Stolen Magic (14 page)

A
ll seven chambers of Masteress Meenore's heart expanded as IT took in Zertrum's beauty: peak of striated rock; mountain bones thrusting up through silver ice; snow-dusted evergreen slopes; cascading streams; the brown dot of a dwelling here and there.

Suddenly, as if a huge, invisible hand were at work, the entire mountain trembled and then became motionless again. The volcano showing its power.

IT flew close to the ground, enjoying the sight of ITs own shadow, passing over people fleeing their homes, who looked up with terrified faces.

Many drove their beasts before them. Fools! IT thought. They should have abandoned their herds and made as much haste as they could.

IT overflew a forest interrupted by a half-frozen stream.
Below, but not in ITs shadow, and so having no reason to look up, a woman and a brood of children crossed the water on the back of an enormous horse, which was followed by an unburdened donkey. IT thought, How fortunate these people are to have such a powerful and obliging mount.

Your Lordship, where have you gone? Did you shape-shift? What beast are you now?

IT continued winging ITs way north.

A
fter they left Deeter-bee, Elodie whispered to Master Robbie, “Master Tuomo is angry and prosperous.”

“He whipped his horse.”

And he'd been her masteress's favorite suspect, if not for his sons.

Without further discussion, they went to him. Side by side, they sat on the floor and began going through the lower shelf of the same open cabinet that he was investigating.

Mistress Sirka merely stood at Master Tuomo's elbow, watching Dror-bee. Elodie followed her gaze. Dror-bee seemed completely absorbed in his task, absurdly so. If he picked up a box, it wasn't sufficient to peer inside; he had to turn it upside down as well. If everyone else were as
slow as he, Zertrum would spew before much searching had been done.

And yet he appeared one of the most distressed, which might be a clue that he was mansioning his suffering. Or it might just be his character: a silly man, who heedlessly threw himself into every endeavor.

In contrast to Dror-bee, Master Tuomo's movements were quick and determined as he pulled thick tomes out of a shelf of chained books, each volume big enough to conceal the Replica if the pages had been hollowed out. Accordingly, he opened every one and thumbed through it. Before returning each book, he peered into the darkness of the shelf behind it.

Elodie said, “If the Replica had been chained, it might not have been stolen, don't you think, Master Tuomo?”

He just grunted.

Together, Elodie and Master Robbie moved relics off the bottom shelf onto the floor, so they couldn't miss anything: a heavy granite rock, sanded smooth; a wooden carving of a deer; a cottage made of clay, too small to hold the Replica; a bowl full of glass baubles.

The last relic was a wooden box, also not big enough for the Replica but certainly large enough for—

Elodie and Master Robbie looked at each other. She nodded at him, and he lifted the lid.

Gray feathers, not the handkerchief that wept. She
touched the heap, half expecting it to turn into a bird, but nothing happened.

Masteress, Elodie thought, I have no more idea of who the thieves are than you did when you left, no more idea, really, than if we'd never come to the Oase.

Master Robbie ran his hand along the shelf. “Nothing.”

Elodie pointed up at Master Tuomo and shrugged, meaning they hadn't learned anything about him.

Master Robbie nodded, picking up an ancient-looking clay crock. He said, louder than if he had been speaking to just her, “I once stole a jar of honey from the inn where Grandmother worked.”

Elodie felt a new stillness from Master Tuomo.

Master Robbie chuckled. “I ate a spoonful every day till it was gone.”

“Did anyone catch you?” Elodie asked, as she deduced he wanted her to.

“A month later, Grandmother found the jar. She insisted that I pick my own punishment.”

“I would have taken the rod to you.” Master Tuomo crouched to talk to them.

“What punishment did you pick?” Elodie moved the relics back onto their shelf.

“I apologized to the innkeeper.”

“That was enough for your grandmother?” Master Tuomo's voice was disapproving.

“She said it was perfect.”

“What did the innkeeper do?” Elodie asked.

“He took the rod to me.”

She wasn't sure the punishment had been perfect. Did it have to be so harsh?

Master Tuomo barked a sharp laugh and stood. “You're better for it. My sons are fine young men because of the rod.” He returned to examining the books.

Elodie thought, How much do you truly care about your children? Might you steal the Replica and not worry about their safety?

Bees entered the great hall, the ones whom the high brunka had trusted to search the chambers. Elodie's belly hoped they were coming for the midday meal.

An idea stunned her. What if Master Tuomo had told his sons to leave Zertrum after he had departed with Master Uwald? Masteress, did you think of this? His alarm might be nothing but pretense. When she'd first learned to mansion, Albin had taught her to feign fright and anger before letting her attempt anything else. There had been nothing to it.

Ludda-bee, holding a wooden spoon, entered the great hall. Another bee trailed behind her.

High Brunka Marya clapped her hands. “Come, everyone, the entire swarm of you. You, too, you herd of guests.”

Had she deduced where the Replica was?

Master Tuomo led Master Robbie and Elodie. Mistress Sirka followed more slowly. At the high brunka's stool, the bees, except those guarding the doors, had already gathered. Master Uwald and Albin approached from across the room to stand with Elodie and Master Robbie.

“Dears,” High Brunka Marya began, “I've decided. I cannot apologize because this is right.”

“Apologize for what?” Master Tuomo sounded angry already.

“The thief or thieves—Masteress Meenore believes there may be two—is thinking . . .” Her soft voice hardened. “You . . . Thief, thieves, I'm addressing you. You are thinking that after Zertrum explodes, the danger will be over for you. You expect I'll give up and let everyone go.”

“I'll never give up,” Master Tuomo said.

Albin frowned. “None of us will.”

“Good. Then you won't mind that no one will leave the Oase until the Replica is found and the thieves revealed, no matter how long it takes.”

“Preposterous!” burst from Master Tuomo.

“Reasonable, and as certain as snow in the mountains.” She waved the bees at the entrance away from it and jerked her arm. A rainbow arched from her hand to the entrance and sealed the door in many-colored light. The rainbow dissolved, but the door rainbow glow remained.

Elodie remembered how the rainbow had stung her
hand. She doubted she could thrust her whole body through.

“Marya!” Ludda-bee cried. “We won't live even a month without provisions.”

“Outside bees will bring us food. I'll let them in and out. I'll stay with you, because”—High Brunka Marya's voice faltered—“I deserve to suffer as much as anyone.”

Elodie thought, I came after the theft. How can I be a mansioner or a dragon's assistant from prison? It isn't fair to treat everyone the same.

Mistress Sirka chuckled. “Not suffering for all of us.”

“I make an exception only for the kidlings.” The high brunka smiled a tight smile at Elodie and Master Robbie. “They may leave with the first bees to bring provisions. The rest of us are prisoners of the Oase. I may fail to find the Replica in time—a great defeat. But I will not fail to punish the thief, even if we have to die here.”

B
y noon a tired Masteress Meenore reached the stone house with the two chimneys and found it uninhabited. IT rose into the air again, seeking a brunka who could be anywhere or an ogre who could be anywhere and any beast.

A
stunned silence fell.

Observe! Elodie thought.

Master Uwald's eyebrows were raised. He wagged his head from side to side as if he were considering a wager. But he seemed calm as ever, contrasted with Master Tuomo, whose face had mottled a dangerous red and white and whose eyes switched from the entry door to the windows high in the wall, too high to reach even standing on a table.

High Brunka Marya saw, too. “Master Tuomo, dear, if you're imagining breaking out, you won't succeed. You know how a rainbow tingles and stings. You won't be able to go through, not even if you ram the door with something. The pain will be too great.”

“My sons!”

“You'll get news of them. If the Replica isn't found, they can visit you here.”

Ludda-bee announced, “It's nothing to me.” Followed by another bee, she marched back toward the kitchen, passing Johan-bee, who was rocking more rapidly than usual. She jogged his elbow. “You look like a sea horse, you booby.” She disappeared into the kitchen.

A red-faced Johan-bee changed to shifting from side to side, foot to foot.

Albin whispered to Elodie, “The Replica will be found. Don't worry.”

But she couldn't help it. They both knew her parents' Potluck Farm depended almost as much on him as on her father. If he were held here, the farm would fail.

He pressed a roll into her hand. “I saved this for you from breakfast.”

How thoughtful he was. She took a bite.

Dror-bee said, “You mean I won't be allowed to help farmers in the spring?”

“I hope we'll find the thief long before then, but otherwise, you will not.”

His voice rising, he added, “But that's the joy in being a bee, the only joy. That's what I delight in.”

“I know, pup.”

Mistress Sirka, always hovering, put an arm around his shoulder, and for once he let her, even leaned into her.

After another minute, bees and guests returned to their appointed tasks, except for Master Uwald, who lingered. He folded his arms and said nothing.

Elodie stayed to see what would happen. Master Robbie stayed, too.

The high brunka smiled. “Am I to be afraid, Master Uwald?”

“You may be whatever you like.”

Elodie hadn't seen him angry before. His fury was cold, the frost evident in a whiteness around his nostrils and in the pinched lines between his eyebrows.

“I am Master Robbie's guardian. I cannot care for him if he leaves and I stay.”

“You'd like to imprison him?”

“I will not be offered an impossible choice, a bet I cannot win.”

High Brunka Marya seemed to soften. “I'm sorry, dear.”

How strange for Master Robbie to be so loved by a man who was almost a stranger.

Master Robbie clenched the hand holding his cloak closed. He felt her eyes and shook his head at her. Poor Master Uwald, she thought, unloved again.

“Then you'll let us go,” Master Uwald said.

“No.”

“You can't think I'm the thief.”

“I can't let you go and keep the others.”

“You can. I'm
Master Uwald of Nockess Farm
, Marya. They'll understand.”

Elodie thought they probably would. The owner of Nockess Farm was above everyone else.

He went on. “I'll make sure Tuomo's sons are safe and come back here.”

“You're staying, Master Uwald, dear.”

The chill fairly glittered. “The earl will be told you're holding me. You'll regret this.”

“I'll never regret anything as much as letting the Replica be stolen.”

Master Uwald stalked away, but he stopped to pat Master Robbie's shoulder. “Don't fret. This isn't the end.”

Deeter-bee shuffled to the high brunka. While Elodie watched his slow approach, she decided IT would approve the high brunka's measure. She imagined IT saying, High Brunka Marya is roiling the murky depths of this theft and may force the thief to the surface.

Deeter-bee arrived. “Marya, if you keep this up, you'll interrupt history. Events won't progress as they're meant to.”

“I won't let the villains leave.”

“If you let them go, they'll be more likely to reveal themselves. You may catch them recovering the Replica or selling it.”

“They may evade us for years. I don't want them to have a minute of enjoyment.”

Elodie wondered if Deeter-bee could be the thief—just to make history.

He left the high brunka and made his slow way back to his bench.

Elodie stepped closer to the high brunka.

“You, too, lamb?”

“Is someone taking care of Nesspa and the other beasts?”

Her shoulders relaxed. “Certainly. The bees who searched the stable are caring for them. They're also searching the area outside. They've all been here more than seven years, the most trustworthy, as Masteress Meenore recommended. The Oase has a cottage not far from the stable, which is where they're sleeping at night.”

Satisfied, Elodie stepped back with Master Robbie to see who else might come forward, but no one did. Feeling bold, she took his hand and tugged him to the southwest corner of the great hall, where they'd be farthest from anyone, although the high brunka would be able to hear them.

“What have we learned?” She shivered and wished for her masteress. “We have to deduce and in—”

“And not be reckless,” he said, teasing her.

She shrugged. “That, too.”

“Why was Master Uwald—er,
Grand
—so angry now when he wasn't before? Let's deduce that.”

Elodie thought the answer obvious. “He doesn't want to lose you.”

His nose turned pink again. “He knows me as little as I know him.”

Master Robbie probably reminded Master Uwald of his first love. He might imagine he did know his ward. And—this was less admirable—Master Robbie might represent a wager Master Uwald had won in the end, a wager with himself or with his fate.

Master Robbie had his own explanation. “Maybe he thought he could go home after Zertrum explodes. He still owns his land, and he trusts his luck. High Brunka Marya is taking his luck away from him.”

That was possible.

“Good fortune for Mistress Sirka,” Master Robbie said. “She may have years to spend with Dror-bee.”

The two were at the north-wall fireplace, talking. Or Mistress Sirka was talking and Dror-bee was nodding ardently.

Elodie said, “Could she have taken the Replica to make the high brunka imprison them?”

This seemed unlikely to both of them. Master Robbie said, “She couldn't guess what High Brunka Marya would do.”

Albin, who had been deducing on his own, joined them. “Lady El, the lowly helper, foresees . . .” He abandoned the role of narrator. “Someone is likely to act rashly, perhaps violently, to get out of this jail. It may be the thief
or anyone. Keep your distance from them all.”

“In danger from me?” Master Robbie sounded almost as outraged as Master Tuomo.

“From everyone.”

“Not from Master Robbie,” Elodie hastened to say. “My masteress trusts him. And I can't keep my distance. IT asked us to investigate together.”

“Then I'll remain with you both. Lady El, sit with me at meals.”

She nodded. She could do that much.

If harm came to her, Masteress Meenore would certainly find the thief and would show ITs rage in heat and fire. This idea gave little comfort.