Pierre Pevel - By The Alchemist in the Shadows Page 0,33

mist beneath them stretched out dark tendrils that snaked their way beneath the city gate in order to accomplish their task on the far side. The task did not take long. The tendrils immediately withdrew.

The old drac raised his staff in one gnarly hand, tipped with jagged yellow claws, and pointed it at the door.

He mumbled a few words in the drakish tongue.

The sound of scraping and several dull thuds could be heard inside.

And then the heavy doors opened, while the portcullis lifted with a clanking noise.

The archway, long and empty, was only lit by two sputtering torches. The dracs passed through it slowly, without sparing a glance for the dying pikeman who staggered out of the guards' lodge and stretched out an arm, trying to cry for help before he collapsed. He died, his body convulsing, retching up a black bile that ran from his mouth, nostrils and eyelids.

The dracs emerged from the gate and melted, one by one, into the shadowy streets of Paris.

1

Alessandra di Sand, also known as La Donna, had been awake since dawn. She rose carefully from her bed, trying not to disturb the two dragonnets still curled up asleep. Silently she went to sit by the window, half naked, with an old Italian song on her lips, methodically combing her hair. She was pale and beautiful, caressed by the dawn sunlight that warmed her long red tresses.

The young woman had a view of the garden and the entire domain of La Renardiere — the name of the small castle where she had dwelt for the past five days — from her bedchamber. It was a hunting lodge, quite similar to the one which had just been finished for the king in Versailles. It comprised a central pavilion with two wings framing a courtyard, and to the front, beyond a dry moat crossed by a stone bridge, stood a forecourt flanked by the servants' quarters. Although in truth it lacked for nothing, La Renardiere only provided the basic comforts. But the place was both discreet and peaceful, only an hour's ride from Paris, a short remove from the road to Meudon, and practically invisible behind some dense woodland.

In short, it was a perfect retreat.

Having combed her hair, Alessandra shook a little bell to warn the chambermaid - who had been graciously put at her disposal, along with an elegant wardrobe — that she wished to wash and dress.

The clear tinkling sound attracted first Scylla, the female of the pair of black dragonnets and then her brother Charybdis, who followed close behind. The twins vied playfully for their mistress's affections. They jostled one another, craning their necks for a caress and rubbing their snouts against La Donna's throat and cheeks. She laughed,

pretending to repel the small reptiles' assaults and gently scolding them for being such impudent little devils. An involuntary swipe of a claw scratched Alessandra's shoulder, but the wound closed almost immediately and the single drop of blood that had welled up slid down her perfectly healed skin.

The chambermaid's knock at the door interrupted their frolics.

She had been at La Renardiere for five days. Five days of being taken, each morning, to Paris to be interrogated. Five days of being treated with a mixture of courtesy, wariness and resentment.

'This is your room, madame. And this is your key. At night please avoid leaning too far from your window. Someone might fire a musket at you by mistake.'

When she had presented herself at his door and made herself his prisoner the beautiful spy had placed the cardinal in an extremely delicate position. The Parlement of Paris — which was the kingdom's most important court of justice -had recently convicted her in absentia on several charges of corruption, blackmail and theft. And, for the most part, they were quite right in doing so. But Richelieu did not want her to be punished for these crimes: firstly, because the Pope was unlikely to allow her to be executed; secondly, because she was in a position to reveal State secrets which no one in Europe wished to see divulged; and thirdly, most crucially, because she claimed to have knowledge of a plot against Louis XIII and was demanding, before she would say more, that her life and liberty be guaranteed. But the Parlement was jealous of its authority and if it learned the truth, it would call for La Donna's immediate arrest. Once that happened, whatever was subsequently decided, the legal and political complications would accumulate — and as