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me a polite wave as a forbidding-looking chaperone appeared at her side and
escorted her away. 'Are you all right, Oelph?' the Doctor asked.
'I am very well, mistress,' I told her. 'A little warm.'
'Let's get something to drink and then step outside. What do you say?'
'I'd say that was a very good idea, mistress, if not two.'
We collected two tall goblets of some form of aromatic punch which we were
assured by the servants was weak in alcohol and then, with our masks off at
last and following a brief period to obey the call of nature we made our
way out on to the balcony which ran round the outside of the ballroom, joining
a good hundred or so others taking the fragrant night air.
It was a dark night and would be long. Seigen had almost joined Xamis at
sundown that evening and for a good quarter of the wholeday there would be
only the moons to light the sky. Foy and Iparine were our lanterns that
evening, their bluey-grey luminescence filled out along the balcony's tiles
and the terraces of garden, fountain and hedge by glowing paper lamps,
cressets of oilwood and scented pole-torches.
Duke and Duchess Ormin and their party approached us on the balcony, their way
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lit for them by dwarves carrying short poles, on the tip of which were large
spheres of clear glass containing what looked like millions of soft and tiny
sparks. As these curious apparitions came closer we saw that the globes
contained hundreds and hundreds of glowflies, all milling and darting about in
their strange confinement. They spread little light, but much amazement and
delight. The Duke exchanged nods with the Doctor, though the Duchess did not
deign to acknowledge us.
'Did I hear you telling the very young but very grand Lady Ulier your life
history, Oelph?'
the Doctor asked, sipping at her goblet as we strolled.
'I mentioned something about my upbringing, mistress. It may have been a
mistake. She cannot think better of either of us for it.'
'From the impression, not to mention the looks I got, I do not think she could
think much less of me, but I'm sorry if she finds your orphanhood in some way
reprehensible.'
'That and the fact that my parents were Koetics.'
'Well, one must allow for the prejudices of nobles. Your forebears professed
themselves not only republican, but so god-fearing they had neither dread nor
respect left for any worldly authority.'
'Theirs was a sadly mistaken creed, mistress, and I am not proud to be
associated with it, though I honour my parents' memory as any child must.'
The Doctor looked at me. 'You do not resent what happened to them?'
'To the extent that I resent their suppression as a people who preached
forgiveness rather than violence, I condemn the Empire. For the fact that I
was recognised as an innocent and rescued, I thank Providence that I was
discovered by a Haspidian officer who acted under the more humane orders of
our good King's father.
'But I never knew my parents, mistress, and I have never met anybody who knew
them, and their faith is meaningless to me. And the Empire, whose very
existence might have fuelled an urge for vengeance on my part, is gone,
brought down by the fire which fell from the sky. One unchallengeably mighty
force brought down by an even greater one.' I
looked at her then, and felt, from the expression in her eyes, that we were
talking and not just behaving as equals. 'Resentment, mistress? What is the
point of feeling that?'
She took my hand in hers for a moment then, and squeezed it rather as she had
during the dance, and after that she put her arm through mine, an action that
had fallen into disuse and even disrepute within polite society and which
occasioned not a few looks. To my own surprise I felt honoured rather than
embarrassed. It was a gesture of friendliness rather than anything else, but
it was a gesture of closeness and comfort, and I felt just then that I was the
most favoured man in all the palace, regardless of birth, title, rank or
circumstance.
'Ah! I am murdered! Murdered! Help me! Help me! Murdered!'
The voice rang out across the balcony. Everybody stopped as though frozen into
statues, then looked round at a tall door leading from one of the smaller
rooms next to the ballroom as it opened further and a half-clothed figure fell
slowly out of it into the light, gripping the pale gold curtains that fluted
back inside, where thin, girlish screams began to sound.
The man, dressed only in a white shirt, gradually rolled over so that his face
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