by Patty Jansen
“I thought I heard something,” the man said.
He left the basement—still leaving the door open—went up the stairs to the street level. A moment later, he called out, “Come up here. Look at this.”
A couple of the men ran to the door and up the stairs.
Nellie looked for her coat. It was really getting cold in here.
Voices drifted down from the street.
Most of the people now left the table and were putting on their coats, grumbling about the cold air streaming into the room.
The fire roared in the hearth, making Nellie realise how stuffy the air had been.
More people went to the door. Nellie followed, having put on her coat, wondering what all the fuss was about.
She was halfway up the steps outside when the most terrible screeching howl echoed over the city.
Men in the street shouted.
A number of people came running down the stairs. They were men who had been at the meeting and other citizens, trying to get into the safety of the basement. The press of bodies swept Nellie down until she most fell. A fierce orange glow came from the right.
Someone shouted, “It’s the fire dog!”
People screamed.
Madame Sabine’s horse let out a screaming whinny, followed by a snap and the thundering of hooves.
Nellie scrambled inside the basement in the throng of people trying to get to safety. The last person shut the door and bolted it.
Someone put the damper over the fire, and the moment it went out a waft of cold air went through the room.
Another person blew out the candles, so they were sitting in the pitch dark, not knowing what was going on.
No one spoke.
Nellie sat at the table. She listened for sounds from outside, but it was quiet as death.
“Has it gone?” a man asked after a while.
“Sounded like the horse has bolted,” someone else said in the dark.
“He will come back.” That was Madame Sabine.
Someone opened the door, showing a faint strip of light coming in from a street lamp outside.
Nellie said to the man next to her, “Isn’t anyone going to fight this creature?” Some of these people were magicians. If anyone could fight it, they could.
“Fight it? Anyone who tries would be defeated straight away. We need someone who is more than an artisan magician. But there are none left to defend the city.”
“It’s time to call an official end to this gathering,” Master Beck said somewhere in the darkness. “We should all go back home and keep our families safe. We’ll investigate this woman’s dragon, because it alone has the power to defeat the fire dog.”
Except the dragon was afraid of the fire dog.
The door opened further and one of the men went up the steps again, and a moment later voices drifted in from outside.
“Who is he talking to?” someone asked.
A man came in carrying an oil lamp from elsewhere in the house and used it to light a candle.
“There are guards out there,” a man said in the dark part of the room where Nellie couldn’t see him. “I doubt they’re here to take on the fire dog. They probably haven’t seen it, and are still in their ridiculous quest to find small time magic while the big magic has free rein.”
Another said, “I would love to see them try. They would be burnt to a crisp.”
“They would be running for their mothers,” another man added.
And someone else said, “That will teach the Regent that he will need magicians to protect him.”
Madame Sabine got up. “It’s time to go home.”
“Be careful of the guards. They arrested a lot of people around here.”
“They wouldn’t dare to touch us,” Madame Sabine said. “They are my husband’s men, terrified of me, and to be honest, most of them are not very smart.”
She went into an adjacent room where people had dumped their winter coats.
A couple of men’s voices sounded outside, and the next moment a group of men came down the steps into the cellar. They were city guards, at least ten.
One of the guild members quickly whipped a book off the table and stuck it in his pocket.
“Good evening,” the patrol leader said.
There were some nods, but no one replied.
“We’re looking for any magic or magical objects in this building,” the patrol leader continued into the silence.
“We don’t have any,” said a man.
“Why don’t you check the magic beast that just crossed us in the street,” the merchant said. “We were having a business meeting here, and all of a sudden there was this terrible sound outside. We went to check, and found a giant dog, completely made of fire like the fire demons of old. You would be wise going after that thing and trying to catch it. It’s going to set the entire city on fire.”
“We didn’t see it and haven’t heard of anything like that. Trying to mislead a member of the guard with the intention to deceive is a criminal offence.”
The merchant spread his hands. “I’m telling you the truth! I saw it.”
A few men tried to shush him.
One of the guards walked to the table where the box with astronomical instruments still stood from the earlier demonstration.
“Show us what all these items are for.”
He upset the entire box of instruments. Metal stands, lenses, boxes of dials and calculus frames clattered over the table.
“Hey, careful with that!” The owner lunged after a metal tube that was in danger of rolling on the floor.
“Show us what magic all this stuff does.”
“That has nothing to do with magic,” the man said. “These instruments are to watch the stars and to plot their course through the sky.”
“We already know the course of the stars through the sky. All the stars and celestial objects appear in the east at night, and they set in the West, just like the sun except that they’re on the night canvas. There is no need for all this ridiculous stuff. This is alchemy and magic.”
“I can assure you, it’s not. I can explain what we’re all doing, but it’s late, and that creature that is out there is not going to be friendly if it finds any of us by ourselves on the street.”
Several people had moved to the door, but the guards blocked the way out of the basement.
One shouted, “In the name of the Regent everybody stay inside.”
“In the name of what Regent?” came Madame Sabine’s voice.
She emerged from the other room, where she had retrieved her coat of thick, light-grey fur with a luscious cover that sat snugly around her neck. She looked positively regal compared to the frumpy merchants who wore many layers of clothing like stuffed sausages.
Nellie expected the guards to be surprised, but they were not. They didn’t even show any sign that they had recognised her.
“What is all this about?” Madame Sabine asked.
The patrol leader said, “We have it on good information that meetings take place here every week about magic and heresy.”
“Well, just the fact I am here proves those rumours wrong, doesn’t it?”
“That man over there explained to us what exactly you were doing here. Those who doubt the existence of the sky canvas . . .” He looked around. “A number of people in this room are known to us as being less than trustworthy.”
“That is news to me. Where did you get this information? I am merely doing business, helping the merchants of this city get access to the newest discoveries. When the time comes that the neighbouring kingdoms and baronies are convinced that they can take Saardam without much resistance, they will come with machines that fly and move by themselves, and if we don’t have those machines as well, then we’ll have no way to defend ourselves.”
Oh, she was so good at acting the prim lady.
“We have orders from your husband. You’re deflecting our questions.” He addressed the gathering. “Now, all of you, if yo
u have any magical objects at all, give them to us, and we’ll view your case with leniency. If we are forced to search you, and we find any magical objects you have hidden on your person, we will not view that in a positive light.”
He waved his hand and two of his men sprang into action.
Madame Sabine said, “Wait, wait. Who says you can search these people. They’re my business associates. They are carpenters, they are fishermen, they are merchants.”
“What sort of business is going to be conducted then?”
“It is a council of business people and we discuss matters relating to the most terrible export conditions that our country has ever seen, and the dwindling of supplies.”
He seemed to agree, almost, because at the last moment he said, “In that case, if that’s true, none of you will have any objections whatsoever to being searched.”
“To the contrary,” Madame Sabine said. “These people are my friends and trusted contacts. They’ll consider it rude to be subjected to any form of searching. The suggestion that they conspire against my husband is preposterous.”
“It’s the Regent’s order.”
“My husband only orders this so he can humiliate me.”
“We have reliable information that there is magic and heresy practised in this meeting. I don’t care whether you call yourselves innocent business people or not. We will search you before you can leave this building, and if we find any items of magic, then you will be taken to jail.”
“Which liar told you that?”
“You would like to know that, huh? So that you can use your magic on them.”
“I have no magic. You are not searching any of these people. Go back; leave this room now. Come on, out with you.” She flapped her hand at the two men who had started going around the table, asking attendants to the meeting to take everything out of their pockets. Nellie was glad she hadn’t brought the book or the box.
The men glanced at their superior, but he told them to keep searching.
“I order you to leave us alone,” Madame Sabine said.
“We take orders from your husband. You’re obstructing our task. Stand to the side, please. My men won’t be long.”
“I tell you to get out! I’ll talk to my husband about this.”
“He’ll be most amused.” His voice sounded belittling, and sent a chill through Nellie. Because no matter how well a woman married, if a problem occurred, she was still worth less than her husband’s male guards.
“How dare you talk to me like that.”
“Get out of our way. Search everyone. Leave no one undisturbed.”
At a gesture from the patrol leader, two guards came from either side and grabbed Madame Sabine by the arms. They pulled off her pretty fur coat.
Madame Sabine screamed, “Keep your hands off me!”
A guard drew his sword and swung it around. It caught the light of the fire.
Someone screamed.
Nellie held her breath and brought her hands to her mouth.
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Was he really going to mow down a defenceless woman in front of these people? No less than the wife of the Regent. Had the Regent ordered this?
Nellie couldn’t watch this. She closed her eyes.
But instead of—what sort of sounds even came with someone being cut with a sword? Nellie didn’t want to know—there came a great ripping sound.
Madame Sabine—obviously still unharmed—yelled, “What do you think you’re doing? You boor. How dare you do this?”
Nellie opened her eyes.
The guard had cut right through the back of Madame Sabine’s overdress. Parts of the rich brocade fabric lay on the ground.
Madame Sabine wrestled to get free, but the guards were much too strong.
They peeled off the dress and then the soldier cut through the laces of the corset without bothering to undo them.
Master Beck said, “Hey, I don’t know what your orders were, but you don’t do that to a lady. Have some decency, man.”
The guard then grabbed Madame Sabine’s thin underdress in both hands and ripped the back open.
“Ha!” He forced her to turn around, so that her pale, soft back was exposed to the light. The red scars showed up clearly.
The patrol leader laughed. “What did you say about magic? What creature do you think did this?”
People in the room gasped.
“This woman is a witch.” The man threw Madame Sabine her tattered dress. She pulled it over her shoulders. She didn’t protest, and didn’t say anything. She kept her chin in the air, regarding the guards with disdain.
Nellie wondered: how they’d known about those scars? The only person who might have known was the Regent, but Madame Sabine had told Nellie he didn’t care about her anymore. They slept in separate rooms.
And if she’d acquired the scars long ago, they obviously had never been a problem in their relationship before.
Why now?
The only other person who could have known was the healer witch Graziela, but she had left town long ago. Or was she somehow still passing information to the Regent in return for her freedom?
But then she had another thought: Zelda. Madame Sabine had been looking for a healer in order to look after the scars. Zelda was well-known amongst the nobles as someone who sold remedies. She had betrayed Madame Sabine as she had betrayed Nellie and the other women.
A number of other guards had lined up on the stairs and tromped into the room.
One by one, they went to all the people who had attended the meeting. They asked them to take off their coats and jackets and shirts. They searched the trouser pockets, they searched their socks and their shoes, they searched the pockets of their jackets and coats and their bags. A small pile of items grew in the middle of the table.
Nellie didn’t recognise many of the strange devices, except to know that some of them had been used in the talk about stars and the sky—little looking glasses on stands and models of balls on arms revolving around each other.
Some of them looked like they might have been made by the same people as the ones who made all the magical artefacts in the cabinet in the church, but they were objects with clear functions like measuring how far the stars were from each other and measuring distance at sea. Because, as the man had explained in his talk earlier that night, this was a constant problem that people faced when they went out onto the ocean where there was no land in sight.
The speaker of that presentation protested when one of the guards shoved all these items in a bag.
“No, you can’t have my instruments. They’re not magic but they’re rare and I paid a lot of money for them. I have no problem with you having a look at them, but I absolutely have to have them back, because this will be the future of sailing.”
The guards ignored his protest. They told him to stand next to Madame Sabine and wait while the other people in the room were searched.
Nellie was glad that she hadn’t brought any of her magical items. The only thing the guards found in her pockets when it was her turn was a dirty handkerchief.
Then the guards were done.
The patrol leader faced the merchant and Madame Sabine.
The merchant’s face was contorted with naked anger, but it was Madame Sabine’s cold eyes that made Nellie shiver.
The man said, “We arrest both of you in the name of the Regent. You are hereby charged with witchcraft.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Madame Sabine said.
“The Regent has ordered us specifically to investigate you. You are further charged with conspiring to overthrow him, with the murder of his close advisor, and conspiracy against the church.”
At this time, the severity of the situation began to dawn on madame Sabine’s face. “He wouldn’t dare.”
But obviously the Regent did dare, and Madame Sabine had no one who would stand up for her.
“I will give the Regent a piece of my mind as soon as I can see his ugly face.”
But the threat sounded hollow.
Chapter 20
THE GUARDS FORCED Madame Sabine and the merchant up the stairs and disappeared from sight. After their footsteps had faded into the distance, and the clatter of the wheels of the wagon had gone, they left behind a deep silence.
“What sort of man would do that to his own wife?” Master Beck said.
“A man whose hand is forced by others,” a merchant said. “Evil can be a necessity for those who are struggling to survive. Especially when the struggles are financial. People will understand if someone needs to defend themselves or their families with a sword, but they don’t understand the power of financial ruin and the fear it strikes in the hearts of those who have money. Money is an evil thing.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You inherited a successful business. All your customers were handed to you by your father.”
“I could be made to disagree with you on that, but that’s not the discussion at hand. We need to free her.”
“I am not terribly inclined to argue with those guards.”
The rich merchant said, “No, that wouldn’t be the way to do it, anyway. I am happy to ask for an audience with the Regent about this. He depends on my business. I know he is financially in a difficult spot, and I can threaten to withhold my services from him.”
Master Beck nodded. “Someone understands the power of money. There is no need for weapons or any of that ugly, primitive business when you have money to work with. I’ll come with you. I know things about Sabine that Bernard would be wise to heed.”
So the agreement was made that Master Beck would ask for an audience with the Regent and demand that Madame Sabine and the supplier of lenses was freed. He would explain the science and what they could do with it, and maybe the Regent would be interested, because he was always interested in schemes that made money. What he knew about Madame Sabine, however, remained private knowledge.
It was time to leave. It was getting late, and it was dark and cold outside.
Other people were also leaving the house, and Nellie followed closely behind them. She walked with a group of men going in the direction of the marketplace but kept looking over her shoulder. Not that she could do anything to save herself if the fire dog returned, but in her memory she kept seeing the terrible creatures that the Fire Wizard unleashed over the city.