Untitled (19 page)

   Merlin disliked the sound of this. "But—"

   "Yes, Merlin?"

   "But her testimony is the principal evidence against Lancelot in the murder of the French king. If she is loyal to Guenevere, why would she do such a thing?"

   For a moment the three of them looked at one another in silence. Since neither Arthur nor Brit had a response, Mer­ lin went on. "For the first time we have reason to doubt her account of the murder. Or at least to doubt her motives."

   "She is French." Brit made a sour face. "Why should we trust anything any of them tell us?"

   "Well, either Petronus is telling us the truth or his sister is. That seems inescapable."

   Arthur clenched his fist. For a moment it appeared he was going to pound the table as he often did when he was angry. "Damn the French. Damn all of this—damn all of Europe. We should never have gone forward with this damned birthday celebration. Anything with Guenevere in it was bound to be poisonous."

   Realizing this, Britomart ordered a relaxing of the secu­ rity cordon around the castle. "Who would have thought that winter would be a friend to us?"

   "Early winter. It is still November." Merlin watched out of his window. The storm showed no sign of abating. He, Brit and Nimue were in his study, going over the prepara­ tions for that night's opening ceremony. He turned to face them. "Let us hope the actual season, when it comes, will be less fierce."

   Brit leaned back in her chair. "Or more. If we still have these diplomats on our hands, it would make them much easier to, er, to monitor."

   Nimue watched Merlin watching the weather. "I hate winter. I always have," she said. "It is the season of death."

   "Haven't you noticed, Colin? Every season is the season of death."

   "You're in one of your pessimistic moods, Merlin."

   "You have read Marcus Aurelius, haven't you? He comments on the surprising fact that human deceit and treachery always surprise us. They are constant, and they are everywhere, but every time they crop up, we are caught off guard."

   "Roman emperors had good reason to distrust everyone around them."

   "Everyone has, Colin. Husbands cheat on wives and wives on husbands, mothers kill their infants, brothers and sisters learn to loathe each other, children steal from their mothers' purses. Loving, faithful dogs are beaten . . . There is no bottom to human evil."

   Britomart got to her feet. "Really, Merlin, we can't af­ ford the luxury of this kind of talk. There are things to do."

   "What? Everything seems on track for the opening fes­ tivities tonight. The kitchen has more food than it needs, and they've baked hundreds of those honey cakes Arthur loves so. The actors and jugglers and musicians and so on are all rehearsed. Arthur's speech is written, and he's actu­ ally practicing it—would you believe it? Unless we have another murder—"

   "And what makes you think we won't, amid all this hu­ man evil?"

   He sighed. "Anything is possible. But let us hope that for once evil will not show its hideous face."

   There came a knock at the door and a moment later Simon of York came in, followed by one of the squires. "Excuse me, all of you. I hope I'm not interrupting any­ thing important."

   "Not at all," Nimue said cheerfully. "Only one of Mer­ lin's lectures on perfidious human nature."

   "Merlin has a point, young man." He turned to Merlin. "You all know Andrew of Okun?"

   They said hello to the young man.

   "Andrew, you may recall, is the squire who was assigned to that peculiar Lithuanian."

   "Or whatever he is." Andrew smiled. "I'm still not cer­ tain."

   "You have a handful." Brit laughed and offered him a cup of wine.

   "In a way, it's not too bad. The other squires are going mad trying to decode all the diplomatic double-talk they're overhearing. I mean, the delegates aren't stupid. Well, most of them aren't. They certainly realize we've been attached to them not simply for security but for intelligence. So they're all being especially cryptic, and I'm sure it's for our sake. All of them except my man, that is."

   Merlin thought for a moment. "Have you had any indi­ cation that he speaks anything other than . . . whatever it is that he speaks? Does he know English or Latin, perhaps? Or Greek?"

   Andrew shook his head. "You know that he only brought one aide with him. They talk in their own language, and that is that."

   "Do they seem to pay attention to other people's conver­ sations?"

   "No, not at all. But I took a chance and searched their packs when they were eating this morning. And I found something quite suspicious."

   Nimue sat up. "Like what?"

   "Like this." From his sleeve, he produced a knife. It was golden, gleaming, evidently new, and it had a carved ivory handle. "Lancelot's, I think."

   Merlin took it and examined it. Then he rushed to a worktable and got a lens. "Yes, this is Lancelot's.
G to L
is etched into it quite clearly."

   "I knew you'd want to see it."

   "Yes, of course. Thank you, Andrew."

   The young man bowed, glanced at Simon and left.

   Merlin placed the knife at the center of the table. Nimue picked it up and examined it. "This doesn't make sense. Is the Lithuanian involved in the murder, then? What possible motive could he have?"

   "With politicians, you never know, Colin," Brit said. "They talk in code, all of them. Most of them are so devi­ ous they can't ask for lunch when they're hungry. Politics is little more than an organization of sociopaths."

   Brit laughed. "You mean international politics, don't you? Surely you would never suggest such a thing about our English lords?"

   Merlin brushed her little joke aside. "On the subject at hand, we must consider the Lithuanian a suspect and watch him carefully. I will have a word with young Andrew later. Of course, the knife might have been planted among his things. But we cannot take the chance of operating on the assumption."

"Should we arrest the Lithuanian, then?" Nimue asked.

"Not yet. But he must be watched, and carefully."

   Simon interrupted the exchange. "Excuse me, Merlin, but there is another problem."

   "Splendid. What?"

   "Gildas, that bishop person, is demanding an audience with the king."

   "Gildas? What on earth does he want?"

   "It seems he has learned that Morgan le Fay is to speak the invocation at tonight's ceremony. He is demanding to take part. Since most of the delegates are Christian, he rea­ sons that the opening blessing should be Christian."

   Merlin looked at Brit then back at Simon. "You may re­ mind the 'Bishop of England' that this is not a Christian country. We honor the gods here—those of us so inclined do, at least—and we must honor them properly."

   "He won't be happy."

   "What politician ever is?"

A short while later Merlin sent for Andrew of Okun again.

   "During the ceremony tonight, I would like you to search the Lithuanian's rooms again. See if you can find anything else suspicious or incriminating. Or anything else that might indicate who he is and what he is up to."

   "Yes, sir."

   "But first you must make certain that both he and his aide are in the Great Hall. I want you to take no unneces­ sary chances."

   "I can handle them, sir. Either or both of them."

   "Spoken like a fighter. Unfortunately, a fighter is not ex­ actly what we need right now. Be subtle. Use your wits. Try to act as if all the lessons Colin and I have given you actu­ ally penetrated. The last thing we need now is another death."

"I'll do my best, sir. But we are not trained in subtlety."

   "Try it. You might even find that you enjoy it. Battering something is not always the best way to get results."

As it happened, the French laundress who had been spying for Guenevere was in the castle, among the numerous lo­ cals who had been hired to help deal with all the visiting diplomats. Brit's men found her and arrested her. Protesting loudly her innocence—of everything—she was taken to a dungeon.

   Merlin rushed to interrogate her. She drew a hard line with him, but he bluffed her with a threat of torture and the possibility of losing a finger or two, and she opened up and burbled a confirmation of Petronus's story, point for point.

   The boy was still guilty of attacking the king and of es­ pionage, though it seemed likely he was being truthful when he swore he had given no important information to his blackmailers. Merlin interviewed him a second time.

   "I'm sorry, sir. Please believe me. I have been a com­ plete fool. I let them turn me into a villain."

   Merlin assured him things would not go too hard on him and left him in his room, under guard. He was grateful the boy's story had been confirmed so quickly and easily. The last thing he wanted to do was perform still another investi­ gation. This was all a distraction for Merlin. His mind was on that night's ceremony and the numerous opportunities it offered for more violence and death.

All day long the strength of the storm increased. Ferocious winds, driving rain and lightning lashed the southern coast of England. Ships moored in Corfe harbor rocked violently.

   Late in the afternoon a ship was spotted in the distance; its apparent intention was to dock but it was physically impossible. People in the town and at the castle watched as it neared the shore then was driven out to sea again, repeat­ edly. Even if it had managed to reach land, it likely would have been dashed to pieces.

   In time it was blown back out to sea once and for all. Observers were astonished at how rapidly it disappeared from sight. By the time word about it reached the king, everyone was abuzz with speculation it might have been Podarthes's ship.

   In the castle Captain Dalley's men kept up their security watch even though it was clear no one could leave. There was some talk of relaxing their watchfulness, but in the end it was decided to maintain vigilance. Delegates and their aides watched the weather carefully; they were trapped, and the fact was inescapable. Reports began to arrive of sudden, devastating floods around the countryside.

   Among Arthur's people, preparations continued for the opening ceremony. Thrones were set up in the Great Hall for Arthur, Guenevere and Leonilla, though no one was certain she would attend. Since her husband's death she had taken to drifting aimlessly about the castle, at all hours of day and night, in a kind of daze. She would suddenly come to her senses, not knowing where she was or why she was there. Her man, Jean-Michel, tried to follow her, but she was too quick-witted for him and kept losing him, hiding in crowds, concealing herself in nooks, distracting him and then walking quickly around convenient corners. Brit as­ signed a small group of soldiers to guard her, which proved difficult; she was evasive in unexpected ways and shook her guards time after time.

   The kitchen was alive with activity. And the squires and pages kept up their surveillance of the delegates on the flimsy pretense of protecting and assisting them.

   Merlin took Andrew of Okun aside. "Have you seen anything else suspicious?"

   "No, sir." He hesitated. "Except that . . ."

   "Yes?"

   "I keep hearing one syllable again and again in his speech. Are you certain he is a Flausenthurmian?"

   "To be honest, Andrew, I do not even know what a Lithuanian is. About him, I am certain of nothing. Why? What have you heard?"

   "Well . . . I keep hearing . . . I think he may be a Turk."

   "A Turk? He does not dress like one."

   Andrew shrugged. "I keep hearing that, or what sounds like it. It seemed worth mentioning."

   "Good observation. But during tonight's festivities, when you slip away and search all of their effects, do it thoroughly. Anything out of the ordinary—the least thing, however trivial it might seem to you—should be noted and reported to either me or Britomart. Certainly inform us of anything that might lend substance to your guess about him being a Turk. And if you can find any writing— even if you cannot decipher it—if the language is the least bit recognizable, for heaven's sake, tell one of us. Better yet, make a copy of it if there is time. Do you under­ stand?"

   "Yes, sir. But—but I can barely read English. You know that from school."