Old One’s face creased into an even more fearsome scowl. “I don’t remember the details of the bottles. One was small and the other surrounds the city.”
Ellie sat on a stack of books. “Yes, that’s right. One holds the memories of all the people outside the bottle, the ones who came to the city to see what the urohms had built.”
“I remember that time. The city was glorious. Bree Dan had the hull of the ship packed with art and instruments and books. He brought an ample supply of material, not only for clothing but also for constructing the fine furniture we’d left at home.” His face softened, and he sipped his tea. “Urohms are master carpenters and inventors of all sorts of machines, things that save time and effort and money.”
Ellie arched her eyebrows but tried to make her voice soft, not accusing. “Isn’t that what got you in trouble with the wizard?”
Old One’s teacup clattered against the saucer as he put it down. “Utter nonsense! Wulder was never displeased with our cleverness. He encourages innovation. He takes delight in the work of our hands as we master different aspects of His world. The wizard should know that. After all, the wizards get the power to do incredible feats through knowledge of how Wulder has established the universe. A good wizard only manipulates what Wulder has already given. Their first rule is ‘Do Not Destroy.’ ”
Old One stuck out his lower lip.
“Did you think of something sad?” asked Ellie.
“Disappointing.”
“But you remembered something, and that’s good.”
“It’s easier to remember things from long ago. Harder to keep track of yesterday and the day before.”
Ellie watched his face and saw confusion as he tried to remember something. The confusion gave way to frustration, and she wondered how to distract him. A question had been on her mind since she first met him. She used her gentlest voice. “Why can’t you remember your name?”
“You are a clever one. It’s from long ago. You’d think I could remember. It would make more sense if I could.” He closed his eyes and tilted his head back. He breathed deeply several times, then let his chin drop and reopened his eyes. “It’s no use. I can’t grab it from the pesky thoughts that flitter in no pattern around my tired brain. I think the wizard took my name from me.”
“I bet Orli knows what it is.”
Old One made a growling noise in his throat. “He’s not allowed to tell me. If he does, the wizard will take him away, and I’ll have no one.”
“I think there’s a good chance that Bealomondore and I will be around for a while.”
“Of course you will. Can’t get out, can you?” He chuckled.
She gritted her teeth at his smugness. Did Old One still have enough reasoning to deliberately keep them from discovering the clues that would lead to their escape? She couldn’t blame him for wanting company, although he never played the part of gracious host. But she had places to go and a coronation to attend and a wedding to see.
She didn’t want to spend the rest of her days bottled up in Rumbard City. If she couldn’t marry Bealomondore, she didn’t want to be continually tempted by their romantic relationship. The man was the most charming she’d ever met. He made her toes curl when he kissed her.
She wanted out!
Fleeing the emotions that confused her, she sought another subject. “Is Orli better this morning?”
“He went with Bealomondore and several of the other dragons to fetch breakfast.”
“Didn’t it arrive upstairs for you to bring down?”
Old One glared at her. “I’ve suffered a trauma to my system. It was all I could do to bring myself down. Bealomondore made tea.”
Ellie shivered at the thought of the black beasts. “Have you ever seen those wusstbunter things before?”
“Of course I have. The wizard thinks them.”
“He must be a very disagreeable wizard.”
“No, he’s ordinary.”
Ellie felt her eyes widen. “An ordinary wizard? I shouldn’t think those two words go together.”
“I mean he’s like most wizards. Bent on doing what pleases Wulder, but weak enough to fall into doing exactly what doesn’t please Wulder.”
“But sending those wusstbunters is evil.”
“He doesn’t send them. Not on purpose anyway.”
“I guess you’re going to have to give me more information.”
Old One’s face sagged, and he looked incredibly sad. Again, Ellie came close to hug his leg, carefully avoiding bumping the tray this time.
“You wouldn’t believe it now,” said Old One, “but I used to be quite a talker. Too many years alone, I guess. Too much confusion in my brain.” He sighed. “I’ll try.”
“I appreciate it.”
“Bree Dan crossed the wizard, determined to do things his own way. At the time, I was caught up in the plans and didn’t weigh the consequences of our actions. You see, the wizard’s plan was actually Wulder’s plan. So by tossing aside what the wizard told us to do, we tossed away what Wulder had ordained. That’s a pretty serious act of disobedience. But we didn’t see it, although all of us knew better. We made plans, and we rushed forward.”
“I don’t know much about Wulder.” Knowing the urohms had a great reverence for Wulder, Ellie watched Old One’s face to see if that admission bothered him. He appeared not to be disturbed by her confession, so she continued. “Last night, when we did the healing circle with Laddin, I felt His presence, and I don’t ever want to be too far from that feeling. I want to learn more about Him. What I did come to know in that brief encounter is that Wulder is good, not someone to be afraid of.”
“He is good. In fact, in the Tomes, it is said that there is no hint of darkness in Him. He casts away evil.” Old One nodded his head, seemingly lost in thought.
Ellie was about to suggest that she find Bealomondore when the urohm spoke again.
“Wulder doesn’t have a temper so much as a clear-cut sense of right and wrong. When something is wrong, He will do what is necessary to make it right.”
“Like what?”
Old One was silent. Ellie waited, wondering if he would continue with his explanation. He picked up his cup.
“My tea is cold.”
“Do you want me to get you some more?”
“No. If you go away, I may forget what it is that I have to tell you.” He grabbed the tray and twisted to set it down on the table at his elbow. “Come sit on the arm of the chair.”
He helped her get situated before continuing.
“Have you ever taken care of a baby?” he asked.
Ellie rolled her eyes. “I am the oldest of eight. I’ve taken care of lots of babies.”
“Suppose you came to the cradle and found a dozen snakes in with the babe. What would you do?”
“I’d scream and pull them out. I’d probably stomp on them or whack them with something.”
Old One nodded. “Only the venom would hurt the baby. Why kill the snakes?”
“The snakes carry the poison. The baby could be killed.”
He nodded again. “The horror you feel toward the snakes is something like the horror Wulder feels when evil threatens His good creation. Sometimes He acts swiftly, and sometimes He allows time to pass as the situation unfolds. With His great wisdom, He knows which method is best in each circumstance.”
“I think I understand what you’re telling me, but I am not sure how it relates to the wizard’s wusstbunters.”
“Is that what we were talking about?”
“Yes.”
“I’m afraid I don’t remember.”
“You said that the wizard is not evil but ordinary and that he doesn’t really send the wusstbunters to harm you.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
Ellie fought down her impatience. “Then why do they come?”
Old One looked her in the eye. “Have you ever said something that you wouldn’t have said if you’d thought about it before you opened your mouth??
??
She nodded. “Oh yes, plenty of times.”
“But you’re learning to control your tongue?”
“It’s hard.”
“Yes, I agree. But we can clamp our lips together and forbid the uncharitable words to come forth.”
“Some people are better at that than others. Gramps would never say a hurtful thing. Ma rarely does. But Da not only says it, he says it loud and clear.” She made a face. “I used to speak way too often when I should have been quiet. I’m learning.”
“Consider the callous words you think. For the wizard, it does not matter if he immediately regrets his unsympathetic thoughts. They become the wusstbunters, and they take the first opportunity to attack the subject of the wizard’s displeasure.”
“Oh my.” Ellie took a moment to think of the many times she’d had cruel thoughts about her siblings. “None of my brothers or sisters would be alive today if wusstbunters flew from my mind.”
A fluttering noise caught their attention, and they both turned toward the back of the library. The dragons of the watch came into sight first, then Bealomondore and Tak. Orli flew to the armrest and perched next to Ellie.
She placed a hand on Orli’s back. “How do you feel?”
The answer came rapidly, and she had to concentrate to catch it all. The minor dragon had physically recovered, but emotionally, he was all atwitter. He told her his spiritual being had been assaulted and only because of his own negligence. He’d allowed Wulder to slip into a corner of his life where He was seldom thought of and seldom consulted.
The minor dragon reasoned that since he’d blocked out Wulder, Wulder wasn’t paying attention. With Wulder removed from the picture, then he, a lowly minor dragon, was in charge. The overwhelming weight of such responsibility had disabled him completely, befoozled him. He was paralyzed in a state of constant dither. He’d ignored his duties to the children and Old One. And humiliation had engulfed him, so he’d refused to tell all he knew to the newcomers.
“We’re the newcomers?”
With his eyes turned away, his shoulders signaling shame, and his head hanging so low that his chin touched his chest when he nodded, he looked so much like one of the high races, like one of her brothers when he’d been naughty, that she almost laughed.
“So what do you need to tell us?”
A rush of images almost knocked Ellie off her seat on the arm of Old One’s chair.
Dark tunnels. A key. Hidden closets. Bottles. A book bound in purple leather. A key. A gate. Dirty children. A sleeping wizard. Glass walls dissolving. A huge city decorated with colorful bunting. A key.
Ellie held her breath, but Bealomondore spoke, “You know the way out.”
Orli’s denial came swiftly, too swiftly for Ellie to understand his torrent of explanations. Bealomondore slowed him down with a series of questions.
“The key?”
“Opens door. Many keys, one door.”
“The tunnels?”
“Under city. Always been there. Old, very old.”
Bealomondore and Ellie looked at each other and said in unison, “The lost city of Tuck.”
“What’s this?” asked Old One. “I’ve never heard of any lost city.”
Bealomondore turned his attention away from the frantic minor dragon and addressed the old urohm. “Tuck is a legend, but many believe the legend is based on fact. Tumanhofers lived underground centuries ago. They built entire cities with elaborate tunnels and snug dens carved into the earth. Most were close to the surface and, once abandoned, collapsed, making odd valleys in the landscape. But the lost city of Tuck is said to remain intact. The underground tumanhofer city was not so deep in the earth, so it did not have tons of dirt weighing down on the ceilings. And rock walls supported everything.”
Orli forced his mindspeaking into the conversation, interrupting Old One.
“Yes, yes! Homes, tunnels, lightrocks.” He bounced.
Ellie had never seen the minor dragon so excited. His usual calm made the other minor dragons seem exuberant. Some of them now wore befuddled expressions as they stared at Orli.
“Do we need the keys to get into the tunnels?”
Orli drooped, his previous enthusiasm zapped by the question.
Again, Bealomondore and Ellie responded with the same words. “Don’t worry. We’ll find it.”
Ellie’s head hurt. She’d been straining to get as much information as possible out of the dragons of the watch. The glimpses of their thoughts in pictures and the garbled string of words came at a rapid tempo. Bealomondore’s talent for mindspeaking shored up hers, but even with that boost, she deciphered little.
The colorful dragons perched in no particular order all around the rotunda—some in trees, some on shelves, one on a cushion on the floor, and the rest on tables. Not only did they all mindspeak at once, but they also battered her from many different directions.
Old One snored softly from his chair, a book open in his lap. Tak, too, ignored the fuss.
Ellie would have liked a nap, a rest, anything to get away from this mental bombardment. She glanced at her tumanhofer friend. Lines marred his forehead, showing concentration. He looked up, and an idea formed between them. They needed a break.
Bealomondore held up a hand and stood. “We need to meet some children who were hurt yesterday.”
The clamor in Ellie’s mind abruptly ceased. Most of the dragons tilted their heads, waiting for more explanation.
Ellie eagerly reported the progress they’d made. “We were able to talk with three children yesterday. Soo-tie, Cinder, and Porky went with us to the apothecary shop. Laddin, would you go with us to heal their scrapes and bruises? I kept a few daggarts for our tea, but I promised the children I would bring them more. We’ll deliver those too.”
Bealomondore put a hand on her shoulder.
“Before we go, we should ask some questions of the watch and see if we can figure out a system whereby we can communicate during a crisis.”
Ellie beamed at Bealomondore. He’d remembered when she’d forgotten.
She turned a serious face to the gathering of the watch. “Several times we’ve needed you. Would one of you be able to locate the others in an emergency?” She felt the consensus among the dragons. They were capable of the task but hesitant for some reason. She plowed on. “Could you arrange for at least one of you to be with us at all times?
Silent tension spread across the rotunda. Ellie turned to Bealomondore. What’s wrong?
“I’m not sure.” He studied the eight dragons for a moment. “I think they’re having a conference, deciding what to do.”
Do you hear them?
“Not really, just a hum.”
Can’t you ask Det or Laddin what’s going on?
“They aren’t open to my mindspeaking. It would seem that there is some watch protocol that we have abused.”
Old One snorted, and Ellie jumped. Still sound asleep, he wagged his head back and forth, mumbled, then settled down again.
At that moment the giant of a man reminded her of her somewhat scrawny Gramps. “I don’t like leaving him alone with those wusstbunters showing up.”
The minor dragons flew into the air, circled the huge round skylight, then came to rest in a line across one table.
Orli addressed them, and Ellie knew Bealomondore heard the same words and received the same pictures.
As newly appointed leader, he would negotiate the duties. The others had chosen him because he was the oldest, and if they were to go somewhere dark, he would already be in the lead since he was the only one who glowed.
Both Bealomondore and Ellie thought the reasoning behind the choice amusing, but they refrained from laughing. Ellie refused to look at her friend lest she giggle.
Orli stated that the number of the patrol watch would be reduced to four, the chosen minor dragons touring an established part of the city. They had marked off each territory roughly, according to the points of the compass.
Laddin would
stay with the tumanhofers. Orli would stay with Old One. The two remaining dragons would pursue information about Tuck and the keys and any means of escape.
Orli finished his announcement with pictures of gloom. He did not think the extra activity would yield any results. They would all live in Rumbard City until the end of their days.
Soosahn hobbled across the table, imitating a very old man walking. He tottered on his rear legs and even held one front leg out as if he used a cane. His yellow and orange scales flashed in the sun. Laughter filled Ellie’s head.
With her eyes opened wide, she looked at Bealomondore for confirmation. Am I hearing the minor dragons laugh?
“Yes, isn’t it a merry sound?”
She giggled, then laughed out loud.
She heard Orli’s admonition not to wake Old One. He needed his naps.
Bealomondore took her arm and guided her out of the rotunda and to the children’s area. They packed a few daggarts in a cloth bag and went outside, followed by seven dragons and a goat.
Laddin flew ahead of Ellie and Bealomondore as they made their way to the apothecary shop. Tak tagged along, examining flower boxes and piles of debris along the way.
“Someone cleans up,” said Bealomondore.
Ellie surveyed the street. “They don’t do a very thorough job.”
“Consider how long it has been since adults were in charge. The accumulated trash is minimal.”
“Maa.” Tak had stopped beside a mixed pile of leaves, paper, and cloth. He looked at Ellie, then lowered his head to nose through the mess.
Bealomondore changed directions to investigate. “What did you find, Tak?”
The goat caught hold of something in his mouth and pulled it out of the pile.
Ellie gasped. “Oh! My snood. I’ve never gotten to wear it. I’ve never had a snood before. I’ve never even worn one.”
Tak brought her the intricately netted bag that would have adorned her hair on special occasions. She would have worn it with her day dress when she and her aunt did the promenade. Tak carried it in his teeth and gave it up readily when she reached for it.
She turned it over in her hands. “There are only a few little snags. I can mend it.”