To Seize a Queen by Fiona Buckley

Author:Fiona Buckley [Buckley, Fiona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House
Published: 2024-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

Here Be Dragons

In the morning, Tamzin looked wan and her eyes were ringed with pink. Nevertheless, she was a gallant little thing and before we went to bed, she had begun to make efforts. She had set some dough to rise as she always did, and she had, as usual, risen early and baked bread and rolls for the day. We breakfasted on fresh warm rolls with honey and small ale.

But it was a silent meal except that twice, Tamzin said, ‘I wonder what sort of breakfast William is having and where he is having it?’

No one answered her.

When we had finished, Christopher left to go to Helston and report William Davey’s disappearance to Sir Francis. It was another sunny summer day and once more there was a breeze. Dale said she would like to take Brockley for a walk out of doors. Tamzin cleared the breakfast dishes off the table and said that we could have stew for dinner if we liked and she would make some almond tarts. I helped her for a while and set some manchet dough but after a time I began to feel that she wanted the kitchen to herself and also, her sad face distressed me for there was nothing I could do or say to make things better for her. I went upstairs to the study.

It was pleasant there, with the view in all directions and the sunlight streaming in. I sat down at the desk. I had put all the maps, ours and those left behind by Wells, together in the pottery holder. I began to take them out.

If William hadn’t been seized by way of the trapdoor and hadn’t been taken to the cave, then where was he now? Was the side tunnel the answer? It was a pity that Tremaine had been too afraid to try it. They hadn’t talked about it much, but I suspected that Christopher hadn’t wanted to explore it alone and Tremaine hadn’t wanted to explore it at all. They probably didn’t want to enlarge on this in front of the womenfolk. I stared at Hugh’s map, which included Cornwall but on much too small a scale, rolled it up again and tried the one that I had been given at Hampton Court.

This was still not helpful, except that it did show the paths that met where the shaft was. Dear heaven, William could be hidden anywhere. There were many farmhouses on the Lizard; any farmer could be a collaborator who hid captives in his cellar. The fellow victims that Petroc had met, told him that they had originally been held in a cave, though. What cave? The cliffs were riddled with them. Anyway, William could have been loaded straight into a boat and rowed out to any of the foreign ships anchored in the bay.

I hardly knew what I was searching for, but I tried another map, one of Wells’ collection, not one we had looked at before. This one was very old indeed and most confusing.

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