Lilli considered running up quickly, but then she scolded herself for being a fool and took a conscious deep breath.
“What is this?” she asked, and her voice sounded firm, not a little afraid. The figure stirred and then stepped into the dim light of the oil lamp on the wall.
“Auntie Jahne?” Lilli asked, when she saw the old woman.
“Yes,” said the old woman, eyeing Lilli as if seeing her for the first time. “I want to know what you are doing here. Were you going to the king?”
Somewhat taken aback, Lilli wondered what to say to that. She thought of Constance’s warning that this woman was confused.
“I was going to see him, but he’s lying down. I don’t think he’s well.”
At these words, a shadow settled over the old woman’s face.
“And what did you want with him?” she asked, and it sounded surprisingly clear, Lilli thought. Almost demanding.
“Nothing in particular. I wanted to do some painting and my paints got lost. I could have ridden to the next town tomorrow and bought new ones. I wanted to discuss that with the king.”
“You want paint? Nothing else?”
“What else would I want?” Lilli felt herself growing impatient. Why was she even talking to this confused woman?
“Come along,” Auntie Jahne said. She waved a gnarled hand at Lilli. “Come on, go on. I know where the paint is.”
Lilli hesitated at first, then followed the old woman.
They went into a part of the castle that Lilli had not yet set foot in. Auntie Jahne, however, seemed to know her way around and waddled briskly ahead. On the way, she just took one of the oil lights from the wall and then they moved forward in a small cone of light, enveloped in complete darkness. Lilli wondered if she was completely crazy to be wandering around the castle with this woman, even though she had been told about her mental state. She was just considering turning back when Auntie Jahne stopped in front of a low door, opened it, and disappeared inside. Lilli remained standing outside, a little indecisive, when another light came on in the room, then another. And another. Auntie Jahne lit one candle after the other and now Lilli could no longer restrain herself and followed the old woman into the dark room. What she saw made her gasp. The room was full of paintings. Some completely finished, some unfinished. She could make out a good dozen easels and there ... Lilli’s heart was beating faster! A table full of bowls and pallets, next to it tumblers with numerous brushes, jars with colour powders ... a paradise! Lilli approached the table almost in awe. The utensils seemed dusty in the candlelight, but otherwise in good shape.
“You can take it all. Nobody needs it anymore.” Auntie Jahne stood next to her, looking at the things in front of them on the tabletop as she did. Lilli took one of the jars, tapped her finger into the powder and rubbed it between her fingers in the dim light.
“The colours are incredibly good. They must have been very expensive! Why doesn’t anyone need them anymore?”
“August died two years ago,” Auntie Jahne said.
“Did he paint all these pictures?” Lilli looked at the canvases scattered all over the room. A linen cloth hung over some of them. Probably to protect the artwork from dust.
“Yeah, he just painted all his life. Never did anything else.” Lilli took the candlestick from the table and slowly walked over to the paintings. August had had a very mature style; she could see that immediately. She definitely had to look at these paintings in daylight, maybe she could pick up something from his technique.
She saw Grauemfall Castle in a large painting and immediately she became absorbed in the details. Incredible how real the mist over the forest looked. If she had thought about tackling the same motif just today, she now felt intimidated by the craftsmanship of the deceased painter, who must have been able to really capture every ray of light, to correctly place every shadow. She almost thought she could hear the Grauemfall and would have liked to touch the painting to make sure it was not a window into another reality.
With difficulty she tore herself away and moved on to the next picture. August had captured the castle gardens, the castle gate, and rooms that Lilli didn’t know existed, but which had to be here somewhere. One picture showed a serious-looking girl and Lilli recognised from the eyes and the shape of the face that it must be Constance. Why wasn’t such a fine picture hanging in a corridor of the castle? Strange. And then the thought occurred to her that August had certainly not only immortalised the princess on canvas ...
A strange excitement seized her. Would she find a picture of Amon as he had looked before his disfigurement? It was possible. Lilli headed for the covered pictures first because she could imagine that this sad testimony of the past would be covered up, and she was quite right. As early as the third picture, where she lifted the cover, Amon’s face was revealed. But not, as she had hoped, before the assassination. On the contrary. Lilli stared at the picture. Yes, it was him, his eyes, unmistakably well taken. The picture couldn’t be more than three years old. Amon looked almost the same as he did today, only his scars ... red and bulging they criss-crossed his face, disfiguring him and changing his features.
“That’s Amon,” Auntie Jahne suddenly said behind her and Lilli startled.
“I know,” she said then. “But there ... the injuries were more recent, weren’t they?”
“No. The picture is three years old. He looked the same then as he does now.”
Lilli held the candlestick closer to Amon’s face.
“Then why did August paint the scars so exaggeratedly large? Surely they can hardly be seen today?”
“August painted what he saw. What we all see.”
Lilli’s gaze crossed with Auntie Jahne’s.
“But he doesn’t look like that,” Lilli objected. “The scars are barely visible.”
The old woman looked at her intensely.
“What do you see when you look at him, black-haired girl?”
“My name is Lilli.”
“So what?”
Lilli sighed. “I see the king and his scars are flat and rather light, not red. They don’t stand out very much. So, I don’t understand why people make such a fuss about it. He is a handsome man even as he is.” She fell silent abruptly, unable to believe what she had just said.
Auntie Jahne nodded slowly and then smiled. It made her face seem like someone else’s.
“Lilli. You are Lilli.” Again, she nodded, and Lilli reminded herself that Jahne was crazy. She had forgotten that for a moment.
“So, you mean I can take these colours?”
“Yes, take everything,” said Aunty Jahne. “Take anything you need. You can always come here and look at everything and take everything. Whatever you want.«
Lilli startled and needed a while before her pounding heart calmed down. No, there was no old, almost toothless woman bending over her. She was lying in her bed, the ceiling above her. And she had been dreaming. Had she? This room full of pictures ... she had seen a ridiculously exaggerated painting by Amon ... and all the paint jars. It was a pity about them. She could really have used them. Lilli sat up and her eyes fell on the table in the middle of her room. The colours were there. And she remembered again. Of course, she had been down there, had looked at the pictures with Auntie Jahne and then taken the colours with her. Dream and reality arranged themselves and took their assigned places.
Calm returned to Lilli’s mind and slowly something like anticipation of this day took hold. Today she would paint a picture!
She jumped out of bed, went to the bathroom, got dressed and then began to set up her workspace. She decided to paint the view from her window first, as the landscape was remaining still and not running away from her. She ordered breakfast, which Sophia brought her with a really unhappy face, but today Lilli didn’t let that affect her one bit. She could hardly wait to get started and only a little later she was sitting there completely absorbed in her work, in her own world in her thoughts.
She painted until
noon, and when Constance came to her, she politely declined to dine with her. To this end, she invented a splendid excuse of colours drying too quickly and complicated effects that she would not be able to achieve if she interrupted her work by having lunch.
With that, she drove Constance out of her room in a friendly but firm manner. She had Sophia serve her a meal on the small side table and she did not look up from her work while the servant clinked dishes behind her. Then she sat down at the table, looking at her almost finished painting. The colours truly were of an amazing quality, seeming to glow out of the picture. Could she find out where they came from? Maybe she could get to the source of these artist’s colours herself and stock up on them for years. She no longer mourned her missing paint box. Satisfied, she emptied her plate, then stretched and picked up her brush again. She didn’t even notice that Sophia was clearing away. She recognised it because the dishes had disappeared a short time later.
Night had already fallen when Lilli ordered some bath water and at the same time an extra bar of soap for her brushes. Her body felt a little stiff from sitting all day today, so a bath would do her extra good. Twice Sophia had already disappeared into the bathroom with the buckets, but Lilli was beginning to get the impression that she wasn’t coming out at all. If this went on much longer, the water would be cold before she had filled the tub.
Lilli walked over and entered the bathing room. At first, she couldn’t comprehend what she was seeing. Sophia was on her knees, her face buried in her apron, sobbing unrestrainedly. One empty bucket was beside her, the other lay on the floor two steps away.
“What’s going on here?” Lilli asked. The servants of Grauemfall seemed to her like a haphazardly assembled bunch of unskilled peasants.
Sophia slowly raised her head, her face puffy from crying and badly reddened. Lilli saw that her hands were shaking.
“Forgive me, Your Highness. Please forgive me!” The woman sobbed again, tried to reach for the bucket, missed, knocked it over and a small trickle flowed out of the vessel onto the floor. A sob shook Sophia, and she sank back into herself.
Lilli gathered up her dress and dropped to her knees. Carefully she touched Sophia on the arm.
“Tell me what happened.”
At first, she thought Sophia would not answer, but then she slowly looked up.
“My son ... he is dying.” Tears welled up in her eyes.
“What’s wrong with him?” Lilli asked.
“He’s had a fever for three days and a wound ... he hurt himself at work. Now he doesn’t wake up at all ... he just lies there ...” She sobbed again.
“Show me where he is,” Lilli said. She stood up. “Get up, come on!”
Sophia looked up at Lilli uncertainly, then got to her feet, which looked like it was going to be a lot of trouble for her.
Lilli gave her a prompting look. “Let’s go.”
Sophia led them to the lowest floor and then into an outbuilding. By the décor, the doors and the low corridors, Lilli quickly realised that they were in the servants’ wing.
Sophia finally opened a low door and let Lilli enter first. Her eyes had to adjust to the dim light for a moment while Sophia took an oil light and led Lilli to a hutch in the corner, its entrance covered with a linen sheet. Behind it, a small chamber appeared, and Lilli immediately saw the narrow bed in which a motionless figure lay. A dim oil light burned beside the bed.
Lilli went closer and sat on the edge of the bed.
“Where is the injury?” she asked.
“Here, Your Highness,” Sophia said, pulling back the covers a little. The upper body of the boy, who might be about Lilli’s age, was unclothed. Sophia had tried to wrap his waist with linen bandages. Lilli saw the dark patch where the blood was seeping through the bandages.
The boy had his eyes closed and was breathing hard and a little too fast. Despite the poor lighting, Lilli could tell he was handsome. He had a beautiful, gentle face and curly brown hair.
“He’s dying, Your Highness! He’s dying!” Sophia sobbed out again. Lilli pressed her lips together.
“Wait here.” Then she got up and ran out of the modest quarters back into the castle. She approached the first guard she met and asked the man to take her to the king’s personal physician. The guard looked a little astonished but gave in to her request and shortly afterwards Lilli knocked on the heavy oak door. Indeed, the doctor opened quite quickly, but his expression clearly revealed that he had not expected her.
Lilli explained the situation and asked him to come along.
“I can’t do anything there, Your Highness,” he said. “The servants are not my territory.”
“But the boy is dying!” Lilli felt heat rush to her cheeks.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” The doctor tried to close the door again, but Lilli quickly put her foot in.
“You will come with me right now and help the boy. I am His Majesty’s future wife, and I will report to the King how you have treated me.”
There was a twitch in the doctor’s face. He was probably about to retort when Lilli beat him to it.
“Get your medicine bag or whatever you have. And come!”
“I ... will look at it first.” The man pushed his way into the hallway and Lilli was a little irritated. Didn’t he have some kind of doctor’s kit with standard remedies or something like that? Maybe he wanted to look first and then go back for anything he needed. In any case, Lilli was glad that he was now joining her. She led him to the servants’ quarters, and he seemed to hesitate again before entering the boy’s bedchamber. Sophia looked up at him shyly as he stepped up to the bed and eyed the sick boy as he stood. Lilli held the lamp closer to him so that the doctor could see better. He half-heartedly looked at the bandages, trying not to touch the boy as much as possible.
“Tell him to stay in bed and drink a lot. Clean the wound more often. That’s all you can do for now.” He nodded to Sophia and Lilli. “Good night.” Then he turned and walked out. Lilli stared after him, speechless. Sophia’s sobbing finally broke the silence.
“This is a crime. I will report this to the king, I ...”
“No, Your Highness! Please don’t. The personal physician has a lot of influence here at court, a lot. We will lose our position, please don’t tell His Majesty!” Sophia looked at her pleadingly and behind Lilli’s brow ideas started to take form. They had to do something.
“Is there another doctor?”
“Not that I know of, Your Highness. I would have asked him for help long ago.”
Lilli sighed.
“There is a doctor.”
Lilli whirled around and snatched up the oil lamp. Auntie Jahne stood in the doorway.
“How did you get in here, Aunty Jahne?” Lilli asked, completely perplexed.
“Unimportant.” The old lady approached the infirmary bed and glanced at the boy. She pulled the bandages off easily and her movements seemed much more routine and skilful than the doctor’s. Lilli noticed that immediately.
“The first thing is to get the fever down and then we need a real doctor, not some quack,” Auntie Jahne said. “He needs to be cooled down; he’s burning up.”
Lilli thought for a moment.
“Wait here, I’ll be right back.”
Again, she ran into the castle and addressed the guards. And shortly afterwards she returned with four guards. Sophia was very frightened when she saw the men, but Lilli reassured her.
“This boy must be taken to my room. At once.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” one of the men said, nodding to the others. The sick boy was placed on a sheet, of which he seemed oblivious, then they lifted him up with the sheet, each grabbing a corner.
“What are you going to do, Your Highness?” Sophia tried to keep up with Lilli.
“What is your son’s name?”
“Florian.”
“We’re rescuing Florian.«
5
When they arrived in Lilli’s room, she had the feverish boy take
n to the bathroom and put him in the now lukewarm water. Florian groaned, but did not really regain consciousness.
Auntie Jahne instructed Sophia to let the water run over the boy’s forehead again and again and to cool his body carefully, then she grabbed Lilli by the arm and pulled her aside.
“There’s a doctor. I can tell you where he lives, I can describe it. It’s a bit through the forest. I can arrange for a lad to go with you who knows the area. You can take horses.”
Lilli glanced at Florian and his mother. Then she pressed her lips together and nodded.
“Tell me where to find him.”
Auntie Jahne was right. She described the way to the doctor to Lilli and instructed a stable boy to saddle a horse for Lilli and accompany her. In this darkness it was madness to set off alone. The guards at the gate gave a surprised look when Lilli rode past them. She told them the truth. That she was going to look for the doctor because of a serious case of illness and would be back soon.
The ride turned out to be a bit scary and Lilli was glad to have the stable boy with her, as her horse also became nervous at the numerous noises at night and kept snorting in fear. The young man had a third horse with him for the doctor in case he did not have a ride.
Lilli saw the moon standing clear in the sky when they finally reached the house that Auntie Jahne had described. It was one of the first of the houses that formed the forefront of the valley settlement, and Lilli was more than relieved when she knocked and a young man with friendly features in a neat shirt opened the door to her. It was indeed the doctor. She described the problem and he immediately calmly packed up his things and followed Lilli out to the waiting horse.
It took them a little longer to get back, as it was uphill, and when they finally rode through the gate and Lilli eventually dismounted, she felt infinitely tired and exhausted for a moment. But then she pulled herself together, the issue at that moment was not whether she wanted to sleep.
The Scar-Faced King Page 6
