Chapter 5
There were no more attempts for a while. Elisabeth had a constant bad conscience and tried to be alone with Erik as little as possible. A week after the premier of Tintomara it was announced that the royal family was going to attend a performance. All the singers were very nervous, and Elisabeth among them. But it was also said that the tsar and his family went there as much to show themselves to the people.
There was a big party sitting in the royal box. Erik studied them from behind the stage. Among the audience he also saw Anna and Michail. All tried to perform at their best. After the show there was a message that the tsar wanted to meet the composer and the lead singer. The royal couple were surrounded by their suite and by guards and the opera manager and singers gathered before them. Elisabeth was called for and made reverence. The tsar addressed her, using an interpreter. He praised her performance and asked her a few questions. Then he addressed Erik and complimented him for his work. As he once more addressed Elisabeth Erik took the opportunity to step back and slowly mingle with the rest of the audience. He had spotted Anna and went behind her. She had a clear view directly to the tsar. She wore a dress with a fur boa and her hands hidden in a fur muff. Erik went up to her from behind, let his right hand caress her arm all down into the muff where he quickly took the small hidden pistol from her hand and put it in his own pocket. It happened so fast that the bystanders didn't notice anything. Only Michail cast a fast glance in their direction. "Now I have saved several lives" Erik whispered in her ear. She threw him a dark glance. Erik went up to Elisabeth's side again. The tsar had ended the audience and the party were leaving. Elisabeth looked at Michail but went up to Erik. "That was quite an experience. Something to boast of for times to come." They went home together. "The rumours have decreased" she said. "I am so sorry if I made you believe I really suspected you. Of course I never did." – "And Michail?" he said. "I don't want to talk about it. I must go on seing him, but I don't know how I feel about him, or how he feels about me." – "You can have all the time you want. I don't want to force you in any direction, I never have." She was quiet. She was torn between her longing for Michail and her duty to stick to the man she had promised to love.
Elisabeth and Michail continued to meet in the Winter garden but they never went further than kissing. She noticed that Sonja no longer was like a friend to her and blamed that on the fact that Michail favoured her. Erik went to Anna to return the pistol to her but she told him to keep it. "You might need it some day, I have others." – "Did you really plan to shoot him?"-"I don't know. But I had the opportunity."
The janitor of the operahouse complained that he had seen people sneaking around the door lately. Anna happened to listen when he told the manager, who mentioned reporting it to the police. One evening after rehearsal Anna asked Erik if he had eny enemies from the past trying to get to him. She told him what the janitor and manager had discussed. "There could perhaps be some enemies I made in Persia, but that was very long ago. How could they have traced me here?" – "You can never know. You had better be careful anyway. I care for you, I do like you, you know." She slightly caressed his neck. "But I'm not in love." She left the room in haste. He thought of it. He had to be careful. That night he took a cab to the hotel. Some nights later, when he had stayed late to complete some work, he had almost forgotten the thought of danger, and as he found no cab he started walking the snowy streets. It was rather dark and he felt a little uneasy, suddenly imagining he was being followed. He felt he had almost made it when he passed a narrow alley and felt something around his neck. It was a thin snare and he felt it eating into his skin. It was difficult to breath and it went black before his eyes. "I can't end like this" he thought as conscience began to leave him. Then there was a shot and he fell together with the person behind him, holding the snare. He lost conscience. A firm hand on his shoulder woke him up. "Wake up, we have to leave in a hurry." He recognised her voice and looked into Annas eyes, the only part of her visible behind the black scarf. She pulled him and he rose slowly. Lying on the ground was a man with a big blood stain on his coat. "So they found me after all" Erik murmured. "Come quick! He might have companions or the police might come." They ran until they saw that nobody followed. "Did you shoot him?" – "I said I had more pistols. And I can handle them. Now we are even." – "What happened?" – "I left the theatre after you and I saw that you were followed. So I followed you very quietly. Suddenly he was gone and then he just jumped on you from the alley. But I was faster." Erik stroke his throat. "I can still feel it." They had stopped and stood together by a grand building. "Do you want to come to my place?" she said. "I live nearby. To rest?" It was tempting and he thought about it for a while. Then he said "No thank you, I'd better not. It would complicate my situation even more. Thanks anyway, for you offer and for saving my life." He freed her face from the scarf and kissed her. The leaned against him. Then she turned around and said "There is a cab for you. Go home and rest." And so he did.
It was April and one day Maryshka said "It's time for the Masquerade of the year. It's a tradition and this year I think we deserve it after all attacks and rumours. It takes place backstage at the operahouse. You can either make your own costumes or rent them. This is usually a merry party." Erik hadn't told anyone about the assault on him. But he was worried and this plus the rumours made him want to leave Moscow as soon as possible. Elisabeth just had to agree. He thought they could travel through Europe, perhaps visit Vienna and Switzerland, Elisabeth's native country. If he was lucky Michail would soon have grown tired of her.
Elisabeth and Michail went to the costume shop together and Erik went alone. He thought of not wearing a mask but instead hide his face in another way. He choose to be a knight with a coat and a hood of mail covering his face, the tunic of a crusader with a big red cross, and boots. Some days before the masquerade there was a new incident. A rope with a noose at the end fell over Michails head around his neck. Now he was not scared, but angry. "Who would like to hurt you or scare you like this?" Elisabeth said to him. "It must have something to do with you" he said. "It didn't start until I began courting you. You don't think it could be the Phantom, like the rumour says? He has done it before." – "No, I will not believe it, it can't be." – "Because you still love him. What about me then?" She took his hands. "You are handsome and exciting and soft and I like very much to kiss you and hold you. But I don't want to stay with you. We could be happy for a while, then you grow tired of me and I will be unhappy." – "So you go back to your Phantom, if that's who he is. If they haven't arrested him for trying to kill me." – "He will prove to you all that he is innocent!" Michail took her in his arms. "Peace, my darling. Let's have fun at the masquerade."
The new attempt made Erik even more eager to find the real perpetrator. He and Elisabeth arrived at the opera around eight o'clock. She was dressed as a medieval princess in a cone-shaped hat and a long velvet dress. She complemented Erik for his costume – nobody would recognise him. They were greeted at the door by two sun tanned Egyptians with dark hair and golden dresses – Maryshka and Boriakin. The salon was filled with people of all kinds. In the middle there was a table filled with food and drink. As they took a glass of champagne a handsome prince approached them, dressed in a black velvet jacket with silver embroidery and white tights. A white mask covered his eyes but there was no doubt of his identity. He bowed to the princess – and the knight let her go. Instead he filled his plate and went up to a table where a jester and a fairy were sitting. He recognised the jester as Katarina, the ballet master, and he bowed for them. The fairy, wearing a tiara in her golden hair, a white lace dress and large wings on her shoulders, was easy for him to recognise. He sat down beside her. She looked at him for a while. "Erik, it is you. I almost didn't recognise you." They ate and talked and Anna looked at the prince and the princess sitting by themselves at a table.
Erik danced the first dance with Anna. "I plan to reveal the perpetrator tonight if it's possible" he said. "Tonight I have no pistol" she said. "It doesn't fit into this costume."- "But I have." They danced in silence for a while and he felt her slender body lean against his." After the dance he went looking for Elisabeth and Michail. A Greek goddess came in his way. She had a golden whig, thick golden bracelets and a greek dress with an almost indecent décolletage. She wore a golden mask, but her dimples gave her away. "Erik, isn't it? It's been so long, dance with me." He did. "You are beautiful and enticing as always" he said. "And what has it given me? Elisabeth took the man I was interested in, and when the one she abandoned was free, a ballet-girl snatched him right before my eyes."- "Well, snatched.. we have some points of contact in common.." She held him tighter and touched his tunic "I know what points of contact I would like to have.." – "But you can't, because we are soon leaving, if Elisabeth wants to." – "Why?" – "What do you believe about was has happened? About me?"- "I can believe you are the Phantom, but not that you want to kill Michail. On the other hand.." She smiled and he understood that she made a joke. "It's not funny. Where is your Nicolas?" She waved her head in the direction of a greek god in tunic, sandals and a mantle, looking a little lost in his costume. "And what about Sergej? I haven't met him lately." – "He has become so strange, so self-centered. Sometimes he is violent to Elisabeth and she gets scared. He doesn't say much." – "Is he here tonight?" – "He will come." When they finished the dance Erik faced the door and his heart made an extra beat. Through the door came a man in cape and top hat, dressed in tails and all in black except for his white mask which covered all of his face. "My God, that could be me" Erik thought. It seemed very strange seeing himself enter the room. "I can guess who it is" Sonja said. "Distasteful, I think." She approached the figure. "Sergej, I presume. What are you impersonating?" – "A magician" he said, opened his cape which had a blue lining and took out a wand and a living pidgeon. "What did you think?" He let the pidgeon fly. Erik left them and went looking for Elisabeth. He met Maryshka and she asked him to dance. Then he mingled around, meeting and speaking to several people until he finally saw Elisabeth, alone for the moment. They danced. "Have you seen Sergej?" he asked. "Yes, he scared me at first. He must have meant to impersonate the Phantom – how he imagines the Phantom." – "Have you danced with him?" – "Not yet. We can stay until twelve o'clock for the unmasking, then we go home. I'm tired." They went for something to drink. Then Michail came and took her away and Erik searched for Anna. "Have you seen Sergej?" she said. "I bet he is the villain.
Sergej approached Elisabeth and asked her to dance. She hesitated but didn't want to be unpolite. It was a waltz. "I'm tired of walzing with you as Tatiana and sing with you as Zerlina. I want you as Elisabeth. Will you not be mine?" – "Surely we have never talked of that? You have been nice to me and I like singing with you but I never wanted a personal relationship. I'm still engaged to Erik." He held her closer. "And Michail?" – "That is really non of your business." His features darkened. "As you like. But I warn you – do not play with me." He let her go in the middle of the dance and left the room. She hasted to Michail's side. "How strangely he acts" she said. "He is jealous" Michail answered. "Come, I want to be alone with you for a while." They left for other rooms behind the stage. Erik saw them leave. "I had better watch them" he said to Anna, standing by his side. "Good luck!" He went looking for them hearing their voices at a distance. Here were storage rooms with side-scenes and bridges high up under the roof and ropes hanging down. He spotted a movement high up on a wall and he saw Michail and Elisabeth at a distance. He took off his tunic wearing just his long coat of mail and began to climb up the wall. He moved without a sound and saw someone else climbing in front of him, dressed in black. The couple was sitting below them, talking and caressing hands. The person approached them, holding a rope with a noose in his hand. Erik came closer, holding the pistol. The dark man threw the rope over a rafter and dropped the noose so that it fell over Michails head, then he pulled the rope, as to really strangle him this time. Michail grabbed the noose, gasping, and Elisabeth yelled, trying to help him. Erik jumped at the figure and held the pistol to his side. "Let go of the rope" he hissed. The man held on for a moment, then let it go. Erik turned his arm behind his back. On the floor Michail had managed to get rid of the noose. They looked up. "Erik" she called out. Erik and his prisoner climbed down to the floor. He wore tails. "So Anna was right" Erik said. "It was you." Sergej looked furious but in a way relieved. "I should have known I couldn't impersonate the Phantom when the real Phantom was present and that you should be the one to catch me. It was a good scheme though – Michail dies and the Phantom gets the blame – and I get the lady." Elisabeth looked at him in disgust. "You would never had gotten the lady. I don't understand you." Dimitrij and a couple of men came up to them and Erik handed his pistol over to them. "Take him. " – "Be pleased to" Dimitrij said. "We have called the police." Anna had also entered the room and the four of them looked at each other. "Why?" Elisabeth said. She looked at Erik and Michail not knowing who to approach. A movement from Michail made her choose him and he put his arm around her. Anna went closer to Erik. "He has acted strange lately" she said. "Perhaps something snapped in his head. Now I hope that all rumours about the Phantom has come to an end." They went back to the salon. "Let's finish the party without telling the others too much" Maryshka said. "It's twelve o'clock. Let's have a last drink and then go home." Erik looked at them all, a little longer at Michail, and then at Elisabeth. She turned to her prince. "I have to go. I'm so glad it all went well. Goodbye for now. " They pressed each others hand. "Let's go" she then said to Erik. As they left she said "You were wonderful. Without you there had been a catastrophy. " – "I did it for my sake too. He could have been more careful not to expose himself to danger, your dancer." – "He is not my dancer. Now I'm nearly set on leaving this place. If we could wait just a little longer."
The next day Michail approached Erik. "I must thank you for saving my life" he said. "You are welcome. I did for my sake too, to clear my reputation." He waited for the dancer to mention Elisabeth, but he didn't. "I have composed music for a ballet" he continued. "I will hand it over to Katarina to choreograph. You and Anna will perform it, I believe." – "Interesting. I presume Anna has heard some of it. If she wasn't the one inspiring it?"
"Before you leave you must participate in a real Russian sleigh ride" Maryshka said. "I was thinking Sunday." The evening before Erik and Elisabeth were sitting in their hotel room. "I have given Katarina some ballet music for a performance before we leave. I want Michail and Anna to perform" he said. She looked up from her book, looking at him steadily. "We have talked a lot of Michail and me" she said. "What about you and Anna?" – "We have had some incidents together – I have saved her life twice and she has saved my life once." – "Saved your life? How?" He told her about the Persian persuer. "What kind of woman is she?" – "Different from what you could think." – "She seems like a woman worthy of you – adventurous. There must have been something between you as well. Have you kissed?"- "I can't deny it. Although it was she who kissed me. And I didn't accompany her to her apartment when she asked me." – "Well, that's something. Michail has never asked me. If he did, I would say no. And Sonja?" –"I have resisted her attacks." For a moment they both thought of Sergej but they said nothing. Elisabeth lifted her book again. "Sunday will be exciting."