Prologue
Yesterday astonished me. To think that I should see a miracle of that kind with my own eyes…
The apothecary had told me Alban might last another four weeks, and perhaps not that. And Master Leon cured him in a single instant. A single instant. He is the Apostle; there is no doubt of it whatsoever. To accomplish something no less than God’s own work… even now I can scarcely believe what my eyes showed me.
Last night, having been permitted to see what Master Leon can do, I lay in the dark on the hope that Her Highness might yet be saved by it, and did not sleep a moment. Her Highness’s condition is said to be very grave. Master Leon’s mana has not yet come back, so there is nothing my impatience can buy, and still I cannot keep from hurrying. Whatever else, I must get to the royal palace and tell His Majesty.
I was out of bed earlier than usual, dressed, and had myself ready to go. His Majesty begins work in his study early every morning, so arriving somewhat ahead of the hour would present no difficulty. I had just told my valet to bring the carriage forward when there was a knock at the door. Who would be about at this hour?
“Master. It is Alban.”
Alban? Recovered enough to be up and moving this early in the morning… the man astonishes me. I had my valet show him in, and there he stood, upright and steady as he had been before the illness, with the color back in his face.
“Good morning, Master. Forgive me for coming to you so early.”
“No, never mind that. How is your health?”
“It is that report I have come to make today. I am entirely well. My strength has not come back yet, but I am fit enough to work from today. Thank you, truly, for troubling yourself over me. From now on I intend to work with all my heart, so that I may repay the kindness.”
Fit enough to work from today, of all things. Yesterday he was as weak as that, and this is the effect of it. What an effect. Master Leon’s power, the Apostle’s power, is a marvel after all.
“No. If you must thank someone, thank Leon. I did nothing.”
“Very good, Master. But it was because you troubled yourself over me and asked Master Leon that I was saved. My gratitude to you as well.”
Alban bowed low. It was only then that the fact of it reached me: Alban had been saved. Yesterday Master Leon’s magic was too great a shock, and I had no attention left over for anything else. I am glad, truly glad, that Alban is well.
“That is fair. Then I shall accept your thanks.”
“Thank you, Master.”
“Alban. I am going to report yesterday’s business to His Majesty, and it is possible he will say he wishes to hear it from you directly. You would have to come up to the palace in that case. Would that suit?”
“Of course, Master. I should have no objection whatever.”
“Thank you. Then hold yourself ready.”
By the time I had finished with Alban it was exactly the hour to leave the house, and I set out for the royal palace.
When I came into His Majesty’s study he had already begun the day’s work as he always does, and his officials were all gathered there with him. The ordinariness of it steadied me a little, and I opened my mouth slowly.
“Good morning, Your Majesty. There is something I must bring to your ear at once, so I would ask that the room be cleared.”
I said it with barely a courtesy in front of it, and surprise came over his face. My haste has the better of me after all; I cannot have managed to seem as I usually do.
“It’s been a long while since I’ve seen Richard in this much of a hurry. Would you all step out a moment? Leave it as it is, no need to tidy.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Excuse us.”
The officials withdrew, and the study held nobody but His Majesty and myself. With the ordinary morning gone out of it and the quiet settling in, my impatience began to climb again. Even so, I could hardly commit the discourtesy of standing to speak, so I first took the sofa His Majesty offered me.
“So what’s happened? In such a rush.”
“Your Majesty, hear this calmly. Master Leon came to the house yesterday, and it appears that with healing magic he can cure… even illness.”
“What? Illness?! Is that true?!”
His Majesty came to his feet in one movement and shouted it. It is no wonder he should be as shaken as that. Until now illness has been met with medicinal herbs and little else, and a great many illnesses could not be cured at all once they had taken hold.
“It is true, Your Majesty. Alban, the ducal house’s butler, had a high fever and a cough that would not stop, and he was wasting away; the apothecary gave him some four weeks. Last night Master Leon was good enough to put healing magic on him, and he came back very nearly to what he was. His strength has not returned, but this morning he was already telling me he could work.”
“To be able to work a miracle like that… The Apostle really is something outside anything we can imagine.”
His Majesty murmured it, and sat down on the sofa all at once, as though the strength had gone out of him.
“Richard. Do you think he might cure Martine… might cure Martine’s illness as well?”
He put the hope into words with expectation in it, and a little fear underneath. It is rare for His Majesty to let so much show, which tells me how dangerous Her Highness’s condition has become…
“I thought of it myself, and I have already asked Master Leon. He says he will treat her with everything he has.”
“Truly?! Thank goodness… thank goodness… Then is Martine going to be saved?”
“I cannot state it as certain, but I believe the chances are good. Beyond that we can only trust Master Leon.”
Having seen what I saw yesterday, one wants to believe he will save Her Highness as well, and still nothing is certain. Even an Apostle cannot be counted on to cure an illness however far it has gone. If only Her Highness’s illness is of the kind that can be cured…
“…That’s so. There is nothing else left to try. We’ll trust Master Leon and leave it with him. So where is Master Leon now, Richard?”
“He is at the Townsend house. Curing Alban yesterday left his mana unrecovered, so I expect he is resting his body. By Master Leon’s own account it will come back this afternoon.”
“Understood. The moment he’s fit, will you bring him to the palace? I want her seen as early as it can be managed.”
“Certainly. Then I shall go back to the house first, and come up to the palace again with Master Leon.”
“Yes. See to it. The trouble is how we’re to keep Master Leon’s existence hidden. He has no rank yet, and while that’s so, it is very dangerous for what he can do to become common knowledge.”
I have feared the same. For Master Leon’s own safety we have had him conceal every attribute, and if it becomes common knowledge that he can cure illness, all of that effort goes for nothing.
“I fear it as well, Your Majesty. I advised Master Leon myself that his being able to cure even illness had better be kept secret, and it must not be allowed to spread through his curing Her Highness. On that we cannot yield.”
“Agreed. We’ll tighten his guard and make him safer, and at root we have to take pains that word of what he can do never travels at all.”
“Yes. And for that, how he is to come to Her Highness is the point.”
If Master Leon visits and Her Highness’s illness is cured immediately afterward, attention falling on him will be unavoidable. Even taking him to her with as little contact as we can manage, meeting some few knights and servants cannot be avoided.
Her Highness is in the North Palace, the royal family’s residence. The royal palace is divided into the Central Palace, which holds His Majesty’s study and the audience chamber; the East Palace, where the officials chiefly work; the West Palace, where the knights chiefly work; and the North Palace. Of the four, the North Palace is closely guarded and its servants do not change much, so a new face stays in the memory.
“It wouldn’t be unnatural for Richard to visit Martine, would it? How would it be to have him attend you as your valet?”
“That is a good thought, certainly, but I expect the room will have to be cleared when Master Leon uses healing magic. To leave only my valet in the room at that point would be unnatural in itself… And if Her Highness is well again immediately afterward, attention will certainly gather on Master Leon.”
“Hm. You’re right, of course… Then how about this. We pick one trustworthy person whose face isn’t known, put them forward as an apothecary, and have Master Leon go along as the assistant. A celebrated apothecary from a distant country, sent for by me because the herbs of that country may answer for Martine. We’ll say that.”
Other countries are said to have all manner of herbs and treatments this one has not, so the story might well hold. And if we explain further that the apothecary did not wish the face known, and went home once the fee was paid, there will be no pursuing it afterward.
“That is certainly a good plan. Who is to take the apothecary’s part?”
“Let me see. I’ll pick one of the royal house’s shadows, one of the most trustworthy of them. There is no trouble in a foreigner going veiled, so we’ll do it that way and cover the face as far as we can. Best of all if nobody sees Master Leon’s face.”
“Certainly. Let us do it that way, then. In which case it would be better for Master Leon to come to the palace by carriage from somewhere other than the ducal house.”
“Good. I’ll have the shadow playing apothecary and a carriage waiting in a back alley near the central district, and Master Leon can make his way there.”
So His Majesty and I fixed the exact place where the carriage would wait, and had everything ready for Master Leon to come up to the palace.
“Your Majesty, I shall go back to the ducal house first. I shall put it to Master Leon, and then return here.”
“Understood. I leave it with you.”
I held my impatience down, and left His Majesty’s study at a fast walk.