The jolt nearly wrenched Theo's own arm from its socket. He cried out in pain. The man's weight was dragging at him. Another moment, he feared, and both would fall to their death. He needed only to open his hand to rid himself of his burden.
Cabbarus was staring up at him, eyes bursting with hatred. Theo's own fury choked him. That instant, he wanted nothing so much as to fling the man away. Half sobbing, he clamped his legs around the rope and tightened his grip on Cabbarus.
The guards were racing up the steps into the belfry, with Musket scuttling ahead of them. The dwarf's mouth was open, shouting. Theo heard none of his words. Above him, the bell had stirred into life, its voice resounding in the others that hung beside it. The clangor exploded in his ears. He was being hoisted up and pulled back over the railing, still gripping Cabbarus. Theo's hand had frozen on the man's arm. Someone was prying his fingers loose.
The face of Las Bombas loomed in front of him. Deafened, dazed, he wondered why Mickle had not come. Then he remembered there was no such person. There was only one who had called herself by that name.
26
"They keep telling me I'm Princess Augusta," said Mickle. "I know that. What I can't decide is whether I'm a princess who used to be a street girl, or a street girl who used to be a princess."
Mickle sat cross-legged amid a pile of cushions on her bed in the Royal Chambers. She wriggled her shoulders as if her silken gown made her itch. She grinned at Theo, who waited for her to continue her story. He had not been allowed to see her for two days, while physicians, maids, nurses, and her parents constantly hurried in and out. Finally, Mickle had declared herself perfectly well and demanded Theo, Las Bombas, and Musket.
Queen Caroline sat in a chair by the casement, keeping an anxious eye on her daughter, although the girl had clearly regained health and spirit.
"I remember everything," said Mickle. "That's what makes it feel so odd. Because I can't understand why there were so many years when I'd forgotten everything."
"You didn't forget," said Theo. "It was there, some where in your mind. It was in your nightmares."
"They're gone now," said Mickle. "I haven't had any more. Yes, I must have been dreaming about what Cabbarus did to me, but there wasn't any way I could know that. When I saw the trapdoor again, it all started coming back."
"You were living through it again," said Theo. "It was worse than a nightmare because you couldn't wake up from it."
"You gave an impressive performance," put in Las Bombas. "I thought at the time: amazing how you could pretend to be Princess Augusta."
"She wasn't pretending," said Theo. "She was telling us how Cabbarus tried to kill her."
"I suppose it was my own fault," said Mickle. "I was always getting into one scrape or another. I even climbed the bell tower. That day, I wanted to see what was under the trapdoor. I thought it would be a good place for hide-and-seek. Nobody would ever look for me there. But I slipped and couldn't pull myself back. That's when Cabbarus came in and saw me.
"He kicked my hands until I let go. I remember falling down, down into the water. Then there was the river taking me away-"
Queen Caroline came to smooth her daughter's hair. "Do not think of it any longer. We believed you dead. You are alive and with us again. No more need be said."
"Oh, it wasn't too bad after that," Mickle answered. "I was lucky. I floated into the marshes. The Fingers, they're called. The old man who fished me out really saved my life. There's no way I can thank him now. I grew up thinking he was my grandfather. By then, I'd lost my memory of whatever happened before. I couldn't have told him who I was. I didn't know. It was as if I'd always been there. Poor man, he couldn't have heard me, or spoken to me anyway. Even after he taught me his sign language, he never told me how he found me. I suppose he wanted me to stay. And I did, until he died. Then I went off on my own.
"I'll tell you one thing," she added to Queen Caro
"That line. Home for Repentant Girls: Something has to be done about it, starting with that oatmeal they serve."
"You shall see to it yourself, my dear," said the queen. "It shall be one of your Royal Duties."
"Oh. Those," Mickle made a face. "I'd rather not think about them."
"Be glad you are able to perform any duties at all," said the queen. "In the audience chamber, we feared you might never wake. You fainted and nothing could bring you back until the bells rang."
"Yes, the bells! How I loved them! Well, Cabbarus tried to kill me-and he turned out to be the one who woke me up. That's fair enough."
"Actually, it was our young friend here," put in Las Bombas. "He was hanging on to the bell rope and Cabbarus at the same time."
"A moment more and the two of them would have ended up with broken necks at the bottom of the tower," added Musket. The dwarf, through methods of his own, had come into possession of a new hat, which he brandished at Theo.
"I kept telling you to let him drop. You didn't hear me. That may be just as well, for some of the names I called you, least of which was 'idiot.'"
"I never hated anyone before," said Theo. "But I hated Cabbarus. Why should I have been the one to save his life?"
"Even so, his life will not be long."
King Augustine had come unannounced into the chamber and had been listening silently. Though he moved with the gait of an invalid still unsure of his legs, his face had regained a little of its color. Al though one weight had been lifted from him, he seemed to bear another.
"I blame only myself for raising him to chief minister. It was true, as Princess Augusta told it: I had thought of dismissing him as superintendent of the Royal Household. My senses left me when I believed my child was dead; but I neither excuse nor forgive myself on that account. I will set right all that can be set right. What Cabbarus did in my name can never be forgiven.
"He awaits execution in the Carolia Fortress," the king went on.. "He will be put to death justly, as he put to death so many others unjustly. That is the only price he can pay, though it is far too little."
"Majesty, I ask one favor," Theo said. "I didn't save his life to have him lose it. I want no one's death on my conscience, not even his."
"You plead for him?" cried Augustine. "He is a monster!"
"Then let him live with his monotonousness. Banish him." Theo stopped. "I'm not the one to ask that. Mickle-Princess Augusta-suffered most at his hands. The judgment is hers."
"Well," said Mickle, "I saw what they did to my friend Hanno. I say, no more of it. Yes, send Cabbarus into exile. He's lost his power, and for him that's worse than hanging."
"As you wish," said King Augustine. "He shall know who kept him from the scaffold, and be grateful-if he is capable of gratitude."
"I don't want his gratitude," said Theo. "Majesty, he must not be told I spoke for him."
"So be it," said Augustine. "Councilor Pankratz, too, will be exiled with his master."
"I suggest a desert island," said Las Bombas. "They can take turns ruling each other. But, Your Majesty, since the matter of granting favors has arisen: I recall the former chief minister mentioning something about a reward."
"You're asking for money?" Theo rounded on Las Bambas. "You want to be paid for something you'd have done anyway? You ought to be ashamed!"
"I am," replied the count. "On the other hand, I'm even more ashamed of being penniless."
"A reward was offered," said King Augustine. "You claim it rightly and shall be given it. But the princess grows tired. You have our permission to withdraw."
Royal permission being a royal command, Theo, against his own wishes, found himself ushered from the chamber with no further chance to talk with Mickle. Or Princess Augusta. How much of her was the one, how much the other, he was afraid to guess.
"I can't believe you'll take that reward," Theo told the count as they went to their apartments. "You're a worse rogue than I thought, if that's possible."
"My boy, what do you expect from me?" protested Las Bombas. "I'm only flesh and blood-more so tha
n most."
Theo laughed and shook his head. "I can't argue that. I'm not the one to blame you, either. I was trying to be better than I am. I'm not as virtuous as I thought I was-or wanted to be. I wonder if anyone is, even Florian. I suppose we should be glad if we're able to do any good at all."
Las Bambas shrugged. "I never had that kind of problem."
Las Bambas, despite Theo's reproaches, insisted on claiming his due. Next day, unable to persuade Theo to come with him, the count set off with a light heart and heavy purse. Alone, at loose ends, Theo paced his chambers. To his surprise, he found himself looking back with a measure of longing for the days of The Phrenological Head, even The Oracle Priestess: when Mickle still was Mickle.
He saw little of her during the following week, the princess being hedged about with courtiers paying their respects. The only event to raise his spirits was the arrival of Dr. Torrens.
News of all that had led to the downfall of Cabbarus had spread throughout the kingdom. The court physician had set out for Marianstat as soon as word reached him. Torrens brought the king and queen a curious gift.
"The river-that is to say, two young water rats took me where it had taken the princess, indeed to the hut itself. At first, I did not realize it. Then I found this."
Torrens handed Queen Caroline the stained piece of linen he had worn as a sling. It was a child's garment embroidered with the Royal Crest, faded and torn but still visible. "I took it as proof the princess was dead. Instead, it was a token that she still lived."
King Augustine, over the doctor's protest, named Torrens chief minister. Augustine then ordered him to announce pardon to all whom Cabbarus had unjustly sentenced, as well as those who had attacked the Nierkeeping garrison. The doctor, describing Florian to the king, doubted this would satisfy him.
"We spent many days together," said Torrens. "We did not agree, nor did I expect us to. As a man, I respect him more than I imagined I would. As chief minister, I am troubled by him. He has not rejoined his friends in Freyborg. Where he is, I do not know. But he has not changed his views of the monarchy. I suspect we shall hear again of Master Florian."
Later, he spoke apart with Theo.
"Their Majesties are concerned for your future and so am I. Certain matters must be discussed, of importance to you and to the kingdom."
"And Princess Augusta?"
"Naturally. We shall speak of this another time. Meanwhile, I have something Florian wished me to give you. It amused him that you, of all people, were the one to bring down Cabbarus. I think he was a little envious, too. He had counted on doing that himself. He would, no doubt, have gone about it differently. The fact remains: Cabbarus is gone."
"Was I a fool?" asked Theo. "Should I have let him drop? I didn't want his death on my conscience, but I don't want his life on my conscience, either."
"I do not know what I would have done in the same circumstances," replied Torrens. "How easy it is to think well of ourselves. Until the moment is upon us, we can never be certain."
Torrens handed Theo a folded scrap of paper.
"From Florian. He asks you to remember some things you said to him at the farm. It would appear you gave him much to think about."
Afterward, in his chambers, Theo smiled over the hastily written lines:
My Child, You did well. Perhaps you even did right. It was unsigned.
27
Torrens finally did what Mickle had not managed to do. As physician as well as chief minister, he ended the endless visitations by the courtiers. Instead, he prescribed fresh air. Theo was permitted to walk with her in the Juliana gardens, leaving her ladies-in-waiting behind them to cluck over such a breach of etiquette. For a while, the two were silent, content simply to be in each others company.
"There's quite a difference between all this and the way I lived in Freyborg," Theo said at last. "Jellinek's tavern, the wine merchant's cellar. Stock and the others. I miss them. I even miss my cubbyhole on Straw market Street. But I realize I'd have been a fool to bring a princess there."
"I didn't know I was a princess, so it wouldn't have mattered."
"But you are a princess, and it matters now. There's no way around it."
"I'm still Mickle, aren't I? One part of me."
"The king and queen don't think so. I have an idea they wish you'd forget that part."
"Not likely!" Mickle suddenly imitated the voice of a street peddler and laughed at the startled look on Theo's face. "They've been talking to you, haven't they? Yes, well, they've been talking to me, too. They mainly come back to the same thing: I'll be queen of Westmark some day."
"And so you will."
"Not if Florian has his way. Not if I have mine, either. There must be a royal cousin somewhere who's foolish enough to like this kind of work. Anyhow, I told them I didn't care about it, I wouldn't let them separate us. So that settles it." When Theo did not answer immediately, her face fell. "Doesn't it? Unless What did they say to you?"
"Only that I had to make my own choice." A flurry of excitement from the court ladies interrupted him.
Theo turned to see Las Bambas hurrying up the path, and called out to him. "You, back again? I thought you'd be well away by now, money and all."
"No," said Las Bambas. "That's why I'm here."
"You changed your mind about keeping it!" exclaimed Theo. "I never imagined you would. Bravo, then!"
"I admit having such a large sum made me feel uncomfortable. I'm more used to pursuing a fortune than having one handed to me."
"So you had to return it." Theo clapped Las Bombas on the shoulder. "You do have some sort of conscience after all."
"Yes, and it's been a torment to me." The count sighed. "I can't forgive myself."
"Of course you can," said Theo. "You'll feel better as soon as you turn back the reward."
"You misunderstand," said Las Bambas. "I can't forgive myself-for losing it.
"Bilked out of it," he went on ruefully. "Gulled out of it, as if I'd been an innocent babe. That's what's unforgivable. I fell in with a gentleman-Gentleman? A barefaced scoundrel! He showed me a letter from a nobleman who'd been clapped into a Trebizonian prison. If we'd pay his ransom and get him out, he'd show us where he'd discovered an enormous buried treasure. We'd go shares-ah, no need to parade the details of my shame before the world. The money's gone. Oh, let me come across that wretch again!
"So I've only stopped to bid you farewell once more, Princess. And you, my boy. Musket's impatient to be off. You two, I daresay, are busy making your own plans."
"I have none," said Theo. "But Dr. Torrens has one for me. I don't know. I was telling Mickle-the princess-I'll have to decide. Dr. Torrens wants me to travel around Westmark."
"You'll do it in fine style," said Las Bambas. "Rather better than we did."
"No. Just the opposite. He wants me to be on my own and see for myself what the kingdom's like. He thinks I can find out what the people want and what's to be done about it. But I don't know if I can. I don't even know whether Florian's right, or the monarchy."
"Permit me to say," put in Las Bambas, "no offense, you understand, but a princess who smokes a pipe, swears like a trooper, and scratches wherever she itches might be a blessing for the entire kingdom. Even Florian might approve."
"What if Theo took Mickle's hand. What if you and I went together? You'd know more than I would. I've hardly been away from Doming."
The girl's eyes were dancing, but she shook her head. "I'll stay here. For now, at any rate. My parents broke their hearts over me once. I won't have them break again. I didn't like it when you walked off last time. I won't mind so much now. It's not the same thing. Do what Dr. Torrens asks. You want to. I know it. I can tell by looking at you."
"I don't want to leave you."
"You won't," said Mickle. "Call it being slightly apart for a while."
The ladies-in-waiting had come to insist on taking the princess indoors. Mickle stuck out her tongue at them, but finally let them escort he
r to the New Juliana. She turned back once and Theo read the quick motion of her hands.
"Find what you want. I will find you."
Lloyd Alexander, Westmark
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends