Глава 11

...Allerdale, it's no good habit to eavesdrop. Listen to your father, now.

Only lowly scoundrels would hide away in the dark to plot the demise of another.

Maybe they do it for their own benefit, but such stolen victories never last for long.

(Urgh... lowly scoundrels, both of them...)

(Dad...)

She doesn't want to be caught barefaced, especially not by these awful people. It'd disappoint her father, and bring shame on the Cumberland name.

If she can just climb out of the window...

We need to seize the moment.

The soldiers are counting heads right now. We'll mingle with the crowd in the confusion. That way, nobody will realize we were ever gone.

...Did you hear something?

It must be some little house pest. Don't overthink it. How's a room so cramped going to hide anyone?

Phew...

She carefully, gingerly cowers inside the shadow. Her most loyal ally—the tremendous suit of steam armor—becomes her shield.

Her fingers feel to the edge of the window, and if she can just climb over and out, she can avoid this duo's line of sight, and climb down the gutter pipe.

Her skirt's filthy by now. Ailshie won't be happy about this.

But as long as she's not caught...

Agh!

She doesn't understand what happened.

The sky and ground seem to spin before her eyes, the inside of Allerdale's head whirling with. Her hands and legs lose all purchase, her grasp and footing touch nothing but thin air. She plummets straight from the second story.

The garden scenery screams like mad towards her head, but before she hits the stiff soil, a soft yet ample cushion catches her.

A cushion from where?

No, it's not even a cushion.

Allerdale feels herself gently placed upon the ground.

She turns to looks behind—

And creatures confined to legend stand before her.

They must have leapt out of a fairy tale just a moment ago, stood there imposingly in the garden. They really do exist.

Their golden fur gleams scintillant as the sun. The one at the head has pupils of deep brown, and they are now calmly staring at Allerdale.

Allerdale, brought by her father, has had several audiences with His Majesty, and seen generations of portraits of the Aslan kings hung on the palace walls.

But this is the first time she cannot help the urge to bow her head before such a gaze—for the ones before her seem more awe-inspiring than any monarch.

Yet a Cumberland does not bow so lightly. Allerdale makes a conscious effort to keep her head held high, as high as it can go, and only then does she notice that the one in the center carries a human astride him.

A girl who must be even younger than her, dressed in sumptuous ceremony, languidly sat atop his back akin to plated gold.

In his mouth is held a sword... a sword that outsizes the girl by far.

A deep, resonant voice arises in Allerdale's head.

'Allerdale Cumberland.

You will meet Vina again, someday.'

This is the first time Allerdale meets them, and the last as well.

In the over twenty years to follow, this sight will recur in her dreams, dreams of that august, golden presence, of the girl who was there with them—

Until, like the Aristocrat of Beasts prophesized, she once again meets the one named Vina.

Look, that... that's...

Her Royal Highness Alexandrina!

Inform His Majesty immediately, we've found Her Highness, she's in the garden right this moment—

Wait, I'm not seeing things, am I? Isn't that... the missing...

Her Highness—she's found the Sighs of Kings!

God save Victoria!

God save the King!

Cheers instantly erupt throughout the garden.

Servicemen, nobles, servants... everyone swarms for the place, eyes on Her Highness bearing the symbol of royal power.

What a miracle it is!

Hot tears fill the people's eyes, and one after another they reach their hands out in joy.

Miss Allerdale... what are you doing here?

...Ailshie.

You can't see them?

Them? Who do you mean? Her Highness Alexandrina?

She's the only one there, you know.

No, them, they're golden...

He just said something to me too.

Did something happen to you? Your skirt's dirty to high heaven... are you alright?

I... I'm not sure.

Stars... stars fell into the room upstairs.

The steam knight... armor... it gave those scoundrels a beating!

I don't understand what you're telling me.

Ailshie, I feel really dizzy.

You need some proper rest. Who hasn't lost their head, seeing all of this? Far too much has happened today.

Did you see? Her Royal Highness Alexandrina came back with the missing Sighs of Kings!

The cheers from the gardens were practically shaking all the windows and walls. Hardly anyone believed their own eyes. Her Highness Alexandrina in the flesh—and her age, how young is she still?

'A miracle,' everyone's calling it.

Yes, a miracle, of course it is.

The greatest difference between miracles and coincidence is that miracles never descend for no reason in the time and place they do.

It'll be His Majesty's birthday soon... How could I not consider this magical affair a splendid portent of things to come?

Do give that a rest. They put on this whole auteur-styled drama for the merriment of anyone watching.

What I'm suddenly minding is the opinion some dukes have of His Majesty and our Duke of Cumberland...

Leave it there. All worries on the backburner, now. The dinner party's about to begin.

You're quite right. Let's enjoy everything here to the fullest—

God save Victoria!

...It seems the people's attentions are on Alexandrina's adventure.

Your Majesty... you knew beforehand Her Highness would enter the cavern underground?

It was a fine opportunity. With me out of the Palace, the diligent guards could more easily chatter, or perhaps sleep on the job, and thus let this little intruder of ours slip by.

So you planned all this.

Half was his fine improvisation. He does like a harmless little practical joke on us humans now and then.

If he went along with this, does that imply he, too, considered this a necessary deed?

...Londinium will be soon for summer. Awfully stuffy days, and torrents of rain from time to time. You're planning to send Allerdale and the wife out of the city yourself, aren't you?

Your Majesty! My intention has always been but one, I simply...

Robert, you adore your daughter, as do I.

We are to wager everything for Victoria's present, but they are Victoria's future. On the off-chance we <i>do</i> fail...

We will not, Your Majesty. I will ensure the worst case does not happen, if it takes my very life.

I'm filled with great courage and confidence at our prospects. Still, it doesn't hinder me from planning just the most minute escape option for Alexandrina.

She'll be ruling Victoria sooner or later. Is it so wrong to have her get to grips with this city in advance?

And a similar farce still more or less served to right the balance, on this stifling-seeming afternoon.

Under all this pressure, the people's spirits need a little boost. <i>That</i> is what we're met here for.

Of course... we all have some premonition. Hence why we made these calculations, correct?

Come, Robert. Once you're done with your tea, we'll be due downstairs.

I hear music. That's the band Dad and His Majesty invited?

Yes, Miss Allerdale. The dinner party's about to begin.

Everyone's so happy.

Aren't you, too?

Ailshie... will the days go on like this forever?

Me and you, and Dad, and Mum... we'll always be together?

I don't know, Miss Allerdale. But I believe nothing ever stays completely the same, just as the flowers in the garden.

No. There are some things that will never change, Ailshie!

I'll grow up to be a Steam Knight, just like Sir Lynch! No, even greater than Sir Lynch!