by E. H. Schutz
Katharine paused, lips still caressing Helena's collarbone, and looked up. “You may have a point, love. Let us away, then?”
Helena drew away from Katharine, pulled a sword from the collection on her belt, took Katharine by the hand and turned to leave. She was stopped by Katharine, who did not move.
“Are we going?”
“May I have a sword as well, my fair knight?”
Helena blushed. “Of course. Which would you like?”
Katharine tugged at the other longer sword, and Helena unbuckled and handed it to Katharine, who fastened it around her slim hips and drew the blade.
“You made a fair choice. My father forged this. Now we may go.”
Helena took hold of Katharine's hand again and together they sidled along, keeping to the shadows as Helena had done alone and listening for anyone who might approach. They quickly reached the tunnel without incident.
Helena turned back to Katharine and said, “Do watch your footing. It is quite slippery here.”
More slowly now, they made their way along the ledge until they reached the portcullis.
“Here is where I need your help, I think. I do not believe I can get the gate up on my own.” Helena pointed to the windlass.
“How did you get in here?”
“I swam under the gate. That is why the pistoles are out on the dock.”
Katharine gazed at Helena, a vague smiled on her lips, and nodded. Together, they heaved at the windlass and raised the portcullis about halfway. Helena pushed at the lever which prevented the gate coming back down, and they ducked under and out into the open air. The wind had picked up since Helena had come in, and the breeze blew spray onto them. The pistoles were just where Helena had left them, along with their ammunition.
“Christopher, the stable groom, said that you would know what to do with them.” Katharine nodded and deftly loaded one, handing it to Helena.
“Do not put it in your belt, lest it go off.”
Helena replied, “Yes, and I shan't point it at anything I do not want to kill.” She could see Katharine's smile in the moonlight.
“Indeed.” Katharine finished loading the firearm and hefted it in her left hand. “Now, what shall we do?”
“I have only my horse, so we will need to get one for you. This is as far as I planned. I actually rather thought I would be dead or captured by this point.”
Katharine nodded. “Let us get a horse and get away, then we will decide where to go and how to go about getting there.”
Helena sheathed her sword and threw her arms about Katharine's neck, carefully keeping her hand away from the trigger of the pistole. “My Katharine, I do love you so much, and I regret nothing about being with you even if I am forever damned. I lived only a half-life before I knew you, and I would rather have my life shortened if it means having been with you than to live eighty years more sitting and doing needlepoint with a husband who cares not for me.”
Katharine only held Helena tightly to herself for a long moment. “Oh, my dear woman. Once I thought I had lost you, I cared for nothing at all. If only I could tell you what you truly are to my life.” Helena felt moisture as Katharine kissed her, wiped the tear from Katharine's face, and smiled.
“Then let us be sure to have more life together. There may be a guard coming down this path. We must be careful to smite him quietly if he comes. I shall go ahead of you.”
Katharine marvelled at Helena's new-found decisiveness and followed her quietly, admiring the view which following afforded her, and listened for any threats. She soon realised that she must not be listening as acutely as she ought. One moment, they were making their careful way up the cliff path, the next a man landed with a thud and a clatter at her feet. Helena had hit him in the head with the pommel of her sword. Katharine blinked in shock as Helena rifled through his pockets for gold and weapons, and threw his sword and lantern into the sea.
Helena straightened up. “Ready?” Katharine nodded dumbly, and they made their way up the remainder of the path without incident. Upon cresting the bluff, Helena immediately ducked off of the path into the shadow of a low wall. Katharine followed, sheathing her sword.
Helena put her face to Katharine's ear and whispered, “I've left my horse on a beach just to the north of here. There was a stable nearby, and we might get you a horse there. Where do you suppose we ought to go?”
Katharine turned her head so that she was whispering into Helena's ear and replied, “I know someone in Westminster who may be able to help us.”
Eight
Katharine and Helena had very nearly made it the full way up the moonlit beach. The only sounds breaking the silence were the waves washing onto the sand, and the horse's soft nickering upon seeing Helena approach. Katharine shifted the position of the scabbard on her hip to better accommodate mounting a horse and continued shuffling through the sand. She still felt a bit weak from her ordeal, and her head hurt.
Helena jumped a foot in the air as a deep bell rang out from behind them, and shouts could be heard from the castle. She turned back to Katharine, eyes wide.
Katharine placed a hand on her shoulder, firmly turned her round, and pushed her forward. “Just run.”
They covered the final distance to the mare quickly, the difficulty of running in sand notwithstanding, and Helena mounted the horse as Katharine untied her from the post to which Helena had secured her. Katharine attempted to scramble up behind Helena, but found that without the help of the stirrup and with the depth of the sand, she could not jump high enough to get a grip on the saddle. She turned back toward the castle to see men on horseback approaching them quickly.
Katharine cast a loving look at Helena, who was looking down at her with fear at her inability to mount the horse. Katharine smiled at her. “Helena, never you doubt my love,” and smacked the horse firmly on the haunch. The mare took off at a full gallop as Helena screamed something unintelligible. Katharine turned to face their pursuers, drew her sword, and squared her shoulders. She glanced down at her left hand, noticing for the first time since they left the bluff that she still held the loaded pistole. Looking back up at her pursuers, she realised that she had the solution to both of her problems in hand.
She swapped the sword and pistole—the latter being rather a cumbersome movement—and laboriously cocked the firearm with the heel of her left hand. She noted that it was a bit stiff as she dispassionately watched the two riders bear down on her. When the lead rider was fifteen feet from her, she prayed a miracle for her aim and for the horse, raised her pistole, fired, and nearly fell over from the force of the shot. She regained her footing in time to see the man she had just killed slump from the saddle and hit the ground. The perplexed horse came to a stop just in front of her, and she quickly mounted, having shoved the pistole into the back of her trousers.
Once more wielding the sword in her right hand, she turned the horse to make a pass at her other pursuer as though to joust. At the very last moment, she realised that running him through would result in the loss of her sword—and possibly her arm—and changed her attitude so that she could slash at him as they passed each other. His howl of pain told her that she had at least slowed him down, and she turned round once more and took off toward Helena, who was riding hard toward her, sword raised above her head. Katharine dimly registered how terrifying Helena looked as she rode straight past her, seemingly without noticing. She turned round in the saddle in time to see Helena strike a blow at the second rider who was still attempting pursuit. He fell from his saddle and Helena wheeled her horse round. Katharine spurred hers as Helena's fell into step beside her. They galloped up the beach in silence, each occasionally glancing into the darkness behind them to check for further pursuit.
After several tense minutes, they made the high road and allowed their horses to slow to a trot. They looked at each other, wide-eyed. Taking in each other's bedraggled and bloody appearance, they spoke at once.
“Dearest, you look like you might drop dea
d.”
“That is not your blood, is it, my love?”
They blinked at each other and giggled in relief, then rode along in silence for a time. Katharine broke the quiet.
“I cannot believe that you stole a horse and arms to come find me.”
“What? Why would I not?”
“It was...well, is, really...a risk you need not take.”
Helena stared at her in abject disbelief. “You cannot be serious.”
Katharine frowned and shrugged, directing her eyes to the road, whose cobblestones reflected the moonlight enough for her to keep her direction. She could feel herself beginning to cry, and forced herself to stave it off. “Indeed, I do not. You had a comfortable life in a lovely home. No harm would come to you there.” She paused and willed herself to maintain some composure, but her voice still shook as she continued. “And it is not as though you could not find another competent lover if you cared to do so.”
Helena grunted and pulled her horse far to the right, effectively turning Katharine's off of the road. Keeping hold of the mare by the reins, she swung her left leg over the horse's head, moved her right foot from her own stirrup into Katharine's, and mounted Katharine's horse backwards, facing the sniffling blacksmith and glaring at her with great prejudice.
“Katharine Palmer. How dare you say such a thing to me! You are no mere competent lover. You have made my life worth living once more. Were it not for you, I'd have sunk into the depths of despair, my own personal circle of Hell, and you dare say to me that I might find another to love?”
Katharine opened her mouth to respond, but Helena talked over her. “When Robert told me you had been taken, I thought of nothing but how to find you and remove you. You are no mere lover, you are my love. I was dead before I met you, and I would be dead again without you. So now, if I am to die here, in the act of saving you, then so be it. As God is my witness, I shan't be without you ever again.”
Helena dismounted Katharine's horse and led it and her own further into the wood off the road. After a fair distance, she turned and looked up at Katharine. “Get down.” She could see the outline of Katharine tilting her head in confusion. “You heard me. Down, Katharine.”
Katharine obeyed, and then Helena was upon her, embracing her with a fury which Katharine had not suspected was within Helena's being. She found herself smothered with Helena's kisses and trembled at the emotion coursing through her—her own, and that which she could feel from Helena. She made no resistance as Helena swiftly untied her bodice and removed it and pulled her torn shirt down so that it hung at her elbows. Helena pressed her backward into a tree and with great vigour, but still taking consideration to avoid the cuts she could feel in the darkness, placed kisses all over Katharine's neck, shoulders, chest, and abdomen. Katharine let her head drop back and rest against the tree, making only appreciative noises and no effort to resist or counter Helena's attention.
Soon, she felt hands at her waist as Helena loosed her trousers, and Katharine found herself suddenly off of the ground, Helena holding her against the tree.
“Wrap your legs around my waist.”
“Can you hold me?”
“Now, Katharine.”
Still dubious but disinclined to argue, Katharine rested her thighs on Helena's hips and crossed her ankles at the small of Helena's back. Helena pulled Katharine upward, and Katharine found herself marvelling at Helena's new-found strength, and then forgot about it as she felt Helena's hand against her.
Some time later she blinked awake, laying on the forest floor and covered with a blanket. Helena lay curled up next to her and stroking her hair.
“What's happened?” Katharine whispered, her voice rough with sleep and thirst.
“I removed you from a dungeon where you were being unjustly held, we escaped from some men—rather dashingly, if I may say—and then we came here and I made my affection for you clear. And then we went to sleep. We must get up and keep moving.” Helena kissed her tenderly.
“Ah,” replied Katharine. “Of course.”
Helena kissed Katharine again as the sun broke over the horizon. “You remember that I shan't be without you.”
Katharine smiled through tears and nodded. “I shall.”
Helena nuzzled Katharine's neck and wiped the moisture from her face. “So. You said you have a friend in Westminster who might help us. Who is this mysterious friend, why Westminster, and how are we going to get there?”
Katharine smiled at her and sat up stiffly. “Let us dress ourselves and pack our lovely camp, and I shall tell you all as we go.” Helena nodded, and they made short order of their weapons and tack, walked their horses back up to the high road, and there they mounted.
“I would say we might want to follow the coast, but we do need to get there as quickly as possible. The friend is my elder brother. He lives near the Houses of Parliament.” Katharine paused for a long moment. The morning breeze picked up and scented the air with salt.
“The reason for going to Westminster may put us in a good bit of danger, but my conscience demands it. I would tell you that you are of course under no obligation to join me in this folly, but I expect that you would react...unpleasantly...so I shall refrain.” She smiled a half smile at Helena, who rolled her eyes in response.
Katharine looked straight forward again and sighed. “Weymouth and his colleagues did not kidnap me from Tisbury because I am Catholic—well, I do not think they know that I am—they took me because I dared question their authority, and because I support the Queen. Which, as we are discussing this...” Katharine trailed off.
Helena waited for her to continue, then finally asked, “What, dearest?”
Katharine closed her eyes and rubbed a hand over her face. “On the day they took me, as I was making my way under the eaves of your house, I listened at the chimney openings so I might discern which room was yours. At one such opening, I overheard their plans to murder the Queen.”
Helena gasped. “They would not!” Katharine cast her an incredulous look. Helena gazed up at the sky and sighed. “Of course they would, wouldn't they?”
“Also...and I am not certain how to tell you this...the Earl of Wiltshire is the brain behind the plan, and it was also under his direction that I was removed to Weymouth.”
Helena furrowed her brow. “In all of his talk at table, he never mentioned murder. Though, that might be because he felt it too crude for my female ears.” She growled. “Though he did not appear to find telling me that he had imprisoned and was potentially torturing you too crude.”
They rode on in near silence as Helena muttered darkly under her breath. Katharine searched for words to soothe her, but ultimately determined it best to let her be. At last, Helena spoke aloud once more.
“So we are riding to Westminster to meet your brother, who is going to assist us in preventing the murder of the Queen?”
“Presumably.”
“Presumably?”
“Well, we must beat Weymouth and Wiltshire to the Queen, and we must not be caught on the way there, and my brother must be actually in Westminster and not elsewhere. Essentially, however, yes.”
“How are we meant to prevent the Queen being murdered?”
“I've not yet worked that out.”
Helena nodded. “I suppose we have time to consider the problem.”
The sun had by now risen well over the horizon, and shone directly in their eyes as, in silent agreement, they spurred their horses into a trot. They were almost certainly being pursued, and needed to put as much distance between themselves and Weymouth as possible.
After a few minutes' silence, Helena asked, “Do you know much of this region? I am not sure where we are going, exactly.”
“We, at the moment, are headed to Christchurch. From there, we will want Southampton, unless we are being pursued and the pursuers catch us up. Should that occur, I am not sure what we ought to do. I am not sure we ought even pause in Christchurch. We are over a hundred miles from Westminster, a
nd we are but two women against an army of men who are...most displeased with us.”
Helena nodded sombrely. “I am certain that Robert will be incensed at the loss of his horse. He may also be incensed that I sent several of his friends to their day of judgement. I expect that he will be further incensed that I have run away.”
Katharine snorted. “I have been incensed at his lordship for some time. It is only right that he be incensed now, and I could not be more pleased that you are the incendiary.”
Helena smiled brightly at Katharine. “You always say such romantic things to me.”
Katharine laid a hand across her chest and replied, “Milady, I am of course the very soul of romance.”
They laughed together as they continued on their way toward Westminster, pleased and secure in each other's company. Even so, the knowledge that they were but two women—criminals—against possibly the whole of the world never was far from their minds.
To Be Concluded.
The prequel to this volume, entitled Luxuria, may be found on Amazon.com.
E.H. Schutz lives in Texas with her wife and wildlife. She may be found on the internet via Twitter @EHSchutz.