Read Online Cloud Castles by Michael Scott Rohan - Free Book Online

done earlier, before people arrived; so why wasn’t it? Unless it was something secret, so secret thatit could only be prepared under the cover of the party. The floor beneath looked like marble, sounded like it as they laid out jugs and bowls – no, vessels and ewers, fantastically ornate things of gilt or gold with an indefinable air of age. There was gold in the floor, too, in mosaic patterns inlaid into the marble, one great central shape that looked familiar. Only familiar wasn’t friendly, given some of the things I’d seen; where had I ever run into
that?
The Nazis, now, did they have any other symbols beside the swastika? But as I sidled closer, straining to make it out, I almost jumped out of my skin. A hand landed on my shoulder, a great flipper of a thing, and turned me irresistibly around. A pair of slightly bulging blue eyes stared down into mine, and the glitter of rage was sudden and sharp.
    ‘
Stephen? Teufelschwanz, was machst du Verfluchter in diese Stelle?
’
    ‘Well, hold on a minute, Lutz – you invited me, didn’t you?’
    The eyes wandered an instant, and then his tone was mild; but in men like Lutz mildness doesn’t come naturally. ‘Yes. Yes, of course, I am sorry! To the party,
gewiss natürlich!
Though I had given up hope of your arriving! But to this? I am sorry, Stephen, but this is a meeting of a particular – what is the word? Of a Lodge. A private one, that it was convenient to hold in conjunction with the
assemblage
below. How on earth did you come to be admitted?’
    ‘Fraülein Inga-Lise brought me here to find you, that’s how!’
    ‘Ah …’ His whole countenance changed. ‘She had no call to do that. The silly girl! She must have assumed, because you were arriving so late, that it was for this alone. Hmph!’ He huffed a moment, rubbed his hands, and looked at me slightly askance. ‘I will have to have a word with her. The fact is, I am a little annoyed. You and she between you have somewhat deflated a surprise I was hoping to prepare for you. Specially for you.’
    ‘For me?’
    ‘Why, yes. I was hoping that I could invite you – and please do not laugh! – to enter this very Lodge! Perhaps even this very night! And here you have forestalled me!’
    I drew a deep breath. Time to tread very carefully. ‘Lutz … that’s a real honour. And extremely kind of you. Only … well, perhaps it’s for the best. You know how oftenI’ve been invited to join the Masons? But I’ve always had to refuse. It’s a company tradition – no fear, no favour.’ I thought of my old boss Barry, never joining any of his beloved Jewish societies, but somehow I didn’t feel like mentioning that to Lutz. ‘We stop short at the Rotarians, more or less. So …’
    Lutz snorted good-humouredly, though his eyes still glittered. ‘You and that company of yours! There you are, you see, I knew I vould need time to tell you about us, as much as I’m allowed to. For this could be very important to you, Stephen. The Masons, that is a petty thing, a local thing. We also are related to Freemasonry, Stephen, but in the much older tradition of the continent. Much older and more powerful, descended from Lodges that numbered among their members Mozart and the Emperor Joseph II. We have long been accustomed to number men of power among us, the more enlightened men of their time. Governments have been made or toppled in our salons, kings overthrown, fortunes made and destroyed. In times of turbulence or war we offer a shelter, an understanding, a constant mutual help that goes beyond mere national boundaries.’ His voice sank. ‘And to those with the imagination to grasp it we offer a knowledge of the forces that truly underlie the world. I say no more of that for now, but it is there.’
    I was walking on eggs. ‘It sounds fascinating, but principle—’
    ‘You?’ he woofed. ‘You are old enough to know that principle is what you make it. And principle is not everything with you, is it?’ He