The Silent Deal (The Card Game #1)

Ch 21 - Maksim's Memoirs

CHAPTER 21

MAKSIM’S MEMOIRS 

Viktor wished he could have stayed and read with Romulus, but dawn was approaching, so he hurried back home and changed for the new day. At school, Miss Dimovna kept an eye on him, no doubt dwelling on the death sentence she’d placed on his head. Then in the evening, Viktor sat and watched healers treat his father’s wounds; it would be weeks before Vassi could return to the mines—weeks without pay.

Viktor bit his tongue and bided his time. When night fell, he slipped out of the house, through the forest, and into the Den, desperate to discover what the diary revealed.

“Did you read it?” he asked.

Romulus nodded slowly, sitting on the ground beside a fire of smoldering ashes.

“Does everything make sense now—the Silent Deal—the secret of the cards—the Leopard?”

Romulus looked up with dark eyes. “Here. Read it—alone.”

Viktor took the leather journal cautiously. “We can talk about it later, yes?”

“Yeah.”

Back at his house, Viktor wrapped himself tightly in a blanket, sat behind his bed, and lit a lone candle. Ignoring Grandpap’s snores, he opened the leather book, cast his eyes on the first page, and immersed himself in a different world, the truest form of magic.

Maksim’s Memoirs

2 May 1806

My name is Maksim Fammus and today is my twelfth birthday. I am a house serf with my mother in Staryi Castle. Lord Luski is kind and lets me sit in on writing lessons for noble children. This diary is his present to me.

Viktor leaned back, already struck by Maksim’s unusual upbringing. As he read on, the boy wrote passages about being a stable hand for Lord Luski. A wild horse had trampled and killed his father, but Maksim seemed set on becoming a master of horses, and his overseer, Agripin, agreed he had the skill. But then came a passage that took both Viktor—and Maksim—by surprise.

18 October 1806

Lord Luski has changed my job. Now I am to befriend his relative, Nocktayl, a boy new to Staryi Castle. He comes from Yekaterinburg in the south. I am sorry to leave the horses, but now I can attend lessons at Nocktayl’s side. I have long wanted a friend my age, even if I am to be his servant. I only know Adelaida.

The reference to Romulus’ mother took Viktor off guard, yet it was the other name that caught his fascination: Nocktayl. He was sure he had heard it before, yet he abandoned the question in his desire to read on.

13 November 1806

I am trying to learn all I can, but Nocktayl keeps disappearing during lesson hours. He refused to answer tutors. He is an odd boy. Half the time, he is quiet and fearful. The other half, he is angry. Lord Luski told me to have patience. He said Nocktayl is orphaned and has no other home. I tried to tell Nocktayl how my father died, but that only made him more upset, for he said an animal killed his father also.

21 November 1806

To try to gain Nocktayl’s trust, I showed him some of the secret passages I know in Staryi. I wish I had not. I think he uses the passages to steal and spy.