The man with the white face smiled down at Una. “Handsome cat,” he said. “Strange he has no eyes. Perhaps he could do without other things as well?”
She shook her head, her face pleading.
He laughed, patted her hand, and escorted her after Nurse to the dining room.
Only the king and the young prince were at the table that evening, seated in the glow of tall taper candles. Nurse bobbed a curtsy to them when she opened the door before scuttling off into a corner, where she crouched like a hunted animal.
“Ah, Una,” Fidel said when his daughter entered. “I was wondering – ” His voice died when he saw upon whose arm she hung.
“Good evening, Your Majesty,” the man with the white face said, bowing deeply. “Your daughter has invited me to dine.”
A candle sputtered.
The king’s wine glass shattered on the floor.
Fidel grabbed a carving knife and lunged at the man.
Quick as thought, the man grabbed Fidel’s wrist, twisted him around, and slammed him facedown into the table. Plates and cutlery fell and smashed. Felix leapt to his feet, shouting, “Guards!”
The man with the white face silenced him with a look. Felix fell back in his chair, his mouth shaped in a silent scream even as footsteps sounded in the hall. Guards burst into the room.
“Stay back,” the man with the white face said, turning slowly on the ten armed men who crowded the doorway.
He smiled, and they fell away, one of them crying, “Heaven shield us!”
“Well, Your Majesty,” the man with the white face said, leaning down to whisper in the king’s ear. “That wasn’t very friendly of you.”
“Monster!” the king barked. “Demon!” Wine from an overturned cup ran into his beard, staining his face like blood.
“Sticks and stones, dear king,” the man laughed. His grip on Fidel’s wrist tightened until the king’s fingers went blue and he dropped his knife. The man in the black cloak hauled him upright and turned him to face his guards, who shifted and growled, hands on their weapons. “Everyone out,” the man said, glancing at Felix.
The prince staggered to his feet. “No,” he said weakly. “Release my – ”
“Out, boy, and take the old woman with you,” the man said, chuckling deep in his throat. “Do you think you won’t obey me?”
Felix swayed, his eyes rolling in his head. “Father?” he gasped.
“Go, son,” the king said, sagging in the man’s grasp. “Go on.”
Felix took one unsteady step, then another. Then he ran to Nurse, dragging her up by the elbow and out of the room.
“Guards next,” the man with the white face said, his voice smooth and pleasant. “If you would be so kind?” He took a step toward them, the king held before him. One by one, the guards backed from the room, each one gasping as though great weights pressed on his lungs.
“Come, Una,” the man said, turning to the princess, who stood with her back pressed to the wall, her hands over her face. “Take my arm. We’re going for a stroll.”
King Fidel roared and struggled, but the man in the black cloak tightened his grip still more until the bones of the king’s wrist were close to snapping. “No fuss,” the man said. “Come, Una.”
She slipped her hand through his elbow.
The three of them, thus linked, followed the guards, Felix, and Nurse down the corridor to the great entrance hall of the castle. There most of the household was already gathered – lords, ladies, and servants alike – looking at each other in quiet puzzlement, like people in a dream, none knowing why the others were there. A little maid saw the entourage from the dining room – first the prince and Nurse, then the guards, then the king gripped by the man with the white face. She screamed and collapsed against a footman in a dead faint.
The man with the white face looked upon them all. Then he spoke a single word. “Out.”
The hall filled with screams. Men and women tore and scratched at each other as they streamed through the great doors out into the yard and gardens, rushing as one body for the gates. Even the guards followed. Una lost sight of Felix and Nurse.
Soon the three of them – the man, the king, and the princess – were alone.
The man with the white face flung the king to the floor. Moaning, Fidel pushed himself to his knees, but the man kicked him down. Una cried out and tried to run to her father, but the man put out a hand, blocking her. Una grabbed the hand and bit into it, and animal sounds snarled in her throat. The man looked at her and laughed, shaking her off as if she were a small kitten. She tried to leap at him again, but a single glance froze her in place.
The man with the white face turned back to Fidel, crouched on his hands and knees. “Out,” the man said. “Follow your people.” He stepped forward, and Fidel, still on his knees, crawled back. “I don’t need to kill you,” the man said, “as long as you do as you’re told.”