Quintessence Sky by David Walton

Author:David Walton
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: england, alchemy, queen elizabeth, sea monster, flat earth, sixteenth century, scientific revolution, science and sciencefiction, alternate science

KING PHILIP was never alone. He had menservants to dress and shave and coif him, cupbearers and waiters to bring him food and drink, a chief groom of the toilet to see to his necessaries; he had bodyguards and door sentries, scribes and translators and harbingers, a chief historian to record his life story (which twice already he had burned in pique), and jugglers and minstrels and clowns. His most favored friends and advisors rarely left his side. Today, however, he was in his most privy chambers, alone, without even the most lowly servant to attend him.

Ramos trembled with anticipation. Such an honor was unheard of, and would be buzzed about the court for days, since all those who had been sent out of the room would be jealous to know what had transpired, and fearful for what it might mean for them. If he were an ambitious man, he could easily turn such a meeting to his political advantage, by hinting this, suggesting that, or intimating that favors done for him might mean a favorable word in the king's ear. Ramos had no such intentions, but he still quaked to think of what difficult or dangerous task the king might ask of him.

The king sat in a straight-backed chair. To his left, on a small service stool, sat a porcelain dish and a tiny pair of silver scissors. Ramos understood that he was meant to assume a duty generally performed by the groom of the king's toilet, that of clipping the king's fingernails. For any other man, this would be a lowly task, but for the King of Spain, Portugal, and England, it was an honor, a private intimacy that involved touching the king's own person. It was a mark of the king's favor and trust.

Ramos knelt by the tool and took up the silver scissors, terrified that he might mangle the job or cut the king's hand by mistake.

"You have shown your faithfulness and devotion," the king said.

"Thank you, Your Grace." Ramos took the king's fifth finger in his own trembling hand and delicately snipped off the edge of the nail. Better to leave too much, he thought, than to cut too short.

"I have another service to ask of you," the king said.

"Only speak it, and I will fulfill it to the best of my humble abilities."

"Have you ever met the Princess Elizabeth?"

"Never. I only saw her once, on el Domingo de Ramos."

"Ah yes. Her secret arrival in the city." The edges of Philip's mouth turned up slightly. "To which everyone in the kingdom turned out."

"Just so, Your Grace."

"Elizabeth is a conundrum. She appears innocent and guileless to the people, yet she is shrewd as a snake. She knows more than she should, and she manipulates those around her—even her jailors—like a master puppeteer. If there is anyone in this kingdom who threatens our sovereignty, it is she, and yet I cannot kill her, lest the people revolt. The best would be to marry her off to a

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