The Warble (9 page)

Eagerly waiting to meet Queen Sentiz;
Davina, Hester, and Graham sat in the lavish atrium. They were gazing up at all
the exotic plants when the door opened and one of the queen’s servants, a
gnome, entered the room. He was carrying a shimmering golden tray, and upon it
sat a large mound of powdered cream puffs. The children’s eyes lit up as the
gnome, dressed like a court jester, walked up to them with the tray. “Cream
puffs, anyone?” he asked, placing the tray on a table in front of the children.

Without even saying,
“Yes, please”—or anything else, for that matter—Davina, Hester, and Graham
started digging into the sugary confections. As they devoured the treats, the
servant gnome stood silent, like a soldier on guard.

“Well, are you going to
put on a show for us?” Graham asked him, with his mouth stuffed full.

The gnome didn’t answer
or even seem to listen to him. Graham looked at Davina and Hester and shrugged
his shoulders. The three of them ate and ate, until there was only one cream
puff left on the tray. Hester didn’t want it; her stomach was so full that she
said she thought that she might burst. She leaned back on the couch rubbing her
full belly, while Davina and Graham both grabbed at the last snowball-like
morsel.

“You had more than me.
You pig!” Davina complained to Graham.

Graham looked at
Davina’s wide girth and replied, “Yeah, but you definitely don’t need another
one.”

Davina grinned and
suggested, “I tell you what—why don’t we split it?”

With his mouth still
full, Graham shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, I’ll go for that.”

Davina picked up the
last cream puff, but instead of breaking it in two, she placed it between her
thumb and index finger and squished it. Out squirted gooey cream, all over
Graham’s face.

Graham’s eyes flew wide
open, and he clenched his teeth. “You fat, four-eyed loser!” he yelled.

Davina’s small eyes
grew to the size of nickels behind her thick glasses. She picked up the tray
and held it over her head. Intending to hit Graham on the head, she smashed it
down. But he was quicker than she was, and he ducked out of the way. The tray
came down on the table with a loud smash. Davina, in her temper tantrum, began
backing Graham into a corner.

Hester, who was feeling
very sick now, sat slumped on the couch, staring up at the queen’s large
portrait on the wall. She began to see double, and then she felt the room start
to spin. “Hey, guys, could you knock it off? I’m not feeling very well,” she
said. Her hands began to feel very itchy, and then her nails suddenly grew
longer and pointier. Hair began to grow on her hands and everywhere else on her
body. As she opened her mouth to scream, her two front teeth grew three times
as long—and then she turned into a beaver.

Davina and Graham
stopped fighting and glanced over at Hester. Then they looked back at each
other, and each saw about four of the other.

“I think I’d better sit
down,” Davina said.
She
walked toward an armchair, but as she
was walking, her steps suddenly turned into hops, and in midair she turned into
a bullfrog. She hopped onto the chair and turned around to face Graham,
croaking loudly at him.

Graham, who had been
hiding from Davina behind a large tropical plant, stuck his face through the
palms. As he did, his nose grew longer and whiskers grew out from the sides of
it. Then he turned into a weasel and fell into the plant’s pot.

The door to the parlor
slowly opened, and Queen Sentiz stepped into the room, smiling at each
creature. “Welcome, little critters. I’m so glad you could make it to my palace
for such a pleasurable stay.”

Hester thumped her
large flat tail on the couch. Davina’s throat filled with air like a balloon,
and then she let out a loud croak. Graham poked his pointy nose out of the pot,
sniffed the air, and let out a high-pitched squeak.

The queen yelled for
Ugan, who was usually right outside the door to any room, but this time, he did
not answer. She yelled a second time, louder and more harshly. When he still
didn’t respond, she began to get very angry. She was just about to storm
through the door to find him when she heard the familiar jingling of the bells
on his hat. The door opened slowly, and Ugan, in his court jester outfit,
walked into the parlor and bowed to her. “Where were you? You know you are
always to be right outside the door,” she snarled.

“I was sewing on a bell
that had fallen off my hat, my sweet queen,” Ugan replied nervously. He
actually had been hiding the Book of Prophecy that he had taken from Rumalock’s
cottage, because he didn’t want the queen to know that he had it.

Queen Sentiz stood over
him like a tall monster, suspiciously glaring down at him. Then like a snake
lashing out at its prey, she grabbed the hat off his head, and one by one,
ripped off seven of the eight bells that hung from it and threw them across the
room. “You may as well sew the rest on again, since they were all loose.” She
grinned down at him.

Ugan tried to retrieve
the bells, but the queen stepped on his foot, so that he couldn’t.

 “In your spare
time, that is,” she added.

What spare time?
Ugan thought. Every stinking, waking minute of his day was spent waiting on
her.

“I expect to see them
sewed on properly, by six in the morning, tomorrow.”

 “Yes, my lady.”
He bowed his head somberly.

The queen took her
large foot off of Ugan’s small one. “Take the varmints to the dungeon, where
they will await their lovely ride to Treachery Island.”

“Right away, my lady.”
Ugan bowed to his queen and left the room.

~~~

Later that evening, as
Rupert lay asleep in his bed, his face gravely pale, Queen Sentiz came to sit
by his side. It wasn’t very long before his loud snoring began to irritate her.
“Ugan!” she shouted, her shrill voice startling the frail old man, but not
waking him.

A moment later,
Rupert’s door cracked open, and Ugan poked his head inside the room. “Yes, my
lady?” he said.

“Get this old coot to
the meeting room at once!”

“But my lady …” Ugan
had started to protest.

The queens eyes
shriveled in her pale face. “Don’t you ‘but’ me!”

“As you wish, my
queen.” He bowed as usual.

Queen Sentiz stormed
out of the bedroom, leaving Ugan to lift Rupert into his wheelchair by himself.
After grueling effort, Ugan finally managed to get the old man into his
wheelchair. Then he rolled him back down the long hallway to the meeting room
and knocked softly on the large door.

“Enter!” the queen
said. She was already at the table, waiting for them, with the crystal in front
of her. “What took you so long?” she asked.

“I think Rupert’s
health is failing rapidly, my precious queen.”

“That’s nonsense.” She
slammed her fist down onto the table. “Hurry and lift him into the chair. I
must look in the crystal to see what that wretched boy and girl are up to.”

Ugan desperately tried
to lift Rupert from his wheelchair, but he wasn’t able to do it. “He’s barely
conscious, my lady, and he is very heavy.”

“Get out of the way,
you feeble weakling.” Queen Sentiz pushed Ugan to the floor. Then, with ease,
she lifted Rupert into the chair herself.

Rupert’s head wobbled
atop his frail shoulders. Then he lay his head down on the table—and passed
away.

“Wake up, you lazy old
man. I need to know where those little troublemakers are.” She didn’t realize
that he was dead. Of course Rupert didn’t respond. “Don’t you know that if I
don’t get the Warble and destroy it, it will be the end of my reign as
sovereign queen?”

“I’m regretful to say
it,” Ugan said softly, “but I do think Sir Rupert is no longer with us, my
dearest.”

“Oh, you do think, do
you?” she roared.

“Yes, my queen.”

“Stop thinking, and get
up here and make this stupid piece of glass work!” She lifted Ugan up by his
beard and plopped him down in the chair in front of the crystal. “You’ve
eavesdropped enough to know how it works.”

With shaking hands,
Ugan stood the crystal upright, but he didn’t know what to do next.

“Hurry, stupid dwarf! I
don’t have all day. Wave your hands around it.” She glared at him with her
ice-cold eyes.

“Oh, of course, my
lady, of course. How foolish of me.” Ugan waved his trembling hands around the
crystal.

“Now do the magic
chant.”

“The magic chant?” Ugan
asked timidly.

“You don’t know the
magic chant?”

“I’m so sorry, but I’m
afraid not.”

With that, Queen Sentiz
completely lost her temper. She picked up the crystal, and, in a rage, held it
over Ugan’s head, ready to hurl it down on him.

“Is this part of the
procedure, my queen?” Ugan stuttered.

“It is about to be!”

“Wait! Please, my lady!
I know of another way for you to know where they are.” Ugan held his arms over
his head to protect himself.

Queen Sentiz looked at
him suspiciously through squinted eyes. “This better be good.”

“Would you be as kind
as to lower the crystal, so it doesn’t fall on my head?” Ugan asked faintly.

“Of courses.” The queen
smiled wickedly and dropped the crystal on the floor, right beside him. It
shattered into what seemed like a million pieces.

Ugan trembled at the
sound of it. Then he peered cautiously up at the queen. “May I go and get
something?”

“You’d better be back
within five minutes!” She grabbed a five-minute timepiece off the table.

“Yes, my lady,” Ugan
said and bowed to her before leaving the room. While heading down the winding
staircase, Ugan felt once again like a failure. He pictured the look of
satisfaction that Queen Sentiz would have on her face when he handed the Book
of Prophecy to her.

Kristina rode Taysha over the vast green
plains and hills until she came to the cliffs, where Looper said she would meet
the Citnalta Sea. She stared out over the rough gray waters where there was no
land in sight, other than a very small distant island off to the south. Taysha
noticed the island, and she turned away from the sea. “Is there something the
matter?” Kristina asked her.

“I just can’t stand to
look at that place,” Taysha replied.

“What place?”

“Treachery
Island―it gives me the creeps.”

Raymond poked his head
out of Kristina’s vest and his beady little eyes glinted up at Kristina. “The
name even sounds creepy to me.”

“Is Treachery Island
the place where Queen Lafinia, Werrien’s mother, is being held prisoner?”
Kristina asked.

“It most definitely is.
We must not waste any more time, because Werrien will most likely be heading
there very soon as well,” Taysha said.

The trio continued on
their journey along the cliffs and bluffs, heading eastward until they could
see the small cottage that Looper had mentioned. Near it, a gnome man and woman
were working with hoes in a vegetable garden. When they caught sight of
Kristina riding Taysha, they put down their hoes. Then the man picked up a
basket, and the woman and he ran toward them.

“I think they want to
give us something,” Taysha said.

“Should we trust them?”
Kristina asked.

“My instinct tells me
they are friendly.” Taysha trotted toward the gnome couple.

“Do not worry; we are
believers,” the gnome woman said with labored breath.

“Please accept this
gift from us,” the gnome man said, holding out the basket full of fresh
vegetables and fruit.

“How do you know us?”
Kristina asked.

“Word is getting around
among the believers,” the gnome man said.

The gnome woman took
Kristina’s hand in hers and said, “Bless you, child, for you are the one chosen
to restore Bernovem.”

Kristina felt a lump in
her throat after hearing these words. Then the gnome woman kissed her hand. “Be
strong and God speed to you.”

“Thank you!” Kristina
said solemnly.

As Kristina rode away,
the couple shouted after them, “Long live Queen Lafinia!”

~ ~ ~

Meanwhile, back at
Queen Sentiz’s palace, Ugan stood outside the large door of the meeting room,
this time with the Book of Prophecy. He thought that instead of being the one
chosen to save Bernovem, he would be the one known throughout history for
ruining any chance of Bernovem’s becoming free again. The words
“Ugan the
Traitor”
popped up in his mind, and in his imagination, he could see a
large crowd of fellow dwarfs and gnomes chanting the words. Then another
thought came to his mind:
What if I just turned around and ran?
He did
have an escape route for a time such as this. All he would have to do is run
down to the kitchen and then into the broom closet. Once in there, he would
remove a few loose bricks from the wall and then crawl through an opening that
led to the palace vegetable garden. Once outside, he’d crawl through the
vegetable garden until he came to the palace wall. At that point he would move
a garden statue of the queen, which he had placed on top of a small tunnel he
had dug. Then he would crawl under the wall to his freedom. Once out of the
palace garden, he’d hide at a fellow dwarf’s house until Bernovem was restored
to its original way. It all seemed simple enough, but as he contemplated these
ideas, he began to realize that he’d already had the chance to escape when he
went to get the three children from Rumalock’s cottage, however he hadn’t taken
it.
I’m just too much of a coward.

Queen Sentiz suddenly
yelled his name, as she usually did when she wanted him to enter into the room.
He hesitated for a few seconds, and then she yelled again, even louder, “Your
five minutes are almost up!”

He could still try
running away and have a chance of being known throughout history for saving the
Book of Prophecy.
Oh, how good it would feel to be known for at least one
honorable deed.
But his heart began to pound, and self-doubt quickly crept
into his mind, and he became fearful. It was no use; he just didn’t have the
courage to escape. Now he knew his fate had been sealed, and with a shaky hand,
he turned the gold knob of the large door. When he entered the room, Queen
Sentiz was sitting in her usual place at the table, drumming her long red nails
on the table. She noticed the prophecy book held in his arms and a wicked smile
spread across her face. “What do we have here?”

Ugan walked over to the
queen and bowed down on one knee. Then he held the book out to her. She
snatched it out of his hands and stared down at its cover, which read
Bernovem’s
Great Book of Prophecy.
She began to laugh. “Very good, very good,” she
crooned. Then she grabbed Ugan by his beard. “I always knew you would betray
your own people. You’re nothing but a spineless jellyfish. Now, get up and go
bury the old man outside the palace wall. When you’re done, load the three
animals into the boat.”

“But my lady, don’t you
think Sir Rupert deserves a proper burial in the palace graveyard?”

Queen Sentiz let go of
his beard. “Why should he get a proper burial, when he couldn’t even stay alive
long enough to find out the whereabouts of that dirty little peasant boy and
that good-for-nothing girl?” She brought her attention back to the book and
opened it to its last written page. She ran her fingernail along the words
until she came to the name
“Prince Werrien.”
The last sentence on the
page read
“Prince Werrien has been captured and is imprisoned in the city of
Salas.”
“He’s not a prince. He’s just a peasant boy.” She glanced back down
at the page. “Oh, look, more writing is popping up.” She clapped her hands
delightedly. “It says that the girl Kristina is heading to the city of Salas in
hope of rescuing Prince Werrien.” She looked at Ugan with a mock pout. “Poor little
fool doesn’t realize how heavily guarded that prison is. She’ll be captured in
no time.”

She patted Ugan atop
his hat. “Thanks to you, my faithful, little coward, the two little mongrels
don’t stand a chance now of delivering the Warble to its so-called resting
place. And they thought they could defeat the infamous Queen Sentiz.” She
laughed obnoxiously once more, but then stopped suddenly. “Why are you still
standing around here when you’ve got plenty of work to do?”

“Yes, my dearest
queen.” Ugan bowed and left the room.

As the queen sat
looking through the Book of Prophecy like an excited child with a new Christmas
gift, a black raven cawed loudly outside her window. She got up to close the
shutters. “Get out of here, you horrible black varmint!” She slammed the window
shutters. Little did she know that it was Roage, the raven, listening in on her
conversation with Ugan.

~ ~ ~

Ugan buried Rupert
outside the palace wall, while two of the queen’s zelbocks stood on guard,
watching him. When he had finished, he laid a handful of fairy blossoms on top
of the old man’s grave. As he stood there silently, paying his last respects,
he thought of how Rupert and he were not so different. They both lived for a
wicked queen, even though she was an impostor, but due to lack of courage and a
lust for riches, they didn’t attempt to change their situations. Now, one of
them was dead and not even allowed a proper burial.

Will this be my fate as
well?
Ugan pondered as he left the gravesite to get the
animals that had once been the three children. He carried them in three small
cages onto the queen’s boat.

Soon after, the queen
arrived at the boat, carrying the prophecy book and singing, “Victorious I am!
Victorious I am! The brats be captured just in time, so Bernovem will be mine.
Mine,
mine, mine, mine!”

Ugan helped the
unusually gleeful queen onto the boat and then untied it from the rocky
shoreline. As they drifted away from the rocks, the sky started to cloud over
and the wind brushed over the water, causing the boat to totter. A raindrop
fell on Ugan’s nose. “Looks like the weather is turning for the worse.”

“Stop your belly-aching
and start rowing, before these creatures turn back into children,” the queen
hollered.

With that, Ugan started
to row the boat toward Treachery Island.