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As he reached his grandfathers most senior minister the elderly gentleman placed his hands on Marcos arms, greeting him with a traditional continental embrace. His voice shook with emotion and Marco could see that beneath his proud, stern expression and the determinedly upright stance there was a very aged, tired man who probably would have preferred to spend his last years with his grandchildren than doing his kings bidding. Tactfully Marco adjusted his own walking pace to that of the courtiers surrounding him as they escorted him unsteadily to the waiting open-topped royal limousine.
At least his grandfather hadn't sent the coronation carriage to collect him. Marco reflected ruefully; its motion was sickeningly rocky and its velvet padded seats unpleasantly hard.
This should be his moment of triumph, the public endorsement of the strength he had gained in becoming his own man. Soon the power of the Royal House of Niroli would become his. and he would step into his grandfathers shoes and fulfil his destiny. So why didn't he feel more excited, and why was there this sense of emptiness within him this sense of loss, of something missing?
The cavalcade started to move, the waiting crowds began to cheer, children clutching Niroii flags and leaning dangerously into the road, the better to see him. Marco lifted his hand and began to wave. The cool air-conditioned luxury of the limo protected him from the midday heat. But what about the people? They must be feeling the heat, Marco. As clearly as though she were seated at his side, he could hear Emilys gently reproachful voice. Angrily he banished it. The limousine travelled a few more yards and then Marco reached forward, rapping on the glass separating him from the driver and an armed guard.
‘Highness?’ the guard queried anxiously.
‘Stop the car!’ Marco ordered. ‘I want to get out and walk.’ As he reached to open his door the guard looked horrified. ‘Sire.’ he protested, ‘the king...it may not be safe.’
Marco’s eyebrow rose. ‘Knowing my grandfather as I do. I cannot imagine he has not had ordered that plain-clothes security men be posted amongst the crowd. Besides, these are our people, not our enemy.’
As they saw Marco stepping out of the limousine the crowd fell silent. At no time in living memory had their ruler done anything so informal as walk amongst them. Marco shook the gnarled hands of working men, his smile causing pretty girls to glow with excitement and older women to feel a reawakening frisson of their youths.
One aged woman pushed her way through the people to reach him. Marco could see from her traditional peasant costume that she came from the mountains of Niroli. Her back was bent from long years spent working in the orange groves and vineyards that covered their lower slopes, her face as brown and lined as a wrinkled walnut. But there was still a fiery flash of pride in her dark eyes and as she held out to him the clumsy leather purse she had obviously made herself Marco felt as though a giant hand were gripping his heart in a tight vice.
‘Highness, please take this humble gift,' she begged him. May it always be kept full, just like the coffers and the nurseries of the House of Niroli.: It was plain that the old peasant could ill afford to give him anything. Indeed. Marco felt he should be the one to give something to her. So he was not surprised to see the angry, hostile glower on the face of the shabbily dressed youth at her side.
‘This is your grandson?’ Marco asked her as he thanked her for her gift.
‘Aye. he is. sire, and he shames me with his sullen looks and lack of appreciation for all that we have here on our island.’
‘That is because we have nothing!' the youth burst out angrily, his face now seemingly on fire with emotion. We have nothing, whilst others have everything! We come to the town, and we see foreigners with their expensive yachts and their fancy clothes. Our king bends over backwards to welcome them, whilst we mountain-dwellers do not even have electricity. They look at us as though we are nothing, and that is because, to our king, we are nothing!’
Suddenly, like a cloud passing over the sun the mood of the crowd gathered around Marco had changed. He could see the anger in the faces of the group of rough-looking, poorly dressed young men who had joined the outspoken youth. The first of his grandfathers security guards rushed to protect Marco, but very firmly he stepped between them, saying clearly. ‘It is good to know that the people of Niroli are able to speak their minds freely to me. This issue of getting electricity to the more remote parts of our island is one that has. I know, taxed His Majesty's thoughts for a long time.’ Marco put his hand on the angry youths shoulder, drawing him closer to him whilst he gave the hovering guards a small dismissive shake of his head. He could see the grateful tears in the old peasant woman's eyes.
