Heart of the Staff - Complete Series Read online

  “Fie!” cried the great rat. “Hit would only been fair you all for to let me know where we are going...”

  The raven hopped down a few branches to listen.

  “Fair!” cried one of the women. “Rodon, you are a traitor to your own ken. How dare you to speak of fair!”

  “I know which one she is,” thought the raven. “She's Celeste. Oh, oh, oh! And she's Meri Greenwood's lover. Now, he'd give me a handsome payment to know where they are, too.” He zipped his beak down a flight feather in each wing, gave himself a quick fluffy shake and sleeked down to listen.

  “Oh just go on and tell him,” said another of the Fairies. “He will to see when we there to get, anyway. And if he knows, maybe we will not to him have to listen.”

  “Very well. We to the Jutwoods are off then,” said Celeste.

  “Oh good!” said Rodon, anxiously twisting his tail in his hands. “Sanctuary with the Elves. And we can to free me from this here rat curse for to ask them...”

  “Have do, but I won't not ye for to help!” said the third woman. “You can as you be to remain as far as I care.”

  “Nor will I,” said the other one. “You deserve what Razzobauch to ye done. And if for ever that way you spend, you shall not never begin to make up for the evil you did to the Forest and each one of us.”

  “Being a rat does not come neigh to what you deserve,” said Celeste.

  “I told you Razzorbauch did make me, Celeste!” shouted Rodon, stringing spittle onto his furry jowls. “He into his service forced me! He tormented me! I know I should have died, but I did not. Have you no mercy?”

  “Not for your lies on top of your deeds!”

  Rodon jerked as if he had been slapped, and immediately turned his back to them to heave and fume.

  “Ha! Profits!” croaked the raven, springing into flight. “I will indeed sell twice their whereabouts. And since I know just where they're going, I can easily take the time to see Demonica before I do.” Well out of sight of the Fairies, he began the incantations to a spell as he flew. Suddenly he vanished from the grey sky over the gnarled trees to find himself hundreds of leagues away, high in the air above the coast of Penvro, which everyone referred to as Head. He circled about for a time, trying to decide which way to fly in order to reach the great rock called Forbidden Island, where Demonica had her keep.

  The sun had passed its zenith some time ago as he settled onto a great white limestone harpy which served as a drain for the roof on the front wall of Demonica's keep. He gave each wing a snap and spent the next hour preening himself and studying the castle and its grounds below with first one eye and then the other. At last, he sprang into flight and swooped to a window ledge below, where he pecked loudly at the purple glass.

  “Ocker!” cried Demonica as she threw open the sash. “Where have you been? I was expecting you hours ago.”

  Ocker lunged into the room and swooped to the back of a chair at a table to begin an aloof preening of one wing.

  “Well?” she said, planting her fists on her hips. “What did you find?”

  He hesitated for a glance at her before switching over to sort through the feathers of his other wing.

  “I said, what did you find? I want an answer.”

  He looked up at last and gave himself a thorough shake, flinging dander into the light of the window. “Yea?” he said. “And I want payment. This is going to be worth something extra to you.”

  “Well I've had the cooks fix you a whole leg o' lamb...”

  “And I'll have to have that as part of my payment, but it's worth more to you this time, 'way more...”

  “What? How could it be worth any more with you this late?”

  “You made me late.”

  “Right,” she said as she rolled her eyes and took a seat across the table from him. “And just how'd I manage to do that?”

  “Do you...?” he said as he hopped onto the table top to skip right up to her and look her squarely in the eye. “Do you have any idea at all about how long I've been flying up and down the coast of Head hunting for your stupid keep? You insist that I come by traveling spell and tell you what I've seen, but you won't so much as give me a scrying ball to see where I'm going.”

  “Scrying ball?” she said with a laugh. “You can't carry a scrying ball.”

  “I can if it's the size of a pigeon's egg. But never mind,” he said, crouching in order to take flight.” I've got paying customers...”

  “Ocker!” she cried. “Stop! I have a scrying ball half the size of a hen's egg, if it will do ye. I don't like to use it because it's hard to see things in, but you can have it if you'll tell me your tidings.”

  “Get it then,” he said, taking a distracted peck at a dark spot on the table top.

  “I'll have the lamb sent up while I'm at it,” she said as she disappeared into the hallway. She was back in short order. “Here it is,” she said as she set the pearly green marble before him. “So what extra sort of thing is Razzorbauch up to, anyway?”

  Ocker pecked here and there at the marble as it rolled about between his feet. “I want to see this thing work first,” he said.

  Demonica raised her eyebrows with a sigh. “You've got magic, now,” she said. “Put your foot on it at first, I should think, and then tell it what you want to see.”

  He grabbed onto it as he gave a steadying snap of his wings. “Show me Urr-Urr,” he said.

  “What on earth is an err-err?” she said with a look of amusement.

  “Urr-Urr's my wife,” he rattled. “And she's not one bit funny. She's on the nest, up in the rocks above Razzorbauch's castle... Ha! There she is! This thing works.” And with that, he sprang into the air.”

  “Hey!” cried Demonica.

  “I'll be right back,” he awked as he vanished out the window. He flew up to the roof and buried the scrying marble in a damp wad of leaves at the end of a gutter and flew back down through the window to find Demonica pacing in agitation. “Now just what...?” she said, stopping short at the sound of his wings.

  “Nothing that you need to know about, Demonica.”

  “Well fine. Now what about Razzorbauch?”

  Ocker settled himself once again on the back of his chair. “Now what about my lamb roast?” he said with a snap of each wing.

  It's on its way up. What about Razzorbauch?”

  “As soon as I have a little roast. Hit's tiring business, flying up and down the coast of Head, don't ye know.”

  “You're a mean spirited bird.”

  “Yea? And you're a wicche, suster...”

  Demonica threw back her head and laughed.

  Presently, a pewter cover was being yanked away from a steaming roast on the table by a hired woman. Ocker hopped onto the table and trotted up to the platter, gobbling up a pinch of meat.

  Demonica sat at the table with a sigh and crossed her arms. “Now,” she said. “You have your roast. What's this bigger than usual thing about Razzorbauch?”

  Ocker looked at her with sparkling black eyes and twisted off another piece of lamb.

  Demonica heaved a bigger sigh and reached out for a piece of roast.

  Ocker immediately bit her, leaving a smarting red V on her knuckle.

  “Hey!” she cried. “You're a right foul natured one for pay before work!”

  “And you're a stinking queinte,” he said, pausing to smack his dirty beak. “Haven't you heard of remuneration before goods?”

  “I could turn you into a grease spot.”

  “Except that you're smarter than that. We have a deal going, my dame.”

  Demonica sat back and watched him eat for quite some time. At last he was slowing down. “You remember Razzorbauch, right?” she said.

  “You remember manners, right?” he said, wiping his beak on the edge of the platter. “I mean, don't you know how to conduct yourself around a high ranking raven eating his payment?” He suddenly thrust himself up as tall as he could manage, making all of the feathers on his neck bristle ou
t like a pine cone.

  “I'm learning. Now what about Razzorbauch?”

  “Well then,” he said, relaxing into a normal posture, “he's back at his keep, but he's not alone.”

  “Not alone? He has his hired help.”

  “Yea, but he also has his company,” he said as he hopped back up onto his chair and began preening. “Now I wasn't close enough to get her name...”

  “Her? He has a woman at his keep?”

  “What else would I mean by 'not alone?'“

  “What does she look like?”

  “What does it matter? You humans all look alike.”

  “A scrying ball and a leg o' lamb are worth 'way more than that,” she said as she gave an angry bat at the air, flinging shut the open window across the room. “Now. What did you say she looked like?”

  “Look. I was protecting your swyving feelings, all right? Aren't you paying me to look out for your interests? The wench has dark hair like yours, but some deal longer. She has big dark eyes. And she's perhaps an inch or two taller than you, ten or fifteen pounds lighter and a lot younger than you, too. Now are you happy?”

  “Quite,” she said with a voice of ice.

  “Well, before you hurry off to murder the pair of them, would you please open the window for me?”

  She gave a distracted wave at the air behind her, making the sash unlatch on its own and swing in.

  Ocker flew to the sill, lunged out into the air and flew to the roof. He dug his scrying marble out of the leaves, turning it over and over with his foot. “Show me Urr-Urr,” he said. He stared at the marble's swirling colors for a moment, then studied the horizon across the ocean to the west. He leaped into the air and flew with the marble clutched tightly in his foot until he was but a speck with wings which suddenly vanished.

  Chapter 8

  Ocker appeared high up in the air over his nest on the rock ledge, far above Razzorbauch's keep. At the sight of Urr-Urr, he began croaking.

  Urr-Urr immediately answered with loud pairs of tick-tocks, springing from her nest to meet him for a rollicking reunion in the air. At the sight of her coming, Ocker did a neat back flip, and the pair of them flew to the nest, wing tip to wing tip, in a grand pas de deux. Urr-Urr carefully settled back upon her five eggs in time for Ocker to disgorge a great wad of roast lamb.

  “Cooked!” she said as she tossed her head about in great lunging gulps. “This is unbelievably delicious. You've made a sale to a human again, haven't you?”

  “Oh, I did really well this time. Not only did the old queinte pay me with a leg o' lamb, but she actually gave me a scrying ball.”

  “You mean Demonica?”

  “Yea.”

  “But isn't a scrying ball that big round thing we see Razzorbauch staring into? How will you ever get hit home?”

  “Look,” he said with a peck at his foot, as he carefully nestled his marble into the sticks of the nest. “Here hit is. And I've seen you in hit twice already.”

  “Hit's a beautiful trinket,” she said, pecking at it here and there, “but what good is hit? You already know what I look like.”

  “'Tain't just a trinket,” he said, adding a couple of delicate pecks of his own, “hit's a proper tool. Her turning me into a hedge wizard and showing me a spell allows me to pop clean across the ocean to Head and back, but I can't see where I'm going. I had to spend all morning flying up and down the coast of Head to find her keep. Now, this scrying ball lets me navigate. I just now popped out in the sky, right overhead, don't you know. This'll save me all kinds of time for you and the eggs.”

  “Or for more deals.”

  “Certainly. For more profit.”

  “Well that sounds good. But you've been gone for quite a spell, and I'm still famished, even with a crop-full of lamb. Could you sit your turn while I go have a hunt?”

  “Have do.”

  Urr-Urr preened the feathers down one side of his neck for a moment, then stood and dove off the nest into the air. Ocker settled carefully onto their five speckled black glossy green eggs and was soon fast asleep.

  ***

  The rooster flapped to the floor of the chicken house in the faint light of dawn to ruffle up and shake himself before sauntering to the water crock. He dipped in his beak and tossed back his head. A phoebe and a wood thrush called outside.

  Upstairs in her room, Minuet stood up in her nightgown and nearly fell. “Whoa!” she said, sitting back down on the edge of the bed to catch herself. “And I've soaked my bedclothes with sweat. I can't imagine.” She stood up slowly and traded her wet gown for a robe as she glanced at Hubba Hubba. “You want something to eat, don't you? I'll go see.”

  “Good Morning, Min-Min,” said Bethan at the sight of her, coming into the kitchen. “Are you looking for something for the popinjay?”

  “I always am, first thing.”

  “Well now, I've got just the thing,” she said with a flourish amidst her dance from the flour bin to the breadboard. “I just came in from the garden with that mess of peas on the board. A few pods full would be just about right, wouldn't it?”

  “You're chipper, this morning,” said Minuet as she sorted through the peas on the table. “Must be because Leeuh's gone.”

  “My word, Min-Min!” said Bethan, going wide-eyed. “Why, I'd never...”

  “I know. You'd never say anything bad about Leeuh, no matter how ugly she'd been to you. And I'm sorry I set you up for that one. I was just thinking out loud.”

  “Well yes, but...”

  “She was just plain awful before she left,” said Minuet as she gave Bethan a sudden hug.

  “Well, it has been peaceful...” she said, leaning back to give a careful squint at Minuet's unusually white complexion.

  “I'll be right back for breakfast,” said Minuet as she headed for the door with her peas. “Maybe I'll eat with Father.”

  “I doubt it. He had a cup o' tea and sailed right out with some of yesterday's cinnamon buns to work on the still out at the barn.”

  “Well, I'll eat with you, then.”

  “Fresh buns and grits, or do you want me to scramble some eggs to go with the grits, instead?”

  “Buns.”

  “They'll be ready.”

  ***

  Urr-Urr had been perched on the edge of the nest all night when Ocker awoke.

  “You're back,” he said with a yawn as he stretched a foot back under one wing. “My word! It's morning.”

  “Well, I know how much you go without sleep.”

  “I have to. He who snoozes, loses.”

  “So you say. And I love your enthusiasm, but you look like you're getting ready to take off again. Are you leaving this early?”

  “I'm afraid so. I've got to see Razzorbauch and then I need to find Merri Greenwood.”

  “Is he still hunting for his lost lover?”

  “He is, and that's just hit. I've found her. She's with her sisters. So you know hit will be worth some deal to him.”

  “Should be,” she said, reaching under him for some delicate pecks at her eggs as he stood up. “But now, wouldn't Razzorbauch part with something neigh as good for the same bit of news? After all, those sisters made a fool of him by escaping.”

  Ocker sorted through the feathers of one wing. “Oh, he would indeed,” he said, “so I'm selling my news to each one of them. Hit makes no difference to me who gets the sisters and the rat.”

  “Rat?”

  “Well, I want the rat. Hit's as big as Razzorbauch himself and traveling right along with them. I don't care who roasts him for us.”

  “Sounds delicious,” she said, clasping his beak. “Good luck.”

  Ocker replied with a quick nibble of the feathers beneath her eye, grabbed up his scrying marble and lunged out into the air below the nest. Down, down he swooped until he landed on the roof of Razzorbauch's keep. He hopped across a few rows of tiles and hid his marble in a gutter and then flew to his favorite gargoyle overlooking the grand balcony. “Ha!” he rattled.
“There's the rotten old swyver, now.” He flew down to land on the limestone balustrade at once, hopping along the length of it until he stood right in front of him.

  “Ocker!” said Razzorbbauch. “Where'd you come from? If you've some information to sell me, make it quick. I'm busy.”

  “Yea?” he said with a snap of each wing. “Well I'm busy too, so if you don't have the time to learn the whereabouts of the three Fairy queintes who got away from you, then I've got other customers, like maybe Meri Greenwood. Good bye!” And with that he sprang into the air.

  “Hey!” cried Razzorbauch. “Get down here! You know very well that I have the time for that kind of news.”

  “Fine,” he croaked, hovering eye to eye with Razzorbauch before landing again on the balustrade, “but I'll have my payment first, as usual.”

  “Of course. What do you want this time?”

  “You wouldn't have had me stay if this wasn't important to you,” said Ocker, looking at him with one keen black eye, “so you've already admitted that hit's worth something special...”

  “I've no time for games, bird. What do you want?”

  Ocker found something under one wing needing attention. Immediately he needed to check under the other wing. “Well,” he said, ruffling up at last and giving himself a good shake, “There's a big rat, traveling with the sisters. I'd take him, sent up to my nest, perfectly roasted.”

  “That big rat, my conniving friend, happens to be a Fairy. He's Rodon, their brother, and I have my own plans for him. And besides, you don't want to eat a Fairy.”

  “Why not? You obviously don't want them running around loose, so why not roast one of them and know that he'll never escape?”

  “It's out of the question.”

  “Yea?” said Ocker, standing up straight as his neck bristled out like a pine cone. “Well, Urr-Urr is all set for giant rat. She's got the best nest site and the largest territory in the whole forest and I always make sure she gets what she wants.”

  “We certainly wouldn't want to offend her station, would we...?”