The Prince of Mist (Niebla 1)

*

‘That night I decided to stay away from that man forever and try to erase all thoughts of him from my mind. It wasn’t easy. Whoever Dr Cain was, he had a strange way of getting inside your head, like a splinter that goes deeper into your skin the more you try to pull it out. I couldn’t talk about him with anyone or they’d think I was a lunatic, and I couldn’t go to the authorities because I wouldn’t have known where to begin. So I did the only thing that seemed wise in this sort of situation: I decided to let time go by.

‘Things were going well for us in our new home and I was lucky enough to meet someone who proved to be a great help to me: a priest who taught maths and physics at school. His name was Darius. At first he seemed to have his head in the clouds half the time, but in fact his intelligence was only equalled by his kindness, although he concealed it well, pretending to be just another mad scientist. Darius encouraged me to work hard and discover the joys of mathematics, so it wasn’t surprising that, after a few years in his charge, my talent for science became increasingly clear. Initially, I wanted to follow in his footsteps and devote myself to teaching, but the reverend father gave me a severe telling off and said that what I had to do was go to college, study physics and become the best engineer the country had ever seen. Either I did that, or he would never speak to me again.

‘Darius was the one who managed to get me a university grant and who set me on the path towards what could, or should, have been. He passed away the week before my graduation. I’m no longer ashamed to say that I felt his loss as much or more than the loss of my own father. In college I became a close friend of the person who would lead me once more to a meeting with Dr Cain: a young medical student whose family was scandalously wealthy – or so it seemed to me – called Richard Fleischmann. Indeed, the future Dr Fleischmann who, years later, would build the house by the beach.

‘Richard Fleischmann was an impetuous young man, prone to excess. He was used to the fact that throughout his life things had always turned out the way he’d wanted them to, and when, for any reason, something did not go as planned he would fly into a rage. A quirk of fate is what led us to become friends: we both fell in love with the same woman, Eva Gray, the daughter of the most unbearable, tyrannical chemistry professor on the campus.

‘At first we’d all go out together, the three of us, and on Sundays we’d go away for the day whenever that ogre, Theodore Gray, didn’t manage to stop us. But this arrangement didn’t last long. The most curious thing about it was that Fleischmann and I, far from being rivals, became the best of friends. Every night, when we returned Eva to the ogre’s cave, we’d walk back to our rooms together knowing that, sooner or later, one of us would be out of the running.

‘Until that day came, we spent the best two years of my life together. But everything must come to an end. The break-up of our inseparable trio arrived on the night of our graduation. Although I’d achieved every kind of success imaginable, I was feeling down in the dumps because of the death of my old tutor. So, although I never drank, Eva and Richard decided they should get me drunk that night to rid me of my melancholy. Needless to say, the ogre, Theodore, who supposedly was as deaf as a post yet seemed to be able to hear through walls when it suited him, uncovered our plan, and when the evening ended, Fleischmann and I found ourselves alone, completely smashed in some seedy bar, where we devoted our time to praising the object of our impossible love, Eva Gray.

‘That same night, as we stumbled back to the campus, a travelling fair seemed to emerge from the mist beside the railway station. Convinced that a ride on the merry-go-round would cure us of our drunken state, Fleischmann and I walked into the fair and ended up outside the den of Dr Cain, magician, fortune-teller and clairvoyant, as his sinister sign still announced. Fleischmann had a brilliant idea. We would go in and ask the fortune-teller to reveal the enigma: which of us would Eva choose? Despite my drunken daze, I had enough common sense not to go in, but I could not stop my friend, who rushed headlong into the tent.

‘I suppose I passed out, because I don’t remember much about the following hours. When I regained consciousness, my head throbbing, Fleischmann and I were lying on an old wooden bench. Day was breaking and the caravans from the fair had disappeared, as if all the lights, noise and crowds of the night had been an illusion conjured by our alcohol-soaked brains. We stood up and gazed at the deserted plot of land around us. I asked my friend whether he remembered anything about the previous night. Fleischmann told me he’d dreamed that he’d gone into a magician’s den and when he’d been asked what his greatest wish was, he’d replied that he wanted to be loved by Eva Gray. Then he laughed, joking about our monumental hangover, convinced that nothing he’d told me had actually happened.

‘Two months later, Eva Gray and Richard Fleischmann were married. They didn’t even invite me to the wedding. I wouldn’t see them again for over twenty years.’

*

‘One wet winter’s day, a man wearing a raincoat followed me from the office to my home. From the dining-room window I could see that the stranger was watching my house. I hesitated for a few moments and then went outside, ready to unmask the mysterious spy. It was Richard Fleischmann, trembling with cold, his face wrinkled with age and a haunted look in his eyes. My old friend looked as if he hadn’t slept in months. I made him come in and offered him a cup of hot coffee. Without daring to look me in the eye he asked about that night long ago, in Dr Cain’s lair.

‘I was in no mood for pleasantries. I asked him what Cain had demanded in exchange for making his wish come true. Fleischmann, his face distorted by fear and shame, sank to his knees in front of me, crying and begging for my help. I ignored his tears, insisting on an answer to my question. What had he promised Dr Cain in exchange for his services?

‘“My firstborn son,” he replied. “I promised him my son …”’

*

‘Fleischmann confessed to me that for years, and without her knowledge, he’d been administering a drug to his wife that prevented her from conceiving a child. But eventually Eva F

leischmann had plunged into a deep depression and the absence of the child she so desired had turned their marriage into a living hell. Fleischmann was afraid that if Eva didn’t conceive she would soon lose her mind, or that, with so much sadness, her life would slowly be extinguished, like a candle going out through lack of oxygen. He told me there was no one else he could turn to and he begged my forgiveness then asked for my help. In the end I said I would help him, not for his sake but out of the affection I still felt for Eva Gray and in memory of our old friendship.

‘That very night I threw Fleischmann out of my house, but my plan was very different to what the man I had once considered my friend imagined. I followed him through the rain, tracking him across the city. I asked myself why I was doing it. But the very thought that Eva Gray, who had rejected me when we were both so young, might have to hand over her son to that vile sorcerer, made my stomach turn and was sufficient reason for me to confront Dr Cain once more, even though I was increasingly aware that I might not escape unharmed.

‘Fleischmann’s wanderings led me to the new lair of my former acquaintance, the Prince of Mist. His new home was a travelling circus, and to my surprise Dr Cain had given up his role as fortune-teller and clairvoyant in favour of a persona more in keeping with his sense of humour. He was dressed as a clown, his face painted white and red, although his constantly changing eyes gave away his identity even beneath dozens of layers of make-up. Cain’s circus flew a flag decorated with the six-pointed star at the top of a tall mast and the magician had surrounded himself with a group of sinister companions who used the cover of being circus performers to disguise something else much darker. For two weeks I spied on Cain’s circus and soon discovered that its threadbare, yellowing big top concealed a gang of tricksters, criminals and thieves who robbed and stole wherever they went. I also discovered that Dr Cain’s lack of care in choosing his slaves had resulted in a trail of crimes, disappearances and thefts which had not gone unnoticed by the local police, who could smell the stench of corruption emanating from the ghoulish troupe.

‘Naturally, Cain was aware of the situation, so he decided that he and his friends must vanish from the country as quickly as possible, but in a discreet way, preferably avoiding the police and their irritating procedures. That is how, taking advantage of a gambling debt that had been handed to him at a convenient moment – thanks to the stupidity of the Dutch captain – Dr Cain was able to board the Orpheus that night. And I alongside him.

‘What happened on the night of the storm is something that even I cannot explain. Fierce winds dragged the Orpheus towards the coast and flung her against the rocks, opening a gash in the hull that caused her to sink in a matter of minutes. I was hiding in one of the lifeboats, which broke loose when the ship ran aground and was then hurled by the breakers onto the beach. That is the only reason I survived. Cain and his henchmen were travelling in the bilge, hidden under crates in case of an inspection halfway through the journey. I suppose that when the icy water flooded the bowels of the ship, they didn’t even realise what was happening …’

*

‘And the bodies were never found.’ Max was stunned.

Victor Kray shook his head.

‘Often, when storms are violent, the sea carries the bodies away,’ said the lighthouse keeper.

‘But it usually returns them, even if it’s many days later,’ Max replied. ‘I’ve read that.’

‘Don’t believe everything you read,’ said the old man, ‘although in this case it could be true.’

‘Then what happened?’ asked Alicia.

‘For years I’ve had a theory even I didn’t quite believe it. But now everything seems to confirm it.’

*