Day of Deliverance Page 10

  Initially, Jack had the impression that they were going to cross over the famous structure, but as they drew closer he saw that it was blocked at its north end by an entire flock of sheep. So, instead, they walked down steps to the water’s edge where watermen touted for business. Fanshawe pushed forward and soon all six of them were packed precariously into a two-man wherry and were being rowed out into the icy current.

  From their vantage point on the river they had an excellent view of the bridge, with its twenty stone arches. A waterwheel had been built into the northern-most arch. On top of the arches, houses were stretched up to six storeys high. Some projected far out across the river, balancing perilously on a system of struts and supports. Teetering towards the southern end there was even a palace – Nonsuch House – complete with turrets, gilded columns and carved galleries. On the far side of the bridge you could make out the high masts of merchant ships waiting to unload at the Custom House.

  As they approached the south side of the river, Jack spotted a number of long poles that projected high above a building on the bridge at the southern end. They had strange-looking blobs on the end like giant matchsticks. Jack could not make out what they were at first, but then he realised and felt sick to his stomach. They were heads; the heads of traitors and criminals. A gruesome warning to all who passed beneath and a brutal reminder to Jack and Angus of the reality of the age in which they were stranded.

  From the outside, the Rose was a high polygonal structure of timber and plaster – it looked similar to the pictures of the Globe Theatre Jack had seen in books. The place seemed dead, but Fanshawe banged on the door anyway. There was silence. Fanshawe hammered on the door again and shouted, “Anyone at home?”

  A voice from inside the building called, “We’re closed.”

  “We want to speak to Philip Henslowe.”

  “He’s busy.”

  They looked at each other.

  Shakespeare spoke. “But we have urgent business with him.”

  “I told you he’s very busy.”

  “Where?”

  “In the pub.”

  Fanshawe rolled his eyes. “This is hopeless – maybe we should come back later.”

  Shakespeare’s eyes twinkled. “Good idea.” He nodded towards a group of people who were gathering nearby. “I know exactly how we can while away a few hours.”

  Quite close by there was a second building, larger than The Rose. Outside, a large and excited crowd jostled for position. Shakespeare, Fanshawe, Trinculo and Monk pushed in and Jack and Angus followed.

  “What’s all this?” Angus asked – his face pink with the cold.

  “No idea,” Jack replied.

  Fanshawe paid two pennies for each of them to enter the building and they found themselves standing in a large-roofed gallery overlooking a shallow pit. The place was packed. It was as if there were a giant party going on. People were drinking and eating and there were occasional catcalls and loud whoops of excitement. The arena below looked a bit like a circus ring, but there was no evidence as to what form the entertainment would take. They didn’t have to wait long to find out.

  First of all a horse was released into the arena. A waistcoated monkey clung on to its back and screeched loudly. Then, four small dogs were released from pens in the perimeter of the pit and they started to chase the horse round and round the arena snapping wildly at its hooves and jumping up at the monkey. The audience wailed with laughter. But Jack could see that the horse was terrified. Occasionally, a dog would manage to clamp its jaws around one of the horse’s legs and the poor beast would buck wildly. The monkey would give an ear-piercing screech and hold on even more tightly to avoid toppling off. The horse bucked and kicked again and again until the dog was finally thrown free, whereupon the whole brutal procedure repeated itself. It was a sickening sight, but this was just the beginning.

  After several circuits of the arena, the snapping dogs were pulled off and the bloodied horse led away. The mood in the crowd changed to a low chatter of anticipation. Suddenly, there was a crescendo of excitement and people pointed over to one side of the arena. A large bear was being lead forward by two keepers. The great beast moved slowly and seemed to take little interest in the proceedings. The keepers kept prodding it with large sticks to drive it on. The bear had a manacle around one leg, tethering it by a chain to a short post in the middle of the arena. The keepers moved off and for a moment the bear was left to sit quietly, minding its own business. Next a bull was released into the arena. Unlike the bear, it was highly agitated and circled the bear, hoofing the ground and tossing its head. Finally, four large mastiffs were released and, to the crowd’s delight, complete mayhem ensued.

  The hungry dogs attacked the bull first. One of them was speared by its horns and tossed high up into the air. It landed and did not move. The other mastiffs were not deterred. They circled the bull, occasionally charging and snapping at its legs. Astonishingly, the keepers remained in the ring as the appalling spectacle continued. When the action seemed to subside they would prod one of the dogs with a stick and it would re-enter the fray. After a while, the dogs became less interested in the bull, which was proving a highly resilient adversary, and turned their attention to the bear. They moved towards it – growling and getting closer and closer as they became braver. The mood of the bear transformed. It jumped up onto its hind legs pawing at the dogs and roaring. Suddenly one of the mastiffs came in too close, snapping away with its razor-sharp teeth. The bear got lucky. It grabbed the dog around its trunk, hugged it to its chest and crushed it, before discarding it like a rag doll.

  Jack had seen enough.

  He turned to Angus. “This is sick, I’m getting out… you coming?”

  “I’m right behind you.”

  It seemed that Fanshawe was also becoming impatient, unlike the rest of the audience who, judging by the delirious shrieks and whoops, were settled in for the afternoon. Fanshawe knew that he had already wasted enough time. His business with Shakespeare complete, he could no longer delay delivery of the precious letter to Walsingham and the generous reward it would bring. He nudged Trinculo to indicate that they were leaving – but Trinculo, Monk and Shakespeare seemed to be engrossed in the proceedings in the bear pit and elected to stay. Thus Jack and Angus’s short relationship with William Shakespeare came to an abrupt end and they left the greatest genius of the English language to while away the afternoon watching various animals being mauled to death.

  *

  They left the bear-baiting pit and continued west along the river bank. On the other side, they could see St Paul’s Cathedral silhouetted against the grey winter sky. Its spire was oddly stunted as a result of damage from a lightning strike years before. In the far distance were the Abbey and Palace of Westminster. Also across the river, but nearer to them, were the palaces of Whitehall and the Savoy along with other dwellings of the nobility. Their gardens extended all the way down to the river and most had water-gates for easy access to the boats.

  “The Paris Gardens,” Fanshawe announced airily as they entered an open park next to the river. “We will take a boat back across the river from here.”

  They moved through the gardens and approached the pier, where riverboats and wherries touted for business. A tall man approached them. Jack thought he looked a little out of place compared to the other river men. For a start he had a rich tan. His clothes appeared to be well made and he wore a fine black cloak.

  “Gentlemen – please take my boat. Much warmer and more comfortable.”

  At the back of the boat was a large area enclosed by a canopy, which protected its passengers from the elements.

  “Why not?” Fanshawe said. They boarded the boat and sat under the canopy. Outside they could hear two or three other people boarding and a creak of oars as they glided away from the pier.

  After a while the tall man ducked beneath the canopy. He was followed by a second man who also had dark skin and a swarthy, powerful frame. He had one badly disfigu
red eye and a scar that stretched from his forehead, across the side of his eye and down his cheek. There was something oddly familiar about him, but far more worrying was that both men were pointing heavy matchlock pistols at them.

  The tall man spoke. “If you make any noise you will die.”

  Their hands were tied behind their backs and hoods placed over their heads. Fanshawe began to sob.

  The man repeated his threat. “I said no noise.”

  It was difficult to tell in which direction they were going, but after twenty minutes, the rocking of the boat stopped. Jack felt a jab in his ribs and then a heavy hand guided him, still blindfolded, from the boat onto some stone steps that rose up from the river. By peering down his nose, Jack could just make out the terrain and avoid stumbling.

  “Where are you taking us?” Angus demanded.

  Jack heard a dull thud and Angus groaned.

  “I said no talking.”

  They could not have been far from the city, yet, wherever they were, it was oddly quiet. After a few minutes, they entered a building. Despite the hood, Jack could tell that they were in a reasonably large place because there was stone paving beneath his feet, and the sound of their marching footsteps made a slight echo as they were ushered inside. Was this one of the large houses that they had seen from the south bank of the river? They stopped and Jack could hear the men talking among themselves. They were not speaking English and Jack strained to decipher the language. Then he recognised it – Spanish – and the rest of the jigsaw fell into place. Their captors must be the men they had evaded in Cambridge.

  He heard a key turn in a lock and they were pushed forward again.

  “Down,” the man said.

  Jack stepped down a stone staircase that led beneath the house. It smelled damp and musty. Without daylight filtering through his hood, everything was completely black. The rope around his wrists was beginning to rub. They reached the bottom of the staircase and Jack felt himself being manhandled across a room and pushed up against a cold wall. A kind of metal cuff was placed around his ankle and he heard the clanging of a heavy chain. The hood was suddenly ripped from his head. At first he did not understand what he was looking at, but then, as the features of the room slowly came into focus, he felt an overwhelming sense of terror.

  All three of them were manacled to a brick wall which formed one side of a large cellar. The only light came from candles flickering in the gloom. Directly in front of them was a rectangular wooden frame, slightly raised from the ground. It had rollers inserted into it and two metal bars at each end. Attached to the bars were looped rope fasteners. There was a large lever on the top bar and this, in turn, linked to a system of chains and pulleys within the structure. With growing horror, Jack realised what the strange machine was: a torture rack. The limbs of its victims were tied to the bars with the rope fasteners. Turning the handle and ratchet attached to the top roller would gradually increase the tension on the chains, which in turn strained the ropes, eventually dislocating the victims’ joints. The machine before them was designed to tear its victims limb from limb. The pain would be excruciating.

  Fanshawe howled uncontrollably. Without hesitation, the swarthy man with the scar slapped him across his face with the back of his hand.

  “Silence!” he said.

  Fanshawe’s howls degenerated into intermittent sobbing.

  “Enough.” The tall, well-dressed man stepped forward from the shadows.

  He gestured to the rack. “You like our potro? Or if you wish we have the garrucha.” He pointed at a beam on the ceiling to which an elaborate pulley-system was attached. On nearby wooden tables there was an array of stone and metal blocks. The torture consisted of suspending a victim from the ceiling with weights tied to their ankles. As they were lifted and dropped, the victim’s arms and legs suffered violent pulls and were sometimes dislocated. Fanshawe could not control himself and wailed again. The thug raised his hand and this time it was enough to silence Fanshawe.

  “… or maybe the tortura del agua?” Again the man gestured casually to a number of large flagons of water set out on the stone floor.

  “Agua.” Despite his fear, Jack recognised the word. He tried to remember what it meant. Water. Waterboarding. He’s talking about waterboarding. He had heard the expression on the TV. It consisted of putting a cloth over the head of the victim, and pouring water over them so that they felt as though they were drowning. It was barbaric.

  The tall man spoke good English. He was calm and polite, his manner contrasting with the horror of the instruments in front of them. It somehow made the threat worse.

  “You may call me Señor Delgado.” He nodded towards the two thugs who glowered back at them. “My friends here are Hegel and Plato. Now, so we are all clear, I do not wish to use any of our special equipment. But my friends here, I am afraid, need little encouragement. You understand, of course. So you will help us?” He walked over to Fanshawe, who stood next to Jack, and smiled at him. Then, he reached down inside Fanshawe’s doublet. Fanshawe squealed. Delgado pulled out the sealed envelope that Fanshawe had placed there for safe-keeping.

  “Finally, we have it.” He broke the seal and opened the letter, holding it close to one of the candles. There was an eerie silence as he read.

  “As we thought.” He placed the letter back on the table.

  “You will tell us all you know about this letter. How you got it and what else you know of our plans.”

  “I don’t know anything. I have not even read it,” Fanshawe gibbered.

  Without hesitation, the man clicked his fingers. Immediately, Plato and Hegel approached, unshackled Fanshawe and dragged him over to the rack. He kicked and screamed as they lowered him onto the evil device. They were much too strong for him and in a second they tied his legs to the lower bar and his arms to the upper bar. Plato put both his hands on the long lever and looked across at his boss. He grinned, eagerly awaiting the signal to continue.

  “Wait!” Jack shouted. Delgado wheeled round. “We were given the letter in Cambridge…”

  “Quiet!” Delgado spat in frustration. “Marlowe works for us – and he is safe now – he told us what happened. You were going to kill him unless he gave you details of the plot. You forced him to write the letter. We arrived before you could finish your work. You escaped us in Cambridge, but now we have you. You work for Walsingham and you know Walsingham’s other spies. We want their names.”

  “That’s rubbish,” Angus shouted out furiously. “We were asked to deliver this letter for money. That’s all we know.”

  Anger flashed across Delgado’s face. “You lie!” He clicked his fingers and Plato pulled the lever. There was a creaking of rope and wood as the rack strained. Fanshawe screamed.

  “Your friend will die there, if I do not have the truth.”

  “Marlowe’s tricked you!” Jack shouted in desperation.

  “Before we continue, we search you for more papers.”

  The man pointed to Hegel who loped over to Angus and pawed at his clothes. Angus writhed, straining against his chains. “Get off!”

  Their situation was desperate. They had no information to give. Jack fought his panic and fear, struggling to think clearly, to come up with a way – any way – they could buy some time. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he had an idea. It was a long shot, but…

  Jack hissed over at Angus, “Let him – let him search you!”

  Angus looked back at Jack, angrily. “What the hell…?”

  Jack said firmly, “Let him!”

  Hegel reached into Angus’s doublet searching for anything that might be valuable or useful. He patted the breast pocket of Angus’s under-vest and felt a lump. He looked over at Delgado with a curious leer.

  “What is it?”

  Hegel wrestled with the fasteners and then slowly removed the slim object from the pocket. It was his time phone.

  Hegel held it out to Delgado with a look of confusion. Delgado approached.

  “What is
that?” he demanded.

  Angus looked at Jack with an expression of extreme agitation.

  “It’s a kind of lucky charm. We have them, er, where we come from,” Jack said.

  “Is it valuable?”

  “Not really – but you can open it.”

  “Show me.”

  “You’ll have to untie me.”

  Delgado nodded at Hegel to release Jack’s hands – but he remained firmly chained to the wall by his feet. Jack rubbed his wrists which were already raw from chafing on the rope.

  “It is a wondrous thing,” Hegel said in awe. “Plato – come look at this!”

  Plato left Fanshawe tied to the rack and ambled over to where his friends toyed with the time phone.

  “It is made of a strange smooth material – like shell.”

  “Carbon fibre compound, actually,” Jack said, under his breath.

  “And you say it opens?”

  “Yes – you slide that on the side… and… there.”

  The VIGIL time phone slid open and the three men’s faces lit up with wonder as the intricate display and controls were revealed.

  “Like a jewel – do you have others?”

  Before Jack could say anything, Plato was searching him roughly and quickly located Jack’s time phone and the two others – which they had taken from Whitsun and Gift.

  “Four!” Hegel exclaimed.

  The Spaniards now had all the time phones. Jack had won them a temporary reprieve but then he noticed something else. From inside the first time phone, the yellow bar winked brightly at them. There was a time signal.

  “It produces a shimmering light…” Delgado said.

  “It must be magic,” Plato whispered in wonder.

  Jack knew what he needed to do next and he knew he was taking a huge risk. But it was their only option.

  “Not magic and not witchcraft – just a plaything. If you like I can show you something else it does. But you need to stand there, all gather round and touch it.”

  The three other time phones were discarded on a nearby table while the men gingerly placed their fingers on Angus’s time phone. “Now, sir, it does a special trick… you see that little button there?”