Part 19 (1/2)
What was he babbling about? Was he losing his wits? She s.n.a.t.c.hed her hand back and retreated, glaring at him. ”She's my guardian. She would never do anything to harm me.”
But as soon as she had regained her room, she found herself s.n.a.t.c.hing glances at her reflection every time she pa.s.sed the little mirror propped up on her desk. Eventually she seized it and critically examined her reflection.
”Changes?” Her eyes glinted, but they were bright with anger that the wily old man had almost succeeded in undermining her confidence, manipulating her emotions through her precious memories of her father. ”I won't let him get to me again.”
Ruaud de Lanvaux retired to his study to go over the transcript of the day's proceedings at Linnaius's trial.
When Celestine was called forward to be interrogated by Visant, he had felt a sudden inexplicable sense of unease. She had looked serene and had answered the Inquisitor's probing questions without showing the slightest hesitation or nervousness. So why did he still feel so troubled? Was it the line of questioning that Visant had employed? Or was it a disturbing rumor he had been informed of earlier that day? Two of the crewmen had gone to Kilian Guyomard, claiming that they had seen her, at the height of the storm, bending over the Magus, murmuring a magical incantation-after which the storm had suddenly, dramatically, died down.
”Sailors are superst.i.tious at the best of times,” Kilian had said, laughing it off, ”but I thought you should know, in case Inquisitor Visant chooses to use the allegation in his questioning.”
And then there was the alchymical machine Jagu and Celestine had removed from the Magus's laboratory. What in Sergius's name was it? It stood on his desk, sparkling in the candlelight, an elaborate mechanical construction of metal and crystal. Perhaps Celestine had been mistaken as to its alchymical function and it was merely a new type of clock, not yet seen in Francia.
Yet the perfection of the clear crystal, fas.h.i.+oned in the shape of a flower with its petals open, reminded him of something he had seen long ago.
”The lotus crystal in the shrine,” he murmured. Kaspar Linnaius had stolen the sacred treasure and he, young and stupidly eager, had tried to stop him, earning a broken collarbone for his pains. On damp days like today, the old injury still ached. ”Is it possible Linnaius used the crystal he stole to make this machine? And if so, why?”
A gentle tap on the door interrupted his musing.
”You wanted to speak with me, Maistre?” Celestine stood on the threshold.
He looked up, smiling, genuinely pleased to see her. ”Come in. I'm sorry to summon you here so late.”
”Just me, and not Jagu?”
Had she guessed the reason he had summoned her? He forced himself to keep smiling, wanting to put her at her ease.
”I wanted to have the opportunity to chat together, just as we used to, Celestine. I've been so busy that I was afraid you must have been thinking that I was neglecting you.” Even though he had devoted his life to serving G.o.d, he had always cared for her as if she were his adopted daughter.
She sat opposite him, smoothing down her black uniform skirts.
”My dear child, it's been too long.”
”You look tired, Maistre,” she said. ”Are you allowing yourself time to sleep? Are you remembering to eat?”
”Don't worry on my account; Alain Friard nags me if I neglect such necessities. No, tell me how you've been faring. This was a dangerous and delicate mission, capturing the Emperor's right-hand man and smuggling him out of Tielen.”
”It had its tricky moments, I confess. Linnaius is a very powerful magus. But I'm certain now that he isn't the magus who took Henri from me.”
Ruaud flinched, in spite of himself. ”I thought as much.” He had never been able to confess his terrible secret to her: that he had inadvertently-in his haste to catch the magus who had stolen her lover's soul-trodden on the alchymical gla.s.s in which it was contained. Even after so many years, his heart still ached whenever the subject arose, wondering if had he not misplaced his feet in the darkness of that attic room, he could have saved the musician's life and changed the course of Celestine's fate.
”But he was difficult to subdue. In his attempt to escape, he nearly sank the s.h.i.+p we were traveling on.”
She had not once met his eyes as she spoke. She was withholding something. And he felt his heart ache even more as he remembered the allegation the sailors had made against her. He must warn her that she was in danger. He must protect her as far as he could without compromising his role as Grand Maistre.
”Is it true that you used one of his own alchymical compounds to subdue him?”
”Who told you? Jagu?” Jagu?”
He had obviously hit a sensitive spot.
”It was remarked on by two of the crew.”
”There was no other way.” She looked at him at last, her gaze defiant.
”Celestine.” So it was true. He feared for her now. ”For Sergius's sake, what possessed you to do something so rash? Inquisitor Visant would condemn you as a sorceress if he came to hear of it.”
”And if we had all drowned and Linnaius escaped? What then?”
He reached out across the desk and took her hand in his, pressing it. ”Promise me, my dear child, that you will never act so foolishly again. I could not bear it if you were to fall into the hands of the Inquisition.”
”You need not fear for me, dear Maistre. I'll be careful, I promise.” The words, spoken so sincerely and in her sweetest, most heartfelt tone, almost set his mind at rest. Yet there was still something...
”And have you tried to use the Vox?” she asked.
”The Vox?” he repeated, feeling a little stupid that he had no idea what she was talking about.
”It's a communication device. A Vox Aethyria.” She indicated the crystalline contraption. ”This is how the Tielen generals exchange information over many hundreds of miles. It's one of their most closely guarded secrets. The one on your desk is almost certainly linked to another in the New Rossiyan Empire. Perhaps even to the Emperor himself.”
”Celestine, how do you know so much about this?”
”It was originally commissioned from the College of Thaumaturgy by our own government. The records are all in the Inquisition archive.” She spoke with such quiet authority that he felt ashamed of his ignorance. ”But then the Inquisition intervened. Kaspar Linnaius escaped to Tielen with the plans and completed the work.” She still had not fully answered his question.
”But this is an alchymical device. If Visant could hear you now, he'd have you arrested for possessing forbidden knowledge.” His anxiety made his tone more harsh than he intended and he saw her blink, as though avoiding a blow. ”How could you defend yourself if he put his interrogators to work on you?”
”There were papers and designs in Linnaius's study. It wouldn't take a genius to understand them.” Again that calm, self-possessed air; why was he so worried on her account? Was it that her story didn't quite convince him? He had known her since she was a little child, and he couldn't help but suspect that she was still withholding some vital piece of information from him.
”Maistre,” she said, leaning closer over the desk, ”this Vox gives Francia an invaluable advantage over the Emperor. We have his magus and we have his communications device. For the first time in many years we can do more than defend ourselves against the Tielens. Let the Vox be used as its original inventor intended: to protect our nation.”
Cleverly she had turned the conversation away from herself to the broader implications of the discovery. If this intelligence was true, then he must take the device to the king.
Jagu gazed at Celestine as she stood before the court in her black uniform robes, her golden hair drawn back under a simple linen coif, and thought how beautiful-and vulnerable-she looked. He no longer had any idea whether such thoughts were impure, only that he would run through fire rather than see her harmed.
”Celestine de Joyeuse,” said Inquisitor Visant, p.r.o.nouncing each syllable of her name with exaggerated care. ”You have shown great zeal in your quest to track down Kaspar Linnaius.”
Be careful. Jagu leaned forward. Jagu leaned forward. He's out to trap you. He's out to trap you.
”I acted only as any member of the Commanderie would in the circ.u.mstances,” replied Celestine coolly. ”I was given my orders and I carried them out.”
Jagu relaxed a little. She had not fallen for Visant's first snare. But there would be more traps, and each one more subtle than the first.
Visant was consulting a sheaf of notes. ”Considerable zeal,” he said at last, looking up. ”I see from the s.h.i.+p's log that the s.h.i.+p bringing the prisoner to Francia nearly foundered in a sudden, violent storm. Can you explain to the court what happened?”
”Linnaius used his arts to summon a storm wind and blow us off course, back to Tielen.”
”You witnessed him performing this rite?”
”I did.”
Jagu tensed. He alone knew what Celestine had done to ensure that Kaspar Linnaius did not work his Dark Arts. If anyone else had observed what had happened in the cabin and whispered the truth to the Inquisitor, they were both doomed.