Bride to a Brigand Read online

  “Of course!” he replied. “But the decorations were done by my people and I hope you appreciate them.”

  Once again he was mocking her and, with her lips set in a hard line, she looked coldly at the flowers on the horses’ bridles, the wreaths around their necks and the back of the Landau, which was massed with flowers of every colour.

  It was very attractive and picturesque, but Ileana thought she could not imagine anything more humiliating than to drive to the Palace accompanied by a man who by his very appearance was, she felt, sneering at the position she occupied in Zokāla.

  There was, however, nothing she could do but step into the Landau and they drove off cheered by those of the bandits and their followers who were not taking part in the procession.

  She was well aware that behind the Cavalry had been lined up the General’s huge guns and, because she could not repress her curiosity, she looked back as they turned out of the Bela Valley to see the enormous procession she was heading that seemed to stretch away indefinitely.

  Once on the main road the horses could travel faster and Ileana knew it would not take more than about an hour and a half to reach the Palace.

  She imagined she could see it in the far distance ahead of her and thought how different her feelings had been the previous morning when she had left it intending only to find out from Olav how much he knew about the Pallikares.

  Never in her wildest imagination had she thought she would return married to their Leader – a man she despised, and of whom at the same time, she was afraid.

  She would not look at him as he sat beside her, wearing the plumed hat that could only be worn by the Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

  She thought he was positively inviting the citizens of Zokāla to expose, imprison and even execute him for his impertinence.

  At the same time, whatever she might feel about him personally, she knew that the long line of guns following them was very impressive.

  Even the stupidest Zokālan would know that they were an effective and welcome answer to the ambitions Hungary or any other country might have of conquering them.

  As soon as they reached the centre of the valley where the peasants were working in the fields, their appearance evoked a great deal of excitement and men and women came running to the roadside.

  As soon as they saw Ileana, they burst into cheers and were obviously exceedingly curious as to who was sitting beside her in the State Landau.

  The General acknowledged their cheers with salutes and, as they drew nearer to the City, the crowds lining the route grew thicker.

  “I think,” the General remarked, breaking a long silence between them, “that seeing how you are dressed, they suspect you are now the bride they hoped for.”

  Ileana thought he was mocking her.

  “Bride of a brigand!” she replied bitterly.

  “As you say,” he agreed.

  Looking at him she saw he was smiling agreeably and she hated him more than ever.

  The news of their coming must have sped ahead of them to the City and Ileana was not surprised to find really dense crowds by the time they halted at the outside walls.

  What did surprise her however was that once inside the horses did not turn, as she expected, towards the Palace, but carried straight on.

  In mingled curiosity and indignation she found herself obliged to ask,

  “Where are we going?”

  “To the Market Square,” he answered, “where you have ordered your Prime Minister and Cabinet to meet us on the steps of the House of Parliament.”

  “Did you say I ordered them!” she remarked sarcastically.

  “I was merely anticipating your wishes.”

  “I am sure they will be grateful for your guns if they are to be used in the defence of Zokāla! But I cannot imagine that either socially or politically a brigand and a robber would be welcome as my husband!”

  He laughed as if at the sharp note in her voice before he replied,

  “I am looking forward to surprising you.”

  “You have already done that enough to last me a lifetime!” Ileana retorted.

  “I hope not. I would find life very dull if I did not see your green eyes flashing and your lips spitting hatred, when really they were meant for kisses!”

  Ileana stiffened.

  At the same time, because what he said was so surprising, it infuriated her to know that the colour was rising in her cheeks.

  “I think, if we are speaking frankly to each other,” the General went on, “you will find both your Cabinet and your people will enjoy seeing you as the personification of beauty, looking exactly how every Zokālan dreams a Zokālan woman should look.”

  Because the General, having burnt her own clothes and dressed her like a puppet, seemed again to be taunting her, Ileana wanted to tear her wreath from her head and throw it at him.

  But the carriage was already moving through the crowds who were cheering and waving.

  Flowers were being thrown into the carriage and women were wishing her ‘good luck’, almost as if they knew she was married – or perhaps in love.

  Then, as the horses moved slowly through the packed throng in the Market Square, she saw the Prime Minister and the members of the Cabinet standing at the top of the flight of steps that led into the House of Parliament.

  She knew they must have been wondering what had happened and were undoubtedly bewildered by the orders they presumably had received very early in the morning.

  But they were there and, as the carriage drew nearer to them, Ileana could not help feeling they were all very old. There was something tired and dispirited about these elderly and middle-aged men and she knew they were a startling contrast to the youth, vitality and magnetism of the man sitting beside her.

  The carriage came to a standstill, the servants rolled down a red carpet and the bodyguard took up their positions, one at the end of each step.

  A flunkey opened the carriage door.

  The General stepped out and put out his hand to help Ileana alight. She tried to avoid touching him, but his fingers closed over hers.

  Then, as they started to walk slowly and with dignity up the steps, the carriage drove away.

  As they reached the top, the Prime Minister stepped forward to say,

  “It is a very great honour, Your Royal Highness, to receive you at the House of Parliament and my colleagues join me in welcoming your distinguished guest.”

  As he spoke, Ileana thought his eyes flickered for a moment over the Blue Ribbon of the Order of St. Miklös and the other decorations worn by the General.

  There was a little pause when Ileana knew that she should present the man beside her.

  But somehow the words would not come to her lips and, without waiting for her to find her voice, the General held out his hand, saying,

  “I am delighted to meet you, Prime Minister, and now, on behalf of myself and Her Royal Highness the Princess Ileana, I have a statement to make and I hope you will allow me to make it from here.”

  The Prime Minister was obviously taken aback, but there was nothing he could reply, except to say after a glance at Ileana,

  “If that is the wish of Her Royal Highness – ”

  The General shook hands with the rest of the Council and, while he was doing so, chairs were hastily brought out and placed on the top of the steps that made a natural platform.

  Ileana seated herself in the centre and, having completed his greetings, the General turned round to face the curious and excited throng of people in the Market Square.

  Looking at them, Ileana thought she had never before seen so many Zokālans gathered in one place.

  She realised that, while the troop of Cavalry had followed them into the Market Place, the guns were being grouped in an orderly formation on level ground just in front of the Palace.

  It was where parades always took place, but she was surprised that the General should be aware of this.

  Then she told herself bitterly that
he had obviously spied out the land so efficiently that he would know exactly what to do and would make no mistakes.

  Equally, as he stood in front of her, looking down at the great sea of faces staring up at him, she had to admit that he looked impressive, even though it might be a mockery that he was in fancy dress.

  Then his voice rang out and it was, as she expected, so strong and resolute that she was sure even the youths who had climbed the trees at the far end of the Market Place could hear every word.

  “People of Zokāla,” he began, “I bring you the glad tidings that yesterday Her Royal Highness the Princess Ileana and I were married in the beautiful valley of Bela!”

  For a second there was silence, then a gasp of astonishment, before cheers broke out.

  They cheered and cheered until the General turned back and taking Ileana by the hand drew her forward so that they could acknowledge the cheers side by side.

  He then took her back to her seat and, putting up his hand for silence, continued,

  “Thank you for that delightful expression of goodwill. Now I want to introduce myself and I believe that some of the older citizens here today will remember my father.”

  He paused and it seemed almost as if nobody in the crowd breathed before he went on,

  “I am Prince Vladilas, only son of His Royal Highness Prince Alexander of Zokāla.”

  There was a burst of applause and again the General silenced them so that he could carry on,

  “My father and King Milko were first cousins and my father lived in the family castle in the West of our country that borders on Rumania. Unfortunately, although the two young men were at first very close friends, they quarrelled soon after they had both come of age. As they were Zokālans, you will understand that inevitably the quarrel involved a beautiful woman?”

  There was a roar of laughter at this, but Ileana felt that the people, like herself, were listening breathlessly to everything he had to say.

  “Finally,” the General went on, “their estrangement became so violent that King Milko ordered my father to leave the country. It was an order I am sure he did not expect to be obeyed. But proudly my father left Zokāla, saying that never again would he return to a land that did not want him.”

  There was a cry at this from some of the women and the General remarked,

  “You are right! In a way it broke my father’s heart, but at the same time no Zokālan, as you well know, will allow himself to be humiliated and it is something that must never happen to us.”

  The General glanced down at the people listening to him and continued,

  “My father travelled in many countries until finally he married a Greek Princess who was the embodiment of beauty, charm and sweetness and I only wish you could have known her.

  “Then I was born and, as I grew up, I began to long for the country to which I belonged and which I knew, although he would never admit it, was always in my father’s mind.”

  There was something very moving in the way he spoke and Ileana saw that the whole Cabinet were leaning forward in their chairs listening intently.

  “I have no time now to tell you how many countries I visited as I grew older,” the General went on, “or in how many battles I was involved in one way or another, both in my mother’s country and in others.”

  His voice deepened and grew louder,

  “It was only when I learnt a year or so ago that Zokāla was in danger of being conquered by one of her neighbours that I knew I had to save her and provide her with the modern weapons which are essential if she is to survive as an independent country.

  “My father before he died, knew what I intended to do and, as he gave me his blessing, he said,

  ‘You must save Zokāla and when you reign over her, as I should do if I lived to survive King Milko who has no son, wear my decorations as well as your own because they are to me the most precious treasures I possess’.”

  As he finished speaking, Prince Vladilas threw out his arms and said,

  “In the name of my father and as the husband of your future Queen, I ask you to accept me as your Leader, your ruler and the saviour of this country that we all love!”

  The response was deafening.

  The people cheered, jumped up and down, waved their handkerchiefs, their hats and their sticks.

  There was a demonstration of such spontaneous joy and excitement that Ileana felt the tears come into her eyes because it was so moving.

  The Cabinet had risen to their feet and were clapping and cheering as if they too could not restrain themselves.

  Once again Prince Vladilas turned to Ileana and brought her forward to stand beside him.

  Because Ileana was very popular with the people, the sight of her made the cheers increase in volume until they were completely deafening.

  Then, as he had done the night before, Prince Vladilas raised Ileana’s hand to his mouth and once again she felt his lips warm and insistent upon her skin.

  Now the Prime Minister was indicating that they should go inside the building and as they did so Ileana asked in a whisper,

  “Why did you not tell me?”

  Prince Vladilas smiled before he replied,

  “I wanted to surprise you. You must forgive me if you feel you have been deceived.”

  Knowing how often she had accused him of being a brigand and a robber, she could not meet his eyes.

  Next they were meeting the Members of Parliament, who had been listening to what had been said through the open doors behind them and once again it struck Ileana how old most of them looked and she was quite certain that this did not escape the notice of the man beside her.

  Another surprise, which she knew was part of Prince Vladilas’s plan, was that they were to have luncheon with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.

  “I must apologise,” the Prime Minister said, “if the luncheon is not as elaborate as might have been demanded by such circumstances, but we did not have very long to arrange it.”

  Then in a different tone, he said to Ileana,

  “I cannot tell Your Royal Highness how thrilled I am that, after your refusal to entertain our plea that you should be married, you should have chosen a husband who is Zokālan and who belongs to us as we belong to him!”

  Ileana was tempted to retort that he had chosen her and she had no choice in the matter, but she knew it was something she must not say.

  She merely replied by looking down and smiling, hoping that the Prime Minister would think she was too shy to talk about it.

  Prince Vladilas however was entirely at his ease.

  He made everybody laugh at luncheon as he recounted anecdotes about his father and mother.

  He also told them that a number of his men were the sons and even the grandsons of men who had followed his father when he left the country, ‘shaking,’ as Prince Alexander had vowed, ‘the dust of Zokāla off my feet forever.’

  Then more seriously Prince Vladilas went on to say,

  “I visited my family castle six months ago and I realised then that you have neglected the Mispa Valley in which it stands in the same way that you have neglected Bela.”

  There was, Ileana thought, a slightly embarrassed look on the faces of some of the Ministers at the table, but the Prince continued,

  “From what my father told me and from my own observations, I am certain that the Mispa Valley has tremendous potential.”

  “I have never been there,” the Prime Minister admitted, “but I always understood it was barren and desolate.”

  “It is at the moment,” Prince Vladilas agreed, “but there is a great deal of game in the high mountains which form a defensive barrier against Rumania. There is plenty of water in the valley which could easily be cultivated and my father told me that there are precious stones and marble in the mountains which have never been mined.”

  He looked at the men listening to him for a moment before he told them,

  “I shall settle a great many of my followers there. They will
build houses and set up new crafts and, I am quite certain, knowing how talented and industrious they are, that they will soon be in competition with the people of this valley, which will prove an incentive to the whole country.”

  He paused before he went on,

  “The trained soldiers I have with me can teach the younger members of the Zokālan Army how to use our new weapons and there are a great many more to come.”

  “More?” the Minister for Defence ejaculated. “If it is not an impertinent question, Your Royal Highness, may I ask how all these guns and weapons are to be paid for?”

  “That is a sensible question and one that must obviously be answered,” the Prince replied. “For the time being let them be my gift to my country to which I am so happily restored. In the many years during which my father was in exile he accumulated a very large fortune.”

  He glanced at Ileana and she saw that his eyes were twinkling as he continued,

  “I think even my wife believes that bandits and robbers live only by thieving from other people. That may sometimes be true, but what we have done on our travels over the Balkans is to thieve ideas, and to envisage lucrative possibilities which have never entered the heads of the Statesmen of the country in question.”

  He gave a short laugh,

  “I think you will find that the new type of rifle that my Army is using and which can be quite easily made in our own factories, once we have built them, will within a year be in great demand from almost every country in Europe,”

  Ileana thought the Minister of Defence looked a little sceptical, but Prince Vladilas added,

  “We have also perfected a means of transporting weapons and other military equipment across rivers and mountains that is almost foolproof, while at the same time difficult to imitate except by buying the secret of its manufacture from us.”

  He threw out his hands in an expressive gesture as he said,

  “We have dozens of ideas, some of which we admit to having stolen, some of which have merely evolved through necessity. They will certainly add very considerably to the prosperity of Zokāla.”

  There was no need to look at the expression on the faces of the men listening to realise that they were tremendously impressed by all the Prince had said.