A Tale of Two Castles(67)

My masteress heaved ITself up and invited him in.

The count let Nesspa’s chain go, and he ran to me, tail wagging. I patted the top of his big head.

With the help of His Lordship, IT moved the table—His Lordship’s bench—back to the hearth. I put pillows on top while he placed the basket on the fireplace bench, now our low table. Then he seated himself carefully and removed delicacies from the basket. I toasted skewers. When all was ready, I perched on my stool at one end of the table. My masteress sat at the other. Nesspa stationed himself at the count’s leg.

IT and I had just eaten, but we feasted anyway and shared according to custom, with no danger of poison. Nesspa was too polite to beg, but hospitality was extended to him, too, from my hand and His Lordship’s, but not from my masteress’s claw.

I had almost the appetite of an ogre, and this ogre had brought marchpane. Still, I finished before him.

When even he finally put down his knife, I said, “You didn’t know you were poisoned?”

“No.” His ordeal had not made him more talkative.

“But you were ill?” I asked.

He nodded.

“His Lordship has told me some of this, Lodie. Until last night he was in a mouse hole in his bedchamber wall, at first ill almost to death, then improving slowly.”

“Why didn’t the poison kill him?” I turned to him. “Kill you, I mean. You were so tiny!”

“I am strong, even when I’m a mouse.” He made a fist and held it up.

“Did you run to the menagerie as a mouse?” And no cat caught him?

“As a flea. At the menagerie I became a monkey.”

“Your Lordship . . .” I hesitated. “Pardon my questions.”

“People don’t ask enough questions.” He shrugged. “They just guess.”

Encouraged, I said, “Can you change whenever you want, to whatever you like?”


“Unless there are cats.” He patted Nesspa’s head. “Then I can’t resist becoming a mouse.”

I had been curious about this ever since I first saw him as a monkey: “Are you yourself inside the animal?”

He stared at the ceiling and said nothing for a minute. “I am thinking.” He was quiet again. “Are you yourself inside a dream? The monkey is a happy dream.”

IT said, “Mmm,” but not ITs usual Mmm. This one was softer, a feeling Mmm, not a thinking one.

“I wake up inside the beast from time to time, to decide if I want to shift back. When I was the mouse, I was awake because I was sick.”

“Your Lordship,” IT said, “did you realize Her Highness had signaled the cats?”

He shook his head.

I dared to ask the question I most wanted to know. “Your Lordship . . . er, did you love her?”

He blushed. “I did not.”

Good!

He went to the middle of the lair, where he paced in a small circle. Nesspa followed him, whining uneasily. After a few minutes His Lordship stopped and Nesspa nuzzled his legs. “I should not have agreed to the marriage . . . but I wanted to be king so people would learn an ogre can be good.” He paced again and spoke while walking. “I liked Her Highness. I thought she loved me. I was grateful.” He went to Masteress Meenore. “I am to blame.”





Chapter Thirty-Eight

Enh enh enh. “And I am to blame for lighting the forge of a dishonest smith, although I was unaware of his dishonesty, and Lodie is to blame for allowing herself to be the victim of a thieving cat.”

I smiled, but His Lordship looked puzzled.

IT continued. “I suppose that your cook is to blame for preparing food that could be poisoned.” Enh enh enh. “Perhaps the builder is at fault for building the castle you would eventually hold a feast in.”

I don’t think His Lordship had ever graced my masteress with his full, sweet smile before, but he beamed it on IT now. ITs white smoke curled into spirals, and I understood what spirals meant—dragon happiness.

“Elodie,” IT said, “I have not yet told you all. His Lordship was with me, as a flea again, when I was shot. He returned to the castle to plead your case after Dess told us where you were.”

“Thank you, Your Lordship.”

He inclined his head. “I knew you would not poison anyone.” He stood. “I must leave. Misyur worries if I am gone too long. Meenore, I owe you payment.” He untied a brocade purse from his belt. “What is your fee?”

Promptly IT said, “Ten silvers.”

Astounded, I blurted, “So many?”

IT glared at me.

His Lordship counted out coins into ITs claw. “And a silver for—”

IT snapped, “You may give that to me, and I will hold it for her.”

I glared at IT.

His Lordship gave my silver to IT. “Come, Nesspa.” They left.

“You are my assistant, and you are a child.” IT placed the silvers in a stack on the cupboard, then lumbered to the coin basket. “You may have these.”

I went to IT and received four coppers, a fiftieth of a silver but more money than I had ever owned and much more than my promised salary. “Thank you.” I stacked my coppers next to ITs silvers.

Together we dragged the table back to its place against the wall. IT stretched out again, and I returned to my pillow near ITs head. “There is more to my tale, Lodie, and more to yours.”