The Centaur (5 page)

“You must forgive me, Sophia.” The blonde removed the sunglasses and smiled. “I thought you would recognize me.”

“Oh! I’m sorry, Your Highness.” Sophia’s mouth fell open and she clutched the neck of her gown in total embarrassment.

“Please, don’t call me that.” Merry Ramsay said as she walked past her into the foyer and the two men made a move to follow her. Merry held up one hand, stopping them in their tracks. “Wait outside for me, please, Rupert, Jake. I’ll be fine.” Without further ado, the Queen of the Britons closed the door in their disgruntled faces and took Sophia’s hand in hers. “I’m sorry about that, but what with the phone lines being down all over Scotland and the unreliable state of the post, I didn’t bother to send a message ahead. Besides this is my home, too. When I heard that Sir Ramsay had come home… well, I had to come. You understand, I’m sure.”

“Oh, sure. Of course.” Sophia nodded. “Can I get you some coffee? I just put on a pot in the kitchen. I’m sorry about the…”

“Hush, now.” Merry drew her along the hall to the kitchen. “Let me do it. They won’t let me do anything anymore. It’s the small things I miss the most. Like making coffee or baking a soufflé or even sewing on a button now and then. I couldn’t believe that Mark Andrew would come home without Luke Matthew. I haven’t had a letter from Luke in weeks!”

Sophia sat down at the table dumbfounded. She had seen Meredith Ramsay a few times, but never had the occasion to speak with her and those times had been long ago. The stories about Merry and Luke Matthew still circulated among the monks and residents of the two islands and were growing as the years passed into legends resembling epic fairy tales. Merry was the epitome of the fair maiden and Luke, the handsome prince that had rescued her from the jaws of the dragon. Sophia knew most of the real story, but the sight of the Queen standing on her doorstep at eight in the morning made her jaw lock and her tongue turn to cotton.

She watched in stunned silence as Merry went about setting out coffee for three as if she still lived in the house or was a visiting neighbor from just down the road. Nothing had really changed very much in the big house since she had last been there. All the dishes were the same. Most of the appliances that still worked were there just as they had been two decades earlier. The generators were working, there was fuel for the gas stove and electricity. They had hot water to bathe in and most of the remaining working indoor toilets in Lothian. The soldiers had made short work of setting up camp in the old barracks of Barry’s academy and they had been steadily repairing everything that had fallen in disarray. No looters had come here. The place had a sinister reputation. The braver neighbors had come around a few times just out of curiosity, pretending to need this or that. All in all, with the end of the world just around the corner, they were doing all right. Sophia had not thought to even try to contact Queen Meredith upon their return. She could have kicked herself now to have been so short-sighted. Of course, Merry Ramsay would want to visit them. They would have news of the King. It was a terrible oversight. Now Merry was rummaging in the cabinet, searching for something.

“Uh, Madame Ramsay, Your Highness.” Sophia was up again. “Let me do this.  What are you… what would you like?”

“You wouldn’t have any sugar, would you?” Merry turned to face her almost apologetically. “We don’t have any sugar in London. We’re working on it, but there are some many other, larger problems. I just thought perhaps…”

“No, we have honey. Would that do?” Sophia smiled.

“Honey would be fine.” Merry relented and allowed Sophia to finish the task of serving up the coffee.

Sophia poured two cups full of coffee and left the third empty.

When they were sitting at the table, Merry looked around and seemed unable to think of what to say.

“I suppose you would like to speak with Mark?” Sophia asked hesitantly.

“Yes, but I can wait. Is he showering or shaving or… something? He
will
be down, won’t he?” The Queen asked hopefully. “Is there anyone else home? Konrad perhaps or… Lucio?”

“No. We have a small company of Fox soldiers here for our protection. There’s only myself, Mark, Nicole, Bari Kadif and the two Sinclair-Ramsay boys, Gregory and Nicholas. They stay with the soldiers. That is, Gregory and Nicholas stay with the soldiers, I mean. Nicole stays here with us and Bari. They sleep in… late, I mean. Upstairs.”

Merry had a peculiar look on her face now. She was after all, the Queen of England. Something was seriously wrong here. Bari Kadif?! Nicole Ramsay?!

“Sophia.” Merry put one finger to her own lips and shushed her. “Stop worrying yourself. I am quite aware of the oddities that make up this family. I only want to speak with Mark and I’ll be off. I don’t want to cause problems. That is another reason I came unannounced. I didn’t want the local constabulary to know.”

Sophia nodded and stood up again.

“If you will give me a few minutes, I’ll send him to you.”

Merry’s eyes widened and then she frowned after the youngish-looking woman as she flip-flopped down the hall and disappeared into the library. So, he had been in the library all along? Or was she going to slip out the window and run away? Her eyes traveled about the familiar kitchen. It even smelled the same as she remembered. Tears welled up in her eyes when she remembered the funny little French chef that had tried to teach her to cook. She missed Luke Matthew and the others. She even missed Mark Andrew. But why would he have come home without his precious brother? Further still, why would he have come home with Bari Kadif and Nicole?  Where was Omar and Lemarik?

Presently, she heard the library door open and Mark stepped into the hallway. She recognized him immediately. Shirtless, wearing only a pair of the ever-present black cargo pants he so loved with all the pockets full of mysterious things. He pulled on a black tee shirt as he walked barefoot toward her in the chill of the early morning and her breath caught in her throat. For just a moment he looked exactly like Luke Matthew. She stood up slowly and waited for him to enter the brighter light of the kitchen.

Mark stepped into the kitchen and blinked in the light. His eyes hurt and his head hurt, and now he had to come and talk to this strange lady Sophia said had come all the way from Londontown to see him. The Queen.

“Your Graciousness.” He stopped a few feet away from her, unsure of what to do or say.

Merry smiled and then giggled, slightly embarrassed. She’d never heard that one before. He seemed shorter somehow or younger?

“Mark,” Merry said his name and then hugged him tightly. He allowed her to hug him and patted her shoulders for lack of anything better to do. Her perfume made him sneeze

“I’m sorry, Queen Meredith.” He backed away from her and sneezed again. “Miss Sophia says some smells tickle your nose and make that happen sometimes. I didn’t mean to sneeze on your coat. Miss Sophia says you are supposed to say
‘Bless you
’ when someone else sneezes in your presence. Or really
you
would say ‘Bless me’ since it was me that sneezed, you see, and you who heard me.”

Merry stood with her mouth hanging open in shock.

“Oh.” Mark swallowed hard and glanced about for an exit. He knew he’d said the wrong thing, but was not sure what the right thing might be. “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t talk so much, but I thought maybe you didn’t know what happened. Sneezes and all.”

“Sit down, Mark.” Merry said softly and held out one hand toward the bench alongside the table. “Please. You like coffee?”

“Coffee is fine if you put in lots of honey and cream. Miss Sophia says that we are lucky to have honey and cream. We have cows.”

“You do?” Merry leaned one elbow on the table and looked into the dark blue eyes. “How many cows do you have, Mark?”

“Oh, a whole herd.” He smiled. “Sometimes I help milk the cows when the weather’s bad. Gregory and Nicholas are teaching me to do it. They said I am improving. Yesterday, I fixed the sink. It was leaking… no, that’s a lie. Nicole fixed it. She knows alchemy. She’s teaching me to make decoctions and magickal things… in the lab. Nicole says that it’s my lab. I built it a long time ago.”

“Really?” Merry frowned and then wiped a stray tear from her cheek. She stood up again and looked down the hallway. “Where do you think Miss Sophia went? I’d like to talk to her some more.”

“She’ll be back.” Mark took the lid off the cookie jar and shook out a few oatmeal cookies on the tablecloth. “She said she was embarrassed because you caught her in her nightgown. I think she’s pretty in her nightgown, don’t you?”

“Yes. She is real pretty, Mark.” Merry agreed and resumed her seat. “Are you… is she… are you and Sophia married?”

“Married? No. I don’t think so.” He munched on one of the cookies and then offered her one. “These are very good. Miss Sophia made them herself. Oatmeal. My favorite.”

“I know.” Merry looked away from him. She couldn’t believe it. This was impossible.

A door slammed upstairs and echoed in the lower halls. Footsteps clambered down the stairs and then the sound of Nicole’s voice preceded her to the kitchen. Merry stood up again automatically.

“Daddy, where is that…” Nicole stopped short at the sight of Merry.

“Nicole.” Merry nodded to the very young-looking woman, who looked very much like herself.

“Mother?” Nicole dropped the box she was carrying on her foot and then bent quickly to retrieve it.

“No.” Merry shook her head.

“Oh,” Nicole smiled broadly with her father’s smile and pressed one hand against her heart under the wooly brown sweater. “Thank God! I’m not ready for that.” She gave Mark a peck on the cheek and picked up one of his cookies before going after a cup of coffee. She began to talk while she mixed her honey and coffee with a wooden spoon from the dish rack. “I see you’ve met Daddy. He’s recovering quite well after the accident, aren’t you, Daddy?” She glanced over her shoulder and Mark nodded. “You see, he lost a lot of his memories, but he’s OK now, aren’t you, Daddy?”

“I’m fine, Nicole.” He assured her and then winked at Merry.  He leaned forward and whispered as if Nicole couldn’t hear him. “She worries because I have to talk to myself sometimes, but it’s OK.”

Merry nodded. This was too bizarre.

Nicole brought her cup to the table and sat down.

“So you came to see Daddy?” Nicole raised one eyebrow.

“Yes. I thought he might have news of Luke Matthew.” Merry told her.

“Well, Uncle Luke didn’t have to much to say to Daddy before we left him.” Nicole sounded almost satisfied to deliver this bit of disappointment to the Queen. “And of course, he didn’t have too much to say to me either.” She smiled wickedly and Merry’s temper rose. “I suppose that might be because he let our son go off with Satan and he was ashamed to face me.”

“You mean Lucifer?” Merry managed to control her temper.

“Whatever.” Nicole picked up another cookie and Mark went after more, fishing around in the cookie jar like a small boy.

“Nicole, look, I didn’t come here to argue with you. I didn’t even know you were here and I…” Merry stopped when Sophia came back carrying a basket full of dirty laundry.

“Sorry, Your Highness.” Sophia muttered as she dropped the basket in the rear hall and came back. “Laundry day. Nicole. Good morning.”

The dark-haired woman sat down across from Nicole and pulled Mark’s hand from the jar. He held three cookies.

“Mark.” Sophia seemed embarrassed by his actions. “You’ve had enough cookies. You haven’t had breakfast.”

“That’s why I need more cookies.” He told her and laughed. “You forgot to fix breakfast.”

“I didn’t forget.” Sophia corrected him. “I… oh, this is just great!”

Sophia got up again.

“Miss Merry, Queen Merry.” She shook her head. “Look, let’s go outside. We’ll take a walk and see how the gardens are doing.”

“That sounds like a grand idea.” Nicole said and continued to smile at Merry smugly. “I’ll make Daddy’s breakfast. You and Queen Merry go on and enjoy yourselves.”

((((((((((((()))))))))))))

“Schweikert, you fool!” Ruth met him in the dimly lit passage under the palace. The ground shook and trembled as the bombardment continued unabated above them. The palace residents and guards had taken shelter in the lower regions of the structure when the four armies had shown up outside the gates. “Why is the Prophet not returned? Who are these imbeciles burning his city? Where is that weasel of an emperor?”

“Please, my lady,” Abaddon bowed low before her. “These are dangerous times. The Prophet is unable to reach us. Those armies you saw outside the city wall are commanded by demonic forces from the Abyss.”

“Demons?” Ruth’s face contorted with laughter. “You think that demons from the Abyss frighten me? I have only allowed this effrontery to continue because I promised Saboath I would wait for him to return. I am growing impatient.”

“And good that you are, my lady.” Abaddon drew a deep breath. “If we do not strike soon, they will bring a greater power with them. One capable of banishing you from this dimension.”

“Preposterous. No one remembers the times of old, Abaddon. Even the gods have forgotten us and that has played well for us. Without remembrance, there is no defense.” The great Huber, flung her long hair over her shoulder and turned away from him. Her boots clicked on the stone and the palace guards escorting her turned and followed after her. Abaddon rushed to keep up with her. “Come and see what you make of this.”