Thirteen-Card Spread

THIRTEEN-CARD SPREAD

James Munro

Medieval Magic and Mystery

> witches and witchcraft

> magic circles and talismans

> a virgin-stone - and a witch who can control it

> astral travel

> kabbalah

> possession (of one person by another)

Medieval Outsiders

> an alchemist

> a Fool (in the Tarot sense)

> the French King's mistress, who is also a nun and a witch

> an Albanian "king" of the Paris underworld

> an African boy on the streets in Paris ( a runaway slave)

> other Paris urchins and street-kids

> a one-legged English soldier abandoned in France

> an aristocratic wolf's-head (outlaw) and his followers, including a theologian who has offended the Church

> a man so mutilated there is little left

The story is set in the middle of winter, in Paris, where Mariana is studying (unofficially - women are not admitted) at the university, and it all takes place during the Twelve Days (plus one!) of Christmas at the time of the visit of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV to his nephew Charles V of France.

The author certainly knows medieval Paris. But there is no foreplay, no time wasted on description: we plunge right in. Maître Guillaume, uncle of Jaquet, a fellow-student of Mariana's (if you haven't already read The Witch of Balintore, do so) has been sadistically murdered, tortured to death - the very traditional Death by a Thousand Cuts - and Jaquet has been arrested. His friends, led by Mariana, set out to save him.

Gradually we learn more and more about the dead uncle. He had been notorious as a rich miser, but was in fact an alchemist, seemingly a successful one, and Mariana's first suspect is an impoverished aristocrat who knew the old man's secret. She then discovers that the aristocrat had in fact been murdered the same night - Christmas night - as the alchemist, but in a very different way; he had been hanged, upside down, in the posture of "The Hanged Man" in the Tarot pack. Each of the thirteen chapters takes its title from from one of the tarot cards of the major arcana (hence the title). Another example is "The High Priestess", a witch who, fortunately for Mariana, takes over when things get completely out of hand.

Another is "The Emperor", Charles IV, who befriends Mariana in the course of the investigation. This is their first meeting:

We went along another corridor, narrower but much grander, then attendants opened a double door for us and we were in the presence of - the King! Two Kings! I curtsied, Maître Thomas bowing low at my side. I kept my head down. Where I came from, we would both have been flat on our faces, foreheads pressed to the floor. Not here, however.

"Ah, Thomas,' cried a voice, 'have you been presented to my uncle the Emperor?'

'Yes, yes, we are old friends.' Another voice. The must be the Emperor Charles IV, the other King Charles V of France.

I kept my head down.

'You are very kind, messire. It is a great honour to be in your presence once more.'

'And your charming lady, Thomas?' This was the King again. 'It is always a pleasure to see her.'

'This - this is a different charming lady, messire.'

'Ah, Thomas, Thomas.'

May I present Doña Mariana de la Manga ... Mariana?'

I raised my head.

'This is King Charles of France, long may he reign.'

'Votre Majesté.' I bowed my head again.

This was becoming quite a strain. There was something to be said after all for the prone position. At least it was restful.

'And this is the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV of Bohemia.'

I looked up, looked at him. 'Your - your - ' I appealed to him with my eyes.

'Majesty will do,' he smiled. 'Only the Pope is entitled to the attribute Holiness. This is my son and heir, Wenceslas, King of the Romans.'

Three kings ...

'His Royal Highness.' The Emperor was still helping me.

'Your Royal Highness.' I bowed my head again.

'And this is Prince Sigismund, and this Princess Anna. Please, stand up now. In fact, sit down. This is an informal gathering.'

One would have to be very fit to survive a formal one.