Royal Flash

I felt a chill that was not from the water as I paddled slowly towards it; exhausted and shocked as I was, I could smell danger from the place. When you burgle a house, you don't go in by the open front door. But Hansen was already out of sight in the shadow; I swam after him round an angle of the rock, and saw him treading water with his hand up on the stone ledge that bordered the harbour. When he saw me he turned face on to the stone, put up his other hand, and heaved himself out of the water.

For a second he hung there, poised, straining to pull his body onto the ledge; the moonlight was full on him, and suddenly something glittered flying above the water and smacked between his shoulder blades; his head shot up and his body heaved convulsively; for a second he hung, motionless, and then with a dreadful, bubbling sigh he flopped face down on the stone and slid slowly back into the water. As he slipped under I could distinctly see the knife-hilt standing out of his back; then he was floating, half-submerged, and I was scrabbling frantically away from him, choking back the shriek of terror in my throat.

There was a low, cheerful laugh out of the shadows above me, and then someone whistled a line or two of 'Marlbroug s'en va t-en guerre'.

'Swim this way, Flashman, Prince of Denmark,' said Rudi's voice. 'I have you beaded, and you won't float long if I put lead ballast into you. Come along, there's a good chap; you don't want to catch cold, do you?'

He watched me as I clambered miserably out, shaking with fright and cold, and stood hand on hip, smiling easily at me.

'This is a not entirely unexpected pleasure,' says he. 'I had a feeling you would turn up, somehow. Eccentric way you have of arriving, though.' He nodded towards the water. 'Who's our dead friend?'

I told him.

'Hansen, eh? Well, serve him right for a meddling fool. I did him rather proud, I think—twenty-five feet, an uncertain light, and a rather clumsy hunting-knife—but I put it right between his shoulders. Rather pretty work, wouldn't you say? But you're trembling, man!'

'I'm cold,' I chattered.

'Not as cold as he is,' chuckled this hellish ruffian. 'Well, come along. Ah, but first, the formalities.' He snapped his fingers, and two men came out of the shadows behind him. 'Michael, take the gentleman's sabre, and that most un-English knife in his belt. Excellent. This way.'

They took me through a ruined archway, across a paved yard, through a postern-like door in what seemed to be the main keep, and into a vast vaulted hall with a great stone stairway winding round its wall; To my left was a lofty arch through which I could see dimly the outline of massive chains and a great wheel: I supposed this would be the drawbridge mechanism—not that it mattered now.

Rudi, humming merrily, led the way upstairs and into a chamber off the first landing. By contrast with the gloomy medieval stonework through which we had come, it was pleasantly furnished in an untidy bachelor way, with clothes, papers, dog-whips, bottles, and so on scattered everywhere; there was a fire going and I made straight for it.

'Here,' says he, pushing a glass of spirits into my hand. 'Michael will get you some dry clothes.' And while I choked over the drink, and then stripped off my soaking weeds, he lounged in an armchair.

'So,' says he, once I had pulled on the rough clothes they brought, and we were alone, 'de Gautet bungled it, eh? I told them they should have let me do the business—if I'd been there you would never even have twitched. Tell me what happened.'

Possibly I was light-headed with the brandy and the shock of what I had been through, or my fear had reached that stage of desperation where nothing seems to matter; anyway, I told him how I had disposed of his colleague, and he chuckled appreciatively.

'You know, I begin to like you better and better; I knew from the first that we'd get along splendidly. And then what? Our Dansker friends got hold of you, didn't they?' Seeing me hesitate, he leaned forward in his chair. 'Come along, now; I know much more than you may think, and can probably guess the rest. And if you hold back, or lie to me-well, Mr Play-actor, you'll find yourself going for a swim with friend Hansen, I promise you. Who sent you here? It was the Danish faction, wasn't it—Sapten's precious bandits?'

'The Sons of the Volsungs,' I admitted. I daren't try to deceive him—and what would have been the point?

'Sons of the Volsungs! Sons of the Nibelungs would be more appropriate. And you and Hansen were to try to rescue Carl Gustaf? I wonder,' he mused, 'how they found out about him. No matter. What did you expect to accomplish, in heaven's name? Two of you couldn't hope … ah, but wait a moment! You were the mine under the walls, weren't you? To open the way for the good Major Sapten's patriotic horde.' He gave a ringing laugh. 'Don't look so surprised, man! D'ye think we're blind in here? We've been watching them scuttle about the shore all day. Why, with a night-glass in the tower we watched your boat set out an hour ago! Of all the bungling, ill-judged, badly-managed affairs! But what would one expect from that pack of yokels?' He roared with laughter again. 'And how did they coerce you into this folly? A knife at your back, no doubt. Well, well, I wonder what they'll think of next?'

Now, I was beginning to get some of my senses back, what with the warmth and the rest of sitting down. I was out of the frying-pan into the fire, no question, but I couldn't for the life of me see why he had killed Hansen and taken me prisoner—unless it was for information. And when he had got all that he wanted, what was he going to do with me? I could guess.

'Yes, what will they think of next?' He sauntered in front of the fireplace, slim and elegant in his tight-fitting black tunic and breeches, and turned to flash his teeth at me. 'Suppose you tell me?'

'I don't know,' says I. 'It was … as you've guessed. We were to try to release him and let down the bridge.'

'And if that failed?'

'They didn't say.'

'Mm. Do they know our garrison?'

'They think … only a few.'

'Well guessed—or well spied out. Not that it'll help them. If they try to storm the place their dear Prince will be feeding the fishes in the Jotunsee before they're over the causeway—do they know that, I wonder?'

I nodded. 'They know all about it.'

He grinned happily. 'Well, then, we needn't fret about them, need we? It gives us time to consider. How many men have they over yonder, by the way? And be very, very careful how you answer.'

'I heard them say fifty.'

'Wise Flashman. I knew, you see.' Suddenly he clapped me on the shoulder. 'Would you like to meet your royal twin? I've been longing to bring the pair of you face to face, you know—and you can see, at the same time, the excellent arrangements we have for his … shall we say, security?—in the event of burglars. Come along.' He flung open the door. 'Oh, and Flashman.' he added, carelessly smiling. 'You will bear in mind that I'm not de Gautet, won't you? You'll do nothing foolish, I mean? You see, it would be a great waste, because I think … I think we may be able to try out a little scheme of mine together, you and I. We'll see.' He bowed and waved me through. 'After you, your highness.'

We went down to the great hall, and there Rudi turned into a side-passage, and down a steep flight of stone steps which spiralled into the depths of the castle. There were oil lamps at intervals, glistening on the nitre which crusted the bare stone, and in places the steps were slippery with moss, We came out into a flagged cloister, with mighty, squat columns supporting the low ceiling; the place was in shadow, but ahead of us light shone from an archway, and passing through we were in a broad stone chamber where two men sat over cards at a rough table. They looked up at our approach, one with his hand on a pistol; they were burly, tall fellows in what looked like cavalry overalls, and their sabres hung at their elbows, but I wasn't concerned with them. Beyond them was a great iron grille, stretching from floor to ceiling, and before it stood Kraftstein, his huge hands on his hips, like an ogre in the flickering lamplight.

'Here he is, Kraftstein,' says Rudi lightly. 'Our old drinking-companion from Schonhausen. Aren't you pleased, now, that I didn't let you shoot him in the water? Kraftstein's got no manners, you know,' he added over his shoulder to me. 'And how is our royal guest this evening?'

Kraftstein said nothing, but having glowered at me he turned and drew a bolt in the grille. Rudi waved me