Courtier in the Royal House of Stuart

by Leslie Hatton

  Elizabeth had taken the other man to what I had thought to be the rest area in the corner, I could hear them but couldn’t see them as they were on the floor and out of sight.

  I took a backward glance at Felix and smiled, his eyes were almost popping out of his head… so completely engrossed was he by the performance being acted out before his eyes.

  I took a completely different view. I found Christina’s performance to be embarrassing, while at the same time I had to admire her sheer professionalism. However, I still could not see how all this was going to help us escape.

  I did not have long to wait. The big man suddenly let out a horrific scream and at the same time Christina took a backward step.

  From where I was standing, I could see a blooded knife in her right hand. Her victim was still in the sitting position, but now with his mouth open and tears running down his cheeks, his hands were covering his groin and there was blood seeping through his fingers creating a pool under the chair. Christina now with a blood splattered dress snatched the keys off the table and handed them me.

  ‘Can you manage to release yourself Toby? I have to help Elizabeth,’ she said as she picked up one of the clubs.

  I have never been fond of wearing a sword, or ever felt the need to carry one, but I was mighty pleased to have mine back in my hand.

  Felix grabbed the other club off the table and was standing by my side. ‘I’m keeping this one,’ he said.

  Our joy at being freed from the cage was short-lived when the other guard stepped out to meet us. He was holding Elizabeth’s head back by her hair and holding a knife to her throat, just hard enough to break the skin, a thin trickle of blood running down her cleavage.

  ‘Get back into the cage or she dies,’ he said as he pressed the knife a little harder to her throat. She squealed at the extra pressure and the blood began to run more freely, staining the front of her dress.

  I had no option but submit and return to the cage, Christina making up our number.

  ‘Lock the door and throw me the keys,’ he ordered.

  At least I still had my sword, Felix his club and Christina the knife.

  ‘Get down on the floor,’ he ordered Elizabeth, she obeyed without question.

  The big man had still not moved… the pool of blood beneath his feet growing with every minute.

  ‘I’m bleeding to death here, the bitch cut off the end of my cock. You’ll have to help me.’

  ‘You need to tie it off to stop the bleeding,’ he said handing him a short length of hemp.

  ‘Can you do it for me?’

  ‘I’m not touching your cock, you’ll have to do it yourself.’

  In spite of our precarious position, we had to smile at each other.

  Christina smiled and whispered to me, ‘He’s not the man he once was.’

  It must have been over an hour since we were forced to return to the cage, very soon it would be dark as the light was fading quickly. Our single guard was now pacing the floor anxiously waiting for the return of his other companions and his master, Richard Leeson.

  From our position in the cage, we watched Elizabeth slowly and cautiously moving towards the table where the keys to our prison were tantalisingly on view.

  We were all startled by a loud bang on the door.

  It was the opportunity Elizabeth had been waiting for. She jumped to her feet, snatched up the key and threw it across the floor before her guard could stop her.

  Angered by her swift action and incensed at not being able to stop her, he struck Elizabeth hard across the face, sending her spinning across the floor, he then ran to open the door to let in his companions.

  Once again I was free and with a sword in my hand, but this time I was facing Richard Leeson with three of his men… two with swords and the third holding a club, I was not counting the one still sat in his chair trying to halt the flow of blood from his shortened penis, he was clearly no longer a threat.

  There was no hiding the shock on Leeson’s face when he saw me standing before him with a weapon in my hand, but he quickly recovered his composure when he realised he still had an enormous advantage.

  ‘So Master Toby, I see you have recruited some of your whores,’ he said, ‘what price do you put on your chances with just two whores and an urchin?’

  ‘You can discount the man in the chair, which means we equal you in numbers,’ I said as I spotted Felix circling around swinging his club like an expert. Elizabeth and Christina were also on the move, splitting up and moving to surround Leeson and his men, who despite their obvious advantage were beginning to look a little nervous.

  What happened in the next few minutes surprised us all.

  There was another bang on the door. Felix was the first to react by throwing his club at Leeson’s head, while at the same time running to open the door. The club glanced off Leeson’s shoulder and hit the head of the guard that had earlier knocked Elizabeth to the floor. Maddened and angry he turned on the boy who escaped by running round the table.

  That was when George, Stinky Skinner and Helen stepped through the open door. George punched one man to the floor with a blow to the kidneys then grabbed Leeson putting him in a headlock. Stinky holding an axe handle and Helen with a knife went to help the boy… leaving me for the first time in my life to defend myself against an assailant determined to end my life.

  For some reason that I cannot explain, my thoughts raced back over ten years to my first weapons tutor, Sir Paul Cullum, and from somewhere in the depths of my mind his words of wisdom came flooding back to me.

  ‘Never assume you are in control or that he is tiring, even if he falls to the ground, he may be feigning.

  ‘Try to keep your opponent at a distance, that way it won’t be easy for him to grab you.

  ‘Forget all about chivalry… your adversary in battle wants to kill you so you must kill him first.’

  The first challenge came from Leeson, and I was pleasantly surprised how easy I found it to parry his attack. I stepped back and waited for his reaction and was astonished when his second lunge was exactly as his first.

  It was clear to me that this man was not a trained swordsman. He was also much older than me, he was short of breath and sweating. I decided that if his next attack was as poor as his first two, I would take the fight to him. When it came I blocked his lunge and came under his guard to strike him high on the right side of his chest.

  He staggered backwards, blood staining his tunic from the wound in his shoulder, his sword hanging loose at his side. Christina came behind and clubbed his right arm making him drop his sword which clattered to the floor.

  ‘I submit, I submit,’ he shouted.

  But Christina was in no mood for compassion or sympathy, and delivered a crunching blow to his lower spine. She then stopped and watched him crumble moaning to the floor… holding his back.

  Elizabeth meanwhile was seeking retribution from the guard that had held a knife to the throat, and also for striking her across the face. But now she had the help of Stinky and Helen. The three now had him cornered under the stairs. Felix couldn’t get near enough to use his club, so he helped by positioning himself halfway up the stairs and grabbing the man by his hair through the open treads.

  Knowing he was beaten, he dropped his sword and raised his hands in submission.

  ‘Lend me your club,’ Elizabeth asked Felix.

  ‘I have yielded,’ he called pushing his hands even higher. ‘Have pity, I was only carrying out orders.’

  Elizabeth swung the club at his legs, and in jumping to avoid being hit, he tripped and fell… before he had time to recover, she brought her weapon down on the crown of his head with such force that I could hear his skull crack from where I was standing on the other side of the warehouse.

  Now with his whole gang of scoundrels locked in the cage, there was just Richard Lees
on.

  George, who was still holding him in a headlock, asked, ‘What do you want me to do with this lump of shit Toby?’

  ‘Release him, and give him back his sword.’

  George offered him his blade which he took cautiously.

  I adopted the guard position but Leeson with tears in his eyes was just holding his sword by his side.

  ‘Is this not what you have always wanted Leeson… a chance to kill me… just as you have done to Thomas Hudson?’

  Tears were running down his cheeks… he blinked his eyes and opened his mouth to speak but no words came.

  I could quite easily have run him through there and then, that’s what I desperately wanted to do. But I also wanted to provoke him into fighting, this time on his own without the backup of his men. He appeared to be frozen on the spot, unable to speak or fight… only waking from his trance when I slashed him across the face leaving a flap of flesh hanging, a mixture of blood and tears running into his beard.

  He squealed and in a mad rage ran at me with his sword in the air. He was far too slow and the weapon far too high to be a real threat, it was all too easy for me to sidestep his charge. Even after just one attack it was clear to me that he was no more a swordsman than his companion, still on the floor holding his back. His movements were slow and laboured and his sword far too heavy. I thought it improbable that he had ever fought a one-on-one battle in his life, and judging by his first lunge, it was unlikely that he had ever had any weapon training.

  I was confident that I could finish the duel at any time, but I wanted him to suffer, I wanted him to die from a hundred cuts. I wanted him to die slowly for killing Thomas. I slashed his other cheek, and then each arm, I aimed a blow to his eye but missed by a fraction, cutting an inch high, blood was now running freely down his face. After just a few minutes his clothes were in tatters and he was bleeding from a dozen wounds.

  Everyone had stopped to watch, including four sets of eyes in the cage, the fifth man still lying prone and unconscious on the floor. My final strike to his groin brought Leeson to his knees.

  At this point I sheathed my sword and looked down at the pathetic excuse for a man that for the last twelve years had been a thorn in my side, my enemy and my nemesis.

  ‘As a traitor you will be hung, drawn and quartered in a public place in the city, but I will give you the chance to die like a man. You may fall on your sword.’

  I kicked his sword close enough for him to pick up, but his hand was too sticky from the blood running down his arm.

  ‘I can’t hold it,’ he croaked.

  ‘Christina, do you still have the knife?’

  ‘It’s on the table, I put it there after I gelded him. I’ll get it for you,’ she said, running to recover it, still chuckling to herself.

  ‘Give it to him,’ I ordered.

  Leeson held the knife to his heart with both hands for what seemed an age, but was no more than a few seconds. He didn’t speak, just glared at me with hatred in his eyes.

  He then plunged the knife deep into his heart, hovered for a moment before falling forward on his face.

  Christina then broke the silence by verbally attacking George.

  ‘Where were you, you should have been here an hour ago… we could have been all killed? I’ll bet you were down at the Swan.’

  George just laughed and patted her backside.

  Helen came to my side, touched my arm and whispered, ‘Thomas is not dead Toby, he’s badly injured but he’s not dead.’

  I cannot even begin to try to explain the feeling of relief at hearing those words.

  ‘They told me that he was dead, they said they killed him and that his body fell in the river. Where is he now?’

  ‘He’s with Veronica. When we left her she was bathing his wounds. He is badly injured but he’s definitely not dead.’

  ‘Thank you Helen, thank you so much.’

  ‘I have done very little,’ she said, ‘I wish I could have done more.’

  I gave her a hug and kissed her, then looked around to see if we had any casualties. I saw Felix helping Elizabeth bind Stinky’s arm, she was using a strip of cloth torn from her own clothing to dress a deep laceration on his right forearm. Elizabeth was also injured, she had a nasty bruise on the right side of her face and an eye that was almost closed, but thankfully her throat had stopped bleeding, the blood on her chest congealed into a scab-like scar.

  ‘Are you alright Elizabeth, your eye looks tender?’

  ‘It is, but I don’t think it’s as bad as yours. At least I can still see out of mine.’

  I kissed her on the forehead and turned my attention to Felix.

  He had recovered his club and had it stuffed in his belt like a sword, but it was too heavy and kept sliding to the floor. He gave up in the end, choosing instead to hold it like a trophy.

  ‘I have a vitally important job for you Felix. I want you to go to St James’s Palace. Tell the guards at the gate that you have a message for the Duke of York… tell them it’s from Squire Toby and explain to the duke what has happed here. Tell him that we have captured the illegal pressgang and that Richard Leeson is dead. Do you think you can do that for me?’

  ‘Of course I can, I’m not stupid. I will run all the way.’

  ‘Good, when you return I will reward you with a shilling.’

  I watched him dash out of the door, but I doubted he would run the whole way as it must be at least four miles to St James’s Palace from where we were at St Catherine’s.

  I knew it was going to be a long wait… at least a couple of hours so I asked George to take the girls home.

  ‘We’ll wait and see it through, and then all leave here together,’ said he.

  ‘Then explain to me what happened, what brought you here and how did you know where I was?’

  They all started to talk at the same time so I stopped them and delegated Christina to speak for them all, as she seemed to be the most practical and unruffled at the time.

  ‘I assume you can remember leaving Fleet Alley, and Elizabeth and me walking down to the river with you,’ she asked… I nodded. ‘Well we watched you walk about two or three hundred yards and then sit down to read your books. There wasn’t many people about and we were a little curious when we saw two men walk behind you, we assumed they were talking about you because you’re quite famous in these parts. We became suspicious that something was not right when we saw one of them with a knife in his hand. That was when they attacked you… we couldn’t believe our eyes, it all happened so quickly. The smaller of the two men stabbed Mr Hudson twice, I think. They then pushed him into the river, the big man pulled a sack over your head and punched you in the face. I think you must have been unconscious because you didn’t fight back.’

  ‘I can’t remember a thing,’ I said, ‘not until I woke up locked in that cage and tied hand and foot. What happened next?’

  ‘They carried you down White Friars steps to where a man was waiting with a small boat. They bungled you in and hid you under a canvas sheet then rowed down river passing where we were hiding behind Stinky’s barge. I then followed you from a distance all the way here to this warehouse.’

  Elizabeth then interrupted. ‘While Christina was following you, Stinky and I ran to help Thomas, we found him half in and half out of the water, the tide was coming in so we dragged him up the steps. At first we thought he was dead because there was so much blood, but when we checked we found he was still breathing. Stinky picked him up and carried him like a baby all the way back to Fleet Alley. Christina caught up with us just as we were arriving back home.’

  ‘Carry on Christina,’ I said pointing to her.

  ‘This warehouse has C.H.T. in big letters on the door, so I knew I could easily find it again. I ran home to tell the others. Veronica told Stinky to put Mr Hudson in one of the rooms on the first floor, and the
n sent him out to look for George. Elizabeth and I then came straight back here to see what we could do. We were only a few yards from the door when four men came out. If we had run, they might have been suspicious so we turned on the charm and pretended to be working. They weren’t interested… at least their leader wasn’t. You know the rest.’

  ‘Where exactly is this place?’

  ‘Just past the Tower on the quayside at St Catherine’s.’

  ‘While you were checking on Mr Hudson, did you see any of our books?’

  ‘Yes, I put them all downstairs in your old room.’

  ‘That’s a relief.’

  ‘Is that all you can think of after all you have gone through?’ shouted Elizabeth, shaking a finger at me.

  I kissed them both and thanked George and Stinky. Minutes later we heard the sound of horses’ hooves and the rattle of a coach on the cobbles outside.

  ***

  My Lord James, Duke of York, was the first to step through the door, a dozen men-at-arms followed him in.

  I tried as best as I could to explain what had happened, the girls chipping in with their own version.

  After just a minute, James held up his hand to stop us talking. ‘Thank you everyone. I think I have heard enough for now.’

  Taking control he ordered two guards to the Tower for a secure box-cart to transport the prisoners, and a coffin for Leeson. He then directed two other guards to find the Royal Surgeon, Doctor James Pearce.

  ‘When you find him, escort him to Madam Veronica’s brothel on Fleet Alley, and tell him it’s urgent.’

  We then all piled into the Royal Coach, and with a slightly reduced escort, journeyed the short distance to Veronica’s brothel. Felix climbed up front with the driver and I followed him. While on the way to Fleet Alley I gave him his shilling… not much considering he played such a massive part in saving my life.

  I was relieved to find Thomas still alive but shocked by just how poorly he was looking. He was barely conscious, pallor from losing so much blood and too weak to talk. It broke my heart to see him in this way and I found it hard not to cry.