I nodded seriously. “Of course, they are here. They are the spirits who got lost here and never found their way back. We are in France because tunnels are faster than anything, even a carriage.” Wide-eyed, Alec and Jonathan stared at each other. The idea of spirits must bother them. “Don’t worry. They won’t harm you. They are just lost.”
“It’s good we have a map then. And the tunnels can’t be faster than a carriage. A carriage is faster than anything even running. Besides, nobody could reach France in a day.”
I run faster than a carriage. I smiled. “Tunnels don’t follow the path of normal streets. They are like shortcuts. They were, and still are, used by merchants that have no much money to pay for the passages.”
Jonathan looked at me. “I didn’t know there were poor people in here.”
I gave him a sad face. “Poor and rich people are everywhere. There are always going to be poor in the world, no matter what.”
Midnight put her paw on my leg. “I know,” I said and petted her.
“What?” Alec asked. “Food?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s bedtime. She is a natural clock, and she has all the food she wants in the tunnels.” She was the best mouser in all of Spain. What? You too? No, I was not selling her. Didn’t you hear me?
“Bedtime? Already? That’s not possible. When we left, it was morning.”
I smiled at his puzzled look. “Time is weird down here.” With no light, there was no way to tell if you’d been here for hours or only minutes.
“What do you mean there is food down here? There isn’t anything,” Alec said.
“Sure there is. There are mice in the tunnels.”
“Yikes.” He yelled so loud his voice echoed.
“And you said you were normal. All normal houses have mice but don’t worry, stick close to my cat, and mice will not harm you.” I laughed, and put away the dishes, and took out blankets. Alec and Jonathan offered me a pillow, but I declined, and I rolled up some of my clothes for a pillow. I would imagine they changed pillows every day at the palace. Well, they were learning how to be normal. I took the map from Alec and drew the road we had traveled on today and stopped the line when I reached where we now sat. I gave the map back to him.
“How can you draw it? It’s all dark and all corners are the same,” Alec said.
“They are if you see it that way, but I am an artist, and I see angles and corners in everything.”
“Then it’s good to have you here,” Jonathan said.
“Goodnight to both of you,” I said.
“Goodnight, Eva,” they said in chorus. I stared at the candle until sleep came.
When I woke up, it was dark. The candle must have burned out, so I searched my bag for another. When I lit the candle, I saw Jonathan was up.
“How many candles have you brought with you?”
I looked at him. “People say good morning or how are you doing? First. By the way, I am well, thank you.”
He half-smiled. “Good morning?”
“And I have brought enough to keep us going. How are you feeling?” I asked.
“You seem to like candles. Why? And I am feeling better.” He looked better, and after a good breakfast, he would be stronger.
“It feels magical.”
He smiled. “I like candles too. I have some in my room.”
His room? Mostly we used candles in our homes to see where we were going at night, and we never had several candles in our own rooms. Witches also used candles for incantations. He used candles as a decoration? What a waste. I couldn’t believe these royals.
“Can I ask you something?” I nodded. What does he want this time? Questions, questions and more questions like a little kid.
“I don’t mean to pry or judge, but you seem a little strong for a girl. I don’t mean it as a criticism, but it’s rare to find a girl strong like this.”
Uh-oh. “We received unusual training...” I continued before he could interrupt and ask me to explain the training. “Ritta and I grew up practically together, and my mother, well, she hadn’t much help, so she taught us to defend ourselves so no one could harm us.” That was kind of true.
His eyebrows rose. “That’s interesting. And useful in some aspects. You can do a man’s work.”
I wanted to strangle him. “All women do a man’s work and have not received special training. When men go off to war who do you think chops wood for the fires? Cultivates the farmland?”
He stared at me. “I didn’t know.”
I snorted. “What you don’t know about people could fill a book. No, a library. And what you don’t know can kill you. Do you think of us as persons?”
He stared at me. “Of course, I think of you as a person. I just don’t know much about you. I received training as to how to rule, create laws, and other things like that, but if not for you and Alec, I wouldn’t know anything.”
He was right. Royals didn’t receive any training about how to treat us. They only learned how to rule, how to obtain power, and how to win wars.
“Would you have been able to live in the palace?”
Excuse me? “No,” I said. What is he thinking?
“You didn’t even hesitate. Do you hate royals that much?”
I looked at the candle. “I do as I have clearly stated a thousand times before, but that is not about them but more... about me. I would feel caged; people everywhere watching my every move. I could never have a life or any time of my own, and I would always be busy. That’s why my mother and the queen stopped seeing each other—they were close friends, you know.”
“I didn’t know.” His eyebrows shot up. “Maybe that’s why she always said I should stay close to Alec. Maybe she thought I wouldn’t lose him like she did. I do feel caged, as you put it, some days. That’s why I go to the village. To feel free.” I smiled, and he sighed. “But lastly, it seemed impossible. I had to have guards everywhere, and I didn’t like it. When you are the king, everyone recognizes you, whereas if you are just a prince, no one pays much attention to you. I envy him for that.” He looked at Alec who was still sleeping. “You know...” he said with a smile, “most girls would have jumped at such opportunity, but you are rather disgusted by it.”
I shrugged. “I am not most girls.”
After a while, we woke up Alec, ate a little, and left. We had to get going because we might not be the only ones using the tunnels. We walked for what seemed hours, but I knew that it was only minutes. It started getting colder and a little humid, which meant it was raining outside. Another good thing about the tunnels was you didn’t get wet.
We walked and walked until we reached a crossroads. One direction led to Italy and the other led to the upper countries like Russia. I didn’t know what to do, so I stopped to think, and Alec bumped into us. We might have had our hands joined, but that didn’t mean he saw what was in front of him.
“What happened? Why did we stop?” Alec asked.
“I am not sure which way to take.”
“What do you mean? There is more than one?”
More than one path was the only thing that was certain for the tunnels. “One leads to Italy and one leads to Russia and the cold south.”
They didn’t say anything for a while and then Jonathan said, “It’s better we go to Italy.”
Alec agreed. “They are faithful allies.”
I sighed. “I don’t think you should think of them as allies but as countries. I think we are not ready to journey to Russia. Even down here we will freeze to death, and we will have to take a detour and that would be a waste of time.”
We took the tunnel to Italy, and after a while, Jonathan asked, “Are we there yet?”
I sighed. “Not yet.” He seemed tired. That was strange since I was the one carrying him.
“It didn’t take us so long to reach France,” he whined.
“I suppose you have read a map?” I asked.
“Of course, I have read a map. How do you think we go to other countries
?”
That was true. “That’s why you are confused. The tunnels don’t go according to maps exactly.” I knew he was trying to understand this, but no one could.
“And if say I wanted to go to Austria from here, what would I do?” he asked, thinking of his siblings.
“You would take the road to Italy like we are, and I am sure there is a sign that goes there.”
“Wait, so you have never been there before?” he asked, surprised.
“No, I can’t say I have.” I haven’t traveled anywhere except Portugal and Spain.
“So, you are guiding us by instinct?”
Only half instinct. “No, I know how to read the tunnels. There are lines everywhere.” My hand grazed the lines.
“I don’t think I could ever do it.”
“I don’t think you could either.”
“Such faithfulness,” he said sarcastically, and I heard the annoyance in his voice.
We stopped at noon—well, Midnight stopped us and let me know the time. If she hadn’t stopped us then, our hunger would have stopped us. I took out some food, water, and cups of tea. Alec looked at me in awe. “What haven’t you taken with you?”
I thought for a moment. “Let’s not find out.”
He smiled and we ate. I watched the two of them joking about stupid things again. It was somewhat relaxing, and maybe when things settled down some, I could do it with Ritta. Not that she would need much enforcement to do it—talking and joking was a natural habit of hers. Alec and Jonathan were talking about trips and places they had been. I had never been anywhere except Spain, Portugal, and my homeland, and yet here I was, passing underneath foreign countries I had never visited before. “So, Eva, what countries have you visited?” Jonathan asked.
“Spain and Portugal,” I answered.
“I meant foreign. Spain is your home and Portugal... well, you know it enough since you have lived there for quite a time now.”
I looked at him. “I haven’t been anywhere else.”
He stared at me. “Why?”
Why is this boy stupid? Why does this boy ask so many stupid questions? “Because normal people don’t go anywhere for pleasure. They don’t have money. They just work and try to survive.”
Sometimes I thought we could be together, but sometimes, especially when he asked stupid questions, I thought that we might live on the same planet, even in the same country, but we were in two entirely different spheres: he was rich and a king, and I was an average peasant girl. Try as he might, he could never understand our lives if he had not lived them.
“At all?” asked Alec. He did try to understand, but even a prince as kind as Alec would have to live our lives to fully comprehend them.
“If we leave our jobs, we lose valuable money that could help our families. Our only vacation is after work when we walk in the meadows, near the sea, or in the market.”
Alec frowned. “That’s sad. I didn’t know.”
“You appreciate nature and its beauty that way.”
I took away the dishes and put Jonathan on my back. We continued our journey in silence.
The Massacre
We walked and walked, and I hoped we would reach Italy before nightfall. It was starting to feel humid—a sign that we were close to the sea. At last, my hand touched the letters I-T-A-L-Y. “We are here.”
Alec and Jonathan sighed in relief. “All right, so we are here. Now, what are we going to do?” Alec asked. It was a good question. No one knew if they were alive, but it was presumed they were dead. We knew war was being fought in Spain and Portugal, but we didn’t know who was winning—or if there was a winner.
“We can go up and see what’s going on,” Jonathan said.
It wasn’t a bad idea, but it wasn’t the smartest. “I will go up and you two will stay here with Midnight.”
“What? Why stay with the cat?” Jonathan asked.
I scowled at him while I made him sit on the pillow. “First, she has a name. Second, because it is too dangerous for you to be seen. Are you stupid?” They didn’t say anything. “I will go up and see what’s going on and come back here.”
“But it might be too dangerous for you too,” Jonathan said.
“That’s why you are staying with Midnight; if something is wrong, she will guide you somewhere safe. Besides, I don’t think anyone will recognize me anyway.”
“How so?” He lifted his eyebrows.
I pulled a black cloak that I always carried with me out of my bag. Cloaks were useful, and black cloaks offered you cover, especially at night. If the cloak had a hood that was pulled over your head, your face wasn’t easily seen either. I pushed a door of the tunnel open and it guided me into a park.
Light. Finally. I wanted to take off my shoes and start dancing, but that wasn’t an ordinary day, so I just kept watching. I saw very few people. I walked a little in the streets, and after a few houses, I saw an inn. This was an odd place for an inn. I watched the inn for a while and saw several people entering and leaving it. It seemed a good place to gather information so I entered.
No one seemed to notice me, and I wasn’t the only one wearing a cloak. I approached a desk that seemed to be the place where everyone got rooms. When the woman behind the desk saw me, she said, “Hello. What can I do for you?”
I wished I had Midnight with me or Ritta. You always felt safer when someone had your back. “I need information about the situation,” I said. She understood me, and there was no wondering what situation I meant.
She pursed her lips. “The Spanish are being thwarted. There are a lot of countries on Portugal’s side, and Spain has some too, but Italy had an army, no one knew about, so things are hopeful.”
I nodded. That was kind of good news. “How about here? There are a lot of people. Shouldn’t they have gone?”
She looked around and said, “They went somewhere where no one could see them.”
The tunnels. I have to get back quickly.
“They are fighting and defending the country. They are divided to attack from different sides.”
Was their army so huge? “So, do you have any rooms?”
She relaxed. “Yes, I do. Are you alone?”
I shook my head but said nothing else.
“I see.” She gave me the keys and then whispered, “All rooms have an access to the Black Void.”
The Black Void was another name for the tunnels. This was good. I nodded and said, “Thank you.”
She smiled. “Your room is on the second floor, enjoy your stay.”
I took the stairs up to the room. It was warm and cozy and made you forget the war outside. I entered my room, number 777, and I thought it was funny because 7 was a lucky number and a holy number for witches. I wondered if we would find luck in here. Again, I wished my cat was here since she could sense anything wrong. Keeping my voice quiet, I cast some spells, but nothing was out of the ordinary. I cast some protection spells—you never knew what might happen—and I opened the wardrobe.
The wardrobe had a door in the back, but you wouldn’t notice it unless you were looking for it. I opened it and there was a staircase which led down the tunnels. Too late, I realized that I might bump into the Italians hiding in here or some people doing exactly what I was doing now. Oh, well. What to do? I continued until I saw two people standing in my way. I hoped it was Alec and Jonathan, but you couldn’t be too careful, so I didn’t reveal myself until I saw Midnight who came running to me.
She meowed in greeting, licked my hands, and got comfortable in my hands.
“Eva?” Alec asked.
“Yes, it’s me.” They sighed in relief. “You don’t know how many people passed through,” Jonathan said.
“Fortunately, the cat alerted us every time,” Alec said.
I petted my cat. “I am sorry. I didn’t know the Italians would find shelter in the tunnels. Good news. I found us a place to stay, and it doesn’t include the ground.” Neither said a word. “An inn.”
They were s
till silent and looked like they didn’t believe me, but I wouldn’t lie about serious things. “An inn. With beds.” Jonathan grinned. “But how will we get there without anyone seeing us?”
“It has access through the tunnels so you don’t have to go out. Let’s go. We can’t stay here.” It didn’t take long to return the way I came. Soon we were walking out of the wardrobe and into the room.
“A room with a fireplace and beds,” Alec said.
“A bed. I must be dreaming,” Jonathan said, and I helped him down from my back and onto the bed. Midnight jumped into a bed, and that was a confirmation: the room was safe. I smiled and sat near the fire.
“Eva, you have done a miracle again. But why are you sitting on the ground?” Alec asked.
“I like the fire.” When I looked up at him, I noticed there were only two beds. Maybe they could use the big bed—clearly for two persons—and I could sleep on the smaller one. Jonathan lay in the bed I had put him in, and Alec lay in the other. I smiled. “I am going to get us some food. There is no need to use ours when it is provided here. You two stay here. I will lock the door so no one comes in.” They nodded, and I left and locked the door behind me. If seeing a room with a fireplace and beds was a miracle for them, it mustn’t be too hard to please them.
Downstairs in the main room, I found a buffet where you could take whatever you wanted and bring it upstairs or eat it at the tables there. I took a small basket and I filled it with fruits, some meat pies, bread, and pastries. I added forks and knives and water, and then I went upstairs.
“You took food for an army,” Jonathan said.
“It’s not for an army, but I didn’t want to have to go downstairs several times.” I started putting food on the table in the corner.
“How many days will we stay?” Alec asked while helping me.
“Hopefully, enough for Jonathan to get back on his feet, but we can’t stay here long. We have to move again soon.”
After the table was set, I shared the information I had learned from the innkeeper. “Well, who knew the Italians would have such a huge army? Then again, they won many wars—if not with diplomacy and persuasion, then with armies that no one knew they had.”
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