The Marus Manuscripts

by Paul McCusker

  The king waved a hand at the page. “See him in,” he commanded, barely stifling his boredom.

  Maddy closed the peephole and stepped back into the passageway. She felt numbed by what she’d just heard. Lord Hector was actually placing the blame for the assassination attempt on the believers in the Unseen One! It made her blood boil to think about it.

  She had to hurry back and tell Annison. Retrieving the torch, she rushed down the passageway in the direction from which she had come. She followed the map carefully while moving as fast as she could. Then, as she passed one particular side passage, she thought she heard footsteps. They were terribly close to her, but she didn’t see a light.

  I hope there’s nobody else in here, she worried.

  She pressed on, quickening her step.

  A harsh sound, like a loud, throaty cough, made her stop in her tracks. It was unmistakably human. Someone was in the passageway with her.

  She looked around quickly, her torch throwing very little light into the shadows. Should she call out? No, she thought. Keep moving. Don’t stop for anything. And try not to be afraid.

  But the fear seized her anyway, and she misread the map once or twice, winding up down the wrong passageway or stuck at a dead end. Still, she was certain that someone was nearby. She thought she heard heavy breathing off to the left. And there was the clear sound of a heel scuffing against the stone floor somewhere off to her right. Was she being followed, or was her imagination playing tricks on her?

  Finally she arrived at the last passage that would take her back to Annison’s chambers. She sprinted the length of it, gasping with relief when she got to the lever. But just as she reached for it, a pale white hand shot out of the darkness and grabbed her wrist.

  She started to scream, but another hand clamped down over her mouth. Wide-eyed, she looked up into the face of Lord Hector.

  “I’ve often wondered if there were rats in these passageways,” he hissed softly. “Now I see that there are.”

  Maddy tried to tell him to let go, but he kept his hand firm.

  “I haven’t been able to figure you out, little girl,” he growled. “Are you a spy for someone? Or do you just have the uncanny luck of being in the right places at the wrong time? Which is it?”

  He didn’t remove his hand for her to answer.

  “One moment you’re singing in a children’s choir, and the next you’re an unwanted guest on a balcony. One moment I see you talking to Simet—and I can guess the subject—and then, like magic, you’re a member of Annison’s court. It mystifies me. And I’m not a man who mystifies easily. Are you working for Simet or for Annison—or is there some connection between the two of them I don’t know about? Who are you, little girl?”

  He still didn’t take his hand away.

  He leaned his face so close that she could smell cabbage on his breath. “I have many questions about you. And I want you to know that, one way or the other, I will find the answers. It’s only because I’m not sure about you that I’m going to let you go.” He finally released his grip on her. “But if you’re the rat I think you are, you will be exterminated. Consider it a warning.” He paused to correct himself. “No. Consider it a threat.”

  With that said, he stepped back into the shadows and seemed to disappear.

  Maddy waited to hear his retreating footsteps. Her heart raced, her breath came in short gasps, and those were the only sounds she heard. When she was certain he was gone, she pulled the lever and stumbled into the study.

  Maddy told Annison about Lord Hector’s plans to arrest the believers in the Old Faith. She also described what had happened with him in the passageway.

  Annison was concerned but reassuring. “Lord Hector is clever enough to be careful with you,” she said soothingly. “He won’t do anything to you as long as he can’t figure out who you’re working for and why. For all he knows, you may be working for the king himself.”

  “But he threatened me,” Maddy reminded her.

  “To scare you,” Annison replied. “All it means is that we must be careful. We must trust no one. We may be surrounded by his spies.”

  Annison then sent Maddy to tell all the news to Simet.

  On the way to Simet’s office, Maddy was on edge, sure that everyone she encountered worked as a spy for Lord Hector. By the time she reached Simet, she was in a cold sweat.

  “We don’t want to turn you into a nervous wreck,” Simet said sympathetically. “I think we must establish a secret routine, a set time in a secret place where I’ll meet you and we can swap messages. Otherwise you may well be followed if you keep coming to me more than once a day.”

  “Where and when?” Maddy asked.

  Simet thought about it, then suggested, “There’s a door leading to the old bell tower on the east side of the palace. It’s dark, with a private courtyard that no one uses anymore. Better still, there are no windows or doors nearby from which anyone can spy on us.”

  “I don’t know where it is.”

  Simet smiled. “As usual, I’ll draw you a map. But you must memorize the directions and then destroy the map. The less we have in writing, the better.” Simet quickly drew the map and handed it to Maddy. “Let’s meet every evening at six. In case of an emergency, leave one of Annison’s smaller scarves tied to my office doorknob. Then I’ll know to meet you right away.”

  “But what about Lord Hector’s plans?” Maddy asked.

  “I’ll inform the other believers in the Old Faith of his devious plans.”

  Everyone was so busy over the next few days with the wedding details that they hardly noticed when Lord Hector sent out a proclamation to the palace staff. It said:

  “As an oath of allegiance to the king and his queen, all members of the royal staff must sign a declaration of loyalty, renouncing any duty, obligation, or fealty to any other faiths, powers, or provinces. Signed, Lord Hector, Chancellor to King Willem IV of Palatia, Marus, and Albany.”

  “It’s a test,” Annison observed when Maddy brought the proclamation to her attention. “Lord Hector wants to see if he can trick any of the true believers into the open. Fortunately, with the chaos surrounding the wedding, I don’t believe he’ll be able to force everyone to sign the proclamation. As it is, I will insist that my court be exempt. Lord Hector has no authority over me. Only the king can force us to obey.”

  “Will you sign if the king makes you?”

  “No,” Annison replied. “And let us hope the king does not try.”

  The situation was far more difficult for Simet, however, as Maddy discovered when she spoke to him at the bell tower that night.

  “He’s a cunning devil,” Simet observed. He was more agitated than Maddy had ever seen him. “The audacity of the man, to insist on allegiance when he himself wants to kill the king!”

  “But what will you do?” Maddy asked, growing worried for this man who had fast become a good friend.

  “As a true believer, I cannot—will not—sign such a proclamation.”

  “Then how will you get out of it?”

  Simet tapped a finger along the side of his chin for a moment, then responded, “I can’t. I can only hope to stall him until he becomes so busy with other things that he forgets who signed and who didn’t.”

  “I don’t think Lord Hector is the kind of man who’d forget,” Maddy said forlornly.

  “Me, either,” Simet agreed with a frown. Then, as if to wave away the worry that hung like a cobweb over them, he continued, “One night soon after the wedding, I want to take you to one of our meetings.”

  “Of the true believers?”

  “Yes. I want them to meet you, to see with their own eyes a helper from the Unseen One.”

  Maddy suddenly felt shy. “I won’t have to make a speech or anything, will I?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “Good.”

  “I’ll let you know when,” Simet said, then urged, “You must go back. Tell Annison that she’s in my thoughts and prayers as we a
pproach the wedding day. The Unseen One will bless her for her faithfulness to her duty.”

  As Maddy left the courtyard, she thought she saw someone or something move in a dark shadow near the palace wall. She watched for a moment, her heart racing. A few seconds later, a cat meowed and strolled into the open. Maddy breathed a sigh of relief and strolled on, trying to appear casual.

  Simet emerged a moment later, his thoughts consumed by Lord Hector’s proclamation. He was oblivious to anything unusual about the small courtyard. Had he been paying closer attention, he would have seen the same cat move back into the shadows—and rub itself against a man’s leg.

  The wedding day of King Willem and Annison finally arrived. It nearly made Maddy’s adventure seem like a fairy tale again. The sun shone bright, and the sky was a rich blue. Annison, dressed in a long, white silk gown with headdress and veil, looked like a true princess. She was taken to the chapel in a large gold-trimmed coach, which drove first around the major roads of the city so the people could cheer her. They did, with an enthusiasm Maddy hoped was heartfelt and not forced by soldiers in the crowd. The king went directly from his palace chambers to the chapel.

  Maddy, Tabby, and the other members of Annison’s court were also dressed in white dresses of lace and silk, and they were transported to the chapel in a special black-and-silver open-topped wagon.

  The chapel, normally a cold and austere place, came alive with the colors of the many flowers brought in for the occasion. Maddy thought the smell was heavenly. She noticed that Lord Hector, still dressed in black, clenched a handkerchief to his nose as if the smell were offensive to him.

  Simet was there as well, dressed in his best uniform of dark blue, with gold buttons and epaulets. He clutched a blue tricornered hat to his chest and occasionally pulled a lace handkerchief from his sleeve to dab his forehead as if he were hot. But Maddy noticed that it was a ploy. He was secretly signaling Annison, who also tucked and untucked a handkerchief from her own sleeve. Maddy imagined that they were expressing their love for each other. Or maybe Simet was reminding Annison to be brave while she did her duty. Whatever it was, Annison seemed to straighten up, a look of resolve in her eyes. Maddy then saw tears in Simet’s eyes.

  The king was dressed in a brilliant gold coat and trousers, with silk stockings and gold shoes. He wore another wig, this one blond, but it looked more like a hat than anything hairlike.

  The wedding ceremony itself was a disappointment to Maddy. Once the bridegroom and bride came together at the altar, the words of the service became legalistic. Maddy thought it sounded more like the two of them were signing a contract than getting married.

  “This is so unromantic,” Maddy whispered to Tabby at one point. “It looks like a fairy tale, but it sounds like a business meeting.”

  Tabby rolled her eyes in an annoyed fashion and whispered back, “Palatians aren’t known for romance. This is how they conduct their weddings. I think they’re long and tedious. It would be even longer if they hadn’t cut out any semblance of the old religious service. Good riddance to it, I say.”

  Annison had told Maddy that, though Tabby was loyal to Annison, she wasn’t a believer in the Old Faith. She considered it a lot of superstitious nonsense. So they had to be careful what they said around her. Maddy often wondered why Tabby, a Marutian, had gone against the traditions of her ancestors and given up on the Unseen One, but she never dared to ask.

  Two long hours went by with exchanges of vows, of documents, of rings, of scepters, of crowns, and of other symbolic things Maddy lost track of. After the formal ceremony finished, everyone returned to the palace grounds for another banquet, this time under several pavilions on the grounds.

  Everything about the banquet was as wonderful as the banquet they’d had the week before, except no one tried to poison the king this time. Many speeches were made by visiting dignitaries, and the king himself—half drunk, Maddy thought—gave an hour-long speech that declared his love for Annison, his hopes for the kingdom, and his optimism about the future.

  The sun set, the two moons rose, and the king and queen left by the king’s golden carriage to tour the city once more and wave to those who came out to greet them. Then they went off to somewhere in Palatia—a secret place belonging to the king—for their monthlong honeymoon.

  With Annison gone, Annison’s court now had to move all her belongings to rooms next to the king’s own chambers. Maddy asked Tabby why they still had separate rooms now that they were married. Tabby rolled her eyes and quickly explained that it was Palatian custom for the queen to have her own rooms apart from the king’s, and then he could summon her when he wanted her. Maddy still didn’t understand and persisted in questioning the arrangement until Tabby impatiently told her to mind her own business and go back to work. Maddy shrugged and obeyed.

  The queen’s court was busy from morning until night, packing Annison’s things and filling trunks with her clothes, jewelry, and personal mementos.

  On the third evening, a grandfather clock in the corner struck six, and Maddy suddenly remembered that she hadn’t been to the bell tower since before the wedding. She had assumed there was no reason for her to meet Simet while Annison was away since there were no messages to send. But suddenly she doubted her assumption and thought she should slip away to make certain all was well with Simet.

  It had rained most of the day, but now the sun came out just in time to set. Pools of water lay around the courtyard like large footprints. Simet was waiting for her just inside the belltower door. “You came after all,” he said without reproach.

  Maddy felt ashamed. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I assumed we wouldn’t meet while Annison was on her honeymoon. I should have asked you first.”

  “Don’t worry,” he offered with a smile. His face was half shadowed by the dusk, but she saw his eyes darting quickly around the courtyard.

  “Is something wrong?”

  “We’re going to meet the true believers.”

  “Tonight?” she asked. “Right now?”

  “Now,” he answered and gently took her arm. “Come with me.”

  Simet guided her across the courtyard to an outer wall that ran along the palace grounds. The grass was squishy and wet. In a few minutes, they reached a small wooden door. He pulled a key from a loop on his belt and unlocked it. They stepped through into a wooded area. Simet stopped and made sure to lock the door again behind them.

  “This way,” he said, and she followed him through the woods until they reached an alley shrouded by old buildings of timber and stone. They crept along until the alley reached a larger street. People, horses, and wagons made their way in opposite directions on the two sides of the street. Simet seemed determined to lose them both in the congestion. Once or twice Maddy worried that she would get separated from him, but he always reached out to take her hand or her arm so she wouldn’t get lost.

  The entire way, Maddy wondered what to expect from the group of true believers. Would there be magic or miracles? Would something marvelous happen because she was with them? Maybe the Unseen One would somehow appear to them.

  They ducked down another alley and wound up in a small court of townhouses. The Tudor-style beams, crooked doorways, and angled windows peered at them. Large boxes filled with flowers stretched along the windows and at the base of each house. Simet directed Maddy to a door on the far right, where he tapped on it in a rhythm that reminded Maddy of Morse code. A spy hole opened briefly, then closed again, and the latch lifted on the inside of the door. It was opened by a small silver-haired woman with a skeletal face. She smiled when she saw Maddy.

  “Oh, dear girl, come in,” she greeted and gestured with a bony finger. “Come in, Simet.” She looked cautiously out the door again and then closed it quickly. They stood in a dark hallway for a moment until she moved around them. “In here,” she instructed and led them to a room at the far end of the hall. It was a modest sitting room with a sofa and divan, one or two end tables, a carpet with pink
and blue flowers in it, and thick blue curtains over the windows. The woman stooped and suddenly pulled the carpet back. “They’re waiting,” she said.

  “Aren’t you joining us, Annigua?” Simet asked her.

  She shook her head vigorously. It seemed so fragile that Maddy thought it might fall off. “It’s my turn to keep watch.”

  Simet knelt and grabbed hold of a small ring inset into a floorboard Maddy hadn’t noticed. He gave the ring a tug and a trapdoor lifted up. The old woman took it from him and held it while he stepped onto unseen stairs. Maddy carefully followed him.

  At the bottom of the stairs was a large room, cool like a cellar but decorated in comfortable-looking chairs. Oil lamps were lit and hung from the beams crossing the ceiling. Banners on the walls contained symbols Maddy had never seen before. A small group of men and women was gathered in the center. The people were on their knees and looked as if they’d been praying. One man rose to greet them. He was stocky, with a round, pudgy face, salt-and-pepper beard, and mostly gray hair pulled back in a ponytail.

  “Simet,” the man said pleasantly, then turned his gaze to Maddy. “And you are Maddy.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I am Petrad.”

  “He’s the elder of our group,” Simet added quickly.

  The rest of the group now stood. Petrad introduced each man and woman to Maddy, but they were a blur of names and faces. Once the formalities were over, they drew the chairs into a circle and sat down. Maddy was aware of everyone staring at her, but she tried to ignore it, choosing instead to look at her hands folded in her lap.

  “What’s the latest news from the palace?” Petrad asked Simet.

  “Hector is putting more pressure on some of us to sign his oath of allegiance. He has cornered me twice about it.”

  “What did you say to him?”

  “I told him that the oath was buried in a stack of papers in my office, and I would get to it when I could. I suggested it wasn’t a priority over my many other duties for the king.”