The Marus Manuscripts

by Paul McCusker

  Maddy was too nervous to eat. Ever since reporting her news to Annison, she had been on a knife’s-edge of suspense, wondering how the evening would play out.

  Near midnight, flasks of a sweet red drink were poured into the guests’ chalices. It was time for the royal toast, and now Maddy found herself sitting on the edge of her seat. She had told Annison of the plot to poison the king, but she had no idea what Annison had done with the information or how she had passed the word to the king. She watched Stephen and Terrence, who watched the king’s every move. Lord Hector maintained his usual bored expression.

  The king stood up, raising high his chalice—a large goblet with green and red jewels encircling the cup. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said in his booming voice, “I am grateful for your attendance tonight. To honor the occasion, I promised my betrothed that I would not make a lengthy speech.”

  A titter of laughter worked its way through the crowd.

  “It is enough for me to say thank you to all, to wish prosperity on the united kingdoms of Palatia and Marus, and to invite you back in a week’s time for the wedding.”

  The crowd responded with scattered applause.

  “Now for the royal toast,” he announced.

  There was a rustling throughout the room as all the guests stood by their chairs and raised their chalices.

  “To my betrothed, the future queen,” he stated happily.

  “To the future queen!” the crowd responded.

  Maddy watched the king, her eyes growing wider and wider. The chalice moved toward his lips. Annison remained seated and still, her face betraying nothing but her usual shyness at being the center of attention. Had Annison not told him about the poison? Was the plot to kill him going to succeed?

  “My king!” Lord Hector suddenly shouted from his place.

  The king hesitated, the chalice only an inch from his lips. “Lord Hector?” he asked, lowering the cup.

  “Do not drink from that chalice,” Lord Hector warned.

  The king looked puzzled. “This is most unusual, Hector. It’s the royal toast. Why shouldn’t I?” he inquired.

  “Because, on this very day, I have uncovered a plot to assassinate Your Majesty—by poison in that very chalice.”

  The crowd, shocked, stood where they were, many not sure how to react. Several of the noblemen instinctively drew their swords. Maddy’s jaw dropped. What kind of game was Hector playing? Why would he stop the plot that he had helped to mastermind?

  Stephen and Terrence watched Hector with bewilderment on their faces. Maddy noticed that Terrence’s hand subtly moved to his belt, his hand resting on the handle of his knife.

  The king remained composed. “And who would dare to attempt such an assassination?”

  “Two trusted men in your very midst,” Lord Hector announced, then pointed dramatically. “Stephen and Terrence!”

  Suddenly the palace guards burst through the doors, including Simet, and rushed to the head table. Stephen held up his hands in surrender, but Terrence pulled out his knife and lunged at the king.

  Lord Hector was quicker, though, and leapt between the two men. He also had a knife in his hand—Maddy had no idea where it had come from—which he thrust into Terrence’s chest. They both fell to the ground, disappearing behind the ornate tablecloth. Seconds later, Lord Hector reappeared and dusted himself off as if he had merely tripped over something.

  The crowd erupted in shouts and applause.

  There was a commotion at the back of the hall as two guards grabbed one of the servants. Maddy assumed it was the one the conspirators had hired to poison the drink.

  Simet and the other guards had grabbed Stephen, who offered no resistance. He now leered at Lord Hector. “I should have known,” he growled over and over as they dragged him out of the hall.

  “Well done, Lord Hector!” the king said happily once the offenders had been removed. His eyes danced and his cheeks were apple red from the excitement. He raised his chalice again. “I salute you!”

  And then, to everyone’s horror, he gulped down his drink.

  “Your Majesty!” Hector cried out.

  The king slammed the chalice down on the table and laughed. “You are quick, Lord Hector, but my beloved Annison is quicker. She was already privy to the traitors’ plot to poison me, and I made sure to change chalices. Little did they realize that had we drunk our toast, both Stephen and Terrence would have fallen dead from their own poison, which I had placed in their cups!”

  Lord Hector bowed in homage to Annison. “Our new queen is a remarkable woman,” he said smoothly. “I wonder, if I may ask, how she knew of the plot?”

  “We women have our ways,” Annison replied pleasantly.

  Lord Hector forced himself to smile. “I have no doubt that you do.”

  For an instant, Annison’s eyes caught Maddy’s, and she winked at her.

  The attending maidens in Annison’s chambers were abuzz with what had happened at the banquet. They speculated about how Annison had learned of the plot and if there were any others involved who weren’t caught, and then they told and retold the dramatic moment when the king nearly drank the chalice—and then did, to everyone’s surprise.

  “What a joke!” one said.

  “How brave of the king,” another observed.

  Only after Tabby threatened them with hard chores the next day if they didn’t go to bed that minute did the chattering stop.

  Maddy was given a small bedroom annexing Annison’s main bedroom and a wardrobe of day and night clothes. She had no idea how Annison managed it, but the clothes were all the right size. Maddy slipped into a nightgown and snuggled into the soft down mattress, but she was too excited to sleep. Her mind counted unanswered questions like sheep. She thought she heard a sound from Annison’s room and decided to sneak a peek to see if Annison had gone to bed. She hadn’t; the bed was empty. A gentle breeze blew the pale curtains back and forth. The glass doors leading to the balcony were open, and Maddy could see Annison’s silhouette pacing outside. Maddy crossed the room and stopped at the doorway.

  Annison had her eyes closed and seemed to be talking to herself. Maddy realized she was praying. “Thank You” was all Maddy heard her say. And then Annison opened her eyes and gazed peacefully at Maddy.

  “You should be asleep,” Annison chided gently, gathering her robe close around her as if warding off a chill. But the night was warm, crickets chirped somewhere below, and pale moonlight filled the clear sky.

  “Oh, look!” Maddy gasped, her eyes fixed on the light overhead. There in the sky was a bright moon—and right next to it, a little smaller and more orange, was another moon. “You have two moons!”

  Annison glanced up at them. “Yes, we do. How many do you have in your world?” she asked.

  “Just one,” Maddy replied. The sight mesmerized her. Imagine having two moons in your world, she thought in amazement. She stood looking at the double orbs for a few moments.

  Annison watched her, a tiny smile betraying her affection for Maddy. “You remind me of someone,” Annison observed.

  “Who?”

  “Me.”

  Maddy turned to her, an unformed question on her lips.

  “I once looked at the world with the wonder you have. I believed in fairy tales and happy endings.”

  “You don’t now?”

  “In my heart, I still do,” she said warmly. “But I’ve also learned a great deal about the world, and sometimes the happy endings don’t come the way we think they should. But they come eventually—beyond this world—thanks to the Unseen One.”

  “Simet told me I’m not here to help you find your true love. He said I need to help you the way the Unseen One wants me to help you. He said I need to grow up.”

  “We all have to grow up, it’s true. But that doesn’t mean we must lose our sense of wonder and awe. The mystery of faith is too great for that. Even now I look around me—at the beauty of those two moons, at the secrets of the stars, even at the extra
ordinary way you have come to me—and I realize there’s so much I don’t understand. But I know what I must do.”

  “You’ll marry King Willem.”

  “Yes, I will.”

  Saying his name reminded Maddy of the drama at the banquet and her many questions about it. “I can’t figure out what happened,” she stated. “Lord Hector was one of the men who plotted to kill the king, but then he turned on Stephen and Terrence at the last minute.”

  “Lord Hector is a shrewd and cunning man. I suspect he knew somehow that their plans had been found out. He must have decided to turn it to his advantage.”

  Maddy remembered how Lord Hector had come into Simet’s office when Maddy was there. It was possible that he’d seen her on the balcony or recognized her voice and assumed she would tell Simet what she’d heard in spite of Terrence’s threat. “But you told the king that Lord Hector was one of the men, didn’t you?” she asked.

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s one thing to accuse underlings like Stephen and Terrence of treason,” she replied. “It’s another thing to accuse the king’s most-trusted adviser. I would have needed more proof than your word to persuade the king to take action against Lord Hector. As it is, this will warn him to be careful.”

  Maddy felt uneasy at the thought. If Lord Hector knew that Maddy had told Simet and Annison about his plans, wouldn’t he want revenge against her? Maddy gave it some thought but decided not to say anything to Annison. She was there to help her, not add to her worry.

  “I think it’s time for bed,” Annison suddenly announced. “We have a lot to do tomorrow.”

  “What am I going to do?” Maddy asked.

  Annison smiled at her. “You’ll help me to prepare for the wedding, and perhaps you’ll be my eyes and ears in other parts of the palace. We’ll see.”

  Preparing for the wedding was an enormous task, far more complicated than Maddy would have ever thought. There were flowers to be ordered, dresses to be made, food to be chosen for the reception afterward, seating arrangements to be secured for the wedding itself and the reception, an order of service for the ceremony to be decided upon, a schedule to be devised for the royal “ride” from the palace to the royal chapel (where the wedding would take place), a procession through Sarum to be planned, and on and on.

  For most of the day after the banquet, Maddy sat next to Annison, scribbling her dictation of things that needed to be seen to in the days leading up to the wedding. Then, shortly after lunchtime, Tabby entered the main room of the chambers and whispered something to Annison. Annison nodded quickly and signaled Maddy to follow her into one of the side rooms. After they entered, Annison closed the door.

  The room appeared to be some kind of study, with squares of dark paneling covering three of the walls. A fireplace took up most of the fourth. In the center were a writing desk and small tables holding a selection of books and decorative items like china vases and busts. The floor was covered with a large colorful rug.

  “Is something wrong?” Maddy asked.

  “I have an errand for you to run,” Annison replied. She went to the fireplace and tugged at a small piece of marble that hung like an icicle from the side. Suddenly a panel on the wall behind them opened a couple of inches.

  “A secret door?” Maddy asked, amazed.

  Annison pressed a hand against Maddy’s back to urge her forward. “Simet has worked in this palace most of his life,” she explained. “He knows every inch of it, including the secret passage-ways. He told me about this the day I moved in.”

  “Where does it go?”

  “It leads to many different rooms. But—” Annison pulled a piece of paper from her sleeve and handed it to Maddy. “Follow this map and these directions. They’ll take you to the king’s reception room.”

  “You want me to spy on the king?”

  “Lord Hector is about to have an audience with King Willem to discuss what happened at the banquet last night. I need to know what he says.”

  Maddy took a step into the passageway but stopped. “It’s dark,” she complained.

  Annison reached up and grabbed something on the inside wall. It was a torch that, from the smell, must have been doused in oil. Using flint from the fireplace, she lit the torch. Its flame was small but adequate. She gave the torch to Maddy. “Don’t get lost this time,” Annison teased her.

  Maddy giggled and stepped into the passageway. The torch surrounded her with moving shadows.

  Annison gestured to a small lever on the wall. “This will open the panel to let you back in,” she informed her.

  “Okay,” Maddy said.

  Annison closed the panel door.

  Maddy moved forward slowly until she was sure of her footing and of the passage’s width. It was surprisingly wide. Following the instructions, she crossed several side passages, then turned right and passed more doorways with levers. She wondered where they all led to and imagined the trouble she’d cause if she suddenly appeared in one of the rooms. Counting the doorways carefully, she turned left after the eighth door and walked for a long time before she found the passage Annison had marked on the map. She turned left again and followed it until it reached a dead end. There she found a hook in the wall to hold the torch.

  The map indicated that she wouldn’t find a lever on the wall but a small knob, which she was to slide carefully to one side. She did. It opened a small rectangular peephole. She found herself looking at a large room with a throne sitting on a small stage. Large velvet curtains surrounded it. Empty chairs stretched out from the foot of the stairs in two rows. King Willem suddenly appeared through a door behind the stage and walked casually to the throne, where he sat down and inspected his fingernails, then adjusted the sleeves on his coat.

  A moment later, a large double door opened and Lord Hector strode in. He was dressed in the same mournful-looking black coat and trousers. He stood at the foot of the stage and bowed stiffly.

  “Your Majesty,” he intoned.

  “My dear Lord Hector,” the king greeted, waving him forward. “Good day to you, and thank you once again for your chivalry on my behalf.”

  Lord Hector dipped his head and cleared his throat as if embarrassed. “Yes, of course, my liege,” he began. “Now—to business?”

  “If you must.”

  Lord Hector clasped his hands behind his back and announced, “I have interrogated Stephen and his treasonous servant in the dungeon.”

  “In your usual meticulous manner, I have no doubt.”

  “Yes, sire. Sadly, neither was made of strong stuff, and they expired in the process.”

  “How sad,” the king said without meaning it. “Oh, well, I didn’t really want to execute them in the week of my wedding anyway.”

  Maddy put a hand over her mouth. The easygoing way that the two men spoke about death appalled her.

  “Did you learn anything valuable?” the king asked.

  “The conspiracy to overthrow you is far-reaching.”

  The king raised an eyebrow. “Is it?”

  “I was able to learn that Stephen, Terrence, and the servant they employed to poison your chalice are all part of that terrible cult I’ve warned you about.”

  “Cult?”

  “The believers of the Old Faith.”

  “Oh, that nonsense about the Unseen One and all that.”

  “Exactly.”

  Maddy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Did Lord Hector really think he could get away with such a lie?

  “I thought you outlawed that when we arrived.” The king crossed his legs and leaned back comfortably into his throne.

  “I did, sire,” Lord Hector replied without any variation in the drone of his voice. “But their members still meet secretly, as evidenced by the cunning plan they nearly succeeded with last night.”

  “It’s curious, though.”

  “Sire?”

  “I had always understood that the believers in the Old Faith were no
nviolent,” the king said. “All they’ve ever wanted is to be able to worship that strange God of theirs as they saw fit. Why would they want to kill me?”

  Lord Hector answered as if teaching a child. “You are a Palatian, sire. The members of the Old Faith are Marutians. In matters of national honor and identity, even the most peaceful cults will resort to violence if they feel they have no other choice.”

  “Then why don’t we let them worship the way they want and be done with them? They have no complaint against me if I grant them that.”

  Lord Hector shook his head slowly. “Because it won’t end there, sire. Their faith is bound up in the destiny of this nation. If you allow them to worship freely, it will be no time at all before their faith will spill over to the people at large. And once that has happened, there will be a trickle, then a river, and finally a flood of patriotism. With that patriotism will come patriotic acts—against you, to free themselves from your rule. History has shown it to be true time and again.”

  “Oh, dear!”

  “I have outlawed the Old Faith to hold back the tide of their zeal,” Lord Hector explained. “And, frankly, I find it offensive. For them to superstitiously believe in ancient gods when it’s clear that we are the keepers of our fate, the champions of our destiny, is ignorance at its worst. I cannot tolerate it.”

  “As usual, you speak eloquently and poetically,” the king said appreciatively. “What do you propose?”

  “I propose that outlawing the Old Faith isn’t enough. We must use our forces to come down on them like a hammer. We must drive them from their hiding places and arrest them.”

  The king sighed wearily. “If you insist. But be discreet about it. I don’t want a lot of fuss distracting from my wedding day.”

  “Of course, sire.” Lord Hector bowed and walked away.

  Maddy waited a moment to see what the king would do next. He sat, yawned, and inspected his fingernails again. Then the door opened and a page stepped in.

  “The mayor of Sarum to see you, sire,” he announced.