Tallie's Knight Part 30

"Let me guess. Your cousin's uncle's brother-in-law's niece's great-aunt's nephew."

Carlotta shot him a look of blank surprise.

"No, signor, I heard it from my neighbour who just got back from

Torino."Magnus rolled his eyes. Tallie giggled."It is war, signor," Carlotta said."What?" Magnus was dumbfounded."War? Are you certain.""Very certain, signor. My neighbour said in Torino the streets are full of soldiers. England and France are once again at war. And we are at war, too. Napoleon's troops are all over the Piedmonte." She glanced from him to Tallie and back again.

"You must flee at once, signor. The soldiers are taking foreigners for questioning."

Magnus swore again. "He said he pa.s.sed a troop of soldiers on the road. They will be here in two hours. They are searching houses on the way. They will most certainly come here." Carlotta added, a little shamefacedly, "All of Susa knows of my English visitors."

"We will leave at once," Magnus a.s.sured her.

"You have been exceedingly good to us, Carlotta. We would not wish to cause you trouble."

Carlotta laid an anxious hand on his arm.

"Oh, no, Signer Magnus, it is not myself I am concerned for. I would not like to see you and Signora Thalia taken by soldiers." She glanced at Tallie, who had already slipped out of bed and was dressing quietly.

"Especially with the baby coming. You must hide in the hills until dusk. It is too dangerous to try for the coast from here--Napoleon has soldiers all over Piedmonte. And you cannot go back through France. My nephews will take you into Switzerland. It is arranged."

She turned to leave. Magnus stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"Signora... Carlotta," he said.

"You are a ... a queen among women." He took her hand and, bowing, kissed it lightly.

"Oh, signor." She blushed, fl.u.s.tered.

"One does what one can. Now, I make food for you to take. Pack only what you can carry. My nephews will you meet after dark, so that no one will see you leave." She shrugged apologetically.

"Some of my neighbours have no honour. If they do not see, they cannot tell which way you went. Most will expect you to go south, to the coast--there are too many soldiers that way, but they do not know it."

"We will be ready within the hour," Magnus said. Cariotta turned to leave, then hesitated and turned back, a tiny smile on her face.

"My neighbour said in Torino all is confusion. English ladies are fainting; the men are in panic." She regarded Magnus and Tallie proudly.

"Not my English visitors."

Less than two hours later, Magnus and Tallie were sitting on a bundle of straw in a small shed a mile or so out of town. It belonged to Carlotta's uncle. They were waiting for John Black, Monique and the nephews to meet them in the shed after dark. Then they would make their way to Switzerland. Tallie had bidden Cariotta a tearful farewell. The two women had embraced, Cariotta whispering a.s.surances in Tallie's ear that she would keep an ear out for news of her little brother.

Tallie sat chewing a piece of straw. Magnus glanced down at her worriedly. She had said very little since they left.

"Don't worry. I won't let any harm come to you," he said softly.

She smiled up at him.

"I know," she said simply.

"I was not worrying about that."

The heavy feeling came into his chest again. She was so trusting and certain. He wished he could be as certain.

"You never did find out what-1 was doing when I didn't come back for those eight days, did you?" she said at last.

Magnus felt as if a fist had slammed him in the chest. He didn't want to know--what the h.e.l.l was she doing, deciding to confess now? He wanted to get up, to pace around the tiny shed, to change the subject. He knew from her face it was something dreadful--it had clearly been weighing on her conscience since she'd arrived back from her mysterious journey. But he'd already decided he could live with whatever she'd done--as long as she stayed with him from now on.

"No, but it doesn't matt--' " I was looking for my brother. "

"Your brother?" he said, stunned. Brother? It was the last thing he'd expected.

"I never knew you had a brother."

"Neither did I, until some years ago--well, actually, I wasn't absolutely sure of it until a few days ago." She leaned against him and sighed, and without conscious volition he put his arm around her.

Quietly, without looking at him, she told her story.

'and I wasn't sure whether to believe the letter or not-it was so incredible--but I couldn't get it out of my mind, and so when we came here. " She told how she had found her mother's grave, and met a young priest who had not known her mother but who had recalled the story. He believed the orphan child had been given to a woman who was childless-a good woman, a true daughter of the church.

"But the woman's husband died and she went to live with her brother, who hated the little boy. And then she died and the brother just went away and left him." Tears sparkled on the ends of Tallie's lashes.

"Left a little boy of only seven years to fend for himself."

Magnus pulled her into his arms and held her tight against his heart.

"The boy died?" he asked gently.

She shook her head.

"No, not that anyone knows of." She looked at him in distress.

"Oh, Magnus, apparently there are children living wild in the mountains since the war, because no one will take them in. People are too poor to worry about somebody else's child." She hugged him convulsively.

"It is so utterly dreadful. I wish I could do something, but now here we are, fleeing from the French and in no position to do anything. I did so much want to stay and search for my brother." Tears ran down her cheeks and he kissed them softly away.

"We have to leave, my dear. You know that."

She was silent.

"If not for our own safety, then for this child." He laid his hand on her stomach and felt the now familiar surge of joy-and of terror. As far back as he could remember, from the time he was a little boy, he had always felt alone. Alone in a bleak, cold world. With only a bleak, cold future ahead of him.

But now there were two people who belonged to him, two people to carefor--and to protect. He had never dreamed it could happen to him,never dreamed he would be so fortunate. And so grateful. He wouldprotect her and her unborn child with his life. He drew her head down,laid his cheek against her hair and simply held her. His throat wasfull.

Half an hour later they were joined by John Black, and a few moments afterwards Monique arrived, a handsome young nephew with her. Then the rest of the nephews slipped in under cover of darkness, carrying baggage and bringing mules.

They set off in the moonlight, towards the far mountains glistening with snow.

"The captain says we shall reach England tomorrow," announced Magnus joining his wife at the ship's rail.

"He plans to land at the nearest port--some problem with the mast, I gather."

Tallie nodded but did not reply.

"It is a glorious night, is it not?" he said, looking out at the moon-tossed waves.

"Mmm." His wife nodded. Magnus's arm closed protectively around her,bracing her against the slight rolling of the ship. They had madeit.

He had brought them to safety. But it seemed that was not enough.

"Look, there are traces of fire-glittering in the water." He pointed as he spoke.

"Yes."

"It's caused by the movement of the ship."

Tallie nodded again.

"Can you see the luminescent bubbles trailing in our wake?"

"Yes," she murmured.

"Very pretty."

Magnus tried again.

"And all the stars are out, so clear and bright.

Nearly as clear as they were in the mountains. but not as close. I do not think we have ever been as close to the stars as we were in the mountains. Do you remember when you said it was as if you could truly just reach out and touch them? "

Tallie did not reply. Magnus tightened his grip around her, silently willing the return of his eager, excited bride. It was the sort of night which would have had her in raptures just a short time ago. Tallie sighed.

"It is difficult to believe so much time has pa.s.sed... Sometimes it feels like it was just a week or so, and at others... a lifetime."

"It's just over two months," murmured Magnus.

"But it feels like less, doesn't it?"

Magnus slipped his free hand under her cloak, laying it on the rounded curve of her belly.

"It feels like more to me."

Tallie smiled and leaned her head against him.

"You've coped magnificently, my dear." Magnus pulled her closer. There had been times he'd thought he'd never get her home safely.

The journey had taken much longer than antic.i.p.ated, and had been much more arduous. For when they had reached the Swiss border they had discovered that Napoleon had invaded Switzerland as well. There had been no alternative but to head into Lombardy, and then east, towards the Austrian border. Numerous times they'd had to scramble off the road and hide from French soldiers.

Once over the border, they'd made their way towards Vienna. From there they had travelled to Prague, on to Dresden, and thence to Berlin.

From Berlin they had headed towards the coast, and finally, at Husum, in Schleswig-Holstein, they'd managed to secure pa.s.sage on the packet Lark, which was crowded with other fugitives--not only Englishmen and women, but others hostile to Napoleon's conquests.

They had boarded the boat with great relief, only to spend the next two anxious weeks at anchor, waiting for a favourable wind. Magnus had chafed at the delay. But now, finally, after six days and nights of sailing, England lay ahead.

"You have become a much better sailor, have you not?" Magnus was determined to cheer her. He hated to see her so low in spirits.

She shrugged.

"I suppose it has something to do with my condition."

Magnus trailed his knuckles down her cool cheek in a gentle caress.

"Are you not enjoying this beautiful night, my dear? You are cold, perhaps? Would you like to return to your cabin?"

"No, not at all. You are right, my love--it is a lovely night," said Tallie sadly.

"On such a night one finds it almost impossible to imagine that there is such ugliness in this world as war..."

But she knew there was, because lashed to the deck in front of her, secured in oilskin bags, were all the important papers on board--pa.s.sports, regimentals, letters and dispatches. The captain of the Lark had ordered them secured out in the open--ready to be tossed overboard should the ship be boarded by the French. It was no idle threat, because for two days their ship had been pursued by French cruisers. On the third night the Lark had managed to slip away.

And so she was safe. but her little brother was still in danger. Her unknown little brother, so much more real to her now than he had been when first she had decided to search for him. A bad, merry little boy. alone in the mountains. She hoped there were plenty of apples for him to steal. but winter was drawing nearer.

"Oh, I do hope he will be all right."