The King's Return by Andrew Swanston

Author:Andrew Swanston [Swanston, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781446487297
Publisher: Transworld Publishers
Published: 2013-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

HAVING AGREED TO set off at four the next morning, Thomas left Charles to exercise his skills and went to his bed. If they were to travel to Dartford and spend hours or even days searching the marshes, he would need some sleep. He had had almost none for three days.

Sleep, however, proved elusive. Thoughts of Madeleine and the anticipation of finding her kept his mind busy long after it should have closed down. Eventually he gave up, lit a candle and tried to read. Well before dawn, Thomas and Charles walked the short distance from the house to the stairs at Whitehall, from where they took a wherry across the river to Lambeth. Charles assured Thomas with a wink that his powers of persuasion had been well up to the task and that Mary was sleeping peacefully. He had buckled on two swords, and Thomas knew from experience that he was equally adept with either hand or both at once.

At that time of the morning the streets and the river were quiet. Even the night-soil men were not yet up and about. The wherryman told them of an inn with stables where horses might be found at a reasonable price and, looking pointedly at Charles’s swords, wished them luck with whatever they were planning to do.

The innkeeper was woken and offered a good price for two sound animals, both rested and capable of a hard morning’s ride. The normal route from Lambeth would be along the river path past Greenwich and Woolwich and south to Dartford when they reached the river Darent. However, Thomas reckoned that the direct route across country from Greenwich would save a good five miles as long as the road was in reasonable repair. They decided to risk it and set off at a steady trot.

At Greenwich they stopped at an inn to give the horses water and to take breakfast, and from there took the road across country to Dartford. It led them through woodland and over heathland and past three tiny hamlets. The road was rough but dry and they made good progress. They spoke little, each content with his own thoughts.

Outside the church, Josiah was waiting for them. He greeted them cheerily. ‘Good morning, gentlemen. How was your journey?’

‘Uneventful, thank you, Josiah. And yours? You’ve made good time.’

Josiah looked sheepish. ‘Mottershead and ’orses don’t get on very well, Mr ’Ill. I like to keep my feet on the ground, so I set out last night and walked. Easy enough along the river.’ He showed no sign of fatigue, despite having walked twenty miles without sleep. ‘I’ve found an inn with decent stables. Best leave the ’orses there if we’re going into the marshes.’

Josiah showed them to the inn where they agreed an exorbitant price for fodder and stabling, before setting off on foot towards the marshes to the north of the town. Despite being well situated on the London-to-Dover road, Dartford was much as Josiah had described it. Poor, rough and ravaged by war and disease.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.