The Marus Manuscripts (37 page)

“Are you Simet?” Maddy asked.

The man nodded solemnly. “Yes, I am.”

“Then why don’t you give them to her yourself?”

“For one thing, men are not allowed in those chambers. For another thing, I don’t want anyone else to know these flowers are from me. It’s a great secret that I trust you to keep. Do you know how to get to Annison’s chambers?”

“No, I don’t.”

Simet chuckled. “I’ve been working in this palace my entire life, and I still get lost. Let me show you.” Dabbing a quill pen into a pot of ink, he drew directions from his office to Annison’s chambers. Maddy was glad. She never would have found them otherwise. “If anyone stops you,” Simet added as he tucked a slip of paper into the pocket on her dress, “just present this slip of paper and say you have been approved by a lieutenant in the palace guards. That’s me.”

Maddy took the flowers—they were heavier than she expected—and began her trek through the corridors to Annison’s chambers.

B
y the time Maddy reached Annison’s rooms, her arms hurt from carrying the vase of flowers. In spite of Simet’s map, she still got lost once or twice—going down a hall that reached a dead end, walking into rooms filled with people preparing for the evening banquet, and even wandering into the main kitchen. No one seemed to notice her at all, and only one man in a uniform asked to see the slip of paper Simet had given her.

A large, muscular, bald-headed man stood guard at Annison’s door. He eyed Maddy with a cool indifference, looked at the slip of paper, then opened the door for her to go in. Maddy’s heart quickened a little at the thought of finally seeing Annison, though a part of her still felt like a silly little girl for wanting something so much when there was no apparent reason for wanting it.
It was only a dream,
she thought.
Maybe this is nothing but a dream, too.

Maddy stood alone in a large room with marble pillars reaching from the floor to a high ceiling. It was simply furnished with a few couches and chairs with large cushions, one or two tables, and velvet curtains that hung around huge glass doors. The doors led to a balcony that overlooked a mazelike garden. From where Maddy stood in the middle of the room, she could see that the garden was an explosion of greens, reds, yellows, and purples.

Off this main room were several closed doors. Maddy wasn’t sure what to do or where to go with the flowers, so she waited a moment, hoping someone would come.

“Well?” a woman’s low voice asked.

Maddy was startled. The woman was sitting on one of the couches but was so big and lumpy that Maddy had thought she was a collection of cushions.

“I assume the flowers are not for me,” the woman said with a chuckle as she shifted her position and rose from the couch. She had dark hair, which she tucked under a weblike hat, and a full, round face. Her eyes were friendly in spite of the sagging bags under them. She had a pug nose and thick lips that made her jowls shake as she spoke. “For Tabby?”

Maddy was so surprised by the appearance of this woman that she didn’t know what to say.

“Not for Tabby?” the woman asked, feigning disappointment. “Then I suppose they’re for Annison. Give them to me.” The woman reached for the vase.

Maddy pulled it away from her. “I was told to give these to Annison personally,” she insisted.

“Don’t be silly,” the woman argued. “I am Tabitha, Annison’s nurse. I will see that she gets them.”

Maddy refused to hand the flowers over. “I have to give them to Annison myself.” Clutching the flowers awkwardly, Maddy pulled Simet’s note from her pocket and gave it to Tabby.

Tabby read the note and grunted. “This doesn’t mean a thing. This only gives you permission to be here, not to tell
me
who may receive the flowers.” She reached for the flowers again.

Maddy stepped back defiantly.

Tabby growled, “Oh, you wicked child!”

“A wicked child?” asked a gentle voice from one of the doorways. “Surely not.” To Maddy’s delight, it was Annison.

“I say she is,” Tabby complained. “She will not give me these flowers for you.”

“I was told to give them to you personally,” Maddy explained.

“Then you are right not to give them to anyone but me,” Annison said with a smile. Again, she looked radiant.

Tabby harrumphed.

“But
you,
my dear nurse, are right to be on guard for me,” Annison added. “You would have been negligent to allow a strange girl to wander our chambers.”

Tabby looked slightly appeased, gave Maddy a final disapproving look, then turned on her heel and left the room.

Annison held out her arms. “Now you may deliver the flowers personally.”

Maddy gave her the vase and then, just as Annison was closest to Maddy’s face, whispered, “They’re from Simet.”

Annison’s smile widened, but tears filled her eyes. “Oh, I should have known.” She placed the flowers on a small pedestal near the glass doors and lingered there, her back to Maddy. The shaking of her shoulders made Maddy realize she was crying.

Maddy went to her and implored, “Please don’t cry.”

Annison straightened up to compose herself. “I’m not sad,” she explained as she wiped her nose with a handkerchief. “I’m happy.”

“You don’t look very happy.”

Annison looked at Maddy and began to cry again. She sat down on one of the couches, burying her face in her handkerchief.

“Oh, dear,” Maddy whispered, her heart aching as if the tears were her own. She sat down next to Annison. “I’m here to help you.”

Annison looked up at Maddy. “Help me?”

“I had a dream about you, and you asked me to help you, and I promised I would,” Maddy explained.

“You dreamt about
me?
”

Maddy nodded.

Annison looked quickly around to make sure no one was near or listening. She leaned close to Maddy and said softly, “Tell me about your dream.”

Maddy told her everything: about living in America, about the dream, about hiding under the porch, and about arriving in time for the king’s parade.

As Maddy spoke, Annison’s eyes grew wide, and her red lips parted in an expression of awe. “This is wondrous,” she concluded.

“I think so, too,” Maddy said with a smile. “I’m like Alice in the looking glass. It’s magic.”

Annison frowned. “I don’t know your friend Alice, but no, this isn’t magic. At least, not the magic of stories or pagans. This is something more.”

Maddy confessed that she didn’t understand.

Annison now spoke in a whisper: “It is the Unseen One.”

“The what?”

“The Unseen One.” Annison suddenly stood up and paced the floor, wringing her hands as she did. “But what does it mean? Why were you sent to me?”

“I came to help you,” Maddy reaffirmed.

Annison wasn’t listening. She paced and spoke softly, mostly to herself. “I know the stories of old, the writings in the ancient manuscripts that tell of voices, protectors, and messengers who came from other places—strange places—to help us.” She suddenly sat next to Maddy again and gazed steadily into her eyes. “But your eyes—they aren’t different colors.”

Maddy blinked. “Different colors?”

“Oftentimes the ones who came had eyes of two different colors. But yours are both green. What am I to make of it?”

Maddy felt again as she had when she stood in the crowd: confused and unsure. “I think,” she suddenly announced, “that I’m here to help you find your true love.”

Annison looked at her, surprised. “What do you mean?”

“Your true love,” Maddy replied. “Just like in the stories. You don’t love the king, so I’m going to help get you back to your true love.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying,” Annison said sharply. “I have no true love.”

Maddy was hurt by Annison’s tone. “You don’t?”

“Has the Unseen One sent you to test me? Or is this a message I must heed?” She paced again. “Is it something cryptic, like a riddle? What do you mean by ‘true love’?”

“I mean someone that you
really
love.”

“I love no one the way you mean,” Annison said simply. “I’m marrying the king.”

“But you don’t love him,” Maddy insisted, though she now doubted herself. “Do you?”

“Love has nothing to do with it,” she stated. “I’m doing my duty, for my country.” She wrung her hands again. “Oh, I wish I could speak with Simet. He’d know.”

“Why can’t you?”

“I’m not allowed to see or speak with any men without the king’s permission until after the wedding. And to ask to speak with Simet would raise many difficult questions.” Annison’s face suddenly lit up with an idea. “But
you
can talk to Simet. You can go back to him and tell him what you’ve told me. Will you do that?”

Maddy shrugged. “If you want me to.”

“Then take this.” Annison took a ring off her finger. “It’s my own. If anyone stops you, show this ring. I am the king’s betrothed. No one will harm you as long as you have this ring. It proves that you serve me.”

The ring fit on Maddy’s thumb. She held it up proudly.

“Beware of one man in particular,” Annison then warned. “Lord Hector.”

“I’ve seen him. He doesn’t look like a very happy man.”

“He isn’t. He hates Marus and wants everyone in it to be as miserable as he is.” Annison guided Maddy to the door. “Pay close attention to whatever Simet tells you.”

“I will.” Then Maddy smiled. “You see? I’m going to help you already.”

Annison smiled and patted her on the head. “So you are. And I have no doubt that you will help me more than you know. Now go.”

Maddy left through the door she’d come in, past the large bald man, and walked confidently down the hall. Then down another. Then around another. Finally she realized she had wandered into sections of the palace not found on Simet’s map. She had no idea where she was going. She stopped a young housemaid and asked for directions. The housemaid rattled out a stream of confusing instructions. Maddy pretended she understood and wandered off again.

Every now and then, she peered out the windows to see if the scene might guide her. It never did. Every view looked different. After another 10 minutes, she stopped at a pair of glass doors that led to a balcony. Outside, three men leaned on the stone handrail, their backs to Maddy. They spoke softly to one another.

“We must strike quickly,” one of the men said.

The second man agreed: “If we act even as early as tonight, we may cause enough of a stir to bring the rebellion we need.”

“Kill the king right before his wedding? It’s a treacherous idea,” the third man observed with a chuckle. His shoulders, covered by a black coat, shook gently.

“Our people will think the Marutians assassinated him to save the dignity of their beloved Annison,” the first man added. “It will give our soldiers a cause to rally around—”

“
Someone
to rally around, you mean,” the second man interjected.

“Yes. And who might that someone be?” the third man asked knowingly.

“Who else? It must be
you
, my lord,” the second man replied. “With the king disposed of, you can legally declare yourself the lord protector. Then, with the allegiance of the army, you can march back to Palatia, arrest the king’s brother and heir as a member of the conspiracy, and secure your place on the throne there.”

The first man shook his head. “But what about the Marutians?” he objected. “Will they not also rally their forces while Palatia is in turmoil? We risk losing this country after so recently claiming it.”

“If a pampered fool like Willem can conquer Marus, I can conquer it again in my sleep.” The third man sneered. “Marus is the least of my worries. It’s a despicable little country with donkeys for citizens.”

“I happen to like it,” the first man protested. “And I would be glad to rule it as a reward for my allegiance.”

The third man chuckled again. “You haggle even now? You’re shrewd, my friend. Yes, if I become lord protector of the kingdom, you may have Marus.”

“Good. Maybe I will take Annison as a bride of my own. She’s pretty enough.”

“If I were you, I would kill her as a member of the conspiracy,” the third man advised. “It would show the Marutians that you aren’t to be trifled with.”

“And what of me, my lord?” the second man asked. “Will you give me Albany as you promised?”

“Albany has always been yours,” the third man replied.

“Then let us shake on it,” the first man said. “The king’s chalice will be poisoned at the banquet tonight by a man in my employ, and you will become lord protector, and we will become the regents of Marus and Albany.”

“So be it,” the third man agreed.

The first man turned to shake hands with the others. He was a handsome young man with dark hair and a thin goatee. He saw Maddy out of the corner of his eye and spun on her quickly. “Who’s this?” he snapped.

The second man, who was older and had sharp features and graying hair, also turned. “What do you want?” he growled.

The third man didn’t turn but froze as he was, with his back to Maddy.

“I’m lost,” Maddy said nervously.

The young man grabbed her arm roughly. “What did you hear just now?” he demanded.

“Nothing,” she stammered. “I only came to ask for your help.”

The young man glared at her. “I don’t believe you. What did you hear?”

“Nothing,” she said more fearfully. He was hurting her arm.

“Ease off, Stephen,” the older man said. “She’s only a child.”

“A child with big ears,” Stephen said, lessening his grip on her arm. “Does she have the mouth to match?”

“I’m lost!” Maddy pleaded. “I only want to find the front of the palace.”

The older man laughed and told her, “You’re well out of your way if you’re trying to find the
front
of the palace. Let me tell you how to get there.”

“Terrence—” the young man began.

The older man held up his hand to silence him. “How much could she have heard? And who would believe a young girl anyway?” He knelt down closer to Maddy and produced a jewel-handled knife from his belt. “Besides, she wouldn’t want her tongue cut out, would she?”

Maddy shook her head. “No, sir.”

“Then you will keep your tongue still and go about your business, correct?”