‘Yes.’ Clara frowned. ‘What’s the problem?’
The ambassador pulled the belt on his dressing gown a little tighter. ‘I’m not sure that it’s…Well, you’re a young lady, and I’m not a young…Not in the least young when it comes to that…So what I mean is, is this entirely…What I suppose I mean to say is, there’s appropriate, and there’s, well, other, and I’m not sure I know which…Well!’
Clara was tempted to let him flail a while longer, but cruelty wasn’t in her nature, and time was of the essence. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said, as she slipped past him into his room, and closed the door behind her. ‘You’re not my type.’ She nearly laughed when she saw his faintly indignant expression. ‘Look,’ she said, ‘we could probably keep going on like this, but I’ve not got much time. I’m here on behalf of…Well, let’s not go into details—’
‘That jewel you’re wearing,’ the ambassador said. ‘It’s very unusual.’
Clara, knocked slightly off her stride by this unexpected interruption, lifted up the pendant that Guena had given her. ‘What, this?’
‘Where did you, er…If you don’t mind me asking?’
‘It was a gift.’
‘Oh yes?’
‘From the Duchess.’
‘Ah,’ said the ambassador. ‘The Duchess. Very generous of her.’
‘They’re not really short of material possessions here, you know,’ Clara said. ‘Not when it comes to this kind of thing. Jewellery, and silver cups, and wall hangings – they’re getting a bit frayed, but there are plenty of them. But you can’t eat that kind of thing, can you, or mend clothes and wall hangings without new cloth, and so on and so on. They’re starting to suffer here. And that’s what I’m here about. To find out whether Conrad could lay off at all. Perhaps let a few merchants in over the mountains, or let some boats sail this way, every so often.’
She looked at the ambassador. He was still staring at her necklace.
‘Are you listening?’
‘Does it have any, er, special properties?’ said the ambassador.
‘Does it have any what?’
‘It’s hard to explain…Um. How can I explain…?’
‘It’s a necklace,’ said Clara, starting to lose patience. ‘Mostly it just hangs around my neck and looks pretty.’
‘Mostly?’ He was interested in that.
‘Figure of speech,’ said Clara. ‘Mostly as in “entirely”.’
‘Ah.’ The ambassador looked disappointed. ‘Never mind. Well, yes, thank you for coming, Lady, er, yes…Yes, thank you for coming…’
‘We’ve not talked yet!’ Clara exclaimed, but the ambassador was already manoeuvring her back towards the door. ‘I’ve got a whole speech to give you yet! There are people who want to reach out to you!’
‘No need, no need for any more…Yes, I understand. The usual business. People here want change. Asked you to ask me to speak to the, er…yes, Conrad…asked you to ask me to speak to Conrad on their behalf. And of course I will – absolutely I will! What else am I here for?’ He opened the door and all but shoved Clara out into the corridor. ‘No, no!’ he said loudly, for the benefit of anyone passing. ‘You want the next corridor, I believe! Yes, the next one!’
And the door was shut firmly in Clara’s face. ‘All right then,’ she said to the door. ‘I suppose that’s the job done.’ She looked quickly around her, but the corridor was clear, so she took advantage of her opportunity, and slipped back to her own rooms, where the Doctor was waiting.
‘And?’ he said, when she came in.
‘And he’s an odd one,’ Clara said. ‘Didn’t let me stay longer than a few minutes. I know I only intended to stay for a few minutes, but I’d rather it had been on my terms.’
‘It’s quite understandable,’ said the Doctor. ‘He’d be concerned for his mission if he was found talking behind Aurelian’s back. It might get him chucked out. So what did you say to him? What did he have to say?’
‘Not much on either side,’ Clara admitted. ‘Mostly what he wanted to talk about was this.’ She held up her pendant and the Doctor, seeming to notice it for the first time, ran his sonic screwdriver over the jewel, frowning as he did so. ‘It was like he was expecting it to shoot death rays at him. I’m not saying I’d turn down a necklace like that – that would be a real fashion statement, wouldn’t it? – but…’ She laughed. ‘Not very likely, is it?’
The Doctor was staring down at his sonic. ‘No?’
Clara touched the pendant carefully. ‘It won’t, will it?’
‘What, shoot death rays?’ He shook his head. ‘I shouldn’t think so.’
‘Good!’
The Doctor twisted the sonic round in his hand. ‘Although it might give you the odd electric shock.’
‘What!’ Clara grabbed the jewel and held it in the palm of her hand, looking at it suspiciously.
He tapped the sonic. ‘There’s some kind of energy emitting from it. Haven’t a clue what. Probably innocuous.’
‘Probably innocuous?’ Clara started to unclasp the thing. ‘That’s the kind of phrase which pops up in obituaries. “The rays, which had been thought probably innocuous, turned out to be flipping lethal.” ’
‘I’ll write you a better obituary than that, Clara, I promise. Hey!’ He reached out his hand. ‘Don’t take it off!’
‘I’m not wearing this! Energy emissions! Death rays!’
‘Death rays unproven,’ he said. ‘Besides, if the Duchess sees you’re not wearing it, she’ll be offended.’
‘If it’s so innocuous, you can wear it!’
The Doctor shook his head. ‘Oh, no. I’m not really one for—’
‘Yes,’ said Clara, ‘I know. Fripperies.’ She ran her finger along the jewel’s golden setting. Suddenly the pendant felt very heavy.
‘It’s safe, Clara,’ the Doctor said. ‘I promise. But we’ve learned one thing – the ambassador is as interested in the technology of Varuz as I am. I wonder why. You know, there’s a lot that doesn’t add up there…’ He frowned. ‘You noticed earlier that Guena stopped Aurelian before he talked too much about the objects around the palace.’
‘Yes, I noticed that.’ Clara frowned. ‘What? Do you think Guena is double-crossing us?’
‘No,’ said the Doctor. ‘I believe she wants peace – or, rather, that she doesn’t want war. But I don’t think she’s told us everything. The Duchess has a great deal more up her sleeve, I’m sure of that. Perhaps that’s part of what the ambassador has been sent to find out – exactly what’s left over here from their glory days. What the people of Varuz have tucked up their sleeves beyond electric light and fancy swords.’
And necklaces that came with built-in death rays. Clara went to bed (the necklace lay on a table beside her) thinking over what the Doctor had said. She slept well, despite their discussion, which was fortunate, as it was the last night’s sleep she was to have in a comfortable bed for quite some time. The next morning, she and the Doctor were woken early by a hammering on the door to their chambers. The palace guard was there, summoning them to come before the Duke – and they didn’t look very friendly.
—
I came to the Great Hall as quickly as I could, running through the palace, but slowing to a walk before entering the hall itself. Nothing would be served by allowing the court to see the Duke’s chief adviser in a state of panic. When I reached the hall I beheld a sight that I had long dreaded that I might witness: Lord Mikhail, between armed guards, standing before my lord. I saw the Doctor too, off to one side, with Lady Clara beside him. He gestured to me to join them, and I slipped quietly around the hall, my eyes on Mikhail all the while. ‘Use your sense, lad,’ I murmured to myself. ‘Use those wits you have inherited from your grandsire. And do not lie to him. He will know – and it will only make him angry…’ So thinking, I reached the Doctor.
But Mikhail, it seemed, still believed that he could conceal whatever plans he had made. ‘This is a dreadful accusation, sir, and I deny it
. Have I not served you loyally? Have I not obeyed you in all things, as a child growing up within your court, and now, as a man, as one of your knights? My Lord Duke, how could you believe me capable of a treachery such as this?’
‘Hold your tongue, lad,’ I muttered, for I could see upon his face, and in his closing fists, the signals that my lord Duke was about to lose his temper.
‘Do you think I am a fool?’ Aurelian said. ‘You were seen! People saw you in that part of the palace!’
Mikhail drew a breath. ‘Then it seems that they misunderstood, sir,’ he said and, for a moment, I wondered whether he was telling the truth. His strategy was, otherwise, going to be ruinous, should Aurelian have proof of his disloyalty. ‘Yes, I was in that part of that palace, but no meeting happened—’
‘Liar!’ Aurelian said. ‘You were seen leaving his rooms!’
Ah, so he was caught then, the young lord. Poor lad; his face went deathly white. My instinct, as ever, was to protect him – but before I could step forwards to speak my piece, the Doctor, who must have seen me move, put his hand upon my arm to restrain me. ‘Wait,’ he murmured. ‘Mikhail has made his decision, and must be allowed to take his own course. It’s long past time he was allowed to be his own man.’
And indeed the young lord was gathering himself together, and I could see that he was no longer cowed. To Aurelian, he said, ‘You have been spying on me.’
‘With justification,’ said the Duke.
‘A dishonourable act, sir.’
‘To deal with a dishonourable man.’ Aurelian shook his head. ‘After all that I have done for you!’
Mikhail’s eyes blazed. Now, truly, I saw his ancestry. How much he looked like his grandsire then! ‘Done for me? How dare you! You dispossessed me! You took my seat – this seat, the ancient dukedom of Varuz! You took it for your own, and then you blamed me for mistrusting you! Ever since I was a boy, you have watched me as if I was a viper in the nest—’
‘With reason, boy!’ Aurelian snapped back. ‘I knew you would prove faithless – and so it has turned out.’
‘You’re a fool, sir,’ Mikhail said, coldly. ‘And if it were only your own ruin you were causing, I would not care. But you have brought Varuz to the brink of destruction, and you do not listen when your knights try to tell you that your strategies are madness! I have nothing to lose, for you have stolen it all from me, so I will have my say now! We cannot defeat Conrad in open war! But even at this late hour we can still make a peace that will let something of Varuz survive—’
Suddenly, Aurelian drew his sword. The light that was contained within blazed forth. ‘Mikhail,’ he said. ‘I strip you of your titles. I strip you of your rank. And I banish you henceforth from all lands under my rule. Leave Varuz.’
There were gasps from around the hall. Clara, watching the young man blanch, stepped forwards and said, ‘You can’t do that! That’s not fair! He’s trying to stop you from getting everyone killed!’
But Aurelian had barely begun his day’s work. He turned on Clara. ‘I know you’re in league,’ he said. ‘You, him, and the other one.’ He pointed towards the ambassador, who was standing by the wall, trying to make himself invisible. Yes, I recognise that strategy when I see it, for I have used it often myself. ‘Conrad’s vassal,’ Aurelian said. ‘Do you think I’m a fool? Do you think I am not lord of this hall? Your meetings have not gone unnoticed.’ He turned to the ambassador. ‘There isn’t a dungeon deep enough in which to imprison you.’ He looked back at Clara. ‘Nor you, lady.’
‘Er, Doctor,’ muttered Clara, ‘I’m not liking the sound of this…’
Aurelian, eyes flashing, turned upon the Doctor. ‘Yes, and you – I trusted you, above all! Did you know about all this?’
The Doctor was looking at him with unveiled contempt. ‘Oh, for the love of…Will you sit down, man! Don’t be such a fool!’
‘A fool!’
I thought that things were about to take a very evil turn, but then the Duchess rose from her seat. Now I knew I must step forwards, and even as I did so, I felt the Doctor’s hand upon my arm, trying to restrain me. ‘Guena!’ I cried out. ‘No—!’ But too late.
‘Enough,’ she said. ‘This must stop.’ She turned to her husband. ‘Aurelian, if you banish these people, you must banish me. For I am the architect of this conspiracy.’
—
It felt to Clara as if the Duchess of Varuz had suddenly revealed all her power. Yes, she had known that Guena was intelligent, and shrewd, and that the woman commanded great respect from the people around her but, watching her now, Clara thought that so far she had been allowed to see only a little of Guena’s strength. Her admiration for the Duchess only increased when Guena spoke. She could have left them all to cover for her, Clara thought – and they would have done. She, and Bernhardt, and Mikhail – they would not have revealed who had asked them to approach the ambassador. But she had not let them take the fall.
‘Yes, Aurelian,’ she said. ‘The young woman, Clara, went to speak to the ambassador at my request. If you are to imprison anyone, sir, then you must imprison me.’
Aurelian stared at her, utterly wrong-footed. His anger had completely dissipated and now he looked devastated. Clara had to feel sorry for him. ‘Guena?’ he said. ‘What do you mean?’
The Duchess rested one hand, heavy with rings, upon his arm. ‘Aurelian,’ she said. ‘Listen to me, now. There has been no battle, but already we are all but defeated. We are all but lost. You want to take us to war – but if there is war, that will be the end. There will be no more Varuz. If you bring war to Conrad, he will not hold back. He will make an example of us that will never be forgotten upon this green world.’ She looked at the ambassador, cowering against the wall. ‘If you kill this man, if you harm him or even, I think, if you shame him – you will bring that anger down upon us. You will bring about our end. Send him home, if you must, but let him go unmolested. And, sir,’ she said, lifting her voice and addressing the ambassador directly, ‘tell your master that the Duchess of Varuz remembers herself to him, and that she asks him to remember her, and believe her when she says that she hopes that they will meet again upon this green world in happier days, as friends, and not as enemies.’
Aurelian was standing in thought, head bowed. He turned to the ambassador and, in quieter tones, said, ‘Leave. Go back to your master. Take my lady’s message to him. And…take the girl.’
At a nod from Aurelian, guards began to move towards Clara. ‘Doctor,’ she said, uneasily, ‘what’s going on? “The girl”? Does he mean me? Go where?’
The Doctor, however, she could see, was thinking – quickly, and hard. He put his hand upon Clara’s shoulder, and pushed her towards the ambassador. ‘Go with him,’ he said. ‘Go with him now.’
‘What?’
‘War’s coming, Clara, whatever the Duchess thinks her message might do. But you’ll be safe with the ambassador.’
‘I don’t want to be safe!’
‘Don’t underestimate it—’
‘Doctor!’
‘Clara…’ He leaned in, grasping her arm, firmly but kindly, and he spoke very quietly. ‘Listen to me. Yes, I want you to be safe. Don’t blame me for that. But there’s something else. You’ve got a job to do now – don’t you see? An important job, perhaps the most important one there is right now. Go with the ambassador. Go with him to Conrad…’
‘Oh,’ Clara breathed. ‘Yes, I see.’
‘Yes, yes, I knew you would!’ The Doctor smiled, and pressed her shoulder. ‘Get yourself to Conrad. Explain that you’re not from Varuz, that you’re a visitor, but in the time you’ve been here you’ve got to know the place and its people, and you know they want peace. And,’ he nodded towards the ambassador, ‘stick with him. There’s something else going on there and I want to know what. Find out for me.’
The guards were drawing closer, hands upon the hilts of their swords.
‘Is that enough to be getting on with, Clara? Unsafe enough for yo
u?’
‘Doctor,’ she said, ‘how do I contact you? I could end up miles away—’
‘Don’t worry!’ he said. ‘We’ll find a way!’
The nearest of the guards gestured to Clara that she should follow. ‘All right! All right!’ she said. ‘I’m coming!’
The Doctor gave her one last encouraging squeeze on the arm, and then she and the ambassador were led away. As she left the hall, she looked back over her shoulder, to see Aurelian turn to Bernhardt.
‘And you, sir,’ Aurelian said. ‘I believe you are more caught up in this than I would like.’ Suddenly, Aurelian looked crushed, and old. ‘Bernhardt,’ he said, ‘you too? My old friend. My brother. How could you?’
—
I realised, as I stood before Aurelian, that I had always expected it to come to this. I had long feared that my duplicity would at some point be brought into the open, and that I would be called upon to account for my betrayal. For myself, I cared little, and my chief concern now was to protect the honour of my lady. If I was to be thrown to the wolves, Guena was not to be ruined with me. Varuz would need her fearlessness when the end came. I, meanwhile, was dispensable. So, yes, I had imagined this scene many times in the dark watches of the night; I had prepared myself, and I had believed, after such long practice, that I could face it with equanimity. What I had not prepared myself for was what would happen next. How could I? None of us could have guessed what was to happen next, not even the Doctor.
To understand why the next events had such great impact, you must understand the extent to which we were in disarray. News had passed swiftly around the city of Mikhail’s exposure, of the ambassador’s shaming, of Lady Clara’s banishment. Those lords and knights who had not already been at the palace had hurried to see what turn these events would take next. Almost the whole court was there to see me stand before Aurelian and try to justify myself to him.
‘Lord,’ I said, and opened out my hands in supplication. ‘I will deny nothing. The Duchess came to me, it is true, to ask for advice – but she found me a keen listener, and one who urged her forward in her attempts to contact the ambassador and try for peace.’ Behind me, I could hear the assembled court, holding its collective breath, waiting to see what Aurelian would do in the face of this frank confession. ‘I will not lie to you, Aurelian,’ I said, and I saw him flinch at the use of his name. ‘We are falling apart. We must do something, or else this city and its people will be gone before the end of this year. I could not see that anything was being done. So I took it upon myself to act—’
Doctor Who: Royal Blood (Glamour Chronicles, Book 1) Page 5
