'Come back, Roger,' Benjamin murmured.
'We have been trapped!' I wailed.
'Yes, Roger, we have been trapped. But if we escape we will know who the murderer is, though I am still a little puzzled as to how some of the deaths were arranged.' He squinted up at the darkening sky. 'We were invited here because Raphael has seen through our little charade at Maubisson. Vauban has left us to die. He is probably drafting the letter to our royal master, saying we left the palace safely and that he cannot be accountable for our movements after that. We are supposed to disappear, but how?'
I stood and shivered with fear for the thought hadn't occurred to me. How could we be in danger in the centre of a maze? Vauban could be trying to ridicule us and we could spend most of the night trying to get out, but there must be something more than that. I heard the eerie shriek of peacocks from the lawns then a gust of evening breeze fanned the stench from that horrible orchard and its rotting human fruit. Old Shallot's courage just ebbed away. Benjamin played with the top of his boot.
'Master, what are we to do?'
A twig cracked. Benjamin rose quickly and pushed me down a path. He ignored my protests and shoved me on, turning up and down the paths of the maze. He was using the setting sun as a pointer, determined to put as much distance between us and the centre of the maze as possible. At last, breathless, we stopped and Benjamin put his hand over my mouth.
'Who else came into the maze?' he whispered. Benjamin saw the terror in my eyes and smiled thinly. 'Yes, indeed. The mameluke,' he whispered. 'He and those damned cats. Roger, we are being hunted!'
'But how?' I hissed. 'They will need our scent.'
'Where's your sword belt, Roger? They have our scent, as well as our weapons.'
We stood, ears straining into the darkness. We heard a faint snap followed by a soft, silken sound and the low, deep purr of one of the cats.
Now, I have been hunted by wolves in frozen Paris and outside Muscovy; by killer dogs in the catacombs of Rome; and by Venetian assassins in the old Roman sewers of London. Yet none was more macabre than that dreadful hunt on a balmy summer's evening through a dark green maze under the night skies of Paris. Now and again we could hear the sound of merry voices on the evening breeze and, every so often, the slither of soft-soled shoes over twigs and pebbles, the pad of clawed feet and the deep-throated purr of the hunting leopards. What is more we couldn't run. There was nowhere to run to. No fixed point of safety. And that's what Vauban intended. We would run until we dropped then wait for the mameluke and his leopards to capture us. The sweat streamed down our faces. My heart began to thud like a drum and my terror only increased when I realised we were using paths we had already been down. The green box hedges closed in like the thickest walls of a prison. I suppose my presence gave my master some form of courage for, when I glanced at his sweat-soaked face, the usually calm features were twisted into a snarl of rage.
We paused, caught our breath and hurried on. We turned a corner and there, squatting on all fours, was one of the leopards, eyes blazing, ears pulled back, its great tail twitching. For a few seconds it just sat there, the muscles of its golden back rippling, then it rose and the purr became a snarl. Benjamin seized me by the shoulder and we ran. We came to a crossroads in the maze.
Benjamin unhooked his cloak and threw it to the ground.
'Leave it!' he gasped. 'It will delay the cat.'
We hurried on, the blood pounding in our ears, our hearts hammering, breath coming in short coughs, until we were forced to stop, gasping and retching.
'Let's think,' Benjamin whispered. 'We are armed.' He slid one sweat-soaked hand down into his boots and pulled out the long, thin, Italian stiletto he kept there.
'Anything else?' I asked.
Benjamin shook his head. 'That's all, Roger, and our wits.' He looked up at the top of the hedge. 'Come on, up you go!'
'Master, the leopards will follow.'
'No, they won't. The hedge will take our weight, the branches are intertwined. Spread yourself as if you were on a frozen lake.'
Benjamin cupped his hand for my boot and, gasping and panting, I swung up on to the hedge, lying face down. The sharp branches, freshly shorn, bit into my stomach, crotch, legs and chest. I had to protect my face with my hands as I inched my way to the edge. I lowered my hand and, God knows how, pulled Benjamin up to lie just behind me. For a few seconds we lay there, catching our breath. I was too terrified to move but Benjamin, half-raising himself, stared out over the maze.
'We are fortunate, Roger. This hedge is slightly higher than the rest. If we go forward as the crow flies, keeping the sun as our guide, we could reach the edge of the maze near the palace wall.' He looked round and chuckled. 'What is more pleasing,' he gasped, falling back on to his stomach, 'is that the mameluke is well behind us, though God knows where the leopards are!'
Chapter 12
We learnt soon enough. The beasts were puzzled by the lack of scent but, by chance, one of them caught sight of us edging our way along the top of the hedge and, snarling with fury, threw itself at us. However, the boxwood was too high and the pathways of the maze so narrow the cat had no room for a spring. All it could do was dash itself against the sharp-branched hedge. It gave that up but stalked alongside us, ears flat in fury, snarling and giving that strange blood-chilling bark. Benjamin, grasping his knife, urged me on.
'Take off your doublet, Roger,' he gasped.
Gasping and struggling, cut by the branches of the maze, I tossed the doublet down and the leopard stayed long enough to tear and rend it to pieces. We must have spent an hour crawling towards that wall. Now and again one of the leopards would catch up with us and either Benjamin or I tossed down some article of clothing. It may have saved us from the leopards but left us more vulnerable to the sharp-edged boxwood branches. My hands, chest and stomach were now scored with pinpricks and gashes whilst Benjamin had an ugly cut just under his right eye.
'Thank God!' he murmured.
'What for?' I snarled.
"Thank God the mameluke unleashed the leopards and didn't hunt with them.'
At last we reached the edge of the maze and collapsed on to the ground, little more than two sweat-soaked, bloody heaps.
'Come on, Roger,' Benjamin whispered. 'The wall!'
We had hardly begun our run when the mameluke slipped, like the shadow of death, from one of the pathways of the maze, his great, two-handled scimitar held back over his shoulder. He came tip-toeing like a dancer towards us. Benjamin pushed me on, slipped to one knee and, bringing the stiletto back, threw it with all his force. I turned, half-slipping, and saw the dagger take the mameluke just under his throat, sinking deep into his left shoulder. Not a killing blow but the creature dropped to his knees, eyes staring, mouth open, the great scimitar slipping out of his hands. Benjamin raced forward and picked this up and before the mameluke, caught in his own circle of pain, could react, sliced the man's head clean from his shoulders.
I heard the dull thud as the head hit the ground like a ball and turned away at the dark red arc of blood which spouted yards into the air. Then Benjamin was beside me, cursing at me for not running on. We reached the wall. The brickwork was loose and gouged my hands and knees as we clambered to the top. Surprisingly, there were no guards about. Vauban must have been fully confident in his mameluke and his leopards. I looked back towards that dreadful maze and, just before I jumped to the ground, I glimpsed the first leopard leave the maze and pad like a ghost towards the ghastly, decapitated corpse.
(Ah, I am sorry, my chaplain has interrupted. He cannot believe we crawled across the top of boxwood hedges. If I was young enough I would prove it now, and if he doesn't keep a civil tongue in his head I'll get him to demonstrate to all and sundry that it is possible. Is that why you sit at the centre of a maze? he asks. Well, yes, I suppose it is. I learnt something that dreadful summer's day. If you want protection, to be really safe, sit at the centre of a maze. Even if your enemy gets in, he may never get out alive. All the great villains of history sat at the centre of a maze, be it in a garden or a palace. Catherine de Medici, Madame Serpent, had her palace at Chambord turned into a labyrinth of false passageways, secret tunnels and corridors of moving floors containing oubliettes through which her hapless victims would disappear.)