by Patty Jansen
“Why, thank you. I loved it, too.”
“It’s still there, empty and overgrown with weeds.”
He sighed.
“Would you come back if you could?”
“If I could, maybe, but I would need a bigger park, because Esme needs a nice piece of land. I would love to dress her up and give children rides through the streets.”
Koby’s eyes widened. “Really? That would be amazing.”
“A lot would need to change for that to happen, though,” he said.
“The Regent is dead,” Wim said.
“Yes, but the shepherd is still in control.”
“And you definitely don’t have magic?” Nellie asked.
He shrugged. “It’s changed so many times what they call magic. Animals feel attracted to me. Some of the circus troupes keep their animals in cages. That’s cruel. I don’t like cages. My animals can walk. The horses like walking, Esme likes walking.”
“What about the dangerous animals?” Koby asked.
“Lila? She’s not dangerous. I used to have a lioness, and had to put her in a cage when she was up to no good. But I would know when she was in a mood. I guess you could call that magic. I never had any magic like where you raise your hands and fire comes out. That’s what I call magic.”
Nellie looked around nervously and asked him where the lioness was.
“Unfortunately, she died of old age. She was very old. She’d been with me since I was a little mite and my father owned the menagerie.”
She asked, “Do you know anything about dragons?”
He gave her a sharp look. “Real dragons or magical dragons?”
“Is there a difference?”
“Real dragons are much smaller. They normally live in or near the water. I’ve seen people who have owned them. They eat a lot of bugs and they’re good to have around when you don’t want ants around the house.”
“I guess I mean a magical dragon.”
Another sideways look, guarded, suspicious. Here was the proof that his magic was real. He could feel the presence of the dragon in the area
“Magical dragons are rare, and I wouldn’t keep one, because they’re not like normal creatures and you need to be a magician to rule them. But they do help normal people sometimes, bringing them things they need.”
“Like bags of carrots.”
Another sharp look. Yes, he knew what she was talking about.
They chatted for a while. Having learned of sea cows, Koby wanted to know what an elephant ate and how Mustafa obtained those things. He shared pieces of roast rabbit with the group—caught by Lila the leopard, who lay on a sheepskin by the fire.
Nellie had to force herself to drink all the tea, since it was much too strong for her liking.
When they went back outside, an amazing sight greeted them. Madame Sabine’s white horse stood next to the cart, as well as the other horses they had seen earlier. With them were three cows, two goats and a whole flock of spotted deer. There were at least thirty of them, some with antlers and some without.
“Well, that’s interesting,” Mustafa said. “These animals are behaving ever stranger.”
“It’s because of the dragon,” Nellie said. “The dragon likes animals and he pays his dues by leaving bags of carrots. The dragon came with us into this area.”
Nellie, Gisele, Wim and Koby climbed back into the cart. Nellie assured Mustafa that they would visit again, and that they would try to bring him things he could use that he found hard to get. Like wool for fixing his gloves.
Then they went back to the main track from the nuns’ farm to Lord Verdonck’s house.
“Interesting fellow,” Wim said.
“Don’t you remember his animal park in town?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Really? We used to go there all the time as kids.”
“I went into the army when I was sixteen. Spent most of my youth marching around Estland.”
Right. And he was a year or two older than her. She didn’t remember when Mustafa had come, but it couldn’t have been long before her memories because it had been a time of discovering new lands. She wasn’t sure where Mustafa had come from. He wasn’t Phenician, but his home was somewhere in the south-east.
And so the cleansing continued. Foreigners had magic, and therefore they had to leave the city. Like Mustafa, like Madame Sabine.
“What are we going to tell the others?” Wim said.
“I don’t know anymore,” Nellie said. “I thought the nunnery looked good, but if they sell to Zelda, she will betray us.”
“Maybe we should tell Madame Sabine to leave. Then we can stay on the estate.”
“Where would she go by herself?”
“She’s a noblewoman; she has money to figure that out.”
Nellie shook her head. “She’s not rich, and she doesn’t have friends and relatives anywhere who will help her. She spoke to me yesterday and told me about an important part of her history.”
“Witchcraft?” Wim asked.
“No, she’s the Lurezian king’s cousin once removed, from a really good family, but they fell on bad times. She has always needed to work for her survival. She’s a member of the Science Guild, and when she lived in Lurezia, she was in the army and made balloons. She started making balloons in Lord Verdonck’s sheds, but the son doesn’t like it. She showed me her project. I also know that she arranged for the dragon to be stolen from the church crypts not because he is a magic creature, but because he can fly. Apparently the king of Lurezia has offered a large reward for a person who make humans fly reliably. They can do this with balloons, but the balloons are hard to steer, since they go wherever the wind blows. She tried to get the dragon to pull the balloon, in a way that sea cows pull the ship. But the dragon didn’t agree with that, and he attacked her and her lover. I believe they wanted to try again. All the equipment to make balloons is still in the shed. Lord Verdonck wants her to get rid of it.”
Gisele snorted. “Why ever would he do that? Think of being the first person to make people fly!”
“I guess he thinks it’s frivolous.”
“A lot of people think it’s frivolous! But still . . .”
“The Lurezian army paid her to make the balloons. They wanted to use balloons in war, to drop stuff on enemy camps, or something like that. The unsolved problem was, she said, to make the balloon go where you wanted it to go. That’s why she wanted the dragon.”
Wim stared at her. “Do you think Lurezia wants to attack Saardam?”
Nellie was going to say she couldn’t see why, but of course she could, because attacks had been common in the past. The sea was muddy and full of sand banks. Reliable safe harbours were rare, and Saardam had such a harbour. Wars had been fought over it before.
Gisele said, “Then we have a choice. We can stay in the barn where we are, or we can go somewhere else.”
“I don’t like Adalbert Verdonck at all, but I have more trust in him as an honest man who won’t betray us than I have in Zelda. The fact that the nuns sell to Zelda means that either the nuns have no idea what they’re doing, or they agree with Zelda’s position. I don’t think we can afford to be involved with that.”
“Then that means we stay where we are,” Wim said. “That suits me fine. I wasn’t looking forward to having to move anyway. I don’t think Yolande would survive that.” And he had taken to looking after her, since they were the oldest two people in the group.
“No, it would probably be better for the people who are not well to stay where we are,” Gisele said.
“But we have to remain careful,” Nellie said, remembering Henrik’s words about violence.
Gisele raised her eyebrows. “Isn’t that always the case?”
“I don’t trust Lord Verdonck. I don’t want him to drive out Madame Sabine. I feel that we might need her.”
Chapter 9
* * *
THE VISIT OF ZELDA to the nunnery put the group in a difficult position, becaus
e what were they going to do now? Stay at the Verdonck estate and be in the middle of arguments between Adalbert Verdonck and the palace about loans? Or go to the nunnery and risk discovery?
It could be that Zelda only came occasionally and only bought from the nuns if she needed something they sold.
Or it could be that the nuns worked with her and were part of Zelda’s moneymaking scheme.
At any rate, it would only be a matter of time before these nuns discovered that Nellie and the others were wanted by the palace.
Nellie disliked feeling like a political pawn with Adalbert Verdonck, and the Lord did not want the ragtag group on his estate, anyway. While he might allow Madame Sabine to stay for now, Nellie had no illusion that he would make it easy or comfortable for them.
Staying with the nuns, who were happy to have them, would be less safe, even if many of the women would prefer that. What would she say to the women? There is a nice, comfortable place, but we can’t go there because I don’t trust one of their customers?
Would it be possible for the women to keep themselves hidden from Zelda? Would the Abbess allow it?
In the end, they were all in this together.
On the ride back to the Verdonck estate, they decided to put the matter to the group. But when they arrived back at the barn, it was to the sound of raised voices from within. She could hear Agatha, and Henrik as well.
Goodness, what was going on?
While Gisele went to take the cart back to wherever she had borrowed it, Nellie opened the door.
The dragon sat at the far end breathing smoke over the floor of the barn.
Several women called, “Nellie! You’re back!” They sounded glad.
Nellie called out, “Someone tell that dragon to stop trying to set fire to the barn.” She hated to think what the Lord Verdonck could charge them if the barn burnt down. They would be bound to eternal servitude.
Then she realised that Prince Bruno was standing in front of the dragon. Henrik and Agatha had been facing him, but they now turned around to the door.
The dragon had lifted his head, and smoke no longer came out of its nostrils. That was something at least.
“What by the Triune is going on?” Nellie asked.
“I told them I want to go and see my father,” Prince Bruno said.
Henrik said, “But you can’t. No one even knows where he is.”
“I’m not going to find out if I stay in this stupid barn, am I?” Bruno’s voice sounded shrill.
Nellie said, “We are here for your and everyone’s safety.”
Agatha said, “Don’t waste your breath, Nellie. We have argued with him ever since you left.”
“You want to hide me again!” Bruno called out. “Why did you even free me when I’m not allowed to go wherever I want? This is my country. You should listen to what I say.”
Heavens, what had gotten into that boy? “Well, if you are going to behave like that, we will tell all these people that you are not Prince Bruno after all, and then no one will listen to you.”
He stared her, opened mouth, and then closed it again.
Some form of adult intelligence was going on behind those eyes. Nellie could see that he was thinking. She could see that he knew he had gone too far. He lacked any form of education about how he to behave, but she sensed that he could grow into a strong-willed young man.
He sat down in the straw, and tightened his arms about his chest. “I still want to see my father.”
“I understand, but that’s not going to be easy. I would like to see your father, too. I thought he was a very respectable man.” Nellie sat next to him.
He looked up, his dark and beautiful eyes meeting hers. “Did you know my father?”
“I was with him and your mother all the time, and you, too, even though you don’t remember any of it.”
He said nothing.
Nellie felt that he might want to apologise, but he was simply too proud to do so. “We will make sure you see your father.”
“You will make sure that we go to the palace, too?”
Nellie cringed. “Eventually, maybe. But I think you are a bit too young to be fighting wars.”
“I can fight.”
Nellie looked at a scrawny arms and his thin legs. “I believe it. But I think you may want to have a bit more training before you rush off to get yourself killed.”
“Can I start the training now?”
“If you eat well, and if you stop behaving like a child and start listening to what we say.”
He fell silent. Then he walked across the barn and picked up the broom that apparently he had been asked to use before the argument broke out. He started sweeping the floor.
Henrik looked at Nellie, his eyes wide. “However did you do that?”
“Years of practice dealing with King Roald.”
With that settled, they started cooking dinner, and Nellie told the women of their trip to the nunnery.
The women’s eyes lit up when she spoke of the nice building and the fields and quiet spaces, and specially the absence of men.
“But won’t they have any problems with the men in our group?” Hilde asked.
“They said everyone was welcome.”
Josie said, “Then we must go there. It sounds like the ideal place.”
“I thought so, too, until we left and a visitor came into the place.”
“Who was it?”
“Zelda.”
Gasps. The women stared at her, their mouths open.
Josie said, “Zelda came to the nunnery?” Josie in particular had made her dislike of Zelda overly clear in the days since she had been rescued. It was because of Zelda that she, Jantien, and most others had almost died.
“We didn’t stick around for long enough, but I think Zelda was buying produce from the nunnery. And then I became unsure of whether it was a safe place for us, seeing how Zelda betrayed us before.”
“I can well see that,” Mina said.
Agatha said, “So then, what can we do? We don’t want to stay here because this lord whatever is a stuck-up you-know-what and he will sell us to whoever offers the most money, dragon included.”
Nellie didn’t believe that Adalbert Verdonck would do that. To him, knowledge and power was more important than money. “That’s what we need to discuss. There are a number of options,” Nellie said.
“What options?”
“We can stay here.”
Mina shook her head. “No. This man worries me. He will sell us or we will be drawn into something evil.”
“Or we can go to the nunnery.”
“I don’t like that,” Jantien said. “Not after Zelda betrayed us.”
Jantien was shy and didn’t speak up often, but when she did, people tended to listen.
Hilde said, “We can go there but make sure that we stay hidden.”
“Can we do that? There are so many of us, and we can’t hide children for very long. We don’t know what Zelda does there, or how long she stays. We don’t know whether she just comes to the door, or if she goes into the building.”
“Zelda does not strike me as a religious person,” Mina said. “She may just come to the door to buy her things.”
“No.” Jantien was adamant. “I’m not going where Zelda is. She already betrayed us once.”
Henrik asked, “Is there another option?”
Nellie said, “Maybe we can send only the people who can stay there safely. Only the ones who don’t know Zelda or who Zelda won’t recognise.”
“And then what about the rest of us?” Agatha said. “I propose something else. I propose that we talk to Zelda to see what she actually wants and who she works for.”
Several women shouted her down. Jantien called out, “Didn’t you listen to what I said? I don’t want to have anything to do with that woman anymore.”
And again, the issue of Zelda had divided them. Nellie wished she could just understand who worked for who.
“Jantien is right,” s
aid a cultured voice.
In all the commotion, Nellie hadn’t even thought about Madame Sabine, but of course she had been in the barn all along, unable to go anywhere else.
She continued, “Zelda is not a person you should trust, ever. The wayfarer families have a very strong circle of associates in almost every city and town. They have become that way out of necessity. Wayfarers are poor people and they will do anything for money.”
“Excuse me? I don’t do ‘anything’ for money,” Agatha said.
“You’re not a wayfarer.”
“No, but I’m poor. Being poor doesn’t mean you do anything for money.”
“Well, you have to survive, right?” Madame Sabine said.
“There are ways of surviving that you wouldn’t have a clue about.”
“And how do you know what I don’t have a clue about? What do you know about me?”
“Enough to know that you don’t have a clue.”
“Please, please.” Nellie held up her hands. “Sniping at each other doesn’t achieve anything.”
“Then she should stop acting like she knows and owns everything.” Agatha crossed her arms over her chest.
“I know and own a lot more than you.”
“Like, a husband who wants to kill you and two sons who don’t even care enough about you to cry about you?”
“I’m not even going to honour that with a reply,” Madame Sabine said, her voice ice cold.
“Good,” Nellie said. “We’re all in this together.”
“I’m not,” said Brother Martinus. “I want to return to one of the order’s monasteries as soon as possible. I don’t believe any of your stories about Shepherd Wilfridus being a magician. I believe you should let me and Madame Sabine go.”
Agatha said, “So that you can report us to the nearest guard station?” at the same time as Madame Sabine said, “I’d rather be dead than seen travelling with a monk of that despicable church.”
And so the impasse remained. No one knew what to do.
The soup was done, and Mina started handing out bowls. They sat around eating, but the atmosphere in the group was far from happy.
Splitting up the group—with all the risks that would bring—seemed the only option. For a moment Nellie even considered taking the boat back onto the water, but the rivers were not safe.