by J. N. Cao
“Well, the most experienced pigeon here died before we arrived to Oxford, and the one I sent out, well, it was his first mission.”
“Are you saying, Chamberlain, that I am doomed here? And that I must surrender to that barbaric mob outside?” The King groaned, “And we’re running out of food.”
“Sire …”
“No! I will wait. I will not give into those rebels. We will think of something.”
That night Matilda went to sleep hungry again. Her body lay weak on the floor. She wondered how Ralph and Roger were doing in the other rooms. She began to miss her home and wished to see her grandfather and Martha again. She also wondered where Will was during this whole week.
The next morning Matilda woke to the sounds of a commotion coming from outside. She got up and opened the window. Unfortunately, her view was of only the side of the palace, but she knew something was stirring outside the front gates. Several guards below her window were discussing the commotion, then one of the guards ran towards the front gates to investigate the noise.
The crowd outside the gates had woken up early, and they had stopped two deliverymen from entering Oxford palace. Each deliveryman had with him a large wagon, drawn by two horses, of food for the King’s palace-warming party.
“Where do you think you’re going?” said a man armed with a pike to the first deliveryman.
“I … I’m just here to deliver this to the palace,” said the deliveryman.
“What’s going on here?” said the shoulder-length-hair man who just approached them.
“Mr Cooke, they want to deliver the food to the King,” said the man with the pike.
“We should not let them through. I had just asked for news from the guard and he said that the King still wants more time,” Walter said. “The King is taking too long to make a decision. It’s clear that he doesn’t care about what we want.”
“If he doesn’t care for us, then I say we take his food,” said a woman.
“Yeah, we are starving as it is,” said another man.
“Aye,” said Walter. “If starving the King can make him come to a decision faster, then I don’t see why not.” Then he stepped aside for the people to grab whatever they could from the wagons. The deliverymen were helpless against the crowd, and the crowd would not let them leave in case they ran off and reported this to Esterwall palace. The crowd then passed the food around. Many had not eaten in days, and some were excited to eat such fine food that they started to play some music while others danced. Soon it became a merry feast and their spirits were high.
Matilda could hear the change in the tone of the crowd outside. She tried to stretch her body out the window but could not see what was happening. Then she caught sight of someone waving at her from a tree beyond the wall. It was Will. She quickly waved back. He spread out his hands, palms up, with a shrug as if to ask her what had happened.
Matilda, limited by what she could communicate, held out her palm, signalling him to wait. She left the window and then started to pace the room. Then she heard the guard opening the door, and a middle-aged maid walked in to give, again, only half a loaf of stale bread.
“Wait,” said Matilda.
“What?” said the maid.
Matilda pulled out some money from her pouch and then held it out to the maid.
The maid’s eyes widened.
“If you can get me some ink, quill and paper, this can be yours,” said Matilda.
The maid started to reach for the money but stopped. “How do I know you’re not going to do something that will get me into trouble?”
“I’m not. I’m bored to death in here. Just need something to kill time with.”
“I don’t trust you. Sorry.” Then she left.
“Drats!” said Matilda after the door had closed.
Matilda went back to the window and Will was still there on the tree. She pointed to herself and then pretended to write on her palm and then pointed to him, letting him know that she would write to him. Then she gestured for him to leave.
Will nodded that he understood and would come back sometime later. So he climbed down the tree.
In late afternoon the maid returned with another half-loaf for dinner. Matilda stopped her again.
“What is it this time?”
Matilda once again held out the money to her. “Can I please have some wine? I might go insane if I have to stay in this room any longer. Please let me have some wine to ease my mind.”
“Oh, all right. You’re lucky that’s very much all we have here, a cellar full of wine.”
“Thank you. And please give me the darkest one you have.”
Soon the maid returned with a glass of wine, collected her money and then left.
Matilda went over to a portrait of the King on the wall and took it down. She pulled out a dagger from her bag and used it to rip out a segment of the painting. She turned the segment over to the back that was blank. Using the dagger again, she cut out a thin length of wood from the painting’s panel. Then she carved out a sharp point at the end of the wood.
Matilda dipped the sharp end of the wood into the wine and started to write on the segment of paper. The wine left a pale stain on the paper but it would do, she thought. The wood did not hold much wine, which made writing slow because she had to dip it into the wine continuously, so she only wrote in short and brief sentences. Once finished, she allowed the paper to dry.
Once the ink had dried, Matilda wrapped the note around her dagger—the only heavy object she had with her—and then tied a string around it. She then walked to the window and waited for Will to return.
Soon enough, he appeared on the tree. Matilda signalled to him that she would throw the dagger to him. Will prepared himself. Matilda looked down from the window to make sure that no guards were watching then she threw the dagger over the wall. It landed somewhere near Will’s tree. Will climbed down the tree and picked up the dagger, removing the paper and read:
Ralph is fine. I am imprisoned in this room. The King has already gathered reinforcements. If possible, warn the people, to prevent a bloodbath.
Will climbed up the tree again and signalled that he had got her message and then left.
Will then made his way to Walter. “I have news from the palace that the King’s reinforcements are on their way here, so tell your people to leave now before it’s too late.”
“And how do you know about this?” Walter asked him.
“My friend is in the palace and passed the message to me. See,” said Will, showing the letter to Walter.
“And how did the King manage to send out the message when we have not seen one person leave the palace?” said Walter.
“I don’t know,” said Will.
“Exactly. It has been a week and no sign of reinforcements. I don’t believe they are coming,” said Walter.
“But it won’t be long until his subjects find out,” said Will.
“That is why I must act fast,” said Walter. Then he climbed up onto a wheelbarrow so that he was in clear view.
“Listen, friends. The King is obviously delaying and will not heed our demands. Not only that, he has tried to gather an army to attack us. But luckily, it seems to have failed. We will now find a way to break into the palace and drag him out.”
The crowd cheered.
That night Walter and several men sat by the fire outside and discussed their next plan. Will stood by and listened.
“Those walls are impossible to get past. We need gunpowder and cannons,” said Walter.
“I know where we can get some,” said a man. “I know a particular person that works in the royal gunpowder mill in London who can help us.”
“Good. I’ll send men with you, Douglas, to gather the gunpowder and cannons,” said Walter to the man.
“Then you should be expecting us in two days with the goods,” said Douglas and then he left.
The next afternoon several carriages arrived before the crowd. They were expecting to atten
d the King’s scheduled party but the sight of the crowd made them nervous and confused.
“What’s going over there?” said Walter.
“Aristocrats,” said a woman speaking through her missing teeth. “Wanting to go to some party at the palace.”
Walter had a closer look at the carriages. He knew that only the wealthy and nobility rode in those carriages and he hated them. He had always hated the nobles, just as much as he hated his unambitious father. But what he hated the most, above both of them, was being poor. So whenever he looked at a noble or his father, they only reminded him of how poor he was.
Then Walter turned to the crowd, “Who’s sick of nobles telling us what to do?”
The crowd shouted, “We are!”
“They are with the King! They do not care for us!” said Walter.
“Down with the nobles!” the crowd chorused.
“Then go over there and show them how you feel!” shouted Walter.
An angry mob of about thirty people marched over to the carriages, repeatedly chanting, “Down with the nobles!”
Will, who was standing nearby Walter, watched the mob pull the coachmen and footmen off the carriages to be kicked and beaten. Some proceeded to smash carriage windows and doors. Women and children inside the carriages screamed and cried.
Will then made his way to Walter. “What are you doing? Tell them to stop!”
“You stay out of this,” said Walter.
“It’s the King you want. These people are innocent,” said Will.
“Innocent? I don’t know where you’re coming from, boy, but the nobles have done nothing for us but side with the King and treat us like dogs.”
“What good will this do?” said Will. “The King is not going to walk out of the palace right now if you hurt a few nobles.”
“Hurt them?” said Walter. “No, we will kill them.”
“What? Are you mad?” said Will.
“I am making a statement,” said Walter. “I will use their bodies as a statement to the King that we are to be taken seriously. I know he’s sitting in there laughing at us. He thinks we’re having a silly campout outside his palace. But he is wrong.”
Then Walter walked to the mob, “Don’t let them get away. Don’t let them run back to warn the others.”
Will felt helpless at the violence he was witnessing, but he figured that if he could not stop the deaths of these people, he could stop the others that were heading here. So, not wasting any time, he slipped away from the crowd, which was currently busy, and ran along the road towards the town centre. The single road that led to the town centre was surrounded by woods which ended only at the large clearing in the front of the palace.
On his way, Will warned any carriages that he saw about the mob. Some believed him, and some did not. It was an exhausting afternoon for Will, and soon he could not do anymore. Not wanting to turn back to witness any more horror, he returned to the inn where he had been staying, to rest.
Will woke up about two hours later and decided to go back to the palace. When he arrived, he stood some distance away from the crowd. He could see them surrounding two large wagons, then his eyes moved further, towards the palace gates. Dusk was falling, but he could make out two lifeless bodies hanging from the front gates. Disgusted, he decided to go back to the town centre.
The two large wagons that were currently surrounded by the crowd had arrived some moments before. One carried exotic animals and the other had dogs and cats. The King loved entertaining his guests with animals, and the wagons arrived a day late.
The crowd was deciding what to do with them. One man asked for Walter’s advice. So while they were all busy with that, two carriages were travelling towards the palace. They were too far away to be visible from the palace but Will, who had been walking away from the palace, had seen them and started to run to warn them off.
The very last carriage carried Lord Hampton and his guests, whom he had invited to join him for the King’s party. Sitting next to Lord Hampton was Rose, who had her arm linked with his, and across them were Gilbert and Katherine.
“I wonder why we stopped,” said Lord Hampton.
“Looks like someone has stopped the carriage in front of us,” said Rose, looking out from her side of the window.
Miles, who had replaced Lord Hampton’s driver for the night, appeared at the window. “Sorry, Sir, a bit of a hold-up. There seems to be some sort of trouble ahead. Unless you want me to pass —”
“That’s all right,” interrupted Lord Hampton. “We’ll wait and see what happens next. They won’t take long I’m sure.” Then he resumed his conversation with Gilbert.
“Oh,” said Rose in a whisper to Katherine, who sat in front of her. “Look, it’s that boy. The one we captured by mistake.”
Katherine poked her head out the window to get a better look. “This may be my only chance,” she said to Rose. Then she turned to Gilbert, “Dearest, I’m going outside to get some fresh air. I won’t be long.”
“All right,” said Gilbert.
“Me too,” said Rose.
“Oh no, you’re staying here, Rose,” said Lord Hampton. “You said that you were going to tell us how Mr Anson lost all his money in a bet.”
“Well, I …”
“That’s all right. I’ll go alone,” said Katherine, then she turned to Rose. “It’s alright, Rose. I can handle this myself. You keep an eye on them, so they don’t get out or notice anything.”
Katherine alighted from the carriage and then told Miles to follow her.
Will had just finished warning the first carriage. He then stepped back and watched them make a turn.
“Strange, I wonder why they’re turning back?” said Lord Hampton as he watched the carriage ride past.
At this moment, the weary Walter was heading to the town centre. He wanted to go to the tavern for some refreshments and to see if there was any news of other rebels marching to Oxford. As he walked, he noticed Will from a distance.
But Will was not alone. Walter saw a man holding Will from behind with a dagger to his throat. And then Walter watched Will being taken into the forest followed by a woman. Curious about what he just saw, Walter decided to follow them.
Will was taken some distance into the forest until the carriage was out of sight.
Walter hid behind a tree, where he was still within earshot of their conversation.
“I didn’t expect to see you here,” started Katherine. “Let’s make this quick. Where is the map?”
“I don’t have it,” said Will.
“I know it was you and that other boy that broke into my house.”
“You can search me all you like, but it’s not on me.”
“Then where is it?”
“In the palace. But I’m warning you, there’s a mob outside who are waiting to kill anyone coming to the palace.”
“What?”
“It’s a revolt.”
“And where is your friend? And the people released from my house?”
“They are held captive in the palace.”
Katherine was silent in thought. “Do you know about the letter that came with the map? I don’t care about the map. It’s the letter that I want.”
“Because you’re Cecilia Harte,” said Will.
“Katherine!” they heard Gilbert call from a distance.
“Yes. Now hurry up and tell me where it is? It’s mine,” said Katherine.
“Sorry. It’s also in the palace with my friends.”
“Why are they all in there?” asked Katherine in frustration.
“Katherine!” They heard Gilbert again.
Katherine took the dagger from Miles and continued to point it at Will. “Go see what the master wants.”
Miles left them and Katherine held the dagger at Will’s neck.
“You don’t have to point that at me. I’m not going to run away. It’s not like have anything to give you,” said Will.
Katherine lowered her dagger.
/> “If you just want to know what Victor Harte wrote in the letter, then I can tell you,” said Will. “All the letter said was that Edward Howard seized his ship but spared his life so that he could lead him to the treasure.”
“I still want the letter.”
“Because there might be a hidden message in there that only you know how to reveal,” said Will.
“So, it was you that went through my letters.”
“There’s nothing you can get from me, so I suggest you go back to your carriage and leave. It’s not safe here,” said Will.
Katherine’s eyes lowered. Will noticed that her face had saddened. Then she came out of her thoughts and started for the carriage.
Walter realised the conversation had ended and quickly left to gather a mob to stop Katherine’s carriage from leaving.
“Ahh!” cried Katherine. She had slipped into a puddle and twisted her ankle.
Will came over to Katherine, who was now massaging the injured area.
“Can you walk? I can carry you out of here, it will be quicker,” said Will.
“Don’t touch me!”
Katherine tried to lift herself up, but the pain was so severe that she dropped back onto the ground.
Will’s head suddenly turned at the sound of shouting in the distance that seemed to be drawing nearer. Katherine also heard the sound of the mob.
Will quickly bent down near Katherine to help her up. But before he could do anything, Katherine already held the dagger at his throat. “Carry me out of the forest, now.”
Will’s eyes were wide open at the dagger. He swallowed, “There’s no need for that. I did offer to carry you before.”
“Listen, boy,” said Katherine. “This time I’m forcing you to carry me out because I don’t like to be in debt to anyone, got it?”
“Fair enough,” said Will, then he lifted Katherine into his arms.
By the time they got back on the road, Miles was armed with a crossbow in readiness for the approaching mob. The carriage had already been turned around, ready to drive away.
Gilbert was outside the carriage. He was about to go into the forest to find Katherine but saw her and Will approaching, so he opened the carriage door and Will helped Katherine in. Rose starred at Will in surprise. Miles then jumped back onto the carriage and took the reins.