The New World Revealed by a Witch

It was spring, not a good season for hunting, but hunting had not been their original purpose. The king and his party rode leisurely along a sun-dappled path through the outer edge of the forest, heading toward the Seine River. Mali rode her little pony, while the king and the others rode full-grown horses. After a while, the king noticed that the little witch clearly wanted to speak, so he called her to his side. A little later, he had her ride with him.

The forest as seen through a witch's eyes was entirely different from the forest seen by mortals—Mali pointed out a clump of mushrooms growing around a tree and quietly told the king that it was a "dance ring" of the forest fairies. Mortals must not damage it or step inside it. If someone did, the forest fairies would punch him, and he would surely meet an unnatural death upon returning home. But sometimes, if the visitor was young and handsome, the forest fairies would take him dancing with them until dawn came, or death descended. Witches gathered these mushrooms, dried them, and ground them into medicinal powder that could heal broken bones and bewilder the human heart.

When they passed a hazel tree, Mali took the opportunity to break off a branch. To a witch, if she could plant a hazel branch under a full moon and make it live, then wait until it grew taller than her shoulder, she could make a wish upon it.

The scattered gray traces on the path had been left by Black Hound Demons—yes, not werewolves. They were monsters despised even by Wizards. It was said that they came from hell, with eyes red as burning coals, and wherever their paws stepped looked as though it had been scorched by fire.

When they reached the marshland, they found a patch of reeds snapped cleanly off at the roots, with broken branches and withered leaves floating on the water. Mali said that a water monster or a washerwoman had passed through there.

When Mali spotted mint beside the horses' hooves, she crushed it in her palm, drawing over a flock of wild geese that had stuffed themselves on tender new reed shoots and small fish.

"Quick!" Just as Louis thought she merely wanted to play a prank, she tugged at the king's shoulder strap and urged, "We'll have roast goose tonight!"

She did not need to remind them. The king's attendants had already raised their muskets. After a burst of gunfire, the hunting dogs barked excitedly as they burrowed through the reeds and sweet flags, constantly bringing prey back to their masters—they also startled a flock of brilliantly colored pheasants. The pheasants cried out in panic and ran, but they could not escape death in the dogs' jaws. They were all piled upon Mali's little pony, looking like a cluster of black, blue, and red irises blooming across its back.

The unexpected haul greatly exhilarated everyone. Just as they were discussing whether they ought to go deeper in search of deer and wild boar, an attendant from the bishop's side came galloping over, panting for breath. He brought Mazarin's message, earnestly requesting that the king return to Anglais Castle at once. Prince of Condé, whom they had long awaited, had returned to France from Flanders and was now waiting with the Queen Mother and the bishop for the king's arrival.

Louis was somewhat surprised, for he had heard no news of this beforehand. He had several attendants watch over the game and Mali, while he took the others and hurried back.

Prince of Condé had inherited his father's title only two years earlier. Before that, he had been the Duke of Enghien, and had joined the army under that name. At only twenty years old, he had fought the Spanish in northern France. From 1644 to 1645, he had fought Moses, commander of the Holy Roman Empire. Not long ago, he had followed Gaston, Duke of Orléans, into battle in Flanders.

Compared to the king, who was still a child, Prince of Condé, nearing thirty, looked far more like a ruler in the full flower of his prime. Yet considering that the first Prince of Condé, Henry IV's cousin, had been the first heir to the throne until Louis XIII was born in 1601, perhaps this impression was not entirely without cause. This was also why Queen Mother Anne and Cardinal Mazarin remained wary of him, and why this Prince of Condé lacked loyalty and trust toward the king.

But on the surface, he was very cordial toward Louis. He bowed to the king, then affectionately took the latter's hands and kissed them, before impatiently urging him to look at the precious gift he had brought.

A Serbian Werewolf hide.

The moment Louis saw it, he understood why Queen Mary of England, his cousin Henrietta, and his younger brother Philip were absent. Clearly, they were not qualified to know of the inner world—or rather, England also had an inner world, but that was no reason to allow foreigners to probe for information.

Yet at the sight of that familiar gray-black wolf hide, Louis could not help suspecting that it was a provocation. Could Prince of Condé possibly not know that he had only recently suffered an attack by a Serbian Werewolf? Or had Gaston, Duke of Orléans, done this deliberately, hoping to drive a wedge between them and Prince of Condé? But whichever it was, the king, the Queen Mother, and Mazarin would raise no objection. After all, they needed Prince of Condé to suppress the mobs of Paris.

Prince of Condé thus took up residence in Anglais Castle, though it was obvious that he had no desire to undertake this difficult task. The Paris mobs were said to number nearly one hundred thousand, while he had only two hundred cavalrymen from Flanders at his side.

In the end, Queen Mother Anne managed to sell off the last of her jewelry—even removing the diamonds from her crown—to hire six hundred soldiers for Prince of Condé's army, replace their muskets, and replenish their supplies. Only then did Prince of Condé reluctantly agree to go to Paris.