Clara, waiting for Mikhail to become angry, was surprised. Against, expectation, the young man started to laugh. ‘So my uncle was duped, was he? Perhaps it is mischievous of me, but I cannot help but be amused.’ He quickly sobered. ‘Still, we must bring this sad news to Conrad, and it may not be good for Varuz when he learns that his messengers have died here.’
‘Are you sure that going to Conrad is a good idea?’ said Clara. ‘You’re part of the royal family of Varuz – the last one, apart from Guena. Isn’t that right?’
‘That’s right,’ said Mikhail. ‘But Conrad will see me, I am sure of that. Aurelian does not want my service. So I shall offer it instead to Conrad, and with it make an offer of peace.’
‘Or he might take you hostage,’ said Clara. ‘Try to sell you back, or get some concession from Aurelian.’
‘He would be misjudging my value to Aurelian if he did,’ Mikhail said. He turned to Emfil. ‘If you are not from Conrad, then who are you? Why are you here in Varuz?’
Clara was expecting some kind of prevarication, but to her surprise, Emfil was more or less honest. ‘I’m a collector,’ he said. ‘I’m interested in beautiful things.’
Mikhail frowned. ‘Did you come to rob us?’
‘What?’ Emfil was shocked. ‘No, I always pay good prices! In local scrip, too.’
‘More or less,’ Clara muttered, but she didn’t push the issue.
Mikhail sighed. ‘Money is not what Varuz needs now,’ he said. ‘But that is no matter.’
‘It was all a misunderstanding,’ said Emfil, humbly. ‘I arrived in the city and before I knew it I was swept up and presented to the Duke. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to embarrass anyone.’
‘To be fair,’ said Clara, ‘that sort of happened to us too.’
Mikhail smiled. ‘Then I shall judge you on your future actions, and not those of the past. But this is a strange coincidence! You are not the only one to have come to Varuz looking for lost treasure, although in truth we have little in the way of riches left. They would be better travelling to Conrad’s country, I think, but they seem most certain of their quest, and set upon travelling through Varuz. Aurelian is enamoured, I understand, and eager to help—’
‘What do you mean?’ said Clara. ‘Who are they?’
‘A company of knights,’ Mikhail said, ‘led by an old captain going by the name of Lancelot.’
‘Lancelot?’ Clara stared at him in amazement.
‘He says they have come to find the Grail.’
‘All right,’ said Clara, ‘this has gone weird. Being banished is pretty weird, and then,’ she glanced at Emfil, ‘the rest of it – but Lancelot? The Grail? Are you sure, Mikhail?’
‘It seems that this knight and his quest are known to you, lady,’ Mikhail said. ‘Do I guess right?’
‘Well, sort of,’ Clara said. ‘But Lancelot is a story – the Grail too. From my country.’ She turned to Emfil. ‘It’s a story about lost treasure. Something mystical and unknown.’
Emfil understood. ‘This could be what I’m looking for, but under a different name…’
Mikhail had been listening closely to all this, and with interest. ‘It seems that there is much to learn here. Your country, you say, Clara – and I would like to hear more about that, I think. And you, sir –’ he turned to Emfil – ‘I would hear more about your quest too. But the way back to the palace is closed to you. If you return, Aurelian will have you killed. And we cannot linger here…’ He sighed. ‘We should go. We are still some distance from the border and we cannot risk remaining in Varuz much longer. I do not know whether Aurelian has had me followed. Let us go. Conrad will help.’
They scrambled out of the hollow and on up the path. Clara looked back at where the bodies lay. A nasty suspicion was growing in her mind. ‘He might,’ she muttered. ‘Or he might finish us for good.’
—
Although I was no longer living in fear of my life, I knew that Aurelian would now have people watching me. I barely dared to set foot out of my rooms, unless on some matter clearly related to my imminent journey, and I most certainly did not dare approach my lady directly. But speak to her I must. And so I took out the mirror, and I sat before it, and, reaching into a drawer, I took out the little silver ring with the emerald that had been my lady’s gift to me so many years ago.
‘Guena,’ I whispered. ‘I am here. Lady, do you hear me? Will you speak to me?’
The polished surface of the mirror shimmered. I had used this device many times over the years, but still it was marvellous to me. How had our ancestors fashioned such wonders? What craft lay behind them? And after the wonder came the sorrow: that all the skill and knowledge that had filled the world with such phenomena were lost, and only we remained, the sad inheritors, blundering around using tools that we did not understand.
And then there she was, my beloved lady, the last of her line save one. ‘Bernhardt,’ she said softly. ‘My love. Have they harmed you at all?’
I shook my head. ‘No, and indeed I have had every aid to help me depart on my quest.’ I gave a soft laugh. ‘One might think Aurelian is eager for me to depart. But what about you, my love? Has he spoken to you since?’
‘No, no, I have not seen him. He is with this captain – Lancelot.’
‘Aye, he is much taken with him,’ I said. ‘I less so.’
‘And I am not taken at all. Bernhardt,’ she said, ‘I understand why you have taken this quest upon yourself, but do you think this journey is wise at this time?’
‘What other option is there?’ I said. ‘If I do not go, the knights will split. There will be no defence against Conrad. And I shall be sitting under lock and key when his army arrives—’ I stopped, suddenly, for I had heard the crack of a floorboard behind me.
‘Well, well, well,’ said a familiar voice. ‘What do we have here?’
‘Doctor,’ I said, with some asperity. ‘How is it that you, of all men, remain able to move freely around this palace?’
He shrugged. ‘Well, for all that’s happened, Aurelian wouldn’t dare lay a hand on a holy man.’
‘Doctor,’ said Guena, ‘you are no more a holy man than I.’
‘Oh, mirror, mirror, on the wall,’ said the Doctor, ‘who is the fairest of them all? You know,’ he said, and he fell into a seat beside me, ‘if I’d known sooner that you two wanted to talk to each other, I could have done something about it. Still, you seem to be on top of things.’ He tapped the side of the mirror. ‘What is this, exactly? And don’t say a mirror. Don’t say a magic mirror either. I’ll only get cross. Crosser. What is it, Guena?’
‘Who knows?’ said my lady. ‘I certainly do not. My father, the Duke, taught me how to use it. He learned from his father, as did his before him, and so on back through the centuries. The secrets of its making are long lost, but our forebears built well, and I have never known this device to fail me.’
The Doctor lifted out his metal wand, and waved it across the mirror. ‘Oh, I see,’ he said. ‘That’s quite clever. You know, ordinarily this kind of thing uses an incredible amount of energy. You see it sucking up coal, or gas, or sunlight, or whatever it is that’s par for the course. But this thing – it seems hardly to be using anything at all, and whatever it’s using, I just can’t tell…’ He frowned. ‘But, you know, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, particularly when it comes to powering sophisticated technological devices. I wonder what your clever forebears did exactly. How does this thing work?’
He leaned back in towards it, waving around his little piece of metal, and it seemed to me that he might well begin to dismantle the mirror before my lady and I had had our chance to speak.
‘Doctor,’ I said. ‘Guena and I have very little time, and a great deal to discuss.’
‘What?’ He looked up. ‘Oh, sorry, yes. I’ll stick around, if you don’t mind. I might have a few ideas.’
And so we held our hurried council. ‘I think it is great folly,’ said my lady, ‘to r
emove our knights from their positions. If Conrad moves against us, it will prove ruinous. Bernhardt,’ she said, ‘you have won back the Duke’s favour. Do you think that he might be dissuaded from sending the knights away?’
‘Lady,’ I said, ‘I have not won back his favour. I have merely brought him some consolation in his despair. It is Lancelot who holds his affection now.’
‘Lancelot,’ she said, and almost snarled at the name. ‘I do not trust him. I do not trust any of his company. I would not be surprised if they had come from Conrad, and were part of plot to make us leave the city undefended.’
‘If it’s a plot, it’s an elaborate one,’ said the Doctor. ‘And how have they heard of the Grail? Of Lancelot? Why would they use that story instead of one from your own history that meant something to you? Something about finding the secrets of your own lost gadgets.’ He shook his head. ‘No, these knights must have come from Clara’s world, or, at the very least, have visited it at some point in its history. But when? And how?’
‘I shall leave these matters to you, Doctor, since they seem to concern you greatly,’ said my lady. ‘The defence of Varuz is my concern.’
‘And, as you say, with the knights away, the city stands defenceless,’ I said. ‘Is there news yet of Mikhail?’
‘Not yet,’ she said. ‘I have sent him several messages, but have heard nothing in reply.’
‘And has there been any news of Clara, Doctor?’ I said.
‘No, nothing. Still on her way to Conrad, I hope.’
‘We can only hope that Conrad receives no news of this quest,’ said Guena. ‘If he learns that the city is now undefended, he will surely move against us.’
‘Or perhaps he might pursue the Grail himself,’ I said. ‘If only we knew what it was! If it was a weapon of kind – even if only a symbol – we might guess whether or not Conrad might choose to chase it.’
‘And if he did, he would be wasting his time,’ said the Doctor. ‘Because – as I may have said before – the Grail doesn’t exist.’
‘And yet here is Lancelot,’ I said, ‘and here are his knights, and we leave at first light.’
—
The party of three, as they were now, continued their trek up the mountain. As they walked, Mikhail explained the route that they were going to take: up, and up, and then the narrow path reached a high valley. They would cross this and, once again, find a path that would lead them to the high pass over the mountain and then down into Conrad’s country.
‘What we will find there, I do not know,’ he admitted. ‘Conrad has kept the passes closed for many a long year now. We have spent many men trying to force them open. And I fear we may not be left in peace even on this side of the border. While we walk the mountain’s paths there is little in the way of cover, and whoever murdered the ambassador might still be close. Those people were not long dead.’
Clara shuddered. It was not pleasant to think that the whole time she and Emfil had been travelling, danger had most likely been very close. For the moment, however, they walked on undisturbed and, as they went, and she and Mikhail talked, Clara gained more of an understanding of the young man: his frustration at having been sidelined; his growing belief that Aurelian was not the man Varuz needed at this time; and that his policies were in danger of bringing down a bloody revenge upon Varuz. As he spoke, she found her respect for him growing too. Away from the court, he was not the angry and alienated young man that she had seen, but proved more reflective and shrewd.
‘You must understand, Clara, that, once upon a time, Varuz ruled the world.’
Clara put her hand around the jewel of Guena’s pendant. ‘Because of your superior technology.’
‘Because of the devices we had at our command we were able to rule many of the lands that Conrad now calls his own.’ Mikhail frowned. ‘But most of our devices are now lost, except for the odd piece in the hands of some of the lords, given as gifts.’ He nodded at the pendant. ‘And some other tools that endure, like the lamps that blaze through the city or the swords that some of the knights still bear. But the resentment arising from our rule is still very much alive, as if our dominion had ended only yesterday. It rankles still with Conrad.’
‘Nobody likes an overlord,’ said Clara. ‘Particularly one who has all the best toys. But couldn’t Conrad just leave you alone behind your mountains, until everything broke and the lights went out?’
‘Leave us alone? To discover our lost secrets and wage war on the world again? For that, I imagine, is what Conrad believes we will do – although we do not have the power or the means. But if that was my belief…I am not sure that if I was in his place, I would leave us alone, Clara.’ They walked on in silence for a while, and at length he smiled. ‘So,’ he said, ‘this is my inheritance – such as it is – and even from that I have been dispossessed.’
Behind them, Emfil sighed. He was clearly not enjoying the walk. Mikhail studied him thoughtfully for a few moments, and then turned to Clara. Softly, he said, ‘Do you trust this one? He claims that his embassy was all a misunderstanding, but from what I saw of him, he seemed to take advantage of our mistake.’
Clara thought about this for a while. ‘I don’t think he’d betray us,’ she said. ‘But I don’t think he’s the kind of person to take one for the team.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Putting it bluntly? I think he might run away from trouble. And I don’t really blame him,’ she said. ‘This isn’t his war, after all. He turned up looking to buy some pretty things, and has found himself walking up a mountain with some bloodthirsty killers at his back. He’s not a soldier, or an adventurer, Mikhail. He’s just someone quite ordinary.’
Mikhail nodded his understanding, then looked at the path rising up ahead. ‘Keep heart!’ he called back to Emfil. ‘Soon we reach the high valley! We can rest there!’
The sun rose overhead, and they walked on. After an hour or two, they realised that there were others on the path ahead, coming their way. Mikhail, drawing his sword, ordered Clara and Emfil to stand behind him. ‘Do not be afraid,’ he said, but Clara couldn’t think of anyone likely to be here that she would want to see. Messengers from Aurelian, sent to kill them? Scouts from Conrad, to prevent their crossing the mountains? Or the murderers of the ambassador, keen to dispose of any possible witnesses? She stood behind Mikhail and wished that she had brought a knife, or something with which she could defend herself, or that her necklace might suddenly start throwing around some death rays. That, she thought, was exactly what she needed right now.
As she watched, six men came into view, all armed, and dressed in uniforms. ‘Oh,’ she murmured, recognising the colours. They were the same as those she had seen on the dead bodies.
‘Yes,’ said Mikhail. ‘These men are from Conrad.’
The group stopped, a few feet away, and their leader called out to Mikhail. ‘Put down your sword, sorcerer. Even that foul device won’t protect you against so many of us.’
To Clara’s surprise, Mikhail obeyed, sheathing the sword again. ‘I mean no harm, sir,’ he said. ‘I hope to cross into your country, and I bring with me two ordinary people. We have all been sent away from Varuz. We hope to make a home amongst you.’
The soldiers fell into position around them, three at the front, three at the back, and led them on up the path.
‘Mikhail,’ Clara whispered, ‘are they spies?’
‘No,’ he whispered back, ‘spies would not be in uniform. A scouting party, perhaps?’ He frowned. ‘But again, why the uniforms? Why not camouflaged?’
The soldier closest to them tapped Mikhail on the shoulder. ‘No talking. Follow us.’
They went on up the path in silence, and, coming through a narrow gap between sheer cliffs, they entered the valley that Mikhail had described. There, to Clara’s amazement, they saw a busy encampment: more than a hundred great tents flying various devices that she had begun to recognise. ‘Those colours,’ she said. ‘They’re Conrad’s, aren’t they?�
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‘Yes,’ said Mikhail. ‘And we are not yet in Conrad’s country.’
‘This is it, isn’t it?’ she said. ‘The invasion. It’s already started.’
‘It seems so,’ said Mikhail.
‘So we’re too late,’ she said. ‘War is here.’
‘Perhaps not,’ said Mikhail. ‘But there’s a saying in Varuz. It’s a long way from the mountains to the sea.’
They were hushed again, and led on. The encampment was bustling; men working at their gear or with their horses; messengers running to and fro – all was busy, and excited, as if some great project was under way. The conquest of Varuz.
They came to a great tent at the centre of the camp. Two guards were outside, but, at a word from the leader of their group, they stood back to let them through. Inside, a great table covered in maps took most of the space; several men and women, armed and uniformed, were gathered around it, in debate. As they came in, their discussion stopped. The oldest of the group, one of the men, looked up from the maps. ‘What is this?’ He sounded displeased. ‘Did I not say we were not to be interrupted?’
Before the guards could speak, Mikhail approached the speaker, and bowed low. ‘Lord Conrad,’ he said. ‘I come to you in the hope of peace.’
Chapter
8
Mikhail was met with silence. And then Conrad began to laugh. He turned to his generals. ‘In peace,’ he said. ‘The heir to Varuz comes to me in peace! Did we ever think that we would live to see this day?’ Turning back to Mikhail, he said, ‘It is too late to look for a settlement, sir. You see that I am here in Varuz, and have come here unmolested. You see my army. What terms could you offer to me?’ He gestured to the guards, but Mikhail spoke again, quickly.
‘I have information for you, sir. Things have changed in Varuz, and Aurelian has a new scheme, one that you could not have planned for.’
Conrad hesitated, and then he dropped his hand and the guards drew back. He walked up to Mikhail and, standing before him, studied the young man very closely. Clara shivered at the look: it was calculating, almost predatory. Conrad, she thought, was proving something of a disappointment. She doubted she could make Guena’s case to this man.
Doctor Who: Royal Blood (Glamour Chronicles, Book 1) Page 9