At
eleven pm on the night following their conversation, Gerard sneaked Otto into
the part of the castle occupied by Lily and Victoria. It was easy because there
was only a skeleton-staff of elderly retainers left to guard the place. If any
Ethian general had been seeking the perfect time to take the castle, it was
now.
Gerard and his guest made their way to the
front door of the women’s apartment, creeping through the pitch darkness spread
everywhere by a November night. Gerard was enjoying this very much; he hadn’t
done this sort of thing for years.
He knocked on the door with a percussionist’s
flourish. There was a considerable delay
and then they heard Victoria’s voice outside the door.
‘Who is that at this ridiculous hour? Why
can’t you leave us in peace?’
‘It is I – Gerard’
‘What by the gods do you want?’
‘I
have a distinguished visitor for you…’
‘Are
you drunk, Mr Hoffman? I should warn you that I have many items in here that
would make excellent weapons and I would be delighted to have the opportunity
to use them’
‘No, no’ laughed Gerard, ‘you won’t need any
weapons. I have Grandmaster Kantor here. He is seeking an audience with the
princess’
There was silence from behind the door,
initiated by a sharp intake of breath and a cry of ‘no!’.
‘Kantor? Did you say Kantor?’ asked Victoria
‘Yes Miss Jenkins – the Grandmaster of the
Knights of the Pale Flame’
‘He can’t come in – I’m sorry. This is an
inappropriate time’
Gerard shrugged – he’d been paid and so he
didn’t care either way. He turned to
whisper to Otto.
‘We can’t break this door down and sooner or
later someone will hear us. I think that it might be time to call it a night’
Otto shook his head.
‘Try again!’ he commanded. Gerard took two steps back away from the door
and sneered.
‘You try yourself’ said Gerard, ‘I’ve
fulfilled my contractual obligation’
Otto looked at him disdainfully.
‘Well, you can go then –I’m sure that I can
find my own way back…’
Gerard was tempted to agree to this, but it
was probably best to make sure that Otto got out of this part of the castle
without being seen.
‘I’ll wait for you out here…’ hissed Gerard,
‘…don’t be long’
Gerard took a few steps back into the
darkness in the corridor and seemed to disappear. Otto was impressed despite
himself. He returned to the door and knocked on it softly.
‘What now?’
‘It’s me, Otto’ he whispered with his face as
close to the door as he could manage, ‘let me in, Vicky – Hoffmann has gone’
There was another long pause and then
Victoria opened the door a sliver. As she peered out a thin shaft of light
illuminated the black corridor. She saw Gerard very briefly as he shifted to
avoid the sudden splash of light. She wondered how much of this he had heard.
‘It is
you!’ she said, very quietly, ‘how can that
be?’
‘It’s a long story’ said Otto, ‘but I can
only tell it to you let me in’
***
As
soon as Otto had entered the apartment Lily had woken up. She came down into
the hallway from her room, dressed in a purple dressing gown, and demanding to
know what was going on. Otto and Victoria both shot looks at each other both begging
and promising each other not to reveal any secrets.
Otto bowed low. Lily stood up straight and
showed her appreciation for this gallant gesture by smiling graciously.
‘Who is our visitor, Miss?’
‘I think you’d better ask him that yourself,’
said Victoria, uncertainly, ‘to be honest I have no idea who it is that he
claims to be’
‘I am Otto Kantor, Grandmaster of the Knights
of the Pale Flame’
Lily looked confused. She scanned him up and
down, noting his clothing.
‘So there’s a crimson flame and a pale flame…?’ she ventured.
‘That’s right, your majesty, we represent
complementary organisations, united in our desire to serve the Emperor’
‘Really’ said, Victoria, almost under her
breath ‘how extraordinary!’
‘Why are there two groups of knights?’ asked
Lily, ignoring Victoria as far as she could, ‘wouldn’t it be better if everyone
joined a single army?’
Otto looked at her with a very serious
expression. He chose his words carefully.
‘There are differences of – shall we say –
emphasis, between the two groups. The Crimson Flame Knights concentrate on the
active pursuit of feats of arms, of heroic interventions and of territorial
re-conquest. The Pale Flame Knights, on the other hand, believe in the less
direct qualities of ascetism, meditation and the spiritual life. We believe in
using our souls in the pursuit of the Emperor’s will’
‘Do you not have an army, then?’ asked Lily
‘An army?’ asked Otto, rhetorically, ‘we do
have an army, yes, princess, but we fight only when we feel the spirits demand
it and if the war is just’
‘Why are you here now, then?’ asked Victoria.
Lily glared at her and Otto ignored her. Lily
seemed to have forgotten her plight, briefly, in the excitement of being referred
to as a proper princess.
‘So, what role do you have in this particular
– umm – military thing?’ she asked
‘We are observers and spiritual guides’
Victoria had had enough of this nonsense. She
pushed Otto back a step and interposed herself between him and Lily.
‘Did you advise the Baron to kidnap Lily and
me? Was that your suggestion?’
Otto took another step back and held his
hands out to preserve his personal space. He looked enquiringly into Victoria’s
eyes. He was clearly shocked.
‘Kidnapped?’ he said, ‘what do you mean?’
Victoria shook her head several times.
‘Don’t pretend to me that you didn’t know
that we’ve been abducted. Why do you think we’re up here at all?’
Otto looked round at Lily, who had now
reverted back to petulant teenage girl and was standing with her hands on her
hips, looking angrily at him.
‘I really didn’t know’ he said, ‘I only know
that you’re here because I happened to see you when I arrived’
‘How can that be true?’ barked Victoria, ‘you
surely have the confidence of the Baron, don’t you?’
Otto looked away from Victoria and back to
Lily. Both women had now folded their arms and were standing together.
‘Is it true, Princess?’ he asked, ‘Have you
been kidnapped?’
Lily laughed.
‘You’re not a very clever Grandmaster are
you?’ she said, relaxing a little from her confrontational pose.
‘Perhaps not’, admitted Otto, ‘when I asked
von Eisen about your presence here he simply said that you were betrothed to
his nephew. I just thought that it was dynastic politics – I didn’t realise…’
Lily sprang forward and grabbed his hand. He
bowed again rather awkwardly.
‘I order you to help to free us’ she said,
‘that horrid Baron is going to attack Amansk and I bet that my father won’t
fight back because he’s scared of something happening to me’
Otto blinked a few times but was temporarily
lost for words.
‘Well, grandmaster,
will you help us, or not?’ demanded Victoria
Otto groaned slightly and brushed his hand
across his now sweaty forehead.
‘I don’t think that I can,’ he said, ‘this is
the Baron’s castle and there are strict feudal rules about not trespassing on a
fellow knight’s hospitality. Also, he is my peer, only just below the Emperor.
I cannot easily go against his will’
‘So, you think that the Emperor approves of
kidnapping and annexation, do you?’ asked Victoria
‘It’s not really annexation’ he argued,
‘Amansk is an Imperial city’
‘No it’s not’ shouted Lily, ‘it’s my father’s
city’
Otto shrugged, his long blond hair shaking
over his shoulders.
‘Well, I do not think the Emperor would
accept that’ he said, picking out every word very carefully.
‘What about the kidnapping?’ asked Lily, her
voice rising in tone, ‘you have to do something about that!’
Otto had now regained his composure. I looked
back at Lily with unwavering eyes.
‘I will talk to the Baron when I have the
opportunity and make clear my opposition to any abduction that might have taken
place. However, I’m in no position to do any more’
Lily advanced on Otto menacingly. Victoria responded
instantly, walking over to Lily and gently pulled her back from the knight: it would
not be becoming for a princess to slap a grandmaster, however entertaining it
would have been to watch. Lily fell into Victoria’s arms weeping.
‘It’s so unfair!’ she yelled, ‘why won’t
anyone help us?’
Victoria glared at Otto; his face was flushed
and damp.
‘This audience is at an end’ said Victoria,
firmly.
‘Lily – go to your room. I will come in to
comfort you in a few minutes’
Lily ran back into the depths of the
apartment, leaving Otto and Victoria facing each other.
‘What
are you playing at?’ asked Victoria
Otto was looking back at the door, wondering
whether Gerard was trying to listen at it.
‘I’m not playing, Vicky – it’s all true’
‘What – that you’re a spiritual knight? It
seems rather unlikely. You must have changed a lot!’
Otto turned to look at her and nodded
intently.
‘I have. Anyway, that was twenty years ago;
people alter considerably in that time. Just look at you!’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
She looked down at herself shamefacedly and
the realised that he didn’t mean her physical appearance. He’d hardly looked
away from her face the whole time he had been in the apartment. He had never
been a shallow person and maybe he hadn’t even notice that she had been
considerably narrower the last time they had met.
‘You’re babysitting a princess’ he whispered,
‘that didn’t seem like a job that would have suited you twenty years ago’
Victoria glared at him and put her hand to
her mouth.
‘Be quiet’ she commanded, ‘Lily doesn’t know
anything about that…’
Otto
looked slightly ashamed.
‘I’m sorry’ he said, very quietly, ‘you know
I wouldn’t do anything purposely to hurt you. I still remember…’
Victoria made a motion with both her hand and
head for him to stop.
‘That was all a very long time ago and, I’m
sure you recall, it ended badly for everyone ’
‘And you’ve turned your back on all of that
have you?’ he asked
‘I had no choice, as you know. I was
expendable…’
Otto fumbled for the words.
‘We could have run away together’ he finally
said, and it seemed to both of them that time had suddenly jumped back.
His look became imploring. Victoria
remembered that look very well. It was time to stop all of this nonsense.
‘How many times do I have to tell you – I was
using you. You know that I had my orders’
Otto shook his head unbelievingly.
‘You were a truly marvellous actress then’
‘Yes, well,
maybe I was. We were taught lots of useful things at the academy – not just
spying and sword craft’
Otto’s face had turned from red to grey, but
he held his ground. It was so many years since he had last seen her, but his
feelings were the same.
‘I still don’t believe you’
‘Then you are deluding yourself Prince Otto,
just as you did then. I was employed to turn you, and now it seems that I may
have only succeeded in addling your brain. If you had really believed in the
things that you professed to value then then you would have found a way to
change things for the better, instead of just giving up…’
‘It was too difficult – there were too many hard
minds to change…’
Victoria dismissed him with a wave of her
hand. She seemed as cool as ice, but her heart was thumping so loudly that even
if she had wanted too she could never have let him come any closer for fear of
him hearing it.
‘Anyway,
how can we have this conversation here, twenty years on?’ she asked, ‘surely
you’ve moved on from that?’
Otto considered this, remembering the well of
years that had opened between them.
‘Well, I have embraced poverty, celibacy and
self-control,’ he eventually said, ‘do you know why? Can you guess?’
Victoria’s mouth was set into a hard line.
This had to stop before it ran out of control. Her only concern must be Lily.
‘I don’t want to know: not now – not ever’ she said. She knew she
had no choice but to turn away from him.
There was the noise of restrained coughing outside
the apartment. They both turned towards it.
‘I’d better go’ said Otto, ‘that fool
Hoffmann is just outside’
Victoria had had enough anyway. She walked
forward and opened the door. Otto made
his way to it reluctantly.
‘You have to help us – you know that you have
to – not for me, but because it’s the right thing to do’ said Victoria
‘I can’t’ said Otto, sadly, ‘I really don’t
think that there’s any way that I can… ’
Victoria pushed him out of the door without another
word and slammed it. As soon as the door was firmly shut she went to find Lily,
who of all the people in world needed her most.
No comments:
Post a Comment