Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve: On Laundry and Lubbock's Eggs

Charmain woke up early the next day because Waif rubbed her cold little nose against Charmain's ear, apparently thinking they should go to the royal residence as usual. "No, not to-day!" said Charmain. "The king is going to receive Prince Ludvik today. Go away, Waif, or I will turn into Isola and poison you to death! Or turn into Matilda and cast an evil spell on you. Go away!" Waif ran away sadly, but Charmain was already awake by then.Soon she got up from the bed, and in order not to get angry, she had to comfort herself that today she would be lazy and watch "The Wizard's Journey".

Peter got up too, and he had other ideas. "We're doing some laundry today," he said. "Did you find out? There are ten bags of clothes here now, and there are ten bags in Wizard Nolan's bedroom. I think there should be ten more bags in the pantry." Charmain looked wistfully at the laundry bags.She had to admit, they did fill the kitchen. "Let's get out of the way," she said. "It should be washed by those earth elves." "No, it's not," said Peter. "My mother said that if you don't wash, the dirty laundry will grow."

"We have washerwomen," Charmain said. "I can't wash things." "I'll teach you," said Peter. "Stop using ignorance as a cover." Charmain was very angry. She didn't know why Peter always asked her to work, but after a while, she ran to the water pump in the yard to pump water vigorously. After filling the bucket with water, Peter carried it to the laundry room. Poured into huge copper boilers.After about the tenth pail, Peter came back and said, "We're going to light the fire, but I can't find any fuel. Where do you think he put it?"

Charmain brushed away the sweaty hair from his face with weary hands. "Should be the same as the fire in the kitchen," she said. "Let me take a look." She walked towards the laundry room, thinking, if it doesn't work, we won't have to do the laundry.that would be great. "We just want something that burns," she told Peter. He looked around blankly.The only thing in the hut was a pile of wooden barrels and a box of soap flakes.Charmain looked under the stove, which was dark with the marks of previous burns.She looked at the barrel, it was too big.She looked at the soap flakes again, and decided that it was better not to risk another rain of bubbles.She went outside and broke a branch from a not-so-healthy tree.She put the branch into the black stove, tapped the brass rim, and said, "Fire!" Then, with a quick leap back, the flames rose from below. "All right," she said to Peter.

"Good," he said. "Now back to the water pump. We're going to fill the copper furnace with water." "Why?" said Charmain. "Since there are thirty packages of laundry to do, why ask," said Peter. "You have to fill these wooden tubs with hot water to soak the silk and woolen clothes. You also use water to rinse them. So lots and lots of buckets of water." "Unbelievable!" Charmain whispered to Waif, who was scurrying around nearby.Sighing, she returned to the pump and continued pumping. Meanwhile Peter brought a chair from the kitchen.Then, to Charmain's exasperation, he lined up the tubs and began pouring her hard-earned cold water into them. "I thought these were for going into copper furnaces!" she protested.

Peter climbed onto the chair and threw the soap flakes into the boiler.The stove was steaming and hissing now. "Stop complaining, and go pump the water," he said. "The water is hot enough to wash the whites. Another four buckets of water, and then we can start putting shirts and stuff in there." He got down from the chair and went into the house.Then he came back with two bags of clothes, he put the bags against the edge of the hut, and went back to get more clothes.Charmain pumped his water out of breath, looking sullen.She climbed onto a chair and poured four full buckets of water into the soapy steaming copper stove.Then, she was happy to finally be able to do something else.She undoes the straps holding the first bag of clothes.Inside were socks, a pair of red wizard's robes, two pairs of trousers, a shirt and underwear underneath, the musty smell of Peter's bathroom being flooded.Strangely, Charmain opened the second bag, which contained the same clothes.

"Wizards have special laundry," said Charmain.Holding the clothes, she climbed onto the chair and threw them all into the copper furnace. "No, no, no! Stop!" cried Peter, as Charmain had just dumped the second bag of clothes into it.He came running across the grass, dragging eight sacks of clothes tied together. "But you said you were going to do it!" Charmain protested. "But sort first, fool!" said Peter. "Only wash white clothes first!" "I don't know," said Charmain sullenly. So she spent the rest of the morning sorting the clothes on the grass while Peter put the shirts in the boiler and poured the soapy water into the barrel to soak the robes and socks and twenty wizards pants.

Finally, he said, "I think the shirt has boiled long enough," and pulled over a bucket of cold water. "You put out the fire, and I'll put out the cold water." Charmain had no idea how to extinguish the magical fire.She tried to knock on the side of the copper stove, it was very hot.She said, "Oh, fire, put it out!" in a sort of scream.So the flame obediently flickered slowly and disappeared.She sucked on her fingers and watched Peter turn on the tap under the brass stove, and steamy, pink soapy water poured out.Charmain watched the water flow from the tap through the steam.

"I didn't know the soap was pink," she said. "Soap isn't pink," said Peter. "Oh my God! Look what you've done!" He hopped onto the chair and began to fish out the steaming shirt with the special forked stick.Each one took on a cherry red color when thrown in cold water.Then he fished out fifteen pairs of shrunken socks, which seemed too small for Morgan, and a pair of baby-sized wizard pants.At last he fished out a very small red gown, which he held up, dripping and steaming, accusingly to Charmain to see for herself. "That's what you've done," he said. "Never wash red wool with a white shirt. The dye will fade. It's too small for a goblin now. What a fool you are!"

"How do I know?" Charmain asked excitedly. "I have always been protected! My mother never let me near the laundry room." "Because it's inappropriate. I know," said Peter contemptuously. "I think you think I'll pity you! No, I won't. I won't trust you anymore, stay away from the wringer. God knows what you'll do to it! I'm going to try the bleach spell while I'm wringing clothes .You go to the pantry and get the clothesline and hangers and hang them up to dry. Can I trust you won't hang yourself up or something stupid?"

"I'm not stupid," Charmain said haughtily. An hour later, both Peter and Charmain were exhausted and drenched with steam.They were quietly nibbling at yesterday's leftover pie in the kitchen.Charmain kept thinking that she could do more with the clothesline than Peter with the wringer and bleach spells.The clothesline made ten turns back and forth across the yard.But still fixed.The shirt hanging on it still hasn't returned to white.Some had red stripes, some had strange pink patterns all over their bodies, and some had turned blue.There are some white stripes on most robes.Both socks and trousers had turned creamy white.Charmain was very tactful enough not to tell Peter that the elves hovering among the squiggly clothes were looking at them in wonder. "There's an elf outside!" Peter exclaimed with his mouth wide open. Charmain swallowed the rest of the pie, opened the back door, and wondered what the elf had come to do. The elf bowed his head, walked in the door, strode to the middle of the kitchen, and put a glass box he had brought on the table.Inside the box were three round white objects, about the size of tennis balls.Peter and Charmain stared at them, then at the elf.The elf just stood there without speaking. "What's this?" Peter finally asked. The elf bowed slightly. "These," he said, "are three Lubbock eggs, which we extracted from Wizard William Nolan. It was a difficult operation, but we managed it." "Lubbock's egg!" Peter and Charmain exclaimed almost simultaneously.Charmain felt herself pale, and she wished she hadn't eaten that pie.On Peter's pale face, the brown spots were very conspicuous.Waif looked forward to his lunch under the table, wailing frantically. "Why...why did you bring these eggs here?" Charmain reluctantly asked. The elf replied calmly, "Because we can't destroy them. Our efforts are ineffective against them, whether by magic or physical measures. We finally determined that only the fire demon can destroy them. Wizard Nolan told us that Miss Charmin will now and A fire demon has a connection." "Wizard Nolan is still alive? He told you?" Peter asked anxiously. "It is true," said the Elf. "He's recovering well and will be back here in another three or four days at the most." "Oh, I'm so glad!" said Charmain. "So these Lubbock eggs made him sick?" "Exactly," answered the Elf. "It seems that the wizard met a lubbock a few months ago in the meadow on the mountain. Because he is a wizard, the eggs absorbed his magic and became indestructible. You don't touch these eggs, and don't try to open this box .They are very dangerous. You'd better get the Fire Demon to help as soon as possible." Peter and Charmain stared at the three white eggs in the box breathlessly, and the elf bowed slightly again, striding towards the inner door.Peter came back to his senses and chased after him, shouting and wanting to know more.But when he reached the living room, he saw the front door had just slammed shut.And when Charmain and Waif ran behind him into the garden, there was no sign of the elf at all.Charmain saw Rollo looking furtively among the hydrangea bushes, but the elf was completely gone. She lifted Waif into Peter's arms. "Peter," she said, "watch Waif. I'll go to Calcifer at once." With that she ran down the garden path. "Come on!" Peter yelled after her. "Must be quick!" Charmain didn't need Peter to remind her.She ran, Waif's desperate, frantic cries behind her.She ran, and ran, until she turned the big cliff and saw the town ahead.She began to slow down and walk quickly, panting while clutching her abdomen, but still moving as fast as possible.Just thinking of those round white eggs lying on the kitchen table was enough to make her catch her breath and move forward quickly.In case the eggs hatched before she found Calcifer.In case Peter did something stupid, like cast a spell on them.Just in case—trying not to think about these terrible questions, she said to herself, "I'm so stupid! I should have asked the elves what half-elfs are! But I completely forgot. I should remember. I'm so stupid Already!" But she was also a little absent-minded.All she could think about was what spell Peter would cast on the glass box.That's the kind of thing he looks like. When she got to town, it started to rain heavily.Charmain was delighted.That way Peter wouldn't care about Lubbock's eggs.He was going to rush outside to get his clothes in before they got wet.As long as he hasn't done anything stupid before that. She was drenched and almost out of breath when she arrived at the royal mansion, and she rang the knocker and the bell, harder than Winky had climbed onto the roof.It seemed a long time before Sim came to answer the door. "Oh, Sim," she said breathlessly. "I want to see Calcifer at once! Can you tell me where he is?" "Of course, miss," replied Sim, not at all offended by Charmain's wet hair and dripping clothes. "Calcifer is in the living room. Let me show you." He closed the door and turned to lead the way, and Charmain, dripping all over, followed him through the long damp corridor and over the stone steps to a gate at the back of the mansion, which Charmain had never been before. . "Inside, miss," he said, pushing open the battered door. Charmain entered the room, and there was a din of yelling, and a group of richly dressed people seemed to be yelling at each other, eating cakes as they walked around with elegant little plates.The cake was the first thing she recognized.It's on a special table in the middle of the room.Only half of it is left now, but this must be the one my father's chefs made last night.It was like meeting an old friend among this group of well-dressed strangers.The man closest to her, dressed in dark blue velvet and brocade, turned his head, gave Charmain a condescending look, and exchanged a wicked look with the lady next to him.The lady was in silk damask - like a ball gown, you don't have to wear it until tea time!Charmain thought,--too pompous to make Aunt Sembroni look shabby, if she were here.Aunt Sembroni was not there, but the Lord Mayor was there, and so was his wife, and the most important people in town were there. "Sim," the man in dark blue asked, "who is this wet little commoner?" "Miss Charmin," replied Sim, "is the new assistant of His Majesty the King." He turned to Charmain. "Miss, let me introduce you to His Royal Highness Crown Prince Ludvik." After he finished speaking, he retreated out of the room and closed the door. Charmain wished the floor would help her, open a hole under her soaking feet and let her fall into the cellar.She completely forgot about Crown Prince Ludwik's visit.Princess Hilda apparently invited all the big names in Upper Norland to meet him.And she, the ordinary Charmain Baker, had broken into their tea party uninvited. "Nice to meet you, Your Highness," she managed to say.It sounded like a frightened whisper. Prince Ludvik may not have heard.He laughed and said, "Miss Charming, is that the king's nickname for you, little girl?" He pointed at the lady who was not dressed like a dress with a cake fork. "I call my assistant Miss Purse. She costs me a fortune, you know?" Charmain opened his mouth to explain his real name, but the lady in the undressed lady interrupted first. "Don't talk nonsense!" she said angrily. "You wicked bastard!" Prince Ludvik laughed and turned to speak to the inconspicuous gentleman in a discreet gray silk jacket.Charmain was about to tiptoe to find Calcifer at once, but when the prince turned around, he saw the light from the chandelier overhead shining on his profile.She saw that his eyes were shining with a deep purple light. Charmain stood there in horror, like a cold sculpture.Prince Ludvik is Luborgin.At that moment, she froze in place and couldn't move. She knew that she was frightened, and that others would see her frightened appearance and ask her why.The inconspicuous gentleman was already watching her, curious in his gentle lavender eyes.Oh my God!He was also Lubbockin.No wonder she felt uneasy when she bumped into him around the kitchen earlier. Fortunately, the Lord Mayor came over from the cake table and bowed deeply to the King, which gave Charmain a glimpse of a rocking horse—no, Charmain saw a lot of rocking horses.This brought her back from her fear.For some reason, the rocking horses were neatly lined up on one side of the wall.Winky sat on a rocking horse closest to the marble fireplace, watching her intently.Charmain could see that he found himself frightened and wished she would tell him what had happened. She started towards the fireplace.During this time she saw Morgan sitting on the edge of the marble fireplace playing with a box of blocks.Sophie stood beside him.Although Sophie wore a peacock blue dress and blended into the atmosphere of the tea party, there was still a moment when Charmain seemed to see Sophie as a lioness with her mouth wide open, guarding her cubs. side. "Oh, hello, Charmin," said Princess Hilda, close to Charmain's ear. "Would you like some cake? Since it's here." Charmain glanced at the cake regrettably, but only sniffed the aroma. "No, thank you, ma'am," she said. "I've come with news for... er... Mrs. Pendragon." Where's Calcifer? "Oh, she's here, just sitting there," said Princess Hilda, pointing in the direction. "Have to say, the boys are doing great. Hope it stays that way!" She swished her back to ask another luxuriously dressed guest if he wanted a cake.While the sound of turning around was lovely, her gown didn't seem as flashy as the others in the room.The dress was faded, so white that it reminded Charmain of the bag of clothes after Peter's bleaching spell.Oh please don't make Peter cast any spells on those lubbock eggs!Charmain prayed as he walked towards Sophie. "Hello," Sophie said, laughing nervously.Behind her, Winky was rocking on the wooden horse, making an annoying rattling sound.The chubby nanny stood beside her and called, "Master Winky, please get off the top. You are making too much noise, Master Winky. I don't want to say it to you again, Master Winky!" Over and over again.This seems even more irritating. Sophie got down on her knees and gave Morgan a red block.Morgan handed the blocks to Charmain. "Blue blocks," he said to her. Charmain also bowed. "No, it's not blue," she said. "Guess again." Sophie began in a low voice, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I don't give a damn about the prince, do you? Or that overdressed stupid woman he's with." "Purple?" Morgan guessed again, still holding up the building block. "You're right," Charmain whispered to Sophie. "No, that's not purple, that's red. But that prince is purple, and his eyes are purple. He's Luborgin." "What is he?" Sophie asked suspiciously. "Red?" Morgan asked, looking at the block incredulously.Click, click, the rocking horse is still making noise. "Yes. Red," said Charmain. "I can't explain here. Tell me where Calcifer is—I'll explain it to him, and he'll tell you. I need Calcifer's help urgently." "Here I am," Calcifer said. "What do you need my help for?" Charmain turned around.Calcifer was sleeping over the fire of the wood in the fireplace, his blue flame blending so well with the orange flame of the wood that Charmain hardly noticed him until he spoke. "Oh, thank God!" she said. "Could you come with me to Wizard Nolan's house immediately? We have an emergency that only the Fire Demon can handle. Please!"

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