The Flute Keeper's Promise (The Flute Keeper Saga) (9 page)

“Sorry,” Anouk said. “No trainees
are allowed in the cathedral today. All the senior priests and priestesses are
in council.”

“Council about what?”

“The effort to spread knowledge of
magical defense and the use of charms to outlanders,” Garland said. “It was
Father’s idea, actually. He suggested they form some kind of traveling mission
to set up workshops in the villages so people will feel safer. The Seelie Court
doesn’t like it, though, so that’s why they’re having a council.”

“Figures,” I said. Now I was out of
ideas. If I couldn’t get into the orchard or my Spirit Mentor, I didn’t know
what to do.

“Well,” Garland said with a little
bow to Anouk, “guess I’ll be on my way.”

“Oh, you don’t have to, I was just
leaving,” I said.

“No, no, there’s work to be done,”
Garland said, coloring slightly. “Good day, ladies.”

I watched him leave with much
interest. There was a bounce in his step and if my ears didn’t deceive me, he
was humming a cheery melody.

“Delightful young man,” Anouk said.

“He’s not much younger than you,” I
pointed out.

Flustered, Anouk tried to refill
the water bucket but forgot to tie off the rope. The bucket dropped to the
bottom of the well. “Oh bother!”

“Let me get that,” I said, trying
not to laugh. I leaned over the well and focused on the bucket floating at the
bottom. It was harder to pull items to me rather than to repel them, but I’d
been working on it. The complicated part was projecting a barrier between two
distant objects. I had been practicing, though, and it paid off.  The bucket
sprang out of the well. I handed it to Anouk.

“Much obliged,” Anouk said. “Oh,
almost forgot!” She reached into her robe pocket and pulled out something
wrapped in a handkerchief. She handed it to me.

Inside the handkerchief was a
savory slab of pastry speckled with seeds and nuts.

“Crispy bread!” she sang. “I told
you I’d save you some.”

The hearty aroma of the bread made
my stomach rumble. I’d been in such a hurry to get to the cathedral that I’d
skipped out on breakfast. “Do you have time to eat with me?” I asked.

Anouk wiped her brow and hoisted
the water bucket. “Afraid not. I already ate and I’m behind on my chores. Go
enjoy your free time. With the clergy in council you’ve got the day off. That
doesn’t happen very often, especially once you’re inducted.”

The looming deadline of my induction
dampened my spirits. I tried to look on the bright side. Joining the clergy
would give me access to a world of knowledge I couldn’t have otherwise. There
was much yet to be discovered. At times, I thought my life and Ivywild’s safety
depended on it. Certainly the knowledge I needed to defeat Robyn wasn’t going
to fall out of the sky and hit me over the head.

“I only hope I can be as devoted as
you after I’m inducted,” I said. “But…”

“But what?” Anouk asked.

“But I still want to know why the
clergy can’t have children.”

“Emma—” Anouk said wearily.

“Can you imagine how smart your and
Garland’s kids would be?”

“Off with you!” Anouk said, turning
red as cherry.

I wasn’t about to waste my day. I
had a conversation to continue with Lev. I was surprised that he hadn’t come to
talk me after my return from Avalon. It wasn’t uncommon for him to show up on
my balcony at odd hours of the night. The bread lady had gotten that part
right, but like all rumors the truth wasn’t so juicy. Except for one ill-fated
attempt to use my bathtub, Lev had never set foot in my room. I suspected it
had a lot to do with the fact that I shared a suite with Chloe who, in addition
to being nosy, had never learned to knock.

Lev’s room, on the other hand, was
much more secluded.

The labyrinth hadn’t changed one
bit in all the time I had been at Ivywild. It was still dark as a starless
night and smelled of dank earth. Fortunately I didn’t have to go very far into
the winding corridors to reach Lev’s room. Not much more than a hole in the
wall, the little den housed one table, one hammock and usually one sleeping
manticore.

Today Lev wasn’t home and Ulf was
nowhere to be seen. I was disappointed. Lev usually stayed in his den during
the daytime. If he wasn’t there, he was at W.R.A.I.T.H.

Othella had excluded me from
practically all W.R.A.I.T.H. business. Now that I had seen behind the cloak of
the secret organization, I wanted in for good. I felt as though I’d been kicked
outside and they’d bolted the door behind me. Not so with Lev. Othella was only
too happy to keep him tied up with mysterious jobs. I tried not to let it
bother me. After all, it was good that Lev had something to keep him occupied.
He got restless and cranky whenever he was bored.

With a sigh I settled into Lev’s
hammock. Chloe would be busy for a while yet and I had nothing better to do
than wait. I lay on my back and stared at the stone ceiling. Lev had taught me
that all Slaugh slept in hammocks. It was more comfortable on their folded
wings. They couldn’t sleep in a bed without lying on their stomachs and
that
was unheard of.

“
Never leave your back open to
ambush
.”

Lev’s words flitted back to me like
so many lessons he’d taught me the past few years: “
Take nothing for
granted. Assume your enemy knows everything that you know. Don’t be afraid to
let go
.”

I had absorbed the lessons by being
around him, but I wondered what he’d gone through to gain such insights. The
dark notion that he was more than he let on bugged me again.

 Part of a map was etched onto the
ceiling. It was the labyrinth. Lev had been charting it in his spare time. He
had carved little notations and labels in a few places. They were in Sithean.
The fact that he was literate in the written language of Fay nobles had always astounded
me.

The room was dark and quiet. I was
all alone. The opportunity to snoop was too tempting. I rose and lit a lantern.
It threw shadows all around. I saw nothing out of the ordinary in the dim glow.
Spare shirts and underclothes lay folded on the table. The shelf where Lev kept
his weapons was empty. Wherever he was, he was fully armed.

There was nothing to snoop. I
chided myself. Lev was trustworthy. It was childish of me to be so suspicious. He
was my friend. He could never be more than that, so what did it matter if he
didn’t reveal every little thing to me?

It always stung to admit it. By
choosing to serve Ivywild in the clergy, I’d defined the terms of our
relationship. Once I was inducted, there would be no going back. To renounce my
place would bring shame and banishment—just like my grandfather.

I picked up one of Lev’s shirts off
the table. It was well worn with a few stains here and there. The cloth carried
the familiar scents of earth and boy...and something else. Puzzled, I took a
long sniff. This time I recognized the faint scent of the ocean. The fabric was
gritty with embedded sand.

Curious, I rubbed some of the sand
between my fingertips. What reason did Lev have to be down by the ocean? Unless
it had something to do with W.R.A.I.T.H., it didn’t make any sense. Resentment
reared its head again. I felt excluded.

Then I remembered that W.R.A.I.T.H.’s
head of research was just upstairs, next door to my own room.

Bazzlejet was in his maid garb. It
looked as though he was supposed to be sweeping Chloe’s floor but instead he
was screeching a tune and dancing with the broom. He did not notice me as I
tiptoed in. I crouched beside a chest of drawers and watched him.

Bazzlejet gyrated as he sang,
occasionally knocking perfume bottles off tables and stumbling over rugs.

“Oopsie,” he said as his stuffed
bosom knocked a vase off a nightstand. The vase crashed and broke into pieces.
Bazzlejet looked around quickly and then swept the pieces under Chloe’s bed.
“To bad I’m not and Enchanter.”

He looked around again to make sure
nobody saw. Chuckling, he congratulated himself.

A buzzing noise suddenly erupted
from his dress. He jumped. After a few seconds he calmed himself. He reached
into his blouse and pulled out a closed clamshell.

He flicked open the shell and said,
“This is Special Agent Hotstuff.”

I sprang out and knocked him over
with a barrier. He toppled to the floor and the shell phone sailed through the
air. I caught it before it landed and put my ear to it.

“What was that?” said an unfamiliar
female voice on the other end. “Agent Hotstuff, do you copy?”

“Copy,” I said, mimicking
Bazzlejet’s voice as best I could. “I just had a little spill.”

“Get it together, Hotstuff,” said
the caller. “We need you back at HQ by moonhigh tonight. We’re expecting to rendezvous
with the transport team by sunrise.”

Hungry for all the information I could
get, I said, “Transport team?”

“Yeah. Oh, and J and W said they
have some new blueprints for you.”

THWACK! Bazzlejet smacked me over
the head with one of the pillows he’d used to stuff his dress. The shell phone
flew out of my hands and he grabbed it.

“Please repeat,” Bazzlejet squawked
into the phone.

Reeling, I regained my footing and
tackled Bazzlejet at knee-level.

“Close communications,” he shouted
into the shell phone. He tumbled over and the phone went skidding across the floor.
By the time I recovered it, the person on the other end was gone.

“What is your problem?” Bazzlejet
said, straightening his wig. He found his pillow and stuffed it back down the
front of his dress.

“Who was that?” I said. “What
blueprints?”

“None of your business, Missy.
Owwww!” He rubbed his shoulder. “Why’d you have to hit me so hard?”

“Just tell me what’s going on!” I
said. “What is W.R.A.I.T.H. up to and why does it involve Lev? He’s there now,
isn’t he? He’s always there.”

Bazzlejet grinned. “Oh, so that’s
why you’re in a tizzy? Sorry, but I don’t know anything about your boyfriend.
I’ve got my own orders thankyouverymuch.”

“Then what are
your
orders?”
I asked in exasperation. “Who are J and W?”

“I dunno, I’ve never actually met
them in person,” Bazzlejet said. “And I wouldn’t tell you if I did know. I’m
afraid I can’t be persuaded.”

“Please, Agent Hotstuff,” I said,
trying a sweet, coaxing tone. “I’m not an outsider. I’ve been inside
W.R.A.I.T.H. What can it hurt to tell me?”

“But you
are
an outsider,”
Bazzlejet said. “Last time I checked, you were still in line to be a priestess,
right? So you’re on the outside. And that’s where you belong. Boss says it’s
the best place for you.”

I couldn’t hide the anger that
crept into my voice. “Othella said that? Is she trying to protect me again? I
don’t want to be protected!”

“Shhhh!” Bazzlejet hissed. “Chloe’s
coming.”

I heard the click of Chloe’s
high-heeled slippers in the hallway. Bazzlejet ran to a mirror to check his
disguise.

An army of attendants and Pixies
followed the princess. She was dictating orders to them.

“See to it that they have enough
food. I don’t want them living on wild roots and mud,” Chloe said to a Gnome
who was scribbling furiously on a piece of parchment.

“Shall I put out a flyer?” asked a
hovering Pixie. “I could forward a message to all stops on their route.”

“Excellent,” Chloe said. “Make it
so. Ah, Emma!”

I tried to return the greeting but
the royal entourage besieged Chloe with questions.

“You have your orders!” Chloe
shouted to her staff. “Direct all further inquiries to Lord Finbarr. I’m
retiring until dinner.” She shut the door on the small crowd.

“Princess!” Bazzlejet exclaimed in
his grating girl voice. “How was the council?”

Chloe glared at him. “Why are you
still here? Go busy yourself with something.”

“Will do, Your Highness!”

Chloe rolled her eyes as Bazzlejet
skipped away to an adjoining parlor. I kept a close watch on him. I hoped to
follow him to his clandestine meeting later that night.

Sweeping a hand to her forehead,
Chloe sprawled out on a fat, pink cushion. “Ugh!”

“Did it go that badly?” I asked.

“Yes and no,” Chloe said. “The
Seelie Court was as stubborn as I expected. They said they didn’t want our best
and brightest leaving the castle to share precious expertise with
commoners
.
They absolutely refused to give up any of the clergy for such a mission.”

“Uh oh,” I said. “So what’s the
good news?”

Chloe sat up and grinned
triumphantly. “The good news is that I can commission private parties to do my
bidding! You should have seen Kesper’s face when I quoted that bit of policy to
him! Lord Finbarr volunteered immediately. Things got nasty when Kesper pointed
out that the last time a Finbarr was in charge of a mission…well you know what
happened.”

Fury shot through me so fast that I
almost produced a barrier. “That insensitive jerk! How dare he bring up Florrie?”

“I know!” Chloe said. “I almost set
his robe on fire for that. Lord Finbarr was a good sport, though. He said he’d
see if he could rouse up any more ‘traveling buddies’ and make plans for his
departure. I’m sure Garland will be joining him.”

“A small victory, at least,” I
said. “Maybe the outlanders will feel more secure when they know. When is he
leaving?”

“Two days time,” Chloe said.

“How long will he be gone?” I
asked.

“A month or two, most likely. As
long as it takes for things to settle down. Meanwhile Commander Larue has
expanded the search for Robyn. I’m supposed to meet with him at dinner to talk
about it. I told him you’d be there, too, seeing as you have that dagger. He
wants to know everything about your encounters with Robyn and the mechamen.”