The Skin Map

by Stephen R. Lawhead

  After making a circuit of the square, they started up the single main street. “These are the dwellings of the wealthier merchants,” Arthur explained, pausing before a line of large stone houses either side of the wide, palm-lined street.

  “And the small huts?” wondered Xian-Li. Squatting in the shade of the expensive houses with their well-appointed gardens were simple hovels of mud brick thatched with palm leaves.

  “For the slaves,” replied Arthur. “All higher-caste Egyptians keep slaves—Nubians, Ethiopes, and others. All in all, it is not so bad for them. Life in Egypt is very good.”

  “Aha!” cried their guide suddenly as Arthur made to continue up the street.

  Arthur halted in midstep, putting out his hand to stop Xian-Li. “Wait,” he said. They turned as the first of a long line of fully laden donkeys passed, their drivers walking beside them with corded whips. The bundles heaped high on the beasts’ strong backs contained cut cane, raw flax, and produce—melons, leeks, nets of radishes and beans and chard—and lengths of aromatic wood.

  “They’re heading for the marketplace,” Arthur told her as they watched the passing train. “Tomorrow is market day, I should think. Would you like to see it?”

  “Oh, yes! I want to see everything.”

  “Then in the morning we’ll go,” promised Arthur.

  They continued their walk into the city, but did not get much farther because Xian-Li, dazzled by the diversity of this strange and exotic culture and overwhelmed by all she saw, grew fatigued. “I am sorry, husband,” she confessed. “I think I must rest a little.”

  “Of course, my dear. It can be daunting—so much all at once. We’ll go back now, rest, and have a little something to eat. You’ll begin to get used to it. Tomorrow will be better, you’ll see.”

  But the promises of tomorrow, however sincere, are fragile paper boats launched on a vast and uncertain sea: easily swamped by the least rippling wave or ocean breeze.

  CHAPTER 29

  In Which Dragons Are Not Confined to Statues

  The coach rumbled over the bridge, and Wilhelmina received her first good look at the Emperor’s Palace. A massive, looming presence—more bunker than castle—it put her in mind of the stolid, grey eminence of Buckingham Palace back home in London. Uniformly lacking in charm and elegance, Emperor Rudolf ’s palace was a colossal stone crate devoid of towers, keeps, battlements, or outward decoration of any kind, presenting a brooding blank aspect to the world.

  Directly across from the palace, setting it in sharp relief, soared the serried spires of the cathedral dedicated to Saint Vitus. Glowing ruddy gold in the early morning light, the great church appeared an almost magical construction in comparison with its hulking neighbour. Clinging to the highest point in the city—for all its chapels, steeples, and the colossal copper-domed bell tower—the heroic structure seemed poised to take flight into the heavens.

  Once across the bridge, the palace was momentarily hidden from view even as their carriage climbed steeply towards its destination. Mina turned to her companion. “You’re smiling, Etzel,” she observed. “What are you thinking?”

  “I am thinking that, whatever happens, today I will stand before the emperor and give him some of my baking.” His smile grew into a wide and easy grin. “That is something even my brother and father cannot take from me.”

  In the time they had worked together, Wilhelmina had formed a picture of Englebert’s life before she met him. “It was hard for you—living under the thumb of your father and brother.”

  He gave a little shrug. “I suppose it was hard for them, too, maybe.”

  “Well, I wish they were here to see you. Wouldn’t that be something?”

  He laughed. “Their eyes would fall from their heads to see their Englebert serving pastry to the emperor.”

  She glanced at the box of equipment and supplies on the floor of the coach next to her—she would not allow it to be placed on the baggage carrier, out of her sight—and wondered if she had remembered everything. Was anything missing?

  Etzel followed her gaze. “It is all there, Schnuckel,” he said. “We made a list, and we put everything in the chest. We have forgotten nothing.”

  They had checked and double-checked the items that went into the box—everything they would need to make coffee for the emperor and a few select members of his court. “Today,” she said, gazing back at Etzel, “is one of the most important days of my life. I just want to do well. Our future depends on it.”

  “No,” replied the gentle man, “our future is in God’s hands. Nothing can change that. So, let us just enjoy today and be happy.”

  “I am happy, Etzel,” she said, reaching across the space between their seats to squeeze his hand. “I want you to know that. I am very happy to be here with you today. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

  He made as if to speak, but could not find the words, so instead raked his hand through his blond hair and nodded his round head in agreement.

  The royal coach crossed another bridge—this one separating the upper town from the lower—and continued up increasingly precarious streets on its climb to the palace precinct. Eventually the carriage approached the palace walls and the grand gatehouse guarding the entrance. The gate was open, and guards waved the vehicle through. Mina felt the butterflies in her stomach lift off as the horses clattered into the yard and came to a stop. Soldiers with long pikes and crested silver helmets and breastplates stood either side of the red lacquered doors between stout pillars that supported a pediment with a statue of Saint George, who, with a hideous and extremely realistic dragon curled about his feet, stood with one foot on the angry beast’s neck, his gallant sword upraised to deliver the killing stroke. The dragon—all teeth and scales and slashing claws—writhed in its dying rage, while the sainted George gazed down with implacable sternness of purpose.

  The statue, poised as it was directly over the palace entrance, made Mina shiver as a pang of foreboding shot through her. She looked away. The feeling passed in an instant as footmen sprang to attend them, opened the carriage compartment, and placed steps beneath the door so that the occupants could climb down easily. Meanwhile, from out of the palace emerged a man in gleaming royal livery, his plump, red-stockinged legs bearing him forward with all speed.

  “Welcome, subjects,” he intoned in a perfunctory voice. “The emperor bids his honoured guests to attend him. He awaits you in the Grand Ludovic Hall.” He made the briefest gesture of a bow. “I am to lead you to him. If you will follow me?”

  Without waiting for a reply, he turned and started back to the palace.

  “Sir! We have baggage to carry,” Englebert called after him.

  Without pausing, the official tossed a command to the footmen. Englebert indicated the box in the coach, and the first lackey took it up; the other footman reached for the smaller box in Englebert’s hands, but the big man shook his head. “This one, I carry myself.”

  The party processed through the door and into a spacious vestibule painted red and white and filled with marble busts of illustrious men, most of them royal and all of them dead. Two more soldiers stood guard either side of the door, and the royal usher—for such he was—whisked them through and into the main hall: a gargantuan room with vaulted ceilings from which hung no fewer than eight four-tiered chandeliers. Enormous glass windows pierced the walls on either hand, allowing a tide of sunlight to wash through the room; from them the entire city of Prague spread out below, the rooftops of the houses making a chequered patchwork in various shades of red, green, and brown. Here they were met by another official: the master of audiences, a dour and imposing man in a long robe of deep green velvet. Without a word, he marched them through the hall, heels clicking on the polished inlaid floor; a few clumps of people stood huddled around the large gilt doors at the far end of the room awaiting their turn to be called. Englebert and Wilhelmina were led directly to the golden doors, past the envious stares of the loiterers, and into a seemingly endles
s corridor lined with mirrors. Tiny oval windows allowed light to spill along the length of the passageway, and they passed door after door until arriving at one that was larger than the others and whose frame was carved with laurel leaves and ivy. Here the master of audiences paused, and taking a short knob-topped rod from a hidden holder at his side, he gave three short, sharp raps, then opened the door.

  They heard a muffled voice from inside, and then the senior court official summoned them through and into the presence of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf, sitting in a grand throne of ebony lined with red satin, his chin in his hand, shoulders hunched, looking bored. A man in a long blue robe with an odd conical hat stood nearby with a roll of parchment in his hands. A few paces to one side stood a large easel and canvas, behind which an artist darted a glance before disappearing behind his work.

  At the appearance of the two coffeehouse proprietors, the emperor smiled, straightened, and clapped his hands. “Splendid!” he said, then waved the other man aside. “Come! Come! We are delighted to meet you at last.”

  “My lord and king,” intoned the master of audiences, “I present to you Englebert of Bavaria, and Wilhelmina of England.”

  This last caused the man in the blue robe to turn and stare at the young woman who was just then making a low and elaborate curtsy to the emperor. He pulled on his grey beard and watched her with interest.

  Rudolf extended his hand to his subjects, allowing them to kiss the imperial ring, and said, “We do hope you have brought this liquor with you, this Kaffee. We are eager to taste it.”

  Englebert glanced at the master of audiences, who whispered, “You may address him when spoken to.”

  The big baker swallowed and cleared his throat. “Indeed, Your Imperial Majesty,” he said, somewhat shakily. “We have brought everything we need to make it for you especially.”

  “To make it?” wondered the emperor.

  “Yes, Majesty. We will make it for you.”

  Wilhelmina saw the misunderstanding and offered, “It is a hot drink, Your Majesty. It must be prepared freshly and drunk from special cups while it is still warm.”

  “Mind your place!” the audience master hissed. “You will speak only when spoken to!”

  “We permit it,” sighed Rudolf, forgiving the breach in protocol. “You may go, Ruprecht.” He waved the courtier away. The man in the blue robe and curious hat started backing away too. “No—stay, Bazalgette, stay. We will all partake of this beverage together.”

  “Thank you, Sire,” replied the man.

  “This is Herr Doktor Bazalgette,” the emperor said, introducing his companion. “He is Lord High Alchemist to the royal court.”

  “At your service, my friends,” replied the man of science, doffing his cap.

  “Can you produce enough liquor for two?” asked Rudolf.

  “We have enough for ten, Your Majesty,” answered Etzel, delighted with the prospect of serving such esteemed courtiers.

  “What do you require to facilitate your production?” asked the court alchemist. “Perhaps I can aid your preparation.”

  “Only a small fire,” answered Wilhelmina. “We have brought everything else. It is in a chest outside.”

  “Shall I have it brought in, Your Majesty?” offered Bazalgette.

  “Yes, and tell Ruprecht that we will require a fire to be lit in the hearth. Have him inform the chamberlain that we want it at once.” To his visitors, he said, “Is this agreeable to you?”

  “Of course, Your Majesty,” ventured Wilhelmina. “But perhaps it would be easier and quicker for me to simply go to the kitchen and prepare the Kaffee there. I will bring it to you when it is ready.”

  “Excellent!” cried Rudolf. His excitement was dashed the very next instant when he considered what this meant. “However, we were hoping to watch you prepare it.” He frowned.

  “Then, if you would allow me to suggest,” said Wilhelmina, “perhaps Your Majesty might accompany us to the royal kitchen and Your Highness will be able to observe everything we do.”

  The King of Christendom started and stared, jolted by this revolutionary idea. “We do not believe we have ever been to the royal kitchens,” he considered, his brow creasing deeply at the thought.

  Lord High Alchemist Bazalgette rescued the imperial dignity by an apt recommendation. “Might we repair to my laboratory instead, Majesty?” he proposed delicately. “There is a fire in the hearth, and it is in this very wing of the palace.”

  “Yes,” allowed Rudolf with some relief, “perhaps that would be best. And we will taste this Kaffee liquor that much sooner.”

  It was thus agreed. The emperor rose from his chair and, escorted by his chief alchemist and followed by his guests, moved to the door.

  “Exalted Majesty . . . ?” called a voice from the far end of the room.

  “Ah, yes, Signore Arcimboldo,” said Rudolf, remembering himself. “We are finished for the day. But do come along and join us if you like. We are going to partake of a new potion. You may find it inspiring to your work.”

  “Your servant would be honoured, Majesty.” The artist put aside his palette and brushes, quickly doffed his smock, and joined the party, following them into the long corridor, to a stairway leading up to the next floor, and down another mirror-lined corridor to a suite of rooms at the far end of the passageway.

  “Here we are, Highness, friends,” said Bazalgette, pushing open the heavily carved door. “Please, come in and feel free to amuse yourselves. If you will excuse me, Majesty, I will see to the necessaries.”

  The apartment was as big as a ballroom, but every square inch of available space was packed with all manner of gear and equipment: tables crowded with jars, pots, and jugs, each labelled with its contents; counters lined with a formidable array of bulbous decanters filled with murky liquids; mortars and pestles in a range of sizes and made of porcelain, glass, marble, and granite; crucibles, beakers, and bowls of lead and copper and zinc and bronze; pottery and glassware articles in bizarre organic shapes; bundles of raw materials, from dried herbs to animal fur; iron tools of many kinds. And if there were mortars and pestles in sizes a giant might find useful, there were hammers and tongs a fairy sprite would covet. Marking the perimeter of the room on three sides, floor to ceiling, stood great hulking bookcases filled with leather-bound volumes and parchment rolls.

  Wilhelmina felt as if she had entered an Aladdin’s cave where, instead of gold and jewel-crusted treasure, the thieves specialized in chem-lab equipment and biological specimens. Everywhere one looked, the eye was arrested by some oddity or other—desiccated cats, stuffed birds, unborn pigs in brine, fully articulated lizard skeletons, and prehistoric insects in lambent lumps of Baltic amber.

  At the far end of the room, the original hearth and fireplace had been extensively modified to accommodate a large stove with several apertures on top, two ovens below, and, to one side, an open-flame bed something like a forge. Beside the stove, using its light to examine a diagram on parchment, stood two men whose presence Wilhelmina had not marked when entering. She did so now. One of the men was a tall, well-muscled fellow with striking good looks and a regal bearing; the other was the chief under-alchemist whom she had met at the coffeehouse.

  “Ah! Here you are!” cried Bazalgette, hurrying towards the men. “We have the honour of receiving the emperor.”

  The two turned from their study of the diagram, and the younger man bowed; the stranger merely stood and waited for the imperial party to approach, whereupon Bazalgette made the introductions. “Your Highness, allow me to present my esteemed visitor, Lord Archelaeus Burleigh, Earl of Sutherland, newly arrived from England.”

  Lord Burleigh put his heels together and made a crisp, elegant bow. “Your devoted servant, Majesty,” he said in a full, resonant voice.

  “We welcome you, my Lord Earl,” said Rudolf. “Is this your first visit to Prague?”

  “It is, Majesty,” replied Burleigh, his German flawless. “But I assure you, it will not be my
last.”

  Other introductions were made then, which Mina ignored, finding herself wholly unable to take her eyes from the darkly handsome earl. What luck! she thought. A fellow countryman.

  The formalities observed, the chief alchemist turned to his assistant. “Rosenkreuz, clear away a space for the use of our friends here,” he commanded. “They are here to produce an elixir of Kaffee for the emperor. Have chairs brought in.”

  “At once, Herr Doktor,” replied the young alchemist, handing the parchment diagram back to the earl. With a nod and smile of acknowledgement to Etzel and Mina, the young man began moving beakers and pots, making room for Englebert and Mina’s simple equipment. The box was brought in and unpacked. Working quickly together, fresh water was soon on the fire, the beans ground, and the pot and cups prepared. At each stage of the operation, Englebert with enormous gravity explained what they were doing.

  While the company waited for the water to come to a boil, the chief alchemist offered a small tour of his laboratory and Wilhelmina sidled up beside Lord Burleigh. She caught his attention. “Guten Tag, mein Herr,” she said, speaking low. “Ich bin Wilhelmina. But perhaps we can speak English?”

  “Delighted to meet you, my dear,” he replied smoothly, his manner at odds with his old-fashioned demeanour.

  “When Herr Bazalgette introduced you just now, I was a little surprised. I’ve not met many Englishmen in Prague.”

  “Nor will you, I imagine,” he replied, offering her an ingratiating smile. “But, please, if you don’t mind my asking, how did you come to be here?”

  “Here in the palace? Or here in Prague?”

  “Either,” he said, laughing politely. “Both.”

  Before she could answer, Bazalgette called to them, “May I direct your attention to this—our latest discovery!” He lofted a large jug of green glass half full of a cloudy whitish liquid. “Come close, everyone.”

  “Another time, perhaps,” said the earl, directing his steps to rejoin the others, who were now gathered around a table heaped high with books and racks of glass vials and porcelain jars.