by Webb, Holly
‘Oh!’ She jumped up. ‘I know what she means!’ She dashed out of the door, calling back behind her. ‘Come and see!’ She ran headlong down the stairs to the study on the floor below, and when the others caught up with her, she was kneeling in front of Mr Fountain’s old leather armchair. ‘Look!’
Underneath the carved wooden foot was something dingily red. ‘You were sitting on it all the time! You must have used it to prop the chair up, when it was wobbling. I even saw it, when I was lying on the floor yesterday to read.’
Gus sniffed the book. ‘I said you needed a new chair,’ he told his master, his tail twitching irritably. Then he clawed the book out from under the chair leg, and flipped the pages over, sniffing at each one eagerly.
Freddie sat down next to Rose with a loose-jointed thump. ‘You were sitting on it…’ he wailed. ‘All that time I spent climbing the shelves!’
Mr Fountain did at least have the grace to look rather embarrassed. He patted Freddie on the shoulder, and handed him a shining gold sovereign, which he’d apparently produced from behind Freddie’s ear. He gave Rose one too, although he simply took that one out of his waistcoat pocket, as though he thought she might not appreciate the conjuring trick. Bella looked at him hopefully, and then sighed.
‘Ah…’ Gus mewed. ‘This page, look.’
Mr Fountain took the book and sat down in the armchair, which did wobble in a most irritating fashion. Rose could quite see why he had stuck a book under it. She and Freddie and Bella leaned over to look, and he read out loud:
‘Masks and magic are the marks of the city. Many Venetians wear masks all the time. Indeed, this humble historian has sometimes wondered if the citizens have faces underneath, but this is only a careless fantasy. Certainly though, the mask reflects the wearer, and the strange spells worked into the delicate things can change the painted face. Grief, anger and love can all appear on a mask, as well as they can on skin.’
Rose felt Bella’s hand creep into hers, and she squeezed it gratefully. She could hardly imagine anything more horrid than people whose faces were only painted on. Even though Mr Fiori seemed to think he was being silly, it sounded dreadfully real.
‘On the first Sunday of each new year, a masked ball is held at the Doge’s Palace. Even those Venetians who do not usually wear masks will wear a mask for this event, for the sake of tradition. At some point during the evening, a secret ceremony takes place, and renews the strength of the masks for another year. Without the ceremony, the masks would wither away into dust, and with them, the souls of the people, and the power of the city of water. Or so the old story goes.’
‘The city of water?’ Rose demanded sharply. ‘Does that mean Venice?’
Freddie gave her one of the looks he reserved for her stupidest questions. ‘Of course. Really, Rose…’
‘But that’s what she said!’ Rose pulled the doll out of her pocket, and tried to see some answering spark in the painted black eyes. ‘She said he was hidden away in the water! And you saw him surrounded by water, sir, you said! The mask’s made Gossamer take it home. He’s gone to the city of water, hasn’t he? He’s in Venice.’
‘What better way to find out how it works than to take it home?’ Mr Fountain ran his fingers through his hair, groaning angrily. ‘I should have guessed. As soon as I scryed them with all that water, I should have known it. I shall have to go and send a message to the king. A sea crossing, in December…’ He left the room, muttering to himself.
Rose frowned. Surrounded by water. Was Venice an island? She tried to remember the schoolroom map at the orphanage. They had learned the principal exports of all the major countries, but it hardly seemed useful now.
‘If we’re to go to Europe, it could be months of no lessons,’ Freddie said blissfully, as soon as Mr Fountain had disappeared.
Rose gaped at him. ‘You mean, he might take us too?’
‘I should bally well hope so!’ Freddie opened his dark eyes very wide. ‘We’re his apprentices, he has to. He’d be neglecting us otherwise. Think of all the lessons we’d miss.’
‘But you just said—’
‘Be quiet, Rose,’ Freddie sighed.
Mr Fountain’s message had an unexpected result. Later that evening, a very plain black carriage – so plain that it seemed particularly unusual, which was not the desired result – drew up outside the house, and an individual swathed in a heavy black cloak, with an opera hat drawn over his face, knocked loudly upon the door.
Rose, dashing up the stairs and through the green baize door, cursed visitors who came at suppertime, and opened the door with a pert expression on her face.
But it disappeared when the stranger tipped back his hat.
‘Rose. I must see your master.’
Rose dropped a hasty curtsey, and backed away towards the stairs. ‘Of course, Your Majesty.’
‘Hush. I don’t want it to be known that I’m here. I’m trying to keep the disappearance of the mask quiet, and even the mice are spying on me at the palace.’
Rose smiled. She couldn’t be so sure he wasn’t right.
‘If you wait in the master’s study, Sire, I’ll fetch him.’
‘Nonsense. I can’t waste time, Rose, I shall have been missed already. Take me to him.’
Rose nodded, and fled up the stairs, hoping to warn Mr Fountain, but the king was used to deer-hunting and other such energetic pursuits, and he was right behind her as she flung open the workroom door.
Mr Fountain was inspecting the tiny houseplant that she and Freddie had made, which now bore several disconcerting blood-coloured roses.
‘How pretty,’ the king commented.
‘Your Majesty!’ Mr Fountain looked truly shocked, for once. ‘I had not meant you to come here, Sire! I was requesting an audience.’
‘Walls have ears,’ the king muttered, subsiding onto one of the rickety wooden chairs. ‘Everyone in the palace thinks that I am having a most important conversation with someone else about the situation in Talis. It was the only excuse that would pass muster on Christmas night, when my older daughters and their cousins are performing scenes from Shakespeare. So, you’ve found them, Aloysius. I am impressed.’
Mr Fountain sighed. ‘We were lucky, Sire. Gossamer is angry, and that anger let me catch a hint of him. But it was Rose who gave us the clue we needed. Sire, we are almost certain that he has taken the mask back to Venice.’
‘It would make sense. Please—’ The king waved a hand at the other chairs. ‘Please sit, all of you. Tell me what we must do next.’
‘I shall have to go there, Sire. We think there is a certain day – a ceremony at the duke’s palace. If Gossamer can be there, with the mask, he could unlock the secrets woven into it.’ Mr Fountain closed his eyes for a second. ‘If he does that, I’m not sure I will be strong enough to stop him.’ He opened his eyes again to stare at the king. ‘Sire, this ceremony is in eight days. The first Sunday of the new year. I must go now.’
The king nodded. ‘A naval vessel, Aloysius. Whatever is necessary, you shall have it. You will have to travel by sea to Talis, and then over land, I should think.’ He frowned. ‘In fact it would be most useful to have your impressions of the mood of the country. Of course, they are all being most terribly polite now, but if Venn and this Gossamer fellow had succeeding in kidnapping Jane, and throwing London into a riot, the Talish would have been across the Channel in days.However much the emperor swears to me in flowery speeches that Venn was simply a lunatic and it was nothing to do with him, he is still mobilising troops all over everywhere. Of course he is planning an invasion. Then, you can take the new Trans-Alpine Railway as far as the Veneto… Venice, yes. Excellent…’
His Majesty stared into the fire, tapping his fingertips together. ‘The Venetians have managed to preserve themselves as an independent state, even after the Talish occupied Genoa. An audience with the duke – if he should favour you with his confidence, Aloysius… How have they done it? How are they holding off the Talish? Is it
magic? Or some strange trade bargain? It may be vital to understand.’
‘So you want him to be a diplomat, as well as saving us all from this madman, Gossamer?’ Gus spat. His whiskers were trembling, and Rose thought she had never seen him so angry. ‘Do you not realise what you’re asking him to do? He’ll be lucky if he survives, and you want him to ask about trading agreements?’
‘Sshhh, Gus. I apologise, Your Majesty. Cats are not known for their respect for royalty…’
‘Quite.’ The king stood up, and so of course everyone else stood too, apart from Gus, who stared insolently into the fire.
‘Then I will let it be known that you are to journey to extend my compliments to the duke, dear Aloysius, as a fellow magician. I would rather not mention the mask at court, as things are so – unsettled. We hardly want to spread any more disquiet about power-crazed magicians, do we?’
Mr Fountain bowed, and escorted the king from the room himself, shooting a glare back over his shoulder at Gus, who turned his back on him, hunching his shoulders furiously.
‘Is it really so dangerous?’ Rose asked, in a small voice.
Gus sighed, and relaxed his spine into its usual graceful curves, settling his tail delicately around his paws again. ‘We don’t know what Gossamer can do. Of course it’s dangerous.’
‘Papa is the best magician in the world.’ Bella rocked her doll in her arms, and glanced up at them all, scowling. ‘He is.’ She marched over to the window seat to play with the doll’s house, as though she couldn’t bear to hear any more of the argument.
Gus said nothing, and Rose felt a strange tightness around her heart. Did Gus think that Gossamer was stronger than Mr Fountain? Gossamer, who was holding Rose responsible for the failure of his plans?
The odd thing was, the tightness wasn’t only fear. There was excitement too, and it was easier to think about the excitement. Rose seized Freddie and dragged him to sit on the hearthrug in front of the fire. ‘Tell me about Venice,’ she pleaded. ‘Do you think we shall really go there? Why did the doll say they were surrounded by water?’ She wasn’t surprised when a light thump indicated that Gus was coming to join them. He was such a show-off, he couldn’t resist imparting information.
‘Venice is a city of water,’ he told them grandly. ‘No roads, only pathways and canals. Everyone and everything travels by boat. There’s not a single horse in the city.’
Rose stared at him. ‘Are you having me on?’ she asked at last.
Gus rolled his eyes, and swished his tail into Freddie’s leg with a meaty thump. ‘You tell her.’
‘He’s right,’ Freddie promised. ‘It must be the strangest place. Hundreds of tiny little islands, all linked by bridges. Some of the houses have front doors that open straight onto the water – so you can only visit by boat!’
Rose eyed them sceptically. She wouldn’t put it past them to make something like this up, to see how much they could get her to swallow, and then fall about laughing when she believed them. But although he was smiling, Freddie didn’t have a hint of the irritating smirk he wore when he was teasing her.
‘No carriages, or carts?’ she asked doubtfully.
‘How could there be, when there are no roads for them to run on?’ Freddie pointed out.
‘It sounds like something out of a fairy tale,’ Rose muttered suspiciously.
Freddie nodded. ‘I know. But it’s true. And I think it is a fairy tale sort of place all round – the duke that Mr Fountain is supposed to be going to see, he’s a magician, all the great families are. I should think it’s only magic that holds the place together, the way it’s all built on those marshy little islands.’
‘And you really think he’ll take us there?’ Rose asked dreamily.
‘Just like a girl,’ Freddie said scornfully. ‘She’sdaydreaming, Gus, look at her. We aren’t going sightseeing, Rose! We’re chasing Gossamer – the evil magician with the dangerous enchanted mask, remember?’
Rose shook away the visions of dusky waterways, and nodded. ‘I know. But I’ve never been anywhere besides London, Freddie. I can’t help but be excited.’
Mr Fountain stalked back into the room. ‘Gus, are you trying to have me executed? He can still do it, you know. The act enabling traitors to be beheaded on Tower Hill is still very much in force.’
Gus yawned insolently. ‘The man is an inconsiderate idiot, with no respect for his betters.’
‘You can’t say that about the king!’ Rose told him, feeling quite shocked.
‘He isn’t my king,’ Gus snarled.
‘Stop it!’ Mr Fountain sank into a chair. ‘We don’t have time to bicker. I must make a list of the travel arrangements. And it’s highly likely that I need to find Bella a new governess.’ He twisted his moustache fretfully, and frowned at Bella, who wasleaning against his shoulder and gazing up at him, trying to look charmingly innocent. ‘Why does everything happen at once? Perhaps I could offer Miss Anstruther a raise? I can’t search for the right person to replace her now, I must set off as soon as possible – and yet I simply cannot leave you behindwithout someone to look after you.’ He looked thoughtfully from Freddie to Rose. ‘No, not even with you two.’
Freddie gasped. ‘But sir! We’re coming with you!’
‘You most certainly are not!’ Mr Fountain snapped. ‘Do you think I’m mad?’
Rose’s eyes filled suddenly with tears. She shouldn’t have let Freddie convince her. But he had sounded so sure. Strange images of a watery city had been gathering in the back of her mind – without her realising, until they were abruptly snatched away.
‘Sir, if you don’t take us, I shall – I shall leave!’ Freddie stood with his arms folded, glaring at his master.
‘You can’t,’ Mr Fountain reminded him irritably. ‘You’re bound as my apprentice.’
‘I don’t care. I shall break the binding. You can’t leave us behind. That would be desertion, and – and betrayal. Sir, it would be just plain mean!’
‘I can’t drag you across Europe on the trail of a pair of crazed murderers!’ Mr Fountain yelled.
‘You won’t be dragging us, we’ll chase you!’
‘They haven’t actually murdered anyone. Yet,’ Gus pointed out helpfully, his sulks forgotten.
Mr Fountain shot him a disdainful look. ‘Not that we know of.’
‘Only that poor bird,’ Rose put in. She still dreamed of it sometimes, the tiny racing heartbeat shaking her hands as she broke apart the shattered golden casing. And the fury that had filled her as that heartbeat died away.
Gus looked away, and Rose realised that he had probably killed rather a lot of birds. But that was different somehow. Cats were meant to hunt. Men were not meant to imprison living creatures inside jewels.
‘We could help, sir,’ Freddie pleaded. ‘We’d be useful. It would be educational, as well! Think how much foreign travel broadens the mind. Rose needs a lot of broadening.’
‘And I can solve the governess problem ever so easily, Papa,’ Bella told him, her voice honey-sweet, but underlain with steel. ‘You can take me, too.’
Bella’s father pretended not to hear this. Instead he stalked out of the room, snarling at them all to follow him. Rose and Freddie exchanged a hopeful glance. Did this mean they were going?
Down in the study, Mr Fountain was spreading out a map on his desk, and muttering to himself. ‘I’ll need at least two days to pack everything I need. But I don’t know what I need! This is impossible…’
‘Which port will we sail from, sir?’ Freddie asked, and only Rose could see that he had his fingers crossed behind his back.
Oh, please… she thought to herself, quickly crossing her own fingers inside her apron pocket. She was sure she felt the Rose-doll, who was pressed up against her fingers, give a little shiver of hope.
The master eyed them, and sighed, rather grudgingly.‘Dover. His Majesty seems to think there’s a vessel due to sail on the twenty-seventh.’
‘The day after tomorrow!’ Rose
cried. ‘And – and we’re all to go?’
Freddie glared at her – Don’t! – but she couldn’t bear not to know for real, not with all those floating churches and watery towers swimming around in her head. Was she really going to see them? Would she walk alongside them, be part of the city of water?
Mr Fountain looked up from the map, frowning. ‘It’s your fight as much as mine,’ he admitted. ‘Especially yours, Rose. I don’t want to leave you here alone either. I wouldn’t put it past Gossamer to send someone after you.’ He shook his head wearily as he traced a route across the map of Talis, delicately inked with pine forests and lakes, and a tiny, elegant traceryof railway track, spread across it like a necklace. ‘No, we shall all go.’
‘Me as well?’ Bella asked, biting her soft underlip, and looking unsure of herself for once.
Her father glared at her sternly. ‘This is not a pleasure cruise, Bella dearest. We are not just going sightseeing. One reasonably-sized trunk, that’s all you can bring!’
Bella paled slightly, but she shook her curls. ‘I don’t care. Besides, Papa,’ she leaned against him lovingly again, ‘you can’t leave me behind. You know that Miss Anstruther can’t even begin to control me, and I’m sure that I would be worse if darling Freddie and Rose weren’t here. I would be most terribly bored.’ She smiled mischievously up at Rose.
‘Sir, if you leave her behind, when we get back, Miss Anstruther won’t be the only one who’s given notice,’ Rose said hurriedly. She didn’t want Bella terrorising everyone below stairs.
Gus brushed the map with his whiskers, and sniffeddisparagingly at the railway line. ‘I shall be travel-sick, I expect.’
Mr Fountain ran his hands through his beautifully groomed hair, leaving it standing on end. ‘I’m setting off to chase a crazed magician with three children, a cat, and a governess,’ he muttered.
