Dragonspeaker Chronicles Box Set

by Patty Jansen

  In the barn, the women helped Yolande make the sweets. The messy process involved cooking lots of sugar in cauldrons and stirring the herb mixture into it. Then they added a powder that turned the mixture red, and spread the thick, sticky paste out on oiled paper before cutting it into cubes while still warm.

  They also went into a cooking frenzy. They made cakes and biscuits. Mina oversaw the cooking, helped by most of the other women, while Wim walked in and out of the kitchen carrying water, firewood and whatever else they needed.

  Mustafa arrived with his troupe of animals late in the afternoon. Everyone in the barn came outside to watch Esme the elephant, who led Mustafa’s column, with Mustafa himself holding a rope attached to a colourful collar around her neck. He also held a stick that he occasionally used to poke the top of her leg when she became too interested in the dead grass or a stick by the side of the path.

  Behind him was the wagon, pulled by two horses, that contained a metal cage with the zebra horse and the goats and cow. Lila the leopard lay on top, her tail dangling into the cage.

  The two foul-mouthed parrots flew from the top of the cage to sit on the elephant’s back, making their loud screeching noises.

  When they arrived at the barn, Koby ran out with a handful of carrots, which she proceeded to feed to the elephant under the wide-eyed looks of Anneke, Bas and Jantien’s children.

  The women opened the barn doors, allowing the menagerie to come inside. All the animals were alert.

  Lila jumped off the wagon with a graceful leap and trotted into the stable, sniffing the hay where the dragon used to sleep.

  Then, when everyone was inside, they had tea and ate some of the cakes still warm from baking, and some non-human creatures got carrots. Mustafa had also brought some skinned rabbits, which went onto the spit.

  Over a meal in the kitchen, they decided they would leave the next day, because Mustafa said the soldiers Henrik had seen at the nunnery would likely come to the Verdonck estate. They should not find anyone there.

  Someone in the corner said, “What about me?”

  Brother Martinus rarely spoke up. He seemed to have resigned himself to being an unwelcome guest, even if he’d offered to leave a few times.

  Henrik said, “We’ll leave you here. You can take the ship back, or up the river, or you can go to the nunnery, but only after we’re gone.”

  Brother Martinus’ face showed no emotion, not even when everyone continued talking. Nellie wondered if he was so worried the decision to let him go might be reversed that he didn’t want to give anyone the impression he was happy. When she finished eating, she went to sit next to him.

  He didn’t look at her or acknowledge her presence.

  “The Triune will guide you,” she said. “The Triune is good, even if the flesh of some in the congregation is weak.”

  He must have heard their stories about Shepherd Wilfridus, although he had never shown any emotion that betrayed what he thought about it.

  “I’m . . . going to stay here,” he finally said.

  “You don’t have to.”

  “I don’t . . . like travelling alone.”

  “You can come with us.”

  He shook his head. “It’s best I don’t. The Triune will guide you and He will decide my fate.”

  He looked sad.

  She had so much still to do and no time to sit and talk. She rose and placed a hand on his shoulder. “The Triune will welcome you back into His house. I, too, never forget the teachings of the Book. I read it to myself every night.”

  “I believe that, sister. I don’t believe you are bad.” He hesitated. “I know some of these people are heathens, but if you trust them, then I trust that they are good people at heart. You have my blessing.”

  “Thank you.”

  And then Nellie left the kitchen. What a strange conversation.

  After having eaten, Madame Sabine took Agatha, Koby and Floris out to the shed with the balloons. They brought back a huge bundle of fabric carried between them and then took the cart to get the basket with the ropes.

  Madame Sabine stoked a giant fire outside the barn and used a frame of metal to suspend the mouth of the balloon high enough above it that it didn’t catch fire.

  The four of them were out all night because, apparently, it took a very long time to fill a balloon with hot air.

  When Nellie got up before dawn, the yard in front of the barn was quiet, but the massive cloth bag floated in the air with the basket attached to it. The assembly was tied to the horse paddock fence with a thick rope. The fire was still going, the cart stood next to it, and Madame Sabine, Koby and Floris were asleep in the tray.

  Inside the barn, preparations were in full swing. Mina was cooking breakfast, people were gathering their possessions to be taken on the cart and an atmosphere of excitement hung in the air. Some people, like Gisele, had already eaten and were in their costume.

  Nellie was happy with how Gisele looked in her green suit: just like a handsome young man.

  “I wish Els could be here,” Gisele said. “Do you think she’ll come to watch the parade?”

  “Maybe,” Nellie said, although the warehouse was in a different part of town.

  “You’re not dressed yet,” Henrik said. He looked very handsome in his black suit and top hat.

  Gertie helped Nellie do up the strings to her red dress. She then piled her hair into a tower on the top of her head. It was quite knotted and there were plenty of spaces to put pins to hold it up. Then she put on a heavy coat made of long fur and as a finishing touch a mask that covered most of her face, which had a protuberance like a bird’s long curved beak over her nose.

  Agatha and Josie also wore masks, but Koby painted her face, and Floris donned a bright red cape and a hat with a ridiculous feather.

  Madame Sabine painted her face white and her lips bright red, and she wore a pink dress with so many frills it was hard to see the fabric underneath. Over top of that, she wore a cloak of white fur.

  Everyone looked splendid.

  Mustafa put the colourful saddle on the elephant. His horses wore headpieces with bells that tinkled with every step they took. The balloon was tied to his wagon. Mustafa hauled in the rope, and Madame Sabine made sure the bag was full and that the burner in the basket had enough oil. Then Koby climbed in. Henrik and Gisele handed her bags of sweets.

  Slowly, they let go of the rope, sending the balloon with Koby into the air.

  Agatha, Mina and most of the rescued women took Adalbert Verdonck’s cart and horses. It also held all their packs with their normal clothes and other possessions. Before they left, Henrik came out of the barn carrying Master Thiele’s locked chest and set it on the tray of the cart before pushing it as far forward as possible, so there was absolutely no chance of it falling off.

  Then the column set in motion.

  Nellie travelled in the coach with Wim, the children, Jantien and Yolande. The plan was to let Jantien and the children out once they got to the edge of the city. Henrik had given her a list of places where they might find safe shelter. Jantien wanted to help hand out sweets, but it would be safer for her to hide.

  The long column snaked through the fields. Mustafa and his elephant went first, followed by the zebra horses and the leopard on a leash. The parrots sat in their cage on the wagon, screeching their heads off. They seemed to enjoy themselves.

  Then came the coach with Nellie and the others. Henrik sat with Adalbert Verdonck’s coachman in the driver’s seat. Nellie could hear their voices talking and laughing.

  The day was nice and the sky pale blue. The sun hung low over the fields.

  Sections of the road were muddy, but once they came to the small villages, most of the roads were paved with cobbles. That made the journey quicker but the clatter of hooves and wheels over the cobbles was very noisy.

  They could see the city in the distance.

  Soon, they were between the small farms that grew vegetables and kept chickens, pigs and cow
s. Here and there, people were working in the fields, feeding their sheep or cows or mending fences. The balloon got a lot of attention. Farmer’s wives and families came out of their houses to stare at it. They walked along with Esme, who didn’t once stray from her path.

  Mustafa had climbed onto her back, and continued to feed her carrots from a bag attached to the saddle.

  They came to the outskirts of the city, where the poor people lived in rows of little houses, sometimes with very small plots of land. People ran to the side of the road to have a look at the passing column and marvel at the balloon.

  Mustafa produced a metal funnel that made his voice louder when he spoke into it. They were a travelling group of artistes, he said. They were coming to bring cheer to the city. Everyone would get free sweets.

  Soon, a horde of children—and older people—followed along. Those at the back of the crowd got their sweets from Koby, who threw handfuls of them into the audience from her position high above the street.

  The crowd swelled and swelled.

  People came running out of side streets. Koby was throwing sweets down from her perch, and the people were putting them in their mouths. Children came with grubby little hands; young men came with eager looks on their faces; young women danced with dainty moves, as if afraid that so-and-so from next door would notice; and grandmothers followed with half-closed eyes that could only see the good times of years past, when for half a cent you could buy a bag of sweets so big that you could eat one every day for a month and still not run out.

  Many people followed the parade, asking for more sweets. Nellie had told Koby and the others that it was important that enough sweets remained to hand out in the market place, because the people there were the most likely to visit the main church and be influenced by Shepherd Wilfridus.

  They came past the council building where a queue stood for people to receive their food rations. Henrik tossed a handful of sweets onto the desk where the officials asked for names and other details. Several men leaned forward to grab the treats. They put them in their mouths.

  “We’re going to see the fair Regent of this town,” Mustafa called. “Come along and tell him you want to see our animals and parade. Come along if you want to go for a ride in the balloon! If she likes you, Esme might let you feed her carrots.”

  And many people came and followed. They cheered.

  Chapter 22

  FINALLY, THE PARADE with the elephant, the wagon and balloon, the horses, goats and parrots, the carts with beautifully dressed-up people and all the citizens tagging along, keen to get more sweets, arrived in the middle of the city. They crossed the marketplace and went through the palace gates. There was a short holdup at the gate when Mustafa held his talk about bringing fun to the city for the benefit of the palace guards. Nellie couldn’t hear what was said, but a lot of guards came to the gate, and after protests and pleading from Mustafa and promises of sweets, the palace gates opened.

  Madame Sabine had said several times that Casper loved sweets.

  The coach rattled across the cobbles of the forecourt. Nellie sat on the side facing away from the palace. The crowd of citizens had to stay at the gates because only the parade of colourful people and animals were allowed inside. Against the dreary grey buildings of the city, they looked very colourful indeed.

  The coach stopped and the coachman jumped off the driver’s seat to open the door. Nellie felt like she had stepped back in time to when she would travel with Mistress Johanna like this.

  It had not been warm inside the coach, but the air outside was positively freezing. Nellie pulled the sides of her coat closer around her. Her legs were stiff. They had only been underway for half a day—not long at all compared to how far some people travelled—but Nellie rarely sat still for that long.

  The steps to the coach were narrow and hard to navigate in a dress where one couldn’t see one’s feet.

  Looking up at the majestic building where she had spent a substantial part of her life, a wave of nerves overcame Nellie. Certainly at least one of these guards would recognise Lord Verdonck’s coach or his coachman. Then again, Adalbert Verdonck never used the hospitality of the palace when he came with his father.

  Floris and Gisele were pulling in the rope to bring Koby and the balloon down. She was shivering with cold, but her eyes shone.

  “You can see so much from up there!” she said to Gisele.

  They gathered the people who were going inside. Not everyone was, because Floris and some of the women didn’t want to risk being questioned by anyone. Agatha, however, said several times she had nothing left to lose. She had left her children with Jantien, who was taking them to one of Henrik’s safe addresses. The risqué low-cut dress had transformed her from a frumpy peasant to an elegant dame. She didn’t look half as old as Nellie had previously guessed her to be. She walked next to Madame Sabine—an unlikely friendship—who covered her face with a veil.

  Nellie shivered. She was uncomfortable in this dress. She was really not made for this type of clothing.

  Finally, the party started up the palace steps. Mustafa led, dressed in a bright purple jacket, a red- and black-striped top hat and blue trousers. He had twirled his moustache into curls and carried a walking stick which he threw into the air and caught deftly. The giant snake hung draped over his shoulders. Lila walked next to him on a leash, and Koby took the leash with the zebra horse. One of the parrots sat on her shoulder and the other fluttered over the party, screeching. Esme climbed the steps with her master, but because only the small doors were open, she didn’t fit through. Koby offered to stay outside.

  The remaining party went into the palace foyer, with the rear end of the column carrying the many baskets and boxes of food they had brought for the celebration.

  Two servants were scrubbing the floors, but Nellie tried not to look at them, for fear they would recognise her. If she felt nervous, she could only imagine what Madame Sabine must feel like.

  They went into the ballroom, passing through a guard consisting of two teenage boys in too-big guard uniforms.

  Nellie had expected chaos, with food on the floor and broken furniture and other things that came with wild orgies, but the first thing that struck her was how orderly and clean the room was. The tables stood in straight rows. While it was clear that people slept here, the row of mattresses lay against the outer walls of the room, and all the blankets were neatly folded. The floor was swept, the tables clean.

  The places on the dais that would normally be taken up by the venerable old advisers of the king or the Regent were now taken up by younger people. Nellie recognised quite a few of them, and noticed how they looked much older and quite well presented.

  She saw Bruno at the table. He sat with a straight back, his chin up. He wore a cloak that resembled the king’s carmine cloak but it was a different garment, because Nellie remembered seeing the Regent wear it. His sleek black hair hung like curtains on both sides of his narrow face. On his lap, he held the dragon box.

  Behind them, up two further steps, stood the king’s throne.

  In years past, it was the only piece of furniture no one had moved from its original position, in the hope that one day the succession problem would be solved. No one had touched it or attempted to sit in it.

  Mustafa walked forward leading the leopard by the leash. He stopped in front of the dais and bowed. The gathered youngsters moved aside so that a path opened to the throne. The leopard sat down, its tail twitching.

  “We present to you the animal extravaganza.” He turned around and waved his hand at the group of people behind him. Nellie stood next to Madame Sabine. The sweat ran down her back, even though it wasn’t very warm in this room. “We bring you exquisite food, sweets, cakes, and sausages. We would have brought the elephant, but she doesn’t fit through the door.”

  There was a bit of laughter at this, and some of the noble sons and daughters started to relax.

  “What is your business in this town?” asked a c
lear voice, old enough to have obtained a man’s dark tones, but still young enough to sound like a child, and Madame Sabine took in a sharp breath.

  It was Casper, and for Nellie, the first sign she’d seen that Madame Sabine felt anything towards her children. Nellie could see Frederick at the edge of the group, next to a noble daughter who looked barely older than twelve.

  Again, Mustafa bowed. “We have come here for a celebration and hopefully to solicit custom of the well-off citizens of this town. We arrange parties, we entertain, we show exotic animals and we cook.” He held out a box of sweets to Casper, and the boy took one, popped it into his mouth and chewed.

  He nodded. “Tastes good.” He took another.

  Nellie let out a breath that she hadn’t realised she was holding. It might just be that this plan would work.

  “Make sure you give the guards some sweets as well,” she whispered to Hilde next to her.

  At this moment one of the parrots at the back said loudly, “You idiot.”

  Sniggers broke out among the noble sons and daughters.

  “We truly mean no harm,” Mustafa said. “We are a band of travellers in need of shelter, and funds to feed our animals. The countryside is very poor indeed, and not many people are happy to have us. They spread rumours that the animals are dangerous. Can you imagine it? Look at her.” He bent down and patted the leopard on the head.

  While he was speaking, Bruno’s eyes met Nellie’s. She was sure he recognised her. He gave a tiny smile.

  “Well then, what are you waiting for,” Casper said. “Bring out the tables. Let’s have a feast.”

  “We have brought a variety of exotic foods that we would like you to try,” Mustafa said. “We have sausages and wines and exotic spices and sweets. We would like to share these things with you as our gratitude for hosting us in your city.”

  He was doing an amazing job as entertainer. Nellie remembered how he would take groups of people around his animal park and delight them with his strange accent and funny stories.