Mary's Path

Soon they had stopped outside the shop. The door to the carriage opened and the same grey-clad man who had questioned Mr. Sansi appeared in the opening. He spoke to the Lady in a language Mary had never heard before. The lady nodded and turned to Mary.

“Where do your parents sleep?”

“Upstairs. It’s easier if you walk around the back and in through the gate. The door there leads to the kitchen and there are the stairs.” The man in gray nodded and he walked towards the back closely followed by three others.

The lady looked up at the upstairs window. Mary followed her eyes and begged God that they would hurry back. It wasn’t long before they returned. The grey-clad man approached the carriage and shook his head almost unnoticed while saying something to the Lady in the language that Mary did not understand.

The Lady’s eyes were filled with sadness. Mary was confused, what was wrong?

“You said your father was a silversmith?” Mary nodded. “Where do you keep his work?” asked The Lady. Mary looked at her questioningly. Then she understood. Of course, she has to pay the Lady. What did the silverwork mean? Her father could make more when he got well.

“In a box under the kitchen bench. The key is in a niche on the wall in the bedroom, right in the middle of the wall opposite mother’s and father’s bed,” she said. The lady nodded and the man in gray disappeared again.

The mood in the car had changed. Mary knew it, but she couldn’t explain it. The three beautiful women in white looked at her with sadness in their eyes. The man in grey came back carrying the box. He handed it to the driver who put it next to him on the driver’s cup. He handed the key to the Lady. The Lady said something to the man who closed the door to the carriage and soon the carriage began to move away from Mary’s house.

Mary looked confusedly at the Lady and then out towards the shop, which soon disappeared from view.

“No” she whispered. “No, you have to help them, you can’t just leave them there” Mary felt like she got angry.

“What’s your name, my child?” asked the Lady. Why did she want to know her name, Mary wondered.

“Mary, Mary Group,” Mary replied.

“Mary, I want you to listen to me. I would have helped your parents as best I could. But even I can’t lift the veil of death. I’m so sorry my child, but it was too late. Your parents were already dead when we arrived,” the Lady said.

Mary felt how herself become empty, the words of the Lady seemed to empty her of every emotion that the body could produce. She couldn’t feel the tears that were falling again. She had no doubt that the Lady was telling the truth.

She had heard the breath, she had seen the look of the man in the grey coat, and she had felt the tension change in the carriage. She knew it was true. She had no parents. Where would she go now? She had no other family, she was homeless. Fear and sorrow mixed and filled the void that was in her.

She looked out into the night and saw the buildings rolling by. Soon they were out on the road leading up to the castle. The buildings were replaced by a sea of people.

Mary didn’t see any of that. She looked at it, but she didn’t see anything. She longed for the emptiness she had felt just a moment ago. The pain that was now tearing in her breasts made it difficult to breathe.

The car rolled through another gate, and they were inside the castle courtyard. Outside the huge building, the court stood waiting.

“Stay here for a while,” the Lady said to Mary, putting her hand on her cheek. “Kopa will bring you in soon.” Mary nodded, she didn’t know who Kopa was and where he would take her. Probably to some alley behind the castle.

But she didn’t care and stayed when the Lady and one of the white-clad women got out of the carriage. The other white-clad woman stayed with Mary. They sat there in silence while the king and his family, together with the Church, received the Lady and her entourage. After a while, the door to the carriage opened again and the gray-clad man from before reached out to Mary.

You are Kopa, she thought, as she obediently allowed herself to be carried out of the carriage. The woman in white stepped out after her and then followed Kopa as he carried Mary away.

She felt a moment’s surprise when she realized that they weren’t heading for a back street but had instead entered the castles. She couldn’t think but leaned her head against Kopa’s shoulder and let him carry her. It felt safe and warm to sit in his arms. After a while, she fell asleep.