Blood and Gold - Anne Rice [199]
I am also too weakened to journey to Lorwich in East Anglia, and thanks to forces which I cannot describe I do have shelter similar to that which you offered me.
But I beg you to tell me if you have had any recent intelligence of my Pandora. I beg you to tell me if she has made herself known to you. I beg you to tell me if you can help me to reach her by letter.
Marius.
Having finished the letter, I gave it over to the priest who promptly added the proper address of the monastery, folded the parchment and sealed it.
We sat in silence for a long moment.
“How shall I find you,” he asked, “when an answer reaches here?”
“I’ll know,” I said, “as you knew when I took the candles. Forgive me for taking them. I should have gone into a city and bought them from a proper merchant. But I have become such a traveler of the sleepy night. I do things far too much at random.”
“So I can see,” he answered, “for though you began with me in German, you are now speaking Latin in which you wrote your letter. Oh, don’t be angry. I didn’t read a single word, but I knew it was Latin. Perfect Latin. A Latin such as no one speaks today.”
“Is my gold recompense enough?” I asked. I rose from the bench. It was now time for me to be off.
“Oh, yes, and I look forward to your return. I’ll see the letter is sent tomorrow. If the Lord of Lorwich in East Anglia has sworn his allegiance to Henry VIII, you’ll no doubt have your answer.”
I was off so swiftly that to my new friend, it no doubt seemed that I had disappeared.
And as I returned to the shrine, I observed for the first time the beginnings of a human settlement all too close to us.
Of course we were concealed in a tiny valley high upon an ominous cliff. Nevertheless, a small group of huts had caught my eye far below at the foot of the cliff, and I knew what was going to happen.
When I entered the shrine I found Bianca sleeping. No question came from her as to where I had been, and I realized the lengths I had gone to avoid her knowledge of my letter.
I wondered if I might reach England were I to travel the skies alone. But what would I say to her? I had never left her alone and it seemed wrong ever to do so.
Little less than a year went by during which time I passed nightly within hearing distance of the priest to whom I had entrusted my letter.
By this time, Bianca and I had frequently hunted the streets of small Alpine cities in one guise, while buying from their merchants in another.
Now and then we rented rooms for ourselves so that we might enjoy common things, but we were far too fearful to remain anywhere but in the shrine at morning.
All the while, I continued to approach the Queen at intervals. How I chose my moments, I do not know. Perhaps she spoke to me. All I can avow is that I knew when I might drink from her and I did it, and always there came the rapid healing afterwards, the renewal of vigor, and the desire to share my replenished gifts with Bianca.
At last there came a night, when having left a weary Bianca in the shrine once more, I came near to the Alpine monastery and saw my monk standing in the garden with his arms out to the sky in a gesture of such romance and piety that I almost wept to see it.
Softly, without a sound, I entered the cloister behind him.
At once he turned to face me, as if his powers were as great as mine. The wind swept his full brown robes as he came towards me.
“Marius,” he said in a whisper. He gestured to me to be quiet, and led me into the scriptorium.
When I saw the thickness of the letter he drew from his desk I was astonished. That it was open, that the seal was broken, gave me pause.
I looked at him.
“Yes, I read it,” he said. “Did you think I would give it to you without doing so?”
I couldn’t waste any more time. I had to read what was inside the letter. I sat down and unfolded