The Painted War (15 page)

Bianca was sure she was right. She pictured the Oscuritan gift – Edita and Catriona's stone forms locked in an embrace.
Why? Why would Edita bother sending a gift?

The question seemed to rattle around Bianca's mind: she should have asked it to herself as soon as the sculpture was unveiled. She sprinted through the empty streets of La Luminosa, making for the palace.

Why would Edita present Catriona with a statue as a token of Oscurita's friendship, when she knew the Baron would leave that very night and Oscurita would attack mere days later?

Because it was no ordinary gift.

She prayed with all her might to whatever saints and gods might be listening that she could fix it.

She was panting too hard to speak by the time she made it to the palace gate, but it creaked open as she staggered up to it.

‘Huh,' she said to the two guards who stood by the gate. ‘Thank you.'

One of the guards slipped off her helmet and gave Bianca a solemn nod. ‘We saw what you did with the statues, in the garden. Are you back to fetch more?'

Bianca nodded. ‘Something like that.'

The other guard gripped his spear nervously. ‘Lady Bianca, the battle  …  is it  … ?'

‘Edita is down – but the battle's not over,' Bianca panted.

‘Thank you,' said the female guard, and they both went back to watching the bridge.

Bianca hurried inside the palace and up the steps to the first floor and the Duchess's gardens. Her footfalls echoed as her feet slapped on the tiles in the empty corridors. She realised that the rooms were dark – even the night lamps hadn't been lit. A La Luminosan probably wouldn't have been able to make their way without lighting a torch, but Bianca could navigate by the bright, clear starlight that filtered in through the windows and the light from the glowing
animare
jar in her hand.

She stumbled out into the walled garden, her steps crunching on the gravel, and let out an audible sigh of relief. The statue was there, shining bright white in the starlight. Now that Bianca knew what she knew, Edita's embrace looked less like an expression of friendship and far more like she was reaching out to strangle Catriona.

Bianca started towards it, and then something moved and she skidded to a halt. On the bench in front of the statue, a figure was sitting, hunched. It turned around and looked at Bianca.

‘Lady Bianca?' said Secretary Franco. ‘Is that you?'

Bianca walked forwards, slowly. ‘It's me,' she said. Bianca circled around him, giving him a wide and wary berth, still heading for the statue of Catriona and Edita.

Then she saw the glitter of tears on his wrinkled cheeks.

‘This is all my fault,' he said. ‘I've failed Catriona, and I've failed La Luminosa.'

‘Why would it be your fault?' Bianca asked.

‘I didn't listen to you,' Secretary Franco said simply. ‘I wanted to believe there could be peace. That Edita could be reasonable. All I wanted was peace, and now  … ' He trailed off, and in the silence Bianca could hear the clash and roar of the battle down in the city. ‘Lord knows what has happened to the Duchess Catriona,' Franco went on. ‘It was me who insisted on a diplomatic solution – and you knew better all along, didn't you?' He shook his head and ran his hands through his grey hair. ‘I tried to unite the two cities once before, you know. I was idealistic. I thought a marriage between La Luminosa and Oscurita would solve all the problems of both cities. I persuaded the Duke to meet with your mother, Saralinda.'

‘It wasn't your fault she fell in love with someone else,' Bianca said.

‘But I knew the Duke didn't want to remarry. He let me talk him into it because he wanted peace as much as I did, but it was never a good idea. And then Edita made her first attempt to take the throne while Annunzio and Saralinda were here. So you see, all my fault from the very beginning.'

Bianca didn't say anything. It wasn't his fault – she thought it was rather obviously Edita's fault. But she could see he wasn't going to listen to reason right now.

‘Oscurita fell into chaos, and when the Duke died, the Baron became Regent. I knew something was wrong when he had all of the Duke's most trusted advisors sent away. I played the fool, as if I hadn't known about Oscurita at all, and he believed me. When I realised what he'd planned to do to Catriona  …  I blamed myself, so I swore that this time I would help her to make peace with Oscurita, for good. I didn't learn my lesson. Now she's gone, maybe for good, and without her I don't know if La Luminosa can survive.'

Bianca held up the jar and unscrewed the lid. The
animare
tried to clamber up the sides and she nudged it back in with one finger.

‘I have a crazy idea,' she said. ‘Do you want to hear it?'

‘Bianca,' Franco said, ‘I'm ready to listen to you, as I should have done long ago.'

‘I think Catriona's trapped in this sculpture. I think Edita's done this before. She was planning to get here before anyone realised what had happened, and smash the statue. I hope I can use this to wake Catriona and release her from this marble cell.'

Bianca waited for Franco to say something – perhaps ‘what childish fantasy is this?' or ‘be careful' or ‘are you mad?'

‘Then do it, for God's sake!' said Franco.

Bianca smiled. ‘Do you still have the medallion?'

Franco fished in his pockets and pulled out the blank marble disc. He smiled at Bianca, and an expression she'd never seen him wear before crossed his face. It was  …  mischievous. ‘Shall we take a leaf out of our dear Duchess's book?'

‘Do it!' Bianca grinned.

Secretary Franco put the medallion down on the floor, seized his golden walking stick and brought it down hard in the centre of the disc. It splintered with a sound like wind rushing down a tunnel.

‘Mmm?' said a muffled voice. ‘Mm? Mm-
mmmmmm!
'

Bianca spun around. The voice was coming from the statue.

‘I'm here, Catriona. Just hang on!' she said. She took a brushful of paint and carefully swiped it across Catriona's lips. She caught her breath – was she imagining it, or had there been a slight shimmer across the Duchess's skin? Was it just a cloud passing across the moon, or was the Duchess a slightly darker colour than the white marble on Edita's hands?

Bianca set to work, applying brushfuls of the magical paint to the Duchess, working it into her eyelids and across her cheeks. Catriona's colour was definitely coming back, her skin felt slightly soft to the touch. Bianca nudged the Duchess's dress with her knee and it shifted, like stiff fabric.

The transformation was slow, until suddenly it was done. Duchess Catriona blinked and let out a gasp and recoiled away from the grasping marble hands of Edita.

‘What?' She staggered off the plinth and caught herself on a topiary bird. ‘What the  …  What is going on?' She looked up at the dark sky, and then peered at Secretary Franco and Bianca. ‘Why are we out in the garden? Why was I hugging that ugly thing?'

‘You were under a spell, Your Highness,' said Secretary Franco.

‘Oh! I remember!' Catriona gasped. ‘I sat down on my bed, and I found this medallion, just like the one we smashed – and then it was like I fell
into
it. And then everything just went black.'

‘Lady Bianca worked out Edita's plan and painted you back to life, Your Highness,' said Secretary Franco, with a kindly glance at Bianca.

‘Oh, good,' said Catriona. ‘Why's it so dark? And what's  … ?' She turned, following the sound of battle.

‘They have invaded,' said Bianca. ‘Edita is down, but we're outnumbered, and the battle's still going.'

Catriona didn't say a word, but hitched up her skirts and strode from the garden. As her dress brushed past one of the hedges, the last shards of marble fell away and sparkled on the leaves.

Bianca and Franco ran after her.

‘Bring me a horse,' Catriona shouted as she entered the courtyard. ‘And my armour!'

‘Your Highness!' The two guards on the gate almost dropped their spears in surprise. ‘Where did you  … ? How did  … ? I mean  … ' The guard remembered herself under Catriona's intense glare. ‘Yes, of course, right away, Your Highness!' She ran off, leaving Catriona tapping her foot impatiently, and appeared a few minutes later leading a white horse laden with Duchess Catriona's golden armour. The guards began to help buckle Catriona into it, but Catriona held up a hand.

‘Split it between me and Bianca,' she said. She glanced at Bianca. ‘That is, if you're coming?'

‘Try and stop me.' Bianca grinned and accepted the guard's help to put on the armour's shoulder plates while Franco helped Catriona fasten the breast plate. Then Duchess Catriona swung herself up onto the horse, helped Bianca up behind her, and drew her sword from the sheath.

‘Not going to tell me to hang back and stay safe, Secretary Franco?' she asked, looking down at him with a twitch of her eyebrows.

‘I wouldn't dare, Your Highness,' said Secretary Franco with a low bow.

Duchess Catriona laughed, and kicked the horse into a gallop. Bianca had to cling on to the Duchess's waist to stop herself from sliding off as they barrelled across the bridge and along the cobbled streets towards the sound of battle.

As they approached the piazza, they saw two large, black shapes in the street by the edge of the canal. The horse slowed and bucked as they looked up and blinked their large yellow eyes at it. Catriona gave the horse a soothing pat and then drew level with the panthers. For a second, Bianca panicked, unable to see Edita. Then she did: her treacherous aunt was lying on her back, her hair splayed across the cobbles, still breathing, but with one great stone paw resting casually – but heavily – across her chest.

Catriona paused to make sure Edita had seen her, then kicked the horse into a canter.

‘Ready?' she said to Bianca.

‘Ready  …  -ish,' said Bianca, as the horse's muscles bunched underneath her and it sprang forward.

For a moment, nobody seemed to notice the arrival of the Duchess. From on top of the horse, Bianca could see the battlefield, and her heart soared as she realised that the numbers were fairly even. A little pocket of Oscuritan soldiers were defending a corner of the piazza, with the Baron da Russo on his big black horse right at the back screaming orders at them to attack. But another group of Oscuritans were running away, retreating back into the museum. She thought she saw golden La Luminosan armour inside – they'd be taken prisoner, or perhaps forced back through the doors in the paintings. Bianca scanned the battle for Marco, and didn't see him, but she did catch one of the stone lions taking down a whole group of Oscuritan soldiers.

A soldier in silver ran towards Duchess Catriona, his sword raised, but Bianca kicked out and caught him on the side of the head with her newly armoured foot.

‘God bless the Duchess!' Bianca yelled. ‘Duchess Catriona is with us!'

Every head in the square turned. Every La Luminosan who could still raise their voice broke into a cheer. Bianca saw Captain Raphaeli, his helmet knocked off and his horse gone, blood-spattered but still fighting, raise his sword and take up the cheer before twisting to parry a thrust from an Oscuritan soldier. And finally, brilliantly, Bianca saw Marco. He was wielding an oar as if he'd trained with a staff all his life, and the tiny stone dragons were swarming around him, clawing and scratching at any Oscuritan who came close.

‘God bless the Duchess!' Bianca heard him yell, as he spun the oar around his head and swung it down to knock the helmet clean off one of the enemy soldiers.

‘God save La Luminosa!' cried Duchess Catriona. She kicked the horse forward, drew her sword, and charged.

The red light of the sunrise seemed to dribble down between the buildings into the Museum Piazza, as if it wasn't in any hurry to illuminate the scene that lay below.

Bianca sat on the edge of the fountain, holding on tight to Marco's hand.

The fallen silver and golden soldiers mingled, lying side by side or sprawled on top of each other. The pinkish light and the spatters of blood made them all look the same colour. Wrinkled faces lay beside youthful ones, flesh and marble dust mixed together.

Bianca didn't want to look, but she couldn't shut her eyes to the horror of it.

‘We won,' said Marco, quietly.

Bianca simply nodded. She couldn't make herself speak. With so many dead, it didn't look how she thought winning would look. And it certainly didn't feel good.

If I'd really known what war was,
she thought,
I might have had more sympathy for Secretary Franco. Peace at any cost is not real peace  …  but he was brave for trying to make it work.

Those who were able, picked through the bodies, searching for anyone they could still help, while priests and soldiers worked together to sort out the dead.

Bianca saw Cosimo and Lucia hobbling towards the stall that had been set up to tend to the walking wounded, supporting each other. Cosimo was bleeding from a shoulder wound, and Lucia was limping on one foot. Rosa and Ezio followed them, looking worn and sad but not physically injured.

‘Dad's going to marry Olivia,' Marco said, almost casually. ‘He proposed the instant the victory was called. Typical actor.'

Bianca tried hard to smile, but she wasn't sure it actually reached the outside of her face.

‘Also,' said Marco, squeezing her hand, ‘you were brilliant, and so was I, and we won, because of you. And me. Also, the Baron's dead, so there is that.'

Bianca nodded. ‘Yeah,' she said quietly. ‘There is that. Edita's in prison. The Oscuritan soldiers who lived are under arrest.'
We are out of danger, and that is enough
.

‘Look, here comes Raphaeli,' Marco said.

Bianca looked up as the Captain walked over. His noble face bore a few bloodstains, but she didn't think any of it was his. This time, she managed to smile properly. She didn't need to tell him that he was her father right now. She'd let things settle a bit before she broke the news. For now, all she needed was the fact that he was alive and unharmed.

‘Bianca,' said Captain Raphaeli. ‘I  …  I'm so  …  that is –'

Bianca blinked at him, slightly stunned by this tall, powerful, blood-spattered Captain of the Guard seeming to be lost for words.

‘You magicked up reinforcements when we were desperate for them. You fought off Edita by yourself. You brought Duchess Catriona back to us. I'm just  …  so, so impressed.'

‘Thank you,' Bianca said quietly.

‘May I have a word?' the Captain said. ‘Alone?'

Marco raised an eyebrow at Bianca. ‘I'll go and help  …  someone,' he said, and slipped away.

Captain Raphaeli took Marco's place on the fountain beside Bianca.

‘I'm afraid I've been an unforgivable idiot,' he said. ‘I had all the pieces, and I just didn't  …  allow myself to put it together until I saw you with Edita on the battlefield. The family resemblance is undeniable. You look like your aunt and your mother, so much so I can't believe I didn't see it before. But you said that your mother was the true Duchess, and my Sara was just a painter's apprentice.' The Captain gave a sad smile. ‘Or that's what she told me  … '

Bianca took a deep breath. ‘Sara was Saralinda,' she said. ‘The true Duchess. She came to La Luminosa in disguise.'

Captain Raphaeli ran his hands through his curly hair. ‘I still can't believe it,' he said. He looked at Bianca. ‘I'm your father. I have a daughter. And my daughter  …  is
incredible
.'

Bianca's eyes swam with tears. She wasn't sure if she was happy, or sad, or both, or simply more exhausted than she'd ever been in her life. But she had a father. A
great
one.

She shifted closer to him and he put his arms around her. She rested her head on his plate armour and felt like she'd finally come home.

‘Listen,' her father said, without letting her go, ‘I  …  I understand that a Duchess can't just take up with a commoner. Especially one she's not seen for twelve years. Perhaps she has a Duke, now – I don't know. And I don't expect anything from her. But do you think she would be willing to see me? I loved her so, so much. If I could just see her again  … '

The sob that Bianca had been holding on to while he spoke broke out of her, and she wept bitterly. Her father pulled away from her and looked into her face, his own face falling.

‘Bianca?'

Suddenly there was a commotion across the courtyard. Someone shouted, ‘They're coming through!' and there was a confused clatter from inside the museum. Captain Raphaeli held Bianca's face firmly for a long second and then jumped to his feet, his hand on his sword hilt.

‘What's happening?' he demanded. ‘Who's coming through?'

‘Make way!' called an oddly familiar voice. Bianca stood and staggered over to look into the museum, and saw a man and a woman in dark grey cloaks step out of one of the paintings. Behind them, another cloaked woman helped a figure in black down from the doorway.

‘We come in friendship –
true
friendship,' said Pietro, throwing back his hood. He was wearing thick glasses with dark coloured lenses. ‘With the true Duchess of Oscurita.'

‘Mother!' Bianca ran through the museum doors and skidded to a halt, just short of crashing into her. Saralinda was leaning heavily on the arm of the Resistance fighter who'd helped her down, and blinking against the glare of the morning sunshine. She had her right arm bandaged tightly to her shoulder, and she looked as if a stiff breeze could blow her over.

But she was alive. Saralinda was alive!

‘Stand down!' Bianca yelled back at the La Luminosan soldiers who'd gathered around the museum entrance. ‘This is the rightful Duchess of Oscurita, she's not your enemy.'

‘Bianca,' Saralinda croaked, and reached out her arms.

‘You're alive!' Bianca sobbed, stepping into the hug and embracing her mother as gently as she possibly could. ‘Edita said you were dead!'

‘My friends saved me.' Saralinda smiled. ‘And we realised that the traitor Filpepi had given us a precious gift. Edita believed me dead, and without me the Resistance could be no threat, so she left almost nobody behind to guard the castle. She had no idea how many of her guards and her servants were truly supporters of mine – or willing to swear it, once I sat on the throne again. And you did the rest.' Saralinda gave a weak but bright grin. ‘My brilliant girl.'

‘Mother,' Bianca said, ‘there's something else. I  … '

She found she didn't know how to say it, so she just looked up at Captain Raphaeli. Saralinda followed her gaze. Her hand clutched hard onto Bianca's shoulder, and Bianca realised she might be about to faint. She met the Resistance fighter's eyes, who lowered Saralinda gently to the ground.

Raphaeli stepped forward. ‘Sara,' he said, and fell to his knees in front of her, tears streaming down his face, leaving clean tracks through the grime of battle.

‘Alessandro!' Saralinda gasped. ‘My own Alessandro!' She reached for him, and he gently took her in his arms and kissed her.

Bianca stood, flushing with happiness and a twinge of embarrassment.

‘Make way for the Duchess!' cried Secretary Franco's voice from the piazza, and Bianca almost skipped to the doors of the museum. Duchess Catriona was striding towards them, still half dressed in her golden armour, with Franco scurrying after her and Marco strolling in their wake.

‘I hear we have a visitor?' She grinned at Bianca and linked their arms as she passed, dragging Bianca along. Bianca was glad to see that her parents had stopped kissing, and her mother was on her feet again, leaning on her father and beaming. ‘Your Highness,' said Duchess Catriona, and for perhaps the first time in her life she dropped into a low, sincere curtsey.

‘Your Highness,' echoed Saralinda, bobbing a weak curtsey back.

Duchess Catriona stepped forwards and placed her hands over Saralinda's. ‘I am so pleased to meet you – the rightful Duchess of Oscurita, restored to her throne! I hear that you and my dear, late father were good friends,' Catriona said, beaming. Bianca glanced at Secretary Franco, and he nodded. He'd told her the truth then – her father hadn't wanted to remarry and instead had given his blessing to Saralinda's marriage for love.

‘He was the best of men,' Saralinda said. ‘And he loved you very much.'

‘Ugh,' Catriona sniffed. ‘Don't, I shall cry! I haven't cried yet today and I don't plan to start now. The question is, how shall we celebrate your re-coronation, Your Highness?'

‘Actually,' Saralinda said, squeezing Captain Raphaeli's arm, ‘as pleased as I am that my struggle is over and my usurping sister is off the throne  …  I honestly have no taste for leadership any more. It's been a long, long twelve years. Oscurita is ready for new blood. Young blood. It's time.'

They all turned to look at Bianca.

‘Hey, hang on.' Bianca held up her hands. ‘I'm not really duchess material! I totally failed as a lady.'

‘Oh rubbish,' said Catriona, fixing her with her very best mischief-making smile. ‘You've saved both our cities several times over in the last few days, I think you can handle sitting on a chair and making boring decisions about cleaning up canals.' Then she leaned close and murmured in Bianca's ear. ‘Anyway, being a duchess is
much
better than being a lady.' Bianca actually
felt
her grin again. ‘The Duchess is the one in charge  … '