The Flute Keeper's Promise (The Flute Keeper Saga) (24 page)

“He pops in and out at odd hours,”
Mr. Larue said. “It’s safer that way.” His voice took on an edge. “The duke has
put out a reward for him. They traced his ties to Othella. Anyone who was close
to the royal family might as well consider themselves an outlaw.”

“That’s a load of crap!” I
exclaimed before I could get hold of myself.

Alice and Harriet were
eavesdropping nearby. They giggled.

“Sorry,” I said to Mr. Larue. “It
just makes me so mad. It’s like the duke was handed the throne and now he can
do whatever he wants. It’s not fair!”

“No, it’s not,” Mr. Larue said
matter-of-factly. “But it’s understandable how it happened. You’ve lived in
Ivywild the whole time you’ve been here so you probably aren’t aware of it, but
there’s a big difference between the regular folks in the outlands and the
nobility. People out here don’t lead such easy lives. There are some of us who have
our magic and we can make things a little better for ourselves, but most people
have to work so hard just to keep food on the table that they don’t have time
to bother with cultivating their magic or even getting an education. Half of
the people Loosestrife can’t even read—and we’re a nice town. You should see
some of the others. Of course, nobody in Ivywild has ever lost any sleep over
it. In those walls you’re safe. I’m sure nobody gave it a second thought until
the mechamen appeared and outlanders started demanding the same protection as
the nobility. In a situation like that, an inexperienced young thing like
Princess Chloe doesn’t look so good to common folk
or
nobles. Then along
comes the Duke of Briar with promises to clean things up and make this place
safe again and, well…”

“But—”

“But I know you’re her friend,” he
said. “And nobody else has the right to come in and take over. King Theobald
was a good man. With time Chloe could be a good leader, too.”

“She hasn’t been given the chance!”
I said.  “And the duke is rotten! I know he is!”

Mrs. Larue leaned out of the
kitchen window. “Is everything okay out there?”

“We’re fine,” Mr. Larue said.
“How’s the fish coming?”

“It will be done in a minute!”

I bit my lip, holding back another
outburst. “If everyone knew Chloe half as well as I do, there wouldn’t be a
question as to who should be on the throne.”

“I’m not saying I disagree with
you,” Mr. Larue said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “But I know your type.
I’ve heard the stories. Don’t think you can go taking on the duke by yourself.
If he really is up to no good, it will come to light soon enough.”

I let that stew for a while. I was
mostly quiet during lunch, content to let Alice and Harriet jabber nonstop.
Mrs. Larue wouldn’t let my plate go empty for a second. The woman scarcely sat
down at all. She was too busy shuffling between the kitchen and the table. Beth
sat and twirled her hair. She acted bored, but every so often she snuck glances
at me. I was careful to keep my eating habits restrained even though I was
ravenous.

“Don’t be shy,” Mr. Larue said,
watching me cut my fish into tiny pieces. “Tuck in!”

I dove into my meal with a little
more gusto. I wondered with amusement if the Larues had ever seen a Slaugh eat.
It was fascinating and disgusting. Sharp teeth ripped meat from bone without
regard for etiquette. Of course, Lev could dine in a perfectly civilized manner
when he wished to.

I winced and squeezed my eyes shut
in anger.

Mrs. Larue froze with the teapot
held over my cup. “What’s the matter? Is it a toothache? I knew I made the glaze
too sweet!”

“No, no, it’s fine!” I assured her.
“It’s just um… this shoulder is really starting to sting.”

It was all the invitation Mrs. Larue
needed. She marched me upstairs where she cleaned the arrow wound and then
insisted that I soak in the tub with salts for my body aches. Then she went to
rummage through her old clothes for something I could wear.

She emerged from her bedroom with pants,
a long-sleeved shirt, and a tunic to go over it all. The pants were a little on
the short side, but the rest fit well.

“I used to be quite slender before
I had kids,” Mrs. Larue said, patting her hips. “Now you just need shoes. You
and Beth look to be the same size. The poor girl’s only fourteen but she’s
going to have large feet, just like her brother.”

“Mine will be fine once they’re
dry,” I said. I didn’t want to part with my beloved boots.  

Mrs. Larue didn’t look convinced.
“I’ll try a few little spells to tidy them up. Now you just go take it easy and
let me know if you need anything.”

I’m sure she meant for me to go lie
down in the parlor, but I couldn’t bring myself to be still. Instead I went up
to the deck and watched the day’s last light sink below the clouds. As usual,
my mind was only halfway focused on the scenery. The rest was hard at work
trying to figure out the next step.

According to Mr. Larue, Garland and
Lord Finbarr had taken the northern route out of town, but nobody was certain
of their next stop. Still, the news was helpful. Everyone was in the dark as to
where Commander Larue had been stationed.

It was too late to go anywhere and,
exhausted as I was, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to take another day or two to
recuperate. Mrs. Larue set me up in Bazzlejet’s room.

“We’ll put him in the den if he
shows up,” Mrs. Larue said as she removed some sheets from the clothes line.
“He rarely does. I do worry about the boy.”

I ended up staying four more days.
My imprisonment in the cathedral had left me weaker than I cared to admit, but
Mrs. Larue caught on. She let me help with light chores while she and the girls
invented reasons to bake.

“We made a cake!” Alice shouted,
running into the den where I was folding laundry. There was flour in her hair
and frosting on her fingers. “Harriet lost another tooth, so we have to
celebrate!”

“Cake for losing a tooth?” I said.
“That’s much better than in the human world. All human kids get is a few
coins.”

The human world was an endless
source of fascination for the little girls. Alice and Harriet followed me
around and asked questions faster than they could say them.

“Are there trolls in the human
world?”

“Yes. We call them guidos, though.”

“When do humans get wings?”

“They don’t. If they want to fly,
they have to ride in a big, metal machine called an airplane.” I demonstrated
by holding my arms out like wings and making zooming sounds.

The girls imitated me, running
around the room with their arms outstretched. Harriet took off through a
doorway and collided with her father’s knees.

“What do we have here?” Mr. Larue
asked, scooping her up. He wore a jacket and boots. I took it to mean he was
going somewhere.

“Put me down, Daddy! I’m an
aweopwane!” Harriet squealed.

Mr. Larue put her on her feet and
she took off again.

“Are you going to town?” I asked.

He nodded. “Cecily gave me a shopping
list. She’s run the pantry dry.”

I felt guilty since they’d been
cooking extra food for me. “Do you need help?”

“No, no,” he said, waving me off.
“It’s safer for you to stay here. Truth be told, I’m more interested in the
local gossip. I’m going to visit the pub and see if there’s any news from
Ivywild.”

Mrs. Larue poked her head out of
the kitchen. “Did you say
pub
?”

“Calm down, Cecily,” Mr. Larue
said. “I’m not going to have a pint. I just want to hear what people are
saying.”

Mrs. Larue dabbed her face with a
dish towel. “Ask if anyone has seen Bazzy. I know he has his little—” she
glanced quickly at me “—um, club, but it’s not like him to keep quiet this
long.”

“I know about W.R.A.I.T.H.,” I
said. “They disbanded.”

Mr. and Mrs. Larue stared at each
other in surprise.

“He didn’t tell you that?” I asked.

“Find him,” Mrs. Larue said tersely
to her husband. “Get my boy home.”

Without another word, Mr. Larue
took off. 

The mood was noticeably dimmer in
the house the rest of the afternoon. Mrs. Larue’s lips were pinched in a tight
line as she worked over laundry and put away dishes. I kept my mouth shut,
helping where I could. The girls must have sensed that something was wrong
because they retreated to their room to play with dolls. Beth was quiet and sullen,
but that was nothing new.

Without the usual lively chatter,
it was difficult to keep my mind distracted. I kept thinking of Chloe,
wondering where she and Violet and Othella had gone. I worried about Bazzlejet
and Anouk. What if they’d been captured and tortured for helping me? Without
Commander Larue at the castle, they had nobody to come to their defense.

By the time Mr. Larue returned, I
was wound tight as a spring. So was Mrs. Larue. We both jumped when we heard
the flagpole give a twang. The pulley started to move and a few seconds later,
Mr. Larue appeared at the top. He flew to the house, holding a couple of bulky bags.

“What did you hear?” Mrs. Larue
asked before he made it through the door.

“Very little,” he said.

She raised her eyebrows. “Bazzy?”

“The shopkeeper saw him just the
other day,” Mr. Larue said.

Mrs. Larue let out a huge sigh.
“Thank goodness. Get in here. I’ll take the groceries.”

Somehow we all ended up in the
kitchen, even Beth. Mr. Larue told us that more of the duke’s red-capes had
been dispatched throughout the villages. The duke and the Seelie Court had made
true on their promise to open the castle to anyone who felt unsafe. Outlanders
could even earn a proper home near the castle and good wages if they signed up
to join the duke’s army.

“What is he up to?” I butted in.

Mr. Larue shook his head. “As far
as most people are concerned, he’s doing what’s best. That attack on Mag Mell
really rattled folks. They’re willing to trade in tradition for protection.”

“Have there been any other mechaman
attacks?” I asked.

“Not recently,” he said.

I thought back to the coronation.
Free from the poison fruit, the events of that day now rang through clear as a
bell. Something Kesper had said chimed louder than the rest. “
How
convenient.
”

“What?” Mr. Larue asked.

“When the judges accused Chloe of
being under Robyn’s influence, they said how convenient it was that the attack
happened while so many people were at Mag Mell. It was the perfect scare
tactic. Until then, the mechamen were just rumors to most people. What better
way to cause a panic than launch an attack when thousands can see it?”

“Very convenient, indeed,” Mr.
Larue said. “But for whom?”

“Who has gained from it?” I said.
“Who is sitting on a throne that isn’t his? Who has eyes in every village and
an army of willing peasants now that people have seen those monsters?”

“Careful, Emma,” Mr. Larue said.

 “But—”

“It’s one thing to say that the
duke has taken advantage of the fear caused by the attack,” Mr. Larue cut me
off. “It’s quite another to accuse him of plotting the attack in the first
place. That would mean he has control over the mechamen. There’s no evidence of
that.”

He had a point, but I wasn’t
convinced. The attack on Mag Mell was not random. Of that much I was certain.
Whether it was the duke, or Robyn, or even Hugo working for Robyn, there had to
be a mastermind. The dead-eyed mechamen weren’t intelligent enough to time it
that well on their own.

“But what of Bazzy?” Mrs. Larue
asked. “Did the shopkeeper say how he looked? Where has he been staying? Where
was he going?”

“He said he looked well enough,
Cecily. He was in disguise. He only revealed himself to the shopkeeper because
he bought some food on our tab.”

“Oh, the poor boy is out there
without any money!” Mrs. Larue exclaimed.

“He’ll be okay,” Mr. Larue said,
patting her on the back. “He’s resourceful, just like Emma here.” He gave me a
small smile.

“Any news of Commander Larue?” I
asked.

At this, his smile faltered. “One
of his men had been through town the day before. He said they shipped Frayne
and several other Master Casters off to guard Helm Bogvogny.”

“Helm Bogvogny?” I asked.

“It’s a prison in the east,” Beth
spoke up.

We all stared at her in surprise.
It was the first time she’d done more than roll her eyes in days.

Returning to form, she rolled her
eyes and scowled. “What? I’ve told you guys like, thirty times that Dirk’s
older brother did time there for stealing carriages. You never listen to me!”

“Of course we do, Lizzy Beth,” Mr.
Larue said. “How could we forget that your charming boyfriend has criminals in
the family?”

Beth muttered something and skulked
off. Mr. and Mrs. Larue exchanged a look, only to shrug in exasperation.

“So he’s guarding a prison?” I
said. “If you’re worried about Ivywild’s protection, why would you send your
strongest guy to guard some backwater jail?”

“Frayne shares your views,” Mr.
Larue said. “It’s no secret that he doesn’t like the duke. Better not to have
him at the castle where he can influence people.”

“This is all so unpleasant!” Mrs.
Larue said. “The duke can go choke on his beard for all I care! I just want my
family back together!” She burst into tears.

I quietly excused myself while Mr.
Larue comforted her. The night was warm, so I went up to the observation deck. Lots
of low clouds dotted the sky beneath the house. Above them, the sky was clear.
The dome of stars brought to mind similar nights spent atop Ivywild’s spires.
Suddenly homesick, it was all I could do not to burst into tears just like Mrs.
Larue.

A gust of wind made the massive
balloon overhead creak. The house moved slightly. I wobbled, then caught
myself.
Only in Faylinn
, I thought, smiling at the absurdity of a
floating house. It made me feel better. At least I wasn’t banished to the human
world or frozen in amber beneath the cathedral. If nothing else, I had my
freedom.