The Princess and the Captain Page 15

  All was quiet on the other side of the wall. In the moonless night, the lanterns and torches along the avenues and over the doors of buildings shone like hundreds of glow-worms, and other lights fell from the tops of the towers, casting pools of yellow light over the gardens. A chorus of croaking frogs could be heard, and further away a kind of lament that sounded like singing.

  ‘We mustn’t be separated,’ Orpheus whispered. ‘Follow me.’

  They went along the avenues in silence until they reached a strange kind of hall open to the sky, lined with pillars. They followed the pillars and came to a long, sandy path. Here Orpheus stopped, his mouth dry. Nothing was stirring anywhere, not even the leaves on the trees. The eerie calm made him nervous.

  ‘This way,’ he decided.

  His instinct told him to go on along the path he had chosen. The sand underfoot muted their footsteps, and they could see where they were going.

  Further on, they found a gate with two white lanterns hanging over it, and to one side there was a window with ornamental shutters. Orpheus went up to the window and cast a quick look inside. He saw a dimly lit room where dozens of girls were sleeping on bamboo mats on the floor. Orpheus felt his heart leap. If the Princess really is in this harem, he thought, she must be here.

  The door of the dormitory was not locked. Orpheus pushed it gently open, and signalled to his companions to follow him in.

  Once inside, they dispersed and separately went in search of the Princess. Like all Galnicians, they would have known her among a thousand other girls. Her magnificent flowing black hair made her unmistakable.

  They passed between the rows of sleeping girls, leaning cautiously down to look at them, noting every face. At the end of one row Orpheus saw an empty mat. A girl lay face down on the mat next to it, sobbing quietly. Intrigued, he went closer. She was not the Princess; this girl’s hair was as fair as wheat in August. He was about to move on, but as he retreated he trod on a comb lying on the ground and broke it with a sharp crack.

  The girl sat up. ‘Amun Lin?’ she whispered, looking at Orpheus in terror.

  He put a finger to his lips, to show that he didn’t want her to cry out. ‘It’s nothing,’ he murmured. ‘We mean you no harm.’

  The blonde girl looked at him intently. ‘You Galnician speak?’ she said in amazement.

  Orpheus knelt down beside her. ‘I’m looking for someone. A girl with hair like ink. Her name is Malva.’

  At these words the little blonde girl leaped to her feet and grasped Orpheus’s tunic. ‘You come rescue Malva? You not preunuch?’ she asked, pointing to Orpheus’s yellow headband.

  ‘It’s a disguise,’ he said. ‘Do you know Malva? Where is she?’

  ‘You friends of her?’

  ‘Yes, yes,’ said Orpheus in urgent tones. ‘Where is she?’

  ‘In Cage of Torments!’ breathed the girl. ‘You come with me, quick!’

  She hastily flung a garment of some kind round her, crossing it over her breast, and made for the doorway on tiptoe. Orpheus followed, alerting his companions with a snap of his fingers.

  When they were all out in the cloisters, Lei examined the odd group before her with great surprise. She felt that she could trust Babilas and the two sailors, but the young man didn’t look much like a warrior. As for the two boys, they were as thin as incense sticks.

  ‘You have weapons?’ she asked.

  ‘No,’ said Orpheus. ‘Only knives.’

  ‘Too dangerous!’ groaned Lei, aghast. ‘Many difficulties leaving harem!’

  ‘Take us to Malva,’ Orpheus told her, ‘and then we’ll see.’

  Resigned, Lei led them through the gardens. As they walked on they heard that strange, song-like moaning rising into the dark night more and more clearly.

  When she saw the platform of the ‘slaughterhouse’, Lei stopped dead and hid behind a hedge.

  ‘Malva there,’ she whispered. ‘Locked in Cage of Torments. And guarded by Galnician man, guest of Temir-Gai.’

  ‘A Galnician man?’ repeated Orpheus, frowning.

  Dismayed, he carefully parted the twigs of the hedge and looked at the scene. Four torches were burning at the four corners of the platform. He had a clear view of the row of cages. They were all empty … except one. And it was from this cage and the form crouching inside it that the moaning came. Just behind it, the tall silhouette of a man was pacing to and fro to a strange rhythm. In the torchlight, Orpheus recognised the Archont’s smooth, domed head.

  ‘By Holy Tranquillity!’ he murmured. ‘The twins were right!’

  Peppe and Hob stood on tiptoe, trying to see the Princess. When they caught sight of the Archont they nudged each other. The fortune-teller who read the cards for them had not been wrong!

  ‘What’s he doing?’ asked Hob uneasily, pointing to the Archont.

  ‘He turn handle of Cage of Torments,’ Lei told him with suppressed fury. ‘Malva soon crushed and die.’

  All their faces suddenly paled.

  ‘We must act at once,’ said Orpheus, with a lump in his throat. ‘But how are we going to get the Archont out of the way?’

  A heavy silence fell on the little group. The two sailors, clenching their fists, were already preparing to fight, but Babilas calmed them with a gesture. The moment the Archont uttered a sound the guards would intervene, and all would be lost. After a moment, Lei went up to the twins. Her pearl-like eyes examined them closely, and they blushed.

  ‘In my land, in kingdom of Balmun, we think twins lucky,’ she murmured. She put her hands on their shaven skulls, and they jumped.

  ‘Hey, paws off!’ said Hob indignantly. ‘We’re not cornalinos!’

  Lei laughed, and took her hands away, saying, ‘Shaven heads work well. Everyone here think you two apprentice preunuchs!’ She turned to Orpheus. ‘Twins go see foreign man, they take him away. Foreign man think they messengers from Temir-Gai.’

  Peppe and Hob were breathing fast. ‘But … but we don’t speak Cispazian! What do we say to him? And then where do we take him?’

  ‘No need speak,’ Lei reassured them. ‘Preunuchs always silent, except for singing before Bath of Purity. You lead man away from Malva, that all.’

  The moaning in the cage suddenly stopped. Orpheus froze. Suppose Malva had fainted? Or worse? He took the twins by the shoulders and pushed them towards the end of the hedge.

  ‘You must hurry! If something goes wrong we’ll come and help you!’

  Unsteady on their thin legs, Peppe and Hob went up to the platform. They climbed the steps and went round the cage to present themselves to the Archont. When they reached him, he was leaning all his weight on the handle with elation in his eyes.

  ‘Who’s there?’ he asked.

  The boys went closer, heads lowered, and the Archont stopped working the handle.

  ‘Oh, two apprentice preunuchs!’ he smiled. ‘Charming lads …’

  Going up to them, he abruptly raised their chins. Hob and Peppe met the Archont’s eyes. In the dim light, they seemed to shine like two pieces of white-hot metal.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ he growled. ‘Can’t you see I’m hard at work?’

  Hob opened his mouth, but it was Peppe who murmured, ‘Temir-Gai.’

  ‘What do you mean, “Temir-Gai”?’ asked the Archont impatiently. ‘The Emperor wants to see me – is that it?’

  Peppe simply repeated, ‘Temir-Gai.’

  The Archont heaved a sigh of exasperation. ‘Very well, I’ll go with you. I will tell the Emperor how honoured I feel to be allowed to turn this handle myself. I owe him that!’

  The Archont pushed the handle down again, bringing the walls crushing Malva a notch closer together. A cry came from inside the cage, chilling Peppe and Hob to the bone.

  ‘Come on, then!’ said the Archont, laughing. ‘Take me to the Emperor!’

  The twins climbed down from the platform, set off in the opposite direction to where Orpheus and the others were concealed, and disappeared into the nig
ht, followed by the Archont.

  Lei immediately ran out of hiding. ‘Malva! You hear me?’ she whispered. ‘Lei is here. We set you free!’

  A faint groan came from the cage. Meanwhile, Orpheus and the two sailors had grasped the handle and were trying to reverse the mechanism.

  ‘It’s stuck,’ said the first sailor nervously.

  Babilas pushed them aside. Bracing himself, he tried to unjam the interlocking wheels. At that moment a dull and distant rumble like a roll of thunder came through the air. Orpheus looked up in surprise. There was not a cloud over the stars.

  Suddenly, as Babilas stood with legs apart, exerting all his strength, the handle gave way and broke off in his hands.

  ‘Oh no!’ cried Orpheus, appalled.

  ‘Malva!’ groaned Lei, kneeling down. ‘She fainting!’

  Babilas angrily flung down the handle and went up to the cage. Clenching his jaw, he took hold of two of the bars and tried to pull them apart. The mesua wood resisted, and Babilas’s muscles shook with the effort.

  Another rumble, closer than the first, made the leaves of the trees around them quiver. Orpheus turned his head. Over in the west he thought he saw flashes of light. Yet the sky was still clear. There was something disturbing about these strange phenomena.

  Meanwhile Babilas was exhausting himself tugging fruitlessly at the cage. The bars would not move. Orpheus took out his knife and tried to force the lock. He worked on it for some time, but jumped when he heard more thunder. There was a clamour in the west, beyond the city wall.

  ‘Cage too strong!’ said Lei. ‘Impossible get Malva out now! You leave – too dangerous here.’

  At that very moment the twins arrived back on the platform at a run, looking scared.

  ‘We shut the Archont in a room in the palace, but now he’s raising the alarm!’

  As if confirming their words, cries and shouts rang out, disturbing the serenity of the gardens. Red lights were rising into the sky over them.

  Orpheus looked desperately at Babilas. What could they do? They must escape, but they couldn’t possibly abandon the Princess!

  Suddenly the giant pulled the yellow headband from around his forehead. Taking a deep breath, he crouched down, put his mighty arms round the bars and lifted the cage bodily from the platform. Orpheus, Lei and the twins watched him in astonishment. The giant’s legs were shaking, thick veins stood out all along his arms, but he succeeded in hoisting the cage up on his shoulders. When he had recovered his balance, he signalled to Orpheus.

  ‘Right,’ Orpheus whispered. ‘Let’s get out of the city, fast!’

  ‘I come too! I escape with you!’ announced Lei.

  All seven of them made for the gateway. Babilas led the way with Malva’s cage on his back. It was an amazing sight. Oh, Holy Harmony and Holy Tranquillity, Orpheus prayed in silence, let him be able to carry the weight as far as the ship!

  As they approached the gateway, the confusing rumbling noise they had been hearing for some time grew louder. Preunuchs and guards had gathered in a great mass in front of the huge wall. Outside, flames were licking at the wood, and shouts and the sound of horses’ hooves filled the air.

  ‘A fight!’ exclaimed Hob.

  ‘A war!’ said Peppe. ‘It’s the Captain and the men of the Mary-Belle!’

  ‘But … but why have they launched their attack?’ stammered Orpheus. ‘It’s too soon! Much too soon!’

  Suddenly the gates swung violently open, and tongues of flame shot inside the wall. The preunuchs and imperial guards fell back, panic-stricken, shouting up at the buildings and towers.

  ‘We must get out!’ yelled Orpheus.

  At that moment a horde of mounted men appeared. There were dozens of them, riding caparisoned horses, a mass of black shapes opening up a passage through the glowing conflagration. They galloped through the flames towards the harem.

  ‘That’s not …’ Peppe murmured.

  ‘… the Captain!’ Hob finished for him, his jaw dropping.

  The horsemen raced in close formation through the city gardens, trampling everything in their path. Sheltering behind a row of columns, Orpheus and his companions watched the mounted men pass. They were brandishing spears and whips. And alone at their head, leading the attack, a young and vigorous man stood erect on his horse’s back.

  ‘Hunters from Great Azizian Steppes!’ Lei shouted into Orpheus’s ear.

  The noise of the fire, the galloping horses and clashing weapons was deafening. Why were the hunters attacking Temir-Gai’s city? Who were they? What did they want? Fascinated by their proud bearing, Orpheus stood transfixed for a moment. But once the horde had gone by, he collected his wits.

  ‘Our way’s clear ahead – quick!’

  He raced for the gateway. The flames were now nearing the top of the wall, consuming the statue of Temir-Gai and his mythical mount. Shielding his face with his arm, Orpheus held his breath and ran through the fire, gasping with terror.

  The others followed him, and soon they were all outside the city, standing dazed in the grassy place beyond the wall. Babilas was still carrying the cage on his back. His face was blackened by the smoke and he was breathing hard, but his powerful muscles did not give way.

  Behind them, in the streets of Cispazan, the alarm had been raised. Amidst general turmoil, human chains were forming to carry water to the burning city.

  ‘The Princess is safe!’ sighed Orpheus. ‘Let’s not hang around here.’

  As they moved away from the battlefield, they failed to notice the figure of a man emerging from the fire. A man with a smoothly shaven head and eyelashes singed by the flames, holding the broken handle of the Cage of Torments in his hands …

  * * *

  On board the frigate, the Captain was in a towering rage. The surprise attack mounted by the horsemen from the steppes had upset his plans, particularly the work of the divers whom he had sent into the harbour to sabotage the Emperor’s fleet. Seeing a crowd of Cispazians armed with buckets flock down to the quaysides, the divers, afraid of being spotted, had abandoned their mission and returned to the Errabunda. Most of the Cispazian ships were in no state to put to sea, though not all of them.

  ‘Who are those barbarians who attacked Temir-Gai without warning?’ the Captain barked at Orpheus when he was up on deck. ‘They’ve wrecked my plans, the fools! Did you see them?’

  Still out of breath, Orpheus simply nodded. Then he turned and threw a rope down to Babilas, who was waiting in the dinghy with the others. Orpheus leaned over the rail. He saw the twins hurrying to fasten it to the cage, and Babilas signed to him to haul it up.

  ‘Look here, quartermaster, are you going to tell me what’s going on?’ the Captain continued. ‘Where’s the Princess?’

  ‘Coming up, Captain,’ replied Orpheus, passing the other end of the rope through the mortise of a large pulley. ‘Help me to heave her aboard!’

  The Captain raised an eyebrow. It was true that the Princess had always been prettily plump, but having to be hauled up like a cow … however, he lent Orpheus a hand to such good effect that the cage soon appeared above the rail of the poop deck.

  ‘What the … ?’ exclaimed the astonished Captain. ‘But … but …’

  Babilas climbed the rope ladder, jumped aboard and lent a hand hauling up the cage, finally getting it on deck. Behind him the sailors, the twins and Lei scrambled over the rail. The Captain’s eyes narrowed.

  ‘Who’s that fair girl?’ he asked.

  ‘I’ll explain later,’ Orpheus apologised. ‘The Princess is suffocating in there.’

  He told the twins to find buckets and draw as much water as possible, and then went down through the central hatch to his cabin, where he collected his entire stock of candles and ran back up again.

  ‘Quartermaster!’ the Captain said again. He pointed to the heights of the city. Even from this distance, it was easy to see that the flames were devastating the harem and the entire imperial city. ‘I doubt if Temir-Gai will be af
ter us just yet. Since the Princess is on board, we will set sail at once!’

  Orpheus absently agreed, before making for the cage, where he handed candles to Lei and Babilas.

  ‘Set fire to the bars,’ he said. ‘If this cage is made of the same wood as the city it will burn. Only when the Princess is too close to the flames do I want the twins to pour buckets of water on them, understand?’

  Orpheus lit the candles, and Lei and Babilas each held a flame to one of the bars. The wood began to char and then to smoke. Suddenly, several of the bars caught fire.

  ‘Do we pour water now?’ asked Hob, sounding worried.

  ‘Wait!’ Orpheus told him. ‘Only if it gets dangerous.’

  Lei was anxiously watching the cage burn. Malva could hardly be seen in the middle of it, jammed between the walls and the movable ceiling. Only one hand and a few locks of her hair showed.

  ‘Water!’ Orpheus suddenly cried.

  The twins feverishly emptied two buckets at once. The flames went out, the wood hissed and a small cry was heard.

  ‘Malva!’ said Lei. ‘You can hear me?’

  A faint reply came from the Princess.

  ‘The cold water has brought her round,’ rejoiced Orpheus.

  He turned to Babilas and showed him the half-charred bars. The giant signed to the others to stand well away. He grasped one of the bars with both hands and finally cracked it with a powerful heave. He repeated this operation several times, and as each bar broke their hopes grew. Finally Babilas was able to get at one of the wooden panels compressing Malva’s body and pulled it out.

  ‘Done it!’ cried Orpheus in triumph.

  He helped Babilas to lift the Princess out of her prison, and they laid her on the deck. Lei and the twins gathered around her. Orpheus looked at the girl’s anguished face like a prospector looking at his first gold nugget. Seeing the Princess here, alive and safe, he realised that he had just done the first notable deed of his life.

  ‘She’s so beautiful,’ whispered Hob.

  ‘Is she dead?’ asked Peppe.