Carnelian

Chapter 11

"Where have you come from?" asked Lady Carnelian of her impish friends each evening after they'd driven away the rats and then offered her food and drink.

The reply never hinted at what they had planned next. "Visiting the kennels," Ardelmon replied one evening.

Carnelian had no guess as to what that activity meant for the baron's household. After a fruitless mental scramble, she was forced to ask, "and where are you going next?" Helgamo held up a leather pouch. "To sprinkle all the fleas over the baron's bed." Overcome with mirth, the three of them were in danger of waking the guards.

Come morning, Carnelian couldn't resist calling up to the guards. "How fares everything?"

Though they hadn't given her anything to eat or drink after that first day, they checked regularly on her, seeming amazed by her spirit and unflagging energy, never guessing that it was Brownies that sustained her each evening rather than the magic they suspected her of possessing.

The guard chuckled. "You'll be joined shortly by the chambermaid. She's been neglecting her work and the bed was so full of fleas last night that his lordship is forced to spend time in a milk bath to ease the itch."

Sure enough, the hapless maid landed in the mud an hour or so later. "But I washed his bedding just last week," wailed the maid as she wiped mud from her face. "And I picked fleas yesterday." Pitying the girl, Carnelian assisted her efforts and led her to the stone bench. The mud had dried enough that the girl's fall had left an impression, but she hadn't entirely sunk below the surface.

"It's Brownies' work that causes the upheaval," Carnelian explained. "My king is wroth with the baron because I am here, so he sent two imps to torment him."

The news did not reassure her. The maid burst into tears. "What am I to do?" she cried. "How will any of us bear up under this? There will be no appeasing them, if the king of all fairies sent them!"

Carnelian offered the girl a quick hug. "Go home," she advised, shaking her head. "There is nothing else you can do. I think all of you will be far safer away from this keep than inside of it, when my king comes."

That night, the Brownies sprinkled the sand of Sleep over Carnelian's fellow prisoner before driving off the rats. The maid was asleep before Helgamo sent down the food but would awake,  Carnelian knew, as soon as she was fully rested. "Where have you been?" she asked them as she ate.

Helgamo turned his back, allowing Carnelian to see the pack filled with leaves. "Picking leaves in the forest," he said unnecessarily.

Before Carnelian could ask, Ardelmon piped up. "We're going to scrub all of the privy seats and chamber pots with them and leave the rest for wiping." Carnelian didn't need to be told that the leaves, red in color, were poison oak leaves.

Come morning, when Carnelian enquired of the guards, she was laughing too hard to form the proper words, telling them that she had some knowledge of what had happened. When she finally could explain to the chambermaid, the girl expressed her gratitude. There was no way she could be blamed for any of it and she hadn't been able to use the affected seats and leaves. Carnelian was pleased when the girl was released before dinner, greatly anticipating the Imps' next prank.

That night, Helgamo and Ardelmon were later than usual. They'd been in the stable, making all the horses go lame by removing a random shoe from each horse and replacing it with one formed of hard clay. The clay would remain as long as the horses were only walking and not being ridden, but as soon as a rider asked for more than a casual pace, the shoes would crumble. The horses would heal in time, the imps explained, but they wouldn't be able to be ridden for over a month, in the meantime.