Gloriana's Masque by Eleanor Burns

Author:Eleanor Burns [Burns, Eleanor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-26T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11 – THE ELUSIVE DR. KYTTSEN

Maradith’s night had been long and arduous, all but consumed in trying to copy down as much of the Queen's journal as she could faithfully recall. She was confident that she had started out well, but at about four thirty in the morning and just over twenty pages into it, fatigue hit home and her mental images became hopelessly hazy. Realising she now had little chance of copying anything legible, she decided she would do better to take what opportunity she could to get some sleep, and hopefully the information would still be in her brain and easier to recall in the morning.

The sun was fully risen and bright when she arose, or rather was rudely awakened by having her shoulder agitated. She opened her bleary eyes to see a vaguely Kasimir-shaped blur standing over her bed, which soon resolved into the man himself, although the change was no improvement. Once in focus, he was deathly pale, with heavy bags under red-rimmed eyes, hair shooting out at all angles, and he had clearly not taken the time to wash nor change: he had simply pulled his long silver-braided jacket over the mead-soaked silks in which she had bundled him into bed last evening. In spite of his washed-out look, his expression was alert and intense, and his voice, although somewhat sandpapery and accompanied by a bitter miasma of stale coffee, was also full of purpose and urgency:

“Delator? This is important. Can you hear me? Maradith, I need–”

“Yessir,” she mumbled, dragging herself upright. “I’m sorry I couldn’t copy it all down, but I’ll have another crack at it as soon–”

“Never mind that now. I need to see that priestess. Can you bring her here?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” replied Maradith, vaguely surprised. While she had known that they would be obliged to share information with Saskia, she had not supposed Kasimir would be in any hurry to do so. “She told me where she was staying. Said she’d be waiting to hear from us. Err, were the documents alright, then?” she asked, hopefully. “No problems reading them? It was a tough job.”

“They were … illuminating, Delator, and mostly legible. Less so as it went on, admittedly. The last couple of pages were completely indecipherable,” he remarked, not very tactfully, although it only confirmed what Maradith herself had feared. “You’re quite the artist, though. Some of those diagrams … very interesting stuff, though not what I’d been expecting. I need more answers, so fetch me that priestess. Quickly would be best. Our illustrious hostess has scheduled the first round of negotiations for this evening, and if possible I’d like to take the trouble to look and feel less like a bonnacon’s breakfast before then. However, this business is more important, so bring her in here even if you find me in my bath … which is entirely possible,” he remarked, as the sound of a pitcher of water being poured drifted across the corridor from Kasimir’s room. “I’d better get to it before it’s stone-cold.

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