The Flute Keeper's Promise (The Flute Keeper Saga) (40 page)

We all swapped stories over the
table. Bazzlejet talked of his latest modifications to the flying deck. Anouk
gushed over the abundance of fresh cooking ingredients that could be found in
the forest outside. Garland discussed all the repairs they’d made to Woodman’s Hall
and hinted that’d he’d gained enough handyman experience to build a little
house of his own. Anouk seemed very pleased with the idea.

Ultimately the talk turned to
Commander Larue. At first it was sad. Mrs. Larue looked misty, but once we started
sharing stories about him the memories became less painful. Lord Finbarr, who
had mostly been pensive and quiet, even made us all laugh with the story of how
he first met the commander.

“As you know I’m older than the
commander, though I won’t say how much older,” he said with a wink. “The
failing of age is that it tends to make you think you can get away with things
some others can’t. One day I was bored so I decided to enchant all the
flowerpots in Ivywild’s market square to spit clods of dirt at each other. I
thought it was all in good fun and I planned to clean up afterwards. So there I
was, up to no good, when this hotshot young lieutenant of the Master Caster
scouts comes up to me and jabs a finger right in my face. He was just an
Amethyst Rank back then, but he already had a fierce reputation. He ordered me,
not asked, mind you, but
ordered
me to reverse the enchantment. Well I
puffed up and tried to shame him by throwing my title around. I informed him
that I was
Lord
Mulberry Finbarr and he told me that I was going to be
Lord
Frostbite if I didn’t comply immediately. To save face, I enchanted his cape to
flap like bird wings. He looked like a fool and I thought myself quite clever
until he burnt the seat off my trousers. Everyone in the market saw the heart
patterned underpants that Florrie had knitted for me. By then we were both so
riled up that King Theobald came down to deal with us. He couldn’t stop
laughing long enough to discipline us, so he sent us on our way. The next day,
Lieutenant Larue got promoted to Commander and I got a package with three pairs
of garish underpants inside.”

Jules Larue laughed so hard that
his shoulders shook. “Frayne was always like that! I made fun of him all the
time for being so strict but it never bothered him. He’d just give me that
blistering look of his and shake his head.”

The room filled with laughter. It
died down until we were all silently staring at our plates, lost in thought.
Valory leaned heavily on her elbow. Her eyes were half-closed. I pushed around scraps
of food and fought off waves of drowsiness. I didn’t want to sleep. I feared
that if I did, I’d wake up and find the past day was just a dream.

“CLANG!” Valory’s head crashed into
her empty plate. She jerked up and looked around in a daze. “Whada—huh?
Somebody say somethin’?”

Mrs. Larue yawned. Harriet was
already asleep on her lap and Alice looked close to nodding off.

“Come on,” Mrs. Larue said. She got
up slowly so as not to wake Harriet. “I’ll show you girls where you can sleep.”

Valory and I followed her while
Anouk stayed behind to clean up. Lord Finbarr and Mr. Larue went off together
to discuss something.

“Oh fine, I
suppose
I’ll go
to the boys’ quarters,” Bazzlejet said. “Come on, Finbarr.”

Garland hesitated to follow him. “I
think I’ll stay and help Anouk clean the kitchen.”

“You know my mom’s rules,”
Bazzlejet said, wagging a finger. “No fraternization after dark.”

“So the men and the women stay in
different rooms?” I asked Mrs. Larue.

Beth rolled her eyes. “More like
different buildings.” The boys’ side is all the way on the far end of the hall
at ground level. Ours is up the stairs at the other end.”

“And that’s as it should be,” Mrs.
Larue said as she led us down a mossy corridor. We climbed some stairs and went
around a tree trunk to a high room with a window overlooking the forest below.
Somebody had set up little beds in frames made from branches. A few girls I
didn’t recognize were already asleep in their own beds. Mrs. Larue placed
Harriet in an empty one. Alice curled up beside her. Beth stalked off to an
unoccupied cot and pulled the sheets over her head.

“Emma, you can have that one,” Mrs.
Larue said, gesturing to an empty mattress. “I’ll have to find something to
make a hammock out of,” she said apologetically to Valory.

“Don’t worry about it,” Valory
said. She did a belly flop into the nearest empty bed and began snoring almost
instantly.

“I’m just in the next room if you
need anything,” Mrs. Larue said to me.

“Just promise you’ll all be here
when I wake up,” I said.

Mrs. Larue burst into tears.

Alarmed, I grabbed her shoulders. “What’s
wrong?”

“Oh…it’s silly,” Mrs. Larue said as
she pulled a worn handkerchief out of her apron. She took a shuddering breath
and looked at all the sleeping faces in the room. She lingered on Harriet and
Alice dozing peacefully together in their little bed.

“You’re worried about them,” I said.

“I’m a mother,” Mrs. Larue said
with a half-laugh. “I worry every moment of every day! No, dear, it’s not that.
I just get sad because in times like this you children have to grow up too
soon. I listen to you talk and even though you’re just a few years older than
my Beth, you’ve been through things that someone your age should never have to
deal with, and I just…” she looked back at Alice and Harriet. “I just wonder if
it’s going to be that way for all of you.”

“Probably,” I said. “But if you’re
worried that they’re going to stop needing you, don’t. Girls always need their
mother.”

Mrs. Larue managed a smile. “Thank
you for that, dear. Shame on me for keeping you from your rest!”  She dabbed
her face and left the room.

I made myself comfortable in my bed.
Before I closed my eyes I watched Valory dozing blissfully a few feet away. I
thought of what I’d just told Mrs. Larue. At least I had known my mother.
Valory never had that chance.
Would she and Marafae have gotten along?
I
wondered.
Could Valory have mended wounds in Marafae’s heart? Could Marafae
have molded Valory into a proper Slaugh warrior?

The thought got lost among a drowsy
replay of the evening’s events as I closed my eyes. My reunion with Lord
Finbarr and the others brought me more relief than I’d known in a long time.
The only part of the night that pained me was Lord Finbarr’s confession about
Hugo.

If Hugo had truly kept his promise
to Lord Finbarr and Othella, then his mission wasn’t a selfish bid for power. I
wished it was. Then I could justify all the things I’d said to him. Regardless
of his intentions, I still felt a stab of bitterness. If he hadn’t lied to me
in the first place things might have been very different.

Why yes, I am a prince
, I
imagined him saying.
How about that? Now you understand why my sense of duty
is even stronger than yours. I am the leader of my people. I was always theirs.
I could never forsake it all for you just as you could never forsake Ivywild
for me.

Those words bobbed on the surface
of my mind as sleep pulled me under. I wanted to cling to them in the hopes of
salvaging some sort of peace, but those words had never been spoken. Meanwhile,
the things I’d said to him when he left rang loud and clear.

The next day Valory and I woke later
than everyone else. Despite a big meal the night before, I was starving.

“Breakfast?” I asked Valory.

She rubbed her eyes and yawned. Her
hair was wild. Rather than comb it, she grabbed her hat, pulled it on tight and
gave me a nod. “Breakfast.”

We retraced our steps to the
kitchen. It was empty save for Anouk and one Gnome who was polishing the
silverware. Anouk looked frazzled. Her face was pale and there was a crease
between her brows.

“Hello girls,” she said, attempting
a cheerful tone. “You missed breakfast, but lunch is on. I’ll have you
something out shortly and you can eat before the rest.”

“Where is everyone?” I asked.

“Lord Finbarr and most of the other
adults are in a meeting,” Anouk said. The crease in her brow deepened. “They’re
trying to decide what to do about Helm Bogvogny.”

I had already taken a seat at a
table. I sprang back up instantly. “I need to be in that meeting.”

“They’ll call on you if they need
you,” Anouk said. She laid out plates for us and then turned her attention to
pots that were steaming on the stove.

“She don’t look too happy,” Valory
whispered.

When Anouk came back to the table I
asked, “What does Garland think about the situation?”

Anouk leaned heavily on the table
and gave me a sad look. “He thinks that we’re going to have to send in a team.
Most of the others think so, too. It’s terribly dangerous! Lord Finbarr told us
all about the clergy’s experiments. Can you imagine? After what they did to
Commander Larue…” she sighed. “Garland will volunteer to go, of course. What
friend of the commander’s wouldn’t?”

She was getting worked up. I
squeezed her hand. “It’s okay. Garland and Lord Finbarr will figure out some
way to keep everyone safe. They’re brilliant. Look how well they’ve organized
this place.”

Anouk took a deep breath. “You’re
right. I know you’re right. I should have a little more faith in him.”
Something whistled on the stove. Anouk hurried over to it. “The rice is done!”

After the meal we helped Anouk
clean up and then we went to explore more of Woodman’s Hall. We found Mrs.
Larue, Alice and Harriet along with other small children playing in an enclosed
courtyard where moss covered the ground like a carpet. The children played while
Mrs. Larue kept watch over them. A basket of knitting sat beside her. Beth was there,
too. She had her own basket of yarn, but she seemed to be focused more on
pouting than knitting.

“What’s got her gander?” Valory
asked.

Mrs. Larue glanced up from her
needles. They clicked together rhythmically as a sock took shape. “She’s been
sour ever since we got here. We’re not allowed any outside correspondence, you
know? Too risky. She hasn’t been able to talk to her boyfriend for months.” 
She smiled and dropped a completed sock into her basket. “I rather enjoy the
arrangement.”

“I like Mrs. Larue,” Valory
proclaimed as we left to explore another wing of the building. “She’s in charge
of her roost and she don’t care what anyone thinks about it.”

“Is there anyone you
don’t
like?” I asked.

“That duke fellow, of course,”
Valory responded in earnest. “And all the people that answer to him. And my
half-brother, but that’s only because you say he’s a rascal. If you don’t like
him, I don’t like him, but…”

I knew what was hanging on the tip
of Valory’s tongue. It was impossible to hide anything from her.

“But what?” I asked, defeated.

Valory grinned. “Well, I kind of
got the notion that maybe it wasn’t always like that. And maybe, just maybe,
that Lev fellow you told me about and King Hugo are the same person because Lord
Finbarr said Hugo hid his identity, you know?”

“You’re right. Congratulations. You
figured it out. Do you want a medal or something?”

Valory looked hurt. “Now don’t get
grouchy. All you had to do was tell me. You should’ve just said, ‘Valory, your
half-brother’s a dastardly sot but he has your good looks and once upon a time
we were smitten.’”

I crossed my arms and stared Valory
down. Valory crossed her arms and stared right back. She looked on the verge of
laughter.

“So was he a good kisser?” she
asked.

I stomped off down the nearest
stairs. Valory followed, chuckling.

“Oh, come back, Em. I was just
makin’ a joke!”

I kept walking down the stairs,
through a corridor, over a bridge and down some more stairs until I found
myself in the room where we’d had our Truth Test. Many people were milling about,
talking in hushed voices. I spied Lord Finbarr.

“What’s all this?” Valory asked as she
bumped into my back.

My pulse raced. “The meeting must
be over!”

I made a beeline for Lord Finbarr.
He was talking with the leader of the men who had apprehended Valory and me in
the forest. When he saw me approaching, the other man gave me a courteous nod
and went on his way.

“Sorry we didn’t wake you,” Lord
Finbarr said. “I knew you needed rest.”

“What did you decide?” I asked.

Lord Finbarr put a hand on my
shoulder and guided me away from the others. “We must investigate what’s going
on at Helm Bogvogny,” he said. “We’ve assembled a team.”

“I’m going,” I said.

Lord Finbarr gave me patient smile.
“I was afraid you’d say that.”

“But I am,” I said. “I must! I’m
the only one who has seen what the alchemic stone is capable of!”

Valory cleared her throat loudly
behind me.

“Besides Valory, I mean,” I quickly
corrected myself. I stood up straight and looked Lord Finbarr in the eye. “I’m
going.”

Valory cleared her throat again.

Annoyed, I added, “And Valory is,
too.”

“That is not in our best interests,”
Lord Finbarr said. “It’s too dangerous.”

I tried not to take it as an
insult, but my feelings were hurt just the same. “I know what the risks are. I
know I’m young and I’m not that powerful. I can still help, though. Your guys
will need all the help they can get!”

“I’m sorry, Emma,” Lord Finbarr
said. “We can’t risk you falling into the hands of the clergy again. You’ve had
a hard winter. You need this time to rest and recuperate.”

I couldn’t control my voice
anymore.  “I DON’T NEED TO REST! I NEED TO PAY THEM BACK FOR WHAT THEY DID TO
THE COMMANDER!”

Everyone in the room fell silent
and stared at me.