Part 16 (1/2)
Without stopping to wait for an answer, Gwen hurried away, dragging the excited cousins with her.
”What will your mother say?” gasped Lilian when she had heard as much of Gwen's story as Gwen felt capable of telling.
”My heavens! What will will Mama say?” Gwen had never considered that. To suddenly float in the door with houseguests! And of such an unusual nature! Mama say?” Gwen had never considered that. To suddenly float in the door with houseguests! And of such an unusual nature!
Lilian and Majorie were hastily dispatched to City Above with news that the renowned Simkin was going to honor the Samuelses with his presence. Gwen hoped fervently that news of his arrest and subsequent disappearing act had not reached her parent's ears.
Then, in order to give Lady Rosamund time to have the guest rooms opened and aired, the cook informed, and a servant sent to apprise Lord Samuels of the honor in store for him, Gwen returned to the cafe and offered to show her guests the wonders of the city.
Although the catalyst appeared reluctant, the young men agreed with an eagerness Gwendolyn found quite charming. Obviously this was their first trip to Merilon, and Gwen discovered she was looking forward to showing it off. Floating up into the air, she waited, expecting them to join her. They did not, however, and - glancing down - she was astonished to see them looking at each other in some confusion. It instantly occurred to her that they had been walking everywhere and she wondered why. Of course! They must be tired from their journey, too tired to expend their energy in magic....
”I'll hire a carriage,” she offered before any of them could say a word. Waving a white hand, she motioned to a gilded blue eggsh.e.l.l drawn by a team of robins. It flew over to them, and they each climbed in, Gwen finding - to her embarra.s.sment - that Joram managed to be on hand to a.s.sist her in entering.
She ordered the driver of the carriage to take them through the shops and stalls that had sprung up around Earth Gate like a ring of enchanted mushrooms. More than a few people glanced at them as they drove by, many pointing them out as Simkin's companions and laughing heartily. Leaving the area around Earth Gate, they drove past the tropical gardens, admiring the flowers that grew here and nowhere else in Thimhallan. Enchanted trees on the Walk of Crafts were singing in chorus, and raised their limbs as the carriage flew beneath them. A unit of Imperial Guards mounted on seahorses bobbed through the air in perfect unison.
They could have spent hours in the Grove, but the afternoon sun was nearing the point designated by the Sif-Hanar Sif-Hanar as twilight. It was time to start home and - at Gwen's command - their carriage joined others circling upward to reach the floating rock pedestal of City Above. as twilight. It was time to start home and - at Gwen's command - their carriage joined others circling upward to reach the floating rock pedestal of City Above.
Sitting in the carriage across from the young men, Gwendolyn thought how time had flown by all too rapidly. She could have stayed here forever. Seeing Merilon's wonders reflected in the eyes of her guests - particularly the dark eyes of one of the guests - she seemed to see the city for the first time and she couldn't remember having noticed before how beautiful it was.
And what did her guests think? Mosiah was wrapped in a spell of enchantment, pointing and gaping at the splendors with a naivete and childlike wonder that made him a figure of fun to all observers.
Saryon didn't see the city at all. His thoughts were turned inward. The fabulous sights brought back nothing but bitter memories to the catalyst, and only made the knowledge of his secret more burdensome.
And Joram? At last he was seeing the city whose wonders his mother had described in such vivid detail every night of his childhood. But he wasn't seeing it through Anja's half-mad gaze. Joram's first glimpse of Merilon was seen through eyes of blue innocence and a mist of fine, golden hair. Its beauty made his heart ache.
3.
The Guildmaster's Home ”Mama,” said Gwen, ”may I introduce Father Dunstable.”
”Father.” Lady Rosamund gave the catalyst the very tips of her fingers, curtsying slightly. The catalyst bowed, murmuring words of appreciation for milady's hospitality which milady returned cordially, if somewhat vaguely, her gaze fixed expectantly on the gate beyond him. Lady Rosamund greeted her guests in the front court garden as was customary in Merilon, the garden - of which milady was justly proud - providing a beautiful setting of ferns and rose trees.
”And this is Mosiah and ... and Joram,” continued Gwen, blus.h.i.+ng prettily. Hearing a smothered giggle from her cousins in the background, the young girl tried to appear completely unconscious of the fact that his name came to her lips like a song of joy. An astute and doting mother like Lady Rosamund ordinarily would have noted the blush and guessed the truth the moment her daughter introduced the young man. But Lady Rosamund was nervous and somewhat fl.u.s.tered.
”Gentlemen,” she said, giving them each her hand and looking around them and above them at the gateway. ”But where is Simkin?” she asked after a moment pa.s.sed and no one else entered.
”Lady Rosamund,” said Joram, ”we thank you for your hospitality. And we would like you to accept this as a token of our grat.i.tude.” So saying, Joram drew the tulip - somewhat crushed and battered - from inside his tunic and handed it to his hostess.
Her eyebrows raised and her lips pursed, as if she suspected she was the brunt of some joke, Lady Rosamund coldly reached out her hand - - and touched Simkin's flowing, purple silk sleeve.
”Merciful Almin!” she cried, backing up with a start. Then, ”I ask forgiveness, Father, for the blasphemy,” she murmured, blus.h.i.+ng nearly as pink as her daughter.
”An understandable reaction, my lady,” Saryon said gravely, glancing at Simkin, who was staggering about the garden, gasping for air and fanning himself with the orange silk.
”Almin's Blood! My dear boy” - he turned to Joram - ”a bath is requisite. Egad” - bringing his hand to his forehead, his eyes rolling back in his head - ”I feel quite faint.”
”You poor thing!” said Lady Rosamund, marshalling servants around her with a look. In a cool and calm voice, milady issued orders and directed troop movements with the skill of a warlock. All the while, she exhibited the most tender concern for Simkin, who looked more wilted in human form than he had in tulip. Calling upon the strongest of house magi, milady ordered them to a.s.sist Simkin indoors to the best front parlor. A gesture of her own hand brought a fainting couch hurrying to Simkin's side. He collapsed on it, affecting a tragic pose.
”Marie,” Lady Rosamund ordered, ”conjure the herbal restoratives....”
”Thank you, my dear,” said Simkin weakly, his nose wrinkling at the smell of the tea, ”but only brandy can bring me out of this shock. Ah, madam!” - Gazing up piteously at Lady Rosamund - ”if you only knew what a terrible ordeal I've been through! Oh, I say!” he called after the servant. ”Bring the Year of the Frost Grape, will you, my dear? Duke d'Montaigne's vineyard? What, nothing but domestic? Well, I suppose it will have to do.”
The servant reappeared with the brandy decanter. Leaning his head back upon the silken cus.h.i.+ons of the couch, Simkin suffered Marie to hold a gla.s.s to his lips, and took a sip. ”Ah, that helps.” Marie removed the gla.s.s.
”Just a touch more, my dear ...”
Taking the gla.s.s, Simkin sat up, drained it at a gulp, then fell back, exhausted, among the cus.h.i.+ons. ”Might I have just one more, my dear?” he asked in a voice that - from its weakness - might have been instructing Marie to draw up his last will and testament.
The catalyst brought another brandy as Lady Rosamund gestured for a chair. At her command, one floated through the air, coming to rest near the couch where the young man lay. ”Whatever do you mean, Simkin? What terrible ordeal have you have you been through?” been through?”
Simkin grasped hold of her hand. ”My dear madam,” he said, ”today” - dramatic pause - ”sink me, but I was arrested!” He cast the orange silk scarf over his face.
”Merciful Al - Heavens,” Lady Rosamund stammered in astonishment.
Simkin plucked the silk from his face again. ”A most dreadful mistake! I have never been so humiliated. And now I am on the run, a common criminal!” His head lolled back, weak with despair.
”Common criminal?” Lady Rosamund repeated in a voice suddenly grown cool, her gaze going to the plainly dressed Mosiah and Joram and even flicking, for an instant, over the untrimmed robes of the catalyst. ”Alfred,” she said to one of the servants in the hurried undertone, ”go to the Three Sisters and tell Lord Samuels to return home at once....”
”Quite kind of you, madam, I a.s.sure you,” Simkin said, pus.h.i.+ng himself up on unsteady arms, ”but I doubt seriously if there is anything His Lords.h.i.+p could do. He is, after all, a mere Guildmaster.”
Lady Rosamund's face became exceedingly icelike. ”My lord,” she began, ”is -”
”- going to be of no help to me, I'm afraid, 'm'dear,” said Simkin with a sigh. Lying back once more, he folded the orange silk and laid it carefully across his forehead. ”No, Lady Rosamund,” he continued before she could speak, ”if Alfred is going out, please send him to the Emperor. I'm certain this can all be cleared up.”
”To ... to the Emperor!”
”Yes, of course,” Simkin said, somewhat irritably. ”I suppose Alfred has has been granted entry into the Royal Palace?” been granted entry into the Royal Palace?”
Lady Rosamund's ice melted in the fever of embarra.s.sment. ”Well, to be frank - It's just that we have never - I mean, there was the knighting ceremony, but that was -”
”What? No access to the Palace? Sink me!” Simkin murmured, his eyes closing in the most desperate despair.
During this interchange, Mosiah and Saryon stood in extreme discomfort in a corner, feeling forgotten and very much out of place. Mosiah, in particular, was overawed at what he had seen of the enchanted city and its people, who seemed so far above him in appearance, culture, and education that they might have been heavenly angels. He didn't belong here. He wasn't wanted here. He could see Gwen and her cousins smile every time he spoke. Well-bred as they were, the girls tried to hide their mirth at his uncouth way of talking - they weren't particularly successful.
”You were right, Father,” he whispered bitterly to Saryon under the cover of Simkin's grand act. ”We were fools to come to Merilon. Let's leave, right now!”
”I'm afraid it isn't that easy, my boy,” said Saryon with a sigh, shaking his head. ”The Kan-Hanar Kan-Hanar must approve all who leave the city through Earth Gate as well as all who enter. We would never be allowed to go now. We must do what we can to survive this.” must approve all who leave the city through Earth Gate as well as all who enter. We would never be allowed to go now. We must do what we can to survive this.”
”Survive?” Mosiah repeated, thinking Saryon was joking. Then he saw the catalyst's face. ”You're serious.”
”Prince Garald said it would be dangerous,” Saryon answered gravely. ”Didn't you believe him?”
”I guess not,” Mosiah muttered, his narrow-eyed gaze going to Simkin. ”I thought he was, well, overreacting. I never dreamed it would be ... so ... different! We're outsiders! Some of us, at least,” he added softly, with a glance at Joram. Mosiah shook his head. ”How does he do it, Father? He seems a part of all this, as though he belonged here! Even more than Simkin! That fool is just a plaything. He knows it, and laps up the attention. But Joram -” Mosiah gestured helplessly - ”he has everything these people have - grace, beauty.” His voice trailed off despondently.
Yes, thought Saryon, his gaze going to Joram. He belongs....