by Ann Swinfen
‘Luis de Cantor,’ the older man said, standing and offering me his hand. ‘Aye, we have some shirt cloth you can have.’ He walked through into a back room, where I could hear him moving bolts of cloth.
‘And you are?’ I asked the other man.
‘Titus Mendes,’ he said, keeping his face bent over his stitching.
‘Not Titus Allanby?’ I said softly in English.
At that his head snapped up and his mouth fell open.
‘Quickly,’ I said. ‘There isn’t much time. I have come from Walsingham to fetch you out of here. Meet me at dusk in the southeast corner of the citadel. There is a large house there. Three storeys. The only one that large. Wait near there.’
He had just time to nod when Cantor came back with half a bolt of shirt cloth.
‘That is excellent,’ I said. ‘Just what I need.’ I bowed my thanks to him, ignoring Allanby, and returned to my wounded.
I had hoped that the day would proceed as previous days had done, with a relatively ineffective exchange of fire between the garrison and the besiegers. I would then meet Allanby at dusk and proceed to the next part of my plan. Unfortunately, Norreys had other intentions for that day. Unknown to me, he had decided upon an all-out assault on the half-demolished section of the wall, in the hope of breaching it. The English troops would throw everything they had at this least defensible side of the citadel. Everything they had in their armoury consisted of nothing more than muskets, crossbows and fire-arrows, with the two very small cannon unloaded from one of the armed pinnaces and man-handled up the steep hill. These small cannon could do little damage at that distance, but they would give courage to the soldiers, who would need to rush the breach and attempt hand-to-hand fighting. A few of the smaller ships would try to provide some fire-power from the inner end of the harbour, where the larger ships could not go, but their guns would barely reach so far. If they did, they would be in danger of hitting our own men.
It was only the suddenly increasing noise late in the afternoon that alerted me to what was happening. Soon more wounded men were being brought in. One of the ladies, less squeamish than the others, stayed with me, ripping the shirt cloth to make bandages and wrapping the dressed wounds under my direction. Most of the others had retreated to the upper floors of the keep. We could hear their occasional shrieks echoing down the stairs. Señora Maria – to give her her due, she was no coward – had gone out again into the main courtyard, behind the defending troops, where her own husband was among the fighting men and where she could reload muskets for them.
The constant fighting and the roar of cannon and the crack of musket fire deafened us even inside the keep and showed no signs of diminishing. The garrison servants themselves were out there, behind the crumbling rampart, and I saw the tailor Luis run past, a pike in his hand. I saw nothing of Titus, but thought what a fine irony it would be if he and I died here on the Spanish side, at the hands of English soldiers. When there was a brief respite from my work with the wounded I stepped outside the keep and saw that the darkening sky was lit up by flames, where the English troops had shot fire arrows into the timber houses near the wall and set them alight.
At that moment I heard a howl of grief, and saw Señora Maria bending over a man lying on the ground, a pike still clutched in his hand. Around him the Spanish troops wavered. They were no longer firing muskets. Either they had run out of shot or a decision had been made to reserve all the gunpowder for the cannon, the weapons which must, inevitably, tip the balance of the battle in favour of the Spanish.
‘It is her husband, Captain Pita.’ A voice at my elbow. The woman who had been assisting me. ‘They are very devoted. Is he dead?’
From the crossbow bolt lodged in his head there could be no doubt. I nodded. Why must men rip each other apart in war? We bring them into the world and when they grow to manhood, this obscenity is what they wish on each other. What was the point of this battle? We should have been gone from here days ago. The purpose of the expedition had been to place Dom Antonio on the throne through the loyal support of his people. Yes, we would burn Spanish ships on the way, but ships are nothing but wood and iron and canvas. This slaughter was never meant to happen. On the other side of that crumbling, burning rampart our own men were dying, just as men were dying in front of me.
The woman suddenly gripped my arm. ‘Look!’
Señora Maria had wrested the pike from her dead husband’s hand and climbed on to a pile of rubble which had fallen in from the wall. Across the gap in the defences a young English soldier, an unarmed standard-bearer, was holding aloft the banner of Dom Antonio. Maria Pita lunged at him with the pike, striking him deep in the neck, just where one of the major arteries lies. I caught sight of his startled look before he fell backwards and vanished from sight. The woman had retained her hold on the pike and now raised it in the air.
‘Anyone who has honour, follow me!’ she cried.
After a moment’s shock, the defenders crowded in behind her and I heard another boom from the cannon. As long as the Spanish had cannon balls and gunpowder, there was little chance the English troops could take the citadel.
The other woman had gone from my side. Despite the fire, which continued to burn, it was growing dark. I had seen nothing of Titus. He might be dead or caught up in the fighting, but it was now that I had arranged to meet him. The southeast corner of the town wall was well away from this fighting by the partial breach in the wall. I hoped that meant even the soldiers who had been patrolling beside the postern gates in that far part of the town would have been drawn to the defence of the weakest part of the citadel.
I had had no chance to explore the town in order to find my way to the house I had picked out from the outside of the wall, and it was growing darker every minute. All I had to provide me with any sense of direction was the light given off by the burning buildings, which must lie almost diametrically opposite the position of the house. With this as my sole guide, I set off running through unfamiliar streets, my satchel flapping at my side, passing darkened houses and stumbling over broken cobbles. As I ran, I realised two things. Many of the inhabitants of the upper town were probably still here, but lying low in their unlit houses, for fear of attracting the attention of the attackers. And the streets were so damaged not from cannon fire – our little cannon could never have reached this far. Nay, the best rounded cobbles had been prised up to be shaped into cannon balls. Even as I came to this conclusion I tripped over one of the holes in the street and came down on my knees, my ankle twisted under me.
Cursing, I scrambled to my feet again. I had certainly sprained my ankle, for pain shot up my leg at every steps I took, but I was sure it was not broken. However, it was going to hamper me.
At last I saw the tall house looming ahead against the night sky. I stopped to catch my breath. My heart was pounding and I must wait and think calmly. I had not been able to detect from the outside of the town how the garden was reached from this side. There might be a way into it from the street, or – and this was what I feared – the only entrance might be from the house itself. Now that I was on the far side of the town from the fighting, the fires could only be seen as a distance glow. There was no more than a sliver of moon tonight, and that little was hidden most of the time behind cloud. The house is front of me was dark like all the others, but that did not mean it was unoccupied.
Something moved over to my right. I laid my hand on my small dagger, the only blade I carried, then I risked a whisper.
‘Is that Titus?’
‘Aye.’ A shadow drifted toward me. ‘I do not know who you are.’
The tone was reserved. He had every right to be suspicious. Had he not seen me welcomed by the Spanish garrison and working all day amongst their injured? I wondered whether he carried a sword.
‘I am Christoval Alvarez,’ I said in English. ‘Kit. I work as a code-breaker with Thomas Phelippes.’ My voice was no more than a breath. ‘Sometimes Sir Francis uses me for other missions. As I was
coming with Drake’s expedition, he asked me to try to find you and bring you out.’
I racked my brains to find some way of reassuring him. We must not stand here much longer, whispering in the street. How long before my absence from the soldiers’ bedsides was noticed, and someone began to question my all-too-opportune appearance? Then I remembered Titus’s last despatch to Walsingham, which I had been shown.
‘Listen,’ I said, and quoted to him the first few sentences of his despatch, as well as I could remember them.
There was a stirring in the shadows, which I hoped was Titus relaxing.
‘We can easily climb over the outside wall of the garden behind this house,’ I said, trying to ignored the pain in my twisted ankle. ‘But I’m not sure how easy it will be to get into the garden from this side.’
‘There is a gate just behind me here,’ he said, ‘but it is locked.’
I moved closer. I could just make him out now, and behind him an ornate, gilded gate of the kind often seen leading to noblemen’s houses. This was an even grander place than I had imagined, perhaps the home of the town mayor or the governor of the province. The gate was indeed locked, as I quickly ascertained, but the scrolls and bars of the ironwork offered easy footholds for climbing. Without saying anything further to Titus, I seized hold of the gate and began to hoist myself up. Every time I put my weight on my right foot I nearly cried out from the pain, but I clenched my bottom lip between my teeth and continued up until I reached the top. There I paused for a moment, then eased myself down the other side, not daring to jump on to my damaged ankle. While I caught my breath, I could hear Titus climbing over behind me and dropping down from the top of the gate.
I looked around to get my bearings. At the far end, on the left, I had noticed that the wall was stepped down and lower than the rest of its length, but the land beyond fell away in a steep, rocky cliff. If we tried to go that way there was a danger we might fall. We would have to attempt the higher portion. It was lower than the town wall, but still a considerable height. Over to the right there was a shrubbery up against the wall. That might give us some purchase.
I did not speak, but pointed that way and Titus nodded. I realised I could see him now because the cloud had cleared, letting a little fitful moonlight shine down on us. It made it easier for us to see our way, but it also meant anyone looking out from the house would also be able to see us. We began to run softly across the garden, which was laid out in the very formal Spanish style, with a geometric pattern of gravel paths, interspersed with beds of flowers and herbs. We dared not step on the gravel, so we had to make our way awkwardly across the beds, trampling down the plants. It would be all too clear in the morning where we had been.
Halfway across, Titus grabbed my arm and halted me.
‘What’s the matter with you? Are you lame?’
‘Twisted my ankle on the way here.’ I spoke through gritted teeth, for the pain was getting worse and it was a long way back to the ships.
‘Can you climb the wall?’
‘Needs must,’ I said, and set off again.
Somehow we reached the wall at last. I was right. A large bush of yew grew up against the wall, enabling us to reach nearly halfway to the top of the wall by scrambling up its branches. Titus now insisted on going first and I happily gave way. He was not some helpless civilian. As one of Sir Francis’s agents, he would know how to look after himself. When he reached the top of the wall I was already seated in the upper branches of the bush. Without speaking he pointed out hand-holds to me and when I came within reach he grabbed my wrists and hauled me up the last few feet. As we sat on the top of the wall, assessing the far side, a light came on in the house. I tapped his arm. Perhaps we had not been as quiet as we thought, crossing the garden.
‘Jump,’ he said, ‘I’ll break your fall.’ And he jumped down to the ground below the wall.
I dared not risk it. Painfully I began to feel my way down, until I felt him grip me around the waist.
‘Now,’ he breathed.
I slithered down the last few feet and managed to land with my weight on my left foot.
‘Thank you,’ I whispered, disengaging myself and hoping he had not felt the shape of my body too clearly in those few moments. ‘This way.’
‘I know where we are now. This isn’t far from an alley that runs through to my street.’
I let him lead the way, limping along behind. When we reached the street of tailors’ shops, he stopped.
‘There are some things it would be wiser not to leave behind,’ he said. ‘I’m going into my house for a few minutes. You can go on ahead.’
I shook my head. ‘If you can give me something for a bandage, I’ll strap my ankle before we go any further.’
‘Some shirt cloth?’
‘Aye.’
We both laughed. It was relief at having escaped from the citadel, but there was still a long way to go, down through the dark and dangerous streets of the town. When we reached it, we found that Titus’s house had been broken into and stripped of every crumb of food. I realised I was suddenly hungry, for I had eaten nothing since leaving the ship before dawn. He was able to find me some cloth for a bandage and while I strapped my ankle tightly he went upstairs, where I could hear him apparently moving furniture. When he reappeared, he was tucking a small book into the breast of his doublet.
‘My codes,’ he explained. ‘I had them hidden under the floorboards, but once it was noticed I was gone, someone might have come looking.’
I nodded. He had lit a candle so that I could see what I was doing and I now had my first good look at him. He was older than I had realised, well into his late thirties, with some grey just beginning to show in his hair. But he was slender and wiry, and, as I had seen, quite able to climb difficult obstacles.
‘So you’re the young code-breaker,’ he said. ‘I’ve heard of you. Portuguese? That’s how you managed to pass yourself off as Spanish. I’m glad to get out of there. They didn’t only want me to sew uniforms for them. Some awkward questions have been asked, and if they hadn’t been so occupied defending the citadel I was facing interrogation under torture.’
He shuddered.
‘I was watched all the time. I’m not sure I could have got away tonight if it hadn’t been for that fresh attack. Luis was set to keep me under guard.’
‘I thought the attack was by chance,’ I said, ‘but Norreys knew I was coming. Perhaps he intended it as a diversion.’
‘Whether or not, it was timely. I’m sorry I can give you nothing to eat.’
‘Let’s go. The sooner we reach the ships, the better.’
I got up from the stool where I had been sitting to strap my ankle. Testing it gently with my weight, I found the strapping eased it a little. Titus turned and blew out the candle.
‘Why do you think they were suspicious?’ I asked, as we left the house.
He shook his head. ‘I’m not sure. I’ve been wondering if I might have been betrayed. Not here. I am the only agent in this part of Spain. No one knows me here. Could there have been careless talk at Seething Lane?’
I gave him a startled look. ‘I don’t know. But let us discuss this later, once we’re back with the fleet.’
I knew I would be slow, but Titus had found me a tailor’s yard to use as a stick and we began our descent of the streets. I was glad to see that as well as his code book he had equipped himself with a sword. Somehow the lower town seemed less deserted than it did by day. We heard furtive footsteps. Shadowy forms slipped into alleyways as we passed. Once a group of three men barred our way, but I spoke placatingly in Spanish and slowly they drew back, letting us pass, though they remained watching us, so that the hairs of my arms stood up, and I had to force myself not to look back.
At last we reached the harbour. I was sweating with pain, but would not give in to it, not until I could stretch out in my own cabin. It took a long while to rouse a boatman from the cluster of skiffs tied up beside the quay, but at the cost of s
ome grumbling he rowed us out to the Victory.
Someone was waiting on deck as we climbed aboard, awkward for me with my strained ankle. The downwash from the riding-light showed a weary Dr Nuñez seated on the bench which Dom Antonio normally occupied when he took the air.
‘Ah, Kit,’ he said, ‘so you are safely come back.’ That was all, but I could read the relief on his face.
‘This is Titus Allanby,’ I said, ‘and if you want perpetual reward for your good deeds in the hereafter, you will persuade one of the cooks to wake up and find us some food.’
I sank down on the bench as the two men bowed and shook hands.
‘Kit has sprained his ankle,’ Titus said, ‘but he has managed to spring me before the trap closed.’
I remember little after that. Some food was found and I suppose I must have eaten it, but at last I was in my cubbyhole, stretched out on my cot, with my painful ankle propped up.
That night I dreamt of fire and darkness and wounded men crying out in English and in Spanish.
Chapter Nine
As the fruitless siege continued unchecked, I grew restless with impatience. I would never be able to carry out my plan, my own private reason for coming on the expedition. I even thought of going ashore here at Coruña and riding south through Spain, but it was much too far. Besides, I needed to wait until my ankle healed. It was not a bad sprain, but I had not improved it by all the climbing and walking I had done that same night, as Titus Allanby and I escaped from the citadel.
Whatever it cost, I would have to wait until we reached Portugal. At night, I fretted sleepless in my cramped quarters, kept awake by worry and by the pain in my ankle and in my burned shoulder, which grew fiercer at night. The kind of cupboard, leading from his cabin, that Dr Nuñez had arranged for me to occupy was airless and dark, and increasingly hot as we drew nearer to summer, but I was thankful that I had not been forced to lodge with the men, for it would have been near impossible to maintain my disguise. At first I worried about living in such close proximity to Dr Nuñez, but I managed to keep to my cupboard, using the pisspot in privacy. He never troubled me there.