13. Violin

Large portraits of Drake still hung on the wall, right on the very same spot where Horvath first saw it. He still didn't like looking at them and thought it to be ridiculous, and thought that perhaps he'd never get use to it. So each time he'd find himself alone in Drake's penthouse, he'd wander off into other rooms, adoring the furniture, chandeliers, and the rugs, even the things on display.

Drake did once said that most of those that are on display in his penthouse are very expensive, because they were antiques. Remembering that he had himself an antique, Horvath had even wondered how expensive his cane (or sword) would be if ever.

On his usual stroll in the penthouse one morning, Horvath found himself in a room where he knew he hadn't been to before. It was awfully quiet in that room, but the irony of it was that all that's around that were displayed were musical instruments.

He realized that neither of those instruments were touched, since he rarely seen Drake play anything in particular.

As he went further in to the room, his gaze settled down on a violin that was on its case, placed on a small table along with a viola, with matching bow. He narrowed his eyes on it slightly, wondering why the violin seemed very familiar to him.

He was still in the process of trying to figure it out when he heard Drake's voice from behind him.

"Have a soft spot for music?" asked the illusionist.

"Classical, actually," Horvath said, as he faced the young Morganian. "Though I have to ask, where did you get this violin?"

"It was in auction in some place back in England when I made a show there," Drake simply replied, jerking a thumb behind him as though pointing towards the direction where England was. "I quite liked it because it's got some story in it."

"What story?" asked the ancient.

"It's a very old violin, they say," started Drake. "It dates back from the 1780's, belonged to some lady named Adrianna Constable."

Now why does that name sounds familiar? thought Horvath, but kept silent as he let Drake to continue.

"Said she was a talented violinist, but stopped playing after an accident that caused 'er blindness. Till she met some bloke one day who was a fan of hers. The bloke made her play the violin again, though she said it was impossible and said she couldn't, she eventually did. Bloke was persuasive, I guess, and she was surprised to find that she could still play.

"She realized that even when she can't see the instrument or the strings, just listening to it makes her an even more effective violinist."

As Horvath listened, he couldn't help but think why the story sounded familiar as well. But still he kept silent about it, and listened more.

"They say she only plays alone in her room ever since, without anyone else. But she only got to play in front of another person unless that person is the bloke who made her play again. Sorry if I kept mentioning him as bloke 'cause I don't know his name."

Horvath said he didn't mind and told Drake to continue. Just as all of a sudden, he became interested with the story.

"One day, she accidentally dropped her violin from the third floor window and the violin was ruined. That was when the bloke came in and gave her another violin, and this was it." Drake waved a meaningful hand on the antique violin on the table. "They say that this violin's music is haunting when this Adrianna plays it, but they also said that it became more haunting when the bloke never came back to visit her.

"She kept waiting till she became old, playing this violin here every night after she had her dinner. But point is, the bloke just never came back. But they say that she was still waiting for that bloke even on her death bed.

"She never married, and so died an old maid. It was her nephew's grandson who found this violin still in its case hidden away in an old trunk up on the attic of the old family house. If you look under it, it's got something written."

Drake carefully took the violin off its case and flipped it over to show Horvath what was on it. Horvath took it slowly and as carefully as Drake had and looked down on the carved words with his eyes widening as soon as he had set eyes on it.

It was in a form of a foreign language, carved in a very beautiful way, like a calligraphy. It said: "Az én hegedű ligovszkaja" And under it was the initials 'M.H.' carved in the same way.

"Don't know what it means," said Drake, also looking down on the carved words. "Must be foreign, 'cause it ain't English."

"It's Hungarian," Horvath said, surprising Drake. "It means, 'For my violin princess'."

The young illusionist quirked up a brow. "You know Hungarian?"

"I have Hungarian blood," was all that the ancient said, giving back the violin to the illusionist. "That's what he call's her. The bloke you were you were referring to. He calls her 'violin princess'. He was so captivated and enchanted by her way of playing the violin with such emotion, that he made her a violin that gives out a haunting music."

Horvath was looking away, his dark eyes unreadable, when he was saying the latter part.

"This Adrianna...She had red hair, and used to have clear blue eyes," he continued, still looking away. "When she was blinded her eyes became grayish white...But she was still beautiful all the same."

The moment Horvth finished, he turned around and left the room without saying a word to Drake.

Standing alone in the room, still having the antique violin in hand, Drake once again looked down on the carved words on the back of the violin. He looked down on it with a new view, especially on the initials 'M.H.', since he seemed to know then who exactly this 'M.H.' was.