Something in his voice made my heart clench. ‘Kasper, what do you mean?’
‘We can’t get away from them. We can’t hide in Night and we can’t reach the world above. And right here we are in danger from a power older than feyin magic. But your father would never allow that danger to touch you. I don’t think there’s an enemy trying to get us. I think he has left the lights on so the forest will not awaken.’
‘Kasper –’
‘So here’s what we must do: as soon as they arrive, you climb down first and show them you’re unharmed. Then I will give myself up to the Marshals.’
‘No, Kasper!’ I broke into a cold sweat as I looked into his eyes and saw what was in his mind – that terrible moment at the cottage, when we had been parted for ever. He thought it was happening again. He thought, once again, that I had given up. ‘I really feel the Marshals are not after us to harm us. But whatever happens, I will share your fate. I will never be parted from you, not ever again. Believe in us, my love, with all your heart, as I do.’
Our eyes met for a long moment. Then Kasper gave a sigh and said, ‘What would you have us do?’
‘We climb down, as you say. They will be here soon, but let us not wait for them to arrive. We will go towards them.’ I saw his startled expression and said, ‘Please trust me, Kasper. I would not do this if I were not sure.’
He shivered at these words. ‘We will do as you say, my love.’
We exchanged a tender kiss before climbing down and making our way out of the stone cage of petrified trees. And all the way, I was riven with feelings I could not confess – anxious doubt mingled with absolute certainty: my human and feyin halves battling each other.
Kasper
Less than two minutes after we’d left our hiding place, the carriage appeared, coming so fast towards us that my instinct was to turn and flee. But I hardly needed the pressure of Izolda’s hand in mine to tell me that would be the wrong move, that we must stand firm. It was too late to run, anyway. But I could not be certain of our plan – I had no feyin half, after all. And an uneasy thought nagged at me: two years ago, she had also been sure. Izolda had thought her way was the best way, just as she does now. But what if it wasn’t?
Oh, yes, I trusted her. Absolutely. I believed in her – in us. But that isn’t always enough, in this life. Belief does not always mean you win.
All these things flashed through my mind in the instants before the speeding black carriage drew up sharply before us, in a wild skitter of flying opal shards. Close up, it was bigger than I’d thought, and even more sinister: its looming shape, its horselessness, the black shell that encased its passengers, and the gun turret mounted on the front.
When would the Marshals come out? Whatever they’d come for, I wished they’d get it over and done with. But for the longest time, nothing happened. The carriage loomed before us, unmoving, no sound coming from within.
I turned to Izolda. ‘What’s going on?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said helplessly. ‘I don’t understand what they’re doing.’
At that moment came a grinding, whirring sound, and the gun turret began to slowly creak open. We looked at each other, the same terrified understanding in our eyes. They weren’t planning to come out at all. They were going to fire at us!
‘Get down!’ I shouted, pulling us both to the ground. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll make it,’ I assured Izolda. I didn’t believe it; I only said it because she was so white that I thought she might pass out.
Izolda nodded, though I could see that she didn’t believe it either. She followed as I crawled away from the carriage, backing towards the shelter of a thicker belt of trees. The gun had come out of its turret now. It was a long, narrow thing, black and silver, with a deadly grace about it.
I looked behind me. Izolda was crouched, staring at the gun, frozen to the spot. Terror leaped through me. ‘Don’t look at it!’ I cried. ‘Look at me, Izolda, and come on!’
‘I want to, but I can’t,’ she murmured. ‘I can’t, Kasper. My limbs won’t move.’
‘Then I’ll carry you.’
She shook her head. ‘Go. Please …’
‘Never!’ Keeping an eye on the gun, I scooped her up in my arms. Unlike last time, she was heavy, so heavy it was as though she were made of lead, and I could barely lift her off the ground.
‘I told you.’ Her voice a mere cracked whisper, as though the breath was being squeezed out of her. It had to be one of her father’s damnable spells again. He was in the carriage, with the Marshals. The thought made me so wild with fury that I forgot about caution.
Keeping down, I ran at the vehicle. I thumped at its black shell, yelling, ‘Come out, you cursed coward, who would harm his own daughter!’
‘Well, and don’t I agree with you there.’
That voice! I could only gape as a panel in the shell slid open and a figure stepped out. A tall man dressed in the uniform of the Night Marshals, the familiar black-gloved hands extended towards us in friendly greeting. A man whose steady glance and the humorous twist of his lips showed that he was in complete control.
‘Good evening, Kasper Bator,’ said the Commander.
Izolda
‘I take it you weren’t expecting me,’ said the Commander.
Kasper shook his head.
‘But aren’t you glad I am here? You see, I’m here to get you out, the pair of you. Get you away from that cursed coward of a prince, as you so aptly described him. Well, what do you say?’
‘Free Izolda first,’ said Kasper, harshly. ‘Then I will talk to you further.’
‘Very well.’ The Commander made a rapid pass with his hands, and I felt the invisible chains dropping. My limbs tingled with pins and needles as blood rushed through my veins again. Kasper helped me to my feet and put his arm around me, protectively, as the Commander watched without expression.
‘Don’t trust him, Kasper!’ I warned. ‘He says he’s come to help us, but he had the gun pointed at us. He was going to fire.’
‘No, my dear,’ the Commander said, with the faint ghost of a smile. ‘I’m ashamed to admit that I don’t know my way well around this thing.’ He tapped the side of the carriage. ‘I was trying to get the wretched door panel to open and pressed the wrong lever.’
‘It took you some time to realise your mistake, then,’ I said tightly, and he smiled again.
‘And isn’t that often so with mistakes, my dear? You of all people should know that.’
I swallowed. ‘But why would you help us? Kasper came here with –’
‘With papers to sell to your father? I know that. I know that because I sent him with them.’
Startled, I turned to Kasper. I saw in his eyes that the Commander was telling me the truth. ‘But I don’t understand …’
‘We needed eyes and ears here,’ the Commander said smoothly. ‘Who better than a supposed traitor?’
‘A supposed traitor?’ Kasper choked out the words.
‘Well, a real one, if you like. But even a traitor can be redeemed. Am I not right, Princess?’
‘Kasper was never that!’ I spat. ‘He has always been brave and true. It is those like you who twist and lie and betray everything. And no doubt that is your game now. Pretending you are our friend when, really, you have your own agenda.’
The Commander smiled. ‘My dear Princess, you are quite right. I admit my motives in helping you are purely selfish. I do not want Kasper to be taken. He has useful information for me. And as he won’t come without you, then I’ll have to take you too.’
‘Useful information?’ I looked at Kasper.
He blushed and mumbled, ‘The Commander thinks your father’s been rearming, preparing for war again.’
So that was what it was about, back in the tunnels. ‘No. That’s not true! He’s not!’
‘I am sure you sincerely think so, but do you really think your father would trust you enough to let you in on his secrets? But Kasper’s clever and observant, and I’m sure
he’ll have things to tell me.’
Kasper
I was about to protest that I did not, when I thought better of it. For whatever reason the Commander had come – and no matter how murky his explanations – he was our only hope right now. If I had to lie to save us, then that is what I would do. The irony of lying to a liar was not lost on me, but all I could hope was that he’d believe me and that Izolda would understand. ‘That may well be the case, sir.’
As I spoke, I saw her face darken briefly, then clear again. She squeezed my hand gently and I knew she had understood. Relief flooded over me.
The Commander looked pleased. ‘Good man,’ he said, clapping me on the shoulder. ‘Now, if you are ready …’
‘One moment,’ said Izolda. ‘I’d like to ask you something.’
‘Ask away.’
‘Where did you get that spell?’
‘What spell? Oh, you mean the one that held you.’
‘Yes. It is feyin magic.’
‘And that is exactly where I got it from – a feyin. I met one in Almain, many years ago.’ There was amusement in his eyes.
I felt uneasy, remembering how Amadey had said his grandmother had learned spells from an Almainian feyin. It was a strange coincidence. But what if it wasn’t? ‘Is Amadey your son?’ I blurted out.
Astonishment flickered briefly in the Commander’s eyes. ‘Of course he’s not my son. I have no child, no family – my parents are both dead. But I am blessed, for my life is my duty, and my family is Krainos. And I need no other.’
He said it proudly, but underneath I caught a whisper of something else. Regret? Sadness? For the first time ever, I felt pity for him. He had lived his whole life surrounded by people, yet he was alone. He was a hero of Krainos, admired by all – there were statues of him in town squares, and when he died there’d be a State funeral – but there was no one who truly loved him as a man.
‘Sir, was it Amadey who told you the trouble we were in?’ I said gently. ‘Only, we thought he and Glarya had gone for the Erlking.’
He looked at me, and nodded. ‘They wisely changed their minds,’ he said. ‘The Erlking is a fickle friend at the best of times. Now, then, will you please both get in and we can be on our way?’
‘Wait,’ said Izolda. ‘How did you know we were in the Outlands? Amadey and Glarya couldn’t have told you, because they did not see what happened after they left.’
‘That is so. I deduced you’d come here, given that there are Marshals blocking any easy way to Krainos. They left, I might add, their barracks and vehicles quite unattended, making it easy for a thief like me.’ He smiled. ‘I would have done the same if I were in your shoes.’
I frowned. ‘But, sir, if the Marshals are guarding the portal, how did you get in?’
‘How suspicious you are, Kasper Bator. You never used to be like that. You used to be trusting.’
I looked him straight in the eye. ‘You taught me not to be, sir.’
He smiled thinly. ‘You would not be alive now if it weren’t for that lesson.’
I would not be deterred. ‘Sir, you must tell us how you got in.’
‘No house is safe from burglary if the thief is determined enough,’ said the Commander. ‘As no man is safe from the blade if the assassin has a true aim.’
Izolda
At these strange words, Kasper went very pale, and there were beads of sweat on his brow. And all at once I was so frightened that I could only whisper, ‘Oh, Kasper, what is it?’
Smiling, the Commander crossed his arms. ‘You are jumping at shadows, my dear. There is nothing to be afraid of. Nothing held back from –’
‘Izolda, the needle that killed the goblins – it was meant for your father,’ Kasper said steadily, his eyes full of shadows.
I could not help recoiling. ‘You mean …?’
There was pain in his face, but he did not flinch. ‘I was sent to kill him, Izolda. The papers were just a ruse to get me in. I am so sorry.’
I flung a wild look at the Commander.
He shrugged. ‘He tells the truth, Princess. Clearly, he failed in his task as your father is still drawing breath. But it seems, Kasper Bator, that you did just what I had hoped. I knew that, in the deepest part of you, all you truly wanted was to see Izolda again. It wasn’t the Prince’s death you truly wanted, but something else.’
I turned to Izolda, but she looked away, and I knew that the discovery of my secret had wounded her deeply, as I’d known it must.
‘So? What was it that I truly wanted, Kasper Bator?’ the Commander said, humouring me.
‘The tunnel system, the one the armies of Night used,’ I replied. ‘Once, it had been used to invade our world. If you have up-to-date information it could be used to turn the tables. But you cannot risk going on such a mission yourself, for it not only had to be kept secret from Night, but from our own Supreme Council.’
How I hoped Izolda understood what I was doing, why I was saying these things. I had to feed the Commander’s obsession – the conviction that there could be no lasting peace between Krainos and Night.
‘You chose me,’ I went on, ‘because you understood that I was not a man with nothing to lose, but rather one with everything to gain. You knew what I really felt about Izolda.’
She turned her head to look at me then.
‘Of course I did,’ said the Commander. ‘It is my job to see inside men, to know them for what they truly are. And the Princess is quite right. You are no traitor, but a man true as north and brave as a lion. A man like you loves only once, but for ever.’
Izolda
I no longer cared about the Commander’s plots or his motives or his mad warmonger’s notion that the tunnel system could truly be of use to him and his army. I knew they could not, that the army would perish like rats in a trap before they had gone more than two miles. But none of that mattered, not even the strange irony that this man, chasing his obsession, had been, in a way, our benefactor. All I cared about was letting Kasper see that I loved him and wanted to be with him, always. How could I blame him for what he felt about my father? I knew how much it must have cost him to tell the truth, how easy it would have been to keep quiet.
I took his hand and said, ‘I will go where you go, wherever that leads us.’
Joy leaped into his eyes. ‘And, whatever befalls, I will never leave your side.’
The Commander coughed. ‘Very touching, but I must remind you that we should waste no more time. Are you ready?’
We nodded.
‘Good,’ he said, smiling. ‘Then we will go at once.’
He waved us into the carriage and closed the door. I had never been in one of these and would have imagined it would be dark and cold. It was neither of those things, with light coming in through translucent panels. The walls were a little too close for my liking, and I was glad of Kasper’s hand on mine. The Commander pulled down a lever, and the carriage began to move, soon picking up speed. It was then that a nagging uneasiness surfaced in my mind.
‘The Marshals will have noticed by now this vehicle is missing,’ I said. ‘And if we come back into the city with it –’
‘Oh, we’re not heading that way,’ the Commander said cheerfully. ‘We’re headed to the end of the Forest, and above ground.’
‘But – but you don’t understand,’ I stammered, exchanging a glance with Kasper. ‘There’s no way into the upper world. There is the watchtower and then … nothing. Everything just ends at the abyss.’
The Commander laughed. ‘Abyss? What abyss? Have you ever seen it?’
‘No, of course not, but –’
‘It doesn’t exist. It’s just a story used to frighten the people of Night,’ said the Commander. ‘There is a way out. Why do you think there’s a watchtower, if it’s only to keep an eye on a big fat nothing?’
‘Because the abyss could encroach and swallow us –’
He laughed. ‘Nonsense! It doesn’t exist, though the watchtower most certainly does. And
it is there to make sure no one leaves for the land above. Because, you see, there is a way out. Only, it is not easy and no one has taken such a route in a long time.’ He shot me a sideways glance. ‘Not since I last took it ten years ago.’
My heart clenched like a fist. Ten years ago. His was the unseen presence that had carried me away; his were the hands that had trussed me like a bundle; his were the arms that held me unseeing, swaddled in a blanket.
The Commander smiled. I could see he understood what was going through my mind, just as he knew how his plan to use Kasper would turn out. And he didn’t care if I realised it. He was so supremely confident, so sure of himself, so unnaturally certain … It came to me in a flash, the thing that made sense of everything.
‘You are a feyin,’ I gasped.
Kasper
‘Well, there you have it, my dear,’ the Commander drawled, quickly recovering from the shock.
It was clearly not the reaction Izolda expected. As to me, I don’t know what I expected, for this was beyond anything I could have imagined. The Commander, hero of Krainos, defeater of the army of Night – a feyin! How could this be? How could we have all been taken in, all these years? Or maybe not all of us had been tricked. Just as the Council had known the truth about the prisoner in the Tower, they probably knew the truth about their star member.
I was shaken to the core by this revelation, for it cast such a different light – not only on what happened to us – but on the history of my country. I could not stop thinking of the legend woven around our great hero’s life: the poor woodcutter’s son, orphaned at a young age when his parents died in a forest fire, who went on to become a captain and leader of men. It was a beautiful story that had inspired me, that had inspired so many of us in Krainos, for it made us feel that poverty and lack of connections were not barriers to achieving greatness.
The Crystal Heart Page 20