The Dark City (9 page)

The painting froze. The paint that'd made the sky dark streamed down the canvas, blocking out any movement that might've been going on underneath. Bianca made a frustrated noise in the back of her throat. But then the painting was back, only a second later, and it showed the secret passages. The black door swung open, and the woman who must be Bianca's mother, now middle-aged, stepped through. She and Bianca embraced.

Then the scene split apart and snaking lines spun across the canvas. It wasn't a picture of anything Bianca could make out at first. Then symbols started to pop up: a church cross, a crown, a little house  … 

‘It's a map!' Marco said, as the paint slowed and finally stopped moving altogether. They both held their breath in case there was more to the story, but nothing else happened.

‘It must be a map of Oscurita.' Bianca reached up and gingerly touched a finger to one of the lines. The paint was perfectly dry. She fished in a drawer for a knife and carefully cut the canvas out of its frame. Marco took it over to a table and peered down at it, frowning at the strange pattern of criss-crossing streets.

‘It's a weird shape for a city,' he muttered.

‘It's a weird city,' Bianca said. ‘But I've always felt at home there. And now I know why! I have to get back.'

Marco looked up. ‘
This
is your home, though,' he said. ‘You grew up in La Luminosa – all your friends are here, your studio, your whole life. Are you sure you want to go back to this place just because you happen to have been born there?'

‘Of course! My mother is still alive, I'm sure I saw her last time I was sleepwalking. I think – this is going to sound mad, Marco  …  but I think my mother is the Duchess of Oscurita.'

Marco raised a sceptical eyebrow. ‘The Duchess. Really.'

‘It doesn't sound very likely, does it?' Bianca glanced at her reflection in the mirror. ‘I've always been basically nobody. No mother or father, no history, nothing that was
mine
except what Master di Lombardi gave me.' She touched the medallion again. It gleamed darkly under her fingers. ‘But everyone's got to be
someone,
haven't they?'

‘You are someone,' Marco said. ‘You're you!'

‘But why did my mother give me to Master di Lombardi in the first place? What was so terrible in Oscurita that she had to give me up?' said Bianca.

‘Di Lombardi must've had his reasons for keeping all this a secret. You were an adult when you went back in di Lombardi's version. He obviously meant for you to wait.'

‘He meant to be alive, too,' Bianca said.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room and Bianca's hand strayed to the paintbrush. She hadn't cleaned it, and cleaning brushes as quickly as possible was something you learned on day one of being an apprentice. She hurried over to the small porcelain sink and rinsed the bristles carefully with a dash of paint remover and some water from a copper jug.

‘Anyway, Duchess or not, my mother needs help,' said Bianca. ‘If everything I saw in my dreams is as real as this bracelet, the Baron da Russo did find his way into Oscurita, and my mother's been talking to him. He's probably planning to betray her just like he did Catriona! What if he kills her?'

‘Or worse, tries to marry her?' Marco pointed out.

Bianca shuddered. ‘I've got to get back and save her before something awful happens!'

‘But how are you going to get there? You said you didn't know the way.'

Bianca's heart sank. ‘I don't know,' she said quietly. She'd looked for the door all over the secret passages, and she'd tried painting her own way through. All without success.

She carefully dried the paintbrush on a scrap of cotton and turned to lean on the sink, her shoulders sagging.

‘All right,' said Marco. ‘
If
you don't forget your promise and help me get over my thing about heights, I'll help you find a way into this dark city from your dreams  …  even though it's obviously mad. Deal?'

Bianca grabbed him into a fierce hug. ‘You are the best.'

She smiled down at the mysterious map.

I'm coming, Mother. I'll find a way.

‘Mistress Bianca!'

Bianca looked up from the map and hurriedly dropped into a curtsey. ‘Your Highness!'

Duchess Catriona stood in the doorway, her hands planted on her hips. Behind her, Secretary Franco and Archbishop di Sarvos loomed, glaring at Bianca as if she was a street urchin who'd been caught sitting on the throne. Their glares were so alike they could've been brothers, except that Franco was thin and hunched like a vulture and di Sarvos was tall and solid, as if someone had put a red and white robe on a tree trunk. The top of his pointy hat nearly brushed the door frame.

‘Mistress Bianca,
a moment of your time
,' Duchess Catriona said, packing so much haughty chill into those words that Bianca shuddered.

‘I'll just  … ' Marco quickly rolled up the map of Oscurita and shrugged towards the door. ‘Excuse me, Your Highness, your worship, Secretary Franco.' He bobbed a bow to each of them and squeezed past, turning back at the last second to gesture to the map and give Bianca a thumbs up. Bianca nodded back, but she couldn't manage a smile.

‘Mistress Bianca, what are you doing here?' Duchess Catriona demanded.

Bianca blinked, confused. ‘Um  …  it's long past sunset, Your Majesty.'

‘Do you think the Duchess is blind, child?' snapped Secretary Franco, gesturing to the open window, where the deep blue-black sky was full of glittering stars.

‘No.' Bianca met Duchess Catriona's eyes, hoping for understanding, but Catriona's expression remained stony. ‘I'm sorry, Your Highness,' she said, bobbing a curtsey. ‘I only meant that the studio is closed.'

‘I'm aware,' said the Duchess. ‘But why are you
here
, Bianca? And
where
is Archbishop di Sarvos's commissioned painting?'

‘Oh.'

‘Yes,
oh
!' barked the Archbishop. ‘You swore before the Duchess you were going to do everything you could to find it!'

‘Instead,' Duchess Catriona continued for him, ‘I hear you went back to the studio and asked your apprentices to begin a new painting, and haven't made any other enquiries!'

Lucia,
Bianca thought.

She curtseyed again to mask her annoyance and gather her thoughts. ‘I did make enquiries, Your Highness. I found out that the painting was finished on time and left in the studio. Unfortunately, none of the apprentices made sure they were there when it was picked up, and it  …  it just vanished. So I just thought –'

‘You thought you wouldn't even try?' sneered Secretary Franco.

The rest of Bianca's careful patience drained away. ‘Your Highness, your worship, with all due respect,' she said, ‘I thought there was no point chasing it all over the city with no clues to go on. I made the decision to have the painting redone. It will be quicker!'

‘And then you left it to your apprentices!'

Because they drove me away!
Shame rose in Bianca's throat, choking her.

No, that's not good enough. I let myself be driven away.

Deep down, she knew this was ridiculous. They were only
her
apprentices through chance, and Cosimo and Rosa – and yes, Lucia – were just as good as she was. But that wasn't enough. She was the mistress of the studio now, and they were her responsibility.

‘I  …  I supervised them for most of the day. But the painting was in good hands, and if I didn't do some of the paperwork there wouldn't be any more paint for the next commission!'

‘Excuses!' Duchess Catriona snapped. She raised her voice and her face flushed deep pink, clashing horribly with the golden-red glow of her freckles and her hair. ‘This painting for Archbishop di Sarvos is the most important commission the studio has had for years, and I won't have you cutting corners! It's as if you don't care what happens to Master di Lombardi's legacy.'

Don't care?
Bianca bit hard on her lip and looked out of the window, desperately hoping the two looming courtiers wouldn't see the tears springing into her eyes. But it didn't help – the glittering stars blurred together like a painting that'd been left out in the rain.
How  …  how could she say that?

Duchess Catriona sighed. ‘Get out, you two. I want to speak to my Master Artist alone.'

Bianca risked a glance at the two men. They stayed where they were until Duchess Catriona spun on her heel and fixed them with the same angry glare she'd been giving Bianca.

‘Out! Don't make me scream for Captain Raphaeli!'

The Secretary and the Archbishop glanced at each other, bowed quickly and ducked out of the room. Bianca found herself smiling through her tears. Nobody would've wanted to be on the bad side of the Duchess if the Captain of the Guard heard her scream  …  he might run them through with his spear first and ask questions later.

‘Poor Captain Raphaeli,' said Duchess Catriona, watching the two men scarper. ‘He blames himself terribly for the traitors' escape, and I repay him by using him as my personal bogeyman.'

She turned to Bianca, who wiped her eyes hurriedly and braced herself for another bout of shouting. But Duchess Catriona's face had softened. She walked around the table to Bianca's side and took her hand.

‘Dear Bianca. You know, it's not actually about the commission.'

‘It  …  it's not?'

‘God, no. I'm sure however you want to handle it is perfectly fine. I'm sorry I had to shout at you – it was only because old di Sarvos wouldn't shut up about it. He's been going on at me all day. I swear, if he so much as mentions it after this I've half a mind to put his head on a spike outside the throne room!'

Bianca gave a sniffly giggle. ‘You wouldn't!' she said.

Duchess Catriona laughed. ‘Oh, Bianca, nobody's had their head put on a spike since my Great-Great-Grandmother Regina's day; I'm not going to be the one to bring it back!' She squeezed Bianca's hand again. ‘But I really am concerned.'

The tears rose again.

‘Me too,' she admitted.

‘Let me show you something, Bianca.' Duchess Catriona crossed Bianca's bedroom. Bianca followed, rubbing her eyes and trying to pull herself together.

The Duchess pulled the door to Bianca's balcony open and stepped outside. Bianca shuddered as the cool evening breeze mingled on her skin with the heat radiating from the pale stones of the palace walls. The Duchess leaned on the carved wooden balcony and looked down into the city.

‘Look there,' she said, pointing down into a square just on the other side of the Grand Canal.

Bianca looked. She recognised the building at once – it was the Royal Museum of Art. Coloured banners hung from the windows and the tiles of the courtyard were laid in a beautiful mosaic of a tree with golden leaves growing on its spreading branches. Statues of lions, sculpted by di Lombardi himself, reared up on either side of the door.

But the courtyard was empty. Bianca frowned. Normally the Museum was open late into the night, teeming with visitors who'd come to see La Luminosa's great artworks. But today it looked deserted, and the lights that normally blazed in the windows were dim.

‘It's not your fault, Bianca,' Duchess Catriona said. ‘It's just that with Master di Lombardi gone and Filpepi proved a traitor, the city has lost two of its greatest artists at once. People don't want to think about those things, so they're staying away from the Museum.'

‘They'll come back,' Bianca pointed out.

Duchess Catriona nodded. ‘I'm sure they will. But by then, the damage will have been done.' She turned to face Bianca, leaning against the railing. ‘I have grand plans, Bianca. I want to give my patronage to scientists and inventors and performers and doctors. I'm going to build colleges and an academy for music.' The Duchess's face took on a dreamy expression as she gazed out over the city. ‘I know it won't all happen overnight.' Her voice turned serious. ‘But I won't tolerate any backward steps either. I need someone who can be
fully committed
to making the people of this city remember that they live in the greatest artistic city in the world!'

‘You shouldn't have chosen me,' Bianca said. ‘None of the apprentices will listen to me because they think I can't do it.' Her throat tightened. ‘Maybe they're right. I don't have enough experience of managing things. I can paint, but not well enough to be a master!'

‘
I
believe in you, Bianca,' Duchess Catriona said. ‘Are you saying I'm mistaken?'

‘Yes,' Bianca whispered. There was an uncomfortable silence. ‘Please don't have my head put on a spike.'

They smiled at each other for a second, then Bianca stared at the floor.

‘You
do
need someone who's fully committed.'
And I don't know if my mind is going to be on my work right now,
Bianca thought.
I have to open the way to the dark city and try to find my mother.
‘You should make Cosimo the master of the studios,' she said firmly. ‘I'll go back to being an apprentice, and I'll teach him Master di Lombardi's secrets so they won't need to rely on me.'

So they won't miss me.

Duchess Catriona shook her head. ‘I don't want to just strip you of your position like this! If they don't like you now, imagine what they'll do if you're demoted,' she pointed out, with a grim smile. She looked down at the Museum again, and her eyes sparkled. ‘I know! I'll hold a competition!' She clapped her hands. ‘Yes, it'll be great – any artist in the city will be allowed to submit a painting, and the best painting will win control of both studios. That's fair, isn't it?'

‘Yes,' Bianca said, smiling. ‘That sounds very fair! I'm sure Cosimo and Lucia will both enter, and the best artist will win.' She couldn't help hoping it would be Cosimo.

‘But I will only do this if you enter too,' Duchess Catriona said.

‘But –' Bianca started. She wasn't good enough – she didn't want to humiliate herself by letting the world find out what she already knew.

‘No arguments. That way it'll show them –
and you –
that you're the greatest artist and I was right to choose you all along!' The Duchess nudged her with her elbow. ‘I can't have people thinking a duchess could ever make a mistake now, can I?'

Bianca tried not to let her face fall. ‘You're too kind to me, Your Highness.'

‘Bianca.' Duchess Catriona frowned. ‘You saved my life, and my crown. I owe you and Marco and Master di Lombardi everything.' She reached out and squeezed Bianca's hands again. ‘If there's any other service I can do, you know you only need to ask. Promise me you will ask!'

Bianca smiled and bobbed half a curtsey. ‘I promise.'

Duchess Catriona grinned and threw her arm around Bianca's shoulder. ‘Ugh, I tire of all this drama. Let's go and have the master cook make us some honeycakes.'

Bianca's laugh echoed down the palace corridors. It was nice to have a friend who believed in her. And the fact that her friend was actually a duchess made it all the more brilliant. But it also made the idea of failing her all the worse.