They travelled all through the long day.
The men took turns driving the coach while Jane and the doctor remained inside. Their first stop was Max's workshop, where he grabbed what he needed for the performance. He loaded them into a trolley that was then packed into the Fruitful Vine's boot. From there, they headed East towards Windsor Castle.
Knowing the battle that lay ahead, Doctor Porter and Jane checked and rechecked their equipment. Their guns had to be oiled, bullets restocked, and more vials of garlic water made and refilled. More stakes had to be sharpened to dispose of the vampires. Max had grabbed an extra supply of unfinished stakes from his workshop, and they prepared these on the way.
The day is passing all too quickly, Jane thought. We'll be lucky to be there on time.
She pitied the poor horses. Their watering and feeding were kept to a minimum as they stopped intermittently in their race across the country.
'Are you sure this is Dracula's plan?' Jane asked the doctor.
'I can't be certain,' Porter said, looking up from a stake she was sharpening. 'He's been planning this for some time. And our nation is at a crossroads, now more than ever. The war with the French has put us on the backfoot. This would strike us at our weakest.'
'At least we command the seas,' Jane said. The British Navy was the envy of the world. 'I dread to think what would happen if the French invaded.'
'We could not survive a simultaneous attack from both the French forces and an army of vampires,' Porter said. 'It would be the end of Britain—and possibly even the world.'
They journeyed through Runnymede on their final stretch to the castle. Soon they were passing the high walls around Windsor. Jane had never seen anything like it and never expected to. She had thought Windsor Castle to be a single large building, but it appeared to be a formidable, sprawling complex set out across several acres.
Eddy brought the Fruitful Vine to a halt near one of the gates. Max loaded up a trolley with equipment for their act.
Jane peered up at the castle walls. 'It looks impenetrable,' she said to Porter.
'Even the greatest defences have been breached by a weakness from within. Think of the Trojan Horse.'
'However does someone find their way around the castle?'
'It's simple once you've been here a few times. The castle is divided into the lower, middle, and upper wards. At this end is the lower ward.' She pointed. 'The middle ward is that rather rounded section further up, and beyond that is the upper ward. That's where the King and his family live.'
'How do you know all this?'
'I've been here a few times before. Had to help with a difficult birth for one of the servants. There was also a girl named Mary—Oh, never mind. That's another story.'
Fortunately, Max knew the right things to say and the right people to say it to as they arrived at a huge gate guarding the castle's lower ward.
'Surely you've heard of me?' he was saying to the attendant who was checking his list of entertainers. 'Max Filador? The Master of Light?'
The man peered at his list. 'I don't have any Master of Light here,' he said. 'How do I know you're a performer?'
Max held up his hand. 'Look at my hand,' he said, showing the guard an empty palm. Max closed it into a fist, passed his other hand over, and opened it again to reveal a shilling. He handed this to the attendant. Max rubbed both hands together, this time slowly opening them to reveal a pigeon. He tossed it into the air, but it thudded like a rock onto the grass. Max grimaced. 'That tricks more impressive with a live bird.'
'Can you do the trick again with the coin?' the attendant asked, pocketing the shilling.
Max had to do it four more times before they were allowed to enter. He and the others pushed the trolley through the grounds and up the hill to one of the towers in the upper ward.
Here, a host of entertainers were getting ready for their performances. There was a troupe of jugglers, a group of women singers, some acrobats, and a man with a monkey. Jane glanced about the room.
'Everyone is very dressed up,' she said.
'We'll fit in,' Max said. 'The King and his nobles won't be expecting us to look like royalty. Entertainers are known for appearing a little eccentric.' Max opened up his trolley. It contained some of the equipment he had used at the Flank Street Theatre. He spoke to Jane as he set up the gear. 'It's not such a bad life, Miss Austen. Entertainers transport people away from their everyday lives for a while. I like performing, but all things are made better when they're shared.'
Jane wasn't sure what he was suggesting.
Is he saying I could join him?
'Max,' Doctor Porter said. 'I know you'll be entertaining the audience with your theatrics, but I think Eddy and I should keep an eye out for Dracula. None of us has ever actually seen him before.'
'Although I imagine he'll be the one with the poor suntan,' Eddy added.
'It will help if someone can be out front with me,' Max said. 'Jane, will you play the pianoforte during my act?'
'Of course. That will be—' Jane stopped. 'You mean I'll be playingfor the King?'
'That's it,' Max said, clearly amused. 'I assume you know something appropriate.'
Appropriate? Jane wondered. What on Earth would be appropriate?
Her mind raced. She knew several pieces off by heart, including a few by Handel and Bach. Another piece she knew well was by Ignaz Pleyel. She would perform it.
Max crossed to another attendant and convinced him, via some more sleight of hand and several more shillings, that they should be one of the first performers. This would allow them to quickly see if Dracula had already made an appearance.
Jane waited nervously as the first few acts went off to perform. Mentally practising the piece in her mind, she tried to control her nerves while taking deep breaths.
Doctor Porter drew near. 'You'll be fine, Jane. They're just people like you and me.'
'Except with more gold,' Eddy said over her shoulder.
Their time finally came to perform, with the attendant calling for The Master of Light. Eddy pushed his trolley along with the others, trailing behind as they passed through several rooms further into the palace. Jane's legs were shaking, and her heart was racing.
Breathe, she reminded herself. Breathe.
The palace guards finally admitted them into St George's Hall. This single room was several times the size of her home in Steventon. The room was ten times the height of a man. Baroque paintings lined the walls and ceiling. Everything was decorated in gold and crimson trim. Window bays on one side, framed with intricate gilded stucco, faced a darkened quadrangle beyond.
Dozens of candles and lamps lined the room from one end to the other. This single event was probably using more lighting than they would use in her home at Steventon in a year.
Over a hundred people were sitting in the double rows on each side of the hall. At one end, a pianoforte awaited her. At the other end sat a throne with seats on either side.
Jane tried not to stare, but she had to look twice.
My goodness, she thought. That's the King.
He was an older man of a slightly stocky build with grey hair. He was so far away that it was impossible to read the expression on his face, but she had the impression that it did not look stern. The imperious-looking woman at his side must have been Queen Charlotte. Another visibly bored younger man, rounder in the face, sat on the other side.
And that's the Prince of Wales, she thought. He is constantly mocked in the press.
Her heart pounded as she sat at the pianoforte.
What piece am I playing?
Her mind had gone completely blank. She struggled to remember the piece, knowing that a hundred eyes were on her. Max, fortunately, was taking a moment to set up his equipment.
That's right, she thought. Pleyel's Rondo Favorit in E flat major.
Jane stared at the pianoforte. It was an exquisite piece of equipment. It made her own instrument at home look like something that was ready for the scrapheap. She stared down at it. Still, it had the same keys and the same music stand. It was still fundamentally the same device.
Max lit a flame in the heart of his machine. Now he stepped into the middle of the room and raised his hands.
'Your majesty,' he said. 'Lords, ladies, and gentlemen. Death is only a barrier. A veil. It…'
His voice continued. Jane realised he was doing a similar act to his Phantasmagoria performance back in London. The difference here was that his device was on display. He requested that the attendants extinguish some of the lights. As the room darkened, Max touched a button on the side of the trolley. A haunting, translucent mist began to work its way around the chamber. Max gave Jane the nod, and she began to play as he opened one of the vents in the device.
Ghosts appeared.
The audience gasped and pointed as the flickering phantoms gambolled and cavorted about the hazy interior. None had ever seen anything like this. Jane remembered the way the performance had affected her. She'd been filled with a combination of awe and fascination. The audience was probably experiencing the same sensations. It was like opening a door to a new dimension.
As she played, Jane gazed around the room. Her eyes had grown accustomed to the gloom now, and she could make out individual faces. She had not seen Dracula before, but she had seen the painting of the Baroness back at her home in Sevenoaks. Jane's eyes narrowed.
There she is.
The woman sat in the front row, not far from the King. Jane could tell immediately that something was wrong. Everyone else, including the King and Queen, was oohing and aahing at the phantoms flying about the place. Their heads were moving all the time, following the ghosts about. Some were laughing, but others were laughing nervously.
The Baroness was not like this at all. She stared resolutely ahead. The woman could have been dead if not for her upright posture.
If that's the baroness, Jane thought, then that means Dracula…
She appraised the man beside her. Dracula was not unattractive. Jane remembered her father saying he was tall. He was, but not overly so. Jane thought it would have been easy to pass him on the street without looking twice.
Even in the gloom of the room, however, his face was pale and drawn. Knowing he was a member of the undead, Jane could well believe he was little more than an animated corpse.
Dracula was the other person whose gaze was not on the show. He was not so transfixed as the Baroness. The vampire was able to feign interest in the proceedings, but his gaze kept returning to the King.
Jane glanced at Max, and he nodded back. He had spotted Dracula as well. Jane felt her blood boil as her gaze returned to the vampire. This was the monster who had killed thousands of innocent people. He had kidnapped Cassandra and destroyed their peaceful lives in Steventon. He now intended to attack the King and take over their nation.
That will not happen, Jane thought. I swear it.
As Jane reached the end of her piece, Max closed off the chutes from the magic lantern, and the ghosts faded to darkness. Max bowed, then bade Jane join him, and they bowed together as the audience burst into applause.
Attendants relit the lights, and the chamber immediately brightened. King George spoke to his attendant, and Jane and Max were motioned forward to share a few words with him.
Jane knew it would have been the highlight of most people's lives. For her, however, she was torn between the excitement of meeting the king and the desire to unmask Dracula.
King George spoke. 'We thank you for your most entertaining performance tonight,' he said. 'You have opened our eyes to places new and mysterious.'
'Thank you, your majesty,' Max said. 'There is a matter—'
'I trust you are both of Christian persuasion. As a child, I remember wondering if phantoms—'
'Your Majesty,' Jane interrupted. 'We fear your life is at risk.'
There had been an almost imperceptible hum in the background up till now. People did not openly speak while the King addressed visitors, but they were known to whisper. Now, this background noise fell away to dead silence at her audacious interruption.
'Whatever do you mean?' the King asked, his voice growing hard.
Jane stabbed a finger towards Dracula. 'He is not who he appears to be!' she said. 'He is a creature of the undead! He means to do you and our great nation harm!'
The King and his entourage turned to stare at Dracula. The man merely looked confused.
'I don't know what she means, your Majesty,' Dracula said. 'I am but a simple visitor to your shores, invited at the request of my gracious host, the Baroness of Lenning.'
'If this is your idea of amusement,' the Queen said to Jane. 'It is in very poor taste.'
'I assure you it is not,' Jane said.
'She speaks the truth, your Majesty,' Max said. 'That is not a man. It is an undead creature!'
The bewildered King stood. 'Guards,' he said, and pointed at Max and Jane. 'Seize these two and bring them to the Crimson Drawing Room along with the Baroness and her guest. Let's get to the bottom of this matter.'