“Proceed.” Would he help his guardian who loved him? Or would he prove what Elodie now felt certain to be true, that Master Uwald was one of the thieves?
“Yes, son?”
“Master Uwald told me he’d never lost a bet since Grandmother refused him. ‘Lucky in gaming, unlucky not to have her,’ he said. Another time, he said he had her now in me. I deduce he isn’t lucky at gaming any—”
Master Uwald talked over Master Robbie. “I won every wager against your masteress, Mistress Elodie, didn’t I?”
“My sons!” Master Tuomo reached across the table and pulled Master Uwald up by his shoulders. “If you killed them—”
“Tuomo!” Master Uwald cried.
Deeter-bee and another bee pulled Master Tuomo back, although he struggled against them.
Master Uwald whispered, “Your sons are fine.”
“Say again?”
Master Uwald sat slowly with both hands on the table to lower himself. “I sent them to Ilse’s wedding and told them not to tell you. I would never hurt your sons. Robbie, I’m not so bad as that.”
It was an admission. Master Uwald was the thief.
He went on, “I tried to give the servants and herders a holiday, too, but you—”
“When did you lose Nockess? Where?”
“The night after the message came that Lilli died. I rode out to clear my mind and met travelers on the—”
“I gave my life to your land.” Master Tuomo had switched from one grievance to another.
Who was Master Uwald’s accomplice?
And where was the Replica?
High Brunka Marya groaned. In a weak voice she said, “Johan? Did you hit me?”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
Masteress Meenore landed in a barren field about a quarter mile above a chasm. Plumes of smoke rose from fires that dotted the slopes.
IT surveyed ITs near surroundings. In this field, the snow remained in patches, but most had melted, leaving a meadow where only stones grew.
Earlier, IT had flown up the mountain almost to the terrifying peak, which belched flames but little molten rock—so far. From the heights, IT had descended gradually, to and fro, back and forth. Often, no matter how low IT glided, enough smoke smothered the ground to conceal a mob of ogres. IT had ignored the human cries that assailed ITs ears. If IT stopped for everyone in need, IT would never save His Lordship.
Count Jonty Um wouldn’t be looking for anyone or calling out. Perhaps IT could call him. IT trumpeted,
“There was a dragon called Bertram
who flew a long, long way to Zertrum
then tumbled in a deep abyss
and landed with a hoot and a hiss,
that foolish, silly, idiot, heedless, nincompoop dragon called Bertram!”
IT hardly heard ITself over the fire crackle and the crash of tumbling rocks, but, unable to devise a better plan, IT sang again, knowing, as it bellowed and bellowed, that nincompoop Bertram was really Meenore.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
Johan-bee rocked rapidly heel-to-toe and stared fixedly straight ahead. “Yes, I hit you. I didn’t mean to.”
Master Uwald held out his arms. “Son . . .”
Master Robbie shook his head violently.
Mistress Sirka helped High Brunka Marya stand up.
“Slowly, please, dear.” She leaned against the barber-surgeon. “I’m dizzy.” Small rainbows flowed from her fingers. She shook her hands and the rainbows subsided.
Ludda-bee jumped off the high brunka’s stool. “Here.” She began to ladle everything into a bowl.
Master Uwald crooned softly in a longing tone, “Son . . . Son . . . . Son . . .”
Master Robbie looked just as he had when Elodie first saw him: pink-tipped nose, red-rimmed eyes, hands on his mourning beads.
“Keep the stool, Ludda,” High Brunka Marya said. “I’ll just fall off. The bench will be better. And I can’t eat yet.”
Everyone shifted, and Mistress Sirka eased the high brunka onto the bench next to Goodman Dror, at the end farthest from the door and Johan-bee, who remained at his post. High Brunka Marya seemed to have forgotten about sealing the door with her rainbow.
Mistress Sirka sat at the very end, so that the high brunka was wedged between her and Goodman Dror. The barber-surgeon smiled triumphantly around the table. “I healed a brunka!”
“Johan,” High Brunka Marya said, “I am disappointed in you. You behaved like an unruly ram, no matter how provoked you were. And now, why the longbow and sword?”
“To keep anyone from leaving.”
“I see. Very well. Soon my rainbow will be able to do that again.” She turned from one bee to another until she’d met the eyes of every one. “No one is to tease Johan anymore. I forbid it. He committed an error, but he deserves better.”
“I just point out his faults to improve him,” Ludda-bee said. “If he weren’t such a bumbling clod, he’d—”
“Ludda, no more about bumbling.” She waited, but Johan-bee didn’t speak. “My head hurts. How long did I lie there? I dreamed the Replica was found. Has it been?”
“I’m the thief.”
“Master Uwald? You?”
“My Robbie despises me.”
“I do despise you.”
“Is the Replica back in place?”
Albin said, “We just found out it was Master Uwald.”
Elodie said proudly, “Master Robbie proved it.”
“Master Uwald, where is it?” the high brunka said.
“I won’t say.”
Master Tuomo shouted, “He wants to destroy the farm!”
“No, I don’t.”
“He wants people to die,” Master Robbie said softly.
“I don’t!”
Elodie frowned, believing him. Doesn’t want to ruin the farm, although it will be ruined. Doesn’t want to kill people, although people will be killed. Mmm. He doesn’t care, really, about the people or the farm. What does he care about, other than Master Robbie? Ah. Lambs and calves! “You want one person to die, the one who won Nockess Farm.”
He said nothing.
“He’s there, the new owner?” Master Tuomo said. “You enticed him there?”
“With his death, no one would have known of the lost—”
“Hush!” High Brunka Marya put her hands flat on the table, palms down. “I feel Zertrum.” She looked at Master Tuomo and Goodman Dror, the two whose homes were on Zertrum besides Master Uwald. “It’s very bad.” She blew her nose on her sleeve and wiped her eyes.
In the silence that followed, Elodie said, “Master Uwald, who was the other thief?”
“I acted alone.” His eyes were on Master Robbie, always on him. “It was an ingenious plan. I placed the magic handkerchief in the Turtle Room. Then—”
“Did you close the door behind you?” Elodie asked. The disturbed rushes hadn’t been mice!
“I left it ajar. Few come down that corridor. I waited there for Johan-bee to leave his post. When he did, I started the weeping and went into another room, which I also left ajar. I doubted Ursa-bee would notice, and she didn’t. When she came, I ran into your chamber, Marya.”
Elodie thought that a long dash for elderly Master Uwald.
He continued. “Later, after I had the Replica, I recovered the handkerchief.”
Master Robbie said, “How did you know Johan-bee left?”
“I heard him. His steps are noisy.”
“How did you learn where I hid the Replica?”
“How do you think, Marya? I purchased the information.”
Elodie’s mind veered off in a different direction. Her masteress believed the Replica might not be in the Oase, where someone could stumble upon it. “High Brunka, is there a door from the Oase to the caves and tunnels of this mountain?”
“No, lamb.” She turned back to Master Uwald. “From whom did you buy it?”
“I won’t say. Son, I didn’t mean . . .”
Elodie stirred her spoon abs
ently in her bowl. If the Replica wasn’t in the Oase or in the mountain, then it was outside. Master Uwald hadn’t been out after the theft. He must have had help.
Who had gone out? Several bees had been to the stable to feed the animals, but the stable had been searched. A bee might have left the others and hidden the Replica in a tree hole, or might have dug a hurried hole for it, but that could be anywhere—not a useful line of thought. The high brunka said there was a cottage.
Without listening to what she might be interrupting, Elodie asked, “Has anyone searched the cottage?”
“Of course, lamb.”
In her bowl, the brown stew and the yellow beans and the dark red beet juice made a muddy rainbow.
The beets!
Elodie—recklessly, rashly—announced, “I know where the Replica is.” Unable to resist, she added, “I deduced and induced.” Masteress, you’ll be so proud of me. If you’re alive.
Around the table, all heads turned to her.
“The Replica is where the beets were. Johan-bee buried it. He’s the other thief.”
Everyone looked at the door.
“He left!” Master Tuomo cried.
“No, I haven’t.”
With surprising stealth, Johan-bee had edged around the table, and now stood with his longbow raised, nocked, and aimed at the high brunka. At this near distance, he couldn’t miss.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
His breath coming in painful bursts, Count Jonty Um raced along the rim of the chasm, hoping to find a way off the mountain. The two people he’d dug out of the collapsed cottage managed to stay on his shoulder.
Below his thoughts, he felt animal terror, the fright of all the beasts he’d ever shape-shifted into. In the distance, through the roar of the fire, he heard voices crying out in despair and pain. He slowed. Fee fi! One voice sounded nasal, metallic, and not in pain. He stopped.
Couldn’t be. Meenore wouldn’t risk ITself to come here.
He heard the voice again. Singing! Fo fum! IT had, but where was IT in this confusion?
“Here—Meenore!” he roared. Running again, he continued to shout.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
Elodie cursed herself for not thinking.
“Marya, I had to hit you with a bench before you’d help me.” Johan-bee wasn’t rocking, and his hands were steady on the longbow. “Master Uwald was always kind—the last time he was here, too. Master—”
“Anyone who is kind to you is the worst knave that ever lived.” Ludda-bee’s hands inched toward the nearest platter.
“Ludda, I will loose this arrow at you if you move again or say another word.”
She stopped, her eyes bulging, her cheeks puffed out.
What to do? Elodie thought.
“Master Uwald,” Johan-bee said, “please dig up the Replica and saddle two horses. Please come back and tell me when you’re ready.”
“Excellent, Johan.” Master Uwald took the bread knife. “I’ll use it if I must. Robbie, come. Don’t you want to be rich?”
“No, thank you. I want to be a barber-surgeon.”
Master Uwald winced. He circled the table to Master Robbie’s place and grabbed his elbow. “Come. You need someone who loves you.”
Master Robbie, looking an appeal at all of them, went with him.
High Brunka Marya flicked her hand. A few inches of rainbow sprang from it and melted away instantly.
“Goodman Albin,” Master Uwald said, “may I trouble you to open the door?”
Albin hesitated.
“Do it!” Ursa-bee cried. “He’ll kill Marya.”
Albin hauled open the big entry door. As he did so, Master Robbie broke free of Master Uwald’s grip and bounded to the middle of the great hall.
“Robbie!” Master Uwald took a step toward him, then wheeled and left, into a night that was brightening toward dawn.
“Wherever you go, we’ll find you,” High Brunka Marya called after him. “You won’t— Uh!” She shifted on her bench and gripped the table. “More tremors. Johan, you must—”
“Mistress Elodie and I”—Master Robbie spoke forcefully—“went to the room where the magic boxes were kept. . . .”
Why was he saying this? Elodie wondered. He was looking straight at her.
“We touched the daffodil.” He almost shouted the word. “How we laughed.”
What about it? No one was laughing now.
“I was weak with laughter. Then she— She’s such a mansioner.”
Lambs and calves! Despite her fear, Elodie pushed out a bubble of laughter. And another and another. Everyone smiled, even Johan-bee. She began to giggle. Albin joined in first, probably mansioning, too.
She stood, the better to laugh, and laughed harder, her laughter becoming real despite the tremors, the terrified people and beasts, her masteress, His Lordship.
Everyone laughed. Ursa-bee covered her mouth while laughing. Master Tuomo threw his head back. High Brunka Marya’s shoulders shook. Master Robbie laughed while he nodded at Elodie.
Johan-bee’s mouth opened wide with his laughter. He cried, “It’s so funny. I helped steal the Replica.”
Elodie hugged her belly, which ached from laughing. Tears ran down her cheeks, tears of laughter and fear and sorrow.
Johan-bee’s arms trembled with the force of his laughter. The longbow and arrow fell.
Master Tuomo, whooping with laughter, ran at him and toppled him. Albin snatched up the bow and arrow. Master Tuomo pulled the sword out of its sheath and pointed it at Johan-bee’s chest.
With an effort, Elodie slowed her laughter.
Had Master Uwald already dug up the Replica?
Would he really come back for Johan-bee? She doubted it.
Ludda-bee took the sword from Master Tuomo. “Go catch Master Uwald. Johan won’t get away from me. Will you, you great nincompoop?”
Two bees stayed with her, but everyone else who could surged toward the entry door, leaving the high brunka on her bench.
She cried, “I want to be there.”
Elodie turned to see High Brunka Marya take an unsteady step. Mistress Sirka and Goodman Dror returned. Mistress Sirka scooped her up and carried her out, followed by Goodman Dror. The three of them and Elodie followed the others, who were disappearing down the stairs.
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
Masteress Meenore drew breath to start ITs song again and heard His Lordship calling. From where? The tumult distorted sound, but a breeze momentarily tattered the smoke that blanketed Zertrum. IT saw His Lordship, running, one shoulder lower than the other, with two people clinging to that shoulder—running in the wrong direction, away from IT.
As IT chased His Lordship, IT devised a plan, though IT doubted there would be time. IT flew over them, turned, came down on a steep slope a few yards from the mouth of an enormous cave, probably newly made.
“Meenore! You came for me.”
IT enjoyed for a sliver of a moment the humans’ terrified faces. “Put your cargo on my back.”
His Lordship nodded and reached for the two. He glanced up the mountain. A river of molten rock flowed toward them as fast as gravy from a ewer.
No time to take the people and fly, IT thought. No time for His Lordship to shape-shift.
But they might reach the cave.
His Lordship saw, too, and sprinted toward it, still bearing the people. Masteress Meenore, who could only lumber on land, flapped ITs wings to give IT speed.
They reached the cave in time as the molten rock poured down. IT didn’t mind the temperature, but IT couldn’t fly through the flow. The people and His Lordship would soon die of the heat. Already their faces were red and strained.
Coursing up through ITs claws came Zertrum’s rumble, this time far more powerful than anything that had gone before. The explosion was certainly moments away. Even a dragon couldn’t survive that.
How strange, IT thought, accepting ITs fate, to die in this foreign place, attempting to save people and an ogre and becoming
for eternity the good dragon. Enh enh enh.
CHAPTER SIXTY
Night was graying toward dawn. The flat land that led to the stable must have been the Oase vegetable garden before the blizzard. There Master Uwald was found, panting with effort as he dug. When he saw them, he waved the bread knife, but Master Tuomo ignored it and wrested the shovel away. Goodman Dror took the knife and held Master Uwald by his elbow.
“Careful!” High Brunka Marya clung to Mistress Sirka. “Don’t damage the Replica, Master Tuomo.”
Master Tuomo dug delicately but with haste, removing small quantities of dirt.
“There!” Ursa-bee breathed as a ruby appeared.
Master Tuomo dropped the shovel and continued with his hands. After a few minutes he unearthed the entire Replica as well as the box that contained the handkerchief that wept.
How the gold and jewels shone despite the dirt!
Master Tuomo passed the Replica to High Brunka Marya, who held it against her chest. Ursa-bee took the box with the handkerchief. Everyone started back to the Oase, Mistress Sirka carrying the high brunka again and fairly leaping across the snow.
Would they be in time? Elodie wondered. The danger to Zertrum wouldn’t be over until the Replica had been set back on its base.
Everyone rushed toward the Oase. Master Uwald was ushered along between Master Tuomo and Goodman Dror.
Elodie walked behind the rest with Master Robbie. Whenever Master Uwald looked longingly at him over his shoulder, Master Robbie turned and walked backward.
When they were almost at the entry, Master Robbie whispered, loud enough for only her (and the high brunka) to hear, “This is the beginning of better.”
Lambs and calves, she admired him for that!
When they entered the great hall, High Brunka Marya was exiting into the corridor, supported by one of her bees and accompanied by three more, who, Elodie deduced, would stand guard over the Replica on its pedestal. Johan-bee lay on the floor with Ludda-bee looming over him and the sword point touching his chest. Another bee stood by in case he moved.