command his jewelers to build you a device—this telescope of yours—so you might prove the king is insignificant,” Ulfeldt said. “You take your philosophy rather farther than is wise.”
I shook my head, feeling both hugely conspicuous and miniscule. It was as though the world had suddenly turned into a deadly storm, a whirlwind of daggers all about me, and my least misstep would prove fatal. Should the bishop even whisper the word “blasphemy,” I might well find myself in chains on the way to the stake. All for a book a mere handful of men had read.
“Well,” the king said. “I have no interest in this book, or in your astronomy, Soren.”
“I am sure the king’s brother would find this volume fascinating,” Kirsten said. “Prince Frederik enjoys the sciences, and such harmless, enlightening thought experiments as these Soren has written.”
“My brother spends his all too many idle hours considering much he ought not.” The king belched and wiped his mouth. “I doubt it nothing he is even now, off in Jutland, boring my generals with hypotheticals and poetry. I pity them.”
“I miss his conversation,” Kirsten said. It was widely held that having been born under Venus made Kirsten a good match for the king. Her coolness was said to temper the fire of Jupiter’s influence over her husband.
“I doubt it not that you miss Frederik’s tongue,” the king said. “Be content that he is safe where he is, well-guarded by my soldiers.”
“I believe you, my husband.”
“Thou shouldst, my good wife. It has been the study of hypotheticals and poetry which have made Frederik into a prancing fat courtier instead of a knight. Sometimes my brother’s words are a poison in my ear, and nothing else. Your endorsement of Frederik’s interest in this book has decided me. Soren!”
I jumped in my seat and nodded, unwilling to say another word.
“This book of yours distempers me, and it is meet you should not wish to disturb your king.”
I nodded.
“I wish to hear no more of it, tonight or ever, as long as I live.”
I nodded.
“Therefore I forbid you to publish this poisonous little volume. Do you hear me, sirrah?”
I nodded, coughed and whispered that I heard his command. Oh vile king, thou beast in a crown, thou rodent swaddled in ermine, I do hear thee.
“Excellent. But look you all, how our mood is spoilt. This night was to be a celebration of my Kirsten’s arrival to safety with me. I say shame, on all of you men. Even you, my cousin Lord Bishop, yes. So, then.”
The king pushed back his great chair and rose. We all stood, Tristram groaning as he put weight on his gouty leg.
“My appetite for food and drink is gone, but my taste for merriment is unsated.” A monstrous grin split his face, a pig at his trough. “Therefore I bid you gentles goodnight, so that the queen and I may retire.”
We bowed. The king took Kirsten’s hand and marched out of the room, pulling the queen after him. Vibeke giggled and looked at her plate.
Christian leaned close to me and whispered, “Some of your book is writ quite well, I thought. I am sorry that you can never print it.”
{ Chapter Seven }
IF ATLAS VOLUNTEERS
WITH IMMENSE RELIEF I BADE THE PRINCE AND THE other guests a good evening, explaining that I had nine horoscopes to cast before dawn and must begin the work immediately. Neither Ulfeldt nor the bishop acknowledged me as I left the hall. I fled, almost running down the corridors to my chamber, where I bolted the door behind me. It was to be a long night, with many interruptions.
Ulfeldt had known that the king would give me this astrological task; during the banquet one of his clerks slipped a sheet of paper under my door with Baron Jaaperson’s date, time, and place of birth listed on it. I knew nothing of the baron except that he owned an estate west of Copenhagen and, according to the note from Ulfeldt, was a year older than me.
I set my lamp on the table by the window and from my traveling trunk produced bottles of ink in three colors, pens, a brass rule, my compass, paper for the charts, and those books I used to calculate the houses, the positions of the heavenly bodies, the Arabic parts, and the aspects. If I could draw up each horoscope in less than an hour, the king would have his charts by morning. My main concerns were to make the