10.
“Life is a wonderful adventure in which failures are sufferable for the sake of victories.”
—Richard Aldington
“This was our dream, Daniel…” Eliz’s words followed the physician on his way home. Taking off his shoes, he fell onto the bed. The ceiling pressed on him with heinous reproaches: How did you dare? What were you thinking? How could you?!
Daniel had long realized that this woman came from a place where he couldn’t even dream of stepping foot. She was a lady of the nobility, perhaps a lady-in-waiting, and sometimes he even harbored the inkling that Elizabeth was the Empress herself, who ran away from the castle. To think of it, powerful people also have their weaknesses, troubles and reasons to run away from fame and luxury.
Elizabeth’s heart was aching, and when a woman’s heart is in pain, she turns into a simple mortal, one who’s just as vulnerable and sad… as that bird right over there, sitting on the branch of a maple tree. Daniel stopped staring at the ceiling and was now scrutinizing the dove outside the window. Who is she? How on earth did she make her way to here? He wanted to find out everything about her. Who is she, this Elizabeth?
The dove flapped its wings and flew away, leaving Daniel alone with his uneasy thoughts. “That’s how Elizabeth will fly away one day, and I will never see her again…”
***
Bob, a peasant, was sitting tied up in a dungeon. He didn’t make it to the territory surrounding the castle. He wasn’t even able to reach its outskirts. The Emperor’s horsemen stopped everyone they saw. Bob tried to blend into a crowd of paupers who were on their way to the nearby village. The men had nothing of value to reply to the horsemen’s questions about some runaway woman. But when the horsemen began searching them, Bob became scared: he was carrying a letter that was written by a woman who looked very much like the lady in the portrait which the horsemen were poking into their faces. He tried to unnoticeably make his way out of the group of peasants, but a deft rider spurred his horse and a moment later, the horse and its driver were blocking Bob’s path. They found the letter in Bob’s bosom, and that’s how he ended up sitting under arrest in this dungeon, awaiting his unlucky fate. But no one hurt him. They even brought him food and drink, and promised to set him free if he confessed to the Empress’ whereabouts before the Emperor’s arrival. Bob was silent, so they brought him more food and wine. A lot of wine. It was a type of wine he had never drunk before. It was very long aged, beckoning him with an uncommonly delicious aroma. It was the type of wine that would loosen anyone’s tongue.
In the meantime, the Emperor returned to the castle, where good news about Elizabeth awaited him. The drunk peasant let the cat out of the bag and told them where “the beautiful lady’s” hiding place was. The servants immediately began saddling horses. The Emperor did not want a carriage. He saddled the fastest horse and, with an entourage of five faithful warriors, set out right away. It seemed to him that he was riding even faster than to his first dates with Lara. His face was being lashed by the wind, but the Emperor accepted this as well-deserved slaps in the face.
The earth droned as if there was an entire cavalry rather than just six riders on their way to the Empress. The Emperor anticipated the meeting—his wife’s disconcerted face and the physician’s pathetic figure. If Antonio finds out that this dimwit touched Elizabeth’s naked body, he will have his hands chopped off! And if the Empress refuses to go home, he will have her tied up and brought there by force! Fire flared up in the Emperor’s soul, and the earth became scorched beneath his stallion’s hooves.
The hut where the Empress was hiding turned out empty. Pushing the terrified Katie aside, Antonio pulled back a curtain to uncover a bed. Elizabeth’s long dress was spread on top of the bedcover, along with an undershirt and silk stockings, which clearly did not belong to royalty, but most likely to a local.
All that the flustered Katie could do was point at the forest, where the madam was taking a walk together with the physician. The peasant woman hastily added that this was the first time that madam had stepped outside since she has been here, and until now she had only lied down, sick and sad sorrowful.
The Emperor’s eyes glimmered with a piercing sparkle, “She was sick? In pain?”
“Very much,” the girl nodded.
The Emperor’s heart became filled with a sense of spiteful, victorious joy.
Five guards followed the sovereign. They easily found the forest and then combed through it inside and out until they reached a grove on the shore of a small river. It took them a few minutes to realize that the woman in the meager peasant cape and boarish boots was the Empress. Her face was concealed by a large hood.
The physician, however, appeared before the pursuers at his best. Wearing a woolen cloth coat, wide-brimmed hat and tall leather boots, he sat comfortably on an enormous stone next to a drawing easel. He held up a wooden board, which apparently served as a palette for the paintress.
The horsemen surrounded the young couple and dismounted their horses. The Emperor remained atop his stallion. Elizabeth (it was her!) looked into her husband’s eyes with cool indifference. The physician did not bow, remaining impassive. It seemed that he had foreseen everything, and that he even expected this turn of events.
The Emperor looked around at the scenery: the lake beneath the azure sky, the golden sphere that was the sun, the flowers, and the unfinished image of a woman resembling Elizabeth who was serenely relaxing in her fairy-tale. The Empress was externalizing her dream. This was her new illusory Empire, Antonio supposed.
Elizabeth was already living there in her dreams, and one brushstroke after another, she was applying her future onto the canvas surface.
“I will make your illusion come real,” Antonio said.
Actually, he was enraged by an incomprehensible sense of jealousy. Silent, the doctor stood next to him, concealing tremendous force and a strong spirit beneath his reserved appearance. Antonio understood that as soon as he saw the physician. Emperor was overtaken by a strange feeling: he used to wish for Eliz to fall in love with someone else so she would leave him alone, but now the mounting suspicions clouded his heart.
“You already did everything you could to me,” the Empress replied coldly.
“Seize them both and tie them up!” Antonio ordered without thinking twice.
“You can’t punish him, my Lord,” one of the Emperor’s aides whispered in his ear.
“Despite his poverty, this physician’s knowledge surpasses all other doctors in the Empire.”
“Seize them both and we’ll figure it out later,” the Emperor insisted. “If this man healed the Empress, he will receive a well-deserved reward.”
Daniel winced when hearing the word “Empress.” In that instant, all his conjectures and premonitions dissipated like a fog. “There! It has happened,” he thought, now boldly looking his greatest fear into the eyes. He was looking into the eyes of the Emperor.
The stalwarts grabbed Daniel, although he didn’t put up any resistance. They mounted him on a horse, tying him to one of the warriors. How comical. As if he would ever think of running… God, how stupid people can be when they think they have the upper hand.
Antonio ordered the unfinished painting to be dried and delivered to the new castle. He had a surprise planned for his wife. She would be disappointed that the painting was left in the middle of the grove, but tomorrow Antonio would bring the Empress to the new art studio and remove the band from her eyes… Then she will absolutely have to forgive him!
Tied to the Emperor just as Daniel was to the other rider, Elizabeth looked back, trying to catch Daniel’s eye to let him know that she wouldn’t abandon him to the whim of fate. If she needed to, she would even beg the Emperor for a pardon. She was soothed by the thought that her husband would keep his promise: after becoming convinced that the physician has cured her, the Emperor would show mercy…
The dog was the first to greet Elizabeth. It ran towards her, announcing the long-awaited event to all of the castle’s inhabitants with its joyful barking.
Tearful, Elizabeth could hardly wait for her eyes to be untied so she could see her sons. She noticed that Daniel was being led away, yet all she could think about were her boys, and as soon as she was set free, she rushed towards them.
“Mom! Mom! Where were you? We missed you so much, mom!”
“Did you get our note? We sent it to you on a hot-air balloon!” the children chimed, interrupting one another.
All Eliz could do was smile through her tears and nod, agreeing with everything the boys said.
“My dears, of course, of course you know how much I love you. There is no one dearer to me in the whole wide world.”
“Not even your paintings?” Tommy asked.
“Not even the paintings,” Elizabeth said, her face brightening up with laughter. She was overfilled with happiness, while her beloved dog licked her warm hands, which were still smeared in paints…
Daniel watched this scene from the window of the room where he was locked up.
The two sons were beautiful, but completely different—resembling their mother and father. His heart cringed. Daniel was happy and sad at the same time. He had nearly held the bird of paradise in his hands, and love had finally come his way. But no… Now there was nothing he could do but disappear and forget, forget, forget… But would he be able to?