The Warble (24 page)

“She sure looks radiant,”
Bronya said to Neela.

“I’d say like the
portrait of Queen Lafinia, when she was her age,” Neela said.

The tent door flaps
began to shake, and Bronya went to see who it was. It was the same gnome who
had brought Kristina to the tent. “Is she ready?” he asked Bronya.

“As ready as she’ll
ever be.”

As Kristina exited the
tent, Werrien was standing right outside, and when the two of them laid eyes on
each other, both were amazed.

 “You think I look stupid, don’t you?”
Kristina asked Werrien, feeling quite awkward in her dress and new hairstyle.
At home, she had worn a dress maybe three times in her entire life.

“As a matter of fact, I
was thinking how nice you look,” Werrien said. “And what about you? I saw how
you looked at me.” He also was dressed up, in a white shirt, royal-blue tunic,
black breeches, and black shoes.
His blue-green eyes
narrowed and he smiled at Kristina. “Could it be that you think I look stupid,
dressed like this?”

Kristina blushed.
“Well, you do look a few centuries behind the times, but I must say it does
suit you.”

“Oh, I see, you’re
saying the clothes suit me, but you still haven’t said whether I look stupid in
them,” Werrien teased.

Their conversation was
interrupted when a red carpet came rolling up to them. Kristina moved out of
its way, but there was really no need—the carpet stopped right at their feet.
Hundreds of dwarfs, gnomes, fairies, and animals lined up on each side of the
carpet.

“I feel like a
Hollywood celebrity,” Kristina said to Werrien.

“Like a what?” Werrien
looked puzzled.

“Oh, nothing. It’s just
an Earth thing.” Kristina smiled and her eyes sparkled.

Suddenly there was a
loud boom, and when they looked up to the sky, it was filled with fireworks
bursting in all directions. They were different from the fireworks that
Kristina would see at home, because instead of disintegrating in the air, the
tiny sparkling lights actually fell to the ground and landed there. When they
fell toward Kristina, she quickly dodged out of the way, thinking that they might
burn her skin. Werrien found it very amusing, watching her try to avoid them,
and he began to laugh.

“Oh, yeah; it would be
real funny if I got burned,” Kristina said irritably.

“You think that they’ll
burn you? Whatever gave you that crazy idea?” Werrien jumped directly under a
few of the falling sparkles, and when they landed on him, they burst into tiny
sprays of what seemed to be sparkling colored water. “They really only tickle a
little.” He smiled boyishly. “Come on! Try it!” He jumped under more of them.

Kristina quickly joined
him, and when the multicolored sparkles landed on her, she burst out laughing.
“They do tickle,” she said gleefully. She smelled something wonderful, like
fresh spring flowers. “What is that scent?”

“It’s the sparkles.
When they burst open, they let out a fragrance.”

Something on the other
end of the red carpet caught Kristina’s attention, and she turned to see Hester
in a robin’s egg blue gown, with a matching bow in her hair; and Davina in a
pumpkin-orange gown. Both girls were running toward her and Werrien. Kristina
thought they looked like football players coming in for a tackle. They both
stopped running when they reached Kristina and Werrien, and they stood there,
panting.

“Wow! I see you guys
got dressed up also,” Davina said, catching her breath.

“We both got crystal
bracelets,” Hester bragged and held out her wrist for Kristina to see.

The sparkle from
Kristina’s crystal necklace gleamed and caught Davina’s eye. “Holy moly! Look
at the rock on her neck. It’s got to be three times the size of ours,” she said
to Hester. Hester’s eyes grew wide with envy.

“Are you two all
right?” Kristina asked. “You seem really tuckered out.”

“Are we all right?”
Davina said excitedly. “I’d say a lot better than just all right. You’ve got to
come and see all the food!”

Kristina hadn’t eaten
anything more than the food that Leacha had given them for their journey, and
Werrien had only had the soup from the gnome girls, so they were both very
hungry. She looked to Werrien.

“What are we waiting
for?” he asked. “Let’s go.”

The four of them ran
down the red carpet, past the crowd on both sides that was cheering and
partying. At the end of the carpet, they came upon a very long table that was
lined with many ornate gold chairs. The table was set with the most beautiful
silverware, tall candles, flower arrangements, and of course the food Davina
had been so excited about. All kinds of dishes, such as shrimp, crab, oysters,
and clams, were set on fancy plates. Beside them were colorful vegetable and
fruit platters and numerous kinds of edible nuts and cheeses, soups, sauces,
breads, rolls, fancy finger foods, and crackers. And the desserts! There were
many desserts—cakes, cookies, puddings, molds of wobbly jelly, parfaits,
pastries, and candies. In the very center of the table was a punch bowl with an
ice fountain in its center. The fountain spouted bright-red, fairy blossom
punch, which came up from the center of the punch bowl, ran down the sides of
the ice, and then returned to the punch bowl. As the children were admiring the
beautifully set table with its entire splendor, a dwarf came toward them
carrying a gold tray topped with tall, slender glasses full of bubbly red
fairy-blossom punch. Werrien took two glasses off the tray and handed one to
Kristina and the other to Hester. Then he took two more off, one for Davina and
one for himself.

Another finely dressed
dwarf approached them. “May I lead the honored guest to her seat?”

“Why, yes, of course.”
Hester held her hand out limply and pointed her nose to the sky.

But the dwarf didn’t go
to Hester; he walked right past her, shaking his head at her hoity-toity
attitude, and went up to Kristina. “Would you come with me, my fair young
lady?” He bowed slightly and held his arm out to her.

Looking a little
surprised, Kristina smiled brightly and took the dwarf’s arm. He led her to the
very end of the table and pulled out the chair for her to sit down. Once she
was seated, the dwarf pushed her chair up to the table. Then he turned to
Werrien. “Come with me, Your Highness, and I’ll escort to your seat at the
other end of the table.”

“Actually, I’ll do just
fine to sit here beside our honored guest.”

“As you wish.” The
dwarf bowed to Werrien and then turned to face Davina and Hester who were standing
a little ways back from the table with slightly soured looks on their faces.
They knew Kristina was the one who had saved Bernovem, but they were jealous of
her special treatment.

“Please follow me,
girls?” The dwarf turned and led them to the table. Davina and Hester followed
the dwarf to the chairs across the table from Werrien. They waited for the
dwarf to pull out their chairs, but he didn’t; instead, he just waved his hand
for them to sit down. Once Davina and Hester were seated, King Warren, Queen
Lafinia, and Uncle Corin were escorted to their seats at the opposite end of
the table. Then Leacha and the gnome couple, who had given Kristina the basket
of food during her journey, were brought to sit by Davina and Hester.

Kristina suddenly
recognized the cat that had led her to the Salas Prison. It came prancing down
the carpet, followed by an old gnome man who walked very slowly. He was hunched
over and needed a cane to help him walk. The cat stopped at the end of the red
carpet, said something to the gnome, and then pranced toward Kristina, with the
gnome following it. It stopped beside her chair and stood there, purring
loudly, while it waited for the old gnome to catch up with it. When the old
gnome finally made it to Kristina, the cat said, “I want you to meet my
master.”

The old gnome cleared
his throat and said, “I am here to celebrate this lovely day, only because of a
miracle, and that miracle is because of you.” His bright hazel eyes twinkled
with joy. “You see, child, I was on my deathbed when my cat, Rone, came to me
with a small amount of fairy blossom. I was merely seconds away from dying, but
then he put it in my mouth, and I was given another chance at life. I just
wanted to tell you how very grateful I am to you.” He got down on one knee,
took one of Kristina’s hands, and placed a kiss on it. The dwarf then escorted
the gnome and his cat to their seats at the other end of the table. Other
guests also were escorted to their seats—Ugan, Retzel (with Raymond sitting on
his shoulder) Retzel’s wife, Mitzi, and their child.

Raymond was admiring
the new crystal necklace he wore around his neck, and when he finally took his
eyes off of it, he noticed Kristina sitting at the end of the table. “There you
are!” He jumped off Retzel’s shoulder and onto the table, knocking over
Retzel’s punch―Retzel caught the glass before it spilled all over the
gold-and-white lace tablecloth. Then he zigzagged between the delectable
dishes, only stopping once to eat a sweet pickle skewered to an olive, and some
sort of sea urchin.

“Raymond, where are
your manners?” Kristina whispered loudly. “You just can’t go tromping between
the food dishes to come and talk. You’re embarrassing me.”

Hester turned to
Davina. “Oh, my gosh!” she said nervously. “There’s a swarm of glowing bees
coming this way!”

Werrien chuckled at the
wide-eyed look on Hester’s face. “That’s not a swarm of bees. It’s the fairies
coming to join us.”

“Don’t they look
beautiful?” Kristina watched the fairies move like twinkling balls.

King Oreadas, with
Clover and Looper at his side, led the fairy colony to the table. They made
their way to the fountain in the middle of it and encircled it. Then one by
one, they landed at the base of the punch bowl, where there were tiny velvet
pillows of all colors set around it—one pillow for each fairy. Beside the
pillows were tiny plates, and on top of the plates were cutlery and glasses for
drinking, so small that they were very hard to see.

Kristina turned her
attention back to Raymond, who had snuck a chocolate-dipped strawberry and was
busily stuffing it down his throat.

“Now what were you
saying?” Kristina asked.

“I was just about to
ask you…”

Kristina didn’t hear
his next words, because the certain dwarf was blowing on the ivory horn again.
Its sound was so loud that it startled Raymond, and he quickly crawled under
the edge of an oyster platter. The platter tilted and the oozing, smelly
delicacies nearly slid off onto the tablecloth, but Werrien caught the edge of
the platter before they did so.

“Ladies and gentleman,
may I have your attention?” the dwarf said. The guests fell silent. “I would
like to propose a toast to our true King and Queen of Bernovem!” He lifted high
his glass of fairy-blossom punch. The guests now filled every seat at the
table, and all of their glasses went up in the air. The fairies’ glasses went
up as well, filled with drops of punch that had splattered off the fountain.
The dwarf cleared his throat and continued, “May our beloved king and queen be
blessed with wisdom, strength, power, and happiness and may they reign long
over our precious land, Bernovem.” He brought his glass down and took a sip
from it, and the rest of the guests did the same.

Kristina tugged on
Raymond’s tail to get him out from under the platter. “What is it you want to
ask me?”

“I just wanted to say—”

“One more toast before
we eat,” the dwarf said, raising his glass in the air again. “This is to the
chosen one, who delivered the Warble to its resting place.” He turned to face
Kristina, and all the guests turned in their seats to face her, too. Kristina
quickly pulled Raymond onto her lap, so he wouldn’t be seen on the table. “I
want to tell you how grateful we are to you, for coming into our land and
saving it from that horrible Sentiz.” The dwarf’s eyes sparkled as he looked at
Kristina. “You, my dear Kristina, will always be remembered in Bernovem.” Then
he took a sip from his glass, and the rest of the guests did the same. “Now,
let us feast!”

Kristina looked down at
Raymond sitting on her lap. “Hurry up and tell me what you want to say!”

Raymond sat up on his
hind legs to look up at Kristina. With his ears slightly back, he said, “I was
thinking I might—”

Before he could finish,
a dwarf and a grubby boy on a horse galloped up to the table and stopped abruptly
beside Kristina. All eyes fell on the grubby boy sitting behind the dwarf—it
was Graham Kepler.

The dwarf dismounted the horse and then
helped a very weak and hungry Graham down as well. Graham was too embarrassed
to look at the guests who were staring at him; he kept his gaze on the ground.
When Hester saw him, she jumped up from her chair. “Graham! Where have you
been?” she demanded angrily.

Graham didn’t answer.

At the other end of the
table, King Warren stood up. “Please allow the boy to clean up and change. Then
he will be fit to join us.”

The rest of the guests
mumbled in agreement but not Hester. She gave Graham an angry glare before
sitting back down in her chair.

The dwarf led Graham to
one of the tents to clean up and change, and the guests all began eating the
delectable food that was in front of them. Kristina and Werrien watched as
Davina piled her plate with every single type of food she could get her hands
on. Hester skipped the main courses and loaded her plate with sweets and
pastries, the whole time complaining that Graham had caused her to worry
unnecessarily. As for Raymond, he made himself a pile of nuts, cheese, and
fruit and was so busy eating that he forgot all about telling Kristina what he
wanted to say to her. Kristina enjoyed the feast and tried foods she had never
tasted before, like olives and sharp cheeses, and she found them to be quite
tasty.

As the guests enjoyed
good food and conversation, Graham finally showed up at the table with his face
washed and his hair slicked back. He wore new clothes—black breeches, long
white socks, black shoes with shiny silver buckles, and a red vest that
overlapped a white shirt with ruffles around the collar and sleeves. In the
center of the ruffles, at chest level, sat a tiny crystal pin that held the
ruffles in place.

When Davina saw Graham,
she began to laugh, showing the food that had gotten stuck in her braces.
“Cute, Graham! Real cute,” she said, inadvertently spitting some food toward
Werrien’s face. Werrien ducked, and it hit Graham on his vest.

“Why don’t you say it
instead of spraying it!” Graham said scornfully.

“There’s a chair for
you on the other side of the table,” Werrien pointed out to Graham.

Graham sat down between
Hester and Davina. “If I’d had it my way, I’d have never come back.” He piled
large amounts of potatoes, bread, cheese, and crackers on his plate.

“Where did you go?”
Hester asked. “I can’t believe that we were actually worried about you.”

“Speak for yourself,”
Davina said, while stuffing her mouth full of jumbo shrimp.

“I don’t owe any of you
an explanation!” Graham didn’t want anyone to know that he had escaped down the
back of the mountain with Sentiz.

~ ~ ~

While he was still tied
up in the cave with Davina and Hester, Sentiz was on the ground, close by him.
She threw small pebbles at him to get his attention, and when she finally did,
his eyes met hers and he suddenly remembered her from the boat ride to
Treachery Island. She whispered to him that if he would help save her, she would
let him live in the palace with her and she would allow him to be next in line
to the throne. As Graham listened to her voice and gazed into her dark eyes,
she began to hypnotize him. Under her spell, he began to feel that he would do
anything for her, even if it meant risking his own life. He decided not to tell
Hester and Davina about Sentiz; instead, he would wait for an opportune time to
sneak away when the girls had their backs turned. But when the cave walls
started crumbling and there was no light to see even a few feet ahead of him,
he never found his opportune time that is until when the other children were
escaping. Werrien held the torch, which gave Graham just enough light to see
down the cave, and that is when he went to her. He found Sentiz and helped her
out the back of the cave. Once outside, they met up with Ramon and Rumalock,
and they escaped from the mountain. They traveled until they came to the Indra
River, where there was a raft near its bank. Rumalock, Ramon, and Graham helped
the injured Sentiz onto the raft, and then got on themselves. Soon after, they
began to cross the wild river. While on the raft, Graham couldn’t help but
notice that Sentiz’s appearance began to change. Her face no longer had that
smooth pale complexion that he’d thought was so beautiful; now, it looked older
and wrinkled. She began to develop warts, one on her right eyelid, and another
under her left nostril. Her eyebrows grew bushier, and her teeth became
pointier—and then one fell out of her mouth, right before his eyes. Her mouth
shriveled and sunk in, and her whole body became smaller and frailer. Her shiny
black hair became thinner and turned a dull gray.
You’ve turned into an old
hag!
Graham thought. Of course he didn’t find her attractive any longer,
but he was still glad he had helped her, for now that she was old and feeble,
it meant that he was closer to becoming the King of Bernovem.

All was going well on
the raft ride until Ramon turned to Graham and said, “I don’t think we’ll be
needing you any longer.” Then he pushed Graham off the raft, into the icy cold
turbulent water. After that, all Graham could remember was being wakened by a
dwarf, who’d found him on the river’s bank shivering and near death. The dwarf
opened his canteen and gave Graham a drink of hot fairy-blossom tea. Then he
placed a warm woolen blanket around him. When Graham had regained a little of
his strength, the dwarf helped him onto his horse, planning to bring him back
to the other children. Graham wondered about Sentiz and what she had said about
him being able to live at the palace and be next in line to the throne. He
didn’t believe that she had anything to do with his being pushed off the raft.
No, it was that stupid oaf of a son of hers. He was surely jealous.

Now, Davina and Hester
continued to interrogate Graham as to where he had been, but he wouldn’t tell
any of it. Their continual bickering was getting on Kristina’s and Werrien’s
nerves, and they found it hard to enjoy their dinner. They watched Davina
shovel food in her mouth and Graham pour so much gravy on his potatoes that it
ran over the sides of his plate.

Kristina suddenly felt
the crystal around her neck warm up, which she had forgotten about until now.
She took it in her hand and saw a rainbow of colors swirling around inside of
it. Then she looked over at Davina’s and Hester’s bracelets. The colors were
also swirling inside their small crystals, but the two of them were too busy
eating and squabbling to notice. She looked over to Raymond’s necklace and then
to Graham’s pin, and the same was happening. As she watched her own crystal,
staring into its dazzling colors, all the clinking and clanking of glasses and
cutlery and the celebrating and arguing around the table seemed to grow
distant. She began to feel very relaxed and peaceful, and the colors in the
crystal seemed to entrance her. Suddenly she felt something on her shoulder.
She turned and saw that it was Werrien’s hand. “Would you like to go for a
ride?” he asked. “There’s something really neat that I’d like to show you.”

“Yes, I’d like that
very much.” Kristina felt relieved to be able to get away from the other
children.

Kristina rode Taysha,
and Werrien rode Lisheng into the meadow. They rode until the clamor of the
celebration grew faint and the sound of the sea grew louder. The scent of
flowers mingled together with the scent of sea water filled the air. The moon
illuminated the tall green grass ahead of them. A large rock came into view,
and Werrien led the way to it. Once there, he dismounted Lisheng and then
climbed on top of the rock. Kristina dismounted Taysha, and Werrien helped her
up onto the rock as well. Ahead of them, beyond the bluffs and cliffs, was the
Citnalta Sea shimmering in the moonlight.

“Have a seat,” Werrien
said.

Kristina sat down
beside him and just as she did so, the crystal began to warm up again. She took
it in her hand to look at it. The colors were swirling around, just like
before.

“What’s happening with
it now?” Werrien asked.

“The colors are
swirling.” As Kristina spoke, the colors began to change. “Wait a moment; I
spoke too soon. It’s turning pink.”

“May I see?”

Kristina showed him the
crystal. “It will be turning red soon, won’t it?”

Werrien didn’t answer
but instead gazed out at the sea.

“What an awesome view,”
Kristina said.

“This is the place I
come when I want to think.”

“I can see why.”

Werrien pointed toward
the northwest. “Far beyond the sea is where I come from.”

“What’s it called?”

“Tezerel.”

A cool breeze blew by,
bringing with it the scent of the fragrant flowers.

“Werrien, what would
happen if I took off the necklace?”

“Well, it’s quite
simple; you wouldn’t be able to go home.”

“What if I took it off
and then put it back on later? Could I stay longer that way?”

“I’m not sure, so it’s
probably best not to take the chance.” Werrien’s blue-green eyes narrowed at
her through his wind blowing bangs. “Besides, why would you want to stay
longer?”

Kristina’s pale-blue
eyes became glossy and she quickly looked back out to the sea. She wanted to
tell Werrien that he was the best friend she had ever had and that if it
weren’t for her family at home, she would much rather stay in Bernovem. But she
just couldn’t bring herself to say it.

Werrien heard a faint
humming sound, and he looked over his shoulder to see two small, glowing balls
of light coming toward them. “Looks like we’ve got visitors.”

It was Clover and
Looper. They flew up to the rock and landed on it in front of them. “He wants
to speak to Kristina and says it can’t wait,” Clover said.

“What is it, Looper?”
Kristina asked.

“Oh, not me, it’s him
down there.” Looper pointed to the ground at the bottom of the rock.

Kristina looked over
the edge of the rock to see Raymond sitting at the base of it. “Raymond, is
everything okay?”

“I never got to finish
what I wanted to say to you earlier at the table.”

“Oh, that’s right. Let
me come down and get you.” Kristina jumped down from the rock, and then picked
up Raymond and handed him up to Werrien. Then Werrien helped her up again, and
they both sat back down. “So, now that you have my undivided attention what is
it you want to tell me, Raymond?”

Raymond swallowed. Then
his eyes shifted back and forth between Werrien and Kristina.

“Well, what is it?”
Kristina asked again.

“I’ve been offered a
chance to stay on in Bernovem with Retzel’s family.”

Kristina chuckled. “No
way, Raymond!” She was surprised he would even ask.

“I thought it was a
stupid idea,” Raymond said gloomily.

Seeing Raymond
downhearted made Kristina sad as well, and she thought about him having to go
back home to his cage. Then she thought about him not being able to talk like
he was able to in Bernovem. He could have such a better life here, and he’d
definitely have more freedom—and he could live with a very loving family. “I
guess it’s selfish of me to want you to come home,” Kristina said softly.
Retzel and his family were now walking through the grass toward the rock.
“Raymond, I can’t think of any reason for you to come home with me, other than
my own selfish ones.”

“Loving me isn’t selfish,”
Raymond said quietly.

“No, it’s not Raymond,
and because I love you, I have changed my mind. You can stay here—if that’s
what you really want.”

Raymond’s face lit up.
“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Raymond. Now
don’t ask me again, or I just might change my mind.” She picked up her pet and
hugged him gently. “Well, I guess you’d better not keep your new family
waiting.” Raymond looked to the meadow and saw Retzel and his family waiting
for him. “I’ll take you down now.” Kristina scooped Raymond up in her arms and
brought him down from the rock. “I guess this is good-bye.” Tears filled her
eyes.

“I’ll always love you.”
Raymond’s teeth chattered as he began to get choked up. He turned away and
headed to his new family.

“Wait! Come back,”
Kristina called after him.

Raymond turned around
and made his way back through the tall grass. “I thought you might change your
mind.”

Kristina knelt down and
picked him up again. “I don’t think you’ll be needing this.” She removed his
necklace. Then she put him back in the grass and watched as he ran happily
toward his new family. Very soon after, Looper and Clover flew down from the
rock.

“Well, kid, I wish we
didn’t have to leave so soon, but we do need to get back or our father will
start to worry,” Looper said.

“I’m sure going to miss
you,” Kristina said to him.

“And I’ll sure miss
you.” Looper tried not to cry.

Kristina turned to
Clover. “Hey, listen, Clover. I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for all the
times I irritated you.”

Clover looked a little
embarrassed. “I think it’s actually me that owes you an apology,” she said
softly.