The Flute Keeper's Promise (The Flute Keeper Saga) (8 page)

The doorman used the tip of his
scepter to lift my bangs. “Ah, hello, Miss Wren. Been out, eh? Rough crowd
tonight. Don’t take it too personal.”

“I understand if you want me to
wait until morning,” I said.

“With this lot?” the doorman said.
“Don’t be silly.” He turned and lifted his scepter to the sealed door. The
crystal tip glowed, outlining Ivywild’s symbol on the door’s stone face.

“Be quick!” the doorman said as the
door slid open a fraction.

I tried to dart inside but the
fisherman cried out, “Hey, what’s this? Why does she get to go in?”

His cry roused other sleepy
pilgrims. They scowled at me.

“If she goes in, we all go in!”
yelled one lady.

“Quiet, all of you!” the doorman
shouted. “She lives here. Stop this harassment or I’ll summon the Master
Casters!”

“Oh yeah, little man?” the
fisherman said with a sneer. “We’ll see about that!” he shoved the doorman in
the chest.

I reacted instantly without even
thinking about it. I hurled a small barrier at the fisherman. He flew off his
feet. The angry crowd behind him parted and he landed hard on the ground.

At first, the crowd stared at me in
shocked silence. Then somebody yelled, “It’s her! It’s the half human!”

My hair had blown back, showing off
the roundness of my ears. I gulped.

The fisherman sat up stiffly. “That
was unnecessary force!” he shouted.

Yeah!” yelled his wife as she
helped him to his feet. “You could have injured him! And you scared Mindy!”

Their young daughter stuck her
fingers in her mouth and started crying.

A dangerous mix of fear and anger
swelled inside me. They were being unfair.

“We’d best seal ourselves inside,” the
doorman whispered. “I’ll call for reinforcements when we get up to the castle.”

The leering crowd pressed towards
us. I held them at bay with a small protective barrier while the doorman
squeezed through the opening. I waited for my chance then slipped inside after
him. As soon as we were through, he sealed the door shut with his scepter.

Though we were inside the cliff, I
could still hear the angry voices of the mob outside.

“How long has it been this way?” I
asked.

The doorman sighed. “The rumors are
nothing new, although they have gotten more ludicrous of late. People didn’t
start getting pushy until Princess Chloe issued the order to limit newcomers.”

“Not good,” I surmised. “She’s
going to have to think of some other place to send them or—”

“Or we will have a riot on our
hands,” said the doorman wearily.

After the long trek up the cliff, we
emerged in the courtyard and the doorman hurried off to find Commander Larue. I
made a beeline for Chloe’s room.

I entered via the doorway that
connected my room to hers.

“Who goes there?” shouted a sleepy
voice.

“It’s me,” I said.

A candle flickered to life.
Bazzlejet was slouched on a pouf by the door. He was still dressed as a maid
but his wig was crooked and his lip tint was smeared halfway across one cheek.
Chloe’s bed was empty.

“What’r you doin’ here?” Bazzlejet
asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Looking for Chloe. Has she not
come back yet?”

“She’s still with the king,”
Bazzlejet said. “I’ll go check on her.”

“I’ll do it,” I said before he
could get up. “You should have a look in the mirror.”

Bazzlejet shrugged and flopped back
against the pouf. “Whatever. Say, pop back in and tell me if the princess is
okay, would ya? I’m gonna finish up my nap.”

The room was in disarray. There was
a puddle of broken glass and bits of food on the floor. The curtains looked as
though they’d been scorched.

“Um, Bazzlejet?”

He snorted awake. “Huh? What?”

“How’s it going—you know, being her
bodyguard?”

Bazzlejet’s ember colored eyes
narrowed into slits. “She’s awful. I thought Boss was a slave driver, but Chloe
is much worse! I accidentally stepped on her dress and I thought she was going
to incinerate me! Then I spilled some food…okay, a lot of food, and, seriously,
you should have seen her face! It was almost funny and I would laugh, except
for my corset is too tight and she jabbed me in the ribs with one of her skinny
elbows.”

“She’s not as thin as she used to
be,” I pointed out.

Bazzlejet grinned. “She won’t be
for long if I can help it. I’ve been slipping powdered fluffalo milk into all
her meals.”

I didn’t know whether to be amused
or appalled. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“I’ve got my orders! I’m to watch
her and make sure she stays healthy and safe. Anyways, there’s nothing but
wholesome nutrients in fluffalo milk. The only possible side effect is a milk
mustache.”

“Well, if that’s all—”

“And who doesn’t love a good
fluffalo milk mustache?” Bazzlejet said. “So pink and fuzzy…”

“If you say so,” I said as I headed
for the main hall.

I felt odd approaching the king’s
personal chambers. I’d been inside a few times before with Chloe. The aura of
despair hung thick. Everything was muffled in the antechamber outside his
bedroom.

The attendant vanished inside to
check that I was allowed in. When he returned he ushered me through.

The room was very dim. A fire
blazed on the hearth but a chill lurked in the air. I could almost feel the
cold hands of death grasping for the four-poster bed in the middle of the room.
The curtains around it were drawn on all sides but one. Chloe leaned on the
bedside with her elbows. She stared sadly at the frail figure of the king.

He looked even worse than the last
time I had seen him. His skin was ashy gray. His pointed ears drooped like
wilted flowers. The beard that once used to hang in two thick braids down to
his chest was diminished to a few wispy white hairs.

Chloe looked up when I approached.
“I was beginning to worry about you.”

“Sorry,” I said. I wanted to tell
her what had happened, but now was not the time or place. “I got called away.
It took longer than I thought.”

“You sound like Mother,” Chloe
said. “She was here earlier but she said she had things to attend to.”

I sat next to her at the king’s
bedside. The king moaned and shuddered beneath his covers. His eyes fluttered
open briefly but he fell back into fitful slumber.

Chloe sighed. “I just wish he could
recognize me,” she said. “He hardly ever wakes up now, and when he does he just
acts like he’s lost. He doesn’t even know who I am!”

The door cracked open and a white-clad
Channeler walked in with a tray of herbs. “’Scuse me, Princess,” she said.
“It’s time for his regimen.”

With another sigh, Chloe rose from
her spot. She leaned over and gave the king a peck on the cheek. “Love you,
Daddy. Till next time.”

The king’s eyes opened. He
stretched his fingers weakly towards Chloe. She took his hand and gave it a
gentle squeeze. Tears flooded her eyes.

A vision of my mother lying weak in
a hospital bed made me look away. Time had not smoothed the edges of the
memory. They were still so jagged that it hurt.

“I just wish he knew me,” Chloe
said as we walked quietly out to the hall. “If he would just look me in the eye
or say my name…I mean, what good is saying good-bye if he doesn’t even know?”

“But you’ll know,” I said. “Maybe
that’s more important.”

“Maybe,” Chloe said. “Honestly, I
wish he was alert enough to tell me what to do about all our problems. He could
handle a crisis so much better than me! I hope everyone in Faylinn doesn’t hate
me before this is over.”

 “Maybe it can be over sooner than
you think,” I said. “I got a sign from the Seraphim.”

Chloe paused mid-step. “Did they
tell you how to defeat Robyn?”

I shook my head. “I still don’t
know exactly what I must do, but I have this.” I pulled out the red dagger.

Chloe winced at the sight of it.
The last time she’d seen the dagger it had been plunged into her side. “
That
?”

“It’s a key,” I explained. “It can
lock Robyn away in the Twi-Realm where she belongs. She really is a demon.”

Chloe shuddered. “Demons can’t be
killed!”

“But they can be sealed off from
our world.” I felt more confident just saying it. For the first time in months
I didn’t feel defenseless when I thought about Robyn.

“If that’s a key, then where’s the
lock?” Chloe asked.

“I don’t know, but I think it has
something to do with my ancestors.”

“Hmmm,” Chloe said, cocking her
head. “Well that could be lots of things, couldn’t it? Guess you’d better get
to searching.”

We’d arrived at Chloe’s room. The
princess yawned and bid me goodnight. “You know, of course, that you have all
the resources you need. Just let me know if there’s anything I can do. I’m
going to be a little busy tomorrow. Lord Finbarr wants to meet about something
or other.”

“Is that you, m’lady?” called a
screechy voice from inside Chloe’s room.

Chloe rolled her eyes. “What is
she
doing up? This new maid is just the worst!”

I lay awake a long time thinking
while I turned the red dagger over and over in my hands. A key. A lock. A
demon. If I could connect the three, I could avenge countless deaths and end
Faylinn’s fear and suffering. It sounded so simple.

It wasn’t. This was not how I had
imagined myself at seventeen. When I allowed my mind to drift to normal teenage
dreams, I felt guilty. Too much weighed in the balance for me to worry about
how to do my hair or what shade of eye shadow looked best. It was more
important that I stay focused. This was Faylinn, not the human world. I’d never
go to a prom or get a driver’s license, so was there really any difference
between seventeen and seventy?

My heart gave a twitch. I dared to
wonder where I would be at seventy. If all went as planned, I supposed I’d be
spending my days at the cathedral, possibly teaching new trainees. It wasn’t
exciting, but it was a future nonetheless. As far as I knew, no other Wren had
even made it to seventy in the last three generations.

I wondered how old my grandfather,
Alberich, was when he died. He couldn’t have been very old if Dad was just a
baby. He was probably no older than thirty, I guessed. That meant my
grandmother must have been quite young, too. I wondered if Grandma was pretty.
What color hair did she have? Was she an outlander or a local?

I understood why Linaeve had
advised me to research my grandparents. It was ridiculous how little I knew of
them.

Once again I found myself afloat in
a sea of questions. For a split second I resented all my responsibilities. I
wanted to throw on a pair of blue jeans and go to a shopping mall so I could
forget who I was for just a while.

Then I thought of the dying king
reaching out his hand to Chloe. In him, I’d seen the face of my mother, my
father, and the endangered dreams of an entire world.

The dagger burned in my hands as the
image rekindled a fierce determination inside me.

“I’m coming for you, Robyn,” I
whispered.

***

The Cathedral was quiet when I
arrived at the crack of dawn. The morning felt cool and clean and I had awoken
refreshed. I had a definite mission now.

I heard voices outside. Two people
were talking near the water well that served the dormitories. I recognized
Anouk’s infectious laughter.

The young priestess was leaning
against the well with her chin propped in her hands. A forgotten bucket of
water sat at her feet. A thirsty cusith pup lapped at the water, unnoticed. Across
from Anouk stood a slender Fay youth with glasses and curly hair the color of
evergreen needles. He held a book of some kind and this appeared to be the
source of mirth.

“Garland,” I said, surprised. “What
brings you here?”

Anouk jumped, knocking over the
water bucket. The startled cusith pup ran away. “Gracious me, Emma! You snuck
up on me!”

I raised an eyebrow as I watched
Anouk’s cheeks turn crimson.

Garland cleared his throat.
“Pleasure to see you, Emma, it’s been a while. I was just sharing something I
found in this book with Miss Makoti.”

I glanced at the book. “What’s so
funny?”

Garland appeared pleased that I’d
asked. “There’s an error.” He flipped through the pages and handed the book to
me.

The book was titled
An
Illustrated History of Faylinn’s Beasts
. The article Garland pointed out
had a picture of terrifyingly large, primitive bear. The caption said: “
Ursa
Giganormous
,
the biggest, hairiest rear ever to blight the forests of
Faylinn
.”

I snorted and handed the
book back to Garland. “You surprise me, Finbarr.”

Garland looked perplexed. “Really?
How’s that?”

“I didn’t know you had a sense of
humor.”

Anouk tittered. “Who, Garland? He’s
always bringing me these kinds of things. You don’t see stuff like that in the—”
she caught herself, “I mean, in
our
library. In the castle books you can
see where the scribes got lazy or tried to have a little fun.” She giggled
again. “Can’t you just see it? The biggest, hairiest
rear
towering over
the forests?”

“My lady, the image haunts my
nightmares,” Garland said with a respectable front of sincerity.

Anouk laughed so hard
that tears rolled down the sides of her face. The sound had the distinct effect
of making Garland smile more broadly than I’d ever seen him smile before.

Suddenly I felt awkward. I had
intruded upon a special moment. It wasn’t often that I got to see two of my
friends so happy. I went to leave.

“Did you need something?” Anouk
asked as she wiped the tears off her cheeks.

“No, not really,” I said. “I think
I’ll just go see if I can get in to talk to my Spirit Mentor.”