Rory Clements - The Queen's man

‘The duke has sent you something yet more valuable to him, his ring.’

‘His ring?’

‘As a token of his great love and as a pledge that he will do all in his power — ’ Leloup’s voice lowered to a whisper — ‘to free you from your present predicament and raise you up to your rightful place. He believes this will do more for your health than any potion, powder or tincture.’

The hand emerged yet again from the curtains. He already had the ring out. One of the little dogs leapt up to lick its mistress’s hand. With the ring clenched in his fist, Leloup pushed the animal aside, a little too forcefully, so that it yelped. Now he uncurled his fingers and placed the ring in the Queen of Scotland’s upturned palm. For a brief moment he looked at it in the glow of the fire. He had carried it for three weeks, secreted in a small pouch within his clothing, wrapped against his body, and all the time he was ready to kill any highway robber who might try to steal it. It was a broad gold band decorated with the cross of Anjou or Lorraine, part of the Guise crest. Mary’s fingers closed around the ring and took it back into her tent of silk.

‘Is it really his, Monsieur Leloup?’

‘The duke placed it in my own hand. He wishes you to accept it as a token of his great goodwill — and as assurance that we will secure your freedom.’

‘There is a candle by the bed, Mr Ord. Light it and give it to me.’

The Scotsman took the candle, housed in an ornate silver candlestick, to the hearth and lit it with a taper. Its long flame relieved the gloom and cast light along the delicate cream canopy and curtains that surrounded the enormous bed. ‘Your Majesty.’ He handed it into her and there was a gasp of pleasure from her as the bright gold shone.

‘Oh, it is his. I know it well. Then I am not forgotten.’

‘Indeed, you are most certainly not forgotten.’

‘Monsieur Leloup, when I was a girl at the French court, the seer Michel de Nostredame came to me with foretellings. Queen Catherine had demanded he draw up my chart. He said I was to be Queen of France and also Queen of the isles. He said that I would live to a very great age and be known as a beloved sovereign to all the peoples of these islands. Is this still to come true as Monsieur de Nostredame foretold?’

‘With God on our side, yes.’

‘I have scarce dared hope it these long years.’

Leloup turned towards Ord. ‘How freely may we talk here?’

‘It is safe, but while Walsingham draws breath it is best to be circumspect. His spies are everywhere. Let us speak without specifics. No names. No details.’

‘Could we be overheard?’

‘No. We have searched every inch of this chamber, tapped at all the walls. One of our own stands outside the window alongside Shrewsbury’s guards. Nothing can be heard, but still I do not trust them. If there is any way in heaven or on earth to do so, then Walsingham will listen.’

‘Very well.’ Leloup kept his voice low, then moved yet closer to the curtain of the bed and began speaking in French again. ‘Your cousin has charged me with the holy office of bringing you away from this place. I concur with him that there can be no better medicine than this.’

‘Then you are indeed a harbinger of good news, monsieur.’

‘Mr Ord has discovered men and women of the true faith who will escort you from here to a place of safety and thence across the narrow sea to await the downfall of this heretical regime, which will not be long in coming.’ He lowered his voice yet further. ‘The invasion fleet is already under construction — at Le Havre, Fécamp and Honfleur.’ And so, he thought, is the band of would-be assassins. Englishmen trusted by the court of Elizabeth who will not hesitate to strike home the blade . But he would not burden Mary with such knowledge. Not while there was any chance of a spy within earshot.

‘Should you be saying all this, Dr Leloup?’

He laughed gently. ‘I think it fair to say that they have always assumed you will try to escape. Hearing it will make no difference — so long as they do not know the method.’

‘Mr Ord, can this be true that I am to have my freedom?’

‘I believe it will happen, ma’am.’

‘But why have you not told me this before?’

‘I did not wish to raise your hopes, only to have them cruelly dashed as they have been so often in the past. Monsieur Leloup’s arrival here changes everything. He brings gold for weapons and the great expense involved in concealing you as we carry you across England, thence over the narrow sea to France. The plan is almost in place.’

‘But how? How will this be effected?’

The light inside the tent seemed to blaze closer to the cream curtain and for a moment Leloup feared it would all go up in a burst of flames.

‘Your Majesty, I beg you to ask no more. Not yet.’

‘This is not good enough, monsieur! I must be sure. The she-cat knows I would escape if I could, so do her sharp-toothed minions, Burghley and Walsingham. They have the eyes and claws of rats, and there is an army of their guards around this castle. If your plan is attempted and fails, they will consign me to some dungeon like a common criminal. I cannot bear to have this fail, for I would become a worm, trapped deep within the earth.’

‘Nothing will go wrong,’ Leloup said. ‘On the Bible and in the name of our Holy Mother of Christ I swear this.’

‘The Holy Mother. .’

From within the curtained bed, there was a gasp, then silence.

‘Your Majesty. .’

They heard a sob, which became a wail, deep and horrible.

Leloup felt Ord’s breath in his ear. A whisper so quiet that Mary could not hear. ‘ Mother . It is a word we must not use in her presence. She is a mother, too. Her son is fifteen years of age and never once has she heard his voice nor even had a letter from him. What torture is this for a mother?’

The Frenchman was silent a moment, then moved closer to the bed. ‘Your Majesty, your ordeal will soon be at an end. I entreat you to trust us in this. I will send word to you with every detail when all is secured.’

The sobbing subsided.

‘Madame?’

‘You must come yourself.’

‘That may not be possible. I doubt I will be trusted by the Earl of Shrewsbury again. But there is yet one favour that I must ask of you. Those who would help you in this noble enterprise require some sign from you — some article that will convince them that their work is indeed done in your name. I beg you to do this, for they will be risking their own lives.’

Mary’s hand came once more from between the curtains. She held another ring in her hand. ‘Take this. It was my mother’s and bears the sign of the phoenix rising from the ashes. Her sign and now mine. Show it to our loyal people. And then, when I see it again, I will believe that all is prepared. As you have come from my beloved cousin Henri, so must I put my trust in you, Monsieur Leloup. Do not let me down.’

François Leloup took the ring. ‘I pledge I will not fail you, ma’am.’

As John Shakespeare came over a small stone bridge, he reined in sharply. Ahead of him, in the trees, he saw movement.

A large animal burst from the woods. Shakespeare recoiled in shock as a hart with a majestic crown of antlers and eyes distended like bowls came charging straight at him. Only at the last second, within a foot or two of Shakespeare’s startled horse, did the enormous deer sheer left with breath-stopping violence, stumbling in the mud at the river’s edge, and then plunging into the water.

The Thames here was only a hundred feet across, nothing like the great tidal flow downriver in London and beyond, but it was deep enough and the frightened beast had no choice but to swim, scrambling for the northern bank.