Stolen Magic(5)

“Bring a stool for yourself, Lodie. Your Lordship, perhaps you can procure a seat that—”

“I’ll stand.”

Elodie returned with two stools. The high brunka sat on one a few yards from ITs head. Elodie placed her own stool so that the four of them formed a rough diamond. She faced Count Jonty Um’s legs, and Masteress Meenore opposed the high brunka.

“Now. To continue. Lodie, why do you think High Brunka Marya came herself?”

“Um . . . because she was expecting someone and she didn’t want anyone to know?”

“Think, Lodie! Not unless she expected a singing dragon. She heard my song.”

Elodie pressed her hands together. “Er . . . um . . .” An idea came. She tested it and couldn’t find anything wrong with it. “Because she hoped we could help her and she didn’t want anyone else to know.”

“A reasonable inference. She certainly prefers to keep our arrival to herself. There is another possibility as well. She does not anticipate help from us. Rather—”

His Lordship interrupted. “She thinks we’re part of whatever is wrong.” Unspoken, hanging in the air: No one trusts an ogre.

Elodie’s mind raced straight to the worst possible calamity. “High Brunka Marya, has the Replica been stolen?”

“No. Certainly not.” The high brunka avoided Elodie’s eyes. Her hand went to straighten her cap, and for a moment—a blink—her face became a mask of distress before she recaptured her thin smile.

The mansioner in Elodie recognized the lie. “Lambs and calves! Someone did take the Replica. Masteress, this is terrible!” She held her head as if it might fly apart. “If the Replica isn’t found, Zertrum Mountain will explode.”





CHAPTER FOUR



“Are your parents and Albin at risk, Elodie?”

How kind His Lordship was, to think of them, and to crouch so that his face was level with hers. Her masteress looked merely curious.

She said, “They’re safe. Thank you. Navon Mountain stands between our Potluck Farm and Zertrum. But many families live on Zertrum.”

“Excellent deducing, Elodie,” IT said, “and whatever else you did to root out the truth. Pray, what is this Replica a replica of? And how will its theft cause a mountain to spew?”

Elodie hardly heard. Was a bee the thief? How long had the Replica been gone?

“Lodie, I am waiting.” IT shifted ITs gaze to High Brunka Marya. “Madam, no doubt you have more information than Lodie, but I cannot trust you to be honest.”

Elodie answered in a rush. “It’s a sculpture of the island. I’ve never seen it, but I’ve heard it’s not much longer than my hand and even narrower. It’s heavy because it’s made of gold and dotted with jewels. Harald, the first brunka to set foot on Lahnt, who knew a few spells, had it made along with a marble stand to hold it. He put an enchantment on both. When he and his companions came to Lahnt three hundred years ago, Zertrum—that’s the middle mountain, the only one with a volcano—had just spewed. He fell in love with Lahnt as soon as he saw it, so he—”

“Is this the case, Madam? It is more than legend? As long as this Replica remains on its stand, the volcano is quiet? Or must the pedestal be taken as well?”

High Brunka Marya shook her head. “Only the Replica, Masteress. It can be taken off briefly to show people. However, the two must not be separated for long. It was stolen—just once, thirty years ago—but we got it back the next day. On the first day, the day of the theft, Zertrum may have rumbled, but so softly no one could tell. A little more on the second day. There were two brunkas on the mountain then, and they felt and heard it. When we placed the Replica back on its pedestal, the mountain quieted.”

Masteress Meenore blew a puff of white smoke. “For how long will the protection dwindle before it vanishes entirely?”

Elodie jumped in. “Brunka Harald extended the protection as long as he could, but even he didn’t know how long it might last. He thought three days at the most, and near the end it will be very bad—awful.” She quoted Brunka Harald: “‘The volcano will light the darkness.’”

“That’s right, lamb,” High Brunka Marya said. “Harald wished he could have sealed the volcano forever without a replica and without danger to anyone, but he didn’t know any spells that were powerful enough.” She shook her head sadly. “He was just a brunka who had memorized a few enchantments.”

“Masteress”—Elodie balled her gloves in her hand—“my mother says the explosion will be the worst ever because the mountain has been quiet for so long.”

“Irrelevant, Lodie. Alas, you mistakenly recited my rates for when I am at home in Two Castles. Elsewhere, High Brunka Marya, my costs and my inconvenience are greater. For finding this—”

High Brunka Marya pointed at the oxen and burst out, “Are they ogres, too?”

“I’m the only ogre.” His Lordship’s voice sounded pained.

Elodie’s throat tightened in sympathy.

“His Lordship may be lying, Madam.” ITs smoke tinted red with irritation. “All the oxen may be ogres, and their fleas may be ogres, too. You may be harboring a hundred ogres. How fortunate for you if you are. A flock of ogres to shape-shift into birds and fly to Zertrum Mountain and give the alarm. Many ogres to help people off the mountain. More ogres to transform into herding dogs to bring the sheep and goats and geese to safety.”