Silent Court (14 page)

When the silence was about to degenerate into a hiss of mutterings and shiftings, Hern stepped forward. A torch in front of him sprang spontaneously to life and illuminated his face from below, giving it sinister hollows and highlights that it did not usually possess. Having gained their attention, he waited again, and again judged the perfect psychological moment, when their nerves were twanging at their utmost, but before the nervous laughter could begin.

‘Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,’ he boomed, throwing his arms wide. ‘And thank you, Dr Dee, for your hospitality tonight. My band of Egyptians has fed royally and won’t need to pick a pocket or steal a fowl for a day or two. What do you say, boys?’

A gaggle of children broke cover from under the stage, juggling with purses and bags which all looked familiar to the crowd, because it was from them that the children had lifted them not half an hour before. An angry muttering started, stilled by Hern.

‘Give them back, my lovelies, give them back and with no less in them than you found there.’

As the audience looked into their purses, which had contained little enough before, each one let loose a pure white butterfly, which flapped into the air and disappeared into the dark sky. They followed their flight with eyes and mouths wide with amazement.

‘A very nice touch,’ Dee muttered to Helene. ‘How did they do that, do you think?’

‘Wires,’ Bowes said, definitely. ‘Wires, has to be.’

‘Thank you, Samuel,’ Dee said. ‘Why is it that you always come up with the most difficult answer? Would magic not be easier than a dozen wires, so fine that they cannot be seen or felt? But, hush, there is more.’

Hern had moved to one side and Balthasar had appeared at the other side of the stage, blindfolded and led by Maria. ‘Now,’ Hern said, ‘I introduce to you Balthasar, who can see into the innermost mind of man. Do not try to keep a secret, ladies and gentlemen, because the more you think of keeping it, the stronger the message will come into your mind. And Balthasar will pluck it from there and will display it to the world. So be careful what you think of. Eloise will guide him along the line and he will tell you your innermost thoughts. Are you all ready?’

He looked at the crowd and saw that most people were nodding. Dee was sitting with an amused look on his face, Edward Kelly was leaning against the door jamb, back inside the porch, half hidden from view and Helene was staring intently at Marlowe where he was standing at the side of the stage with the others, trying to blend in. They were ready, he could tell.

‘Eloise? Is Balthasar ready?’ The woman whispered in his ear and turned to Hern and nodded. ‘Then, lead the soothsayer among us. See what he can find in the depths of men’s minds.’

Holding Balthasar by the hand, the woman led him to the end of the line and began to walk slowly along. Balthasar’s eyes were bound with many layers of thick multicoloured cloth and he looked down at the ground. A disbeliever, a groom currently unemployed thanks to the rental of the big house, jumped to his feet and threw a punch at Balthasar’s face, pulling it at the last minute and the Egyptian didn’t even flinch. The man turned to the rest of the audience and made a gesture to Balthasar, waving his hand in front of his own eyes. Clearly, he could see nothing.

‘There is a mind here full of a man,’ Balthasar suddenly cried, with his arm in front of him. No one moved as he inched along the row, feeling with his fingers, but not quite touching anyone. When he got to the cook, his hand darted forward and pressed down on the top of her head. She made an indignant noise and then spoke up.

‘I am a respectable woman, I’ll have you know,’ she said, shaking him off. ‘Widowed these many years. Men indeed! What would I want with a man?’

Balthasar spoke to the crowd. ‘What she wants to do with a man is not for the ears of our children. I will whisper in her ear and then you can see if I have divined her thoughts correctly.’ He leant forward and spoke quietly to the cook. The crowd didn’t make a sound, hoping to hear a salacious comment but his voice was too low.

Suddenly, the cook got to her feet like a mountain surging out of the sea and slapped Balthasar’s face. Without a word, she turned for the house, overturning her chair and dashed, head down, for the door. Seeing Edward Kelly there, she stopped, then fetching him a ringing slap as well, ran into the house and slammed the door.

The audience went wild and the laughter rang and echoed through the courtyard. Dee leaned over to Bowes. ‘Wires?’ he asked, with a twinkle in his eye.

‘Not hard to work out, Master,’ Bowes said. ‘We all know what she would like to do with Edward Kelly.’

‘What she has done many times with Edward Kelly,’ Helene added, from Dee’s other side. ‘He has… unusual tastes, or so I hear.’

Dee gave her a calculating look but decided that the show was the thing. Time enough to winkle the truth out later. Balthasar was still making his way along the line, and the laughter followed him, although sometimes it was more than a little forced. With his impeccable timing, Hern stopped the show before the idea got stale and called for applause for the Amazing Balthasar, who swept off his blindfold and bowed low. He and Eloise ran round behind the stage, to get ready for their next performances. The Egyptians didn’t waste a single person – they all had more than one trick up their sleeve.

‘Well done with the cook, Eloise,’ Balthasar said.

‘Not difficult to see, that one,’ she said. ‘She had a guilty conscience a mile wide and jumped out of her seat when you spoke. But how did you know what to whisper?’

‘Also not too difficult,’ he said. ‘I know Edward Kelly and his little ways. Know that, and the rest is easy.’

On the stage, the children were lined up in order of size. The only ones missing were the two who couldn’t yet walk without falling over every other step. As soon as they could be relied upon to walk round an audience with a collecting hat, they would be put to work. But for now they were asleep behind the stage, being watched by anyone who was not actually performing. Marlowe wondered how they could sleep with so much going on; in fact, they couldn’t sleep when it was quiet.

First, the tallest child, still only about twelve years old, climbed up on to Frederico’s shoulders. Then Simon stood alongside Frederico and invited the next in size on to his shoulders. At a couple of inches taller than Simon, Hern came next and linked arms with Simon and the next tallest child took a run up and jumped aboard, springing off Hern’s knee. The next two children made the next level and finally Balthasar threw little Starshine into the air where, after a somersault, she landed on the shoulders of those two. The audience went wild and wilder still when Simon braced himself and took the weight of Hern and Frederico on their linked arms at both sides.

‘Very interesting,’ Dee said to Helene, ‘but when will we see magic? As yet, I have seen nothing but common tumbling and common sense.’

‘I’m sure they are building up to it,’ Helene said. ‘Look – what is happening now?’

One of the mid-sized children, who Marlowe had learned was called Bracket, had appeared in the middle of the stage, with a snake wrapped around one arm. A large jar was brought on stage and Hern picked up the boy and put him in it, sealing it with an enormous cork at the top. Then Simon jumped on to the stage from the other side with a huge mallet in his hands and, taking a mighty swing, smashed the jar to smithereens. There was a gasp from the crowd as the snake slithered out of the shards to be caught by Hern. But of Bracket, there was no sign. Some people sitting against the wall of the house crossed themselves surreptitiously. Others closed their eyes and muttered prayers. Dee nodded sagely, but muttered, ‘Conjuring. No more, no less,’ to his wife. But even he was surprised when Bracket popped out from under his chair, sketched a bow to Helene and ran up to Hern to reclaim his snake.

And so the show went on, with firecrackers, flaming hoops through which the men threw the children, curled into tight balls, juggling with knives and Frederico’s sword-swallowing and fire-eating act. But finally, Hern walked solemnly on to the stage and waited for silence.

‘Thank you, ladies and gentlemen,’ he said. ‘I hope you have enjoyed our show. We have certainly enjoyed entertaining you in this lovely setting and, thanks to the generosity of Dr Dee, we will not need to pass the hat.’

This was met with a storm of applause which Dee acknowledged with a small bow.

‘Although,’ Hern added, ‘the hat will be on the edge of the stage, should anyone feel like adding a few groats to it as they go out.’ In the silence which met that statement, it was possible to hear the plink of the stones of the courtyard cooling now that all the torches were out. Finally, the audience realized that they would not be getting any more and started gathering their things together to leave and in a very short while, the courtyard was empty, save for Dee, Hern, Balthasar and Marlowe.

‘Well, gentlemen,’ Dee said. ‘Thank you for a wonderful evening’s entertainment. It was certainly the best night that this old house has seen for a while, I should imagine. But where is the real magick?’

‘You saw Bracket disappear,’ Hern said.

‘I saw a child appear to disappear,’ Dee said. ‘I saw some things from a distance and in dim light. I saw sleight of hand, I saw clever conjuring. Come in to my house now, now that all is quiet, and we will show each other magick.’

Hern glanced at Balthasar. ‘Are you ready to show Dr Dee a secret?’ he asked.

‘I will show him a secret, willingly,’ Balthasar said. ‘But I will not explain to him how it is done. He will have to work it out for himself.’

‘That sounds fair,’ Dee said. ‘Where do you prefer to work, Master Gerard?’

‘Balthasar, please,’ the Egyptian said. ‘I don’t mind where I work. This is magick, don’t forget, Dr Dee. Not a trick to deceive a few country folk.’

‘My retiring room, then,’ Dee said. ‘There is a good fire in there, and Helene is waiting to be amazed.’

‘Your wife?’ Hern asked. ‘Does she have an interest in magick, then?’

‘Indeed. She has a not inconsiderable talent of her own in that direction. If you would like to invite your… wife, Balthasar?’ Dee said, politely.

‘I have no wife,’ the Egyptian replied.

‘I’m sorry,’ Dee said, watching from under his lashes, ‘I thought that you and… Rose, is it? There seemed to be… something.’

Marlowe smiled to himself. Balthasar was up against a worthy opponent here, if all he intended to do was watch the play of a man’s feelings on his face, as he did when telling the future. Dee could see into a man’s soul and out the other side. And that was on a bad day; when his reputation was at stake, the man was terrifying.

‘She is not my wife, Dr Dee, but she would welcome a warm by the fire, I am sure,’ Balthasar said. ‘I will fetch her and then we can begin.’

‘Helene will wait in the Great Hall, to bring you to the right room,’ Dee said. ‘I will just have a word with my cook. I will still be needing meals when you have moved on and I fear she is a little unnerved by this evening’s revelation.’

‘She would have done well to stay away from Edward Kelly, then,’ Balthasar said. ‘And I would say the same to you, Dr Dee. I was surprised to see such a one here.’

‘Charity,’ said Dee. ‘I have given him charity just for tonight. And Christopher here has ousted him from his bed, so not so much of that, even.’

‘He will bite the hand that feeds him,’ Hern said. ‘He was ever thus.’

‘I am pleased to hear you all think so well of me,’ a voice said from the darkness.

‘An eavesdropper never hears well of himself,’ Dee said, without turning round. ‘I think that it is time that you settled yourself down for bed, Ned. The straw in the stable is clean and I believe Helene has put out a flagon and some bread for you, should you still be hungry.’

‘How kind,’ said Kelly, in a sneering mimicry of Dee’s voice. ‘I’m off to bed, then.’ He tapped Hern on the shoulder. ‘Any of your women need warming, Hern? As Balthasar knows, I can teach them a thing or two.’

In a flash, Hern was behind him, twisting his arm up behind his back and pressing a blade to his throat.

‘I am assuming that your answer is not,’ Kelly said, carefully, trying not to move his throat too much. ‘If you could perhaps let me go, I can be away to my bed.’

Hern dropped him and aimed a kick as he slunk around the front of the house, heading for the stables. ‘Charity?’ he asked Dee.

‘Christian charity.’ The magus nodded. ‘He was my friend, once.’ Dee turned and walked across the Great Hall towards a small door in the corner, which led to the kitchen. Balthasar went out to the wagons to fetch Rose; Marlowe and Hern waited for Helene. It seemed only polite to be escorted by the lady of the house.

‘Master Marlowe,’ Hern said. ‘We must have a talk, you and I, before we go much further.’

‘Why?’ Marlowe said. ‘I thought my purse was all the conversation we needed.’

‘I have been thinking things through. You are a man with a mission; I see it in your eyes. I don’t want that, whatever it is, to bring trouble to us.’

‘The trouble, if it comes, will come but singly,’ Marlowe said. ‘You and your troupe will not be dragged into it. I have… friends.’

Hern looked dubious. ‘What friends are they?’

‘If I told you, then they would be of no use to me, would they?’ Marlowe told him. ‘They are the kind of friends who lose their power if everyone knows them. Don’t worry, Hern. It will all be well.’

A soft footfall behind him made him turn.

‘Helene,’ he said, ‘you made me jump.’

‘I’m sorry, Master Marlowe,’ she said. ‘I am naturally very light on my feet. Come, let me take you to John’s room. We can choose the most comfortable chairs. And I have this bottle of brandy here.’ She raised it to show them, a cobweb clinging to the side. ‘I am no expert, but Gregory Leslie had hidden it well, so I think it will be of some quality.’ She took Marlowe’s arm and led the way, but he could feel her trembling. ‘Mind the wet patch at the foot of the stairs,’ she said over her shoulder to Hern. ‘Oh, too late. There is a cloth over in the corner there. Cook hung it over that statue. It gave her… ideas.’