Every now and then, she peered out the windows to see if the scene might guide her. It never did. Every view looked different. After another 10 minutes, she stopped at a pair of glass doors that led to a balcony. Outside, three men leaned on the stone handrail, their backs to Maddy. They spoke softly to one another.
“We must strike quickly,” one of the men said.
The second man agreed: “If we act even as early as tonight, we may cause enough of a stir to bring the rebellion we need.”
“Kill the king right before his wedding? It’s a treacherous idea,” the third man observed with a chuckle. His shoulders, covered by a black coat, shook gently.
“Our people will think the Marutians assassinated him to save the dignity of their beloved Annison,” the first man added. “It will give our soldiers a cause to rally around—”
“Someone to rally around, you mean,” the second man interjected.
“Yes. And who might that someone be?” the third man asked knowingly.
“Who else? It must be you, my lord,” the second man replied. “With the king disposed of, you can legally declare yourself the lord protector. Then, with the allegiance of the army, you can march back to Palatia, arrest the king’s brother and heir as a member of the conspiracy, and secure your place on the throne there.”
The first man shook his head. “But what about the Marutians?” he objected. “Will they not also rally their forces while Palatia is in turmoil? We risk losing this country after so recently claiming it.”
“If a pampered fool like Willem can conquer Marus, I can conquer it again in my sleep.” The third man sneered. “Marus is the least of my worries. It’s a despicable little country with donkeys for citizens.”
“I happen to like it,” the first man protested. “And I would be glad to rule it as a reward for my allegiance.”
The third man chuckled again. “You haggle even now? You’re shrewd, my friend. Yes, if I become lord protector of the kingdom, you may have Marus.”
“Good. Maybe I will take Annison as a bride of my own. She’s pretty enough.”
“If I were you, I would kill her as a member of the conspiracy,” the third man advised. “It would show the Marutians that you aren’t to be trifled with.”
“And what of me, my lord?” the second man asked. “Will you give me Albany as you promised?”
“Albany has always been yours,” the third man replied.
“Then let us shake on it,” the first man said. “The king’s chalice will be poisoned at the banquet tonight by a man in my employ, and you will become lord protector, and we will become the regents of Marus and Albany.”
“So be it,” the third man agreed.
The first man turned to shake hands with the others. He was a handsome young man with dark hair and a thin goatee. He saw Maddy out of the corner of his eye and spun on her quickly. “Who’s this?” he snapped.
The second man, who was older and had sharp features and graying hair, also turned. “What do you want?” he growled.
The third man didn’t turn but froze as he was, with his back to Maddy.
“I’m lost,” Maddy said nervously.
The young man grabbed her arm roughly. “What did you hear just now?” he demanded.
“Nothing,” she stammered. “I only came to ask for your help.”
The young man glared at her. “I don’t believe you. What did you hear?”
“Nothing,” she said more fearfully. He was hurting her arm.
“Ease off, Stephen,” the older man said. “She’s only a child.”
“A child with big ears,” Stephen said, lessening his grip on her arm. “Does she have the mouth to match?”
“I’m lost!” Maddy pleaded. “I only want to find the front of the palace.”
The older man laughed and told her, “You’re well out of your way if you’re trying to find the front of the palace. Let me tell you how to get there.”
“Terrence—” the young man began.
The older man held up his hand to silence him. “How much could she have heard? And who would believe a young girl anyway?” He knelt down closer to Maddy and produced a jewel-handled knife from his belt. “Besides, she wouldn’t want her tongue cut out, would she?”
Maddy shook her head. “No, sir.”
“Then you will keep your tongue still and go about your business, correct?”
Maddy nodded quickly. “Yes, sir.”
The older man kept his eyes fixed on her. “Go down this hallway to the right until it dead-ends, then turn left. Follow that hallway until it dead-ends, and then turn right. One right, one left, one right. That will take you to the grand hallway along the front.”
“Thank you,” Maddy said as she inched away from them.
The older man held up the knife again before tucking it away. “Remember what I said.”
“Yes, sir.” Maddy didn’t waste another second but rushed off down the hall. When she was certain she was out of their reach, she stopped and leaned against the wall. The stone was cool against her hot back. Her face felt flushed, and she thought she might cry. Then she realized, I’ve just overheard a plot to kill the king—this very night at the banquet!
What was she to do? If she told anyone and the man called Terrence found out, he would cut out her tongue. But if she didn’t tell anyone, the king would be killed—and Annison, too.
At that moment, she wished she could melt into the wall and somehow go through the other side to her home. This wasn’t the fairy tale she wanted to have. This was more like a nightmare.
And she didn’t know how to get out of it.
Why are you so pale?” Simet asked when Maddy finally reached him. Even after finding the front doors to the palace, she had needed help from another two servants to get to Simet’s office. His brow furrowed with concern. “Is Annison well?”
“She’s well, but she wanted me to come back and talk to you,” Maddy said. Her mouth clicked from dryness. Simet poured her a cup of water and insisted she drink before continuing. Maddy did, gulping the water down. Then she took a deep breath. “I have to tell you about my dream.”
Simet sat on the edge of his desk. “Your dream?”
Maddy looked deeply into his kind eyes and knew she could trust him with anything she had to say. And, like Annison, she believed he would have the answers to help them. So she told him everything she’d told Annison.
Simet listened with a thoughtful expression. He moved only once, and that was to close the door to his office when he feared someone might overhear Maddy’s remarkable story.
When Maddy had run out of things to say, he nodded at her. “Yes, this is the work of the Unseen One,” he observed.
“I don’t know who the Unseen One is,” Maddy confessed.
“I’m not surprised to hear it,” Simet said sadly. “Only a few of us now acknowledge the Unseen One. Our kings turned their backs on Him and stopped proclaiming Him, so it’s little wonder that we’ve been conquered. And now King Willem is here with his Palatian religion, a religion of man and man’s powers, with no room for faith in greater, eternal things. He has already closed our houses of worship. And if Lord Hector had his way, all believers in the Unseen One would be locked up or executed because they deny his religion. Men who do not love the Unseen One often loathe Him and want to wipe any belief in Him from the face of the planet.”
“But who is the Unseen One?”
Simet scratched his chin as if trying to think of a simple way to explain a complicated idea. Finally he responded, “The Unseen One is the Creator of us all. He is the King of all worlds. He is God over all gods.”
“God,” Maddy repeated, latching onto a word she understood. “I know about God. I learned about Him in church. And He’s all the things you just said.”
“Then you know about the Unseen One,” Simet said hopefully.
Maddy pondered the idea for a moment. “But I don’t remember ever hearing that He took people from one place to an
other, like He took me from my world to this magic one.”
Simet chuckled. “You think this world is magic? The people of this world wouldn’t think so. On the contrary, the people of this world would probably consider your world magic.”
Maddy hadn’t thought of it that way. But she stuck by her question. “Still, it seems strange that He brought me from my world to this one.”
“It’s not for me to guess the ways of the Unseen One. He does as He pleases. And I’m certain the same is true for how He works in your world. No matter how much He has revealed of Himself in our sacred writings, He remains a mystery greater than our finite minds can solve. You’re here—that’s evidence enough for me that He is at work for some purpose.”
“What purpose?” Maddy asked. “What am I doing here?”
“You’re not a messenger or a voice or a protector,” Simet observed as he looked into her eyes. “But in your dream, you promised you would help Annison. So the Unseen One must have sent you to be her helper.”
“I’ll help her find her true love,” Maddy declared.
Simet looked puzzled. “Whatever do you mean?”
Maddy explained how so many of her favorite stories involved a princess who was in love with a handsome young man but was being forced to marry a mean king. In the end, the handsome young man, who vanquished the mean king, rescued the princess.
“Ah, I see now,” Simet said. “But my child, this is not a children’s fairy tale. You’re not in a story of wishful thinking or fanciful dreams. You’re now in a place where the happy endings of childhood give way to the reality of faith.”
Maddy looked crestfallen. This was not what she wanted to hear.
Simet patted her arm in comfort. “Dear girl, you wouldn’t want to spend your life drinking baby’s milk, would you?”
Maddy gazed at him quizzically. “No.”
“Well, that’s what your fairy tales are,” Simet explained. “They’re the milk of an innocent faith. But you must never stop at the milk. There comes a time when you must have the nourishment of other things, grown-up things like meat and vegetables. Otherwise you’ll never grow as you should. Do you understand?”
Maddy shook her head. “I’m not sure.”
“Allow me to try another example.” Simet clasped his hands together and looked as if he were in deep thought. Then he continued, “Children’s stories and fairy tales often help to light the spark of faith. They help us to see that there are realms much bigger than our own world. They teach us to believe in things we can’t understand while they point to other greater things. But we must eventually fan that spark of faith—allow it to grow into a mature flame that will burn in our hearts throughout our lives.”
Maddy didn’t reply. It was a lot for her to think about.
“You’ve been brought to us as a helper,” Simet went on. “But not to help as a child helps in a fairy tale, with dreamy fantasies of romance, handsome princes, and true love. You’re here to help in the raw reality of faith—with sweat and muscle and pain.”
Maddy thought again of the dream and of her promise to Annison. Was it possible that the Unseen One had sent her to uncover the plot to kill the king? Even if it meant losing her own tongue? “Sweat and muscle and pain,” Maddy repeated softly.
With an unexpected resolve that filled her heart, Maddy knew she could not sit by and allow anything to happen to Annison, no matter what happened to her in the meantime. “There’s something else I have to tell you,” Maddy said, and then she told Simet about the three men and their plot to poison the king.
Simet’s face went white, and he clutched the edge of his desk as if to steady himself. “What did you say the names of the men were?”
“I didn’t see who the third man was,” she replied. “But the other two were called Stephen and Terrence. The one called Terrence said he would cut my tongue out if I blabbed.”
Simet nodded. “There’s only one Terrence who would dare do such a thing. But don’t fear. He won’t have the chance to hurt you. I will see to that.”
“Then you’ll warn the king?”
Simet hesitated. “No. I think it would be best if Annison warned the king. What better way to show her loyalty and ensure his favor toward her?”
“I don’t understand,” Maddy admitted, phrasing her question carefully. “If she’s from Marus, why is it so important for her to be so chummy with the king?” She thought about it again and quickly added another question. “Why is it Annison’s duty to marry someone she doesn’t love?”
Simet sighed deeply. “For years we have believed the Unseen One has chosen Annison for a very special place in the destiny of our nation. We were never sure how or what role she would play—not until the day King Willem saw her and decided to marry her. Then we knew. She would marry the king in order to influence him.”
“Influence him how?”
“We don’t know yet. But it burns in our hearts that her role as the queen may make the difference between life and death for many people.”
“You keep saying we. What we?”
“A small gathering of true believers in the Unseen One, including Annison and myself.”
Suddenly Maddy thought she understood and gasped, “You’re her father!”
Simet smiled. “No, I’m not her father, though she would call me by that name if I allowed it. Her parents were killed when she was a small child, and their wish, written in their will, was that I would raise her in the faith.”
“But why is it such a big secret?”
“To protect her. And to protect me. And to protect our gathering of believers. The less anyone knows about us or our connections to one another, the safer we are.”
“You’re like a secret club?”
“Something like that. But our secret is a dangerous one. Under the kings of Marus, we were frowned upon for keeping our faith in the Unseen One. Under King Willem—or I should say, under Lord Hector—we could lose our lives.”
“But that means the king is marrying a believer in the Unseen One, and he doesn’t even know it.”
Simet smiled again. “Exactly.”
A knock came at the door, and then it was pushed open without an invitation. Lord Hector himself peered in. He looked at Simet first and said, “Simet, I want to discuss the security for this evening’s banquet.” Then he saw Maddy, and a flash of surprise lit up his eyes for a second and then disappeared. “Forgive my intrusion,” he added quickly.
“Not at all, my lord,” Simet replied.
“Then come to the Great Hall. I wish a word with you and the other guards.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Lord Hector glanced at Maddy again and then turned to leave. In the moment he did so, Maddy noticed the back of his black coat and the shape of his shoulders, and she knew. “It was him,” she whispered after the door was closed and she heard his retreating footsteps.
“What’s that?” Simet asked.
“He was the third man on the balcony.”
“Lord Hector? In a plot to poison the king?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure, Maddy? You must be completely sure.”
“Yes. He wants to do it so he can take over Palatia.”
Simet looked like a man who had suddenly found the last two pieces to a jigsaw puzzle. “I’ve often wondered about him. I’ve watched how he speaks to the king, the look in his eyes. He’s a man who covets power. So I should not be surprised.”
“Shall I go back to Annison now?”
“Yes, hurry and tell her what you know.”
Maddy stood up and went to the door. Just as her hand touched the knob, Simet added earnestly, “Maddy, you’ve been sent to help us, and help us you have. But I don’t think your part in this drama is finished. You must keep your eyes and ears open. Assume nothing about what you see and hear. Report everything to Annison or to me. Do you understand?”
Maddy nodded, suddenly feeling very important.
The royal banquet to celebrate
the forthcoming marriage of King Willem and Annison was a lavish affair. Hundreds of dignitaries and noblemen from Palatia, along with the well-to-do of Marus, crowded into the Great Hall. The men wore frilly lace collars and matching coats and trousers of deep blue, light green, or gold that seemed to sparkle. The women wore velvet or silk dresses, each with elaborate designs of flowers, birds, or stripes, some with colorful shawls draped over their shoulders. Many of the women and men wore wigs that rose up from their heads in piles like cotton candy or bird’s nests. Those women who didn’t wear wigs had their hair done in large curls. The men favored long hair, carefully combed and kept in place by what looked to Maddy like oil or wax.
The guests took their places at the many tables, now set with white linen, plates of china, and solid silver cutlery. Blazing torches shone from wall sconces in between colorful tapestries that had been hung for the occasion. Candles were lit at every setting, giving the entire hall a yellow tint. The chandeliers, also alight with candles, looked like clusters of stars, ready to explode over them all.
Enormous trays of food were brought out by the palace servants—seven courses in all—and served to the many guests. The room was an intoxicating mix of smells. Considering the number of guests, Maddy was impressed by the speed with which the servants did their work. They began as the sun set and continued serving well past 11:00.
The king and Annison sat side by side at the head table. For tonight, the king didn’t wear a wig but combed his ginger-colored hair forward in a style that reminded Maddy of a picture of Julius Caesar she’d once seen at school. Annison was dressed discreetly in a simple pink gown with fringes of lace and bowed ribbons attached to them. To the royal couple’s left and right were Lord Hector, who still looked bored, and several other men and women Maddy didn’t know. Stephen and Terrence were at the head table, too, and kept looking at each other anxiously. As a member of Annison’s court, Maddy was given a seat at a table in the corner nearest the head table. She sat next to Tabby, who ate with great enthusiasm.
The Marus Manuscripts Page 32
