“We’ve arrived,” said Angélica.
We had walked through the orchards along a narrow path that snaked between the trees, and before us lay a small garden that formed part of the ruined cloister of a convent. On the other side, among the stone pillars and fallen capitals, hung an oil lamp. I did not like the look of this at all; prudently, I stopped.
“Where have we arrived?” I asked.
Angélica did not reply. She was standing motionless at my side, looking in the direction of the light. She was breathing fast. After a moment of indecision, I made as if to go on, but she grabbed my arm to hold me back. I turned to look at her. Her face was a shadowy shape outlined by the tenuous light in the cloister.
“Wait,” she whispered.
She sounded less assured now. After a while, she moved forward, still gripping my arm and guiding me across the neglected garden; our feet swished through the grass and weeds.
“Don’t make so much noise,” she said.
When we reached the first of the cloister pillars, we stopped again and took shelter there. We were closer to the lamp now and I could see my companion more clearly; her face was utterly impassive, her eyes intent on what was going on around. She was obviously agitated, though, for her breast rose and fell beneath her doublet.
“Do you still love me?” she asked suddenly.
I looked at her, bewildered, openmouthed.
“Of course I do,” I answered.
Angélica was looking at me with such intensity that I trembled. The light from the oil lamp was reflected in her blue eyes, and it was Beauty itself that kept me nailed to the spot, incapable of thought.
“Whatever happens, remember that I love you, too.”
And she kissed me, not a light kiss or a peck, but pressing her lips slowly and firmly to mine. Then, still looking into my eyes, she drew back and indicated the lamp at the far end of the cloister.
“May God go with you,” she said.
I looked at her, confused.
“God?”
“Or the devil, if you prefer.”
She stepped backward into the shadows. And then, in the lamplight, I saw another figure appear in the cloister—Captain Alatriste.
I confess that I felt afraid, more afraid than Sardanapalus himself. I didn’t know the purpose of this ambush, but whatever it was, I, and my master, too, were clearly up to our necks in it. I went anxiously over to him, with all these new events buzzing in my head. I shouted a warning to him, although without knowing quite what I was warning him against.
“Captain! It’s a trap!”
He was standing next to the lamp, dagger in hand, and staring at me in stupefaction. I reached his side, unsheathed my sword, and looked around for hidden enemies.
“What the devil . . .” the captain began.
At this point, as if at a prearranged signal and just as happens on stage, a door opened and a well-dressed young man, startled by our voices, appeared in the cloister. Beneath his hat we could see his fair hair; he wore his cape folded over his arm, his sword in its sheath, and a yellow doublet that seemed strangely familiar. The most remarkable thing, however, was that I knew his face, and so did my master. We had seen it at public ceremonies, in the streets of Calle Mayor and El Prado, and at much closer quarters, too, only a short time before, in Seville. His Hapsburg profile appeared on gold and silver coins.
“The king!” I exclaimed.
Terrified, I took off my hat, about to kneel down, not knowing what to do with my unsheathed sword. At first, the king seemed as confused as us, but quickly became his usual erect, solemn self again and regarded us without saying a word. The captain had doffed his hat and sheathed his dagger, and the look on his face could only be described as thunderstruck.
I was about to put away my sword as well, then I heard someone in the shadows whistle a tune. Ti-ri-tu ta-ta. And my blood froze in my veins.
“How very pleasant!” said Gualterio Malatesta.
Dressed in black from head to toe, his eyes as hard and bright as jet, he had appeared out of the night as if he and it were one and the same. I noticed that his face had changed since the adventure aboard the Niklaasbergen. Now he bore an ugly scar above his right eyelid, which gave him a slight squint.
“Three pigeons,” he went on in the same smug tone, “caught in the same net.”
I heard a metallic hiss at my side. Captain Alatriste had taken out his sword and was pointing it at the Italian’s chest. Still bewildered, I raised my blade too. Malatesta had said three pigeons, not two. Philip IV had turned to look at him. He remained august and imperturbable, but I realized that this new arrival was not on his side.
“It’s the king,” my master said slowly.
“Of course it’s the king,” replied the Italian coolly. “And this is no hour for monarchs to be out sniffing around women.”
I must say that, to his credit, our young king was dealing with the situation with due majesty. He kept his sword in its sheath and a firm control on his emotions, whatever they might have been; he stood gazing at us as if from a distance, inexpressive, impassive, face averted from earthly things and from danger, as if none of what was happening had anything to do with him. Where the devil, I wondered, was the Count of Guadalmedina, his usual companion on these nighttime forays, and whose duty it was to help him out in such situations; instead, more shadows began to emerge from the darkness. They were advancing through the cloister and gradually surrounding us; by the light of the lamp, I could see that they were not exactly elegant figures and were, therefore, fitting companions for Gualterio Malatesta. I counted six men swathed in cloaks and with taffeta masks covering their faces; they wore broad-brimmed hats pulled down low over their eyes, had a bow-legged gait, and as they moved, there was a clank of metal. Hired killers, without a doubt. And their fee for such an exploit must have been exorbitant. In their hands I saw the glint of steel.
Captain Alatriste seemed, at last, to understand the situation. He took a few steps toward the king, who, seeing him approach, lost just a drop of his sangfroid and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. Taking no notice of this royal gesture, my master turned toward Malatesta and the others, describing a semicircle with the blade of his sword, as if marking an impassable line in the air.
“Íñigo,” he said.
I joined him and made the same movement with my sword. For a moment, my eyes met those of the king of both worlds, old and new, and I thought I saw in them a flicker of gratitude. “Although,” I said to myself, “he might at least open his mouth to thank us.” The seven men were now tightening the circle around us. “This,” I thought, “is as far as we go, the captain and I. And if what I fear will happen happens, it’s as far as our king goes, too.”