The Scar-Crow Men (45 page)

‘Francis? Is it true, then? You brought the Devil into our midst?’

‘More than devils lurk down here. The evil loose in the seminary has brought you to your deaths.
Flee!
’

Seven of the Unseelie Court emerged from the dark at the far end of the chamber, rapiers drawn. With their grim, pallid faces and silvery-mildewed clothes, they looked like ghosts. The priests recoiled immediately.

A shadow crossed Grace’s face. ‘What are they? Since I was taken in Nonsuch, my days have passed like a dream from the potion I was given. I thought my captors were Spanish agents, but now—’

‘Later, Grace,’ Will snapped, drawing her attention from the supernatural figures. He would need to talk with her, but only when they were away from that place. He shook Hugh forcefully. ‘You must compel your companions to flee. Those creatures will fall upon you like wolves,’ he barked.

The young priest finally understood. Running back to the other men, he raised the alarm. Hauling Grace behind him, Will led the race back to the stone steps. Glancing back, he saw the gout-ridden Mathias had fallen behind, as had three of the elderly priests. Mouth torn wide, the lumbering father looked behind him, knowing what was coming. Out of the gloom swept the Unseelie Court, impassive, brutal. Their swords carved through the straggling priests with such ferocity the victims had no time to cry out. In a cascade of blood, Mathias went down. His killer barely paused.

Thrusting Grace up the steps with a promise that he would join her, Will waited, urging the remaining men behind the woman. With his rapier levelled in his right hand, he snatched the torch from the final passing priest and backed on to the steps.

Sensing the threat ahead, the Fay swordsmen slowed when they saw him. Waving the sizzling torch in front of him, Will edged up one step at a time. There was no room for more than one of his foes to strike at him.

As the spy crept upwards, the nearest opponent lunged. Parrying the thrust easily from his higher position, the spy jabbed the torch into his foe’s face. The Fay screamed, clutching at his ruined face as he tumbled backwards on to his companions. Turning heel, Will raced up the steps.

When he reached the long tunnel, he could see the priests had left open the alabaster statue of the Virgin and Child. The bodies of six men littered the stone floor, victims of the Unseelie Court’s traps. Avoiding the swinging blades, Will plunged out into the seminary and swung the statue shut behind him.

While the other priests fled, Hugh waited with Grace. ‘Where now?’ she gasped.

‘Where now, indeed?’ Will replied. ‘If I could take you straight to England, I would. But it is Paris that calls me, a city I now fear is in the grip of our greatest enemy.’ Sheathing his rapier, he turned to the young priest. ‘You are a good man, Hugh, and do not deserve to be wrapped up in this terrible affair,’ he said. ‘I have little love for priests who plot the end of my Queen, but warn your fellows to stay away from the spaces beneath the seminary. I do not think the forces that lurk there can remain now they have been uncovered, but it would be best not to take any risks.’

‘Who are you?’ Hugh asked, awed.

Will gave a deep bow. ‘Why, I am England’s greatest spy, my friend. I have been on a long journey to hell, but now I am back and determined to take some of damnation’s fire to my enemies.’

CHAPTER SIXTY

RECLAIMING HIS HORSE FROM THE SEMINARY STABLES, WILL WAS
soon galloping through the narrow streets of Reims, with Grace clinging to his back. At the walls, a sleepy guard in a padded leather doublet opened the gates for them. As much as the spy hated passing through the lonely vineyards and meadows by night, he knew he could not remain in the town until daybreak. Fabian’s warped compassion for the human race would be tested to the limit in the coming hours.

‘Were you harmed?’ he asked. ‘You spoke of being battered and—’

‘It is nothing. I am well,’ the woman replied with a brusque tone that surprised him. He felt that he had offended her in some way.

For a while, he questioned Grace on the circumstances of her capture at Nonsuch and how she was brought to Reims, but her memory was addled by potions. He was, however, concerned to hear of the mounting fear and repression at the palace. But when
Grace noted that she feared for Nathaniel, he added, ‘Nat has survived far worse. I would trust him to win through in any situation.’

‘Then you should tell him,’ she snapped, ‘instead of criticizing him at every turn.’

‘Grace, if there is something wrong—’

‘Nothing is wrong.’ The woman gripped the spy’s back as tightly as his devil.

Will rode on in silence. But as the dusty track passed from the vineyards into the woods, he noticed a light glimmering away in the trees. Two more appeared as he trotted on. Had Xanthus found him at last? The spy frowned. Reining in his steed, he considered riding back to the vineyards.

In silence, two musketeers stepped out from the trees and trained their weapons upon him. Their moustaches and beards waxed and pointed, they wore felt hats, short leather jerkins and bandoliers. From the well-tended weapons and clothes, the spy could see they were not roadside bandits.

In French, Will tried to explain that he and Grace were simply poor travellers who could not afford to pay for a night at an inn in Reims. The men’s cold eyes didn’t waver. With a thrust of their weapons they silently ordered the two travellers to dismount.

The spy could not risk injury to Grace. His anger simmering, he allowed the two of them to be marched through the trees.

On the other side of the small wood, canvas flapped in the breeze. Moths performed intricate dances in the pools of light thrown by lanterns at the entrances to a huddle of grey tents. The smell of roast pork still hung in the warm air around a crackling camp fire, and Will could hear horses snorting and stamping their hooves nearby. From the men sitting around in groups holding quiet conversations, he guessed it was a small fighting force.

As they neared the largest of the tents, a tall, balding man stepped out to greet them. His beard flecked with white, he wore a black gown, but he carried himself with the strength and grace of a fighting man. ‘My name is Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully. Follow me,’ he said in English, his voice deep.

‘There is some mistake. I am just a lonely traveller,’ Will began.

Maximilien gave a knowing smile. ‘No, you are not. You are England’s greatest spy, William Swyfte.’

For once, Will was silenced.

‘We are not fools here, sir. Our spies are as proficient as your own,’ the gowned man continued, holding open the tent flap for them to enter. ‘You have been under observation since you disembarked at Cherbourg.’

‘Then I apologize for my deceit,’ Will replied, stooping to enter the warm golden glow of the lamplit interior. ‘I doff my cap to fellow practitioners of the great art.’

Behind his wry exterior, the spy was instantly on his guard, his eyes darting around in search of any threat. A trestle stood to one side covered with charts, a flask and a half-eaten knob of bread with a knife stuck in it. But his attention was drawn to a tall, tanned man standing with his hands folded behind his back. He was expensively outfitted in a gleaming sapphire doublet, the buttons jewelled, the ruff extravagantly folded. His beard was well tended, his smiling face suggesting a man of good humour.

‘The King,’ Maximilien boomed.

‘Your Majesty.’ Will gave a deep bow. Grace curtsied at his side, her gaze fixed shyly on the ground. Henri let his eyes linger on her for a moment, his smile becoming playful.

‘The King indeed,’ he said in heavily accented English. ‘The word is still strange to my ears after this long, hard struggle. There were times when I thought I would always remain Henri de Navarre.’

‘The Catholic League now support your claim to the throne?’ the spy asked, puzzled.

Henri chuckled. ‘Why, I am a Catholic these days, Master Swyfte. Had you not heard? On the twenty-fifth of July I renounced my old faith completely. Now I am a committed Papist,’ he tweaked his waxed moustache, his eyes gleaming, ‘the resistance in Paris will eventually crumble and I will finally be allowed to ride into my capital city. And so, all things fall into place.’

The spy recalled Cecil’s suspicions at the Rose Theatre almost three months earlier. ‘And the Huguenots?’ he enquired.

‘After the bitter religious strife that has torn this country apart for so long, they are understandably distressed that I appear to have crossed to the other side. But they will come around. What other choice do they have?’

‘I imagine my Queen is not best pleased that you have renounced her faith.’ It was an understatement. Will imagined Elizabeth flying into one of her incandescent rages when the news was delivered to her.

‘Once I am crowned in Chartres, she will understand that I am still the same Henri.’ The King strode to the trestle and took a sip from his flask of wine. ‘Perhaps I will even be more useful to her. I see myself as a bridge, Master Swyfte, like the one I plan to build across the Seine when I am finally allowed into Paris, to unite the right and left banks. There will be peace in Europe only when our two religions can live side by side. When we achieve that, then we can join together against our common Enemy.’ His eyes flickered from Grace to Will, and he nodded to indicate that he would not elucidate while the woman was present. ‘For now,’ he continued, ‘Paris remains beyond my control.’

The spy inwardly winced. It would be difficult enough to spend time in the Unseelie Court’s midst without also having to deal with a city that had only recently survived Henri’s siege and would suspect any stranger of being one of the King’s spies.

‘There are other matters afoot, of which we will speak more in a short while.’ Draining his flask, the King smacked his mouth.

The tent flaps were furiously thrown open and in a flurry of skirts a woman stormed in.

‘You!’ Grace exclaimed.

Red Meg O’Shee cast only a fleeting glance at her. ‘I hear the buzzing of a fly,’ she sniffed.

Grace fumed, but the Irish woman had already turned her attention to Will, a cold fire in her green eyes.

With a hand to his high forehead, the King exclaimed, ‘Mistress, if Gabrielle finds you here—’

‘Do not worry, Your Majesty. Your
true love
’ – the red-headed woman gave the words a sardonic twist, her gaze still fixed on the spy – ‘will not be made aware of such an outrage.’

In Meg’s disrespectful attitude towards the monarch, Will saw the deep currents that run between old lovers.

‘Did you not find my blade sharp enough the last time, Master Swyfte?’ she asked scornfully.

‘About as sharp as your tongue, Mistress O’Shee, which is very sharp indeed.’

Meg turned to the King and said, ‘Send him away. He will never help our cause.’

Looking from the Irish woman to the spy, Henri gave another knowing smile. ‘Your passions are aroused, my sweet. Master Swyfte must have struck you a stinging blow to anger you so.’ He waved a hand, playfully dismissing the tension in the tent. ‘But enough of petty emotions. Mistress Meg, our friend here has been helping my cause for long weeks, unbeknown to himself. And so have you.’

The red-head’s eyes narrowed. ‘What web have you been weaving, Henri? If you have been playing me for a fool you will regret it.’

‘You threaten a king?’ Henri feigned astonishment, then laughed. ‘Ah, but that is why we all love you! You would shake your fist at the gods themselves.’ He turned to Will and said, ‘I would have a word, in private, about our common business.’

Understanding, the spy asked Grace if she would wait outside. Flashing a searing glance at Meg, she strode out.

After the monarch had called for Maximilien to pour them all flasks of wine, he said, ‘A drink then, to an alliance of all the nations against our mutual Enemy. And to give thanks for the aid you have given France in these dark times.’

Sipping his wine, Will studied the French king with growing respect. He wondered how far the royal’s clever scheming extended.

‘Once England antagonized the Unseelie Court they preyed less upon my countrymen. Though they would never admit it, I believe they feared resistance on more than one front,’ Henri continued. ‘Yet they were still a threat. Of course they were. Life in France was one of constant balance. We always waited for the sword to drop.’

‘Aye. Bastards all,’ Maximilien growled, throwing his wine down his throat.

‘And then, as I campaigned for the throne, a representative of the High Family asked me for my aid.’

‘An alliance?’ the spy asked.

The King snorted. ‘Do the Unseelie Court ever truly ally? They take what they want and spit out the rest. I had to tread cautiously – I could not risk alienating them.’

‘Your plans to win France would have been over in the blink of an eye,’ Meg observed, ‘and you would have been found stuffed with straw, with button eyes, a puppet with his strings cut.’

‘That is true,’ Henri said with a nod. ‘A wise king lives in this world and not in his head. They wished to use France as a staging post for their invasion of England, and Paris in particular. In the city they could mass their forces, and conjure up whatever dark magics would help them achieve their aims.’

‘I would wager that with Paris controlled by Catholics calling for your blood that
decision did not trouble you for long,’ Will noted wryly.

Returning his flask to the trestle, Henri gave a quick smile. ‘I care for all my subjects equally, Master Swyfte. But, yes, I gave them Paris. I could not refuse. But I also knew that, once taken, they would not give it up again easily, if at all. You know they now seek to take this world for their own, sir?’

‘I do.’ Will mulled over his wine for a moment. ‘So, while acceding to their request for the use of your capital, you also had to put into effect a scheme that would ensure their plans failed.’

The King clapped his hands with glee. ‘You are a cunning fellow. I could find much employment for a man like yourself.’

‘His Majesty played his part convincingly,’ Maximilien said, pouring himself more wine. ‘Trusting that he secretly loathed England as much as they, the High Family let slip aspects of their plan that we could use to our advantage.’