The Painted War (6 page)

Bianca crouched behind a topiary bush cut into the shape of a wading bird. She peered between the spindly stalks that formed its legs, trying not to breathe hard enough to rustle the leaves.

On the other side of the bird, the walled sculpture garden was full of courtiers – half of them dressed in the traditional bright jewel colours of La Luminosa, and the other half in deep, almost-black blues and greens and purples. The diplomatic delegation from Oscurita had arrived.

There were ten of them, men and women draped in Oscuritan finery with pale skin and dark hair, who seemed extremely uncomfortable in the La Luminosan sunlight, although it was barely a few hours after dawn and the day wasn't even shaping up to be a particularly bright one. They carried parasols of inky-black silk, which cast pools of shadow around them but probably made them feel even hotter. One or two of the palest ones had collapsed onto the stone benches dotted around the garden to catch their breath. They fanned themselves with brightly coloured fans hastily borrowed from their La Luminosan counterparts, and squinted and shaded their eyes as they tried to talk trade routes and the rules of exchange and migration.

Bianca had been listening for a little while, and it bothered her that she hadn't heard anything that sounded like treachery or plans for an invasion, even when she'd made sure to catch the delegation talking amongst themselves. She would've loved to believe that it meant they weren't planning to betray La Luminosa, but she couldn't. All it meant was that they were good at hiding it.

Still, the delegation were all here, and they weren't going to be allowed to wander off by themselves, which had to be a good thing. Every few minutes Bianca checked that the palace guards were still positioned at regular intervals around the garden's walls, their golden armour and sharp spears glinting in the sunlight and making the Oscuritans wince. It might be diplomacy, but at least it was heavily guarded diplomacy.

Bianca carefully crept along a few metres to her left, sheltering in the small gap between the hedge and the sun-warmed stone wall. A little way along the path on the other side of the bushes there was a swinging wooden seat under an arch of climbing roses. Duchess Catriona sat on the seat, dressed in one of her finest – and brightest – cream gowns. The neckline was encrusted with gold and rubies that caught the light and shimmered whenever she breathed.

At her side, on an ordinary chair, sat the Baron da Russo. Bianca's lips twisted in distaste. She hated to see him sitting so close to Duchess Catriona – it only reminded her of his horrid plan to kill her and marry a painted Duchess who had no thoughts or feelings of her own. It was a creepy, creepy thought and Bianca shuddered.

She couldn't
quite
make out what the Baron was saying. She risked sneaking a little nearer, pressing herself close up behind a statue of an angel holding a golden sword.

‘Many apologies  … ' said the Baron. Bianca frowned. What was he apologising for? Not his attempt to take the Duchess's crown, she was pretty sure.

Bianca felt something tickling her foot and she looked down to find a bright green spider the size of her fist crawling over her shoe. She gave a violent, involuntary shudder and kicked out, trying to dislodge it.

Her foot connected with something hard underneath the hedge, and a very quiet voice grunted in muffled pain.

Bianca froze. Sweat prickled across the back of her neck and she held her breath. Which would be worse, she wondered, being discovered by the Oscuritans or one of the palace guards? If Franco knew she was here he'd have her thrown out of the palace, possibly from a high window  … 

Then the bushes rustled and Marco crawled into her hiding space, wriggling out from under the hedge on his stomach like a lizard. Bianca let out her gasp as a silent sigh of relief.

‘How did you even fit down there?' she whispered.

‘Practice.' Marco grinned back. ‘Spent a long time in the false bottom of a trunk for a stage routine.'

Bianca raised her hand to her mouth, fighting the laugh that bubbled up inside her. She chewed on one finger until the feeling passed and then nodded to the bower, where the Duchess was listening to the Baron with an attentive but rather glazed smile.

‘I quite understand, really,' she said. ‘I would not want Duchess Edita to risk her health to come here.'

‘Thank you, Your Highness. You have really grown into a very fair young woman.'

Marco glanced at Bianca and pulled a face, sticking out his tongue.

‘The sunlight is simply too much for Her Highness,' the Baron went on, with an exaggerated sadness. ‘She is particularly sensitive to light, and would find it difficult to visit your beautiful city even at night. However, the Duchess so sincerely wished to be here that she asked me to present you with this gift, as a symbol of the great friendship of our two cities.' He turned and beckoned, and two La Luminosan servants appeared, pushing something large and heavy on a wheeled platform. The object was as tall as a man and about twice as wide, draped in a sheet of black silk.

Duchess Catriona watched it approaching with an expression of deep and unconcealed suspicion. She looked just like Bianca felt. Bianca saw Captain Raphaeli's hand stray to the hilt of his sword. He gave the leading servant a sharp look, and she nodded. Raphaeli's hand didn't move, but he didn't draw his sword either.

The servants pulled back the silk sheet, and Bianca let out a sigh of relief – and then winced a little. The Baron's gift was a lifelike and life-size statue of Duchess Edita embracing Duchess Catriona, carved from plain white marble. Edita seemed to have been caught in the moment of drawing Catriona into a hug – they were facing each other, and Edita's arm was around Catriona's shoulders while her other hand was raised to touch her cheek. The Edita statue's face wore an expression of perfect sweetness and affection that made Bianca shudder.

‘Sickening!' she hissed to Marco. ‘
And
it's not even very good!'

Marco frowned at the statue. ‘Looks pretty good to me.'

‘Well, it's not! I could explain the technical reasons why it's not, but  … '

Marco raised an eyebrow at Bianca. ‘You sure you're not being a tiny bit childish?'

Bianca looked again at the statue and sagged. ‘Yeah. Maybe. A tiny bit.'

The Baron was sitting with an expectantly smug look on his face while Duchess Catriona stood up and walked around the statue. She returned to her bower and sat down, her back regally straight. ‘This is the work of Piero Filpepi, is it not?' she asked the Baron. Her voice was steady, but her stare so sharp it could've cut through stone.

Bianca pressed her lips together, afraid she might let out a gasp of recognition and they'd be caught. Of course it was Filpepi's work!

For a second, the Baron actually looked slightly worried. Then his expression smoothed over once more.

‘I apologise for any offence, Your Highness,' he said. ‘The truth is that the traitor Filpepi is currently languishing in an Oscuritan jail for his crimes against La Luminosa. We did set him to work on the statue, as he was the only Oscuritan artist capable of producing a true likeness of Your Highness. Simply say the word and we return the gift to Duchess Edita.'

Bianca saw Marco wince. ‘She can't do that – his explanation's too good, it'd be an insult,' he whispered.

Duchess Catriona sat still and silent for a moment longer, then turned a thin smile on the Baron. ‘Please convey my deepest thanks to Duchess Edita for her thoughtful and touching gift,' she said. ‘I shall cherish it.'

Bianca sincerely hoped that ‘cherish it' was secret code for ‘throw it into the canal as soon as your back is turned', but she did feel proud of Catriona for keeping up the façade of politeness.

‘Tell me, Baron,' said the Duchess. ‘How is it that you were able to stand living in La Luminosa for so long? Nobody ever suspected that you weren't one of us,' she added, without bothering to hide the bitterness in her voice. ‘Doesn't the light bother you?'

‘In fact,' said the Baron, ‘I've always been perfectly comfortable in La Luminosa. Although I was raised in Oscurita, I am half Luminosan by blood. My father was a Luminosan lord who crossed over into Oscurita back when the ways between our cities were not widely known.'

Bianca pulled a face. The Baron had a Luminosan father and Oscuritan mother? That was far too much like her own story for her taste.

‘I understand that the dark of Oscurita is as difficult for us as the light of La Luminosa is for Oscuritans,' said Duchess Catriona, her bitterness fading as she leaned forwards a little in genuine interest. ‘It must be hard for a couple to fall in love when they can't stand to live in each other's worlds.' Bianca knew it was very hard. She thought again of her own parents, separated by magic and war and the limitations of their own bodies.

‘In fact, that's not always the case,' said the Baron. ‘I believe that enough children have been born of mixed parentage over the years that some people do have a latent ability to cope. My father could live comfortably in Oscurita, though I remember him carrying a lamp wherever he went. And His Highness, Duke Annunzio di Lombardi  … '

‘May he rest in peace,' Catriona added pointedly.

‘May he rest in peace,' echoed the Baron. ‘As you know, he was able to live in La Luminosa for more than a decade, although his tolerance for the light wasn't passed on to either of his daughters.'

‘How much did my father know about all this?' Duchess Catriona asked. ‘He never mentioned it to me – but I must have been only three or four when the ways between our cities were closed.'

‘Oh, he knew all about Oscurita,' said the Baron. ‘In fact  …  I suppose you never knew, as it never came to pass, but there was once talk of an allegiance between our two worlds, formalised by marriage.'

‘Marriage?' Duchess Catriona drew herself up in surprise and the seat underneath her swayed slightly on its thick chains. ‘Who was to marry who?'

‘It was two years after you were born, Your Highness,' said the Baron. ‘Your mother the Duchess was dead two years and your father was considering remarriage. A union between the royal families would have been politically astute and might have helped him recover from his grief.'

Duchess Catriona's face turned pale. ‘I  …  I never knew,' she said. ‘Nobody ever told me! Surely the older courtiers and the servants must remember this?'

The Baron shook his head. ‘Duke Annunzio led a delegation to La Luminosa in secret. He presented himself to the court as master artist and brought his eldest daughter, the Princess Saralinda, in disguise as a simple apprentice. Your father was the only one who knew the truth – he and Saralinda met and talked together several times.'

Bianca suddenly felt as if the earth under her feet was rocking back and forth. She had to grab on to one of the angel's wings to steady herself. Her mother  …  and Catriona's father  … 

‘Of course, that was shortly before poor Princess Saralinda's tragic descent into insanity,' the Baron added, with such a look of genuine sadness that Bianca's faintness fled instantly. She trembled with the urge to leap from behind the hedge and punch him in the face. Marco grabbed her wrist and she realised she had actually made a fist and drawn it back. She dropped her shoulders and stared at him, feeling the blood draining and rushing back to her face in a constant cycle of shock and wonder.

‘It's OK. We'll find out if it's true,' Marco whispered. ‘I promise.'

Bianca gave him a tight, bewildered smile and nodded, grateful to know he was thinking exactly what she was thinking.

Was it possible she and Duchess Catriona were half-sisters?

‘Your Highness,' came Secretary Franco's voice. Bianca peered around the stone angel's right wing to see him walking down the garden path towards Duchess Catriona in her rose-covered archway. He was leaning on a golden staff and still wearing his bright sunflower-yellow robes. Several of the Oscuritan lords and ladies shied away from him as he passed. He came to Duchess Catriona's side and bowed deeply. ‘Midday approaches, and I believe our Oscuritan guests would like to retire to their rooms for an hour before lunch is served.'

Bianca saw a few of the Oscuritans nod, while the rest looked like they desperately wanted to but were still trying to act as if the light and heat of the day wasn't bothering them.

‘Then let us go in,' said Duchess Catriona, getting to her feet. ‘We have achieved plenty for our first morning. I have  …  much to consider.'

The Oscuritans started to gather their fans and parasols and to make a hasty beeline for the doors to the palace. Though she was still in shock, Bianca couldn't help but smile at the sight of the Luminosan courtiers strolling after them with slow, smug steps.

‘May I ask a favour, Your Highness?' said the Baron. ‘As I am not of the same delicate constitution as my compatriots, may I have your permission to take my leave from you to visit some of my favourite places in La Luminosa? I called this beautiful city home for so many years, I would love to be able to explore it once more.'

You lost the right to explore La Luminosa when you tried to steal it!
Bianca thought angrily.

Duchess Catriona's brows drew down, and for a moment Bianca thought she was going to say something along those lines. But then Secretary Franco bent down and said something to her, something Bianca couldn't make out. Catriona listened, without taking her eyes off the Baron, and then smiled.

‘Thank you, Secretary Franco. Baron, you may take a walk through La Luminosa. I can only imagine how much you must have missed it.'

‘Thank you very much, Your Highness,' said the Baron, smiling greasily and bowing.

‘And my guards will keep a comfortable distance as they accompany you,' said Duchess Catriona, ‘so you can reminisce in peace.'

The Baron straightened up, still smiling, though the smile was frozen on his face. ‘I appreciate it,' he said, through gritted teeth.

‘He's up to no good,' Marco whispered to Bianca.

‘I can't believe he thought the Duchess would let him wander off on his own,' Bianca muttered back. ‘He obviously wanted to do something  …  without anyone  … ' She trailed off, an idea sparking in the back of her mind. Could it be so simple to discover what he was up to?

Marco nudged her and raised his eyebrows. Bianca looked back at him and smiled, then began to hurry back along behind the hedges at a hopping run, Marco on her heels.

Captain Raphaeli was in his office in the palace's guard barracks, examining a stack of papers. He looked up when Bianca and Marco burst in and immediately leapt to his feet, his hand going to the hilt of his sword.

‘What's happened? Is the Duchess all right?'

‘She's fine! She's brilliant! I've got a plan,' Bianca gasped.

‘Slow down.' Raphaeli folded his arms. ‘Bianca, I know you mean well, but I can't have you running in here like this.'

‘But I know how we can find out what the Baron's planning to do,' said Bianca. ‘The Duchess is letting him go for a walk around the city – heavily guarded, obviously.'

‘I know, I've already assigned the guards. They won't let him out of their sight, I promise.'

‘That's just it, I want them to!' Bianca said. Captain Raphaeli gave her a sceptical look, but didn't immediately tell her she was crazy. She took this as a good sign and barrelled on. ‘If he thinks he's given the guards the slip, he'll go right to wherever he wants to go,' Bianca explained. ‘But Marco and I will follow him. We can blend in and hide more easily than the guards. He won't see us.'

Captain Raphaeli looked from Bianca to Marco, and frowned. ‘This is a huge responsibility, you know. If you lose him, you could be endangering the Duchess – and the whole city.'

‘I know,' said Bianca. ‘I promise. But it could be the only way to find out what he's really after.'

‘We know the streets inside out,' Marco added.

‘And we can use the passages if we need to hide or something!' Bianca said.

Captain Raphaeli hesitated, deep in thought. ‘I can station guards in civilian clothes around the city,' he said. ‘They'll keep an eye on you and make sure the Baron doesn't vanish. You can report anything suspicious you see him do to them.'

Bianca resisted the urge to shriek with joy. ‘We will,' she said. ‘I swear. You just need to tell the guards to let him slip away and we'll do the rest.'

Raphaeli's stern face cracked into a smile. ‘You're quite the strategist, aren't you?'

Bianca beamed at him.

The Baron da Russo strolled beside the canals, wandered down the grand roadways and slipped through the narrow alleyways of La Luminosa, and Bianca and Marco followed his every move. He'd given his guards the slip when he'd gone into a tailor's shop and they had let him leave through the back door, but Marco and Bianca had been hiding behind a table stacked with rolls of fabric and carved bone buttons.

Bianca had expected that he would head straight for some dingy parlour where he'd meet his secret accomplices, or perhaps he'd hide in plain sight, casually dropping some message into a hiding place in the Piazza del Fiero. They passed through the Piazza del Fiero, but the Baron did nothing apart from pausing to smile up at the cat-sized statues of firebreathing dragons that lined the roof of one of the houses and taking a deep sniff at a stall selling spiced apple cakes.

‘So  … ' Marco said, while they were far enough away from the Baron to have a conversation without him hearing them, ‘what do you think? Could your father really be the old Duke of La Luminosa?'

‘I don't know,' Bianca said, ‘but I suppose it must have been someone my mother met and fell in love with when she visited La Luminosa.' Bianca hesitated, sending up a brief prayer.
Please let her be all right.
‘Perhaps it was someone else at court – one of the other courtiers or something.'

Marco gave Bianca an intense look and Bianca drew back.

‘What?'

‘Just trying to see if I can think of any courtiers that look a bit like you,' he said. A mischievous light glinted in his eyes. ‘What if your father is Secretary Franco?'

Bianca gasped and gave Marco a playful, but quite hard, punch on the arm. ‘I'm nothing like Franco! Shut up and watch the Baron.'

She didn't really need to remind Marco – the Baron was walking at a gentle pace just a little way ahead and hadn't done anything remotely suspicious.

‘Oh God, I don't look like Franco, do I?'

Marco rolled his eyes at her.

‘Good.'

They followed the Baron all the way to the Museum of Art and trailed him from painting to statue to painting. Bianca revised her guess – she was sure he was looking for a particular painting. He would do something to it, leave some signal to tell the Oscuritan soldiers which painting to invade through. But he didn't try to touch any of the paintings. He didn't do anything except sit on one of the marble benches at the feet of the giant statue of Grand Duchess Angelica that loomed in the centre of the great hall, and look around as if he really had missed the sight of all these works of art.

‘I didn't think he cared so much about art,' Marco muttered, peering around the Grand Duchess's skirts.

But Bianca's thoughts were elsewhere. ‘You know, my mother was supposed to be thinking about marrying the Duke,' she whispered. ‘They spent all that time together. It does seem the most logical choice.'

‘But then they didn't get married,' Marco reminded her. ‘Don't you think they would have, if they'd found out she was having a baby? You.'

‘Maybe he didn't know until it was too late and Edita had captured her! Maybe Duchess Catriona and I really are sisters.' Bianca found herself smiling at the thought. It was huge, and terrifying  …  and yet there certainly wasn't anyone she'd rather have as a big sister than Catriona. ‘Wouldn't that be great?'

Marco didn't answer. He pulled a face, and then stepped away from her before she could ask what the face had meant. The Baron had stood up, and they followed him out of the museum. He walked for about twenty more minutes before suddenly turning back towards the palace. Bianca and Marco dodged into a doorway and pretended to be very interested in a piece of scrawled graffiti they found there. When the Baron had passed them by, Bianca let out a frustrated groan.

‘There's
no way
he's really just sightseeing,' she said. ‘There's got to be
something!
'

‘Come on.' Marco linked his arm through hers and they set off after the Baron again.

He crossed the Grand Canal at the Bridge of Cats, and Marco and Bianca paused, half-hidden behind one of the big black marble panthers that reared up on either side of the bridge, watching the Baron as he strolled to the middle and then leaned over and looked into the water.

Whatever he had slipped away for, he'd either done it without them noticing or he wasn't going to do it at all. Bianca felt almost worse than if they'd lost track of him.

‘Do you think he knows we're following him?' Marco muttered.

‘Why don't you think it'd be good if Catriona and I were related?' Bianca asked Marco.

Marco sighed. ‘It's just  …  I don't know if the Duchess would be all that pleased to have to share La Luminosa with a long-lost baby sister,' he said.

‘But it's not just some interloper, it's me,' Bianca pointed out. ‘We're friends.'

‘Still. Catriona thinks of the city as hers. Just hers. And  …  I think she feels the same way about her father.'

Bianca frowned and absent-mindedly reached out to stroke one of the feral cats that lay sunning themselves on the bridge's balustrades. She remembered the shocked look on Catriona's face when the Baron had revealed that her father had thought of remarrying.

‘I hadn't thought of that,' she said.

‘Anyway, think of all the extra princessing you'd have to do if you were royalty in Oscurita
and
La Luminosa,' Marco said. ‘You couldn't run around spying on traitors with me. You'd have to sit and have polite conversation with them instead. You'd have to listen to Secretary Franco all the time!'

‘Ugh.' Bianca gave an exaggerated shudder. ‘No thanks.'

Suddenly, Marco seized her arm.

‘What?' Bianca asked, but Marco put his finger to his lips and pointed to the canal. Bianca turned just in time to see ripples spreading through the water in a perfect circle, starting from right below where the Baron was standing. ‘What was it?' Bianca whispered.

‘I'm not sure,' said Marco. ‘But I'm sure I saw him drop something in – and not by accident either. He leaned over and let it go.'

Bianca watched the ripples. They seemed to be larger and go on for longer than she would expect, but as soon as she'd thought that, they smoothed out and vanished.

‘What was it?' Bianca repeated. ‘Why would he drop something in the canal?'

The Baron was moving off again, making for the palace with a spring in his step that Bianca did not like one bit. She stepped around the marble panther onto the bridge and, as quickly as she dared without catching up to the Baron, walked up to the spot the Baron had just left.

Bianca stared down over the parapet of the bridge, but the ripples were gone, and the canal was deep and dark.

‘What are we going to tell the Captain?' Marco asked, drawing level with her. ‘We can't exactly rally the troops because we spotted the Baron littering.'

Bianca turned and watched the Baron da Russo as he started to climb the worn steps that led up from the side of the Grand Canal to the main gate of the palace.

‘I don't know,' she said. ‘But whatever it was he dropped, I somehow don't think we've seen the last of it.'