Page 22 of Ogres Don't Play

“I heard what happened,” Anna’s redheaded daughter, Gabriela said, sitting down next to me. “The goblins are getting bolder every year. Do you want me to start a litigation against them for you? I would consider it a great honor.”

“I don’t think it was goblins,” Anna said, dropping down in the seat to my left so I was pinned in by the two most terrifying women I knew. I felt perfectly at home there.

Gabriela tsked. “Mom, of course it was goblins. You know as someone who survived a goblin attack that the methods they use are consistent with the attack on Music Master Mirabel.”

Anna said, “I only survived because they chose not to kill a pregnant woman. And you know the goblins are working on their public image right now. If goblins really were behind the attack, they’ll be ripping apart their own ranks looking for whoever was stupid enough to take that kind of contract. Goblins aren’t stupid. I think it was either someone who hates goblins and wanted to stir up the ogres to take them apart, or someone who used goblins to hide behind. It could be both.” She took a sushi roll and popped it into her mouth, chewing with obvious pleasure.

I studied her before my sushi came, considering the implications, and then I was eating. I was so hungry. For some reason other things came, like a salad, and a nourishing lentil soup. I ate those too between sushi while Anna, Libby, and Gabby talked about the goblin assassination. None of them brought up that it might be from my father’s enemies. Was it not a goblin attack after all?

I was so tired and kept glancing up at the door every time someone came in. It took me a few times for me to realize who I was looking for.

Rook the Luthier.

Ugh. Seriously? Why was I so stupidly attached to someone I’d barely met? Maybe because he’d saved my life and was a legend of musical mastery. And he had the prettiest eyes and the most stunning smile, and his voice was like happiness made sound. I’d probably terrified him with my kissing, with my awkward confession of my own lack of ability to play the field like an ogre. Basically, I was the total package. Someone kill me now.

But not goblins. I really couldn’t allow them to get away with that attack on Singsong’s Music Master. They had to respect the position, even if I had stolen it outright.

Chapter

Nine

The music hall was glowing when I got there, struggling out of the back seat of the lush car at dusk, hanging onto Yaga while moisture filled the air, not quite a drizzle, but heavy water that gave all the streetlights a magical nimbus.

“Who left all the lights on?” I asked, walking carefully down the sidewalk to the main building, where every window positively blazed with light. Electric bills were a serious obstacle in my life. Oh, that’s right. It was catering day, the one day a week when the finest caterers filled the music hall with food. Starving musicians couldn’t resist that. I wanted to go around back, up to my room and straight to my bed, but I had to introduce Lanise and get her settled into her quarters first.

There were some small cots in an attic above the kitchen, probably for servants we hadn’t had for a century, but they weren’t ogre-sized. They were also incredibly old, probably rat-infested…But didn’t ogres eat rats? That was another thing. She hadn’t eaten sushi, but if I had to feed an ogre, that would get expensive very fast. Happily, it was catering, a.k.a. training day.

“Music Master Mirabel,” the sweet reporter that the mayor was blackmailing said, standing up from her place on the broadstone railing where she’d been sitting, knitting in the light from the sconces on either side of the large oak doors.

“Oh. Hi. I never got your name,” I said, trying to straighten up and not look like I was injured. “Is this good knitting weather?” I asked, glancing up through the branches of the surrounding trees to the dark sky.

“I’m Delphi Era. I think that it’s always good knitting weather. I’m afraid it’s a bit of a compulsion for me. It helps me deal with stress. I have some anxiety,” she admitted, apologetically.

“That’s a lovely name. Please come in, Delphi. We’ll find somewhere warm to sit and talk about the Jubilee. That’s why you’re here, right?” She might be here to ask about the goblin attack, but hopefully Rook had kept his questions about the attack subtle enough that it wasn’t common knowledge, particularly who the attacked parties had been.

Lanise followed me in, giving the reporter a careful once-over like she might be a secret assassin in disguise. I pushed open the double doors and walked into the shining hall. It was filled with my musicians, all of them looking up at me when they felt the draft, then they gasped like I was a ghost.

Yaga felt my tension and burst into flames. I tossed her into the air and then pulled the reporter and Lanise in further before she came down on us.

I used my diaphragm so everyone heard me. “Excuse my absence. I’ve been gone arranging some very special surprises. I’m so glad that all of you are here. First, I have a new assistant, Lanise, who endeavors to grow her musical talents.” I looked around expectantly until people slowly started clapping, staring in shock at the ogre, and then when they’d petered off, I continued. “I have also made arrangements with an elite stone mason guild to continue the restoration of our beloved building.”

This time, the cheers were more enthusiastic. When those died off, I cleared my throat.

“And finally, I have an announcement to make that I never dreamed I’d be able to say, and that is that the greatest artisan of our time, of all time, has agreed to work with our music hall, in restoring it to its former glory, including the organ hall. I am so honored to announce the accord I have with none other than Rook the Luthier.”

There was silence in the hall for a good five beats before it erupted into absolute mayhem. Tiago came up to me, glancing at Lanise, and then the reporter, who was looking at me with keen eyes. Hopefully I’d meant those announcements to be extremely public. Well, yes, I had. I needed Rook the Luthier as a name, to help me maintain my Music Hall, particularly in the face of the music guild’s representative being murdered while investigating said hall.

Tiago studied me with his monocle while his eyes gleamed intently. “Truly, you have come bearing excellent tidings, particularly in the face of such shocking news. You did hear that the music guild representative has been murdered by a goblin attack in Song, didn’t you?”

I gasped loudly, so everyone, including the reporter, could see my absolute shock at the news. “I see. So this is also a gathering of mourners for our fine departed Cutter. I am deeply grieved to hear the news, but I can only say that the violence will not be tolerated, and we will not cower in fear. We will face these monsters and defeat them. Let us use this tragedy to unite in music and song during the upcoming Jubilee. We will play in Cutter’s memory, and we will overcome the evils that threaten to swallow the light.”

I walked directly through the hall, smiling at everyone, particularly those who tried not to meet my eyes because they hadn’t done any musical maintenance for a month, but had stillshown up for catering day. I made a note of those who had particularly languished in their duties, so I could follow up on them in the coming weeks. I glanced at Lanise. Hm. Having an ogre companion would make pressing people into their duty almost too easy.

“We’ll stop in the food hall so you two can get refreshments before we talk,” I said, leading them to the right, and then cutting in line to stack up plates of food that I handed to Lanise and Delphi, smiling at all the musicians who didn’t object to my rudeness. No, they only wanted to know if it was true, if Rook the Luthier would actually be in our music hall.

I just smiled and filled more plates, until we had all we could carry, and then I led the other two out of the food hall, then past the classrooms, and towards the back stairs that were much less grand than the main stairs, but much tighter and faster to get from one floor to the next.

Finally, we reached the level with my bedroom on it. I went into the small sitting room outside my room, and then summoned Yaga and threw her into the fireplace. She squawked and burst into flames, which started the kindling I’d left there, waiting for just such an occasion. There were heaters and electricity, but the bills got so expensive, and there was nothing better than a cozy fire to put your feet up to.

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