by Smith, Skye
He could visualize Val's probable reaction ... the same reaction that any of his clan women would make to such an offer ... a hard slap across his face. This prince was the type of poser who would not let a slight such as that go unpunished, even if vengeance had to be served up cold. This could be the end of the charters, the end of getting news from Rupert via Val, never mind what revenge Rupert would take on her. He moved forward so he could step between them if necessary.
He needn't have bothered. It was as if Val was expecting this from the man. In a quiet voice she told Rupert, "All of us women staying at this inn are wives or widows, and certainly not whores. I will not sleep with you for coin, not unless you first go to the market and use it to buy a wedding band."
His face turned a bit pink and he sputtered, "Oh please don't take offence. It was silly of me to assume such a thing just because you were living at this inn." His voice then became sultry and convincing. "What you ask of me I would do gladly and this moment race to the market for a ring, but I am a prince and I am not allowed to chose my own bride."
Sarah was sitting well back while the prince was speaking nose to nose with the young widow, and therefore he didn't see her make funny faces and pretend to gag. Daniel watched his wife’s reaction to these well practiced lines and had to swallow a laugh and then hid his grin from the Prince by sitting beside Sarah and burying his face in her neck. Softly he whispered into her ear, "I'm going upstairs to read my bible. Care to join me?"
The prince was still saying well rehearsed lines, but he sounded so earnest when he said, "But if we are not together I will die of a broken heart. How can I see more of you if I am not allowed to marry you and not allowed to buy your time?"
"You could ask me nicely,” Val replied in a soft voice. She saw the faces Sarah was making and almost lost her tone of sincerity. "We need somewhere more private to talk. If you promise to be good, I will take you up to my room."
"I promise, I promise,” Rupert told her. Both couples went upstairs and closed themselves in their rooms.
As soon as Daniel and Sarah were in their room, Daniel pulled out his coded message and put it beside the bible on the tiny table that was squeezed between the double bed and the wall. Sarah shushed him while she cupped her hand against the wall and put her ear to it. Val and Rupert were in the room next door.
An hour later, just as Daniel was finished his decoding, there was a knock at their door. Daniel hid his papers, while Sarah unbolted and opened the door. Val walked in. Sarah was dying of curiosity and blurted out, "Did you?"
"No,” Val replied. "But I was tempted."
Sarah shook her head. When she was a young widow in Cambridge she had learned to deal with posers like the prince. They had all assumed she would be an easy conquest. "Don't,” she told Val. "With that kind of man as soon as you do him, it is over. They want to seduce you, conquer you, but once they have done that they lose interest."
"I thought as much."
"What did he tell you this time?" Sarah asked as she took Val by the hand and sat the both of them on the bed. The only other place to sit in the tiny room was a stool, and Daniel was sitting on that.
"It has almost been decided that Queen Henrietta and all her daughters, and her new son will visit Rupert's mother in The Hague and wait for things to settle down here in England. He kept telling me the benefits of this plan as if he were practicing for an argument. Let's see. With Henrietta out of the country, her Catholic ways will not longer fuel anger in the Presbyterians and Puritans in Parliament. With daughter Mary in Holland with her betrothed they hope that Fredrick of Orange will send them help in coin and men. That is why the old knight is going to Holland. Rupert's greatest fear is that Charlie will flee with Henrietta. I don't think Rupert has much respect for the king."
"So Henrietta is not going to France to live with her brother King Louis?"
"He didn't mention it,” Val replied.
"Thanks love,” Daniel told her with a wide smile and a squeeze of her hand, and then she left to go and clean up. When she was gone he read out the message he had just decode to Sarah. It was a repeat of the last words that Warwick had told him before he came to Dover. 'You are there to spy, not to take action, no matter what you find out.' "Good,” Daniel told her. "My messages will be going to the right man."
"So much for this morning's plan,” Sarah told him. This morning Daniel had been wondering if the king would be more willing to flee with his family to the continent if Rupert accidentally drowned in the harbour.
"It's still a good plan. The man is a snake. It make's my skin crawl to think of him pawing Val."
"She can handle it, er, him." Sarah replied. "Now get back to work. I'll help you to write and encode your next dispatch."
* * * * *
Over the next week the king was so busy sending messages and envoys to the continent that there were never more than two of the Freisburns in port at any one time. This included taking messengers from the French Ambassador, the Marquis de La Ferté-Imbault, to Calais, and messengers from the Spanish Ambassador, Don Alonso de Cardenes to Dunkirk where they were put on Spanish ships. Meanwhile Cleff had returned from The Hague with the king's diplomat, Sir Roe.
Through it all, Daniel never left the port for he was too busy writing and encoding reports. Between writings he would climb up to the Pharos on the cliff and use his looker to watch out for his returning ships, or to watch what was going on around the castle. Sarah, and the other women not sailing the straights were spending their time in the markets of Dover, which had a continental flair. Valerie kept company with the Prince at least once a day, and he always brought her gifts, which according to Sarah, meant that she had yet to let him hump her.
Each day the weather was better and the sun warmer, though the wind still had a bite to it. Just as the last week of February began there came an evening when all six of the ships were in port for the night. Rupert came to join them for dinner, or rather, join Val for dinner in hopes of making her. The whole hall watched as she led Rupert up stairs. An hour later Rupert came down alone and left without a word.
Sarah ran upstairs to make sure that Val was all right. The bed was a wreck but Val seemed peaceful enough laying under the covers, that is, until she turned to face Sarah. The side of her face was bruised. Sarah pulled down the covers. She had bruises that looked like fingerprints on her arms and legs. Val began to cry.
"We were both so ready to join. We had been teasing each other for almost two weeks. It all started off so good, so gentle, but as soon as he was inside me everything changed. He became like an animal and used his pint like a weapon. He held me down and did me and did me. He was so rough that he hurt me. I was afraid to scream because I knew that would be the death of him at the hands of my cousins downstairs. He just kept pounding me and pounding me and shoving his pint where it didn't belong."
Sarah took her in her arms and hugged her and let her cry until she was cried out. Only then did she say, "I warned you what men like him are like. Why did you do it? Why did you allow him inside?"
"Because,” Val sobbed, "because this is his last night here. In the morning he sails on The Lion back to The Hague."
Sarah stayed with her until the sobbing stopped and she fell asleep, and then she crept out of the room and went downstairs to tell Daniel. In truth, she did not tell him downstairs where there were so many ears, but led him upstairs where she could tell him in private.
"The bastard,” was Daniel's immediate reaction. "I'll geld him for that."
"Keep your voice down,” Sarah shushed him. "You won't get the chance, because he is leaving in the morning on The Lion."
"He never said anything about that to me."
"Have all the charter fees been paid?"
"Aye, this morning,” Daniel went thoughtful. "I have to report this right away. I wonder who else will be on the Lion with him? Why would they keep the departure a secret from us?" His mind sifted through the possibilities. "Damn, it's almost dark. Th
e pickup at the privy will have been made already."
"What are you thinking?"
"That the only way this makes sense is if the King will be on the Lion with his family. Even that doesn't make sense because his oldest sons are not with them at the castle."
"You cannot know that for sure,” Sarah pointed out. "All the news is flowing from us to the Providence Company and we get little back in return. The king could have sent for his sons and we would never know. They could have been in any of the carriages that come and go from the castle."
* * * * *
The next morning, bright and early, Daniel turned the clan out to watch the Royals board the Lion. They were to pretend to be folk loyal to the royals, and were to cheer and wave, but their mission was to take note of which Royals went aboard the Lion. Even though the clan were on the quay bright and early, the Royals were not. They organized a watch so most of them could go back to the Drake Inn for breakfast. Two hours later the call came that fine carriages were approaching the quay so they all tumbled out of the inn to give a cheer.
When Daniel arrived at the quay he had only one question. Was the king amongst the Royals? Only Cleff knew why this was so important to him. If the king was on board the Lion, then the Lion would founder and sink with all hands in the middle of the Dover Straits. Daniel would make sure of it.
Cleff agreed with this plan whole heartedly. If the king was lost in a tragic sinking, then parliament would completely control the kingdom. Warwick would likely become the Regent, especially if one of the king's young sons was not on the Lion, and so the Stuart regime would be dismembered peacefully without the need for more armies and more suffering. With Warwick as Regent, the clan's future would be bright.
"Could that be him?" Cleff asked. "The one walking beside the queen. It could be him in disguise. He's short enough. Or how’s about the one walking with Rupert. No, too tall." As if Rupert had heard his name being said, the prince turned and glanced at them. He found Val's face in the crowd and nodded to her with a look of triumph. Val shrank away and hid behind one of her big cousins to hide her tears.
"I can't be sure,” Daniel replied. "As you say, he could be in disguise. This whole boarding seems to have been organized on the quiet. We seem to be the only folk from the town who have come out to wave, and there hasn't been a great turnout of diplomats like you would expect. Wait, I know that man." His nod pointed a tall man and an old man who were shaking hands.
"You're daft,” Cleff laughed, "he's too tall to be the king."
"Not the tall one, the older one. I saw him when the Dutch fleet had the Spanish Armada trapped in the Downs for weeks. That is Admiral Penington. The other man must be a friend saying goodbye. Come on, let’s get the Freisburn One ready."
The Lion left port accompanied by six smaller ships with triangle sails carrying men and women who were still waving and cheering, or at least on five of them there were men and women cheering. On the Freisburn One there were no women, just Cleff and Daniel and four strong men. While the rest of their clan were waving and cheering, they had man handled a four pound cannon up from the bilge where it had been used as ballast.
When they had re-rigged these ships from square rigged to Bermudan, they had also covered in the front half of the ship and had gotten rid of the tiny aft cabin and the aft castle above it. This made them sleeker and faster and all weather, even with a smaller crew. In doing so they had forgone the best positions to mount cannons. Now there were only two gun ports, one a side, behind the cabin where the oar positions were. That was where they set up the four pounder for cleaning and loading.
Their plan was simple. The One would follow the Lion out into the straits with the other five ships and their waving, cheering folk. Once they were far enough out to feel the power of wind and sea in the ever churning strait, the other five ships would put about and make back to port, but not the One. The One would get in close to the stern of the Lion and use their first shot to blow the Lion's rudder into useless scrap.
Without a rudder the Lion may founder all by itself because it was carrying passengers rather than heavy cargo and was therefore light of ballast. Without a rudder she would be swung sideways to the swells and the wind, and without enough ballast she would tip towards one side. As soon as she tipped, they would put a ball through her underside planking, and then drift about while she sank, just to make sure there were no survivors.
It would be grim work because the royal children were aboard. Cleff and Daniel kept telling each other that the guilt of causing the death of the kiddies would be balanced by the countless kiddies who would not die because armies would not be trudging around England.
"The only reason that royal children are famous and important is because they were born,” Cleff pointed out. "That's it. Nothing more. They were just born, like everyone is born, but born to parents who live in a palace. It's not like they deserve any fame or fortune, for they've done nothing for it. They were just born. Well I was born just like them, so why ain't I rich and famous. Or you. Or any of us. Honors should be earned, always earned, and never piled onto kiddies just because they were born."
The justifications didn't help to relieve their guilt very much, so they put their minds and backs to catching up to the flotilla of small ships that was seeing the Lion on its way. The grim work would come later, once they reached rough water, and once the other Freisburns with their women crews turned for port. Daniel and Cleff did not want the women to witness their act of piracy, and they certainly did not want them anywhere close enough to pluck the survivors out of the water. They couldn't afford witnesses, just like coastal pirates couldn't afford witnesses.
If all went to plan, it would be viewed as an accident. It had to be viewed as an accident otherwise it could cause violence in the kingdom rather than stop violence. If the truth became known, all of the nobility would rally around the remaining royals and the Stuart regime would live on. Daniel kept these thoughts in the front of his mind to keep away the guilt he felt about drowning women and children. While Cleff steered the ship, and the other men trimmed the sails, he scanned the horizon with his scope to make sure there were not other sails approaching, and therefore no other witnesses.
"Fuck,” he cursed. He had been scanning Dover harbour behind them to make sure that no other local ships had followed them out. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." He handed the scope to Cleff as he took the tiller from him. "Look up at the cliff edge in front of the castle."
Cleff focused the looker for his old eyes and then also began to curse. There on edge of the white cliffs was a man dressed in rich colors in the saddle of a fine white charger. He was waving a broad brimmed hat with a white plume at the departing ships. "Yer thinkin' it's the king? I'm thinkin' the same. Look at him prancing up and down. Who else could it be?" He handed the looker back to Daniel, who put it to his eye just to make sure.
"We could still sink the Lion,” Cleff told him as he grabbed back the tiller. "It would still serve to get rid of that German shit, Rupert."
"Nay, the Lords would all rally round the king in sympathy for the loss of his wife and family. Not that they would miss Henrietta and her Catholic scheming." They kept sailing until they caught up with the flotilla. By that time there were ships on the horizon, large ships, frigates on an intercept course with them. Daniel picked up the hailing trumpet and called out to Lion. "What do you make of the frigates?"
"Frederick of Orange arranged for an escort to take us safely passed the Dunkirker pirates,” was the reply. On hearing it Daniel signaled the rest of the clan's ships to put about and make back to Dover.
The six small ships made a race out of it, which the Three won with Sarah at the tiller, but only because she didn't understand the channel markings and took a short cut over a sand bar that most ships would have foundered on. They were met at the quay by an officer and squad in the uniform of a Yeoman of the Guard. Daniels guilt of what he had planned for the Lion brought his stomach into his mouth. How had the Yeomen found
out about their evil plan?
It was foolish to have such fears because no one other than the six men on the One had known of the plan, but fears were rarely based on logic. Instead of arresting him the officer handed him a heavy purse of silver and told him, "This is from the king as a reward for such loyal service and for such a fine send off to his family. This completes your business with the king."
The purse was unexpected and a rich payment for a few cheers, so Daniel gave the officer a questioning glance. The officer shrugged and told him sarcastically, "Small pay for spiriting the Crown Jewels out of the kingdom."
For a moment Daniel did not speak while he fathomed the news about the jewels. "So this is not for more crossings to the continent?" Daniel confirmed.
"No, for we are marching today for York."
Daniel's mind raced ahead. Perhaps he could drown the king after all. "Marching? Why? On my ships he could sail up the coast and up the Humber and be there in two days and all this without saddle sores and an aching back."
"I would never dare suggest it to him,” the officer said softly, now realizing that he had told this captain too much. The man barked at his men to stop them from flirting with the women crew, and then marched his guards back along the quay.
Daniel handed the purse to Cleff and told him, "I'm taking one of the ships to London with today's news. What you do with the rest of the ships is up to you."
"Oh yeh, and just what am I supposed to do with them? Go smuggle some French wine. Right, with half the crew women."
Some of the women had heard Cleff’s words and were now chanting "London, London, London". Not one of them had ever been there, and country folk always believed in the dream that the streets were paved in gold rather than in cobble and dog shit. Daniel left Cleff surrounded by the eager women, while he told the four men on the One to grab their things and some food from the Drake Inn for a fast trip up the Thames.