugleeuh. “Did you come in here and wake me up just to be my keeper?”

  “No. I wondered what Uncle Razzorbauch gave you.”

  Ugleeuh hesitated for a fleeting moment, as if she were not quite sure she was hearing right. “A fabulous ruby necklace, if you must!” she said with a sudden bounce as she flung aside her covers and scurried to her dresser. She put on the necklace at once and turned for Minuet to see. “So what do you think? Isn't it the most wonderful gift you've ever seen?”

  “Oh it is. And it looks lovely on you.”

  “It is perfect, isn't it Min-Min?” she said, startling Minuet with a grand smile. She removed the necklace and carefully put it away, then suddenly turned on her with a look of suspicion. “You never just come to my room any more. You didn't want to see my present. Why did you come?”

  “I did so. You've always shown off your gifts from Uncle Razzorbauch, and Father and I were wondering if you'd been disappointed this year.”

  “Poop! I don't believe it.”

  “You silly goose! You mean the world to us, even if you do frustrate us.”

  “My...!” she said, knocked wordless for a moment. “Very well then. Go tell Father I've finally got a birthday present. Bye.” She squatted at once and pulled out a half packed bag from under her bed. “Oh. And tell him I'll be away for a bit.”

  “Away?” said Minuet as she spied a strange scrying ball in her sister's bag. “Away where?”

  “Aw! Poor woof, woof. Your awful little sister outgrew you. I'm all grown up now, remember? I'm not a prisoner here. Bye.”

  “Aren't you forgetting the plague? Travel out and about is dangerous right now.”

  “Nope! Not where I'm going,” she said as she put her necklace box into her bag and took out the scrying ball. She sat on the edge of her bed with her bag in her lap and peered into the ball as it began glowing with swirling colors. “You look like a fool with your ugly mouth open like that. Ta-ta!” And with that she vanished.

  Chapter 7

  Ugleeuh suddenly sat down hard on one of the flagstone balconies of Razzorbauch's keep, unknown miles away from the edge of her bed. Struggling with the urge to vomit as she got to her feet, she saw that his castle was near the top of a great prominence overlooking a vast sea of twisted trees. “Why would Uncle Razzorbauch ever have a place in the midst of this ugly wilderness?” she thought as she looked about. “This can't be Head. It couldn't be Demonica's because he said that his spell would take me to his keep.” Presently she looked behind her and saw him, leaning on the stone balustrade at the far end of the balcony. She drew a sudden breath to speak out, but stayed quiet instead at the sight of him lost in his thoughts as he stared out across the endless woods. “Better not bother him,” she thought as she put her scrying ball into her bag and set it upon the balcony. She looked all around at the great building as she stood, swinging her arms in the mid morning breeze, coming up the slopes. It certainly made the manor house at Peach Knob seem humble. She had never seen something so large as this castle made entirely of coal black limestone. There were great sinister gargoyles above each of the many gables. She gave a shudder at the unexpected sight of a raven perched atop the nearest one, studying her keenly with one eye.

  “Why Leeuh!” cried Razzorbauch, suddenly seeing her.

  She wheeled about with a start to look up at him with wide eyes.

  “Oh my word! I certainly didn't mean to frighten you,” he said, holding out his arms for a hug. “Come sit with me over here. The view is breathtaking.” He motioned to a stone bench overlooking a gap in the balustrade. “Did you just get here?”

  Ugleeuh nodded as she took her seat.

  Razzorbauch sat beside her and looked out over the woods for a moment. A rock wren gave a ringing call from somewhere nearby in the breeze. “So how did my dear brother take it when you told him you were coming?”

  “Father? I'd reckon my departure was a big relief. I mean he never wanted me in the first place. So what else would it be but a relief?”

  “So you just left without telling him?”

  “Well I told Minuet to tell him. I didn't see the need to tell her where to, though. I mean, isn't it enough that they get to be glad I'm gone?”

  “They no doubt deserve it, Leeuh, but I'd allow that neither one of them is happy that you're gone.”

  “Really?” she scoffed, not wanting to sound interested.

  “Really,” said Razzorbauch. “You can count on it.”

  For a moment she was speechless. “Too bad, then,” she said, looking strangely serene. “They earned it. I certainly don't care.”

  “Well then,” he said, planting his hands on his knees. “Why don't we go inside and see what the cook has fixed while we discuss our new partnership? And in the morning, I can take you to see where I plan to put our sukere plantation. How would that be?”

  “Good, I suppose,” she said, chewing her lip, “except that I thought I was going to meet my mother. I thought this was
going to be her castle at Head on the Dark Continent. It isn't, is it? Where is this?”

  Razzorbauch paused to look out over the trees once more. “We don't really have a name for it yet,” he said, heaving a sigh. “It used to be a wasteland known as the Forest Primeval until I improved it.” He started for the balcony door. “So Demonica. I guess we'll see her first thing in the morning, then. We had something of a difference of opinion, but it's nothing to worry about. It's settled. We shall see her before I take you to the plantation.”

  Just before stepping inside, Ugleeuh looked up to see the raven take flight. The raven flew in in great sweeping circles, rising far up into the clouds as he considered what he had seen. “This is good,” he said, winging ever higher. “The stinking wicche will pay well for this. Knowledge of Razzorbauch's disloyal tryst is worth a great deal. And she's really looking for him to do something if she went to the trouble to give me the magic of a hedge wizard and to teach me a traveling spell just to fetch her every fiddly little tiding.” He went silent for a spell as he ceased his flapping, circling ever higher on a swelling updraft. “And hit pissen me some deal that her spell won't take me anywhere but Head. The least she could have done was give me some kind of scrying ball so I could make the spell deliver me right to the mark instead of having to fly up and down the whole swyving coast each time to find her rotten keep. Say!” he croaked. “That's hit! She'll pay me a jolly scrying ball for my tidbit, or she'll get nothing.” And with that, he took a triumphant plunge into a plummeting series of barrel rolls and corkscrew spirals.

  Straight down he went, faster and faster until with a furious swoop, he leveled out to speed along just above the trees. “Yea! No fiddly trinkets this time. And she'd better give me my usual roast beast... Whoa! What's this?” he said as he sailed by three people and something else, huddled on the ground. He flew slowly back and landed quietly in a nearby tree for a look. “Ha!” he thought at the sight of the three stunningly beautiful green haired women. “I know them. Those Fairies are the Guardians of the Woods. They escaped Razzorbauch. He'd pay right well to know where they are. And that giant man-faced rat, maybe he'd roast him for me as part of the payment.” He gave a quiet giddy rattle.