left hand raised to touch the bruise on his face.
“How were you injured, my lord?”
He opened his eyes and smiled, looking down at our feet.
“I am ashamed to admit it,” he said. “It was no part of the battle. After we cut down the last of our enemies I rode up the hillside to see if Copenhagen was visible to the east. My horse stumbled and I was thrown. I landed badly, though I dare say my injury is but skin deep. I am wholly unbroken. Even so, my father sent me back to Kronberg. My squire and I rode north and I found that my old friend and tutor Soren had been shipped off to Hven. I commanded a boat to bring me here and last night you did discover me. That’s the end.”
Cornelius and Voltemont congratulated the prince on his valiant showing in his first battle and demanded to hear more.
“Tell us of the men you slew,” Cornelius said.
“Did you battle with knights, or men-at-arms?” Voltemont asked.
Christian answered them, using much florid language that invoked blood and honor and bravery but left out anything in the way of detail. I was silent, wondering why Christian had come to the island. He had not paused long enough at the fort to change from his armor and he had brought nothing in the way of luggage. Where was his squire? Had the prince walked from the wharf to Uraniborg, across half the island’s length in the dead of night? It was most confusing, but the crown prince of Denmark could give whatever account he liked. I would not question him more closely before Cornelius and Voltemont, and so I made as if his tale was satisfying in all regards.
The question arose as to what we would do that day. Morning was getting away from us and there were only six or so hours of decent light remaining.
“We should excavate those subterranean chambers at Stjerneborg we did not open yesterday,” I said. “Christmas is but days away and we would do well to present the king with our manifest then, as a humble and unworthy present. Therefore we bundle ourselves up, go forth, and dig.”
“I do not think so,” Christian said.
“My lord?”
“I have better uses for us all this day. Cornelius, you and Voltemont will clear a chamber on the upper floor if there is one with a roof intact and a stove you can make fit for a fire. Tonight we’ll not sleep in this drafty kitchen. Soren, you and I shall advantage ourselves of the clear weather and walk to the village.”
“To the village, my lord? For what purpose?”
“I have need to visit Father Maltar.”
“I have no such need, my lord. My preference is to remain here.”
“Such was ever your preference. But you will come with me to St. Ibb’s, Soren.”
Christian clapped his hands as if dismissing an assembly of footmen and then sat to put on his boots. Cornelius and Voltemont were only too happy to labor indoors, even in the ruined upstairs of the villa. They dressed, thanked Christian for the change of duties, and climbed the stairs, leaving me alone with the prince.
“You wonder why we go to see the priest,” Christian said.
“I do.”
“I have not confessed since before riding out to Copenhagen,” he said. “It weighs upon my soul. You do not mind? I would welcome your company on the long walk to the village.”
“I am yours to command.”
“Most excellent. Perhaps we will dine in Tuna. Do you imagine Father Maltar will have any eels to offer us?”
“I do not care for eels,” I said. We were both booted, gloved, and wrapped in our furs. I led Christian out through the cook’s door, into the yard. The sky was mostly clear and the snow glittered and shone all around us, a bright glow stretching in every direction. I squinted into the distance and wondered how deep the drifts were on the road to the village. We began to walk north into the glare.
“You turn up your nose at the favorite meat of his Majesty my father,” Christian said. “You always have done. Why would a man refuse such a delicacy as eels?”
I had never eaten an eel. I cannot imagine how they taste and said as much to the prince, and then I told him something of my childhood that he had never heard.
When I was a lad, I sometimes stole away from my father’s workshop and walked along the shore of Lake Elsinore, in