The Secret Crown paj-6

by Chris Kuzneski

Heidi and Ulster sat in the front seat while Payne and Jones sat in the back. As she drove, she provided some background information on the castle. ‘Ludwig was fascinated by the Palace of Versailles in France and copied many of its interior features, including the main staircase and the master bedroom. The exterior of the castle resembles Petit Trianon, a small chateau in the grounds of Versailles that was given to Marie Antoinette by King Louis XVI.’

  She followed a narrow, stone path through a thick grove of trees. When they emerged on the far side, they caught a quick glimpse of the castle, which was built at the bottom of a gently sloping valley. Much smaller than Payne had imagined, the marble building was less than 100 feet in length. It was surrounded by several fountains, including one that shot water over seventy feet in the air. He was about to ask a question about the golden statue in its centre, but before he had a chance, Heidi turned to the right and started driving north.

  A moment later, the cart was swallowed by shadows as it entered the mouth of the longest arbour Payne had ever seen. Hundreds of arching metal poles had been planted into the ground, approximately one foot apart on both sides of the steep path. The poles were connected by several horizontal rails, which formed a series of one-foot squares that functioned as a trellis. Over the years, dozens of trees had been trained to grow over the extensive framework. The resulting tunnel – a combination of vines, leaves and branches – shielded them from the sun and blocked their view of water steps on their left that flowed towards the ornate castle behind them.

  Ulster admired the vegetation. ‘Is this the gartenlaube you mentioned?’

  She nodded. ‘We entered it from the east. It arches all the way up to a music pavilion on top of the hill before it arches back down to the western side of the grounds. When viewed from the palace windows, the arbour looks like a green rainbow on the hillside.’

  Payne leaned forward. ‘And what does the arbour have to do with swans?’

  ‘Nothing,’ she admitted as they reached a fork in the path.

  ‘Then I’m confused. I thought gartenlaube helped you solve the riddle?’

  The arbour continued to arch gently around to the left while an uncovered trail veered off to the right. This new trail went straight up the hill towards the north. She made the turn before she answered his question. ‘It did help me solve the riddle. Back in Ludwig’s time, gartenlaube had multiple meanings. Sometimes it meant garden arbour, which is the literal translation of the term. But in the world of landscaping, it was a generic term for man-made garden. If you think about it, that’s what an arbour is: the trees and trellis were shaped by man.’

  ‘What’s your point?’ Payne asked.

  ‘My point is simple,’ she said as she drove up the steep path, ‘there’s more than one man-made garden on the Linderhof grounds. The one we’re going to was Ludwig’s personal favourite. It’s called the Venus Grotto.’

  ‘Does it have swans?’ Jones wondered.

  She smiled as she parked their cart next to a large rock formation that was covered in green moss. ‘The Venus Grotto has everything. I’m sure you’ll be impressed.’

  Payne climbed out of his seat and stared at the spacious grounds. The approach of autumn had splashed the trees with a vibrant mix of colours. Everywhere he looked, he saw reds and yellows, oranges and gold, all mixed against a palette of greens. If the Venus Grotto was half as impressive as the leaves around him, he would be pleasantly surprised.

  ‘Is it much of a hike?’ Payne asked.

  She shook her head. ‘Not at all.’

  ‘Then what are we waiting for?’

  ‘I wanted to see if you would spot it.’

  ‘Spot what?’

  ‘The secret entrance to the grotto.’

  He looked at her. ‘The what?’

  ‘You heard me. The secret entrance to the grotto.’

  In unison, Payne, Jones and Ulster turned towards the large mound behind them. Standing twelve feet in height, the rugged formation appeared to be a natural extension of the hillside. Weeds grew from the cracks in the grey rocks. Small trees sprang from the crevices. If they had walked past it, they wouldn’t have given it a second thought. Everything about it looked as though it belonged, as if it had been there since the dawn of time. Naturally curious, Jones tapped one of the moss-covered stones to make sure it was real. Then he tapped another. Payne and Ulster quickly followed suit, each of them hoping to find the entrance first.

  Payne called over his shoulder. ‘If you’re messing with us, I’m going to be pissed.’

  She laughed at his comment. ‘I swear, I’m not messing with you. There really is a secret entrance to the grotto. In fact, Ludwig designed several secret doors and passageways in his castles – not to mention a number of slick contraptions that catered to his dream world. Believe it or not, some of them were quite brilliant.’

  Payne glanced at her. ‘Such as?’

  ‘When Ludwig was entertaining guests, he didn’t want to be disturbed by servants. He felt they invaded his privacy and ruined the fantasies he was trying to create. Obviously this was a major problem when he was throwing a dinner party for a lot of people. No servants meant no food. So Ludwig designed a special dining room in the Linderhof that met his personal needs. The room featured a full-length table that could be lowered into the kitchen below so his servants could stock the table and raise it back up without being seen.’

  Payne smiled. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

  ‘Trust me, that’s nothing compared to what you’ll see inside the grotto. That is, if you guys can find the way in. I thought one of you was supposed to be a detective?’

  Jones, who was a licensed investigator, took the comment as a personal challenge. Less than thirty seconds later, he found a tiny metal handle imbedded in the rock face. Without waiting for Heidi’s permission, Jones yanked on the latch. A soft click could be heard in the centre of the mound, followed by a loud rumble. Suddenly the large boulder in the middle of the formation started to twist to the left. Unsure of what was happening, Jones jumped back and watched as the boulder turned on a centre axis. The left side of the rock went in while the right side swivelled out. Once the rock stopped moving, Jones stared at the resulting fissure. It was seven feet tall and three feet wide. Beyond it, a narrow corridor stretched deep into the darkness.

  Jones glanced back at the group. ‘I’m not sure, but I think I found it.’

  55

  Armed with flashlights, the foursome walked single file into the man-made cave at the northern end of the Linderhof grounds. Heidi led the way, followed by Jones, Ulster and Payne. To ensure their privacy, he closed the door behind them. When the grounds were officially open, the narrow corridor would be awash with floor lights for the safety of the crowds. But that was later. For the moment, nothing was turned on.

  ‘Watch your heads,’ she called out from the front.

  Fake stalactites dangled from the ceiling above as stalagmites rose from the floor, as if the group was passing through a sharp set of teeth. Payne wasn’t sure where they were going or what they were about to see, but he sensed something great was lurking ahead. Outside, he’d had his doubts about this place until that giant boulder had twisted aside like something from a movie. That had changed everything. Suddenly, he felt like a little kid again exploring one of the walk-through rides at Kennywood, an amusement park near Pittsburgh. All that was missing was the taste of cotton candy and the safety of his grandfather’s hand.

  ‘How old is this place?’ Jones asked in the darkness.

  Heidi answered as she opened the grotto’s control panel, which was hidden behind a fake boulder. ‘It was finished in 1877. Workers installed a framework of steel girders and pillars. They covered them with cement, sometimes laid over canvas, then sculpted them into shape.’

  Payne shone his flashlight to the far left. At first glance, it looked like the ground was rippling. He assumed it was an optical illusion caused by his light until he heard the dripping of water. ‘
What’s out there? Is that a fountain?’

  Heidi put her hand on the switch. ‘Nope. Something better.’

  ‘Like what?’ he wondered.

  Instead of answering, she started flipping switches. One by one, lights popped on throughout the grotto. Suddenly, the stalactites and stalagmites were bathed in blue light. Then the ceiling above them turned gold. An instant later, their pathway lit up like a ramp in a movie theatre, followed by a series of recessed lights in a painted alcove. Finally, the ground to the left started to glow – blue at first and then an alien green. It took a few seconds for Payne’s eyes to adjust, but when they did, he was stunned by the sight. The entire time he had been walking in the darkness, he had been strolling beside an underground lake.

  His mouth fell open. ‘Wow.’

  She turned off her flashlight and walked towards them. ‘I told you it was impressive.’

  Ulster nodded in agreement. ‘I’ve seen pictures of the grotto, but I never fully grasped how large it was until now. It is truly immense.’

  ‘Women have said the same about me,’ cracked Jones.

  Heidi ignored him. ‘The Venus Grotto is the largest artificial cave in Europe. Everything you see in here – the rocks, the ceiling, everything – was made by man. The cave is 270 feet long and forty-two feet high. By comparison, the palace itself is only ninety-eight feet long.’

  Payne stared at the lake. At first, he had assumed it was shallow like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney World, but the longer he stared at the underwater lights, he could tell they weren’t close to the surface. ‘How deep is the water?’

  ‘In some places, it’s ten feet deep.’

  Jones leaned against the safety railing that had been installed for tourists. He was struggling to comprehend the grotto’s technology. ‘They built this place in the nineteenth century? When did they add the lights?’

  ‘Believe it or not, they’ve been here since the grotto opened in 1877. Obviously we’ve upgraded the technology over the years and made some repairs, but the basic look is the same. What you see is what Ludwig saw when he lived in Linderhof.’

  Payne shook his head in amazement. ‘I didn’t even know they had indoor electricity back then. I find it hard to believe they were able to do all this in the 1800s.’

  ‘Back then, they used arc lamps – bulbs made of charcoal rods that had been invented fifty years earlier – to light the grotto. To change the colour of the lights, they rotated a disk of coloured glass and shone the bulbs through it. Sort of like a slide projector. Ludwig was actually able to programme a sequence of lights – five sets of ten minutes each – in the order he wanted. In addition, he could shine the colours in unison, which projected a rainbow above the far alcove.’

  ‘How was it powered?’ Jones asked.

  ‘They used a primitive electromagnetic generator known as a dynamo. There were twenty-four of them in a machine shop about a hundred metres to the north. The power facility was one of the first of its kind in Europe.’

  Payne whistled softly. ‘I’ll admit it, I’m impressed. This place is awesome.’

  She signalled for them to wait. ‘Hang on, I’m not quite done.’

  ‘There’s more?’ Jones asked.

  She ducked behind the fake boulder. ‘Much more. Check this out.’

  With a flip of a switch, the water in the lake began to move. Slowly at first, and then more steadily. Before long, the entire lake was churning with waves. ‘Sometimes Ludwig wasn’t satisfied with calm waters, so his designers installed a wave machine. This way, when his servants rowed him around the lake, he felt he was facing the elements.’

  Payne laughed in amazement. ‘Un-friggin-believable!’

  She called out from the control panel. ‘I thought you’d like that, but believe me, the best part is yet to come. If you don’t mind, do me a favour and take a few steps forward on the path. I want you to have the best view for the finale.’

  Payne moved forward until she was satisfied.

  ‘Okay, that’s perfect! Prepare to be shocked.’

  He glanced round the grotto, wondering what was going to happen next. All of a sudden, he heard a soft rumble coming from the walls themselves. He glanced up and spotted a large opening in the rock face above him. The outer surface of the hole was glowing red while the interior was light blue. Over the years, Payne had been involved in enough practical jokes to sense when one was being pulled on him. Luckily, he stepped aside a split-second before water came roaring out of the spout, or else he would have been drenched by Ludwig’s waterfall.

  ‘Shoot!’ she yelled from her position behind the boulder. ‘I almost got you!’

  He stuck his hand into the water, imagining how cold it would have felt on his back. ‘You’re lucky you didn’t. Otherwise, you would have gone for a little swim.’

  She laughed as she headed his way. ‘That’s not nice.’

  ‘Neither is luring someone under Niagara Falls.’

  She playfully punched his arm. ‘Oh, please! You can hear the water coming from a mile away. I didn’t think it would actually get you.’

  He stared at her. ‘But you were hoping it did.’

  She giggled softly. ‘Maybe.’

  Jones listened to their banter and rolled his eyes. He didn’t have the tolerance to listen to their flirting. ‘Sorry to bust up your honeymoon, but didn’t you say something about swans?’

  ‘Swans?’ she asked.

  ‘You know, the riddle. The reason we’re here.’

  ‘The riddle!’ she exclaimed. ‘Yes, of course, how silly of me! It’s been a while since I’ve given a tour through the grotto. I guess I got caught up in the excitement.’

  Payne reassured her with a smile. ‘Don’t worry about it.’

  Heidi took a moment to gather her thoughts, then pointed at a golden cockleshell boat that was near a colourful mural which had been painted in a large alcove at the far end of the lake. The mural depicted a scene from Richard Wagner’s opera Tannhauser, one of Ludwig’s favourites, and looked as though it belonged in a museum, not an artificial cave. As the group walked closer to the painting, Heidi hustled over to the control panel and turned off the wave machine. Although it was an impressive special effect, it was rarely used during regular tours because the ‘fake’ waves eroded the artificial environment like ‘real’ waves on a beach. Then she turned off the waterfall, so they wouldn’t have to shout above the roaring water.

  ‘How much do you know about Lohengrin?’ she asked.

  Ulster answered for the group. ‘I know enough to fill a notebook, whereas they know the basics. I filled them in only yesterday.’

  Payne glanced at him. ‘You did? You better refresh my memory.’

  Ulster nodded. ‘Lohengrin was the son of Percival, one of the Knights of the Round Table. He was sent to rescue a maiden in a far off land. Wagner wrote an opera about him.’

  Payne had a blank look on his face. ‘Go on.’

  ‘He made the journey in a cockleshell boat pulled by a magical swan.’

  Jones laughed at the description. ‘I remember that! Ludwig used to dress up in his costume and prance around the halls of his castle.’

  Payne finally remembered. ‘The Swan Knight.’

  ‘Yes!’ Ulster exclaimed. ‘Ludwig was obsessed with him, which is why Ludwig is often called the Swan King. If you remember, Ludwig even sealed his mysterious correspondence with a black swan. Hence, the black swan letters.’

  Jones grinned. ‘Ludwig going rogue.’

  ‘Actually,’ Heidi said, ‘if you believe the rumours, that’s exactly what Ludwig did. He went rogue. Having bankrupted his personal fortune building places like this, he was forced to turn to outside sources to maintain his standard of living. The money he collected would have been the source of his mythical treasure.’

  Payne nodded. ‘Which leads us to the riddle.’

  Heidi pointed at the elaborate boat. It was elevated just above the waterline by a discreet metal stand to
keep it in good shape. Painted gold and shaped like a giant cockleshell, the boat featured carved fish near its base, wooden doves attached to the back of the shell and several strings of dried flowers draped from its edges. Inside was a small padded bench and a single back pillow covered in red velvet. Two wooden oars were affixed to their stands.

  She asked, ‘What’s wrong with this boat?’

  ‘Too many things to name,’ Jones cracked.

  ‘I meant in terms of Ludwig.’

  Jones smiled. ‘In that case, not much. It fits him perfectly.’

  ‘I would agree with you, except for one tiny detail. Do you see it?’

  Payne, Jones, and Ulster stared at the antique boat, trying to figure out what she was alluding to. At first glance, the boat seemed to fit Ludwig’s lifestyle. It was ornate, whimsical and somehow innocent – like something out of a child’s dream. Even the carved figurehead, a naked cupid shooting his bow, seemed appropriate for a man of his ilk.

  Sensing their confusion, Heidi gave them a hint to speed up their search. ‘Think about the boat in terms of the riddle. Where would a swan go on his journey home?’

  A few seconds later, Payne figured it out.

  56

  Payne grinned with pride when he solved the riddle. ‘That’s really clever.’

  ‘What’s really clever?’ Jones asked.

  ‘The riddle. We were thinking about it all wrong.’

  ‘Wait! You figured it out?’

  Payne nodded. ‘Yep, I figured it out.’

  Jones turned towards him. ‘Well?’

  ‘Well, what? Figure it out for yourself.’

  Jones shook his head. ‘You’re so full of shit! You don’t know the answer.’

  Payne raised his right hand. ‘I swear to Ludwig, I figured it out. Like I said, we were thinking about it all wrong.’

  ‘In what sense?’ Ulster asked.

  ‘The swan isn’t the one going home. So stop thinking about nests and lakes. Think about it from a different perspective.’

  Heidi nodded her approval. Until that moment, she wasn’t sure if Payne had actually worked it out. ‘Jon’s right. The “his” in the riddle does not refer to the swan. Someone else is making the journey. Focus on the words. Where would a swan go on his journey home?’