The Swan King

by Nina Clare

  ‘What beautiful work,’ she said, approaching the great swan, and tracing the lines of the carving. The woodcarver turned to see who spoke and dropped his chisel with a cry of surprise.

  ‘M’lady!’ he cried, staring at her as though amazed. ‘You are well! You are alive!’

  Elisabeth stared back at the man. Was there something familiar about his blue-green eyes?

  ‘Who are you? Do you know me?’

  ‘Know you! M’lady, it’s me—Hansi!’

  She shook her head, trying to say that she did not remember him, but the shock of his recognition of her made her words fail. Her eyes moved over the carved swan behind him, and her hand reached up to the pendant at her neck. A warm, pulsing sensation flowed through the wood. She looked from the swan to the man stood before it.

  ‘Did you make this?’ She whispered, unsure how it was that she knew; she lifted up her pendant.

  ‘Yes, m’lady,’ he looked as amazed as herself. ‘Don’t you remember?’ He studied her face, as though puzzled by her lack of recognition.

  Images passed through her mind; she did not know what was memory or what was not. The sound of a lathe, a child’s voice, I had a dream, Elsa, said the child’s voice. You were leaving me…

  ‘Say no more!’ came a voice.

  The king came across the ground towards them. ‘Whatever you say must be confidential.’ He looked about at the workmen, who were watching the scene with interest. ‘Do you know this lady?’

  ‘Why, of course—but I thought—’

  ‘Say no more!’ the king ordered again. ‘Come with us, whatever you say must be told in private.’

  The workman took up his discarded cap, and pulled it on to follow the king as directed. Elisabeth followed the king in a dreamlike walk, throwing glances over her shoulder at the man behind, who was likewise staring at her. She felt almost light-headed with the anticipation of possibly hearing who she really was.

  ‘I demand this woman be removed from the witness stand immediately!’

  ‘Excuse me?’ the committee chairman swivelled round, adjusting his monocle to better see who it was that dared disrupt the investigation. The new Cabinet Secretary stood in the entrance way, looking dishevelled, his eyes bulging with fury at Fräulein Opel.

  ‘Remove her now!’

  ‘On what grounds, sir? She is giving a vitally important testimony; the committee must hear her.’

  ‘Every word she says is a lie!’

  ‘Sir, you cannot bodily remove her! Guards! Guards, restrain him!’

  Chapter 30

  Revelations

  ‘Order! Order!’ bellowed the committee chairman, his monocle slipping from his eye as he swung between Fräulein Opel, who stood white-faced on the testimony dais, and Count von Wuelffen, who had to be restrained by two guards to keep from lunging at her.

  A young man, dressed as a worker, pushed his way through the uproarious crowd to reach Fräulein Opel. A third guard moved to block his approach, but Fräulein Opel called out that the man was a friend—please let him pass that he might speak to her.

  ‘You’re shaking, m’lady,’ said the man. ‘Here, take hold of this, it’ll help.’ He gave her the small carving he held, she clutched it in one hand, her other holding the pendant at her neck.

  ‘Do sit down, m’lady, I won’t let him near you. Can a glass of something be brought for the lady?’ he asked, addressing an attendant. ‘She’s had enough shocks these past days.’

  The chairman finally regained control of the room; the crowd was quieted, but the tension was palpable.

  ‘Make your statement with the decorum due to the committee,’ the chairman said, addressing the furious count.

  ‘Do you know who I am?’ the count snarled. ‘I’ll have you stripped from your office, all of you! How dare you question me. That woman is a liar and must be removed immediately!’

  ‘M’lord Chairman,’ called out the young man. ‘May I give testimony?’

  ‘And who are you?’

  ‘My name is Hans, and I was the head carpenter at the king’s castle.’

  ‘And what testimony can you have that is relevant to this unseemly turn of events?’

  The young man looked at Fräulein Opel, as though questioning her. She met his eyes, then nodded, as though to give him consent to speak.

  ‘I knew m’lady before she was at the castle, sir. I was employed by her stepmother, Baronin von Winterheimer. That man wanted to marry m’lady—that man had her kidnapped—him and m’lady’s stepmother between them arranged it—that man tried to kill the king to get her back and cover his crime.’ He jabbed his finger in the direction of the count.

  The crowd exploded again. The count was shouting, straining against the hands of the guards who held him fast, but his voice was lost in the uproar. The chairman raised his hands in vexation and shouted in vain for order.

  I have had so many names. All of them true in part. Even now when I recall those days, those days when I could not remember the name of my birth, could not recall my real place in the world, or who my people were, even now there is a hazy cloud over that time, as though I lived a different life in a different world. If I did not have those who shared those memories with me, I might think I dreamt them all.

  The night after I learnt my name I dreamed of other names. People calling me by different things: daughter, sister, mistress, someone called me Sisi. I woke with an ache, knowing that there were people I missed and loved, and yet I could not see their faces, I only heard their voices in my dreams. At least I had been spared the usual nightmare for one night.

  I woke up to find a sheet of paper slipped under my bedroom door. It was a picture, a watercolour scene of the wildflower meadows as they had been in the summer. The colours glowed, capturing the colours of the columbines, wild orchids and edelweiss. I grew tearful looking at it, not just because it brought back memories of the wonder I had felt in seeing such beauty, but because I understood what the painting was: a request for reconciliation. Herr Haller and I had been at odds for some days, and I had missed his friendship.

  ‘Thank you,’ was all I needed to say when I found Herr Haller at breakfast.

  He grinned back, looking relieved that I had accepted it. ‘Glad you liked it.’

  ‘I love it. You have such talent. I could almost smell the flowers.’

  ‘If I had the time and materials, I’d paint it in oils, then I could really make it come alive. Perhaps one day.’

  I was about to say, ‘Yes, one day.’ But I said nothing. How could I know what was to come in the days ahead? I knew from the carpenter that I had a younger brother, and a stepmother, who, if the carpenter told the truth, was a danger to me. The king had counselled me to remain under his protection while the Chief Inspector made investigations regarding my alleged identity. Baroness von Winterheimer. Only daughter of the late Baron von Winterheimer. The name sounded strange. Surely it ought to resonate in some way if it were really my name? If only I could remember. If only I knew what was true.

  ‘Something wrong?’ Herr Haller asked. ‘You look troubled.’

  ‘Only the usual troubles. What are you working on today?’

  ‘A design for murals, for the Singer’s Hall.’

  ‘Come and take a walk with me first,’ I said. ‘Something happened to me yesterday that I want to tell you of. I met a man who claims to know who I am.’

  We walked along a little trail on the mountain slope. A stream ran by, making its way down to the lake below.

  ‘What a strange tale,’ Herr Haller said, when I had told him all that the carpenter had said. ‘Does it prompt any remembrance?’

  I shook my head. ‘Very little. Some images, some sensations. But it’s like listening to a hummingbird talk, it’s all too faint and fast.’

  ‘A hummingbird talk?’ Herr Haller sounded baffled.

  ‘It’s just a saying,’ I said quickly. Then I caught myself; why was I lying to Herr Haller? That was not what friends did. ‘Actua
lly,’ I said. Because you have felt the magic at the castle, you will not be surprised when I tell you that I can speak with some animals and birds.’

  He stared at me for a moment as if trying to determine from my expression whether or not I was joking.

  ‘What are the birds saying?’ he said, looking upwards at the canopy. I didn’t have to listen hard to hear.

  ‘They’re singing the same song they’ve been singing since I got here. But no,’ I listened again, the words had changed. No longer was it, Mountain sleeping, mountain dreaming, mountain waking. ‘They’re singing, mountain waking, mountain stirring, mountain rising.’

  ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘The mountain has awoken. That’s the power we feel.’

  ‘Why has it awoken? What’s it going to do?’

  ‘It’s been holding something. The magician who built the first, ancient castle, took something from the Fae and hid it in the mountain and sealed it with magic.’

  ‘Like in the legend?’

  ‘Exactly. Except it would seem it’s not a legend. It’s true.’

  ‘And in the legend,’ said Herr Haller, frowning with thought, ‘the Swan Knight was to come again, rebuild the magician’s castle, recover the treasure, and return it to Faerie.’

  ‘The king has been searching since he began building,’ I said. ‘But we don’t know where to look. We don’t even know what to look for. The legend only says that it was some treasure of the Fae.’

  I was partly surprised by how easily he accepted as truth that the story was real; but then nothing was surprising when one was on the mountain, with the otherworldly magic suffusing the air we breathed.

  ‘The king has been searching for caves and clefts in the mountain every day that he rides out,’ I said, ‘He searches day and night. But he cannot find it.’

  ‘I wonder what the treasure is?’

  ‘Something green as emerald, that’s what the swans say. Like this pool.’ We stopped short as we entered a little glade.

  ‘I’ve never seen this place before,’ said Herr Haller in surprise, looking around him.

  ‘Nor have I. Though I’ve often walked this way. We must have taken a different turn.’ I knew even as I spoke, that we had taken no turn, for the woodland trail only ran in one direction.

  The pool lay beneath the trees, green and shiny as an emerald.

  ‘Careful,’ said Herr Haller, putting a hand on my arm to stay me from moving any closer to the pool. ‘The magic feels strong here.’

  He was right. The air was thick with it. It lay over everything; the trees thrummed with life, I could almost hear the stretch of branches, the rising of sap, the unfurling of leaves. The water in the pool was shimmering, but the birds above were suddenly silent; they were listening.

  ‘I think this pool is a border into Faerie,’ I whispered. I did not know how I knew this, but I felt it strongly.

  Herr Haller nodded, still looking around us. ‘We must be careful,’ he whispered back.

  There was a swoosh of air behind us, and I cried out in surprise. Herr Haller reached for me and we clung to one another as for one moment our senses were overwhelmed, just as when one is blinded by a bright sun when stepping out of a darkened room.

  I opened my eyes to see where the brightness came from: a great, white swan, with a golden crown about its neck had flown down to settle on the emerald water. It folded up its massive wings and fixed a black, glittering eye upon me, willing me to pay attention. I held my breath, still clinging tightly to Herr Haller as I listened hard. I couldn’t say how long the swan remained; time fled away in its presence.

  ‘I will tell your message,’ I said, when it had finished speaking. I bowed my head, for I felt that I was in the presence of something or someone that demanded respect.

  The swan bent its crowned neck to the water; in one graceful movement it dove beneath the surface, and was gone. I blinked, and there was no emerald-green pool in a hollow where the songbirds held their breath. We were on the mountain trail, beneath the pines, and the usual passing of time felt restored. The birds above resumed their song with more urgency than before.

  ‘What did it say?’ Herr Haller asked, still holding me protectively.

  ‘The time has come for the king to recover the treasure. The mountain is now fully wakened. He must look to where the water falls.’

  ‘Chief Inspector Eckstein, the king instructed you to make enquiries with regard to the young lady, who we now believe to be Baronin von Winterheimer. A young lady who was taken under the king’s protection following her unfortunate loss of memory.’

  ‘Yes, sir. It is as you say.’

  ‘And what report have you made on the case? What are your findings?’

  ‘Until recently, sir, I had very little to go on, and very little to find, and very little to report. I instructed every constable in every town to investigate any reported disappearances of any young ladies, but every report that was followed up was found to be unconnected with the young lady concerned.

  ‘ I had concluded that the young lady in question must not be of Bayern, but His Majesty, and His Highness, Prince Paul von Thorne, both insisted that she spoke as a native of Bayern, so the mystery thickened, so to speak, sir. However, one of the reports that had been followed up and found initially to be unfounded, has since been investigated further, following fresh findings.’

  ‘What was this report, and what are these recent findings, Chief Inspector?’

  ‘The report was made by a young working man, a carpenter who gave his name as that of Hans Bauer of Füssen. Herr Bauer made a statement to the constable at Vogt on the seventeenth day of May claiming that he had been journeying with a young baroness who was fleeing from a forced marriage to a notable man of the name of Count von Wuelffen. Herr Bauer claimed that the young baroness had been abducted by four men that he recognised as men in the employ of the said count. Herr Bauer witnessed the men taking hold of the young lady by force; he then suffered blows by one of the said assailants which rendered him stunned and disabled for a time. When he recovered his senses and feet, the young lady was gone, and he had not been able to trace her.’

  ‘And did Herr Bauer have corresponding injuries with his testimony, Chief Inspector?’

  ‘He did. He had a lump the size of a pear on the back of his head, sir, and a pair of black eyes.’

  ‘And was his claim fully investigated?’

  ‘It was. But the young lady’s mother claimed that it was all fabrication. She claimed that the young lady had left of her own accord with Herr Bauer, had eloped with him, to her very great shame and to the distress of her family, who now disowned her, and that Count von Wuelffen had no connection to the family beyond that of general acquaintance and could not possibly have anything to do with the young lady’s disappearance. If the young lady had indeed been carried away, it was most certainly by ruffians who were in no way connected to herself or the count.’

  ‘And did you interview Count von Wuelffen?’

  ‘I attempted to, sir. But Count von Wuelffen declined to be interviewed. He said only a warrant from the Chief Magistrate would make him submit to being questioned on such ludicrous allegations.’

  ‘And did you seek a warrant, Chief Inspector?’

  ‘I did. But the Chief Magistrate said he could personally vouch for the character of Count von Wuelffen, and required greater evidence than the word of an uneducated youth who was likely of unsound mind following a blow to the head.’

  ‘Did you inform His Majesty of this outcome?’

  ‘I informed His Highness, Prince von Thorne, who was acting as mediator between myself and His Majesty.’

  ‘And what did you do next?’

  ‘There was little I could do, officially, sir. My hands were tied, so to speak, by the Chief Magistrate refusing to give a warrant for the interview of Count von Wuelffen, and also by the testimony of the young lady’s mother, who likewise claimed that the count had no part in the young lady’s d
isappearance.’

  ‘But His Majesty has the power to overrule the Chief Magistrate.’

  ‘Indeed, he does. And Prince von Thorne was to gain a written statement from His Majesty to that effect.’

  ‘And did His Highness do so?’

  ‘He did not.’

  ‘That is surprising, is it not, Chief Inspector?’

  ‘Nothing surprises me where folk are concerned, sir. I have seen it all, so to speak.’

  ‘But why did His Highness not assist you in this?’

  ‘I can only surmise, sir. I can only assume, I can only suppose, I can only consider and ponder over the fact of His Highness’s father being known to be as close an acquaintance to Count von Wuelffen as is the Chief Magistrate, as are most of the senior members of Parliament, as are most of the influential members of our kingdom’s nobility, sir.’

  ‘Order! Order!’ shouted the Chairman as the crowd broke out into loud exclamations at these words. Fräulein Opel, who was now most likely Fräulein Schwan, who was now most likely Baronin von Winterheimer was looking very ill as she sat in the front row of the witnesses, listening to the Chief Inspector’s testimony. Count von Wuelffen had to be restrained at the back of the room by the guards, and only the threat of removal from the room silenced him from his outbursts, as he protested against the lies being uttered, and made threats of what he would see happen to the Chief Inspector when he was done.

  ‘You said, Chief Inspector,’ said the Chairman, when the crowd had been quieted, ‘that until recently you had very little to go on in regards to the investigation. What is it that you have recently learnt?’