The Warble Read Online Free

kettle that was sitting on top of the fire. As
the flowers fell in, the water in the kettle spat out the top. “Now, then,
let’s discuss matters while we wait on our tea.” He sat down in an armchair
across from Kristina and lit a pipe. “This silver ball… do you have it with
you?”
    Kristina reached inside
her pants pocket. “Yes―I have it right here. Want to see it?”
    “Yes, but let me get
the tea for us first.” He got up and poured the bright red tea into two cups
and handed one to her.
    Kristina stared at the
tea. “I love the color of it.” She took a sip of it. “Yum, this is good. It
tastes like…” she paused for a moment and then continued, “I can’t describe it
at all, but it’s very tasty.”
    “It’s fairy
blossom−very hard to come by nowadays.” The little man sat back down and
took a bunch of short puffs from his pipe. Then he stuck out his
knuckle-swollen hand, blew the smoke out and said, “The name’s Rumalock.”
    Trying not to cough,
Kristina took hold of his hand, shook it, and looked curiously at Rumalock.
    “What’s the matter?”
Rumalock dragged hard on his pipe.
    Kristina gulped down a
mouthful of tea. “Are you a human?” she asked timidly.
    Rumalock chuckled. “No,
I am what you would call a dwarf.”
    “Oh,” Kristina said
quickly and her pale-blue eyes quickly gravitated toward her cup.
    Rumalock chuckled
again. “No need to feel bashful, my dear. I’m sure you don’t run into many
dwarfs where you come from, and for that matter, I guess, I could say that I
don’t get the chance to meet many of your type either.”
    She took another sip of
her tea. “My name is Kristina.”
    Rumalock’s ice-blue
eyes tuned into half-moons as he smiled. “Pleased to meet you, Kristina.”
    Kristina stared at
Rumalock.
    Rumalock’s eyes turned
serious. “Now, should we take a look at the little ball?”
    “Oh, yes, of course.”
Kristina snapped out of her daze, took the silver ball out of her pocket, and
dropped it onto Rumalock’s open palm. He held his eyeglasses with his other
hand and peered down at it. He rolled it around and then clasped his hand
tightly shut around it.
    “Yup! It is the one.
This, my dear, is a very special day, to say the least,” Rumalock said.
    “Why’s that?” Kristina
looked confused.
    “This ball is called
the Warble. It is what everyone in our land has been waiting for, for many
years,” Rumalock said excitedly. Then, looking very serious, he narrowed his
eyes. “After it was given to you, did anyone else come into contact with it or
even with anything that it was stored in?”
    Kristina had to think
for a moment. “Yes, three people, to be exact. Wait a minute, four, if you
include my pet rat, Raymond.” She started to count on her fingers. “So it would
be Graham Kepler, Hester Crumeful, Davina Pavey, Raymond, and, of course, me.”
     “My, my, that
many, and a rat too. This could make matters very complicated.”
    “How so?”
    Rumalock placed the
Warble back in Kristina’s hand. “After the Warble was given to you, whoever
touched it or even anything it touched, like a container it may have been
resting in, will be brought here.”
    “Where is here?”
    “The place you are in,
child, is called Bernovem.” Rumalock took another long drag off his pipe and
blew out a large number of perfectly round smoke rings. Seeing them, Kristina
couldn’t resist poking her finger through them. Rumalock chuckled as she did
so. Then he got out of his chair, walked to the fireplace, and took a dusty
book off the mantel.
    Kristina watched him,
curiously. “What is that?”
    “This, my dear, is the
Book of Prophecy, and it is the only one in Bernovem.” He opened it and ran his
finger along the page. “Ah ha! Here it is, just as predicted: Kristina ,”
he read.
    “Do you mean I’m in
that book?” Kristina got up off the couch and walked over to him.
    Rumalock pointed his
finger on the page. “ Kristina ,” he read again. He