The Marus Manuscripts (46 page)

“It surprises me what you know and do not know, Lord Hector.”

“What do you mean, sire?”

“You said conclusively that Lords Stephen and Terrence were both fanatical members of the Old Faith. I have learned otherwise. In fact, the two of them, along with Reginald, actively
hated
the Old Faith. So how did you draw your conclusions?”

“From my interrogations, sire. But under such duress, they may have lied to me about their cause.”

“Perhaps they did.” The king drummed his fingers on the book. “Or perhaps you put the lie into their dead mouths.”

“Sire!” Hector cried indignantly and stood up.

“Sit down, Hector.”

“But Your Majesty—”

Maddy wasn’t sure how it happened, but the king suddenly had a knife in his hand. “I said, sit down.”

Lord Hector obeyed.

“We were speaking of truth, and now I want it.” The king kept the knife steadily pointed at Lord Hector. “You and Lord Stephen and Lord Terrence conspired together to do two things, kill me and—”

“No!”

“And rid the land of those who subscribe to the Old Faith. You failed at the first, but you’ve worked very hard at the second.”

“You accuse me unfairly!”

“And you continue to lie to me.” He turned to Annison and asked, “How did you know I was going to be poisoned at the banquet?”

“Simet told me.”

“And how did Simet know?”

Annison hesitated. Maddy knew she was trying to protect her, to keep her out of what might happen.

Maddy stepped forward. “I told him, Your Majesty,” she admitted.

“You?”

“I’d be wary of anything this girl has to say, sire,” Lord Hector interjected.

“Quiet!” the king commanded. To Maddy he said, “How did
you
know?”

“I overheard Lord Stephen, Lord Terrence, and Lord Hector plotting to poison you the day of the banquet,” Maddy reported.

“You’re certain it was the three of them?”

“Yes, sire.”

‘Don’t believe her, Your Majesty!” Hector pleaded, his voice rising. “She is easily influenced and may be confused by what she saw and heard.”

The king ignored him and asked Maddy once more, “Are you
certain
Lord Hector was one of the men?”

“I am positive, sire.”

Then, catlike, Lord Hector leapt to his feet and raced for the doors. They opened, but the way was blocked by several guards. He stopped, took a few steps in another direction, and then moved in another, but every exit was covered by the king’s men. They grabbed him and dragged him back to the table.

The king stood up and slapped him across the face. “I trusted you, Hector, and you have fed me nothing but lies,” the king stated.

“What else could I give you?” Lord Hector spat at him, his eyes narrowing with hatred. “The truth is too hard for you to swallow. It gets in the way of your golf games and wigs and stupid parades. The truth in your hands is like giving a diamond to a fool—you would play marbles with it!”

The king observed him silently for a moment, then confessed, “Yes, you’re right, Hector, but I’m willing to change. No, I
will
change. But what am I to do with you? Can
you
change?”

Lord Hector, seeing hope for a reprieve, nodded quickly. “Yes, Your Majesty, I can change. Show mercy to me. Please! You will then see such an amendment of life that even my closest family will not recognize me. Mercy!”

The king turned to Annison. “What does my queen say?” he asked.

“It’s not for me to decide,” Annison answered. “I can only hope you show him the same mercy that he has shown the believers in the Old Faith over the past month.”

The king understood and signaled the guards to take Lord Hector away.

“No!” he cried as he was dragged out, kicking and screaming. “No! Please! Have mercy! Noooooo!”

Everyone was shaken by Hector’s exit except the king. He sat down again and calmly picked up Hector’s uneaten piece of chocolate. Popping it into his mouth, he told Annison, “And now I want the truth from you.”

“Sire?”

“Who is Simet?”

“A member of the palace guard,” she replied, then added, “and the man who raised me as his daughter.”

The king nodded as if he’d already figured it out. “He is also a leader in the Old Faith, a faith that I myself have outlawed.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The king kept his eyes fixed on Annison. “Then I may assume that you are also a believer in the Old Faith?”

Annison gazed back at the king. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“So, by the law of Hector’s decree and the purge he ordered for this coming Saturday, Simet should be executed.”

“Lord Hector planned for him to be the first,” Annison stated.

“And, by law, you should also be executed.”

“Yes, sire.” Her gaze never wavered, her eyes staying firm on the king. “In the end, I would not deny my faith—or my foster father.”

The king averted his gaze, looking down at the table thoughtfully. He touched the red-velvet book again. “I would have preferred that you told me the truth in the beginning.”

“I was afraid to,” Annison confessed. “The man I knew a month ago seemed so fickle and uncaring that I was certain he would have sent me away. And then what would have happened to my people?”

“And now?”

“Now I see a man to be respected. A man I believe loves me. A man I have grown to love.”

The king seemed startled by her remark. “Is that true?”

“It is, sire. I would now trust you with my life—and the lives of those I hold most dear.”

He sighed. “So be it.” He stood up again and seemed taller somehow, rising to a majestic height. “In light of Hector’s treason, I will repeal his decree. Further, because Simet, as a believer in the Old Faith, showed his loyalty to me by being instrumental in saving my life, I will repeal any and all laws that oppress or persecute those who believe in the Old Faith. The gallows that Hector constructed will be used on him alone for his treachery.”

Annison fell to her knees and, grabbing the king’s hand, kissed it. “My king!” she declared.

“Rise, my queen. What I do, I do because I want to be a just king.” He then looked down at her tenderly. “And because I want to be a good husband.”

Before Annison could respond, he withdrew his hand and marched from the room.

Annison rose to her feet and stood until he was gone, and then she slumped into her chair again. Her face in her hands, she began to cry.

Maddy went to her and wrapped her arms around her neck. She, too, cried.

From the corner, Tabby grabbed a handful of chocolates and said, “I’m going to find another job. This one is too stressful!” And she popped the chocolates into her mouth.

T
he banquet for Simet was held in the Great Hall on the following Saturday. It was a magnificent feast and included all those of the Old Faith whom Lord Hector had thrown into the dungeon. Together they, along with the king and queen, lamented those who had died at Lord Hector’s hands. Then the king made a passionate speech asking for their forgiveness and promising a new day of religious freedom for the people of Marus.

Simet, whose bruises were now faded, was touched by the occasion. He was teary-eyed when the king pinned the medal to his chest. “I don’t know when I became such a baby,” Simet sniffled.

The king laughed and then announced that Simet was now
Lord
Simet, with a manor house and lands to the east of Sarum, and would replace Lord Hector as his adviser.

Annison had the last word, though, when she stood up and, in defiance of all known ceremony and protocol, offered a toast to her
father,
Simet.

Everyone, the king included, rose to his feet and saluted Simet. Afterward, the guests all applauded the queen, for everyone knew by then that she had truly saved their lives.

Alone, in a courtyard on the other side of the palace, Lord Hector was executed for his crimes against the king and against Marus. The executioner and a lone witness confirmed his punishment and signed the death certificate. He was buried in an unmarked grave.

O
n your next birthday, you’ll be old enough to be made a royal lady-in-waiting,” Annison told Maddy several days after Simet’s banquet. They were in the east garden, walking among the many rows of flowers. The smells were intoxicating.

Maddy smiled. “I don’t know what a lady-in-waiting does, but it sounds very chivalrous,” she said happily. “Just like something from the days of King Arthur.”

“King who?” Annison asked.

Maddy giggled. “I’ll tell you about him sometime,” she replied.

On the edge of her giggle, though, she had a strange feeling, a sweet sadness. She knew somehow that she would never tell the story to Annison. It was time for her to go home. But she had no idea how or when it would happen.

“You’re happy here, aren’t you?” Annison asked.

“Yes, I am,” she answered. But her tone betrayed her homesickness.

“You miss your family.”

Maddy nodded.

“There’s a meeting of the Old Faith tonight. I suggest we put it to the leaders to pray that the Unseen One will take you home.”

“Can they do that?”

Annison tilted her head a little. “They can
try.
”

The king was on a patch of green grass several yards away. He stood over a small white ball with a golf club in his hands.

He was practicing his golf swing and had been doing so for the past hour. So far he had succeeded in hitting only one ball in the direction he’d intended.

Now he swung his club backward and then forward, hitting the ball hard. He looked ahead expectantly, hoping to see it fly farther out onto the manicured lawn. Instead, however, it spun off to the side and landed under his royal coach, which had been parked there by the driver.

“Oh, blast!” the king said.

Annison laughed.

He looked at her with a pained expression and informed her with mock sternness, “It isn’t funny.”

Annison put a hand over her lips to hide the smile, but it lit up her face too much. “I’m sorry,” she giggled.

The king then laughed, too. “Maybe I’ll take up bowling,” he said. He patted his pockets and then added, “I’m out of balls anyway.”

“I’ll get you one,” Maddy shouted and ran to the coach to retrieve the ball he’d just lost. She looked around the wheels for it but couldn’t see where it was. Then, stooping down, she saw it sitting under the center of the carriage. Crawling carefully so as not to get her dress dirty, she went to the ball and grabbed it.

“You shouldn’t be under there!” she thought Annison called out. But it didn’t sound like Annison.

“What?” she asked as she turned to look back. Her mother was peering in at her through the gap in the trellis. Maddy gasped, jerked up, and nearly hit her head on the underside of the porch.

“Come out of there!” her mother ordered. “You’ll get your dress all dirty.”

Maddy crawled out from under the porch.

Her mother
tsked
at her and brushed at her dress. “Why do we
make you new dresses when you insist on getting them dirty?” she asked. “Why?”

Johnny Ziegler suddenly rushed up to her. “There you are! I found you!” he screeched happily, touching her as if to ensure that it was her turn to find him.

Maddy blinked. “You won’t believe what just happened to me,” she told her mother.

Her mother sighed as the baby cried from the other side of the lawn. “You’re right,” she said as she walked away. “I probably won’t.”

“What’s that?” Johnny pointed at her hand.

“What’s what?” Maddy asked. She felt a little fuzzy-headed.

Johnny pointed again.

Maddy lifted her hand. She was clutching something she’d found under the porch.

It was a golf ball.