XXIX. Five women (4.5)
III. Toulouse, July 5, 1931
As always, we were sitting in a bistro. The idea that Desjardins and Le Bihan seemed to have of missions was quite obsessively centered around food.
Once, Anne de Montpensier had asked that we modify the report of an arrest although it had been exemplary. Anatole and La Barre had, she said, spent far too much time looking for information inside taverns. I could still hear her shout "Having my magicians drinking in a bistro is a bloody dishonor!" My two partners apparently had no such qualms. Like master, like student.
We had a plan. We were going to use Michel's childhood friend, Alice Huet, as bait, to attract and trap Jean d'Aubigné. Once captured, we would make him speak and dismantle his gang. Jean did not know the deep friendship that linked the two. Alice had promised to get him out of the woods. The meeting was to take place in one of the ancient Cathar castles.
Erwan and Nucia were to leave us to go down to Provence. Seated in an inn in the old town of Toulouse, we were waiting for Alice, as well as the magician from the Fourteenth who was to replace them. Nucia had gone ahead, as she had to make a detour through Marseilles to report to Montpensier (the french administration…). We were a corner of the room and had opened a bottle of Merlot and recapitulated the events of the last days. At one point Michel unleashed an enormity: Esme Sabbia, one of the magicians of the name of Spain, had had an affair with the high priest of the Carnutes.
"I can't believe it, it's just not possible! No, I don't believe it.
- Esme and Giacomo. The unbearable duo… Michel grumbled.
- So did he stop breaking your furniture in his temper tantrums? Your Whop?
- You judge him badly, he sighed. He just needs to be reassured. And no, he no longer destroys my furniture.
- Did you fix him then?
- He's an adult, he can fix himself himself.
- He is no longer convinced that you are going to leave him ?
- Justine! then shouted Erwan.
- One day he adores you, one day he yells at you, every day he is possessive to death. "
Erwan took me by the arm and dragged me away.
"You have no tact! he reproached me.
- Oh calm down, you monk. I'm worried about him.
- Well, you worry for the wrong reasons.
- He lives with a freak.
- We're all freaks in here.
- Don't do the veteran's stunt on me again. He is in a permanent borderline state.
- Are we doing psychiatry now, Miss Vasseur?
- Let go of me.
- Leave him alone!
- You're not his father. "
He let go of my arm, looking thoughtful.
"No, it's quite fortunate, by the way. "
Michel stared at us from a distance, looking tired. It was the first time Erwan had yelled at me. Here, finally he reacted $. But this small victory did not really make me gloat. We joined the third at his table. He spoke to me:
"Justine, I've been living with him for ten years, if he was that difficult, I would have left.
- Well, anyway, it's been years since I decided that I don't understand what the hell you are doing in your life and that it's like that.
- But is he better? "
Erwan had asked the question. Michel hesitated for a moment then explained:
"At first… it was difficult. It depended on the days actually, sometimes it was wonderful, sometimes hell. But over time it calmed down.
- How come ?
- You know, he realizes that he has a problem, I too have quite a few: nightmares, inappropriate reactions. We discussed, we talked about it a lot. And then I have to reassure him constantly. Then, it's worth it.
- Little flowers and kisses? I laughed.
- Voilà.
- Lovely little birds.
- You're a funny one. Hi Alice.
- Are we still talking about you?
- Not my fault, I'm too popular.
- Dumbass.
- Ouch! "
Alice had hit him on the head. The atmosphere suddenly relaxed with her arrival.
"We're getting old, don't we ?
- Speak for yourself, I said. "
What have I done with those years?
"What have I done with my life? Michel moaned suddenly.
I burst out laughing.
"I was wondering the same thing" I explained.
I frowned, recapping:
"I worked in a shitty job, then another shitty job, I fought for the revolution a bit, I went back to school for five years, after that I tried to be a suffragist again without any success…
- And you have ended up as a combat magician.
- Yeah, not so bad, right?
- And you Michou? Alice asked
- Besides killing people and learning Serbian?
- Hahaha. You're so funny.
- There is something you're proud of, isn't it?
- I found the love of my life?
- Well played.
- Actually, you have become a real bourgeois, underlined her friend. Kids, a guy, a house, a garden ...
- Then there is Alice, I joked: secret agent, world star, accomplished artist, lovers, champagne, glitter…
- Thank you, thank you, I know...
- Wrinkles… added Michel.
- Oh, shut up eh! Mind your Hieroglyphics.
- You two really really come as a kit, I noticed.
- I'm Santa Claus, he's the Pere Fouettard! Alice explained to me.
- Your kids are taking after you, what do you want me to do? Someone has to punish them from time to time ...
- Had it been from you, it would be a losing battle, murmured the Bihan. "
Erwan gave his former student a tender gaze. Then he grabbed his cap and stood up.
"Okay, I have to go. This work is not going to be done all by itself. Good luck with D'Aubigné.
- Strength and honor declared Alice. "
He kissed us in turn before leaving the inn. It must have been red wine, but a rush of heat washed over me, followed by muffled excitement at the prospect of the hunt to come the next day.
" Have you see, ? I asked Michel. I managed to make him yell!
- Yes that's it ! Satisfied ?
- He's fuck… uh, he's being annoying.
- Mmm… I can see that.
- Stop it !
- Stop what ?
- The smile, stop.
- Do you know what I think?
- I'm not sure I want to know.
- Listen to our Michel, Alice intervened, he's a specialist, he's the only one who knows how to keep his relationships.
- Okay folks, I think we have work to do.
- Denial… Desjardins crooned.
"I don't want to know it, you don't want to know it now," Alice sang.
- Everyone knows what we should do now, continued the other.
- Stop it right now!
- What's going on here again… said a familiar voice. "
We turned around.
"Arsene!
- How are you ? Michel greeted him, with his usual sassy smile.
- Oh, I don't think I missed it, you two.
"Liar," Desjardins laughed.
- Maybe a little bit, he confessed.
- Are you coming to finish the job as it started? I asked him.
- Exactly said Arsene. Ma'am, good afternoon, he said to Alice.
- Miss, she corrected.
- I shall remember it, he answered.
- Sweet Jesus ! I sighed. "
Arsene whispered a few words and pushed the armrests out of his chair before settling down casually
" How do you do that ? wondered Desjardins
- Professional secret.
- He's so good with his hieroglyphics, isn't he? He continued. I find him so inventive.
- Flattery doesn't work on me.
- Teach me the word !
- No !
- Arseeeene!
- No ! How old are you ?
- Come on… "
I thought Arsene was going to bang his head against the table.
"You're quite in shape these days, I noticed."
- Whatever !
- It's the Vasseur effect, sighed Arsene. He's like that when you're around.
- It makes her laugh, Desjardins defended himself. And then it's not quite true, I'm like that when I'm with you.
- It's true, he's been sulking all day, and as soon as you arrived, he peeped up.
- Does it make you this happy to go beating people up? he asked him.
- Surprisingly enough, yes.
- Just when it's Jean then? Alice asked. "
Michel did not answer. Instead he began to attack the table with the tip of his knife, which soon had the effect of annoying Lupine.
"So, are you done clowning?"
- Teach me the word!
- No ! "
I watched them argue for a while. Desjardins was always particularly lively in the presence of Arsene. Alice ate her lamb chops ignoring them. her appetite amazed me. It wasn't even dinner time yet.
"Are you that hungry?"
- I haven't eaten for two days.
- It is time for Alice to learn that champagne is not food on its own, sighed Michel, interrupting his verbal game.
- Tut, tut, she just answered.
- At least she eats when she's with us, I consoled him.
- To wonder if she is not my friend just for my cooking.
- Does that bother you?
- A little.
- I became your friend thanks to your cooking too, I added.
- See ? Alice scoffed.
- On the other hand, I still haven't understood why I'm your friend.
- You really haven't changed, sighed Arsene.
- In twenty years? I laughed.
- In thirty years, he corrected. I remember your pretty face with your braids. "
I blushed at the memory. Arsène had come to pick me up to take me to Nome when I was only nine years old.
"You were a teacher at Nome?" Alice asked.
- School collector, he corrected.
- And what a collector! added Michel. "
The joking and accomplice air disappeared. A cold animosity now burned in his eyes. The two magicians looked at each other for a moment in silence, a heavy tension in the air.
"It's clear that you weren't the easiest child," sighed Arsene.
- It's true that there are always two ways of looking at things, he replied . What can a kid understand from your politics? "
He jumped up and left the room. I shrugged, I was accustomed to his temper moves. Arsene's face split into a tender smile after his departure.
"He's the one that really has not changed, he noted.
"You like him," said Alice. "
Arsene did not answer.
"How was he as a child?" I asked them.
- Cute, replied Arsene. "
I raised an eyebrow, amused.
"To tell the truth, I regret this time a little. He still had his childish curls and an angelic face. Very misleading in fact, he was quite a terror. "
Alice chuckled in her glass. She had already told me all the childish nonsense they'd done together.
"Like Jean…" Lupine added, but for himself.
In Alice's eyes shone a glint of understanding, as if she had just solved a riddle that had remained obscure for a long time.
"You must have been a funny one too," Alice said to me.
- No, I was a good kid.
- No joke ?
- Sworn. It was when I was a teenager that I got messed up. I wasn't like the two of you stealing church wine and wearing the donkey's cap.
- And again, that's nothing, laughed Alice. His mother told me that once, when he was seven, he decided to repaint his brother blue to match the wallpaper. "
Lupine and I laughed uncontrollably. Wiping away my tears I spoke to him:
"And you? You must have been young some day, haven't you?
- No, I was born in a uniform.
- You fought the Revolution, right? Alice Huet said. When you were young. It seems to me that this can count as stupidity. "
Lupin's eyes widened in surprise.
" But how…
- It seemed obvious to me. You were inevitably a young man under the Empire, otherwise you would not have finished bonapartist.
- No kidding Arsene? How old were you under the Terror?
- You won't know.
- Teenager I will say, suggested Alice.
'I surrender, miss, your deductive skills would make Mr Holmes envious.
"You're too good, Citizen Lupin," she snapped at him. Buy me a drink.
- At your orders, Citizen. "
IV. Queribus, July 11, 1931
The early morning air was crisp and biting like a sour apple. We climbed the side of the rocky outcrop, savoring the too short freshness of the Cathar mornings. The slope was steep under my feet, I did my best not to trip. I had put on traditional linen pants and tunic this morning, and little pebbles slipped into my open sandals with every step. My neck was already sticky with sweat.
For a moment I stopped to catch my breath and looked up. The castle of Queribus dominated us from the top of its rocky outcrop, from where it watched over the entire plateau. Immediately I cursed my impulse. The vertiginous peaks made me nauseous. I closed my eyes for a moment then resumed my ascent.
Arsene and Michel had preferred to fly directly to the top of the dungeon. Alice had refused their offer to be transformed into a small animal and taken to the top, and had preferred to brave the slope. So I found myself trudging behind her. Not embarrassed by the ever-stronger sun, she frolicked from stone to stone.
We finally reached the fortified castle. It had been restored in the last century and its imposing carcass covered the valley with its shadow. A few curious people were busy in its enclosure, English tourists mostly. Arsène finished covering the walls with spells. Michel went to call the guide, a local peasant. I saw them exchange a few words in Occitan, then he vanished with the visitors .
" Are you okay ? I asked Alice.
I found her a little pale.
"We are right here. Call us if there is anything. "
Michel and Lupin were talking along the parapet. The warm breeze ruffled their black hair. With their linen clothes, they had an antique and out of place feel. A secret passage, a postern equipped with a ladder made it possible to escape the castle, bypassing the keep by the sheer. This is where Michel was to go to post. He waved at me then changed into a blackbird and flew away. Arsene joined me. Following Alice, I entered the body of the castle.
"I don't like this place," Lupin whispered.
- Just a Cathar castle. Old stones.
- Not just any. Cathars were heretics. Queribus was their last refuge after the siege of Montsegur. Hundreds of them had been burned alive . They stood there, they knew what was coming for them. "
The clear sky was blue and harsh. I looked around the plain, imagining for a moment how from where I stood, the last Cathars, women and children, had seen the royal armies advancing towards them. Behind the high keep, there was nothing but the void and the sky. Last shelter before the fall. Lupin frowned.
"There were magicians among them. The Druids massacred them.
- How?
- Saint Louis was the king under the oak tree. He had the support of the last Celts in his wars, before their fangs were clipped. The crusades against the Albigenses have remained for us the place of a great failure. "
We changed into mice and walked back after Alice inside the dungeon. She climbed the steps to the great Gothic hall, caught her breath for a moment. Then she climbed to the top of the dungeon, on the vast observation platform. I looked at her for a moment. In her tall pearl dress, her loose hair catching the light, she looked like a princess at the top of her tower. One of those fairytale beauties, who just sit there waiting for their prince. Jean joined her, after long minutes. Clad in Greek armor, his bronze sword beating his hip, he seemed to have given up on blending in with the modern world.
"Hello Alice.
- Hello Jean, it's been a long time.
- You haven't changed.
- You have. You got old. "
They began to speak very quietly, and even straining my ears, I could no longer hear their words. I took the risk of getting closer to them.
"Jean, listen to me, please. It is not too late. You can still amend yourself, be reconciled with them.
- Olympus? There are too many dead behind me.
- How did you hide yourself?
- This is my home here. This country, these people ... I went into the bush. No one knows how to disappear better than me. "
Alice took a few steps along the parapet and sat down in the sunshine.
" Do you remember ? When we were kids in America. The only two that came from here. Speaking our own language.
- I remember, he said. "
Tenderness graced his voice for the first time. He said :
"You weren't easy. You kept running away.
- But you always found me.
- In a filthy bar or on a ramshackle stage, in all the disreputable corners of New York.
- You, you were the brave little soldier, always first in training, Chiron's little darling.
- It was he who came to find me , in my boarding school, near Grenoble.
- He saved your life.
- Not just my life. The teachers there were worse than the monsters. He gave me a future, it's true.
- He tried to cover you up, he's still trying to intercede on your behalf, Jean, please…
- Do you remember that game we had too? Capture the flag, that was it.
- I got screwed there, it's not a great memory.
- Yes, it's true, you weren't very good at war.
- True life is Elsewhere. Life is outside. "
There was a moment of silence.
"Yeah, you were right about that too.
- So why don't you trust me once more?
- I got into a mess. I have problems with the Egyptian magicians, do you remember them?
- I know them well Jean.
- You were always looking towards the East, I told you to beware. They are the worst psychopaths I know. I know them since childhood in fact, I had a friend… To say that he ended up like them. Such a waste.
- They're trying to do well.
- You speak ! My proposal still stands.
- Look at you Jean, do you still think you can make any kind of proposal? "
There was a moment of silence, heavy and hard.
"Either you are with me or you are against me.
- I'm sorry Jean. I told you. I'm with no one. "
She glanced involuntarily in our direction. I hesitated for a moment, but Jean understood first. He turned to Alice, and, with all his might, slapped her face. Then he jumped over a parapet. Arsene leapt in their direction. Sons of Zeus, they are good at flying. But before he got very far, a dark form, flying in the sun, descended on him. The blackbird had become a raptor. The two forms clashed for a moment in the air then fell towards the second courtyard.
"Justine ..."
Alice was holding her ribs. A trickle of blood flowed between her fingers. "I'll take care of her," Arsene shouted at me and ran to grab her. I tried to change myself into a bird , but I was bad at transfiguration. I ran off, trying to reach the second courtyard. I took the grand staircase and in a few minutes reached the highest courtyard, that of the Dungeon.
The air suddenly turned cold and electric, darkness fell. Fleeing at high speed in the sky thick black clouds hid the sun. The storm, I thought. Metal… in an impulse dictated by my instinct, I threw my weapons away from myself. Just in time. Lightning fell on Quéribus. I saw as in slowdown a lightning strike on my blade, attracted by the metal.
I stood stunned for a moment. Lightning had passed a few meters from me. It was raining, with a heavy, violent rain. I heard screams in the courtyard below. Michel and Jean exchanged blows. The demigod had drawn his bronze blade. A dense cloud surrounded him. Everything was happening too quickly, the magician replied by dismissing his assaults with his staff. He is not a swordsman, he will tire. What the hell is he doing? Another lightning struck. The stones shone with an unhealthy luster. I understood that he was using all his magical strength to counter the tornado the Greek was gathering around him, but he was not an Air Elementalist. A gleam once again animated the stones of the castle and then went out. The stones are sealed! The earth does not answer him, it was cursed by the Celts at the time of the siege. The Greek must have suspected something. He slipped and fell.
I was a great white flash and the castle disappeared into the light. When I opened my eyes again, I smelled the scent of burnt flesh. I had something in my ear, a high pitched sound that annoyed my eardrum. Something gooey was dripping from my temple, I put my hand on it but didn't feel it touch my face. By bringing them closer to my eyes, I saw on my fingers, a red liquid, my blood. Ouch. I blinked. In the courtyard below, Michel was unconscious. The other, standing, hesitated, his blade suspended in a ray of sunlight that pierced through the dark clouds. I tried to crawl over to him. The Greek was in front of me, sideways. His bronze blade, shining in the light, sent me a ray that blinded me for a moment. I did the first thing that crossed my mind, I threw a stone at him. Years of demonstrations, riots and workers' strikes bore fruit. My projectile hit him on the side of his head. He fell in his turn.
I leaned on my khopesh and descended somehow the few meters that separated me from my partner. Jean had already straightened up and was looking for his own blade. Get him out first. A bad wound was bleeding on his lower abdomen. I grabbed him by the shoulders, and dragged him to the side of the courtyard, avoiding yet another flash of lightning. How many does he have left ? The demigod had crazy bright eyes, the face of someone who had played with lightning so much that it had now become a part of him. I put Michel down, he was bleeding from his head, which worried me. I reached out, called my khopesh. I struggled to stand up.
A wall of light suddenly appeared between us and the Greek. At the same time, the earth shook. The stones, I shouldn't have come close to the stones. Something then fell in front of my eyes, and everything turned black.
V. Conclusion: Paris, July 14, 1931
It was the voices that woke me first. Unhappy voices, like that of my teacher in sixth grade. It took me a while to grasp their meaning.
"I don't care, you're going back to bed! Go on! You're bedridden until further notice, what's unclear about that? Snarled Nucia Contreras' well-known voice.
I heard the sound of broken dishes.
" LAY DOWN ! Nucia yelled.
I jumped up.
"Ah, see what you did dumbass?" "
I rubbed my eyes.
"Since when do healers wake up their patients screaming?"
- Oh, shut up, eh! "
Nucia rushed to my bedside.
"I left you alone for a week, and here is the result!
- Let's not exaggerate.
- They struck you down! It's a miracle you're even alive.
- I have a strong skull. "
Right now, this skull was buzzing. The sounds came to me a little distorted, as if my head was being held under water.
"Nucia!" The chief healer, Sylvester, yelled in turn. "Are you mad?" "
I blinked. Sylvestre was with Lupin. He took Nucia aside and berated her. Michel took advantage of the distraction, got up and sat at the foot of my bed. Lupin him gave a vexed sigh and joined us.
"What happened next?" I asked him, rubbing my head.
- I got there just in time. D'Aubigné fled, I couldn't pursue him until I brought you to a healer.
- And Alice?
- Her wound is superficial, Jean probably didn't want to kill her, just divert our attention.
- She's better, Michel assured me. "
Lupine gave him a fierce look.
"You are supposed to be at rest.
- No time, just said the other. "
Arsene hesitated for a moment then announced:
- Iskandar wants to see you. When you are recovered. "
"We underestimated him. It's our fault, yes, but we can't say that we didn't do our best, I tried to reassure him.
- You don't understand, he mumbled. "
Lupin wanted to add something, but he patted his shoulder instead, then, kissed me on the forehead. He tried to ruffle Michel's head, but this one stopped his hand:
" Are you okay ? Desjardins asked him.
- Very funny.
- No, seriously, you have nothing else to do? Partying for example?
- Why partying?
- It's the 14th, said Lupine. You've slept for a long time.
- What ?
- Well yes, it hurts to be struck down! Nucia called out to me.
- Let's flirt with firefighters Michel? "
All kidding aside, I was pretty sure my legs wouldn't carry me to the nearest barracks.
"You two really need a nanny," Sylvestre whispered .
- Stop saying bullshit grumbled Nucia. "
I rested my head on the pillow. Someone had left some blooming heather on my bedside table. Who can it be? The taste of blood was still in my mouth and I suddenly decided that a Forty-eight hour nap was also a good way to celebrate my national day.