by Smith, Skye
"I am not Thomas,” Daniel replied as he doffed his cavalier style hat and bowed to the woman.
"But you wear his cloak and hat. I know it is his, for I bought it for him before we were married."
"Then you must be Tom's wife Kathy, and so we have much to tell you, ... but that can wait, for if we don't get warm, and soon, we will lose our toes,” Daniel's head was filled with the divine aroma of fresh baked bread. "Some scraps of food would speed our recovery."
Katherine stared at the two men. They were both well dressed and well groomed. The short one was older and dark, while the tall one was really quite handsome and ten years younger than the short one. Each of them had two pistols under their belt, but one of the tall man's pistols caught her eye for it was scrolled in silverwork. She decided that they must be gentlemen of the court with a message from her husband, and so invited them further into the house and led them into the morning room.
Immediately upon entering the room, both men walked to the fireplace and stood blocking the fire from heating anything else in the room except for their own legs and bums. Though Katherine's family had already eaten their breakfast the table had not yet been sided. Presumably now it was the turn of the rest of the household to eat. A few of the maids were in the serving pantry and peering into the room, eager to have their turn at what was left of the bacon.
Daniel nodded in a tiny bow to Katherine and told her, "Don't delay their breakfast on our account, though we'd be most thankful for a plate of scraps to eat while we warm ourselves here by the fire."
Katherine returned the handsome man's smile and then waved the maids in, but asked the first two of them to load a plate for each of the guests before they loaded their own plates. Even once her guests were eating, she did not move, but just stared at them and tried to quell her curiosity. She didn't even ask them any questions, not with the room filled with servants. Eventually her mother joined them.
"Ah, you must be the fair Katherine's mother,” Daniel bowed and clicked his heels, and was pleased that he felt the click, for that meant they were finally thawing out. "I can see where she gets her fair looks." In truth the woman had a mouth that looked as if she had sucked lemons for breakfast, and was dressed head to foot as a widow. Hadn't the woodcutter told them that she had been a widow for five and twenty years now, and yet still she dressed in black.
"Are you going to introduce us?" Elizabeth asked her daughter impatiently.
"I would but I don't know them,” Katherine replied, her own smile now gone, and her eyes now staring at the floor.
"What we have to say requires strict privacy,” Daniel told the mother. "Would you perchance have another room with a fire."
"Take them to my parlour,” Elizabeth told Katherine. "I will join you there shortly."
The parlour was on the other side of the front hall and was definitely a woman's room, for it was a clutter of china and lace and cushions. Again the two friends stood in front of the fire to warm their backsides. Katherine stared at them, hoping for another smile from the tall one, and she was rewarded. When the mother entered the room she closed the door with a bang.
"So you, sir,” Elizabeth did not sit before she spoke, and spoke while staring at the dark man who was short enough for her to look in the eye. "State your business here, and explain why your henchman wears my son-in-law's cloak."
Robert would have answered except that Daniel pressed down on his frozen toes with his own frozen toes, and the pain reminded him of his promise to keep quiet. It was therefore Daniel who answered. "I won this cloak and hat from Thomas in a game of cards." It was an answer that shocked Robert more than it did Katherine, for it was such a demeaning lie compared to the glowing truth that Daniel had earned the cloak by saving Lunsford's life on a battlefield.
"And now you have come to sell it back to my daughter?" Elizabeth guessed.
"On the contrary, mam. I have come for your daughter, for Thomas lost her as well. Well not all of her. Just four nights with her." At the shocked silence caused by the stares of horror on the women's faces, Daniel saw fit to expand the lie. "Actually he lost a night with her to each of the other four of us in the game, but I bought up the nights from the other winners. You see, only I knew how comely Katherine is."
Blake was as horrified and as shocked by the outrageous statement as the women, but he kept equally as silent. The mother broke her silence first. "That blackguard, that devil. To bet you in a game of chance."
"He is not as skilled at cards as he likes to believe,” Daniel said softly.
"It was a foul day when your brother Richard betrothed you to that devil,” Elizabeth growled. "A foul day indeed, and I wonder why he did it."
"Perhaps your Richard is even worse at cards than Thomas,” Daniel offered. "In any case, I have come to claim a debt of honor. Katherine, my sweet,” he said while throwing his most comely smile at the young women, "how large is your bed?" He had expected a slap across the face but instead the women was staring into his eyes with an ever softening look. That would never do, so he added, "Do you mind if my friend watches us at least once, so that he can bear witness to Tom that the debt has been paid?"
The tall man's smile was so comely that Katherine actually closed her mouth and smiled back. Elizabeth did not. She grabbed both men by the arm and told them, "you will come with me to the office and we will discuss paying off this debt. Katherine, you will stay here."
By the time they were in the front hall, they found out why the old widow had come later to the parlour. At her call a half dozen men spilled into the hallway armed with clubs and they blocked every doorway except for the front door that led outside. "Leave now, right now, and you will not be hurt,” the black widow hissed at them. Robert and Daniel couldn't get out of there fast enough for there was murder in the widow's stare. The door slammed shut behind them and was immediately bolted.
Daniel called through the door. "We don't want any violence, so we are leaving. First though, we must see to our horses. If Katherine changes her mind, she can find me in the stable." His words were answered by a hand slapping hard against the inside of the door.
Robert dragged him down the steps to the horses, and when out of earshot of the house, berated him for his callous rudeness to two such upstanding women. "What horrible lies. They will cause all sorts of grief. You may have cost Lunsford his wife."
"I certainly hope so. She is much too nice for the likes of him. Ask yourself, if he were such a good husband, why were the women so ready to believe my lies. They didn't ask for any proof. They didn't even ask our names."
Robert could not disagree with the logic for Lunsford was a renown villain. "But why did you say those things?"
"If we had simply waited for Lunsford to arrive and then had tried to arrest him, just the two of us, those same retainers that pushed us out of the house would have taken his side. The lies were to make sure that no one in this household will lift a finger to help him. It was the best plan I could think of on the spur of the moment. At least we were warm inside rather than cold out here, and we did have the breakfast I promised you. Now we wait for Lunsford. Remember how tired, hungry and frozen we were when we first arrived. That is how Lunsford will be. Come, let’s take the horses to the stable for some feed. Perhaps they have a forge we can light to keep us warm."
There was a small forge in the stable, and they just had it hot when they heard the sounds of hurried hoofs approaching. By the time they had convinced their horses to leave the rest of their feed, and had mounted up and drawn their pistols, there was a lone man dismounting at the front door of the mansion. They rode onto him before he had time to knock on the door.
Lunsford was indeed weary and cold to the bone, and his response was very slow to the approach of two well mounted and well armed men. Before he could find his own pistol, the men were an arms length away and threatening him with some very large horse pistols. While the darker of the men kept him covered, a tall man dismounted, took away his pistol and swo
rd, and tied his hands. Once bound he was helped back onto his horse.
Through all of this Lunsford had been calling for help in a loud voice. When no one came to help him, he panicked and searched windows of the house. Many faces staring back at him from the safety of the building, but still no one came to help him. His captors did not gag him or even warn him to keep quiet, so he kept calling for help, but it was all for naught. Once he was in the saddle, the tall man cinched his bound hands to the saddle, and then he and his horse were led away down a bridle path behind the two riders.
Lunsford yelled at them for an explanation, yelled at them about how important he was, yelled at them about the vengeance of his master the king, yelled at them that they would be sorry, but he was too cold and weary to keep it up for long. Only when he stopped yelling and took some deep breaths to calm himself, did he notice the cloak that the tall man was wearing. His cloak. The cloak he had lost during the battle for the River Tyne. "I know you, don't I?" he asked in a calmer voice. "How did you come by my cloak?"
"You gave it to me because the blood of Tom Tanner was all over it. Do you remember the lad Tanner of the Somerset Trained Band? The man you shot in the back because he was the last of your men to retreat from the Scottish highlanders. Not the first, the last."
Robert Blake had been leading Lunsford's horse, but now he stopped his own horse and swung around in his saddle as Lunsford's horse caught up. There was a cocked pistol in his hand and he aimed it at his prisoners chest. "I know the Tanner family, and I knew Tom. Only two of our local band did not return from Scotland. Did you shoot both of them?"
"What of it?" Lunsford sneered. "They disobeyed me. Peasants who disobey me are nothing."
By this time Daniel had turned his horse thinking there was a problem and had grabbed up his double barreled dragon and had cocked the dragon's flint-hammer, just in case. He stared at his friend but did not interfere, nor even say anything, for Roberts trigger finger was twitching and any distraction could have set his pistol off. If he wanted to shoot this snake, so be it, but he knew he wouldn't. Robert Blake the ship's captain may have, but not Robert Blake the good Puritan of Somerset.
Lunsford was staring back at Robert, eye to eye, and defiant. He must have also known that this Puritan would not shoot him, not with his hands tied and in cold blood. Robert blinked and flicked the cover back over the flash pan and then eased the doglock down so that it was no longer cocked.
Daniel was relieved that his friend had not committed cold blooded murder, not that Lunsford deserved to live, but because the memory of the murder would have haunted Robert. The man actually believed in rule by law. It was the look of triumph on Lunsford's eyes that brought words to his mouth, just to wipe the smirk from the snake's face. "You're right Rob. We should make it look like an accident. There is a drainage ditch over there. Let's drown him in the mud of it, and then untie him and lame his horse. It will look like just another riding accident."
Lunsford's smirk was immediately replaced by a look of horror. The self righteous Puritan would not have shot him in cold blood, but this other man, the man wearing his cloak, was another type of man completely. As he stared he was sure that the man's eyes were changing color from their pleasant blue to a steel grey that matched the snow laden clouds. His felt his guts churn and then felt a welcome warmth against his half frozen thighs. Damn, he was pissing himself.
"No Danny, my anger has passed, and I will spare the man for the magistrates,” Robert said in a half breath, almost regretting his words. In a much stronger voice he added, "That is, so long as he first comes with us to Kingston Arsenal and orders his men back to Windsor. Once his men are at Windsor, we will hand him over to the local magistrate to sort out that outstanding warrant."
"A waste of your time and mine,” Lunsford replied, as he regained his courage. "You and I both know that any of the magistrates will send that warrant to the king to be revoked, and I will be freed within a day."
"Perhaps,” Robert replied, "but are you so sure that you will not be shot while trying to escape being taken to the magistrate."
"You won't shoot me in front of witnesses, and my men will not return to Windsor. They are obeying orders from the king. They will finish their assignment at Kingston Arsenal and then will press on with their mission." His defiant look was back, and his smirk.
"Oh but your men will return to Windsor,” Daniel growled, "even if you must lie to them and tell them that there are new orders from the king. And don't you worry about being shot while escaping, for I'll not let that happen, not to a fine noble officer such as yourself. Nay, I will personally take you to London and hand you over to the mob. Like as not, they will rip your arms and legs out of their sockets and beat you to death with them."
Lunsford felt his stomach churn again, and he couldn't stop shivering. Being the king's willing henchman had made him the most hated man in London, and what this man had just described was nothing compared to what the London mob would really do to him. His only chance was to stay alive until they reached Kingston and hope that his men had already captured the arsenal. That meant placating this man in his cloak. "You win. I will order my men back to Windsor. Dover can wait."
Robert and Daniel caught each other's eye and shared a knowing nod. Dover and not Portsmouth. This was news that must be carried to London with haste. The three men started off again along the cartway. Robert tied the prisoner's horse to his own saddle and then caught up to Daniel so that they could ride side by side and talk. He spoke softly so that Lunsford could not hear. "I suppose I must forgive you for telling those dreadful lies to the women."
"Forgive me, even though the lies came so close to being acted on."
"How so?"
"Katherine almost accepted the debt of honor. That was why I added the bit about you bearing witness, just to shock her out of it."
Robert laughed aloud until his friend's silence told him that it was no jest. "So after the king's guard are sent back to Windsor, what then? Ride back to Westminster?"
"I like your idea better. Shoot Lunsford while escaping."
"But that would be dishonorable,” Robert replied, wondering if he was jesting this time.
"We've both dealt with men like Lunsford before,” Daniel explained. "There is a demon inside them that urges them to hurt the innocent and take pride in doing so. Kings and other powerful men tend to attract these living demons like bees to flowers. Shot while escaping is a fitting epitaph for him, for all of them."
"Every man deserves his say in court."
"Not these demons. They lie too convincingly." Daniel growled. "Look how long it took Parliament to finish Strafford. More than a year in court, and still the courts were going to set him free. They had to pass a bill of attainder to remove his head from his shoulders. It's better that we just to do for Lunsford while we still have him alone. Dishonorable? Only five minutes ago you were ready to shoot the bastard yourself."
"We have been arguing this same point since we first rode into battle together as pistoleers,” Robert told his friend. "You're method is always the same ... target the leaders. If it were up to you England would soon run out of lords."
"Sounds good to me. On the battlefield at Newbourne, Lunsford behaved like a rabid dog. If someone had shot Lunsford then, your two lads from the Somerset Bands would have seen their mothers again."
"Not only is that not honorable, it is not legal,” Robert tried to explain, yet again. "Rabid dogs or not, the likes of Lunsford and Strafford should be tried by the same law that governs us all."
"Yep, same old arguement,” Daniel replied dismissively. "You always forget that our one law is interpreted by the king's magistrates, so in truth there are two laws. One for the likes of us, and another for the lords. Rob, you are the Christian. Your Bible teaches you better than to rely on the justice of courts. Doesn't it tell you judge a man while standing in his shoes. If I were Lunsford's prisoner, I would most certainly be shot while escaping."
"I
t is a sin to twist the Bible's wisdom to your own means,” Robert scolded.
"It's a skill I've been learning from Bible thumping preachers,” Daniel chuckled. "Oh, all right. I will leave Lunsford's fate in your hands, but with this warning. Charlie is buying rabid dogs such as him with promises of knighthoods and titles, and his courts are shielding them from the law. If your Reform Party is too honorable to exterminate the rabid dogs, then your grand cause will surely die a horrible death."
The three cold and weary men rode in silence along the icy road that led to Kingston-upon-Thames. They were all lost in their own thoughts, and in their fears for the future.
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The Pistoleer - Pirates by Skye Smith Copyright 2013-14
Chapter 24 - Appendix FAQ
The reference material in this Appendix is organized like an FAQ. For an overview of the politics of the time, see the Appendix of Book One 'HellBurner'. Here is a list of the questions that are answered below.
1. Where can I read about the non-fiction events and characters?
2. How can I which characters are historic and which are fictional?
3. What was a Pistoleer?
4. What was a Bermudan?
5. What are the oldest continuous settlements in the New World?
6. When folk fled from England, where did they go?
7. Who were the Black Irish?
8. Why was the difference in the colonies north and south of the Delaware?
9. What was the difference between New Holland and New Netherlands?
10. Why are the Pilgrims of the Mayflower revered in the USA?
11. How did the Pilgrim colonists clear the fields for planting?
12. What diseases destroyed native culture in the Americas?
13. What was the Columbian Exchange?
14. How was Bermuda settled?