Page 4 of Ogres Don't Play

“A rock? Don’t ogres like rocks, or is that trolls? Oh, trolls turn into rocks! Now I remember. No idea what ogres like, but you could offer a kiss.” She wiggled her eyebrows again, and I felt unsettled because I really had been obscenely close to so much absolute and utter strength. It was hard not to notice it personally. Still, he was an ogre. I was a daughter of the Holy Order of the Swords of Truth, even if I was hiding from my family.

I glanced one more time at the building’s roof, but the ogre was long gone. It was time for me to be as well.

We got to the street and a big black car was waiting for us. “This is ours,” Anna said, opening the back door for me. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride. You need your harp to be functional to be able to protect yourself with music, right?”

Not really. I was a daughter of the HOSTs. I could certainly kill using angelic runes and a little blood, not to mention hand-to-hand combat. Pity I couldn’t dissolve stones with my magic. I smiled instead of burdening her with any of that. “Thanks. It might rain again, and that does terrible things to my hair.”

She nodded sympathetically and climbed into the car. I climbed after her, holding Yaga to my chest while my heart pounded too fast. I was trying not to freak out about everything, but my harp was broken. After trauma, I liked to go to my room and cuddle my harp and play popular commercial jingles. Being nearly crushed by tons of rocks wasn’t the best way to end my day, particularly when my meeting with the mayor had been a disaster.

What if he reported me to the music guild, and they notified my dad before I was established? My father was the Commander of HOSTs, so while he probably wouldn’t have me put to death for running away from my guild, I’d be publicly humiliated andthen serve my penance, which would probably include marrying some lion like one my brother’s idiot friends. My life would be over. That was overly dramatic. It wouldn’t be awful because my father would make certain I was treated well, and after I had one child could pursue whatever hobbies I wanted, but I wanted to actually make a difference in the world, starting with saving Singsong City. I’d thought that I could follow in my dad’s ex’s footsteps. Hope was the Lieutenant of HARPs, and I’d begged my father for so long to let me join them once I realized I couldn’t put music away as a harmless hobby and become a true lion like my brother. But it turned out that slaughtering thousands with song wasn’t really my calling. It really, really wasn’t.

I’d planned on living Hope’s kind of life, working my way up the ranks until I took a husband from the HOST’s ranks and had the expected child before returning to active duty, but my dad’s second wife, my mother, who had died in childbirth, hadn’t given me the right kind of genetics for that. I’d always struggled to be the perfect soldier who never asked any questions, but my half-brother, Richard had always covered for me so I’d made it through my first sixteen years as an acolyte. My aim changed to the HARPs division because music was my true obsession. Hope had taught my brother music, the only thing they did together, so he’d taught me even though he wasn’t nearly as interested as I was, which was sad since he was twice as talented as me. He was a lion all the way. He’d probably eventually become the next Commander of HOSTs and he’d be perfect if he could stop being quite so dramatic. Then again, being a commander took a certain level of dramatic presentation.

Richard knew that I was in Singsong City, but so far he hadn’t told my dad. If he had, I wouldn’t be here, not when my position at the music hall was just me showing up and saying I was the new music master without actually being elected by the musicguild. Details. It would all work out. After I’d died from ulcers. And now I had rocks falling on me along with ogres, my least favorite infernal breed. There weren’t a lot of ogres in Singsong. I would have noticed. But I’d managed to run into two.

“You seem kind of upset,” Anna said, bringing me back to the car where I was squeezing Yaga too tight. I released my hold on the fowl and she shook herself and settled down to preen while I leaned against the backrest and shot my friend a glance.

“I thought I was handling the trauma with an extreme amount of composure.”

She snorted and grinned at me, making the scars across one cheek pull taut. “Sure you are. There’s a new sushi place in Song that Libby wants us to try it out. Are you free tomorrow? I’ll ask her to do research on ogres, specifically what would work as a thank-you.” She wiggled her eyebrows like a lunatic, because only a lunatic would find an ogre physically attractive. “She’s paying.”

When had I ever been able to turn down free sushi? I didn’t even try. I just smiled brightly. “I’m there. How are you doing? How’s the whole Grand Sorcerer thing?” She’d had terrible amnesia when we first met, but when she finally got her memories back, it turned out she was the Grand Sorcerer. Of the world. Usually I’d stay far away from sorcerers of any kind, but she was the sweetest person, even if she was filled with dark magic.

She pursed her lips thoughtfully while her eyes got kind of unfocused. “It’s a distraction from taking advantage of my husband’s body, but I delegate almost everything.” She shot me a grin while my cheeks heated up at the memory of the ogre’s very strong body holding up a building to save me. “You’re blushing. No doubt you’re too busy saving the music hall to have time for courtship. You could delegate some of that responsibility.”

“If I had the funds, I could hire more competent musicians that could take some weight, but as it is…” I slumped my shoulders. Now I had a Jubilee to do something about and that reporter to deal with. I did not need more responsibility without pay. Maybe it would be better to go home wrapped in chains than deal with the administration of an utterly corrupt city run by an evil fairy. The mayor was certainly nothing close to heavenly.

She patted my knee. “Don’t worry. We’re going to get sushi and we can talk about different ways to fund the guild. You’re going to be fine.”

After she dropped me off in front of the music hall, I was walking down the alley that led to the back areas, the big kitchen, and access to my quarters in the rear tower when Tiago, my classical guitar instructor, stepped out of shadows that had hidden him until he was right in front of me.

I gasped while my heart beat faster and I spread my hand, preparing a spell that would paralyze him along with a few bars of music.

I opened my mouth to lecture him for startling me, but he put a hand to his lips and nodded me back the way we’d come. We walked quickly down the cobbled street until we had gone half a block and were out of sight of the music hall before he turned to me, his eyes concerned.

“Music Master Mirabel, it seems that the music guild has sent a representative to make sure things are in order. Rather, they seem disappointed that it’s not as ruined as it was when you first arrived. When they didn’t send a new music master directly after our dearly departed Huckleberry died I wondered if they were withdrawing support through some deal with one of the guilds that would rather see Singsong City crumble to dust, but then they sent you, and you were so surprisingly and strangely competent that I put all thoughts of sabotage out ofmy mind, but this weasel poking around the music hall is Master Cutter. He’s the one they send when they want to shut down a hall whether it’s for political issues or whether it’s a falling-down wreck that is making the guild look bad.”

“He’s not bringing money?” I asked, while a flutter of panic stirred my most recent ulcers.

He narrowed his eyes. “Bringing money? Sometimes it seems as if you never spent any time with the music guild at all. You have to petition the guild for money, and they give it most reluctantly unless you have the means to threaten them with personal ties with one of the greater guilds, the Gray Society for example, or a position on the board cemented through years of political maneuvering.”

“It’s corrupt?” I blinked rapidly while all my plans crashed and burned. I sank down on the curb and Tiago sat down next to me.

“Most guilds are,” he said, patting my arm like he could see my panic rising higher and higher.

“Not the HOST.”

He shivered. “No, but only because they burn out any impurities of the soul with their angel magic. Whole guild is full of masochists. I heard that the current commander had to be forced to take the position.”

My dad was forced? What could old Tiago possibly know about it? He toyed with his monocle and studied the street while his long nose twitched. “Music Master Mirabel, I suggest that you avoid Master Cutter.”

“How can I avoid him when he’s at my music hall?” I should meet him and impress him with all that I’d accomplished, but if he was only here to destroy the hall… but why wouldn’t the guild not want all of their halls to be a success?

“Hm. He will finish his audit and then take his information with him back to the guild headquarters in Apple City. If hedoesn’t see you, he can’t tell you anything you don’t want to hear.”

It was almost like he knew I wasn’t the real Music Master of Singsong City, but didn’t mind being deceived and bossed around by a pretender. I sniffed with another upwelling of emotions and stress. I really didn’t need more feelings right then, but it was so nice of Tiago to try to keep me from being found out by the guild, and I’d put him through so much, dragging him out of his partial retirement teaching private lessons to Elven debutantes so that he could do grunt musical maintenance and instruct the lowly citizens of Singsong without pay.

The street got blurry until I wiped my eyes with the back of my arm. “Thank you, Tiago. I can stay in the?—”

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