Eric Flint: Grantville Gazette .Volume XXIII

Now or wait? There was no telling how many people might be in the house. Better to wait.

"Oh, this is very, very good. Chocolate covered strawberries!" Maria Anna took a second bite. "You were right, Katy. This chocolate is nothing like I tasted in Vienna. You say you have two different kinds?"

Nicki nodded. "Dark chocolate, which is semi-sweet. That's what's on the strawberries. And milk chocolate, with more sugar. That is what these were made with." She offered Maria Anna a cookie.

Maria Anna took a bite and her eyes opened wide. "Spicy? I love spicy! Hungarian dishes with paprika were always my favorite in Vienna."

Nicki laughed. "So do I. These don't have real chipotle, which would mean smoked jalapenos, but they're close. They're made from a chili pepper grown in a town in the Basque area of Spain called Espellete. Imported from America a century or so ago, of course."

"Fernando must taste these. Really he must."

Katy smiled and pointed at the basket on the table. "We thought you might like to take some samples with you. We'll put more cookies in the basket." She laughed when she saw Nicki's face droop. "And don't worry Nicki, Barbara will make more for you tonight."

Sergeant Rodriguez never took his eyes off the front door of Essen House. It didn't matter that the queen had ordered him to wait for her here in the square. It didn't matter that the square was less than seventy yards from Essen House. What mattered was that if anything went wrong, if anything happened to the queen, the king was sure to blame him, not Her Majesty.

"Sergeant, that man is acting suspicious."

"What man?" Rodriguez asked.

Sanchez pointed with his chin. "That one. The one across the street with his arms crossed. He's been standing there since we've been in the square, I'm sure of it. He never seems to take his eyes off Essen House."

It was at that moment that the front door to Essen House opened.

"You two go ahead, I'll catch up at the carriage. I forgot something." Nicki turned away as Katy and Maria Anna opened the door. Yes, she felt guilty about palming the cookie from Maria Anna's basket. But they were just so good!

She was taking her second bite when she heard Katy scream.

Pistol. Bedroom. Shit! No time. She grabbed the tennis racquet off the table and charged out the door.

"Shut up, you whore!" Arthur said. "And stop struggling. You're coming back to England with me!" He turned to the woman with the basket in her arms. "And as for you, you American bitch…" He raised his wheellock pistol. A blur from the doorway made him turn and a woman with a cookie in her mouth and some kind of club in her hand came at him. He fired just as the club came down on his arm.

It took less than ten seconds for Sergeant Rodriguez to run from the square, but he was still out of breath when he arrived. "Are you all right, Your Majesty?"

The queen watched the large American woman chase the man down the street. "I'm fine, Sergeant. I don't think the man really intended to attack me. A case of mistaken identity, apparently. And his shot seems to have hit nothing but air."

She looked at the Englishwoman. What was her name? Ah, Boyle, Rogriguez thought.

"Was that your husband, Arthur, you mentioned?"

The Boyle woman nodded.

"Do you wish us to pursue him, Your Majesty?" Rodriguez asked. "I am sure the Brussels militia can find him."

The queen looked at Boyle, who shook her head. "I don't think that will be necessary, Sergeant."

Everyone turned as the American woman came back up the street. She had half a cookie in one hand and a tennis racquet in the other.

"I hit him at least three times, but he just kept running. Damn coward!"

The Boyle woman's eyes narrowed. "Nicki Jo Prickett, where did you get that cookie?"

"Cookie?" The American woman stuffed the remains of the cookie in her mouth. "What cookie?" she mumbled.

Three days. Three days they'd had to wait for the hue and cry to die down before George felt safe to walk the streets of Brussels with Arthur again.

Even a brigade and barony weren't enough to put up with this, as far as George was concerned.

"Over here, Arthur." In the twilight the fog was just beginning to make its way down the streets of Brussels. George pulled Arthur into the alley.

"We've got to get you out of Brussels, Arthur. The militia may not be after you, but there are a lot of people who think very highly of their new queen. Given the stories circulating right now, you'll be much safer in Antwerp."

Arthur hugged his right arm to his chest and nodded. "The damn bitch hit me! Three times! It still hurts like hell."

George covered his smile with his hand. "You're lucky she hit you, Arthur. If you'd shot the queen…" Boyle would have roasted me alive, that's for sure. As it is, there's only one way to make amends with him now.

"Here's enough silver for a month in Antwerp," George said. "I'll follow you there as soon as I can. Now head for the docks. Remember, you're looking for the boat named Santiago's Curse. Your belongings are already on board."

Arthur nodded. " Santiago's Curse. Thank you, George. I'll repay you, I promise."

George pushed him out into the street. "Now, go." He watched Arthur disappear into the fog toward the city's docks. Two shadows detached themselves from the wall as he stumbled past. One followed him.

The other turned toward George Goring. "This will cost you extra," James Fallows said.

"I know," Goring said. "Part payment Arthur has with him. A purse with silver coin. Just make it look like an accident."

"That will be no problem. Plenty of drunks fall in the river during festivals. Especially when we have a fog at night."

Fallows disappeared down the street.

George began to walk back towards the Inn of the Silver Swine.

"Now what is that supposed to mean?" Nicki asked, pointing towards the tableau vivant on their left.

Their carriage had stopped once again and Katherine Boyle waved to the crowds around them. The Joyous Entry of King Fernando and Queen Maria Anna into Brussels had so far been a slow but wonderful pageant and Katherine figured they had only an hour left to go before the procession ended. As usual, the carriages of the higher orders of Brussels society, including the foreign guests like themselves, brought up the rear.

"Oh come on, Nicki. Even you can figure that one out!"

Nicki nodded. "Okay, okay. The big guy in the center has to represent King Fernando. But what's with the hole in the tongue and all the gold chains attached to the women below? Looks pretty kinky if you ask me."

Katy repressed a sigh. She loved Nicki. She loved most of the Americans she had met in Grantville. But for a society built on the foundations of western civilization, their lack of knowledge was truly appalling.

" Typus Herculis Gallici," Katy said. "The man represents Hercules. So Fernando is being depicted as a new Hercules both in terms of mental agility and physical strength. But if you count the number of women, you'll see there are seventeen."

She waited for Nicki to remember, then prompted. "Seventeen?"

Nicki smiled. "Oh! The seventeen provinces of the Netherlands. So the chains represent…" Her forehead creased.

"The need for Fernando to win the loyalty of his new subjects with gentleness and kind words, and not force of arms," Katy said.

" Righhhht." Nicki sat back in the carriage as it lurched forward. "Did you get a chance to speak with Maria Anna about Arthur before the procession?"

"Of course. As far as they can determine, Arthur was drunk. He slipped and fell into the river down by the docks during the night fog two days ago. No evidence of foul play. So George's story checks out."