"Necklace of Mountain Crystal
by
Rasipungsuk"
It was nicely warm at the 'Watershed Inn', the last stop
on their way to Weesebeecke.
"I took the liberty of taking this booklet from your late
husband's library", Anne-Christine said to Lisabeth, handing
it to Gosseling. "It's about the mongolian nobility. Their
history is described in relation to the way a necklace of
mountain crystals is stringed. Perhaps it can tell us more
about the Service, which is also made of Mongolian
Crystal".
"What else is there to be told?" Lisabeth asked in
surprise.
"Why you hide it from us, perhaps?" Anne-Christine asked
teasingly.
"Oh well, that's something you better ask me directly! You
don't need a booklet for that", Lisabeth said firmly. "I have
certain plans for the Glasswork!"
"And could you enlighten us somewhat more on that
subject?" Gosseling asked, having gone through the book
rapidly but now becoming curious about Lisabeth's mysterious
words.
"Yes, I don't want to be just the Grand Duchess of
Transsyldavia but a Czarina as well!" she said proudly. "I
want to carry on with the conspiracy, albeit in a somewhat
different way. I already made an arrangement with the
Transsyldavian Consul by which he doesn't lose his contact
with the Czar. According to my plan, the Czar will know by now
that the Service is complete and that I will bring it to him
this spring. What he doesn't know yet is that he will have to
make me Czarina, but I will write him that from
Weezebeecke!"
"Govert, the situation is hopeless!" Anne-Christine said
after Lisabeth had gone to bed. "For a moment I still hoped
that she would give me the Glassware, but now she is going her
own way completely. Couldn't we co-operate to prevent her from
doing silly things with our Service?"
"You musn't underestimate Lisabeth, Anne", Gosseling said,
avoiding a direct answer. "After all, she also managed to
become a Grand Duchess. She cleverly took advantage of the
Ring of Clouds, with which she could win over the Grand Duke.
In Russia she can do the same trick with the Service. There
seems to be a new Czar there, who wants to clean up the mess
his father has left. To end the chase for the Service, for
once and for all, may perfectly fit into the aspirations of
this new Emperor. And she really is a Grand Duchess, you
musn't forget that".
"If I only knew if I could trust Lisabeth", Anne-Christine
said to herself. "It used to be much easier. In the past, she
didn't go her own way. Now and then I suspected her of
conspiring with you against me, but that fear was
unfounded."
"Tomorrow we can see if we can lay our hands on that
wrapped blanket of hers," Gosseling said. "Then we can check
whether she isn't cheating us with her story that the Service
is supposed to be in there. And if it's there, then we can
divide it between us, just like she proposed herself".
"Perhaps I will already check that tonight", Anne-Christine
said, leaving Gosseling alone.
The night did not pass as Anne-Christine had expected.
Lisabeth asked her a rather strange question, the moment Anne-
Christine had climbed into bed.
"How can one know that one's jewels are still in a jewel
box, right after closing the lid?" Lisabeth asked
mysteriously.
"I don't have any jewelerry with me, nor a jewel box",
Anne-Christine answered, surprised.
"That's not the way I meant it. It's just a hypothetical
question", Lisabeth explained.
"By opening it", Anne yawned.
"I don't mean that either" Lisabeth said. "How can you
know your jewels are still there if you can't look through the
box and if you are not allowed to open it?"
"By shaking it, so that you can hear them", Anne-Christine
said, tossing haround and punching her two pillows into
place.
"Then you still don't know anything. They may have turned
into pebbles or can you tell the difference in sound between
diamonds and pebbles?" Lisabeth insisted.
"What do I care if they are there, the moment I open that
box!" Anne-Christine called. "They may have flown to the moon
in the meantime. If they are there every time I open the box,
I am satisfied. And if the lid is closed, they may dance the
polka dressed like pebbles. I don't mind at all, Do you have
something else on your mind?"
"Yes, I would like to ask you to unroll the blanket only
after a certain time. Your jewels are making a trip to the
moon," Lisabeth said.
Anne-Christine sprang upright.
"That's enough, Lisabeth. You're not the only one who is
interested in the Service!"
Anne-Christine jumped out of bed and went to the chair on
which Lisabeth had laid the horse blanket. Quickly but
carefully she unrolled the blanket, while Lisabeth watched
her.
"Stupid bitch!" Anne-Christine called, three seconds
later. "Where is my Service?"
Anne-Christine was standing there, with Lisabeth's Crystal
Crown, an old supper dish and an empty wine bottle in her
hands.
"Where is my Service?" she repeated, looking in disbelief
at the weird collection of articles.
"In the moon, or perhaps turned into pebbles!" Lisabeth
said, laughing.
These words infuriated Anne-Christine who, without
hesitating a second, smashed the dish and the bottle to pieces
on the floor. With disdain, she threw the crown from her and
to Lisabeth's great satisfaction, it landed safely on the bed
next to her.
Without warning, Anne-Christine fell upon her unsuspecting
friend.
"Stop, stop!" Lisabeth shouted, realizing that Anne-
Christine was serious. "This doesn't help, Anne!" she cried,
gasping for breath, after she had been shaken thoroughly by
Anne-Christine. "That won't bring your Service back!"
"Do I get it back, then?" Anne-Christine asked in
surprise, letting her hands slide from Lisabeth's throat.
"I promise you", Lisabeth said, taking a deep breath. "But
first, I'll go to Moscow to become a Czarina. If that happens,
I'll have reached my goal and you may have the Service for
ever".
Anne-Christine rolled herself onto her own bed and hid her
face in a pillow. Lisabeth could hear her crying.
"I promise you, really!" she said, laying her hand on
Anne-Christine's shoulder.
"You haven't even got it!" Anne-Christine said, sitting
half upright. "Everything has been just a trick. The Service
never came back and our journey has been in vain. The only
thing we achieved was when you played Grand Duchess for one
night,... oh, and how funny that was!"
"The Service really exists and I know where it is but
Gosseling is still around," Lisabeth whispered. "The less
people know its whereabouts, the better. Now we'll go to
Weezebeecke as fast as we can and, in the spring, we'll go to
Moscow, agreed?"
"Agreed!" Anne-Christine said, after a short pause. "And
I'll take you at your word, don't forget!"
Thank you, Anne", said Lisabeth, adding: "I know what it means
for you to hand over the helm to someone else. I'll never
forget that, never!"
She gave Anne-Christine a long kiss on her shoulder and
then slipped back to her own bed.
"Lisabeth lied", Anne-Christine told Gosseling the
following day, when they rode on horseback during the last
part of the journey. "She simply hasn't got the Service. I
found an empty wine bottle in the blanket, her Crystal Crown,
and an old dish, which I smashed to pieces right away. All
those stories of becoming a Czarina are lies"
Gosseling couldn't believe his ears.
"Why are you cheating us?" he asked.
He had already noticed that Lisabeth wore her crown that
day, having stretched the blanket across her lap from the
moment they left. She had nowhere to hide the Service.
He didn't get a clear answer.
"Why are you cheating us with your Time Travelling?" was
Lisabeth's snappy counter-question. "Why is Anne cheating us
with all those stories about what she can see in the Crystal?
I never saw anything more than a handful of incoherant colours
or even one convincing item of proof that you can travel in
time".
Both Anne-Christine and Govert wanted to defend
themselves, but remained silent as Lisabeth spurred her horse
at that moment, riding it wilfully out of earshot.
In this mood, the three travellers reached Weezebeecke
Castle, where they dismounted and entered the chilly building
without a word to each other.
Gosseling tried to light the fire in the parlour, while
Anne-Christine did the same in the kitchen. Lisabeth sat
silently on the sofa, staring into space for a while, and then
stood up to ask Ruyters to take care of the horses.
"Why did you fool us?" Gosseling asked Lisabeth yet
again.
"But just what do you call fooling," Lisabeth reversed the
question. "Aren't you fooling yourselves? Perhaps you can
survive through the centuries. Perhaps Anne is the same woman
who stood at Attilla's side during the battle. Perhaps she is
the same Anne who lived ever since. Who can tell? Perhaps
there never was a Baron de Gosselingue in Moscow. Who knows?
My intention was to make you continue the quest for the
Glasswork, to make you believe in its existence once more. For
me that was enough. As long as you can prevent yourself
looking in a wrapped blanket, the chase can continue. As long
as you never look in a jewel box, you may think it contains
diamonds, even when in reality it contains just ordinairy
pebbles!"
"Oh, did you have those intentions?" Gosseling understood
and then stayed silent for quite a while. "Well, in that case
our journey has been in vain, although I am still convinced I
held the Service in my own hands for a brief moment."
"That's a good feeling, isn't it? Now I am the
Transsyldavian Grand Duchess. That's another good feeling",
Lisabeth said, pointing at the five pointed crown she still
wore.
"We'd better have dinner", Anne-Christine proposed.
"Another chapter is closed".
"Tomorrow I'll go home.", Gosseling said disappointedly.
"I had expected more from all this".
The following day, Gosseling departed, waved good-bye by
the two girls. But as soon as he was out of sight, Lisabeth
asked: "Anne, do you have any drawing paper, a pair of
compasses, a ruler and a good pen?"
"You certainly can find them somewhere around here", Anne-
Christine answered in surprise. "Start looking in the
study".
Lisabeth ran up the stairs and turned the whole study upside
down until she found what she had been looking for.
Immediately, she started making sketches in pencil on large
sheets of white paper.
"It looks like a castle", Anne-Christine said, entering
the room a few hours later. Lisabeth smoothed her hair back
and looked aquarely at Anne-Christine.
"It is", she said, "I'm designing a Crystal Castle which
the Czar has to build for me. And look: I made it a rolling
Castle, you see? It's to be drawn on iron rails by fifty steam
locomotives".
"What's the use of that?" Anne-Christine asked, very
surprised. "Why do you need a rolling castle?"
"Because I shall be both Czarina and Grand Duchess!"
Lisabeth answered, already certain of her future. "Didn't you
understand? I'l get them to make me a railroad track between
Moscow and Transsyldavia. Just take a look. The track will be
wide enough for 25 pairs of rails, and on every one there will
be two locomotives. One will push and the other will pull.
Perhaps I should make an extension to the Black Sea as well,
so that we can take a dive in the summer!"
"You're a lunatic, Lisabeth!" Anne-Christine cried in
desperation, but Lisabeth didn't heed her words and, with the
help from the atlas on her desk, started to design herself a
track for her rollling castle.
The following days passed in the same manner. Lisabeth
locked herself in the study, making drawings or writing
letters. Right after her daily horse ride, she sat down at her
desk leaving it only for meals.
For Anne-Christine there was little to do. She sought the
company of Ruyters, to whom she told all she had witnessed.
The old man listened intently and nodded understandingly. Now
and then she paused, as he served her coffee with home-made
apple pie.
"So you don't possess the Service any more?" he finally
asked, after Anne-Christine's story had reached the
present.
"That's right", Anne-Christine said. "I haven't seen it
since I made it disappear, or since I thought I did. Gosseling
thinks that he recovered it but that it disappeared only a few
seconds later. And Lisabeth even thinks that it has never been
absent. In her opinion it has always been locked up in the
flap-table, from which she recovered it, undamaged. She even
took it with her in a little bundle during our return but,
when I opened it, only her crown and some worthless rubbish
were in there. Still, she insists that she knows where the
Service is and she intends to travel with it to Russia to
become Czarina. And I believe her."
"Lisabeth is a good girl", Ruyters said. "She won't
disappoint you, but she may be even more ambitious than you
are".
"Yes", Anne-Christine answered thoughtfully. "To me, the
emotional value of the Service is most important, its links
with the past and the vivid images it reproduces. And also how
excited it makes me feel. Even if the Crystal is just nearby,
I can already feel its presence".
"And now, do you feel anything now?" Ruyters asked.
"No, the Service must be far away, really", Anne-Christine
said, feeling very convinced.
When spring arrived, all the plans were drawn and Anne-
Christine mounted her horse to start the long journey to
Moscow. Lisabeth followed her, carrying on her back a tube,
filled with sketches and detailed plans for the rolling
Crystal Castle.
"Just tell me which way to go!" Anne-Christine asked.
"Watershed-bound!", Lisabeth called.
After a long ride, they reached the well-known inn and Anne-
Christine was glad to dismount.
"That's because you didn't practise horse-riding enough
this winter!" Lisabeth laughed, sliding from her saddle
without effort. She then started to untie her cane portmanteau
and her saddlebag.
"That little cane suitcase doesn't weigh too much", Anne-
Christine said, when the wind blew it over, as sonn as
Lisabeth put it on the ground.
"That's because it's still empty", Lisabeth explained.
"Why didn't you leave it home, then? Or are you thinking
of taking a chandelier from Moscow in that suitcase?"
They walked in together.
"Perhaps I am, but first it will serve another purpose.
Tomorrow we'll fill it with something indispensable from the
'Watershed Inn' and I think you know what I mean".
Anne-Christine's cheeks turned red in excitement.
"But we'll think of that tomorrow. First we'll have a nice
hot cup of soup with raw crisp onions in it," Lisabeth said,
longing for her favourite dish.
After a tumultuous night and bearing a much heavier
suitcase, the girls continued their Moscow journey.
"I shall be glad to take the train in Warsaw", Anne-
Christine sighed. "For every journey, we have those endless
horse rides! Only when we left Transsyldavia did we have a
troika for a brief moment, but that ride was ended prematurely
by Gosseling".
"Did you ever travel by train?" Lisabeth aked.
"In England, to look at the Crystal Palace", Anne-
Christine said. "It goes extremely fast. To be honest, I
prefer a ship to a horse or a train".
In Warsaw, the train was already waiting for Lisabeth and
Anne-Christine. It was the Czar's own royal train and Lisabeth
was addressed by the servants as 'Grand Duchess'.
"And what am I supposed to be, then?" Anne-Christine
asked, "Am I your lady companion?"
"Why not", Lisabeth answered. "Then you may carry my
porte-manteau, but be careful, for the contents are extremely
valuable".
"I understand", Anne-Christine said, and she carried the
cane suitcase with her arms folded around it in a protective
manner. The porters were entrusted with both saddlebags and
Anne-Christine kept a close eye on them to ensure that they
were careful.
The train departed just as soon as the Grand Duchess and
her ladycompanion were seated.
"Czar-bound!" Lisabeth called joyfully, but Anne-Christine
was in less enthusiastic.
"Is it wise to travel to Moscow with the Service? The Czar
might take it from us and then we will both have lost it", she
worried.
"You'll get it back, don't you worry!" Lisabeth answered,
smiling, and then she looked out of the window so as not to
miss any of the scenery.
After a tiring journey, the Czar's court train arrived at
Moscow Station. From there, they went to the Kremlin by
troika. They were accompanied by an adjutant of the Czar, who
had visited a great many countries and spoke several languages
fluently.
"We slaves learn other languages rather quickly", he said
proudly.
"How's the Czar?" Lisabeth inquired.
"His majesty is very busy at the moment" the adjutant
answered diplomatically. "He's working on his plans to abandon
slavery, but the Bojars and peasants are not very co-
operative".
"Then I'll have to hurry with my Crystal Castle", Lisabeth
suggested. "Or could the Russian Army construct a railroad
from Moscow to Transsyldavia?"
"Matters of that interest you'd better negotiate with the
Czar himself," the adjutant answered with a smile.
"I'll be at your service the moment you ring", the
adjutant assured Lisabeth, indicating the bell-pull in their
apartment.
"Thank you so much!" Lisabeth said and she had the luggage
placed on the floor.
"At last, a normal Palace bed again!" she called and
jumped on it in one big leap.
Anne-Christine followed her.
"What exactly are your plans, Lisa?" she asked.
"I have scores of them!" Lisabeth called. "I'm going to
negotiate with the Czar. My stake is Transsyldavia and the
Service. On his part I expect him to crown me Czarina and give
me a rolling Castle."
"Are you considering the exchange of the Service for a
Castle?" Anne-Christine asked in fear.
"No, don't worry!" Lisabeth soothed her. "I said it was my
stake, but a stake is not always lost. I wrote a great many
letters in recent months and it became clear to me that he'll
be satisfied solely with the throne of Transsyldavia".
"How can you be so sure?" Anne-Christine asked.
"By that adjutant!" Lisabeth said proudly. "And guess
what... He is involved in the conspiracy too!"
Anne-Christine was astonished.
"You certainly did your homework well!" she said at
last.
"Yes, and that flap-table made it all just a piece of
cake!" Lisabeth answered, smiling.
Anne-Christine didn't know what to say.
"But why did you take the Service with you, then?" she
asked eventuaaly. "If you already know from the adjutant that
you don't need it in your negotiations".
"He may be the Czar's trustee, but the Czar himself seems
to be rather inconstant", Lisabeth said. "I can't give you any
guarantee. So, that's the reason why I didn't take the Service
with me, to prevent the Czar stealing it from me".
"You didn't take it with you?" Anne-Christine asked in
surprise. "And that cane porte-manteau, then? Didn't you put
the Service in it at the 'Watershed Inn'? Didn't you recover
it there after you hid it a few months ago, saying that you
were afraid that Gosseling would take it from you?"
"Or that you would take it from me!" Lisabeth corrected
her. "No, that porte-manteau is yet another jewel box, filled
with the most precious jewels", she teased Anne-Christine. "It
is strictly forbidden to look inside".
"Forget about that!" Anne-Christine called, jumping from
her bed. She opened the little suitcase on the floor.
"Onions!" she called with horror.
"The best crispy onions in the world can be found at the
'Watershed Inn'. And I bought as many as possible, despite
their high price at this time of year!" Lisabeth said, trying
to look as sincere as she could.