“Did he accept that?”
“He gave me that cold look that only he gives so well. I don’t know how much longer I can put him off. In any event, I don’t trust him. I believe this oath is a first step to bigger things. He wants us annihilated.”
“So he does. He’s already sending his soldiers to the homes of suspected members.” Petrad pursed his lips as if his statement brought back a painful memory. All he said, though, was “We will continue to pray for you and the others.”
“Thank you,” Simet said.
Suddenly they all lowered their heads, and Petrad prayed to the Unseen One to give Simet strength and guidance in his role at the palace. Maddy watched out of the corner of her eyes, wondering if something bizarre or exciting would happen. Then they lifted their heads again.
“And what about you, Maddy?” Petrad asked. Maddy looked at him. “Do you have any messages for us from the Unseen One?”
The question scared her. “No, I don’t think so.”
Petrad smiled. “I just thought I’d ask. Meanwhile, is there anything we can do for you?”
Maddy shrugged. “For me? I don’t think so.”
“Tell me: How is your faith?” he asked.
“My faith?” She was feeling more confused.
“Yes. Tell us the condition of your soul.”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Petrad!” a woman with a scarf on her head said sharply. “She’s a young girl. ‘Condition of your soul,’ indeed. You can’t expect her to know what you’re talking about.”
“Then you ask her, Bridga,” Petrad insisted.
The woman called Bridga smiled at Maddy. “You came to Annison as a helper from another world, which is a wondrous thing to us,” she explained. “But Simet tells us you are unsure of your faith.”
“I am?” she asked. She couldn’t figure out what they were getting at.
“He suggested that you think you may be in a dream or a fairy tale,” said the woman.
Maddy looked at Simet helplessly. He gave her an embarrassed wink and spread his hands in resignation.
“I see what you mean,” Maddy began. She tried to form an answer. “I think . . . I understand now that this isn’t a fairy tale. What I mean to say is that I wasn’t very happy that Annison had to marry the king when she didn’t love him. But she did it anyway. Out of duty to the Unseen One. I guess that’s how it happens sometimes. Real life isn’t always a fairy tale, but sometimes . . .” Maddy paused, unsure of her words or how to finish her thought. Finally she said, “What I mean is, when I grow up, I hope to be as brave and courageous as Annison is.”
The group seemed to approve. Petrad clapped his hands together. “Well said! Bravo!”
Bridga looked at Maddy earnestly, but she had a faraway look in her eyes. “The time will come soon when you will have to be as brave and courageous as Annison,” she suggested. “Perhaps more so. But you must give up your ideas of magic tricks.”
Maddy’s mouth went dry. “What do you mean?”
“You’re still thinking as a child,” she said. “Even now you want magic tricks from the Unseen One. You hope to be amazed and astonished, like a member of an audience watching a magic play. But the Unseen One does not stand on the center of this stage. He watches from the wings while you play your part. Do not wait for magic and miracles, dear child. Play your part and play it well. That’s what you’re here to do.”
The group was silent now. Maddy felt the heat of their watchful eyes. She didn’t know how the woman called Bridga had known to say what she said, but she was right. Maddy was still thinking like a child.
Just then a small bell on the far wall rang. The men and women leapt to their feet, leaving Maddy to sit, unsure of what was happening.
“We have guests,” Simet said softly, coming close to Maddy.
“Guests?” Maddy asked.
Simet put a finger to his lips. “We must be quiet and wait.”
Above them, heavy footsteps beat against the floor as a large group of men—“Soldiers,” Petrad whispered—entered the house. There were shouts. Something hit the floor and crashed. They could hear the old woman, her voice squawking like a bird’s, rebuke the men for barging in on her. Then the heavy footsteps came closer. They were right overhead, the voices now clearer. Someone said that an illegal meeting was taking place in her house. Did they see a meeting? she asked. Did they see anyone else there? The old woman demanded that they leave.
The men thumped and crashed around. Everyone watched the stairs to the secret hatchway, waiting to see if the soldiers would find it—and them. The tension was like a low hum in Maddy’s ears.
“We should leave,” one of the men suggested. “Quickly. Through the tunnel.”
The rest agreed, and they moved to the far corner of the cellar. Petrad pulled a small chest away from the wall, revealing a square hole behind it. The women began going through, while the men looked at them and back at the stairwell anxiously.
Maddy hesitated where she was. “What about Annigua?” she asked.
“Yes,” Simet said, also lingering, his eyes fixed on the stairs. “I don’t like this.”
Petrad returned and put his hands on their shoulders. “She’ll be all right,” he assured them.
But even before the words were out of his mouth, they heard the distinct sound of a slap, and Annigua cried out with pain. One of the soldiers shouted questions at her, demanding to know where the meeting was.
“They’re roughing her up,” Maddy stated, alarmed.
Simet rushed to the bottom of the stairs. Petrad followed, grabbing his arm. “Don’t, Simet,” he warned. “If you go up now, you’ll be arrested, and then they’ll have the evidence to convict her, you, and any of the rest of us they can catch. They’ll also know about this secret room.”
“I can’t let them hurt her,” he answered sternly.
“They won’t do her much harm. You live in the palace, so you don’t know what it’s like for the rest of us. They’ll knock her around, mess up her home, and then leave. But if you go up to help her . . .”
Simet clenched his fists as he tried to decide. Then, angrily, he spun on his heels and went to the tunnel. The rest had already gone.
“We’re going to leave her?” Maddy asked.
“We have to,” Simet said sadly. Maddy thought she saw tears in his eyes, and then he ducked into the tunnel.
“Come along, child,” Petrad said and nudged her along.
Maddy bit her lip. The last thing she heard as she entered the dark passage and Petrad pulled the chest back against the wall behind them was the sound of glass breaking and Annigua crying out a loud, “No!”
The tunnel led under several houses and emerged in a stairwell, flooded from the day’s rain, at the bottom of a large, industrial-looking building. The people went their separate ways without acknowledging one another. Simet and Maddy traveled in silence. Neither could escape the feeling that they’d abandoned poor Annigua.
To get back to the palace, they had to circle around to the street leading to Annigua’s front door. As they walked, Maddy noticed a man in a long coat walking toward them. He looked at them, his eyes reflecting recognition, and then turned his face away ever so slightly. Maddy thought it was a curious action, but then she felt a twinge of recognition as well. She had seen the man somewhere before: the high forehead and heavyset eyes, the square jaw—at the palace, she was certain.
She intended to mention it to Simet, but they were now passing the small street leading to Annigua’s house. Glancing in that direction, they could see the door standing open, a dim light coming from inside, the silhouette of someone moving about in the hall.
“It’s no use,” Simet groaned.
Maddy hated feeling so helpless. It seemed wrong to leave Annigua to the mercy of those terrible soldiers. Suddenly, without thinking, she turned and marched toward the door.
“What are you doing?” Simet asked, trailing her.
“Petrad didn’t say we cou
ldn’t visit a friend, did he?”
Simet understood and nodded. Then, moving so quickly that Maddy almost didn’t see him do it, he snatched up a handful of flowers from one of the boxes along the street. “Flowers for our friend,” he explained.
They reached Annigua’s door, a commotion of crashes and bangs still coming from inside. Simet pounded on the door and shouted out, “Hello? Are you at home, Annigua?”
A soldier appeared in the hallway. “What do you want?” He sneered at them.
“We have come to visit our friend.” Simet held up the flowers as if to prove the statement. “Is there a problem here?”
“Your friend is busy,” the soldier growled. “Come back tomorrow.”
“But I’m very busy tomorrow. I must see her tonight.”
The soldier approached them, eyeing them from head to foot as if to decide whether he could hurt them easily. “I said to go away!” He grabbed the edge of the door, intending to slam it in their faces, but Simet shoved his foot in the doorway. The soldier looked at him indignantly. “Do you want to be arrested?” he demanded.
“And do you want to explain to the king why you’ve arrested one of his palace guards?” Simet challenged.
The soldier was clearly surprised and took a second look at Simet. “What’s that you say?” he asked.
Simet stepped into the door. “I am Simet, a palace guard for the king.” He gestured to Maddy. “This is my protégée. Now, we’ve come to see our friend. And unless you can show me a warrant authorizing your insolence, we will see our friend.”
Simet pushed the soldier aside and marched down the hallway. Maddy smiled at the guard, who stood with a numb expression on his face, and followed Simet.
The damage was worse than it had sounded. It looked as if they had literally turned the room upside down and shaken it until everything had either fallen or emptied. Three other soldiers stopped their destruction to look dumbfounded at Simet and Maddy.
Annigua sat like a crumpled doll in a chair off to the side. Her hand barely covered a red welt on her right cheek. Maddy’s heart lurched at the sight. It will be a deep black and blue in no time at all, Maddy thought.
“Annigua?” Simet said.
Annigua looked up, her face alight with the surprise of seeing him. Her eyes quickly went to the rug and the trapdoor as if he’d come up through it and she had somehow missed the moment.
“We brought you flowers,” Maddy said brightly. Simet gave them to her. She took them uneasily, as if she still couldn’t figure out what had happened.
“We were passing by and thought we’d stop in to visit you,” Simet explained. “But I see you have visitors. What goes on?”
“They’re ruining my house!” the old woman sobbed, tears filling her eyes. “They’re accusing me of things! What’s our nation coming to when barbarians can invade an old woman’s home like this?”
“That’s a question I would like answered, too,” Simet said, scowling at the soldiers.
The soldier who had met them at the door entered the room. He seemed to have gotten over his shock. “Look, you two, we’re here on the business of Lord Hector,” he declared. “And if you don’t leave right this minute, I will arrest you for obstructing justice.”
“Then you’ll have to arrest us,” Simet challenged. “And let the consequences fall heavily upon your shoulders.”
The soldier looked at Simet for a moment. Then he shrugged and barked at his companions, “Take them to Lord Hector.”
Well, well,” Lord Hector said disapprovingly a short while later. He stood next to a large bookcase in his office, as if posing for a portrait. He lightly fingered one of the books. “What am I to make of this?”
“Make whatever you like of it,” Simet replied. His eyes were cold, his jaw set as he dropped himself into a chair across from Lord Hector’s desk. Maddy had never seen him look so angry. She sat down in another chair nearby.
“I can’t help but wonder why you two were visiting a known criminal,” he said in a voice of satin. “Come to think of it, I can’t help but wonder why you two were together at all. Are you friends?”
“We have mutual friends,” Simet answered. “Annigua is one of them. And she is not a criminal.”
“So you say.” Lord Hector clasped his hands behind his back and sauntered to his desk with a forced casualness. “I happen to know she is a fanatic of the Old Faith, an illegal cult. I also happen to know that she conducts secret meetings in her house. Quite a coincidence that you were there tonight.”
“No one has yet said that visiting a friend whenever I like is a crime.”
Lord Hector smiled. “You should choose your friends more wisely.”
“Are you now determining who can and cannot be friends in Marus?”
“In the interests of the king, I may well determine a lot of things, including that.” Lord Hector sneered. “You know that believing in the Old Faith is contrary to the king’s wishes, and I am determined to eliminate that faith. Even tonight, my soldiers are paying surprise visits on suspected members.”
“Visits—or attacks?” Simet asked.
“That depends on whether they resist.”
“Annigua didn’t resist,” Maddy suddenly said, “and your soldiers still beat her up.”
“Oh?” Lord Hector countered. “Were you there when it happened? How do you know whether she resisted? Is that what she told you, or are you going by some other source of information?”
Maddy pressed her lips together and lowered her head. She was afraid that if she said any more, she might reveal that she had been there.
Then a question came to Maddy’s mind. Did Lord Hector already know that? Was it possible that she and Simet had been followed to Annigua’s house? Maddy remembered the man she’d seen in the street. Was he one of Lord Hector’s spies? If so, Lord Hector knew full well that they were there. He might even have sent his soldiers in to catch them in the act. If that were the case, he was merely toying with them now. Can he do anything to us without proof? she wondered.
“I’ll allow that you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Lord Hector offered, as if pardoning them. “But there are other matters on my mind. Your oath of allegiance, Simet—I want it on my desk in the morning.”
“You will not have it,” Simet replied.
Lord Hector’s face went red. “What?” he sputtered. “Do you openly defy me?”
Simet stood up. “I appeal to the king.”
“You can’t.”
“As a member of his royal guards, I have the right to appeal anything you or any of his other officials decree. So I appeal.”
“Why will you not sign an oath of allegiance unless you’re not loyal to the king? Or perhaps you really are one of those fanatics of the Old Faith?”
“I am a Marutian and bound by no Palatian oath of allegiance. I will appeal to the king on that basis. Even he respects the differences between our two nations, united or not.”
“He is king over all, which means you are bound by his laws!” Lord Hector nearly shouted.
“Then I will wait to hear him declare that for himself,” Simet said calmly. “Until that time, I will remain under our Marutian law, which says that no Marutian in a royal position can sign an oath of allegiance to any other government.”
Lord Hector grunted. “You quibble over technicalities.”
“If necessary. But you can do nothing to me until he returns from his honeymoon to settle the matter.”
Lord Hector narrowed his weasel-like eyes until they were mere slits. “We’ll see about that,” he threatened. He walked over to a window and pulled the curtain aside. “By the way, tonight I issued a new decree. We’ll call it Lord Hector’s Decree.”
“How original.”
“It says that to follow or subscribe to the Old Faith is now punishable by death.” He let the significance of his announcement settle into Simet’s and Maddy’s minds. “And in anticipation of the great number of superstitiou
s fools my soldiers will catch, you see”—he nodded toward the window—“I have begun the construction of a new gallows.” Lord Hector smiled devilishly. “It’s been specially designed for them. They will be allowed to kneel before they’re hung.”
“No!” Simet said in an appalled whisper.
Lord Hector turned to him. “As a member of the palace guard, you may have the right to appeal to the king, but the rest of your countrymen do not. They are average citizens who must enjoy the justice of my courts. Now get out! I have work to do.”
Simet glared at Lord Hector, then turned to leave. Maddy stood up, but Hector suddenly added, “No, I want the girl to stay for a moment.”
Maddy looked at Simet, worry in her eyes. He nodded at her as if to say, “Be brave.” He walked out and closed the door behind him.
Lord Hector sat down in the chair behind his desk and gazed at Maddy. “You, dear girl, are a puzzle to me. My people can find out nearly anything I want to know about anyone, but you don’t seem to have a history. You might have fallen from one of the two moons for all I know.”
Maddy didn’t respond.
“Because you seem to be a favorite with our new queen, I want to give you the benefit of the doubt. I want to believe you’re merely young and impressionable and have slipped under the misguided influence of Simet.”
He waited a moment to see if she would now speak. She didn’t.
“Do you understand what’s happening in this kingdom? It isn’t a conflict between Palatia and Marus. It’s not a battle over geography or heritage. It’s a battle over ideas. The new ideas of Palatia are those of a world made better by the supremacy of mankind. We reject the old ideas of those fools who still believe in unseen gods, who have faith in things outside our control.”
Maddy watched him silently.
He rested his elbows on his desk and folded his hands in front of him. “You seem to be a perceptive girl. Surely you must see where—and with whom—the future lies. Join the winning side. Use those sharp eyes and ears of yours for those who will benefit you the most. Put them to use for your king and beloved queen. Work with me and help me to root out the believers in the Old Faith. It will put you in good standing with our monarchs.” He paused again. “Well?”
The Marus Manuscripts Page 35
