Dragons of the Watch (2 page)

Folding the royal celebration notice into a small square, Ellie stuffed it back in her pocket. She turned away from watching her brother’s
progress and nudged the goat. “Come on, Tak. You find the nannies, and I’ll find the billies.”

Ellie went one direction and Tak another. In a few minutes, she located the fifteen goats that formed the herd. Mostly young males, these animals preferred the rockier terrain. She suspected it had to do with their perpetual game of I’m-up-highest.

She clicked her tongue and tapped her staff on a rock. Their heads rose as if all attached to the same string, though they didn’t come right away. Each one chewed what was in his mouth and casually left his place one by one. Taking a serene amble down the hillside, they passed her, heading toward the bridge and home.

When the last one clomped by, Ellie rested her staff on her shoulder and followed. Tak already had the nannies plodding along the bank toward the footbridge. Gustustharinback trailed the nannies and carried the smallest of the baby goats in his arms.

He shouted when he caught sight of his sister. “Hurry! Aunt and Uncle Blamenyellomont are at the house. I can’t tell you the surprise, and I’m gonna burst with keeping my tongue from waggin’ and you from knowin’.”

She tapped her staff on the rock beneath her feet. The billies scampered before her, picking up her impatience and gratefully heading for home. Even after eating all day, they appreciated the handfuls of button grain they got from the farmer’s younger children.

With the goat hoofs pounding on the wooden bridge, Ellie couldn’t hear or be heard. So she waited until she’d caught up with her brother on the other side.

“What’s with all the falderal, Gustus?”

She watched as he forced a glare onto his face, erasing the impudent
grin he’d been wearing. “You are to call me by my proper name if I have to call you by yours.”

“There’s a difference between shouting ‘Ellie’ and speaking ‘Gustus’ quietly.” She grabbed his arm. “Now tell me, or I’ll toss you into the river.”

He pressed his lips together and gave her his most obstinate glower. The corners of his lips twitched, and she knew he wanted to laugh. She let go. She couldn’t really dunk him while he carried the small kid.

“Why are our aunt and uncle here?”

“Can’t tell you that either. But they’s only stopping, not staying. We’d better hurry.”

Ellie lost Gustustharinback’s help as soon as they came in sight of the pens. He scuttled down the last hill and opened the gate but then ran through the goat barn, across the yard, and into the house.

The herd followed the leader through the opening and took up different places to observe their world. Ellie and Gustus had put many odd things within the goat pen for the animals to climb on. Old wooden benches, barrels, a huge thick branch they had pulled with the donkey’s help, and crates littered the ground. The goats enjoyed scrambling up, over, and around the obstacles.

Tak stayed at Ellie’s side as she put water in the trough and fastened the barn door securely open so the animals could come in if they wanted. He followed her out the door on the other side of the barn and waited patiently while she latched it shut.

Entering the back door so she could wash before meeting their visitors, Ellie noticed that the kitchen showed signs of serving tea. Her mother must have prepared refreshments to carry into the common room. Through the pantry door, she could see empty spots on the shelves, which meant the good china pot and the blue glass dishes were being used.

Warm water sat in a tub in the sink, and she used that to wash her face and hands. She pulled the scarf off her head, gathered her long, curly black locks into a ponytail and used the scarf to tie it in place. Wisps of hair immediately escaped and framed her tanned face. She washed her face again as if she could rid herself of the look of a farm girl. Hopefully Aunt Tiffenbeth wouldn’t make that tired old comment: “Your blue eyes would be more attractive if you scrubbed away some of that mud you use for face cream.”

Voices from the family’s conversation drifted through the partially open door. Aunt Tiffenbeth quarreled with Ellie’s father.

“Brother, you are wrong in this. Ellicinderpart is your eldest child and way past the age to be in the village looking for a husband.”

“If there’s a man good enough for her, he can just come courting here.” Her father’s voice rumbled in the wood-paneled room, and Ellie did not even have to strain to hear him. She stepped closer to the door in order not to miss a single word her aunt spoke.

“You are the most vexing man. That is
not
going to happen. It isn’t the way of things, and you know it. You’re selfish and your mind is rootbound.”

Only his older sister could get away with talking like that to Ellie’s father. She probably ought to go in before the discussion escalated to verbal warfare. She finished wiping her hands and draped the towel over one of the kitchen chairs around the square table.

“The girl is needed here.”

“The young woman is your unpaid servant.”

“She has obligations to her family. None of the other children are old enough to take over her chores.”

“And it’s not her fault five years passed before you begat another child. She should not be punished for Boscamon’s whim. Besides,
Letterimdebomm is quite old enough to take over the goats and the dressmaking.”

Her father said nothing. Ellie held her breath. Would she get to go live in the village, get a job, earn her keep, and possibly attract the attention of some young man?

She heard the rustling of a skirt. “Would you like another cake, Tiffenbeth? Letterimdebomm made them just yesterday afternoon.” Her mother, trying to divert the tension between brother and sister.

Ellie knew it was pointless. Uncle Stemikenjon cleared his throat. Her father never cleared his throat before he spoke what was on his mind. He just blurted it out.

“I’ll have another piece,” said Uncle Stemikenjon.

“And—,” said Aunt Tiffenbeth.

Ellie flinched. Her aunt was going to ruin it. Her father’s silence might mean he was contemplating what she had said. But if her aunt pushed too hard, he’d turn stubborn.

“—all your children can read,” continued Aunt Tiffenbeth.

“That’s not my doing.”

Ellie could imagine her father tossing a glare in her gramps’s direction. The old man would smile that toothless grin and keep stroking the cat, whichever cat happened to be on his lap. He couldn’t sit down without attracting at least one.

“Reading will be a great asset in the village,” said Aunt Tiffenbeth. “It’s only up here in these hills where it’s not customary to teach all the children to read.”

“There’s no sense in taking the time to teach them all. One or two could be the readers and that could be their contribution to the family. Ridiculous waste of time to teach them all.”

From behind, Ellie heard the unmistakable sound of Tak’s footsteps
on the wooden floor. Before she could turn, she felt the hard butt of his head on her backside.

She whirled and shook a finger at him. She spoke as forcefully as she could in a whisper. “Tak! You know you aren’t allowed in here. Go back outside.”

Ellie followed Tak as he made his docile retreat, but she watched scornfully the arrogant sway of his hips and the self-satisfied bounce of his head. His white coat gleamed as he entered the sunlight. Once he’d tromped down the stairs, she shut the door and latched it. That goat was too cunning.

Ellie straightened her shoulders and passed through the kitchen once more. With fingers on the doorknob, she drew the door toward her and stopped.

“I suppose she can go.”

“Da!” She rushed into the room and flung her arms around him. “I’m going to the village?”

“Nay, not that. Yer going with your aunt to Ragar, to see the coronation and celebrate the wedding.”

Ellie tried to breathe, but her lungs had expelled all the air from within and seemed paralyzed. She pushed out of her father’s arms and looked around at the faces that stared at her. Gramps grinned. Her mother’s face wrinkled in concern. Aunt Tiffenbeth arched eyebrows above twinkling eyes. Uncle winked. Her seven smaller siblings sat around the room with hands folded primly in their laps but eyes dancing with excitement.

Ellie made a strangled attempt to speak.

Her father thumped her back. “Breathe, you silly girl. You can’t go anywhere if you expire on the spot.”

Three days later, Ellicinderpart knew for sure that the world was a beautiful place and her aunt and uncle were the most generous of tumanhofers. She sat in the second seat of their carriage with Aunt Tiffenbeth and gazed out the window. She wore a new dress her aunt had purchased in town, part of her new wardrobe. The coachman had strapped two carpetbags full of new things to the roof of their vehicle. Her uncle sat across from them with his face hidden in a book.

A warm glow spread through Ellie as she thought of the two gowns she’d carefully packed in the larger carpetbag the night before. She’d tried them on one more time and admired the dresses in her aunt’s tall mirror. She had never thought to own one gown so lovely, let alone two. One for the coronation ball and one for the wedding reception.

In the mirror, a sophisticated young lady had laughed at the sight of herself, a farm girl dressed in such finery. In the pale yellow dress, Ellie felt like a delicate flower. In the soft azure gown, she could have floated up into the sky and drifted among the clouds.

Aunt Tiffenbeth patted Ellie’s knee and pointed out the opposite window. “There’s the road we take to go to your home. I bet you don’t travel that road often.”

“Not at all. We take the path to Glenbrooken Village on the other side of the mountain.”

“This road is closer for us and is wide enough for the carriage.” Her aunt frowned and pointed. “Isn’t that your goat?”

On one of the cliffs, a white goat stood straight and tall against the blue sky.

“Tak!”

Ellicinderpart’s shout brought her uncle out of his book.

“What’s wrong?”

His wife answered before Ellicinderpart had a chance. “Her goat is up on that ridge. What is he doing there?”

Uncle Stemikenjon leaned forward to look out the window. “It’s not so far from their house.”

Aunt Tiffenbeth whipped around to face Ellie. “Do you come this way when you take the goats to pasture?”

“Never. The path to this side of the mountain crosses Crooked Gorge. You have to walk all the way down and then climb all the way up the other side. Very few plants grow in the gorge, so the herd doesn’t feed well.”

Uncle Stemikenjon glowered out the window. “Who took over your job as goatherd?”

“Gustustharinback.”

“Would he be foolish enough to cross Crooked Gorge?”

“I think he’s foolish enough,” answered Ellicinderpart, “but too lazy.”

Aunt Tiffenbeth took a turn leaning forward to improve her view of the rough hillside. “Stemikenjon, you must have the driver stop. Ellicinderpart must do something about Tak.”

“Nonsense!” her husband blustered. “The goat got here on his own, and he can very well find his way back.”

“But this goat is special, like my Niffy. You know how distressed I would be if dear Niffy were in danger.”

“Indeed I do. You treat that cat as if she were worth something, and I tell you, she’s not.”

Ellie smiled as her aunt and uncle bickered over her aunt’s spoiled feline. Ellie had met the cat when the family journeyed all the way to the relatives’ house for a feast day. Niffy, looking fluffy and elegant, had never shown any friendliness to her family, and the family had no opinion of the cat. But Aunt Tiffenbeth made a great deal over the pleasure and companionship the cat bestowed upon her. Ellie didn’t feel a “great love and admiration” for her goat as Aunt Tiffenbeth felt for her cat, but she didn’t want anything to happen to Tak either.

“Silly goat,” she muttered. The last thing she wanted was to interrupt her trip before it had barely begun to take care of a goat that should be at home, or at least in the pasture near home, with Gustustharinback.

Uncle Stemikenjon used his cane to bang on the front of the carriage above Ellie’s head. The driver hollered, “Slow!” in a loud and long, stretched-out way. The coach lost speed and came to a stop.

“Oh no!” Ellie looked frantically from her aunt to her uncle. “What are we going to do?”

“You,” said her uncle as he opened the door, “are going to see to the goat. Take Tak home.”

Ellie felt all the joy drain from her, leaving a sad, hollow shell that wanted to wail. She was much too old, of course, to disgrace herself with sobs and rivers of tears.

“No, no,” said Aunt Tiffenbeth. “Home is too far from here. You would never catch up. Take Tak to the Hopperbattyhold family, and pay one of those boys to return your goat to the farm.”

Ellicinderpart relaxed a little. Taking the goat to the Hopperbattyhold home would only take a little time. She could get there and back in under an hour if she scampered.

“I don’t have any money,” she said.

Aunt Tiffenbeth dug deep into the folds of her elaborate skirt, where a pocket held her cloth coin purse. She opened it and reached through the narrow neck with two fingers, pinched a coin, and brought it out. “There.” She placed the copper piece in Ellie’s hand and took a moment to carefully return her money to its hiding place.