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  They were in an open area before the beasts’ stalls began. IT lowered ITself to ITs belly, and Elodie slid off. The dog trotted to the stalls, sniffing.

  “High Brunka Marya,” IT said, “you have succored us. May we return the favor? Your trouble is grave indeed.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  What trouble could befall a brunka, unless it was trouble for Lahnt? Despite ITs warmth, Elodie felt a chill.

  She saw the high brunka better in here: plump, her mother’s age, more or less, with a square face, ruddy cheeks, and thick lips that still failed to smile. Below her blue wool cap, her graying brown hair fell to her shoulders in waves. If she had been taller, she’d have been unremarkable: her face as ordinary as a bowl of porridge, her plumpness as kindly as a soft bed. She curtsied to the three of them—a quick, efficient gesture.

  Elodie curtsied back, the elaborate court curtsy that Albin had taught her as part of her mansioner training. IT performed ITs usual masculine bow followed by a feminine curtsy. His Lordship must have calculated their relative rank, count to a high brunka. From the midst of the oxen he bowed deeply. Elodie had seen mere head nods from him; this was An Acknowledgment.

  “Is someone sick?” Elodie hoped that was all it was.

  High Brunka Marya smiled a thin smile. “A barber-surgeon is visiting, lamb.” Her voice, though soft as moss, carried. “Except for a toothache, we’re as healthy as fleas.”

  Elodie heard a distinct tsk from her masteress, who hated dirt and despised vermin.

  “I’m delighted to welcome you to the Oase.” The high brunka corrected herself: “To the stable of the Oase. I regret our doorway to the Oase itself is too narrow to admit some of you. Honored guests, I hope we can be hospitable anyway. Strangers rarely visit us.”

  Ah. Elodie deduced, as IT had taught her, that High Brunka Marya didn’t realize she was a Lahnter. She’d been misled by Elodie’s mainland cap, her cloak with the flowing sleeves, and her pointy-toed mainland shoes.

  High Brunka Marya added, “And nothing is amiss, Masteress. We’re right as a good harvest.”

  She didn’t meet ITs eyes, often a sign of a lie, but perhaps not now. ITs flat emerald green eyes were terrifying until you came to know ITs crabby, benevolent nature.

  If Masteress Meenore believes something is wrong, Elodie thought, then something is. She detected no vestige of calm in the high brunka, although brunkas were usually placid. Even in the presence of a dragon and an ogre there should have been a little serenity, since the dragon wasn’t flaming and the ogre wasn’t drooling or eating one of the oxen. In fact, His Lordship was stroking the head of an ox and leading him gently into a stall.

  “Begging your pardon, perhaps we can help.” Inspired, Elodie proclaimed, as IT had hired her to do, “This evening, in the stable of the Oase and only in the stable of the Oase, the Great, the Unfathomable, the Brilliant Masteress Meenore is available to solve riddles, find lost objects and lost people, and answer the unanswerable. . . .”

  Masteress Meenore’s smoke rose in white spirals, signifying dragon joy. High Brunka Marya’s eyes were amused.

  Heartened, Elodie continued, “Three tins for a riddle solved, fifteen tins for a lost object found, three coppers for a lost person found. The fee for answering the unanswerable will be negotiated. During said negotiations or in any discussions with Masteress Meenore, speak to IT with respect.”

  “Thank you, Elodie.”

  She grinned in triumph. Her full name!

  “The sums cited by—”

  “Pardon me, Masteress.” Wearing a puzzled frown, High Brunka Marya turned back to Elodie. “Elodie is as Lahnt a name as sheep on a mountain.”

  Elodie saw no reason to lie, and ITs expression was unreadable. “I’m from Dair Mountain.”

  She expected a broader smile and a more genuine welcome, but the high brunka’s frown deepened.

  “Madam,” IT said, “you are every moment confirming my conjecture. You recognized Elodie’s name, and your unease increased.” IT held up a claw because the high brunka began to protest. “There is trouble of a certainty. As Lodie proclaimed, I am brilliant. You believe we are connected to the trouble.”

  His Lordship left the oxen in four steps. “Is Elodie in danger, Meenore?”

  “We may all be at risk. I require information to evaluate, but this brunka has not obliged us. Perhaps we can deduce on our own. Lo—”

  “How do you know something is wrong?”

  “An admission. Lodie, how did I conclude some calamity had befallen the Oase or the high brunka?”

  Elodie felt the familiar pressure of her brain being squeezed. “Er . . . Masteress, you sang so that someone might hear us. Er . . . you knew brunkas have especially sharp ears. And a brunka came. Wasn’t that what you expected?” Her coming couldn’t mean anything! “Er . . . um . . .”

  “You disappoint me. Your Lordship, if someone unknown arrived outside your castle in a blizzard, would you go yourself to see who it was?”

  “Yes. A servant might freeze. I could always—”

  “Oh!” Elodie had figured it out. “Pardon, Your Lordship. A nobleman less sweet-natured than Count Jonty Um would send a servant. High Brunka, why didn’t you send a few of your bees?”

  IT didn’t give the high brunka time to answer. “Good, Elodie. Why do you think—”

  “Masteress . . .”

  “You know I do not relish interruptions, Lodie. What is it?”

  She approached IT and stood on tiptoe.

  IT lowered ITs head.

  She whispered into ITs earhole. “The high brunka looks as if . . .” Midsentence she remembered brunka hearing. Feeling foolish, she finished without whispering. “She needs to sit.”

  “Excellent observation. We do not want our informant to swoon.”

  High Brunka Marya’s face was pale, and she stood on spread feet for balance. “Lamb, you’ll find a stack of stools at the end of the stalls.”

  Elodie hurried through the stable, which held the hired oxen as well as six horses and seven donkeys. She wondered if all these beasts belonged here or if the Oase had guests.

  “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.”

  The high brunka looked up at the ceiling, seeming to calculate. “Are they, Masteress?”

  “No.” Enh enh enh. “But His Lordship may be kind enough to fly and warn the mountainside. I could do it, but I will be otherwise engaged.”

  “Would you, er, Your Lordship?”

  Count Jonty Um favored High Brunka Marya with his smile. Elodie’s shoulders relaxed. At the least, the high brunka would see his beautiful flat—not pointy—white teeth. And she couldn’t miss the sweetness of his smile, the blaze of his goodness gleaming through.

  High Brunka Marya blushed, which IT was unable to resist commenting on. “Madam, you do well to regret your defamatory assumptions about our friend.”

  “I’ll fly as a Lepai yellow-feathered swift for speed,” (Lepai was the kingdom Lahnt belonged to.) “While Meenore and Elodie are seeking the Replica, will Nesspa be looked after?”

  “Of course,” the high brunka said.

  “Tell me where to go.”

  She gave him directions to Zertrum Mountain. “The peak looks like the gaping mouth of a fish. The brunka house, which is made of stone blocks with a slate roof, is on the north slope. You’ll know it by the two chimneys.”

  Poor farm cottages like Elodie’s parents’ had thatched roofs and only one chimney.

  “A stable is attached as well. The brunka who lives there with four bees is Arnulf.” She opened her cloak—green wool like her cap, tight weave, excellent quality, though not as rich as His Lordship’s—to get at her purse.

  “Don’t pay me!” Count Jonty Um boomed, sounding loudly horrified.

  “If you show this”—she pulled out a gold medal on a brass chain. Stamped into the medal was an image of High Brunka Marya’s face—“Arnulf will believe you.”

  “Wind it around my neck.”

  The high brunka looked confused. The chain was much too short.

  “The bird’s neck,” Elodie explained. “Your Lordship, can you fly in snow?”

  They waited. He seemed to be consulting a bird who lived inside him. Finally he nodded. “When it’s just snow, not a blizzard.”

  “Madam, we still have not resolved the matter of my fee for finding your Replica.”

  “Masteress!” Saving lives should be free!

  “Lodie, do not interfere.” ITs smoke reddened. “His Lordship will warn your brunka and will not accept payment. I lack his kind nature. I suppose you would like me to identify the thief as well.”

  “Masteress . . .” High Brunka Marya tilted her head to look at IT. The worry lines smoothed out, and her face wore the usual calm brunka expression. She smiled the contented brunka smile.

  IT coughed at the back of ITs throat. Coming from anyone else, Elodie would have thought the cough an uneasy sound. Folks usually felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny of that serene brunka gaze. But did IT?

  “You suspect us,” IT said, “as well you may. You should trust no one. People are a perfidious lot. But especially do not trust now.”

  IT was babbling! The high brunka had unnerved IT!

  “Still, if my assistant and—”

  “Your assistant? His Lordship?”

  “Lodie is my assistant.”

  She felt a burst of satisfaction.

  “I see.” But the high brunka sounded as if she didn’t.

  “If we put ourselves out, we will expect more than a mere fifteen tin coins.”

  Elodie bit her cheek. How could IT haggle over this?

  His Lordship took one step to the door, opened it, and looked out, his broad back to the others. “I’ll watch the snow. When the blizzard subsides, I’ll shape-shift.”

  Talk of money was beneath a count.

  “Masteress,” High Brunka Marya said, “you’re as clever as a ratcatcher. If you tell me now where the Replica is and who took it, I’ll give you three gold coins, and you, His Lordship, and Elodie won’t be imprisoned.”

  Oh no! Elodie struggled to think of something that would prove their innocence.

  “Madam, your suspicions are absurd.”

  High Brunka Marya raised her eyebrows, still smiling.

  “As soon as the blizzard retreats, nothing can stop a shape-shifting ogre from entering your Oase.”

  The High Brunka’s smile faded.

  “Mice find their way in when the weather turns cold, do they not? He can become a creature much smaller than a mouse. He can gain admission on your person as a louse.” Enh enh enh.

  His Lordship turned his head. “Meenore—”

&nbs
p; “Permit me to conduct this conversation, Your Lordship. Once inside, he becomes himself again, crouching if he must. You can imagine the rest: the thief fetches the Replica. No one dares interfere because of an ogre’s hulking presence.”

  Count Jonty Um nodded. “I could do all that. Hypothetically.”

  Elodie smiled at him for understanding. He winked, a slow, effortful wink.

  Masteress Meenore went on. “His Lordship tears the door off its hinges and enlarges your entry. We fly away with Lodie and the thief on my back and His Lordship as the Lepai yellow-feathered swift. Lodie holds the Replica in her lap.”

  The high brunka’s eyes went to Elodie, who mansioned her face to show nothing.

  “High Brunka, if we are in league with the thief, you cannot stop us. In the event that we are not, you may as well engage us. If we find the Replica, a mountain will be saved. If we fail, then the villain is smarter than I . . .”

  . . . Smarter than both of us, Elodie thought.

  “. . . which I doubt.”

  The high brunka bent over so her head was in her lap, a pathetic pose. A tiny rainbow flickered from her right hand.

  Was she ill?

  “The snow is dwindling,” His Lordship reported.

  A minute passed in silence. Elodie wanted to pat the high brunka’s shoulder.

  ITs smoke tinted faintly gray, meaning IT was faintly sad. Sympathy for the high brunka? Elodie wondered. Or for the people on the mountain that might explode?

  High Brunka Marya sat up, serenity in place again. “We’ll pay whatever you believe reasonable. I trust your fairness.”

  The corners of ITs mouth turned up.

  Greedy dragon! Elodie thought.

  Sometimes IT deduced her thoughts. “Self-interest is not precisely greed, Lodie. Self-interest is reasonable. Greed exceeds the bounds of reason.”

  “I can leave now.” His Lordship knelt by Nesspa and rubbed his neck. “Be good, Nesspie. I’ll be back soon.” He stood and began to raise his arms.