by Patty Jansen
The women waited anxiously, peeping through a crack between the barn doors to check for any activity on the quay.
Prince Bruno wandered around the barn. He was still insecure on his legs, the skin on his ankles raw from the chafing metal. But he was eating well and carried the dragon box with him everywhere, even if he jumped every time someone opened the main door, and he wouldn’t let anyone touch him, not even to comb his hair, which looked like a bird’s nest.
Nellie didn’t want to wait any longer, because every day they had to stay here increased the chance that someone would discover them or the dragon, or their supplies on board the Guentherite order’s ship, or Madame Sabine’s horse in the barn.
But by mid-morning, the mist cleared and people started to gather on the quayside. A couple of palace guards appeared near the platform.
It seemed the proceedings would go ahead as planned.
Nellie packed all her possessions into the bag she had taken from the palace and gave that to Floris who stacked it in the longboat that would take the children to the Guentherite ship.
They held discussions about who would steer that ship. Floris and Gisele needed to be on the rescue boat because they were the strongest people in their group. Nellie said she would take the longboat, and then Agatha argued that because Prince Bruno would be on board, she didn’t want her children to be in the boat, because he will attract magic.
In the tenseness of the preparations, Nellie snapped.
“What is your problem, anyway? Haven’t you considered that your daughter might have magic? Can’t you see that this might be useful to us? Don’t you understand that she needs your love, not your rejection?”
“Oh, she has seen enough, with that sneaky bastard of a father of hers, that’s where she gets it. She knows that he’s no good. I’ll not have my children associate with magic. They will not go on this boat that’s going to be a target for trouble.”
“And you say this after all the work we’ve done on making shields.”
“If there is one thing I know about magic, it’s that it doesn’t care about any damn shields made from wood.”
“You’ve been nothing but a pain since we started this plan. You know what I think? Someone betrayed us to the Regent. Somebody told him about the dragon. I think that someone was you.”
“How dare you say things like that about me? What are you, anyway, blow-in from the palace? You don’t anything about living in poverty.”
Mina stepped in Nellie’s field of vision. “Calm down, calm down. Stop this, or we will all be doomed.”
Agatha snorted. “We should just quit this stupid plan while we still can.”
Mina held up her hands. “Agatha, if you don’t want to come, then don’t come. You’re free to stay here. I won’t think any less of you.”
“Yes, you will, because madam over there says I betrayed you.” She glared at Nellie.
Lise said, “Can we please stop fighting? Please, Agatha? My life is not worth living if I don’t do the best I can to free my mother.”
“And Josie,” Hilde added.
Gertie said, “And those poor children need their mother.”
Anneke said, “Mammy, please? We want to stay with Boots. He looks after us.”
Agatha snorted again, thunder on her face. “Fine.” She pulled her arms closer about her chest.
“Thank you, Agatha,” Mina said.
“As long as she apologises. I did not talk to anyone from the palace. Do you think they would listen to me if I tried? Agatha from the street who was dumb enough to marry a loser magician?”
“You’re not dumb,” Nellie said.
“Ha! You think I’m dumb. You think I’m a bad mother for the children—no don’t even open your mouth, I’ve heard it all before. You think I’m a bad mother.”
“Stop it, Agatha!” Mina said. “We need everyone to make this plan a success.”
Agatha gave another snort. She leaned against the workbench, her arms crossed over her chest. How much fun this expedition was going to be.
Nellie suspected that Agatha had always had a brusque personality, and that she didn’t really want to leave the group. She was a strange woman, and Nellie felt sorry for the children, who repeatedly suffered the threat of having the things that brought them comfort yanked away from them through their mother’s obstinacy.
The Triune help the poor mites.
On the quay, the guards had cordoned off an area where the proceedings would take place, and placed two seats on the spectator platform for the Regent and the shepherd to sit in.
The first people had already arrived for the spectacle.
Floris attached the first team of sea cows to the longboat. Nellie climbed in and helped the children down the ladder. Jantien’s youngest two were far too small to understand what was going on. She put them in the back of the boat and left Ewout and Jette, the oldest two, to keep an eye on them.
Bas and Anneke came next, watched like a hawk by Agatha.
“Be nice to Nellie and Mina,” she told Anneke. “Listen to what they say.”
“Yes, mammy,” Anneke said.
Nellie looked up into Agatha’s worried face. “Thank you for entrusting me with their safety,” she said.
Agatha was a strong woman, so she would go in the boat that would try to rescue the prisoners.
Mina would come with Nellie, and she got into the boat next so that she could help Bruno down the ladder, because he was still quite weak and awkward, not in the least because he was clutching the dragon box so hard.
Nellie then got all the children to sit on the bottom of the boat, and she spread a sailcloth over them.
“Phooey, it stinks in here,” came Bas’ voice from under the cloth.
If they were lucky, the bad smell would be all they needed to deal with.
Nellie then put on her coat, tucked away her hair under her shawl and met Mina’s eyes. “You’re ready?”
“As ready as we’ll ever be.”
They watched as Floris, Gisele and Agatha climbed into the second boat. Floris sat at the front with Agatha and Gisele on each side next to the rolled-up shields.
The remaining women, Gertie, Hilde and Lise, watched from the side.
Koby was at the barn doors, giving updates on the happenings. She would go with the women. After some talk, they had decided it would be her task to climb the Guentherite ship from the quayside and cast off the ropes. Gisele had given her the spare monk’s habit, and in the crowd, she would pass as a skinny monk.
They waited, listening to Koby’s relays as the quay filled up, the mayor arrived, and the guards freed a path through the onlookers.
Then she said, “The Regent’s coach has arrived.”
That was the sign.
Hilde and Lise opened the barn doors.
Nellie sat on the driver’s bench, unlooped the sea cow reins and flicked them up so that the leather straps splashed in the water.
The nine animals jumped into action and the boat shot forward. Nellie almost fell backwards. Whoa, they were very keen indeed.
The children giggled under the cloth. Mina told them to be quiet.
It was still a bit misty and from her position low on the water, Nellie couldn’t see much of what was happening on the quay, but the sound of many voices carried over the harbour.
They must have arrived at the part where the guards asked for three cheers for the Regent because half-hearted shouts of “hurray” came over the water.
The second boat had also cleared the shed.
Gertie, Hilde and Lise shut the barn doors again and walked along the quay in the direction of the platform. Nellie hoped they could get through. The quayside looked really busy.
Nellie let the sea cow team swim at their own pace but occasionally pulled one of the reins to correct their course. Floris had a harder time getting the second team—with the younger and stronger animals—to stay behind. Sea cows lived in small herds and always wanted to follow the other animal
s.
They made good progress across the harbour. Already, Nellie could make out the rope ladder Gisele had hung from the harbour side of the Guentherite ship last night.
It was going well.
Not much later, they reached that ladder, and the sea cows even stopped when she pulled the reins. Mina tied the boat to the bottom of the ladder in case the animals changed their minds, and Nellie climbed up the wobbly ladder.
It brought her to the deck of the ship in between the two cabins.
Since she had been here last, someone had swept the deck and left the broom leaning against the railing. There was also a bucket and a box with tools and bottles of oil, paint or cleaning substances.
Across the deck she could see the top floor of the harbourside offices. She couldn’t see the quay and the people who stood there. But she heard them shouting. They were not happy shouts.
She was about to turn to the ladder to tell the children to climb up when there was a squeaking sound and the door to the large cabin opened. A middle-aged man in a monk’s habit appeared in the opening. Before he stepped onto the deck, he brought his hand to his pocket, frowned and turned back inside. He’d forgotten something.
Nellie scooted to the side of the cabin, but to her horror, the ropes at the top of the ladder were moving, indicating that someone—one of the children probably—was climbing up.
The monk could not be allowed to see her, or the children.
She grabbed the broom. She could always distract him and pretend to sweep the deck, nonsensical as that would be.
No, he would still see whoever was climbing up.
He now came through the doorway again, closing the door with his back to her.
In her panic, Nellie lifted the broom above her head.
And then, before he could turn around, she swung it high and brought it down with all her strength.
The heavy part of the broom hit him on the side of the head before glancing off onto his shoulder. Nellie tripped and fell backwards.
He turned around, slowly, his eyes unfocused. And then he collapsed against the wall of the cabin.
Oh no, oh no, she’d hit a monk!
Nellie crawled over. He lay sideways on the deck. His eyes were closed, his mouth open. He mumbled some inaudible words.
What to do now?
In the box next to the bucket, she found a handful of rags, which she used to tie his hands and feet together and over his eyes and mouth. The latter not too tightly because she didn’t want him to be harmed.
By the Triune, what were they going to do with him?
Bruno, Ewout and Anneke had come onto the deck. They stood watching with wide eyes.
“Is he dead?” Ewout asked.
“Heavens, no. Only asleep.”
“He doesn’t look asleep to me. I can’t hear him snoring.”
“Come this way, children.” Mina had come onto the deck. She shepherded the children into the cabin while staring at Nellie with wide eyes.
“What did you do to him?” she mouthed, standing at the cabin door while the children filed in.
“I couldn’t help it,” Nellie said.
Mina shut the door. “What are we going to do with him?” she whispered.
“I don’t know. Hide him first and then take him?”
“Well, we can’t leave him here. That looks untidy.”
Nellie and Mina grabbed the monk by the feet and shoulders and half-carried and half-dragged him across the deck into the captain’s cabin.
From within the darkness of the cabin, Nellie could see the crowd on the quay through the windows.
To her relief, Koby was already on the deck. She couldn’t see Gertie, Hilde and Lise, but they were sure to be nearby.
My, there were a lot of people out there. There were people watching even from near the empty warehouses, from the other ships, from the upper floors of the quayside offices.
A wagon arrived. It was a heavy square thing, like a solid wooden box, pulled by four horses. The guards gathered around and a couple let down the back of the wagon, revealing the prisoners crammed together inside. When the back hatch opened, several shielded their eyes against the light.
The guards yelled at them to get out.
None of the prisoners wore shoes and several had trouble walking. They were all tied together with rope—presuming so as not to waste good iron on them.
Nellie recognised Wim. Jantien was also there, and Yolande from the corner shop, helped down the ramp by Josie and Emmie. She hoped that none of the children were watching this.
The last person to come out was a woman with brown curly hair and thick fleshy arms. She was dressed in rags even though she was no commoner.
Nellie couldn’t believe her eyes. Was the Regent going to kill his own wife?
A ripple of disturbance went through the crowd. People elbowed their neighbours and pointed. A woman clamped her hand over her mouth.
The citizens had no love for Madame Sabine. People spoke of her as being out of touch, a foreigner, aloof and selfish, but all of them recognised the horror of the Regent’s actions.
No one cheered as Madame Sabine came down the ramp. No one clapped. No one said a word.
The deathly quiet of all those people was disturbing.
The guards who had come with the wagon led the prisoners to the wooden platform that had been built on the side of the quay.
From her position on the deck of the ship, Nellie could see Floris, Gisele and Agatha in the small boat. The water churned where the sea cows fidgeted in their harness, waiting for the terrible process to begin.
The Regent rose.
“Today, citizens, we gather for a sad occasion. These people you see before you are practitioners of magic and witchcraft and they endanger the fabric of our city and society. We gave them the opportunity to leave, but they chose not to do so. Today, they will end their lives in shame.”
Somewhere in the crowd, a man yelled. Nellie couldn’t hear what he said, but a scuffle broke out in the area. As some guards moved towards him, Nellie saw Henrik, dressed in his shiny uniform, standing to the side of the area where the Regent and shepherd sat.
She was filled with a wave of anger. How could he support the Regent in this cruelty and still sleep at night?
The shepherd, too, was looking on with a hard face, devoid of emotion.
The guards apprehended the man who had yelled and added him to the group. He put his arm around one of the female prisoners. Her husband or brother.
That, more than anything, was a sign of how unhappy people were to let these cruel men kill their families. If they had to die, they would die with their family members.
Now the shepherd rose.
In his left hand, he held aloft an object covered by a black cloth that he pulled away with his right hand.
Nellie knew what it was before the object had been fully uncovered: the ruby skull with red pulsing light glowing from the eye sockets.
Many people would never have seen this fabled object although everyone had heard about it. Those who stood close to the shepherd tried to push away, screaming.
A man yelled at a young woman next to him, “Stop this nonsense. It’s only trickery!”
But people knew what they saw, and it wasn’t trickery.
The shepherd yelled, “Quiet!”
The crowd went silent as death.
Many citizens stared at the ancient relic as if it demanded their attention and wouldn’t let go.
Magic.
Shepherd Wilfridus started speaking in the preaching voice he used to speak of hell and damnation in church services, the voice that would echo through the vast hall and give her the chills. “Today, we make an example of those who disobey the scripture of the Triune. They have sown evil in our community and fear in our hearts. After today, these people will not bother us any more and our hearts will be free of fear. May the Triune be with them and may they be admitted to heaven to atone for their evil deeds.”
At t
he quayside, the guards ushered the prisoners up the platform.
They were all tied up together, so there was no way that any of them could escape. Once they were in the water, even if one of them could swim, the others would still make sure everyone drowned.
The crowd became very quiet.
Across the harbour, the boat with Floris, Gisele and Agatha was getting ready. The water rippled where the sea cows strained against the harness, keen to get going.
The people on the platform stood in a tight group, holding onto each other, shivering.
The last person onto the platform was Madame Sabine. The rags she wore showed part of her pale-skinned, dimpled thigh. She kept looking at her husband all the time, not saying anything but making sure she did not lose eye contact with him. Her back was straight and her chin in the air.
Nellie now also noticed the Regent’s two sons behind the upstairs window of the harbourmaster’s office.
Casper was looking straight out the window, while Frederick wiped his cheek with the back of his hand.
She would like to know what they felt. At this stage she wasn’t sure their father had not thoroughly convinced them that their mother was evil.
She would like to think one of them would come to their mother’s aid, but they did not, and in all honesty, what could a sixteen-year-old and a fourteen-year-old do? They stood frozen while, one by one, the palace guards cut the ties that held the platform in place. Henrik was standing to the side of the Regent’s seat.
It was too far away to see his expression.
The guards began to cut the last rope, which strained at the bollard and looked like it would soon either break or rip the bollard out of the ground.
After a few hacks with the guard’s sword, the rope broke with a snap that echoed across the harbour.
Slowly, the platform tilted. A woman screamed, and then another one screamed and tried to scramble to the high side of the platform, but the planks were too slippery because of the wax covering the boards. The platform tilted more and the first woman hit the water. Across the harbour, the peat barge raced full speed out of the barn.