The Keep

CHAPTER 23

CHAPTER 23The following day Qualto roused everyone with hand-rubbing expectation.

The previous evening had been occupied with concerns for Esyal and the drawbridge and Badr’s experience in the book room. Now he would be able to wring from Nyk and Josyff what he hoped would be a more enjoyable account of their trip. He made a great fuss of Esyal.

“Raiding my kitchen, using my knives, eh?” he said with mock severity and a fencing gesture.

“I’m sorry, I was hungry,” Esyal confessed. “And I just grabbed the knife when I heard that cry. It startled me.”

“It seems then that your more knowledgeable self is prepared to defend itself,” Adroyan said.

Esyal cursed inwardly, a young woman rescued from certain death in the snow should perhaps have fluttered nervously at hearing such a sound, rather than seize the nearest lethal weapon to hand. She gave a guilty shrug and a self-deprecating grimace of feminine helplessness to gloss over the momentary break in the general conversation that Adroyan’s remark had caused.

Nyk, Qualto and Badr had not heard the cry and pressed the others for details. Josyff was their chief witness, though he could do little other than recite the events as they had happened. Mindful that he was a stranger amongst old friends, he refrained from mentioning Henk’s peculiar remarks about the building. Henk himself, like Adroyan and Esyal, sat silent, listening, and, as if by some long-developed alchemy of understanding, his friends chose not to press him for his version of events. There was a brief, uninspired discussion as to what the cry might have been but it soon dwindled into an awkward silence.

Esyal broke it briskly. “Well, I’m sure there’ll be an explanation for it somewhere. It certainly wasn’t a dream and I don’t believe in ghosts, so...” She waved her hands vaguely and addressed Josyff and Badr. “You’ll find it when you’re doing your work.” Then, to no one in particular, “What time is it? Does this building have any windows? I haven’t seen one so far. I suppose it’s daylight out there — what’s the weather doing? Will we be able to get to the village, do you think?”

“It’s about half past nine, it’s a bright sunny day, but I doubt anyone will be going to the village for some time,” Qualto replied comprehensively, adding, “And there are windows in the kitchen.”

Hearing the time, Josyff pulled an unhappy face but Qualto forestalled his complaint.

“You needed to sleep — all of you. You’d had a long tiring day — two days. And, it seems, a disturbed night.” He became authoritative. “I shouldn’t imagine a few hours here or there is going to make any difference to your work, but being half-asleep may well.” He turned to Esyal before anyone could dispute with him.

“I’ll show you round afterwards. And find a room for you — one with a window.” He smiled. “I have one in mind right now — beautiful view — especially today.”

“I’ll help you clear up,” Esyal said, still anxious to distance herself in Adroyan’s mind from her knife-wielding behaviour.

“I’d better get started as well,” Nyk said, scraping his chair back. “I want to find out what the devil’s the matter with the drawbridge. We could’ve been out there yet and no one any the wiser.”

“Never touched it,” Qualto proclaimed, raising his hands. “Neither of us.”

“I never said you did,” Nyk replied unconvincingly. “But machines don’t start and stop on their own.”

“You’ve left something loose,” Qualto said with heavy but not malicious scorn. “You know how finely balanced it is.”

“I don’t leave things loose!” Nyk protested and, provoked, voiced his suspicion. “Are you sure you haven’t touched anything — maybe looking for something when you went to light the Beacon?” He faltered guiltily. “Thanks for that, incidentally. It was a godsend.”

Qualto was magnanimous in his victory. He started stacking the plates.

“What would we go in the gatehouse for? I didn’t touch anything, Henk didn’t touch anything. You know me — I’d no more mess about with any of the machinery around here than you’d help with the cooking.”

A brief smile flitted across Henk’s face.

Nyk became apologetic. “I’m sorry. As you say, it’s been a difficult two days and it was... upsetting, to put it mildly... to see the bridge closed against us when we finally got here. I can’t think what...”

“Go on — shoo — get it sorted out,” Qualto decreed. “I’ve plenty to do, as has Henk — and I’m sure our surveyors have too.”

After a brief flurry of activity, Josyff, Badr and Adroyan were left alone in the common room. Adroyan was looking absently at the grey remains of Henk’s fire. Josyff gave Badr as conspiratorial a look as he dared before speaking.

He cleared his throat uncomfortably.

“You told us last night that you’re responsible for this project, sir...” Adroyan was reaching into his jacket. “I’ve no reason to doubt you, but procedure is procedure, as you know, and I... we... will need confirmation of this if we’re...”

Adroyan held out a letter to him.

Josyff took it with a nod of thanks, then laid it on the table so that he and Badr could read it together.

“You are correct to ask,” Adroyan said, returning to his study of the dead fire. “Does that answer your queries?”

The letter could hardly have been simpler: “Adroyan is decreed Master of the Keep.”

Not knowing what the duties or authority of the Master of the Keep were, the letter left Josyff no wiser as to Adroyan’s place in this venture, but that was of no concern now. All that he was concerned about was the heading and the signature. The heading was that of the Ordrans, the supreme governing body of the New Order, and the signature, illegible, but identified in print and countersigned by Josyff’s immediate superior, was that of its First Member, the rarely seen leader and instigator of the New Order. He noted a shakiness in his superior’s signature — and that his own hands were trembling slightly too, despite his best efforts to give no outward sign of what he was feeling.

Badr’s response was more open. He cast a quick glance at Adroyan’s back and silently puffed out his cheeks. Then he slid the letter back to Josyff as if the very act of touching it might draw attention to him in some way. Josyff could do no other than give him a curt nod of understanding. There was no saying who Adroyan was. That he was of the New Order, Josyff had surmised from the start, but that he was there at the direct command of the Ordrans — that he might even be one of the Ordrans — was deeply unsettling. Whatever the formal duties of the Master of the Keep might be, the letter ensured that his authority here was effectively absolute, and also that every word would have to be watched.

All of which prompted more questions about what this building was to be used for and why this survey was so important. And why had he and Badr been selected? He was good at his job, he knew that, though that had been no protection for many of his erstwhile colleagues. Briefly it came to him that perhaps even Badr was there to watch and study him, report on him. But it faded. From his limited experience of him, he knew that Badr was at least able and competent, and skill in a practical profession was not a hallmark of the New Order’s creatures. He was no chatterbox, for sure, but then they had not had too much opportunity for conversation, and cautious silence was a hallmark of most of those who worked for the New Order.

But underlying these concerns was the chilling thought that he had been at the focus of the silent watching eye of the Ordrans. How long had that been going on? What did they know about him? What files, what tales, what gossip about him had moved through the rarefied upper reaches of the new Order?

His stomach felt like lead.

Damn their eyes! They foul everything they touch, these people.

This brief and inner spasm of stark rebellion took Josyff by surprise. He reproached himself, took a surreptitious deep breath and ordered himself to forget such thoughts. Do your job, get it over with, get back to your wife, away from the New Order’s gaze. The thought of his wife focused his mind. Watch your tongue — keeping a rein on it has got you this far and it’ll get you through this. And just watch Adroyan closely — very closely.

Carefully re-folding the letter, he returned it to Adroyan and, despite his resolution, took a risk.

“Thank you, sir. This must be a particularly important building to have brought you all this way.” There was no response. “Do you have any specific orders for us? Do you wish to see...?”

A leisurely gesture from Adroyan stopped him. Without moving his gaze from the fire, he shook his head slowly. “You have your instructions. This place is to be measured — thoroughly and well measured — and you and Badr are the best suited to do it. I am here to oversee the work and...” He hesitated. “And to make such decisions as may be needed.” Then, as an afterthought, “and to advise should you encounter difficulties.”

“You’re a surveyor, sir?” The remark was out before Josyff could stop it. He sent a silent oath after it.

Adroyan turned very slowly and looked at him. Josyff redoubled his inner cursing as he tried to avoid the black-eyed stare without looking guilty.

“You are the surveyor, Josyff.”

“Yes, sir,” Josyff nodded, over-eagerly, anxious to be away. “Now the equipment’s here we should be able to make good progress.”

He motioned Badr towards the door.

“We’ll have to check and calibrate everything before we can get started properly, but it shouldn’t take too long. Shall I keep you advised of progress?”

There was a long silence. Josyff was about to ask the question again when an indifferent “yes” reached him.

As they walked along the passage towards the main door, Josyff took another risk.

“It seems the New Order have been watching us, Badr.”

“Yes,” Badr replied, noncommittally. “I just do my job.”

Josyff stopped. The revelation about Adroyan’s status had disconcerted him more than he had thought and for a moment he felt physically unable to walk. He put his hand to his head.

“Do you want to sit down a moment?” Badr asked.

“No,” Josyff replied after a long pause. He took a deep breath. “I’m fine. It’s just that so many odd things have happened these past few days, I... can’t make out what’s going on.”

Badr looked round at the blank walls of the passage as if for inspiration. “No, neither can I. Getting posted here in the first place made little sense, so far from home and all my usual work contacts. Then a high ranking official turns up — never known the like of that before. And that girl — so lucky — such a chance being found like that — alone in the mountains — no memory. The drawbridge opens and shuts itself, the ladders in the book room move on their own, and even Henk thinks that doors and passages are appearing out of nowhere.” His round face wrinkled, halfway between a shamefaced laugh and desperation.

Badr’s last remark seemed to release Josyff.

“What?”

Badr composed himself and they set off again. As they walked, Badr recounted his and Qualto’s long trail after Henk the previous evening.

“I got quite alarmed at one stage. He’s an odd one, Henk,” he concluded. “I think even Qualto was bothered, though he didn’t say anything.”

Josyff was shaking his head. “Doorways and passages coming and going! I can believe he didn’t say anything — what could he say? They’re old friends — or old colleagues anyway.”

They came to the room where the equipment had eventually been stored the previous night. Josyff found the sight of it heartening.

“I think the best we can do is leave Henk to Nyk and Qualto and get on with our work as quickly as possible. The sooner we’re done, the sooner we’re away. And we’ll soon find out if doorways and passages are moving.”

Badr chuckled. He was already setting up a tripod and carefully extracting one of the instruments from its box. When he had finished mounting it, he patted it and gave a theatrical sigh of relief.

“Working with those old instruments the other day was... interesting,” he said. “Not to say salutary. It reminded me just how much time and effort these save.”

“Indeed,” Josyff agreed. “It does no harm to get such a lesson from time to time. Appreciate how lucky we are. I’m too near to “the good old days” to be deeply drawn to them.”

It took them the rest of the morning to check the equipment thoroughly. With the aid of Henk in locating some chairs and tables, they set about establishing their main working area in a large well-lit room off the Great Hall. Tall windows offered a view of the snow-covered mountains.

“How long are you going to be?” Henk had been silent for most of the time, not disagreeably, but communicating with nods and grunts, and the question took Josyff unawares.

“I really don’t know,” he replied. “Even from what I’ve seen so far, the building’s deceptively big and very complicated...” He was tempted to make some comment about passages and doors moving but resisted it. Instead, he decided on an attempt to make Henk an ally, though against what or whom, he could not have said. “But you can rest assured, Badr and I will be working as quickly as we can. No disrespect to you and the others but I’ve a good home I’m missing and I’d like to be away before the winter really sets in.”

Henk looked out at the mountains. “Yes... odd, the weather. Couldn’t hazard what it’s going to do next. Maybe it’s an early winter, maybe...” He shrugged. “But lots of things are out of sorts at the moment. I don’t like your boss.”

Startled, Josyff caught Badr’s eye. Of the many responses that offered themselves, he opted for one that he hoped was both tactful and cautionary.

“He’s like me and Badr — new to the mountains. City ways. Probably seems unusual to you. I’m sure we’ll all get along when everyone’s settled in. He’s...”

Henk was shaking his head. “No. He’s not good. I don’t like him. There’ll be trouble, too — the building doesn’t like him.”

Before either Josyff or Badr could respond to this they were interrupted by Nyk. He knocked on the open door and leaned into the room. He looked both embarrassed and concerned. Josyff felt a frisson of alarm.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Nyk said. “But we have a problem.”

“What’s the matter?” Josyff asked.

Nyk cleared his throat. “The drawbridge. It’s shut again.” He paused awkwardly. “And I can’t get it open. We’re shut in.”