Master of the Revels

by Nicole Galland

  Each of the others in turn took a moment to greet him: Mortimer called him dude and chucked him on the back, Rebecca was stiffly mothering, Erzsébet complimented herself on her role in helping with his rescue. He and Robin exchanged quick but fierce hugs, since they’d already had their reunion. He did not ask about Frank.

  “Okay, bring me up to speed,” he said.

  “You should debrief one-on-one with Mel first,” said Rebecca. There was something grim in her tone that brooked no argument. “Then check in with the rest of us. It will get messy if we’re all trying to give you our perspectives at the same time. Use Frank’s study. I’ll make you some tea.”

  “Tea?” said Tristan. After a confused moment, he said, almost sheepishly, “Not coffee?”

  “I can make coffee,” she said, businesslike.

  “No,” he said. “When in Rome . . .”

  “Right. Tea, then,” she said, and headed for the kitchen.

  Tristan and I went into the study and closed both doors. Alone, he wrapped his arms around me and gave me a strong, lingering hug. He pushed against me enough that I was anatomically reassured about the nature of his affection for me. Since I had no immediate way of returning the favor, I waited for him to say—as I knew he would—“Are we . . . ?” and then quickly said, “Oh yeah.”

  He pinked a little. “Good. Now let’s get to work.”

  Handwritten letter on fine linen paper

  from His Majesty King James I

  to Philip Herbert, Earl of Montgomery

  My only sweet and dear one,

  The Lord of Heaven send you a sweet and blithe wakening, sweet heart. I pray thee, as thou loves me, accept these diamonds I send to recover yourself from your debt at cards, which I hope shall save you a good deal of money. And now, my sweet gossip, I must give you a short account of my yestereve and yesternight that you have missed. I was for the whole of the afternoon shut up in conference with the Right Reverend Lancelot Andrewes, who is nearing completion of his translation of the Bible. I requested that he dedicate it to you, sweet baby, but he insists he must name it after me.

  Towards sunset, I was treated to a most welcome diversion. I saw performed by the King’s Men, in my cousin’s Banqueting Hall, the Scottish play of Mr Shakespeare’s, the anticipation of which has been a delight of gossip, as you know. It was the queerest thing I have ever seen onstage, but I dearly enjoyed the spectacle, especially the witches, which were the source of great entertainment and nothing like real witches, except in their costume and demeanour. As we were exchanging courtesies and compliments with the players after, there was a disturbance the details of which I wot not, and we returned in great haste to the royal wing, where we enjoyed a great deal of wine and dried fruits, and a jig performed especially for us by the comedian Robert Armin. He was joined in his exertions by a Yeoman of the Queen’s Guard, who by a most remarkable chance has also been a player with the company.

  My enjoyment was marred only by receiving a message very late last night from my Master of the Revels, who has abruptly and without explanation resigned his office. The Queen is beside herself with disappointment at his selfishness, for there is a masque due to be staged soon.

  And thus God send me a joyful and happy meeting with my dear boy in my arms tomorrow.

  James Rex

  From Whitehall Palace, 29 April 1606

  Journal Entry of

  Rebecca East-Oda

  MARCH 16

  Temperature 39F, cloudy, barometer steady.

  Mei and the girls will be arriving tomorrow to help with the memorial service.

  It took me three minutes to type that sentence.

  Robin is managing all right—quite well, in fact, for a young woman with no training for what she just accomplished. I’m sure she is grieving. And I don’t even know how to talk about Tristan’s . . . immersion? Re-immersion? In the other Strand, he had not proposed the East House Trust real estate expansion (or, as Mel referred to it several times in a self-mocking tone, the Rogue-DODO love nest)—but he has been gung-ho and we’re about to close on it.

  Erzsébet’s számológép advised us that Mel should go back on one more Strand. She went on the 4th of March, and per all her previous Strands, we expected her to return between the 8th of March and the 10th. Here it is a week later, and she’s still gone. Tristan has pretty much moved into the living room, sleeping on the couch, to make sure he’s here when she gets Homed.

  I remember Arturo Quince from DODO. He was hardheaded, and sometimes hotheaded, and we now know that he believes Mel to be a traitor to her country (how ironic) . . . but he was a decent, upright fellow. We must trust that even if she’s gotten into trouble in his hands there, his only concern will be accomplishing his DEDE. He would never do anything untoward to her.

  Would he?

  FINAL LETTER FROM

  GRÁINNE to CARA SAMUELS

  County Dublin, After Easter 1606

  Auspiciousness and prosperity to you, my friend!

  As I have been writing of these matters here, I have also spent time enough with you four hundred years hence. I am confident of your character.

  In these pages have I laid out what my goal must be and why; the diverse ways I endeavour to achieve it; and what (and who!) my obstacles, which would be easier to overcome had I a friend to work with. You, Caralia, must be that friend. Not only is your magic excellent, but your connections in the modern world give you tremendous power. I pray you, regard the Fuggers as I do DODO. Use their resources for your (our!) ends while they believe themselves to be employing you for their own. They have stationed you so perfectly for it!

  Confident enough I am of you that, when the ink has dried upon this sheet, I’ll take all that I have written since I met you, glue it into a large sleeve of vellum for protection, and then carry it to the heart of this new university the English have been constructing in Dublin, name of Trinity. I never thought a college would be of use to one such as me, but here’s a fine way to employ this one! I shall arrange to have my letter nailed up into some university wainscoting.

  Because I’m not a trusting eejit, however, I will be placing it in the wainscoting of Leenane House, which does not survive until the present day. So you cannot blithely sally over to Dublin in the modern day to retrieve it and then show it to the Blevins or the Fuggers. As I shall tell you in person when I see you next, you must go back in time to find this and then leave it lie, as inanimate objects are incapable of diachronic travel. If you’re intrepid and curious enough, you’ll do this, and the next time we meet in modern Cambridge, sure I’ll know by the glint in your eye.

  But ’tis possible you’ll read it and yet I won’t be around to see your glint. For I’ve learned a great deal over these past few months, and now I shall be acting on all I’ve learned. ’Tis the little deeds (and DEDEs) that are to be endeavoured, while grandiose schemes are best left undone. For even though the Tuscan DEDE was a success, the slave girl Dana was, as we know from DOer Chira’s report, taken out of circulation—yet still Leonardo managed to get himself born, curse him. ’Tis right there in the history books, only now they have him born of a peasant girl and not a slave at all. So Leonardo’s clearly destined to appear upon this planet, and I’ll waste no more time battling the cosmos over him. Perhaps my greatest learning from all this is that ambition can creep as well as soar. Creeping is less easily detectable than soaring.

  So it’s one wee DEDE at a time I’ll be attempting now on, and I’m not finished with Berkowski yet. Hell-bent I am, on preventing that feckin’ solar eclipse photograph from ever being taken, for ’tis the first step to undo all of photography, backwards. I’m still chuffed with my particular scheme of moving the Royal Observatory out of the path of totality. ’Twould have been handily managed via the Mosaic Gambit, if only that poxy Mel had not interfered so in Roman Sicily.

  But to look at misfortune is a useful thing for learning and improvement. In this case, I know precisely what the problem is, and that p
roblem’s name is Melisande Stokes. She is going back there for another Strand, as surely as I write these words.

  I won’t be Sending Arturo Quince again.

  This time, I’ll go myself.

  The End

  Acknowledgments

  Above all, a special thanks to Neal Stephenson. Of course. Both for trusting me to keep the story going and also for nudging me in the right direction when nudging was required.

  As always, I’m so grateful to my agent, Liz Darhansoff, and my editor, Jennifer Brehl—I am lucky to have you both in my corner. Thanks also to everyone involved in the designing, marketing, and selling of my books. Of all books! (Or most, anyhow.) What a noble and resilient industry you represent.

  For their time and expertise, I am grateful to: Alec Stoll, Flip Tanner, Andrew Riggsby, Linnea Coffin, Alan & Maureen Crumpler, Laurence Bouvard, Giuseppe Taibi, Brandon Soozo, and Diane & Andrea Venturini.

  I am grateful to my longtime early readers, Brian Caspe and Eowyn Mader, whose critiques, as always, were incredibly helpful (even when I argued with you).

  For helping me hash out ideas, or at least prevent me from bashing my head too hard against the nearest wall, thanks to: Dan Sheldon, Jefferson Goethals, Ned Gulley, George Fifield, Sam Korn . . . and, above all, the funniest Shakespeare geek/problem-solver I have the privilege to know, Austin Tichenor.

  The fight scenes in this book were plotted out by the inimitable combat consultant Scott Barrow (abetted bodily and spiritually by Mac Young, Brian Ditchfield, and Amy Sabin Barrow). If you’re aiming to be crucified, Scott’s your man.

  Finally, as ever, I give thanks for the Gorgeous Group: Kate Feiffer, Jamie Kagleiry, Laura Roosevelt, Cathy Walthers, Lara O’Brien, Melissa Hackney, and Nancy Aronie.

  I write this in lockdown, far away from my desk; I’ve compiled my thank-you list from memory, without notes, and I apologize to anyone who knows they deserve to be mentioned but has not been. (We’ll fix it in the next printing!)

  Cast of Characters

  WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

  (* = historical figure)

  Twenty-first-century Cambridge, MA

  Tristan Lyons, founder of DODO and now leader of Rogue-DODO

  Robin Lyons, his sister

  Dr. Melisande Stokes, historical linguist; Tristan’s first recruit to DODO

  Dr. Frank Oda, physicist and ODEC creator; husband of Rebecca East-Oda

  Rebecca East-Oda, his wife; a witch

  Erzsébet Karpathy, a Hungarian witch

  Mortimer Shore, systems administrator, swordsman, and general geek at Rogue-DODO

  Gráinne, Irish witch from seventeenth century now working for DODO in twenty-first century

  Dr. Roger Blevins, head of DODO

  Chira Yasin Lajani, DOer, Lover class; mole for Rogue-DODO

  Dhakir, her brother (offstage)

  Aliye, her sister (offstage)

  Lieutenant General Octavian Frink, Director of National Intelligence and Blevins’s boss at DODO

  Dr. Constantine Rudge, head of IARPA, advisor to DODO, and intimate of the Fuggers

  Julie Lee, classical oboist, Rogue-DODO agent, and witch (offstage)

  Felix Dorn, former DOer, Strider class, now Rogue-DODO agent (offstage)

  Dr. Esme Overkleeft, former DOer, Sage class, now Rogue-DODO agent (offstage)

  Mei East-Oda, daughter of Frank and Rebecca (offstage)

  Sundry DOSECOPS and Secret Service officers

  Cara Samuels, witch in collusion with the Fugger Bank (offstage, but very present)

  Arturo Quince, DOer, MacGyver/Closer class

  Tony Bianco, DOer, Forerunner class, code name Angelo (offstage)

  Frederick Fugger, a man of business

  Yamamoto Akifumi, his bodyguard

  Diego Gabriel, DOer, Forerunner class (offstage)

  Lauren Abernathy, HOSMA, socio-cultural historian (offstage)

  Marcello Lombardo, HOSMA, Renaissance language specialist (offstage)

  Peter Salvino, HOSMA, wilderness survival specialist (offstage)

  Bill Morrow, HOSMA, violence specialist (offstage)

  Dr. Paul Livermore, Director of Psychiatric and Mental Fitness, DODO

  Dr. Larinda Schroeder, PTSD specialist, DODO

  NMS, Roger Blevins’s personal assistant (virtual)

  Chris Burton, RN, DODO nurse (offstage)

  1640 Cambridge, America

  Goody Mary Fitch, a witch

  Goody Brown, neighbor to Goody Fitch

  Ann Brown, her daughter

  1606 London

  *Edmund Tilney, Master of the Revels

  *King James I

  *Queen Anne

  *Guy Fawkes, Gunpowder Plot conspirator

  *Thomas Knyvett, English baron

  *Edmund Doubleday, English politician

  *Christophe Mountjoy, landlord

  *Marie Mountjoy, his wife

  *Emilia Lanier, noblewoman

  *William Shakespeare, playwright

  *Edmund (Ned) Shakespeare, his brother

  *Richard Burbage, actor

  *Cuthbert Burbage, producer (offstage)

  *John Lowin, actor

  *Robert Armin, actor

  *Henry (Hal) Condell, actor and company manager

  *John Heminge, actor

  *Hal Berridge, boy actor

  *Edmund Knight, prompter

  *Sundry other actors

  Andrew North, actor

  Rose, an English witch

  Landlord of the Mitre Tavern

  Athanasius Fugger, banker (offstage)

  Sundry Yeoman Guards at Whitehall Palace

  Sundry wherrymen on the River Thames

  Sundry messengers, clerks, players, stagehands, officials, and nobility working in or visiting the Office of the Revels

  Sundry patrons at sundry taverns in London and Southwark

  *Ben Jonson, playwright

  *Inigo Jones, architect and theatrical designer

  Music master in the Revels Office

  Harry, a constable

  *George Weale, Clerk of Works for Whitehall Palace

  Fr Peter Boroughs, inquisitor

  *George Buck, presumptive future Master of the Revels Office (offstage)

  *Thomas Howard, Lord Chamberlain (offstage)

  *Philip Herbert, Baron of Shurland (offstage)

  *Earl of Pembroke, his brother (offstage)

  *Sundry members of the Stationers’ Company (offstage)

  1397 Florence

  Dana, young Tartan slave

  Matteo del Dolce, wealthy wool merchant

  Agnola Battista, his wife

  Piero Lapi, her cousin

  Giovanni, wagoner and Dulcinite

  Lucia, a witch

  Watchman at the Via Roma gate

  Signore Iacopo Moschardi, butcher

  Lena Moschardi, his wife

  Paolo Uccello, artist (offstage)

  Bartolomeo Corsini, patrician (offstage)

  309 CE Sicily

  Marcus Livius Saturninus, Roman patrician

  Livia, his elder daughter; a witch

  Julia, her sister

  Arria, an attendant

  Thalia, an attendant

  Rufus, a slave

  Hanno Gisgon, master mosaicist from Carthage

  Vilicus, steward

  Tutor to the girls

  Servants and officers of the villa

  Marcus, wagoner

  Soldier (unnamed), witness to Diachronic Shear

  *Constantine, eventual emperor (offstage)

  1450 Kyoto

  Seiko, a witch

  Her husband

  Shinto priest

  *Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Shogun (offstage)

  Eighteenth-century England

  *Edward Jenner, creator of smallpox vaccine (offstage)

  1851 Prussia

  *Charles Berkowski, photographer (offstage)

  Glossary

  Acronyms

  ATTO

&nbs
p; Ambient Temperature Tactical ODEC

  DEDE

  Direct Engagement for Diachronic Effect

  DODO

  Department of Diachronic Operations

  DOer

  Diachronic Operative

  DOSECOPS

  Diachronic Operations Security Operations

  DTAP

  Destination Time and Place

  HOSMA

  Historical Operations Subject Matter Authority

  IARPA

  Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency

  KCW

  Known Compliant Witch

  ODEC

  Ontic Decoherence Cavity

  ODIN

  Operational DODO Intranet

  PEP

  Performance Enhancement Plan

  QUIPU

  Quantum Information Processing Unit

  UDET

  Unity of DOer-Experienced Time

  Terms

  áireamhán

  Irish name for broom-quipu object used like abacus by witches

  Anachron

  historical person brought forward in time to modern day

  Diachronic Shear

  infernal, catastrophic response of the universe to too-extreme changes being wrought as a result of diachronic activity

  GRIMNIR

  neo-ragtag successor to ODIN; not an acronym

  Strand

  parallel universe

  számológép

  Hungarian name for quipu-like object used like abacus by witches

  Wending

  witch practice/superpower of jumping sideways between Strands

  About the Author

  NICOLE GALLAND is, with Neal Stephenson, the author of The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., a New York Times bestseller. She is the author of five historical novels: The Fool’s Tale; Revenge of the Rose; Crossed; I, Iago; and Godiva. She has also written two comedic novels—Stepdog and On the Same Page—and pens a humorous advice column for the Martha’s Vineyard Times. Galland is one of the seven coauthors of the Mongoliad Trilogy. She is a lifelong Shakespeare nerd and an occasional stage director. At the time of publication, she is living in Ireland, but don’t hold her to that.