‘Us?’ I must have sounded stupid. Until she spoke I had had my nose so close to the single problem of how she was to escape that it had not yet occurred to me that she would expect both of us to go.
‘Did you mean to send me alone?’
‘Why. . . I guess I hadn’t thought about it any other way.’
‘No!’
‘But-look, Judith, the urgent thing, the thing that must be done at once, is to get you out of here. Two people trying to travel and hide are many times more likely to be spotted than one. It just doesn’t make sense to -‘
‘No! I won’t go.’
I thought about it, hurriedly. I still hadn’t realized that ‘A’ implies ‘B’ and that I myself in urging her to desert her service was as much a deserter in my heart as she was. I said, ‘We’ll get you out first, that’s the important thing. You tell me where your aunt lives-then wait for me.’
‘Not without you.’
‘But you must. The Prophet,’
‘Better that than to lose you now!’
I did not then understand women-and I still don’t. Two minutes before she had been quietly planning to risk death by ordeal rather than submit her body to the Holy One. Now she was almost casually willing to accept it rather than put up with even a temporary separation. I don’t understand women; I sometimes think there is no logic in them at all.
I said, ‘Look, my dear one, we have not yet even figured out how we are to get you out of the Palace. It’s likely to be utterly impossible for us both to escape the same instant. You see that, don’t you?’
She answered stubbornly, ‘Maybe. But I don’t like it. Well, how do I get out? And when?’
I had to admit again that I did not know. I intended to consult Zeb as soon as possible, but I had no other notion.
But Judith had a suggestion. ‘John, you know the Virgin who guided you here? No? Sister Magdalene. I know it is safe to tell her and she might be willing to help us. She’s very clever.’
I started to comment doubtfully but we were interrupted by Sister Magdalene herself. ‘Quick!’ she snapped at me as she slipped in beside us. ‘Back to the rampart!’
I rushed out and was barely in time to avoid being caught by the warden, making his rounds. He exchanged challenges with Zeb and myself-and then the old fool wanted to chat. He settled himself down on the steps of the portal and started recalling boastfully a picayune fencing victory of the week before. I tried dismally to help Zeb with chit-chat in a fashion normal for a man bored by a night watch.
At last he got to his feet. ‘I’m past forty and getting a little heavier, maybe. I’ll admit frankly it warms me to know that I still have a wrist and eye as fast as you young blades.’ He straightened his scabbard and added, ‘I suppose I had better take a turn through the Palace. Can’t take too many precautions these days. They do say the Cabal has been active again.’ He took out his torch light and flashed it down the corridor.
I froze solid. If he inspected that corridor, it was beyond hope that he would miss two women crouching in an alcove.
But Zebadiah spoke up calmly, casually. ‘Just a moment, Elder Brother. Would you show me that time riposte you used to win that last match? It was too fast for me to follow it.’
He took the bait. ‘Why, glad to, son!’ He moved off the steps, came out to where there was room. ‘Draw your sword. En garde! Cross blades in line of sixte. Disengage and attack me. There! Hold the lunge and I’ll demonstrate it slowly. As your point approaches my chest -, (Chest indeed! Captain van Eyck was as pot-bellied as a kangaroo!) ‘- I catch it with the forte of my blade and force it over yours in riposte seconde. Just like the book, so far. But I do not complete the riposte. Strong as it is, you might parry or counter. Instead, as my point comes down, I beat your blade out of line-‘ He illustrated and the steel sang. ‘-and attack you anywhere, from chin to ankle. Come now, try it on me.’