by Patty Jansen
“They won’t, because there is no other place to buy it close by.”
“They will stop buying it, because there will not be as many people in the city.”
His face worked. In his eyes Nellie thought she could see the warring emotions of wanting to come to the city as a saviour and being crowned the king or simply surviving and getting praise and money without the crown. She didn’t really understand what he wanted, but although he was not very pleasant, she didn’t think he was a bad man.
He agreed that she could borrow a coach. He also agreed to send a group of capable men.
She asked whether those guards were the men camped in the horse paddock.
He said those were mercenaries returning from a mission. What they had done, he didn’t say and she didn’t feel it appropriate to ask. He stressed that the men did not work for him.
Somehow, Nellie didn’t believe him.
Back at the barn, Henrik told Nellie that they might be a danger more than a blessing, but there was no option other than to accept his help, because they couldn’t do it alone and because without Lord Verdonck’s support, Saardam was nothing.
“I’m sure the nobles will have a lot of bad things to say about allowing him back into the city,” he said.
This was all very much more complicated than Nellie had assumed, and it was turning into a game she wasn’t well equipped to play.
“I meant to ask you before: do you know what’s in that box Master Thiele put on the cart?”
“I think I might, but he hasn’t told me so I can’t be certain.”
“Do you have the key?”
“I know where it is.” Which wasn’t an answer.
“Do you think they’re weapons?”
“Of a kind, but without opening it, I can’t tell, and I don’t want to start rumours.”
“Don’t you know I hate it when you’re mysterious like this?”
“I do, but if the box contains what I think it contains, then the fewer people who see what’s inside, the better.”
Chapter 21
* * *
NELLIE WENT TO SEE what Madame Sabine had been up to. The door to the shed was locked from inside, but she could hear Madame Sabine’s voice inside. She knocked.
The voice fell quiet and then said, “Who’s there?”
“It’s Nellie. I need your help.”
A moment later, the door opened. Madame Sabine peeked out. She wore a man’s outfit, a pair of overalls belted at the waist. She had her hair tied up in a ponytail and wore a shawl around her head to keep it warm.
“Yes, what do you want?” She didn’t sound terribly friendly.
“I have a plan, and I would like your involvement, because this is about your sons.”
Madame Sabine gave her a suspicious look. “What do you know about my sons?”
“They’re holed up in the palace. Don’t you want to help them?”
Madame Sabine said nothing, just stared at Nellie as if she had said something dumb.
Nellie’s frustration boiled over. “I don’t understand you. Do you care nothing for your sons? I understand that you don’t like the way their father raised them, but I’m sure you must care something for them? They need you now.”
“They don’t need me. I just get in the way of their parties. I’m just a boring woman.”
“Did they tell you that? Did you see their faces in the upstairs window in the harbour when your husband was going to drown you? Did you read the letter they sent to Adalbert Verdonck?”
Madame Sabine said nothing, which, Nellie was sure, meant that she hadn’t seen the letter.
“Casper wrote a letter asking Adalbert Verdonck for men to help him secure his position as Regent.”
“Him? That’s ridiculous.”
“Tell me: what should he have done instead?”
“He should have done what I have told him to do many times: go to his aunt’s estate in Burovia and learn some civility and manners before attempting to do such ridiculous things as seize the throne of a foreign country at the age of sixteen.”
“Then why didn’t you order a coach and tell both of them to get in?”
“You know how many times I’ve tried that already? They don’t listen to me. I don’t know how many times I have to explain. They don’t listen. Their father fills their heads with nonsense.”
“Their father is dead. They’re in the ballroom surrounded by guards. They need you.”
A flicker of concern crossed her face. “They don’t. They told me they don’t need me or want me. They never listened to me when I was with them. Why would they listen to me now?”
“Because they know everyone else is out to get them? Because they might think you’re brave, doing your own work and not pandering to the shepherd or the nobles?”
She snorted. “I’m not brave.” But Nellie could see the thoughts whirling behind her eyes. Then she added, “And you come here just to tell me that I should tell my sons to behave?”
“No, but I would appreciate if you could tell them that as well. I’m planning a parade into the city, and it would mean a great deal for me if you were to be there.”
“What? To be laughed at?”
“No, to be marvelled at, because of your balloons. I presume you have one here that we can use?”
She frowned. Then she opened the door further. “Come in, so you can explain what this is all about.”
Nellie went into the shed, where she noticed that Madame Sabine had unpacked all the crates with the balloons again. Obviously, finding transport out of the area in the winter was not so easy.
Maybe it was just an empty threat she was making. After all, a Burovian noble receiving her letter with request for a coach to take her elsewhere might just laugh and throw it in the fire.
As Nellie had already known, Agatha was also in the shed. She was sitting at a table, sewing together two lengths of fabric. She gave Nellie a defiant look.
If the situation weren’t so dire, Nellie might have asked why the two of them seemed to think that the world conspired against them. The fact that they worked together was a strange development, because they had seemed so hostile to each other, but Agatha had not survived on her own with the children by being dumb.
Being a fly on the wall in this shed might reveal some interesting conversations, though. Both women were all prickles.
In the uncomfortable atmosphere, Nellie went on to explain her plan, and how she thought Madame Sabine’s balloon would help distribute the sweets and draw attention to the parade.
Madame Sabine listened with interest. She asked questions, ones Nellie couldn’t answer because she didn’t know whether any of the nobles Madame Sabine asked about were involved. She thought not, but she didn’t know what Master Thiele was doing in the city and who he had involved in this. She thought his contacts were mainly guards. She didn’t know if Adalbert Verdonck planned to send any of the men camped outside in the horse paddock along with them.
“It’s a big plan and it involves all the people in the city. It involves trusting that they will see what the shepherd is doing and that they don’t him to become another Fire Wizard. I can’t control what individuals will say or do.”
“There are too many points of danger in this plan of yours,” Madame Sabine said.
“Does that mean you won’t be involved?”
“Not necessarily, because I would love to teach that stupid priest a lesson, but in order for my commitment, I want to command my own group of people. You understand that with my history, I am not exactly well loved in the city, and several of the powerful people would rather see me dead. I have to protect myself.”
Nellie agreed that she could keep working with Agatha, and that she could select a number of other people to look after the balloon. Nellie suspected she would ask for Gisele and maybe Wim or Floris the fisherman.
Fortunately, getting Mustafa’s cooperation was a lot of easier. He wanted to return to the city, because it was his only source
of income. Getting money from visitors to his animal park would allow him to have more animals, which was what he really wanted.
“What is the use of having the talkative parrots if the children can’t come to laugh about their bad language?” he said over a couple of cups of far-too-strong tea in his barn. “I need visitors because I need money to pay for food for the animals.”
He was happy to bring his animals for the parade. He would bring his wagon, too.
“I don’t know that Esme would be happy to have something tied to her collar, but we could tie the balloon to the wagon. It’s big and heavy. There are metal cages in the back. Maybe you can dress some children as gnomes and put them inside. People love looking at gnomes. I can put Lila on top of the cage, so it looks like she has caught the gnomes.” He stroked the leopard over her soft head while he said this.
And that left just getting the herbs.
Nellie and Henrik had come to Mustafa’s place together, but had decided that just Henrik would go down to see the nuns, because they had not seen him before, and his plea to buy herbs to cure someone who was ill at Lord Verdonck’s estate would probably sound plausible.
Dandelion, blackberry and anise could be used. If they didn’t have those, he might have to ask for more outlandish ingredients like amaranth, and that might arouse suspicion, but Nellie hoped he wouldn’t have to go that far down the list she had given him.
Nellie waited with the cart at the top of the driveway and watched him go to the buildings.
It took Henrik quite a long time to return. But finally she saw him coming up the driveway. He walked a bit faster than she thought was good, but he did appear to be carrying something.
“Come on, let’s go,” was the first thing he said when he reached Nellie with the cart and the horses.
“What’s going on?”
“A group of soldiers are staying at the nunnery. They’re all mercenaries hired by the Regent. I served with some of them. Word has gotten around that the Regent is dead, and they’re scouting for paid work. Apparently, they came to the nunnery because the nunnery posted a notice in town stating that the church needed armed men to defend the honour of the shepherds. They didn’t see me, but it was a near thing.”
By the Triune, no. Did Shepherd Wilfridus want to start a war? “Did you get the herbs?”
“I did, because I wasn’t game to show my face back here without them.” He grinned. “But I hope no one recognised me and they don’t know that we’re here.”
“They’ll know that we’re here very soon if they don’t already,” Nellie said. “But Lord Verdonck has his own army, and they won’t want to come here to risk confrontation.”
Henrik nodded. “Though I’m not sure how long that’s going to last. I have a feeling that from now on, time is going to be essential. We have to move as quickly as possible.”
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,” Nel
lie 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.
