‘Wait,’ I whispered, hanging onto his sleeve. ‘Stay with me here a while longer. The princess will not turn you away.’ I saw his uncertainty, and begged, not wishing to lose touch with my brother so soon after fate had pushed us together again, ‘Please?’
William smiled. ‘Very well, Meg. If her ladyship is kind enough to permit it, I will stay until I am no longer of any help to you.’
The Lady Elizabeth turned to us. ‘Señor de Castillo is going to play some Spanish songs for us while we take a small luncheon under this tree. Come and sit by me, Meg. I had a strange dream last night and wish you to interpret it for me.’ Her dark gaze flickered over William with sudden interest. ‘This is your brother, is it not? I have seen him about the house, but do not believe we have been introduced.’
I introduced them with a curtsey, watching hopefully from under my lashes as he bowed over her pale hand and made a few flattering remarks about her beauty. Elizabeth liked young men, especially those with a neat figure and a handsome face like my brother. And if William was lucky, the princess would not remember his part in the theft of her letter.
We sat on the grass together, protected from the damp by cushions and blankets that had been strewn about there. The baskets were uncovered to reveal delicious cold meats and pies, with a tankard of local ale to be shared between us, the Lady Elizabeth joining in thirstily as the cup went round and wiping her mouth on the back of her hand afterwards, like any other girl.
Later, while we picked drowsily at dishes of sweetmeats, Alejandro stood in the spreading shade of the oak and played the lute for us.
He began with a well-known tune from court, a lively dance that soon had Alice’s feet tapping.
‘Now sing to us in Spanish, por favor, Señor de Castillo,’ was the Lady Elizabeth’s request, applauding him with pleasure. ‘But make it a love song this time. And a sad one. I am too full of eel pie for dancing.’
‘A Spanish love song,’ he repeated musingly.
‘But a sad one,’ she reminded him, smiling. ‘A song of parted lovers and aching hearts.’
‘Muy bien, mi princesa.’
His dark head bent over the lute strings, his fingers strumming gently as he considered what to play. Then Alejandro began to sing softly in Spanish. I did not know what the words meant, but his voice was so sad and tender my eyes soon filled with tears and I lay back on my cushion, my fingers knotting themselves helplessly in the grass as I listened.
Alejandro lifted his head and looked straight at me as the song came to a close, his voice dropping to a husky murmur, the Spanish barely audible. Yet the sense of his words was communicated by his eyes and fingers, and by the achingly mellow notes of the lute.
I love you, he was saying with his whole body, but I know we can never be together. His fingers slowed on the lute strings, each note drawn out, poignant. I love you, though our love must end.
Alejandro’s gaze darkened, his eyes staring into mine. His voice rose and fell for the last time. I love you, but death will soon part us.
In the long silence after his song had finished, I slowly became aware of the rhythmic thud of hoof beats in the distance. One horseman, approaching at a breakneck pace from the road to London. Nor was I the only one who had heard him.
My brother was already on his feet, shielding his eyes against the sunlight as he tried to make out the horseman’s identity.
‘Who is it?’ the Lady Elizabeth whispered, suddenly very still, a hand to her throat. No doubt she thought this might be another accusation of treason on its way. Or else that miraculous news she never quite dared hope for, that her sister was dead and she was Queen at last.
‘I cannot see, my lady. A single rider. But he will soon be upon us. Do you wish to return to the house for safety?’
Alejandro had laid down his lute. Now he trod swiftly forward as though to guard us from attack, his hand falling to his sword hilt. His gaze met mine briefly, then he swung to face the approaching danger.
‘Yes,’ Elizabeth muttered, letting Alice help her to rise, then stood there indecisive, measuring the distance from the lawn to the house with an uncertain eye. Her voice grew stronger. ‘No, no. I shall not flee from a lone messenger. Let the dice fall where they may. I am the Queen’s sister and I have done nothing wrong.’
The horseman came into clearer view, kicking up sods of turf as he galloped hard along the grassy track. He looked like a young man, his body bent low over the horse’s neck, cloak billowing out behind him like a black cloud, the reins held short as he wrenched the horse off the track and towards where we were standing.
‘Whatever message he bears is urgent,’ Alejandro commented, ‘or he would not risk killing his horse to deliver it.’
Dragging hard on the reins, the young man pulled his sweating horse to a stop and slid from the animal’s back. He took one swift assessing look at us all, his gaze touching on me a moment longer than the others, then dropped to one knee before the Lady Elizabeth.
‘My lady,’ he said hoarsely, ‘I come with a letter from Master John Dee. It has been written in code, but my master says you will understand what it means.’
Her face very pale, Elizabeth took the letter he was holding out in his gloved hand. She handed it to me, then carefully removed a small scrap of paper from the leather pocket hanging from her belt. This she unfolded, then took back the letter from Dee. Glancing from one to the other as she checked the code key against Dee’s writing, her body stiffened as she read. When she had finished, she looked down at the kneeling messenger. ‘You are Richard, apprentice to Master Dee?’
‘I am, my lady.’
‘If I have understood this letter aright, your master says he has been released from prison and means to visit me here. Where is he at this moment, and how long does he intend to stay?’
The young man glanced at the rest of us, not replying.
Surprised, she glanced round at us too, her gaze lingering a moment on my brother William, then gestured him to continue. ‘These are members of my household. You may speak freely before them.’
‘Yes, my lady,’ he muttered, but did not bother to hide his reluctance. ‘Master Dee intends to leave London tomorrow. He has been released only on the agreement that he will take up work on behalf of the crown, though I do not know what that work might be. So he will not stay long, perhaps a few days. My master told me he would travel mainly by night, taking the back roads and making several diversions to shake off any of the Queen’s spies who might be following him. By my reckoning, he should arrive by Thursday.’
‘Three days?’ Elizabeth sounded surprised. But she nodded, folding Dee’s letter very small and concealing it within her belt purse. ‘You may stand, Richard. Do you know the contents of this letter?’
Dee’s apprentice stood up, dusting down his knee with his gloved hand. He was not as tall as he had seemed on his horse. He was perhaps a head shorter than Alejandro, and far leaner too, his build wiry but muscular, like a hunting hound. Dressed all in black, his clothes were mud-spattered from the road and serviceable rather than well-cut, an indication of his status as an apprentice. I guessed him to be around eighteen or nineteen years of age, a slight stubble on his chin revealing that he had not shaved that day. He had not removed his cap in the princess’s presence, which I felt was an act of insolence, but could see that his hair was dark and unkempt, curling at the back into his shoulders like a beggar’s.
Richard was not unattractive, I thought, yet there was something about him that made me uneasy. And it was not just his rough appearance. His mouth was straight and unsmiling as he looked back at the princess.
‘I do, my lady.’
She smiled, not angry as I had expected, but seeming to want to cajole him. ‘Come, Richard. Is it such a hardship to join my household until your master arrives?’
So Master Dee had asked the Lady Elizabeth to accept this young man into her service. I was taken aback, and looked him over more carefully. Certainly he would not be hire
d for his charm. Richard said nothing in reply but held her gaze flatly, amazing me with his churlishness. But perhaps as apprentice to a man like Dee, who lurched from being in great company to being an outcast and a prisoner, he was unused to courtly manners.
At this point, Alejandro stepped forward to intervene. I could not remember ever seeing him look so cold with dislike.
‘Here, boy, allow me to show you the way to the stables,’ he said pointedly, taking up the horse’s slack reins. ‘Your mount is tired, and in need of fresh water and hay. William has been sleeping above the stables. Perhaps we can find you a bed there too.’
Dee’s apprentice stared at him, then held out his hand for the reins. ‘I can lead my own horse to the stables. Yes, and make my own bed too.’
Shrugging, his face full of disdain, Alejandro handed him the reins. ‘As you prefer.’
Not moving, Richard met his gaze with a hard look of his own. ‘You must be the Spanish priest.’
If Alejandro was surprised by this, he did not show it. But his back was stiff, and I could tell that he was angered by the boy’s lack of respect. ‘My name is Alejandro de Castillo, and I am a novice in the Holy Order of Santiago de Compostela.’
‘Yes, like I said.’ He glanced over his shoulder at me, then turned back to Alejandro. I had the suspicion he was mocking us. ‘My master told me of you. Before I left London, he gave me a message for you.’
‘A message? What possible message could John Dee have for me?’
‘Only that your life is in danger,’ Richard replied shortly, then bowed to the princess and turned to lead his horse to the stables.
‘Is that all?’ Alejandro threw after him with a sceptical laugh. ‘I thank you for the warning, and shall be sure to sleep with a dagger under my pillow from now on.’
As Richard walked away, I saw for the first time that he was limping. Badly too, as though one leg was considerably shorter than the other. Alice had noticed his limp too and was crossing herself to ward off evil, for like many folk she feared that an imperfect body must be a sign of the Devil’s favour. For my own part, I did not think it a sign of anything but some misfortune in the past.
On the other hand, Richard was certainly rude and surly enough to be a servant of the Devil. But was his message from John Dee true? Could Alejandro’s life be in danger?
TWELVE
Dark of the Moon
Master John Dee himself arrived, as promised by his apprentice, on Thursday evening at dusk. He came disguised as a travelling tinker, his pony’s sides clanking with pots and pans, his cloak patched and stinking of horse droppings, and with what appeared to be a dead badger strapped to his head. Calling at the back door with samples of his wares, he was taken in that way by a fascinated Bessie, and news of his arrival carried up to the princess by Alice while he rested by the kitchen fire.
William was sent down to smuggle John Dee and his apprentice across the darkening lawns to a place where the astrologer could stay unseen at Hatfield – a rough low hut about a quarter of a mile from the house, hidden amongst trees in an abrupt dip said to be the site of an old midden, or rubbish heap. Bessie had recommended it as a hiding place, not knowing the identity of this silent tinker, but eager to help her royal mistress to conceal him. I believe the hut had been built to house goatherds, when there were still goats kept around there, but the place had been long since abandoned and left to rot.
‘I cannot allow Dee to be recognized while he is staying here,’ the princess muttered, pacing her chamber while she waited to be given the signal that all was quiet below. ‘No one would believe any meeting between us to be innocent.’
Since their meeting was far from innocent, I found this amusing. I bent my head to hide my smile though. The Lady Elizabeth had no sense of humour where her sister was concerned.
‘It is imperative that I consult with Master Dee while he is here, but we must be careful,’ she insisted, perhaps guessing my thoughts. ‘I am not sure how far we can trust the servants, though I believe old John’s two daughters are loyal to me and not the Queen. But my sister’s spies watch us even here at Hatfield. I feel their eyes on me every time I set foot outside the house.’
Once night had fallen, the Lady Elizabeth carefully wrapped herself in a hooded cloak, and went to see the astrologer.
Alice and I accompanied her through the shadowy grounds, with Alejandro as our guard and lookout. In case the house was being watched, we left by the back door and walked in darkness to the edge of the trees. Then Alejandro produced a tinderbox from under his cloak, lit the lantern for us, and we continued on into the woods.
It was the dark of the moon, when the nights are at their blackest, and the thin light of our lantern showed little but a circle of scrubground beneath our feet. My senses prickled as we came closer to Dee’s hiding place. The ground suddenly sloped away there, steep and pitted with rocks, and the princess clutched at my arm for balance. The swaying light of the lantern touched on a hawthorn growing aslant on the slope, the faeries’ tree under which no man should fall asleep for fear of being taken. I took care not to touch it, but Elizabeth’s fingers brushed its leaves quite deliberately, the tree rustling beneath her touch, and I suddenly recalled that the hawthorn was associated with the house of Tudor.
There was a flicker in the darkness, then a door creaked open and I saw the goatherds’ hut right before us, a ramshackle building with ancient leaning timbers and mud walls. Dee’s apprentice stood in the doorway. Behind him a small fire smoked in the centre of the hut.
‘My lady,’ Richard muttered, and stepped aside for her to enter. He met my gaze as I followed the princess inside, and I wondered what I had done to offend him, his eyes were so hard.
Dee was waiting for us behind a roughly-made table, his head bent as he pored over an open book. He had removed his disguise and washed the dirt from his face and hands, but although the false beard and hair had gone, there was still a goatish stench about him. Or it could have been the hut’s previous occupants we could smell. I said nothing but wrinkled my nose, and saw Alice doing the same.
The astrologer closed his book and came forward to greet the Lady Elizabeth, bowing deeply.
‘I thank you for agreeing to see me, my lady,’ he murmured. ‘I did not wish to endanger you, given my recent incarceration at the Fleet, but I believe my visit here may be vital to your safety and to the future of England.’
‘Indeed?’ Elizabeth asked coldly, and I knew she was angry at having been put at such risk by his visit. Nonetheless, her powerful desire to know if and when she would ascend the throne was still stronger than her fear of discovery.
Dee gestured her to a low stool. ‘I am afraid this is the only seat in the place. The others must stand or wait outside, for there is little room to sit on the ground.’ His curious gaze dismissed Alice as unimportant, but hesitated on my face before moving to Alejandro. ‘Ah, the young Spaniard.’
‘Sir,’ Alejandro said stiffly.
‘My boy Richard tells me you did not much care for my message.’
‘I did not believe it, sir.’
Dee raised his brows in mild surprise. ‘Really? I was told of your death by a most reliable spirit, and that it would come soon. Or rather, that you would surely die if certain conditions were not met.’
My skin was cold. I saw Alejandro about to remonstrate with him and interrupted, ‘What were these conditions, Master Dee?’
Dee smiled, turning to me at once. ‘Nothing you could alter by knowing them, and indeed to know them might prove dangerous. It is good to see you again, Meg Lytton, though I could have wished for a more congenial setting. So much power, so much potential . . .’ As he had done before, he took my hands, turning them over again to trace the lines on my palm. His gaze lingered on my finger, where the nail had been ripped away by Miguel de Pero. The torn skin had healed but was still discoloured, the fingertip a dull purplish red. ‘What happened here?’
‘The Inquisition,’ I murmured.
> ‘I see.’ Alejandro moved instinctively to my side, as though furious that the astrologer had dared to touch me, and Master Dee dropped my hands. ‘This young man is your protector?’
I could not at first reply. How to answer Dee truthfully without revealing our betrothal to everyone there?
Something in me balked at the thought of the Lady Elizabeth and her whole household knowing our private business, not least because I knew it would displease the princess to discover that her priest had fallen in love with one of her ladies. She might tease me at times about Alejandro’s attentiveness, but I guessed she found him quite attractive herself. Besides which, the princess made no secret of the fact that she preferred her female attendants to remain chaste like her – and uninterested in marriage.
I said at last, ‘It’s not like that,’ and caught a gleam of mockery in the eyes of his watchful apprentice. Damn him! But the anger had cleared my head, and I answered more confidently, ‘Señor de Castillo is a soldier, as well as a novice. He protects us all.’
‘Señor, would you watch the door for us outside? We must not be disturbed,’ Elizabeth asked.
Alejandro bowed and left the hut without speaking, closing the door behind him quietly. But I had seen his hand clenched on the hilt of his sword, and knew how angry he was. Not being one to believe in this talk of spirits and stars, he probably thought John Dee was simply trying to scare us and make himself look more formidable as an astrologer. And perhaps it was safer for now if Alejandro held onto that belief, for his faith was like a great light shining in this darkness.
Elizabeth turned back to Dee, a deep concern in her face. ‘This is most worrying. I need Señor de Castillo by my side. He is a necessary barrier between me and my sister, and I would not lose his strength for all the world. What can be done to prevent this death, Master Dee?’
Apologetically, Dee spread his pale hands wide. ‘I cannot say for sure, my lady. The spirit was not at all clear in his message. But he did suggest that a sacrifice would be required if the Spaniard is to live.’
Witchfall Page 15
