Bride to the King Read online

It grew hotter still and she was beginning to think that she would have to try and find her way back to the river which she knew flowed through the valley a long way away.

  She was now in the foothills of the mountains and there were huge boulders of rocks and also a lot of scattered stones that might have come from an avalanche.

  But, although she kept looking, there was no cascade of clear water that she had hoped to find.

  She told herself that what she ought to do was to return to the Palace, but every instinct in her body fought against facing the problems that awaited her there.

  She was still finding it hard to think, she only knew that somehow, somewhere, there must be a solution and yet if there was one it escaped her.

  “I cannot go – back,” she whispered beneath her breath.

  And yet she was aware that time was passing and, although she had no idea what hour it was, soon the groom she had left behind would report that she had ridden on without him and she supposed that the Regent would send a search party.

  ‘He will be – angry with me,’ she thought and felt a little tremor of fear go through her.

  But even to endure his anger would be better than to be without him and know instead the indifference of the degraded and drunken King she hated.

  She felt as if her dislike and abhorrence of him, which was very foreign to her whole nature, was degrading her so that she was losing her self-respect and becoming a reflection of him.

  ‘I cannot live such a life, I cannot become like the women he admires.’

  She was back with the same problems that had beset her all night and had taunted and haunted her so that she had been unable to sleep and inevitably, as she asked the same questions over and over again, she could find no answer.

  Her lips were so dry and she was so thirsty that her need for water seemed for the moment to sweep away everything else.

  And yet she was not certain whether the reason for her thirst was the heat of the sun, the hard riding or just fear.

  Then, as she rounded a huge boulder of rock, she saw just ahead of her smoke rising on the warm air.

  Instinctively she urged Samu forward, thinking that perhaps she would find a party of woodcutters.

  Then, as she drew a little nearer the smoke, she saw a fire and round it were seated a number of gypsies.

  It was not difficult for Zosina to recognise who these people were, for there was always a large number of gypsies in Lützelstein and she and her sisters had been interested in the Romany people, Katalin finding them very romantic.

  Zosina had at one time, tried to learn a little of the gypsy language, but had found it too difficult.

  Frau Weber had taught her their history and had pointed out that, as they had originally come from India, much of their language was derived from Hindi.

  Moving nearer to the gypsies, Zosina thought of what she had learned and was sure that, as Dórsia marched with Hungary, their customs would be much the same as those of the Hungarian gypsies who were the predominant tribe in Lützelstein.

  When she reached the gypsies, she saw that they were poorly dressed, but in other ways with their dark hair and eyes they were much the same as those she had seen at home.

  As she rode up to them, they looked at her in astonishment and she thought too that the men who rose slowly to their feet were nervous.

  To put them at their ease, she greeted them in one of the few sentences she had learned which meant ‘good day’. “Latcho ghee,” she said.

  Instantly the gypsies’ apprehension was replaced with smiles, as they replied,

  “Latcho ghee!” and a great deal more that she did not understand.

  She dismounted from Samu’s back and, holding his bridle, went nearer to the fire, saying slowly in Dórsian, “Would you be kind enough to give me a drink?”

  To make it clearer she mimed the act of drinking and the gypsies gave a cry to show they understood and a woman hurriedly brought a goatskin bag from which they poured out water into a rough cup made of antelope horn.

  It tasted slightly brackish, but Zosina was too thirsty to be particular and she drank all the cup contained and the woman refilled it.

  Then she pointed to Samu feeling that he must be as thirsty as she was and again the gypsies understood and one of the older men, who she thought must be a Voivode or Chief, took Samu by the bridle and led him to where their own horses were tethered by a large gourd from which they could drink.

  Zosina stood watching the stallion move away, then one of the women speaking in a mixture of Dórsian, Hungarian and Romani, which she could just understand, offered her food.

  She saw then that they were all eating from a great pot of stew, which was cooking over the fire.

  It smelt delicious and Zosina was certain that she recognised the savoury fragrance of deer or young gazelle and perhaps of other wild animals, which the gypsies could hunt in the mountains.

  She accepted the invitation eagerly and because she was no longer thirsty, she was now very hungry.

  She had missed her breakfast and, although she had no watch on her, she guessed by the height of the sun in the sky that it must be getting on for midday.

  A thick stew was ladled onto a wooden plate and, while the gypsies ate with their fingers, mopping up the gravy with a rough brown bread which the peasants ate in every country in that part of the world, for Zosina they produced an ancient silver spoon.

  It bore, she noted with a smile of amusement, an elaborate crest which she was certain must have belonged to some nobleman.

  She presumed it had been stolen, but she was not prepared to challenge her hosts’ possession of it.

  She ate what was on her plate finding it excellent, the meat seasoned with herbs, which she was sure had been known to the gypsies for centuries.

  She wished fervently that she had persevered with the study of their language, but unfortunately she could only communicate in broken sentences with a great deal of mime.

  Zosina understood that they were travelling East and she presumed that they would be leaving Dórsia because it was their nature to wander and never to settle anywhere.

  The women were attractive, their huge dark eyes reminding Zosina of their Indian ancestry. The children, small, dark and full of high spirits, were adorable.

  Only the men seemed rough and surly and she thought that they regarded her suspiciously as if they could not understand why she was alone and not accompanied by grooms or soldiers.

  As they looked at her and whispered amongst themselves, she wondered if they suspected that she was trying to trap them in any way.

  To set them at their ease she tried to explain that she had ridden from the City and now was about to return home.

  She thought she had made them understand, but to show her goodwill, she lifted one of the gypsy babies onto her lap and let it play with the pearl buttons on the coat of her habit.

  One of the gypsy men whispered to the woman who had first invited her to eat with them and she smiled and nodded. Then he strolled away, Zosina thought, still looking at her with suspicious eyes.

  She was just about to say she must ride on when the gypsy woman produced a cup, poured some boiling water into it from a very old kettle and brought it to her side.

  “Tea,” she said in Dórsian. “Tea.”

  Zosina took the cup from her. She remembered reading that the gypsies were famous for their special herb teas and, when she sipped the tea, she thought the taste was strange but delicious.

  The herbs were however, impossible to recognise because honey had been added, although not too much to destroy the aromatic flavour.

  ‘I wonder what herbs they have used?’ Zosina asked herself.

  She thought of the different herbs that were to be found in Dórsia, but it was impossible to translate them into any language the gypsies were likely to understand.

  She realised they were delighted that she was pleased with the tea and, when she had finished her cup, they offered her more, but
she shook her head.

  “I must be leaving,” she said.

  She looked for Samu, thinking that it suddenly seemed a very long distance to where he was tethered with the gypsy horses.

  In fact, she felt disinclined to move, to make the effort to rise to her feet.

  Then she was aware that all the gypsies were watching her, staring at her in a different manner than they had done before.

  She wondered why and the answer seemed to flash into her mind.

  Then before she could hold it, before she could formulate the idea it presented, their faces became blurred and receded as Samu had receded into a strange and indistinct distance.

  ‘I must get up! I must go!’ Zosina tried to tell herself.

  Then to do so was impossible and she felt herself sinking away into an infinite darkness in which there was no thought –

  *

  “Wake up, wake up, Zosina!”

  She heard a voice calling her far away.

  “Zosina!”

  The call came again and, because she knew who it was, she felt her love rise within her and sweep over her in an indefinable happiness.

  “Zosina!”

  Now the voice was louder and more compelling and because she knew who was there close to her, she smiled and with an effort opened her eyes.

  She could see his face close to hers, the outline of his head against the light.

  Then because she was only conscious of an irrepressible happiness, she murmured,

  “I love – you – I love – you!”

  “My precious, my darling!” the Regent said in a low voice. “I thought I should never find you, but you are all right. They have not hurt you?”

  Because he was speaking to her, because he was so near, she could think of nothing but him and nothing else made sense.

  “I love – you!” she blurted out again.

  Now, as if he could not help himself, she felt his lips on hers and her heart leapt and she felt as if her whole body was swept towards him by the impetus of her love.

  She wanted him to hold her closer and to go on kissing her, but he said in a strangled voice,

  “I thought I had lost you! How could you do anything so reckless, so mad as to ride alone?”

  It was then that Zosina remembered and she said a little incoherently,

  “The – gypsies! They – gave me – something to – drink – I think it was – drugged!”

  “It was!” the Regent agreed. “And if we had not met them with Samu, we might never have found you.” “Samu?”

  It was a question and he answered,

  “They had stolen him, but fortunately I recognised him the moment I saw him with them.”

  Zosina put her hand up to her forehead in an effort to think.

  As she did so, she realised that she was in a cave, lying on a pile of dried grass and the Regent was beside her on one knee, which was why she had seen his head silhouetted against the light that came from the mouth of the cave.

  She looked around her in bewilderment.

  On the ground near her was Samu’s saddle and bridle and, as if the Regent realised how hard it was for her to clarify her thoughts, he explained,

  “The gypsies have admitted to giving you what they call ‘sleeping tea’. They then left Samu’s saddle and bridle behind and, hoping it would not be possible to identify him, started off on their journey. Luckily we encountered them, otherwise, if they had not led us here to you, my darling, it might have been days before you were discovered.”

  “I-I am – sorry,” Zosina murmured.

  “When the groom returned to the Palace and told me how you had gone on alone, I was frantic,” the Regent said. “He thought Samu had bolted with you, but when he described what had happened, I had a feeling that you had intended to ride alone.”

  “He – kept talking – and I wanted – to think.” Her eyes pleaded with him to understand and, when he smiled, she felt as if the sun had come out.

  “I understand,” he said, “but it was wrong of you to take such risks with yourself.”

  “But – you have – found me.”

  “I found you and I thank God for it,” the Regent replied, “and now, if you are strong enough, I will take you home.” “Home?”

  For the first time since he had found her, she saw by the expression in his eyes that all their problems and unhappiness had returned.

  “I-I cannot go – back.”

  “You have to,” he replied. “There is no alternative”‘

  He spoke gently with a sadness that was far more convincing than any other tone he could have used and she knew that he spoke the truth. There was no alternative.

  As he had said before, the well-being of their countries was more important than individual feelings.

  “How can I do – what you – ask me to do?” Zosina whispered and he knew that she was thinking of the King and his outrageous behaviour.

  “I will make him behave,” the Regent said in a hard voice.

  “He will not – listen to you.”

  The Regent’s lips tightened and after a moment he said, “I will think of a way.”

  He spoke positively, but Zosina knew that, whatever he might do or suggest, the King would pay no attention.

  Once he was free of restraint, once his uncle was no longer in a position of authority, he would order him not to interfere and there would be nothing in the circumstances that the Regent could do.

  As if he followed the train of her thoughts, Zosina saw an expression of pain in the Regent’s eyes and in that moment she understood as she had not understood before what this meant to him.

  He loved his country, he loved his people, he understood their needs and more than anything else their overwhelming desire to be independent of Germany.

  She knew he would give his life willingly in the field of battle for such a cause, but it was harder to live without even fighting a battle on Dórsia’s behalf.

  And yet in a way that was exactly what it was – a battle against his instincts, his intelligence and most of all, his love.

  In that moment Zosina grew up and she knew that she could not add to the agony he was suffering by complaining or clinging to him.

  “We will go back,” she said and now her voice was not hesitating or frightened, but courageous.

  For one moment they looked at each other, then, as if there was no need for words, the Regent just raised her hand and kissed it.

  Then he rose to his feet and, going to the mouth of the cave, called one of the soldiers who was waiting below to collect Samu’s saddle and bridle.

  Zosina rose from her bed of dried grass.

  She shook out the skirts of her habit and, picking up her riding hat with its gauze veil that lay on the floor, she walked towards the opening of the cave, carrying it in her hand.

  When she emerged into the sunlight, she gave a little start, for she saw that the gypsies had carried her quite a long way up the mountainside to hide her in a cave where, if the Regent had not awoken her, she might have slept for the rest of the day and through into the night.

  She still felt muzzy in the head, but there was a touch of wind in the air and, as she drew several deep breaths, it cleared her brain and she knew how fortunate she was to have been found so quickly.

  There were six soldiers with the Regent and among them Samu with his black and shining coat looked very magnificent, especially when his silver bridle was restored to him instead of the one of rough rope that the gypsies had used.

  Zosina put on her riding hat, then, as she saw the girths of Samu’s saddle being fastened, she asked,

  “Where are the gypsies?”

  The Regent smiled.

  “When they brought us here, I let them go.”

  “You let them go?” Zosina asked in surprise.

  “To take them back for trial would cause unnecessary talk and speculation,” he replied. “We would have had to explain why you left the Palace so early and why, even if Samu had
bolted with you, when you had got him under control, you did not turn back.”

  “You are very – wise.”

  “That is what I try to be,” the Regent said with a little sigh. “The gypsies were lucky when I first learned what they had done to you that I did not punish them as they deserved.”

  “Perhaps you should – punish me instead.”

  “I am the one who has been punished,” the Regent said. “I thought I would never find you. I had no idea that a flower-filled valley among the mountains I have loved all my life could seem so menacing.”

  “I am – safe now,” Zosina said reassuringly with a little smile.

  Then, as she spoke, she realised that was not true, she was very unsafe and perhaps in a more dangerous position than any the gypsies might contrive.

  Yet what was the point of saying so?

  At least she thought irrepressibly she would have the joy of riding with the Regent for the next hour, perhaps longer. She had no idea how far she had come from the Palace. As they rode side by side, the soldiers dropping behind so that they were out of earshot, Zosina said,

  “This is something I have always wanted to do – to ride with you.”

  “There has been so little opportunity to do the things I wanted,” the Regent replied. “I have wanted to ride with you, to dance with you, but above all, to show you my own house.”

  Zosina looked at him with a question in her eyes and he explained,

  “I have a house of my own that belonged to my father and to me it is very lovely, which is why I wished to show it to you and to see you in it.”

  The expression in his eyes said more than his words and Zosina asked quickly,

  “Where is it?”

  “In a valley rather like this,” the Regent replied, “with mountains all around it. It is built on the side of a warm lake.”

  “Warm?” Zosina questioned.

  “There are hot springs beneath it. I can swim in the winter as well as in the summer.”

  “How lovely!” Zosina exclaimed. “I would adore to do that.”

  For a moment their eyes met and she thought nothing could be more exciting or thrilling than to swim with the Regent in a lake where they would be alone, the blue sky above them, the sun reflected on the water.