The Eyes Of A King Part 31

Anna was startled. Ryan had said that Talitha had been in the secret service for thirty years with Aldebaran, but that was not possible. This woman was young-perhaps only thirty-a beautiful woman with very red lips and dark eyelashes. She did not look like someone trained in magic. She did not stand resigned and wise either; she put her arm about Lucien's shoulder and ran her mouth idly over the side of his face, and he pressed his face into her neck as he talked.

Talitha replied, in a low voice. Anna started suddenly. She had thought that something was inside her head. A spider was crawling inside her skull, over everything that she had ever thought or felt. Talitha was staring at her strangely. Anna tried to look away and think of nothing, but she could not do it; she could not look away.

"She does not have the necklace ...," whispered Talitha to Lucien. Then she lowered her voice still further so that no one else could hear. The others waited. Ahira glanced at Anna briefly, then turned and looked out over the silent city.

"What if the girl has not actually given the jewel to Ca.s.sius?" said Lucien.

"What if?" said Talitha. "It will make no difference. The necklace is what is important. The gift means nothing. This is science." She paused. "One interesting thing though, Sire. This girl is not irrelevant. She is an English relative of Aldebaran's."

"What does this mean?" said Lucien. "That we can hold her as a hostage? To make Aldebaran give up the silver eagle? You mean to say torture ..."

Talitha went on muttering, and Lucien nodded at everything she said. Then he turned to Anna and considered her for a moment. "It is regrettable, but there is no other course that we can take. We cannot kill Ca.s.sius; the silver eagle is hidden and we do not have time to retrieve it by any other means."

"I will communicate with Aldebaran," said Talitha. "I will give him half an hour. Long enough to panic; not long enough to think. After that, we can kill the girl anyway and nothing will be lost." She turned to the two soldiers. "Tie that girl up."

Darius hurried away down the stairs to fetch ropes, then appeared again and tied Anna's hands and feet, smirking. "Do that carefully!" Talitha said suddenly. Darius stopped where he was, still winding the rope around Anna's ankles. "This girl is a close relative of a very powerful man," said Talitha.

Lucien turned to her. "Does she have powers? This English girl?"

Talitha glanced at Anna again. "Yes," she said. "Yes, she does." Then she looked away. "One of you, keep your rifle trained on her."

Darius swung his rifle off his shoulder and raised it, then pretended to fire a shot with a quick laugh.

"I will do it," said Ahira, putting his hand on the gun. "You are supposed to be at the border, and it will take you the night to get there."

Darius stared at Ahira for a moment, then shoved him hard with his shoulder. Ahira grabbed the rifle, and at the same moment there was a gunshot. The bullet ricocheted off the castle wall. Ahira wrested the gun from Darius's grip. "Go to the border," he said firmly. He put the gun back into the soldier's hands, flat, but stood between him and Anna. Darius looked to Lucien.

"Go," said Lucien. "Ahira will come later with me. You are needed there."

"But surely, it will only take-"

"Go! Stop arguing and go!"

Darius disappeared through the doorway, muttering, and clattered away down the stone staircase. Silence fell. "Aldebaran," said Talitha into the silence.

"Can he hear you?" whispered Lucien.

In England, in the dark library beside the lake, the great Aldebaran started and looked up. The rising wind and the waves of the lake had called his name.

Lucien paced up and down the balcony. "What is Aldebaran doing?" he said after a while.

"I cannot tell," said Talitha. "I will send troops to the ruined chapel at midnight. If Aldebaran is there, they will take the silver eagle from him."

There was silence again on the balcony. Anna's eyes were fixed on Ahira. He glanced at Talitha, then turned to Anna and mouthed something about ropes. She tried to pull her hands free, and he gave a quick nod.

The ropes had been tight enough to cut her wrists, but they were loosening now. She concentrated her mind on them and the knots slid outward. Then Talitha turned. "I will tighten those," she said.

Anna started to gasp but could not breathe in. The ropes were tightening about her wrists and ankles, but not just the ropes: the air was suddenly tightening around her as well. Her heart was thudding strangely, first in her head, then in her chest, then in her stomach. She could not breathe, and she felt the air crushing her bones. Her chest was stabbing with pain. She fell sideways onto the floor, the air pressing down on her as heavy as steel.

Then Talitha turned away, and Anna was lying in the dust, gasping in air again and shivering. "Aldebaran cares about his family," Talitha said. "Fifteen minutes he has now. I think this will work."

"Is it really necessary to torture a young girl, Talitha?" began Lucien. "I mean to say-" Talitha raised her hand, and he fell silent.

"Where are you going?" demanded Ryan as Aldebaran ran down the stairs.

"The chapel. Stay in the house."

Ryan rubbed his bandaged head and got up, though the room swayed in front of him when he did it. "Uncle, you will not tell me what is happening. Tell me about Anna; is she safe? Please-"

"I have no time. I have to go. Stay here."

Ryan grabbed Aldebaran's arm, running after him into the dark. He swayed then, and Aldebaran caught hold of him to stop him from falling. "Go back to the house. Now, Ryan!"

"Tell me why you are going to the chapel."

"I can't tell you. Ryan, if you don't let me go-" Something fell from Aldebaran's hand and landed, glittering, on the gra.s.s. There was a silence.

"That is the silver eagle," said Ryan. "Uncle, I don't understand what you are doing."

Across the lake, the church clock chimed twelve.

Talitha, on the balcony, shook her head. "Aldebaran has not come?" said Lucien.

"I was not sure," said Talitha. "Aldebaran does not care enough about his family, perhaps." She turned to survey Anna. "We have lost nothing. But we will have to kill this girl anyway. He will have his resistance people here storming the castle if he thinks there is a chance that she can be rescued. We cannot give him time to think. I will go down and tell them to call the troops back from the church. I will be back here in a few minutes."

Lucien turned to Ahira. "Untie her and stand her against that wall."

"I will take her down to the yard," said Ahira, untying Anna's ankles and wrists. "I will do it there. Or perhaps we should not be so hasty. Perhaps we should hold her in a cell for another night."

"No! We have no time; you heard what Talitha said. Aldebaran could use this to provoke the people to revolution-a n.o.ble cause, rescuing the prince's true love. We must finish this and a.s.semble the army at once. Do you not understand?" There was more than a trace of panic in Lucien's voice. "The enemies among us have been in contact with him for months. The army uncovered one of their bases today, with stacks of communications, detailed plans. We are on the brink of revolution. The boy must not return. We have to stop Aldebaran's words from being fulfilled. It's not enough to go into hiding and kill him when he gets here. We will never get power back once we have lost it. We have to show them that there is no future except for King Lucien. Shoot the girl quickly. Let us do what we can about this problem, and then turn to the Alcyrians."

Ahira took a pistol from his belt and aimed it at Anna's head. Lucien turned to look out over the balcony again. She opened her mouth to speak but she could not. Ahira looked straight into her eyes for a moment. Then she shut them.

Stumbling through the dark forest, Aldebaran heard the gunshot and fell to his knees. Ryan ran up to him, catching hold of his arm again. "What is it? Uncle, what is it?" And Aldebaran turned to say that he had told Ryan to go back to the house, but he could no longer speak.

Anna opened her eyes. Lucien, silhouetted on the balcony, fell to the floor.

His blood was running over the stones, toward her feet; she clasped her hand to her mouth and could not move. Ahira lowered the gun and turned back to her. "Don't speak." His voice was shaking. He grabbed Anna and pushed her through the door.

They stumbled out of control down the staircase. "Talitha will know," Ahira said. "Soon, she will know. Run fast and stay with me."

They raced through the dark corridors and stairways of the castle, whipping up the flames of sleeping torches as they pa.s.sed. Ahira kept one hand on her shoulder, the pistol still raised in his other. At the side door, he paused and surveyed the empty yard.

Somewhere high above them, someone cried out suddenly-at first a shout, then a wail that did not fade in the night air. "Run," said Ahira. "Stay with me. That is her; that is Talitha."

He pushed her toward the stables. "Smith!" he called out to the nearest soldier. "Get me a horse, quickly."

The man was barely older than Anna, with sunburn peeling on his nose. He fetched a horse and put the reins into Ahira's hand, bowing slightly. Ahira swung Anna up onto the horse and climbed on behind her. He bent to speak to the man. "The king is dead," he said. "Alert your people. Alert your revolutionaries." The man stared at him, raising his hands as though he was afraid. Then Ahira kicked the horse into a gallop and they were at the gates. "That boy is with the resistance," said Ahira. "I have been watching him for a long time. He will tell the right people."

There were shouts as they turned from the gate onto the road, and gunshots from the windows above. The ground burst with bullets around them. The horse skittered sideways as it turned the corner, and Anna was looking suddenly over the edge of the rock face. But it scrambled back into a gallop and went on. Then there was shouting, closer, and hooves were rapidly leaving the yard above them. Anna was slipping on the horse's back. "All right," said Ahira, throwing one arm around her waist. "Listen, believe that the bullets will miss. You have powers; you can protect us. Please." He shouted at the horse and it galloped faster. Then they were in the town and sheltered for a moment from the falling bullets. A crowd of people leapt out of their way as they pa.s.sed.

Ahira directed the horse into a narrow street, without letting go of Anna's waist. It stumbled and lurched forward, and her heart jumped, but Ahira did not let her fall. The noise behind was suddenly growing fainter. "When we get to the church," Ahira muttered, "don't look back at me; just go. Leave me to whatever comes. All right?"

After I stumbled down the stairs, I remained in the alleyway and could not get up. Maria came down, and Grandmother, but I did not move. "Leo, you are shaking," said Grandmother. "You are not well. Tell me what it is." The baby screamed. I sat there with my eyes closed and would not answer them, though they came down several times.

"We will be upstairs," said Maria eventually. "I understand if you want to stay by yourself, Leo." And they left me there in the silence.

I was trying to force myself to stay still until I was calm. I managed it for a long time; it felt like hours had pa.s.sed while I sat motionless. But then I had to do something. I had to, otherwise I would go insane. Hot tears were burning in my eyes. I wanted to find that soldier. Or anyone. I did not care anymore. I could feel my hands shaking as though they were someone else's, and hear my heart beating like a stranger's heart. It made me frightened, but I went on. I stumbled out into the street.

People began surging past me. They were as far away as ghosts. "Revolution! Revolution!" they were chanting. One of them tried to pull me along with them, but I pushed him away. Then they were gone, and again the street was silent.

My heart had turned cold. I hated everything suddenly-the dark street around me and those people who had pa.s.sed, the castle on the rock above, the blue flags flying, and every one of the soldiers. The soldiers most of all. I fell down in the mud of the alley again and pressed my face to the ground. I tried to drown myself. I really did. I was so angry that I could not go on living without doing something terrible. But I thought that if I lay there long enough, it might still be all right.

Lying there, drowning in the wet earth, I realized that I could hear shouts. Not only shouts, but horses' hooves also, and gunshots. I rolled over, still lying in the mud, and stared down the street. In that moment-that last moment of stillness-I saw everything as if it was caught in gla.s.s. A horse, going at a gallop. On the horse were two people. One was that girl, Anna, their captive. Behind her was the soldier. Lucien's man, Ahira. Not just a soldier, but the worst of them all. I hated him above all others. I was so angry that the stars shivered, and I saw lightning though there were no clouds. That was why I did it. That was when I decided. And even in that moment, I was praying silently, Don't let me do this.

I put the rifle to my shoulder. I aimed it at the man's head. He could not see me, because he had no eye on the right-hand side of his face, and that was the side that was toward me. Still, everything seemed frozen. I couldn't think. But I didn't need to. I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger.

Time stopped with that gunshot. "Get to the church!" Ahira gasped in that moment. Then he landed hard in the road. In the darkness of an alleyway, someone moved.

The horse pounded off again. Anna was slipping now, without Ahira to hold her. She lost her grip on the horse's mane. She tried to turn back to see what had happened, but the horse was galloping faster now. As it turned a corner, she jolted into the air and fell.

She was suddenly on her back in the mud, staring up at the stars. For a moment she made out the English constellations, startled to see them here. Her heart was beating so fast it hurt her, but she was not injured. She lay there, gasping not enough air into her lungs. Then she sat up. The horse had disappeared.

She could see the domed roof of the church below, only a few streets away. She got up and began running, but her legs were weak now. The torture Talitha had inflicted had left her muscles shaking, and as fast as she ran, she could hear the hoofbeats coming closer above her. And gunshots. Anna came out onto the edge of the square, fell to her knees, and crawled into the doorway of a house. After that she did not dare to move. They were closing in, down the alleyway above her. Ahira was shot, and they could shoot her too. There could be snipers on the roofs and machine-gun posts in these dark houses. She could not tell. She glanced around the square, suddenly dizzy, and the stars tracked across the sky as though they were falling.

In that moment, lying there in the doorway, Anna did not think about whether she would die. She was suddenly thinking about powers. About what Talitha had said, and what Ahira had said. Believe that the bullets will miss. It was only forty steps to the door of the church, and she could run that far. She stood up and closed her eyes, still in the shadow of the doorway. And then she ran out into the square.

Someone shouted, but Anna did not turn. She could hear gunshots now, and a strange whistling in her ears, and dull thuds ahead in the wall of the church. She ran faster. One of the horse statue's ears shattered ahead of her. A gas lamp exploded behind. In a house close by, a child screamed. Then something caught the side of her head and she stumbled. But she was inside the church. Anna fell down and crawled between two pews. And suddenly silence and darkness surrounded her.

I came back suddenly. The anger left me. I was flat in the mud of the street, dazed and shivering, with a rifle against my shoulder. Ahira lay motionless in the road. came back suddenly. The anger left me. I was flat in the mud of the street, dazed and shivering, with a rifle against my shoulder. Ahira lay motionless in the road.

In the silence he moved feebly and lay still. Then I realized it: I had shot him. I stopped breathing.

And after that, I don't remember so well what happened.

I had the stupid thought that perhaps he was not dead. I stumbled over to where the body lay. No. He was dead all right. I was shivering uncontrollably now. I wondered if I was possessed. If someone else had taken me over and ordered me to fire that shot. Nothing seemed real. I sat down beside him in the road and told myself it was only a dream.

There was a gold ring on his finger, glinting in the light of the streetlamps the way my own christening bracelet was. This close, I could even see the lines on that famous man's hands, and the fine streaks of gray in his hair. I had not shot this man, I kept telling myself. It was impossible.

Then I could hear horses approaching behind, and shouts. Soldiers. I crawled into the darkness of the alley and watched them. They reined in their horses and leapt from them, talking urgently. I got to my feet without knowing what I was doing and staggered back up the stairs.

I collided with someone at the apartment door. It was Maria, asking what was going on. I was shaking and I could not stop. The darkness outside the window was thick with gunshots. Grandmother got to her feet and came toward me. "I can hear the soldiers talking out there," she told us urgently. "They will come to take me away. I am not mad! Maria, they want to take me away, after all that has happened already." And she began to cry again. Maria put her arms around Grandmother, her eyes on me as I moved about the apartment with that rifle in my hand.

"Leo, you are covered in mud," Maria said. "What is it? What did that soldier want, the one who was here earlier? Your grandmother did not say."

Grandmother was explaining, her voice choked and quavering. "Come up to my apartment," said Maria. "They will not find you there, Mrs. North. My father is back and he won't let them in."

Grandmother nodded slowly, blinking the tears out of her eyes. "Thank you, Maria." She turned to me. "Leo, will you fetch me some clothes?"

I was dreaming again, worse than ever. Nothing was real and I did not care. I fetched clothes for her, and a thick shawl. The night was warm, but my own skin felt as cold as steel and she was shivering too. In my head, seconds were counting down relentlessly all the time. I thought of soldiers battering down the door, to take her to a center for Unacceptables, or to take me to prison. Because I was a criminal now, a murderer. I had killed that man.

I shook my head, pressed my fingers into my eyes until I saw white lights in my forehead, and forced my hand to release the gun. The clattering on the floor made Grandmother start. And me, even though I was the one who had dropped it. Maria was staring at me anxiously. I picked up the water jar from the table, trying to behave as though there was nothing wrong. But on the way back to the kitchen, a fit of shaking came over me, and I dropped it. It shattered on the floor.

"Oh, Leo!" Grandmother exclaimed. "That will be expensive to replace!" She sounded almost like her usual self, and it was the more ridiculous after what had just happened. "Why can you not be more careful like ...?" She trailed off. She had been going to say "like Stirling."

"Leo," said Maria quietly. "You are not yourself. Come upstairs and sit down for a while. Or tell me what is wrong." She went on watching me. "Do you just need to sit by yourself?" she said. "Is that it?" I nodded, trying to rea.s.sure her. I could feel my teeth rattling against each other. "I will be back in a minute," she said. "I will just help your grandmother upstairs."

When she had gone, I picked up the rifle again. I pulled back the bolt to reload it, then realized that there were no more bullets. That had been the last. I almost laughed at that, though it was not funny. Then I thought of something. I went to the bedroom and opened the window seat chest. Underneath that private's uniform was the pistol, still loaded. I took it out, checked the safety catch, and put it into my pocket.

I went out and down the stairs, keeping tight hold of the handrail to stop myself from falling. I tried to force myself not to look at the place where Ahira had landed, but my eyes moved to it by themselves. The body was gone. There was a dark patch where the blood refused to combine with the mud and disappear. I think I would be able to walk to that place even now and find to the nearest inch where he landed. It was burned on my mind already and I could not erase it.

I heard gunshots in the city. They were becoming a familiar sound, as though they were part of the weather. Smoke was rising from somewhere. The stars overhead were very clear, drifting over the sky as I walked; the buildings looked more solid in the moonlight than anything real, like an empty stage set. Everything looked like that. As I walked, I began counting the steps I took. Then the Voice spoke to me. "Go back," it said. "Go back to Maria and wait until you are calm. Don't go on walking." I ignored it.

The gunshots in the city had subsided when I reached the graveyard gate. As I stood there, the deserted graveyard seemed endless, the city back across the bridge more than infinity. Stirling's grave was the only safe place. I found it and knelt beside the wooden cross. The moonlight was falling across the gra.s.s and shadowing the letters of the inscription. It was only then that I really thought of Stirling. Before that I had hardly been thinking at all. And I began to realize what I had done.

I could not stay there; I had to go on walking. I decided suddenly to go to the hills. No one would find me there. I walked, without thinking, away from the city.

It must have been nearly dawn when I stopped, though it was still as dark as ever. I was out of hearing of the church clocks in the city now. The last time I had heard them, they had chimed three. I was too tired to go on. I collapsed on the gra.s.s and stared at the stars.

I felt nothing-but I would, soon enough, and I knew it. All the way from the city, I had been trying to tell myself that. I had shot Ahira-really shot him; it was not just a dream. I could do nothing to change it. My life was ruined and there was no way to repair the damage that was done. And if I went back now and tried to carry on as if things were normal, I would have to know every day that I had shot him. The same way I knew every day now that Stirling was gone. I could not go back. It was too much; I did not have the strength.

I sat up and took the pistol out of my pocket. I emptied out the bullets and counted them, then put them back in and took off the safety catch. It would be an easy thing to do. You can pull the trigger of a Delmar .45 with your little finger. It would be easy even to pull it by accident. Perhaps that would be the best way, I decided. Continue thinking, and then pull the trigger while I was not concentrating on doing it, so I would not think of the pain. I was always frightened of pain. I'd never have made a soldier.

I put the gun against my head. I tried to summon the strength to do it. Just enough strength to pull the trigger, and that would be the end of it. The real end this time. I closed my eyes.

In the forest, Aldebaran and Ryan were kneeling motionless. Ryan started up then. "Did you hear that?"

"What?" said Aldebaran, making no attempt to hide the tears running down his face.

"There was a sound, Uncle. Up by the old chapel."

Ryan ran ahead. Aldebaran followed him. They reached the door of the chapel and stood in silence. There was someone lying inside. "Anna," said Ryan then. "Anna, Anna." He ran to her and took her head onto his knee. He put his hand against her face and it came away dark with blood. He was crying now himself. "Help me, Uncle!" he shouted.

Aldebaran fell to his knees beside Anna. "She is breathing," he said. "These are only surface wounds."

Aldebaran picked Anna up and they started down through the forest. She woke and saw his face and tried to tell him something, then closed her eyes again. Ryan was praying. "Run ahead and call an ambulance," Aldebaran told him.