Pierre Pevel - By The Alchemist in the Shadows Page 0,55
him off, but instead a whole group of determined, well-organised mercenaries.
Saint-Lucq stood up again.
He looked around, sniffing at the damp air, and was suddenly convinced that he was close to his goal. It wouldn't be long now before he found the lair of the dracs on La Donna's trail.
Upon their return to Paris, La Fargue and Almades left Laincourt at the entrance of rue des Enfants-Rouges and continued down rue du Temple. They took the Pont au Change, crossed the Ile de la Cite, and then the small arm of the Seine by way of the Pont Saint-Michel. On the Left Bank, they passed through the Buci gate as they returned to the faubourg Saint-Germain and, finally, rue Saint-Guillaume and the Hotel de l'Epervier. They entrusted their horses to Andre, and La Fargue immediately summoned his troops. Only Leprat and Saint-Lucq were missing, the former on duty at La Renardiere and the latter busy searching Ile Notre-Dame-des-Ecailles. So it was therefore Agnes, Marciac, and Ballardieu who joined Almades and their captain in the main hall on the ground floor
— their converted fencing room. They all found a seat wherever they could.
La Fargue began by asking if they had received any news from La Renardiere, the Palais-Cardinal, the Louvre, or even Le Chatelet. And when they replied no, he proceeded to recount the events of the afternoon. After — and even during - this recital, he had to answer questions about Aubusson, Laincourt, La Donna, and above all, the famous documents they had received from the painter. This took a good hour.
'So,' Marciac summed up, 'having revealed the existence of a plot against the king, La Donna spends almost a week dancing this strange pas de deux with monsieur de Laffemas until, one fine morning, she suddenly declares that she will speak to none but Laincourt and, without further ado, sends him to the one person who can provide proofs of her claims.'
'That's right.'
'Am I the only one to find this rather astonishing?'
No one knew how to reply to this, except Ballardieu, who muttered:
'I find this Italian woman very capricious. I say a good spanking would probably suffice to bring her back to sweet reason. The cardinal has coddled her, if you want my opinion.'
The others glanced at one another, thinking there was a certain amount of good sense in the old soldier's words. Marciac, however, was the only one to really imagine the spanking.
'But that's not the most important thing,' said Agnes. 'After all, if La Donna has found some personal advantage in this affair then so much the better, since without it she would have kept the information to herself or else sold it to the highest bidder. What does matter, on the other hand, is the plot itself. Our first duty is to protect the king, the queen, and the cardinal. Not to guess at the secret motives of a foreign spy.'
'Agreed,' said the Gascon. 'So what about these papers found at the painter's home, this Aubusson?
Do they even attest to the existence of a plot?'
La Fargue shrugged.
'How can we know? I can only say that if these documents are authentic, their value is immense.'
'Documents belonging to the Black Claw,' Almades reminded them.
'Yes. They will reveal their secrets once they've been translated. It's only a matter of time.'
'To be sure. But isn't time precisely what we lack?' Agnes emphasised.
A silence followed, finally interrupted by monsieur Guibot who knocked, opened the door, and announced Laincourt. The latter was promptly invited to enter. Looking grave, he distributed courteous nods all round, gratified Agnes with a more pronounced salute, and then gave La Fargue a questioning glance.
'Speak,' said the Blades' captain.
'1 have just come from His Eminence's master of magic. He cannot yet attest to this formally, but the authenticity of the papers he has studied appears to be borne out. According to him, they are quite definitely Black Claw documents, and may even emanate from the Grand Lodge itself—'
The Black Claw had many lodges throughout Europe, France excepted. The Grand Lodge was that of Madrid. Historically, it was the first to be founded, and it remained the most important and influential of them all.
'—and they have much to do with a certain Alchemist,' Laincourt concluded.
This last revelation had the effect of a thunderbolt in a clear sky. All those present were dumbstruck, as if seized by a superstitious awe. Then, slowly, eyes turned to La Fargue.