The Painted War (5 page)

‘I am willing to face the full consequences of my actions in La Luminosa,' said the Baron. ‘But I am here first to broker a peaceful friendship between our two cities. When my task is done I will be your prisoner and throw myself on your bountiful mercy.'

Bianca stifled a bitter laugh. Duchess Catriona was a great ruler and a good person, but she wouldn't bet on her ‘bountiful mercy', not for the man who'd tried to steal her throne.

‘Please,' said the Baron, ‘allow me to address the Duchess, whom I have wronged so sorely.'

Captain Raphaeli glanced at Duchess Catriona and Secretary Franco. A silent conversation seemed to take place between them. Raphaeli shook his head, counselling her to refuse. Catriona looked to Franco uncertainly, pursing her lips. Franco tilted his head thoughtfully and then nodded.

Bianca caught Marco's eye and they couldn't help but smile. They had waited so long for the Baron to get his comeuppance.
She's going to lock the Baron up and throw away the key.

The Duchess brushed down her gown and raised her chin. ‘I will hear what the Baron has to say.'

Bianca's jaw dropped. The horse's reins slipped out of Marco's hands and he had to quickly snatch them up again.

I don't  …  I can't  …  What is she thinking?

‘The traitor Baron da Russo will be brought before me in the throne room,' Catriona finished, then swept out of the room with Secretary Franco and half the guards hurrying in her wake. The rest of the guards dragged the Baron to his feet. As soon as she was out of sight they frogmarched him to the door, one of them taking the reins from Marco and leading his horse after them.

Bianca stood still and stared at the doorway, speechless.

Granting an audience to the Baron da Russo in the throne room? That wasn't the Duchess Bianca knew!

Bianca and Marco both moved to follow the Duchess, but then Bianca hesitated, glancing at the spilled chalk and the scattered papers. She met Lucia's eyes, and Lucia gave a deep sigh.

‘Oh for God's sake, don't just stand there.
Go
,' she said, waving Bianca away with both hands. ‘But don't think you're not going to have plenty of chores to make up for this later!'

‘Yes, Mistress Lucia, thank you!' Bianca gave her a bobbed curtsey and a bright, genuine smile, then hitched up her grey Oscuritan servant's skirts to run after the strange procession making its way to the throne room.

By the time they got there, a crowd had gathered. Bianca and Marco had to weave between the courtiers and guards to get to the foot of the steps to the throne.

Duchess Catriona had already taken her seat on the throne of La Luminosa. As Bianca looked up at Catriona's regal poise and stern, piercing glare, she quickly understood Catriona's decision to allow the Baron to speak to her here – in this room Catriona was the undisputed ruler. Captain Raphaeli marched the Baron forwards and threw him to the floor at her feet. With her official sceptre in hand and the golden sun symbol on the throne framing her head, there was no question which one of them was in charge.

The Baron tried to rise to his feet, but Captain Raphaeli firmly prodded him back to his knees. Da Russo paused to catch his breath before he spoke, and Bianca wondered if he was thinking of his time as regent, before Duchess Catriona came of age. Protocol meant he'd never sat on the actual throne, himself – but he would have, if his plan had gone as he'd hoped.

‘Your Royal Highness,' he said, his voice calm and formal. ‘I have come from the court of Her Highness Duchess Edita of Oscurita – the land beyond the magical paintings, known to some as the Dark City.'

‘So it's true!' one of the courtiers behind Bianca whispered to her companion. ‘I never believed it  … ' Bianca saw several of the lords and ladies in the crowd turn to each other, hiding their muttering behind their hands or beautiful jewel-coloured silk fans. She guessed they were mostly saying the same thing.

‘They all believe you now,' Marco said under his breath. Bianca nodded, though it wasn't a lot of comfort at this moment.

‘I have come as a diplomat, to offer the friendship of Oscurita, and her own, personal friendship to you, Your Highness,' the Baron went on. ‘Duchess Edita wishes to reignite the intentions of your great father, the Duke, and begin an exchange of cultures between our cities. The citizens of Oscurita and La Luminosa have been separated for too long – and there will be much to trade between them.'

Bianca heard a couple of lords make interested noises under their breath and winced.
He knows there are a few greedy courtiers here who'll do almost anything to open new trade routes
 … 

Duchess Catriona nodded slowly. ‘Baron da Russo,' she said in a clear, confident voice. ‘Your Duchess risks much by sending you here. You are a traitor and a scoundrel, and an attempted murderer. You
will
be punished for your crimes.' Bianca's heart swelled and she felt her fists start to unclench. But Catriona wasn't finished. ‘Our Royal Court is open to receiving the chosen emissaries of Her Highness Duchess Edita,' she said, and Bianca's heart sank again.

She gave Marco an outraged glare, and mouthed ‘What is she
doing
?' Marco shook his head and shrugged.

‘We will not turn away offers of true and peaceful friendship.
However
,' Catriona added, ‘I do not mean that such offers will be accepted without due consideration. Return to Oscurita and relay my message to Duchess Edita, and convey to her my sincerest compliments. I, too, hope that our cities can coexist in harmony.'

The Baron managed to bow even though he was already on his knees. He got to his feet and turned to go.

‘Captain Raphaeli,' said Duchess Catriona, ‘please
escort
the Baron back to an appropriate painting.' Bianca shuddered at the reminder that any painting could be a portal to Oscurita now. Edita's forces could come through anywhere in the city, with no warning. She shook her head again, totally perplexed at the Duchess's decision to just let the Baron go. They were in so much danger, but it seemed as though Bianca was the only one to know it.

The Captain made a small signal and the Baron was instantly surrounded by guards. Although Catriona had called it an escort, it looked more like an arrest. They drew their swords and, in formation, marched him out of the room.

‘Now, all of you leave me,' Duchess Catriona said, waving her sceptre at the courtiers. ‘I must talk with my advisors about this development.'

The lords and ladies started to file out of the throne room, muttering to each other.

Bianca stepped forward, approaching the throne. ‘Duchess, please,' she said. ‘We must be –'

Duchess Catriona shifted a little in her seat and set the sceptre down on the golden table at her elbow. ‘Bianca, I know what you're going to say.'

‘I've still got to say it. I don't know how you can even think about believing that Edita is anything but a lying, throne-stealing manipulator who plans to invade at the first chance! How could you allow the Baron da Russo to slip out of your fingers,
again
, to go back to her and tell her that you're willing to be
friends?
'

Secretary Franco planted his wrinkled hands on his hips and shook his head. ‘That's it. I won't have you talk to the Duchess like this. Guards, remove this girl,
and
the harlequin!'

A few guards stepped forward, uncertainly. Marco's shoulders rolled back and he looked like he was ready to drop into a roll as soon as one of them made a grab for him.

No!
Bianca thought better of saying it aloud, but she gave Duchess Catriona a pleading look.
You won't let him do this, will you?

Duchess Catriona held up a hand, halting the guards. ‘Now, Secretary Franco, you know I agree with you, but Marco Xavier and
Lady
Bianca – true heir to Oscurita – are my trusted friends. Even though it's not her place to advise me, she may speak to me however she likes. Why don't you go and make sure the Baron has been sent back?' She spoke sweetly, but she also met his eyes steadily and tapped her fingers lightly on the arm of the throne. Bianca knew it wasn't really a suggestion, and apparently so did Franco. He bowed low and left the throne room.

Marco relaxed as the guards drew back. ‘Yeah, that's right, back off,' he muttered.

When Franco had gone, Duchess Catriona got up from the throne, stretched, and sank down again on the top step of the throne's raised platform. She wriggled and shifted until her stiff skirts were spread out behind her and then patted the step.

‘Come, sit,' she said.

Bianca climbed the steps and sat down, and Marco sat on the step below. Bianca looked down at her own dress – she was still wearing the plain, grey servant's dress from Oscurita. She wondered if the Baron would have recognised it. Then she thought of her mother, who might still be in disguise and running from Edita's soldiers, and her shoulders sagged.

‘I just don't understand,' she said. ‘I know Franco thinks diplomacy is the only grown-up way to deal with things, but what's the point of being sensible if it puts everyone in danger?'

Duchess Catriona raised an eyebrow at Bianca. ‘Oh
really,
Bianca! I'm seriously disappointed if you think that's what I'm doing.'

‘Huh?' said Marco, frowning.

Bianca blinked up at Catriona. ‘But then  …  what
are
you doing? You sent him back to tell Edita you wanted to be friends!'

‘I do,' said the Duchess. ‘Bianca, I want La Luminosa to be friends with Oscurita, more than anything! And I expect we shall be  …  as soon as your mother has taken back the city.' Her face broke into a grin that made Bianca's heart soar – it was the dangerous kind of grin that usually came just before one of the Duchess's particularly clever tricks. ‘Just because I'm prepared to allow them into the city, that doesn't mean I don't expect Edita and the Baron to betray us.'

Bianca gave a huge sigh of relief to see the Duchess she recognised in front of her once more. ‘So you don't really believe she wants peace?'

‘Bianca, she stole your mother's throne. And she might have been behind the Baron's attempt to take mine, too! I don't trust her not to try to invade, or put some kind of puppet ruler in place here.'

Bianca felt like she'd been carrying a stack of heavy canvases and someone had taken the burden from her.

‘But Secretary Franco is right about some things, you know, and he's right about this – if we can prevent war with Edita, we should try. Even if she does seem to think we're simpletons,' she added. ‘That
ridiculous
horse! Did she think we'd all be so impressed with a sparkly saddle that we'd forget all you'd told us? He looked like he was going to the carnival, not bringing a serious diplomatic message.'

‘And  …  if we can't prevent a war?' Marco asked.

Duchess Catriona's smile turned even more hard and cunning. ‘Then we'll go to war. After all, in order to spy on us, the Baron has to be here. That means we get to watch him, too. Nobody who comes through those paintings will be alone in La Luminosa for a single second.' She gave Bianca a devious wink, and Bianca felt herself smile for what felt like the first time in days. The Duchess she knew and loved had never left her after all. Whatever the Baron brought through from the Dark City, La Luminosa would be ready for it.

Bianca forced herself to walk slowly as she and Marco headed through the secret passages towards Master di Lombardi's secret workshop. Their talk with Duchess Catriona had been reassuring, but Bianca's mind was still racing off in all directions.

‘What if the Duchess is wrong?' she said. ‘What if letting the Baron into La Luminosa is a terrible plan? What if we lose track of him? What if this was exactly what Edita was betting on?'

‘I think we should trust her,' Marco said, gently but firmly. ‘There's no point dwelling on what could go wrong so much that you don't prepare for it.'

‘But, what if  … ?' Bianca said, and Marco gave her a faux-stern look. ‘I know, but Duchess Catriona's expecting my mother to take back the throne. What if she can't do it on her own? What if she needs our help?'

An even worse possibility lurked at the back of Bianca's mind, too horrible to voice, even to Marco. What if Catriona waited too long and Edita captured Bianca's mother first? What if she  … ?

Bianca rubbed her eyes, trying to banish the image of Duchess Edita presiding over an Oscuritan execution.

‘Look,' Marco said, ‘let's follow Captain Raphaeli's example – go with it, but be prepared to act if we have to.'

‘Yeah, you're right.' Bianca shook off the horrible vision and smiled at Marco. ‘Thanks.'

A young woman's voice echoed down the passage, stopping Bianca in her tracks.

‘All right, let's put the spare springs down over there for the moment. Then we can get at whatever this is  … '

That was Lucia's voice. And a second later, Bianca heard a chorus of other young voices answering her.

‘What's she doing in here?' she said, but she realised it was a stupid thing to say as soon as she'd said it. All the apprentices knew about the secret workshop now. It was the only way.

Marco looked a bit sheepish, but shook his head. ‘What could I do? We need all the help we can get.'

‘Of course,' said Bianca, waving her hand as if to brush the last few moments away. ‘I didn't mean it like that.' But she knew that wasn't quite true.

They rounded a corner and found the door to the secret workshop propped open. Beyond it, the workshop seemed to be swarming with people. Bianca stood in the doorway, chewing her lip. She knew she'd allowed the other apprentices into the workshop, but that was a matter of life and death – she hadn't quite realised how she'd feel when she saw Lucia and Ezio and Gabriella strolling between the inventions and workbenches, giving appraising looks to her grandfather's secret projects. Her face flushed with irritation as Lucia picked up an ornately etched brass egg the size of her fist and tapped it on the workbench beside her, as if she could crack it open.

Marco gave Lucia a small salute as he ran over to where Sebastiano was still tinkering with the strange domed Vehicle for Travelling Underneath the Canal Surface. Bianca took a deep breath and tried to make herself smile. Despite Marco's very reasonable argument, she wished she'd never let the apprentices in. It was selfish to want to keep it for herself, but that was how she felt.

Cosimo sighed. ‘It's going to take us a long time to solve all the mysteries of this place,' he said, and Bianca looked down at the floor, hoping he wouldn't read the disappointment on her face. She felt silly for it – what if something here could help her mother, or save La Luminosa? – but she did not like the idea of Cosimo and Lucia solving all the mysteries her grandfather had left behind.

‘How did it go with the Baron?' Lucia asked, coming over to them with the brass egg still in her hands.

Bianca looked up and saw all the apprentices staring at her, waiting for an answer. She swallowed. ‘Duchess Catriona has allowed the Baron to go back to Oscurita with a message of friendship for Edita,' she said. ‘She's decided to try the diplomatic route.'

‘Brave,' said Cosimo quietly.

‘I think it's very sensible,' said Lucia. ‘I bet the Dark City is far less of a threat than it seems.'

You haven't been there,
Bianca thought.
You don't know how much of a tyrant Edita really is  … 

‘Still  … ' Lucia added. ‘The
Baron
. I'd expect the Duchess to be a little harsher – he did try to steal her throne, after all.'

‘I tried to tell her she couldn't trust him, but she  … ' For a moment Bianca thought about telling them all the Duchess's real plans. She looked around at the faces of her fellow apprentices. These were some of the people she trusted most in the world. But then she thought better of it.

‘She wouldn't listen to me,' she finished with a frown, trying to look suitably annoyed.

‘Bianca, come and see what we've found!' called Marco's voice from somewhere near the back of the enormous room.

Bianca smiled, grateful for the break in the tension, and headed over to him. Domenico followed her and she saw him give Sebastiano an excited grin as she drew closer to Marco, who was holding a long sheet of parchment paper.

He waved it cheerfully as she approached. ‘I found the plans! We can get it to work, I'm sure we can!'

‘We can get
what
to work?' Bianca asked. ‘Did you fix the flying machine?'

Marco gave a little shudder. ‘I'm not going up in that thing again, no way,' he said. ‘No, the other way.
Down
.' He stood back, revealing the Vehicle for Travelling Underneath the Canal Surface with a sweeping gesture.

Bianca stepped forward and laid a hand on its gently curving brass sides, then stared up at Marco, her excitement mounting. ‘You mean you figured out how the bellows connect to the fin panels?'

‘They don't. They connect to a whole different pulley system, and
that
connects to both the fins and the steering,' said Marco.

Bianca slapped her head with the flat of one hand. ‘Of course!'

‘Wouldn't it be amazing?' Marco said, hopping down from the machine and pushing a lever. A panel in the side of the machine flipped up and Bianca could see into the cabin. It had two carved wood and leather seats, right underneath the big glass dome, and a space behind them that could just about fit another passenger or some cargo. ‘Imagine it, us bobbing along under the canal. Nobody would ever know we were down there!'

A prickle of fear struck the back of Bianca's neck – all she could see was the machine sinking to the bottom of the canal and never being seen again. She shuddered.

‘It's all right,' said Marco. ‘It's got an emergency release. If it did get stuck or something you could just open the dome and swim to the surface.'

‘You could if you could swim,' muttered Bianca.

‘You can't swim?' Marco looked shocked. ‘How do you live in the most watery city in the world and not be able to swim? Haven't you ever fallen in the canal?'

‘No, and I never plan to!' Bianca snapped. ‘I'm so glad you've got it working, Marco, really – I bet it'll be really useful if Edita invades. But I don't think anyone should test it. It just seems  …  risky.'

‘
Risky?
' Marco planted his hands on his hips. ‘That's rich! You were the one who dragged me into that
flying machine
without a moment's thought.'

‘It was an emergency. And anyway, it's different. Falling's different from drowning.'

‘Yeah, worse!'

‘We haven't actually got it working yet,' Domenico cut in, probably sensing a full-scale battle about to erupt. ‘And even when we do, we can't test it. There's no way to get it to the canal. It doesn't fit through the door, and I don't know how we'd lift it out of the windows up there.'

Bianca frowned. ‘Think of all the inventions Master di Lombardi planned out but never built. We have books full of them. But he built this one, so he must've had a plan for eventually getting it into the canal.'

‘Let's look around again,' said Marco. ‘Think about it; what if we need to take the Duchess away, somewhere safe and secret? This might be the only way to travel through the city without being seen.'

Bianca nodded. ‘I see your point,' she said grimly. ‘All right, let's have another look. There might be something in one of the books, or another way out we haven't found.'

Bianca walked to the nearest wall and started to search along it for any sign of a hidden opening. In di Lombardi's old house she'd once found a secret compartment by running her fingers over the wall, so she tried that, but she didn't feel any sudden difference in texture or temperature. The huge, rough bricks didn't seem to be hiding anything.

Bianca was just starting to think they wouldn't find anything when she heard Sebastiano calling her name.

‘Bianca, come and look at this,' he said. He was standing next to a pile of crates, staring down at the floor. She walked over and looked down, trying to see what it was about that bit of floor that had interested him. Sebastiano nudged a crate aside. ‘I think there's a painting under here. It's painted right onto the floor.'

Bianca blinked. She could see it now – there was a corner of something dark and smooth-looking poking out from under one of the crates. At first she'd thought it was just a big gap between the wooden floorboards. ‘Help me move the crates,' she said. Marco and Domenico hurried over and between the four of them they shifted the boxes aside. It was definitely a painting – and a rather odd one. It was a square, as long on each side as Bianca was tall. Its surface was dusty and scratched, but under the layer of dust there was a deep darkness, with a shifting, glinting light reflecting back at them.

‘You found it!' she said to Sebastiano, with a grin. Sebastiano blushed a little but looked really pleased. ‘This is a painting of a window onto the canal.'

‘There's no handle to open it up,' said Marco, walking around the edge of the painting.

‘You'll have to paint one,' Domenico said, with an eager grin at Bianca.

‘On one condition.' Bianca folded her arms. ‘You promise you will never make me get in that thing! Drown yourselves without me.'

‘I promise,' said Marco. ‘Unless it's “an emergency”.'

Bianca stuck her tongue out at him, but she went to find the magical paints anyway. Master di Lombardi had a whole store of them, ready-mixed and labelled, which Cosimo and Lucia were sorting through. Lucia looked like she was going to make a fuss when Bianca asked if she could use some of the
ether
, but Cosimo handed it over with a smile.

‘You shouldn't be so hard on her,' Bianca heard him whisper to Lucia. ‘This all belonged to her grandfather, after all.'

Bianca didn't want to let on that she'd heard him, but she smiled to herself, touched by Cosimo's words.

She picked out some white and brown paints and sat on the floor by the painted window. It wasn't a complicated shape, but it was always tricky to paint a handle because it didn't just have to look right – she had to get the shadows and colours perfect so that when she added depth to it with the paint it would become solid.

A few minutes of intense concentration later, she looked up.

‘I think I'm done,' she said. ‘Careful though, the paint's still wet.'

She shifted aside as Marco wrapped his hand in his sleeve and reached down. He looked nervous, as if he didn't quite believe that his fingers would be able to slip under the solid surface of the floor and grasp the handle – but they did. He pulled, and the painted window opened up as easily as if it'd been a real doorway on oiled hinges. Bianca took a step back as a blast of cold air came up from the hole in the floor, full of the pungent smell of fish, boat oil and old rope that any true La Luminosan could identify as the scent of the canal. She could hear it, too – a definitely watery sloshing and sucking. Marco dug in his pockets and found a pebble, which he dropped into the hole. It went
plop
.

‘We can roll the craft down into the water on some of the spare planks,' Domenico said, excitedly.

‘Now all we have to do is
actually
get it working,' Sebastiano pointed out.

Marco grinned at Bianca. ‘Thanks,' he said.

Bianca rolled her eyes. ‘Of course. Now shut that door – it's giving me the creeps!' She glanced again at the underwater craft. It seemed perfectly solid and comfortable on dry land, but that was one invention of her grandfather's that she was in no hurry to test out.