The Time Reader

The room had been rearranged once more, and any signs of the morning’s activity had been removed. To my right, Don Julián, his eyes closed, his face as pale as one of the marble statues carved on the tombstones that flank the chapel walls, was lying still under the gray woolen blanket. I shivered, and my feet, heavy with fear, refused to move further. But Mother, already at the king’s side, motioned me forward.

I stumbled inside, barely breathing, while Mother bent over the bed and grabbed the sheet that hid the king’s body. I closed my eyes, certain that she was about to pull it over his face. When I opened them again, the sheet was down at his waist and Mother was removing the bandage that wrapped his naked torso.

Don’t, Mother! Please don’t. I don’t need to see. I know what I have done. Let him rest, I wanted to say. But my tongue was frozen and made no sound. Mother went on unwrapping until the entire bandage was in her hand, and the king’s swollen open flesh came into view.

I moved back, averting my eyes from the wound. But Mother came over and, grabbing my arm, forced me forward. “Look!” she said in a hushed voice. “You must look and remember. This is what war is about. This is what men do to each other. You were too young to know. But I... I have seen too many young men, strong and healthy, leave and never come back. Dead in a battlefield for a stupid fight words could have solved. What a waste! But men don’t learn. They care only about their honor. Then it is up to us women to fix the mess they have made.”

It was then I saw the blood welling between the swollen lips of the gaping hole before streaming down the skin in a thin red line. My whole body aching with relief, I gasped. “He’s alive.”

Mother stared at me. “Of course he is alive, Princess. I have kept him alive as I promised you, even when I know that it is hopeless, that as soon as he can walk he will rush again to get himself killed. Because that is the way of men. That is why I don’t want you to be a knight. Ever. I don’t want you to end up like this.” She paused for a moment, lost in thought. Then very softly, as if talking to herself, she continued, “As you may well have if...” Again her voice rose. “Princess, if you promise you will never leave the castle again, I will listen to your story. I guess I owe Don Julián that much for saving your life.”

“I will, Mother. I will stay in the castle. I promise. I didn’t want the war to happen, either. You see, Mother, the other day on the bridge, before the attack, we were trying to talk Don Julián into apologizing to Father. But–”

“Wait, Princess. Bring me some water first. I will dress his wound while we talk.”

I rushed to the table, poured some water from the jug into a basin, and brought it to the bed. Mother dampened a clean cloth in the container and started to wash his wound. But as soon as she touched him, Don Julián moaned and raised his right arm to push Mother’s hands away.

Mother moved back. “Would you hold him still, Princess?”

I walked to the other side of the bed and, trying hard not to look at the bloody opening, grabbed Don Julián’s arm. Mother resumed her washing. “What do you mean by ‘we’?” she asked as if there had been no interruption.

“Don Alfonso and I. Don Alfonso doesn’t approve of this war either. He’s willing to marry Margarida so our Houses will be united–”

“Princess Andrea, hold his arm please.” Carried away by my speech, I had let go of Don Julián who, still unconscious, was again fighting Mother. Annoyed at being found at fault, I did as told, while Mother stared at me, her eyes lost in thought.

“Why would Don Julián accept your offer?” she finally asked, returning to her washing.

“Because he wants to go to the other world.”

Mother’s hands stopped in midair, and her body tightened. Then she turned, dropped the red‑stained bandage on the floor, and grabbed a fresh one. “And Don Alfonso wants to marry Princess Margarida. Why?” she asked as she carefully dried the lips of the wound.

“I... I don’t know.”

Mother looked up and held my eyes with her bright blue ones until I felt myself blushing. “I see,” she said. “And did Don Julián agree?”

“No, he didn’t. But he didn’t refuse, either. I mean, they attacked before we could ask him. But he will. I am sure that he will. Please, Mother, don’t tell Father that Don Julián is here. Not yet. Not until I talk with him.”

Mother did not answer. Carefully she wrapped a linen bandage around the wound. Then she covered Don Julián with the blanket, and after rearranging the pillows, she walked to the table. Pouring some water into another basin, she started to wash her hands.

“Princess Andrea,” she told me as I joined her, “the most important thing now is that the wound doesn’t open. That is why he must stay still. He will need constant supervision. You will take care of him during the day. Princess Margarida, your uncle, and I will take turns at night.”

Walking back to the bed, she knelt by the trunk and opened it. When she turned back to me, she was holding two leather bags in her hands. “You have been to my world, Princess,” she said, setting them on the table, “so you understand there is a high risk of infection in a wound. Luckily I have always kept some antibiotics even though it meant disobeying your father’s direct order.” Opening one of the purses, she showed me a white pill. “He must take one every six hours,” she explained. Then she opened the other purse. The pills this time were red. “These are for the pain. Give them to him four or five times a day, or whenever you see he needs them. Of course don’t ask, he will never admit to pain. Men!”

She said “Men” with such contempt that I smiled. Mother returned the smile, and taking my hands into hers, she looked into my eyes. “Why did you run away, Princess Andrea?”

“Because I wanted to stop the war.”

“And before?”

“Because I don’t fit in here, Mother. I belong in your world. Coming back with John was an accident. And when Rosa took him from me, I–”

Mother gasped. “Do you care for John, Princess?”

“Yes! No! I mean I did, but now...” Confused, I stopped. John, I thought, but his face was only a blur. John, my mind repeated, and there was no pain. Suddenly I felt free, totally free, the way a caterpillar must feel when it emerges from its cocoon and realizes it has wings. Elated in my newfound freedom, I promised myself I would never love again.

“I owe you an apology, Princess,” Mother was saying. “I didn’t realize you cared for him.” In a lower voice as if talking to herself, she continued, “At the time, when John asked Don Andrés’s permission to court Princess Rosa, it did seem the perfect solution to save John. And your father was so certain Don Julián only wanted to marry Rosa to get hold of our kingdom that I believed it, too. Only later, after Don Julián had declared war on us, did I question the reasons behind your father’s decision. You see, Princess, when the war broke out, Don Andrés was thrilled, as if he had been expecting it all along, as if he had accepted John’s proposal only to have an excuse to fight Don Julián.”

“Excuses. That is what Don Alfonso thinks, too. He thinks men are always looking for excuses to fight.”

“Then I suppose I will have something to discuss with Don Alfonso when he comes to marry Princess Margarida.”

“Will you help me then, Mother? Will you let Don Julián go?”

Mother nodded. “But only if he agrees to talk with your father.”

At her words, my feet started dancing. My manners forgotten, I threw my arms around her shoulders and hugged her wildly. “He will, Mother. I know he will.”

Mother stroked my hair. “I hope you are right, Princess,” she whispered, her body warm against mine. “I hope you are right.”

But as she talked, I remembered the disdain in Don Julián’s voice as he dismissed my offer of peace, the look of hate in his eyes as he condemned us to death, and a shiver of fear shot down my spine, shaking my confidence. Would Don Julián really give up revenge for a world he had never seen, or was I fooling myself again with false hopes?

Three days later, I was still wondering. But after so many hours of watching Don Julián drifting in and out of consciousness and talking in his delirium with people who were not there, I had almost lost hope that he would ever recover. Then on the morning of that third day, he asked, “May I have a word with you, Princess?” Looking up, I saw him staring at me with his dark feverish eyes, and my heart started racing and my mind went blank.

The next thing I remembered, I was on my feet, my legs trembling under the skirts of my gown, my head bent into a low curtsy, and my voice, strange and foreign, saying, “As you wish,Your Majesty.”

Turning toward the window, I rested the bed linen I had been cutting into bandages on the window seat. Bright red over white, a drop of blood was rolling over the folded cloth. Only then I felt the pain, a sharp pain in my finger where the scissors had dug into my flesh. Without thinking, I took it to my lips to stop the bleeding and rushed toward the bed. The salty taste of blood was still in my mouth when I reached the king’s side.

“Doña Jimena has explained to me my present situation,” Don Julián said. “I understand that I owe my life to you. I am most grateful, Princess.”

“You are welcome, Sire. But it is I who must thank you, as you saved mine first.”

Don Julián frowned.

“On the bridge, Sire. You protected me from the arrows.”

“Oh that,” he said, his eyes staring blankly into the distance. “That was indeed an irresponsible act, abandoning my men in battle.”

Although I had not expected that saving my life would be his first priority, I found his abruptness annoying. “Whether you meant it or not, Sire, you saved my life,” I told him sharply, and my anger must have shown in my voice because Don Julián looked up at me, and his puzzled expression quickly changed to embarrassment.

“I apologize, Princess. I didn’t mean it that way. As you probably know by now, I am not good with words. Don’t get me wrong. I am glad you are alive, but I was not expecting to get an arrow in me. I just forgot I was not wearing my mail. So please do not feel you owe me anything.”

He smiled at me then, and although I wasn’t sure whether he meant what he had said or was just humoring me, I smiled back.

“Are we at peace now, Princess?”

“Yes, Sire.”

Thinking the conversation was over, I was going to return to my seat, when I remembered my mother’s instructions. I walked to the table then, and with my back to the king to conceal the pills, I smashed one of each in the bottom of a metal cup; after adding some water, I offered them to him. Don Julián thanked me and lifted the cup to his lips. His hand was shaking so badly that water splashed all over the covers.

“Please, Sire, let me help.”

Without arguing, Don Julián surrendered the cup to me and, his eyes searching mine without shame, he drank.

I was helping him to lie back when the sleeve of my dress slid to my elbow and momentarily uncovered my wrist. There, perfectly visible, my watch was reflecting the sun’s rays. With a sharp movement of my arm, I pulled the sleeve down. But it was too late. The look of amazement in Don Julián’s eyes left me no doubt. He had seen it. He extended his right hand. “May I have a look?”

There was such eagerness in his voice that, before I could think of any excuse, I had taken off my watch and was handing it to him. “It is a time reader,” I told him, as if that would explain everything.

Don Julián examined the watch for a long time. “It is from the other world,” he said at last, and it was not a question. A light of wonder I had never seen burned in his eyes, making him look extremely young and vulnerable.

“Have you been there, Princess? Have you found the door?”

“Yes, Sire. I...” I hesitated. Mother had ordered me not to disturb him. She had explicitly forbidden me to tell him about my plan, insisting that Don Julián was not strong enough to reach a clear decision. On the other hand, I intuitively felt that right then, caught in his intense desire to go to the other world, Don Julián might be susceptible to my offer. Hastily I continued, “Sire, the other day at the bridge, I was going to tell you about the other world, to tell you that you could go there if you agree to stop the war.”

“I see. My honor for my dream. A tempting offer, Princess. A very clever one indeed.”

“Do you agree then? Are you willing to negotiate with Father?”

Don Julián shook his head. “Don’t you think, Princess, that now it is a little too late? Why should Don Andrés accept any demands from me when I am his prisoner?”

“But you are not his prisoner!”

Don Julián eyed me suspiciously. “Princess, I am in your father’s castle. I cannot move without your help. And judging from Doña Jimena’s description of my wound, I will probably die anyway. What–”

“But, Sire, Father doesn’t know you are here. If you agree to settle your dispute with him without fighting, you are free to go back to your kingdom.”

Don Julián sat up, his eyes bearing into me with such intensity that I blushed. “Would you let me go, Princess? Why?”

“Because I want this war to end. And having you meet with Father and sign a peace agreement is the only way.”

For a moment Don Julián remained silent, then he shook his head. “I cannot do that, Princess. As much as I would like to go to the other world, I am the king. I cannot leave my people with Don Andrés knowing of my absence. What would stop him from taking my kingdom while I am gone?”

“You would have his word, Sire.”

Don Julián said nothing.

Suddenly I remembered. “Would you trust my father, Sire, if our Houses were united by marriage?”

Don Julián looked up. “Marriage? I told you before, Princess, I do not want to marry your sister. Besides, even if I agreed, Don Andrés would never consent. He believes I was trying to get his kingdom by marrying Princess Rosa.”

“Weren’t you?”A flash of anger crossed his eyes, but still he said nothing. “Anyway, Sire, I was not talking about you, but Don Alfonso.”

Grabbing the covers with his right hand, Don Julián bent forward. “You will marry Don Alfonso?” he said, and as he spoke all blood seemed to drain from his face. “That would be perfect. You are only the fourth daughter. Your husband could not have any realistic claim on Don Andrés’s kingdom. It would be a good bargain for your father–”

It was then that, to my eternal shame, I hit him in the face with all the strength of my wrath. I hit a defenseless man who had saved my life, who was my only chance to stop the war, and who I had promised Mother to take care of. And as if that were not bad enough, as I moved back from the bed, horrified at what I had done, I saw my mother standing by the door watching me.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-31