Casper had returned from the kitchen bristling with weapons and began to parcel them out, handing a carving knife to Jon and another to Elizabeth. He kept the axe for himself, and piled the other knives on the rug before the fire. Ellen darted forwards and grabbed one. She hissed, ‘I’ll protect them babies.’
Outside, the silence seemed more furtive, a hint of movement that might have been no more than a squirrel, a hunting ferret or the chickens scurrying back to their shed. With the afternoon sun shining brightly, it was difficult to believe in threats. At last Andrew said, ‘They hope I’ll lose patience, and go out to them.’
Tyballis shook her head a little wildly. ‘Oh, don’t, my love. They’d kill you at once.’
He smiled. ‘I’m not so easily eliminated, I promise, and I’ve no intention of leaving the house. We have the advantage here, and I’ll preserve that as long as it suits me. These are clearly Throckmorton’s henchmen, since they named my woman a murderer. No one else has reason to call you that.’
‘They called you a murdering whore,’ sniggered Elizabeth. She fingered the knife now lying across her lap. ‘Makes a change. There was folks used to call me that.’
Casper marched the few steps from hearth to window, and back. ‘Ain’t easy, cooped up just waiting,’ he muttered. ‘Why let them buggers call the tune? I want at ’em. I’ll take the lot of ’em, I will, no trouble. I’ll rip their arms off and break their maggoty little noses. Reckon there’ll be ten out there at the most.’
‘I doubt their force is that strong,’ Andrew said. He was very still, standing before the fire and staring down into the flames. ‘But you will stay here and follow orders. You will all follow orders.’
Ellen tugged at his doublet. ‘Please, mister. What’s that nasty boy doing here? I don’t like him.’ Harry still sat cross-legged on the rug, fidgeting with a small hole in the knee of his hose.
Andrew replied quietly, ‘Harry is here at my invitation, Ellen, and as a guest, he must be made welcome. After this nonsense is over, it seems he has something to tell me. But I have understood already, and will deal with it when the time is right.’
Luke said loudly, ‘The brat was trying to accuse me of something.’ He glared at the child, then at Andrew. ‘But whatever it was, I didn’t do it.’
Ellen marched to Harry and poked her tongue out at him. ‘You leave our Luke alone,’ she said in a gruff whisper. ‘He belongs to us cos he’s the gent in our attic. You ain’t got no right to say nuffing.’
Harry pulled a face. With one small hand fisted and a stare of determined belligerence, Ellen walloped Harry on the nose. Harry swore, and grabbed both her arms, dragging her down on top of him. Felicia squealed, dragging the children apart and crushing Ellen’s objections to her bosom. Casper grabbed Harry and clipped him around the ear. ‘Bloody little scruff,’ Casper roared. ‘You was told to keep quiet.’
Andrew remained unmoving, his eyes still on the dance of the flames. ‘So much for circumspection,’ he sighed. ‘Let us see if this will encourage our assailants to show themselves, after all.’
‘Probably out there manoeuvring,’ Ralph decided. ‘Surrounding the house. Watching all ways out. Taking up positions.’
‘There are not enough of them for that,’ Andrew said, nodding towards the unbarred front doors. ‘More than twenty, they would have rushed us. More than ten, they would be shouting abuse or throwing missiles, attempting to goad us outside. No, I doubt there are more than five. And I shall wait. Anyone leaving this house could be picked off by an archer hiding in the bushes.’
Quiet settled once again, only broken by the spit and crackle of the fire sending soft echoes up the chimney.
Then three windows smashed at once in an explosion of shattered glass.
Chapter Seventy-Four
The windows of The Tower’s great council chamber did not look down on the small flat green where a makeshift block had been set up with sawdust packed around its base, but the ravens roosting on the battlements watched, already attentive. The executioner had been waiting for some time, silently leaning on the well-worn handle of his axe. Then there was a bustle, muttering and shouting as the guards and the accompanying lords approached. The warm sunshine reflected from the blade of the axe, momentarily blinding the small crowd. Lord Hastings looked down at his feet, his bare toes in the sawdust. Quietly he removed his surcoat and hat, handing them to one of the guards. Then he unlaced the collar of his doublet, and that of his shirt beneath, leaving his neck exposed. At his elbow, a priest was muttering from a prayer book. Hastings turned to the small gathering. Some of the men, although it was warm, were shivering. The shock had not yet passed.
Lord Hastings spoke loudly. Across the open ground and resounding against the ancient mossy stone all around, his voice rang clear. ‘Beware ambition, my lords,’ he said. ‘I commend you all to loyalty in the service of his grace the king.’ He laughed. ‘Whoever that might yet be.’ He looked briefly up to the masked executioner. ‘I come unprepared. I’ve no coin on me to pay you, my good man, since the occasion is, let us say, unexpected. Take my coat and boots as recompense, if you will.’ Then he bent his head to the block.
Richard of Gloucester and Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, stood together in the council chamber. One guard stood outside the doorway. No one else was present. The noise from outside could not be heard. Buckingham tucked his hands inside his sleeves. ‘This news will speed faster than the tide. By nightfall, fear and rumour will rattle every city door, and any other miserable conspirators will scatter. With one stroke, the insurrection is over, your grace.’
Gloucester spoke softly, though more to himself than to his companion. ‘I regret this. With all my heart, I regret it.’
‘Not as much as he will,’ Buckingham said.
Richard looked up. ‘But it is a sad waste. I have known the man all my life and thought him an ally. He was my brother’s closest friend. I will arrange for his burial next to Edward, in the chapel at Windsor.’
‘A great honour, for a miserable traitor. You’ll not attaint him?’
‘No, I gave my word I’d see his wife and heirs protected. But there will be many titles and positions to disperse, and you shall gain from that, Harry. We are entering difficult times, with the throne unsettled. France watches, and Louis licks his lips. I’ve sent to York for armed guards, but it will be weeks before they can arrive. So, I chose to crush this uprising before it gains greater force. Now Hastings’ death must be a lesson to all those considering treachery. His head may save a fountain of bloodshed.’
‘You’re decided, then?’ Buckingham demanded. ‘You’ll accept the throne? Without you, Richard, the country is lost. We might as well surrender to France and be done with it. In God’s name, what other decision can you make?’
‘It has not yet been offered,’ Gloucester reminded him. ‘The lords and the church continue to deliberate, and I shall accept the crown only if it is the combined will of the people, who know little of this yet.’
‘And if the throne is offered, as it surely must?’
‘Then an explanation of the circumstances will be announced at St. Paul’s Cross, the city dignitaries must be involved, and from my mother’s castle, I shall await the outcome. She has already pressed me to accept, as does my lady. I am prepared.’ He paused, crossing to the narrow window. The sky was almost cloudless and a raven was sitting on the far battlements, watching the bustle below. The raven stretched its wings, letting the warm breeze ruffle its feathers. The duke turned again, and nodded to Buckingham. ‘There are few alternatives. I know this. But destiny’s wheel rarely runs smooth, and already conspirators gather, smelling opportunity. Bickering for advancement. Old jealousies, plotting for whatever rule will gain them most.’