weapon into the palace…”
Jack intervened before Angus could answer. “Sir, a theatrical prop — just like the swords.” As he spoke, Jack spotted a knowing smile of approval cross Tony’s lips.
“Indeed, sir,” Tony continued, “the fact that this young man saw the danger of Christo and acted to save the woman he thought to be the queen proves that he had no knowledge of the plot… or indeed the trap we had laid for the plotters.”
Walsingham stared at Jack and then back at Angus with beady, black eyes. Jack could almost hear the mind of the queen’s spymaster whirring away, carefully analysing their statement for flaws. But in Jack Christie, Sir Francis Walsingham had met a worthy match and at last, Walsingham gave a firm nod.
“Fine. Indeed, more than fine. You and your friends shall be rewarded.” His face relaxed — but there was still no hint of a smile. “After all, today is a day of triumph — a victory for England — and tomorrow we shall celebrate. The Henslowe Players shall be rewarded and I shall personally commission an extended run of
It took a while for the news to sink in, but then the Henslowe Players started to cheer and whoop in excitement and Trinculo needed no further encouragement to launch into a wincingly awful celebratory jig.
Satisfied, if somewhat perplexed by the reaction of the Henslowe Players, Walsingham moved off to deal with more pressing matters. Tony and Gordon sidled up to Jack and Angus.
“Well, gentlemen, it is good to finally meet you again…”
“Likewise — but I think you might have some explaining to do,” Jack replied.
“Of course. But first we need to deal with our next problem.”
“What’s that?” Jack asked.
But Tony did not have time to respond. The doors at the front of the hall flew open and a royal guard hurried over to Walsingham. He looked terrified.
“The queen! She has been taken! Lady Sarah too…”
Walsingham’s face creased up in confusion and shock. “What do you mean?”
The guard stammered, “A man… with pistols, he surprised us, killed the other escorts and took them…” he waved a hand around his head, “into the gardens.”
Walsingham unleashed a sort of primeval scream and then lashed out violently with the back of his hand, connecting with the face of the wretched guard. The blow was so ferocious that his nose exploded in a mess of blood.
“Idiots!” Walsingham started to bark orders. “Secure the gates, secure the water gallery, search the gardens and deer park…” He swivelled round to Tony and Gordon. “You — help them!”
Tony turned to Jack and Angus. “As I was about to say, we need to deal with our next problem…”
But Jack had already understood. “Pendelshape’s here too.”
Into the Wilderness
Jack, Angus, Tony and Gordon raced down the steps into the gardens. It was getting dark — a crimson sun was setting in a clear winter sky above the oaks of the deer park. The place was crawling with guards — many held flaming torches above their heads.
They paused for breath at the bottom of the stairs, as Tony surveyed the great gardens.
“Pendelshape has managed to kidnap the queen and Lady Sarah?” Jack asked.
“It must be him… desperate to make sure the plot didn’t fail,” Tony replied.
“Why not just kill her immediately?” Angus said.
“He must have some other warped plan,” Gordon said. “And there’s something else.” He put his hand inside his jacket and took out his time phone. He snapped it open and the telltale yellow light blinked back at them. “We’re getting a time signal.”
“We’ve only got minutes to find him…” Tony looked out at the broad vista of the gardens and the deer park beyond and added in frustration, “He could have gone anywhere. Dammit! Where is he?”
Just as the words left Tony’s mouth an image popped into Jack’s head. It was something from the book that Miss Beattie had shown him. He couldn’t have looked at the page for more than five seconds as he leafed through it, but miraculously it now reappeared in his memory, perfectly formed.
“Maybe he’s hiding somewhere, preparing to time travel… where would be a good place to hide?” Gordon said.
Jack knew the answer. “On the outskirts of the palace there is a sort of forest — I’m sure of it.”
The others turned towards him. He repeated it. “I think they call it the wilderness — it’s a woodland with paths, hedges and thickets. I remember it from Miss Beattie’s book. It’s the perfect hiding place, and it’s just on the edge of the palace grounds. If we move quickly, we might catch them before they go too far.”
The light from the sky was fading fast as they sprinted away from the palace. Soon they were working their way along a narrow pathway to the threshold of the wilderness, the huge trees looming over them. The quicker members of the group, including Tony and Gordon, had raced ahead, leaving Jack and Angus slightly behind. As the two boys reached the edge of the forest, they couldn’t quite see which way the others had gone.
“Which way?”
“No idea.”
“That way then…” Angus chose one of the pathways.
Occasionally they could hear shouts or orders in the distance as the guards kept up a desperate search in the fading light. Jack and Angus pressed on, taking random choices at a further two junctions. Five minutes later and they were utterly lost.
“Stop for a minute,” Jack said. “Shall we try and go back?”
“Could do. It’s creepy in here.”
Suddenly, they heard a loud scream. It was close.
“What was that?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not hanging around to find out.”
Jack felt himself starting to panic. They ran on, weaving their way through the trees, and then suddenly they found themselves in an oval-shaped clearing, surrounded by thickets and high hedges.
Jack stopped dead in his tracks. The queen and Lady Sarah stood directly ahead of them with their backs pressed up against a huge oak tree on the far side of the clearing. A man stood in front of them, his pistol levelled at the two women. There was sufficient light from the torches for Jack to recognise Pendelshape instantly. He was pointing the gun at the queen and then moved it slowly towards Lady Sarah. He seemed to be hesitating, confused by the likeness of the two women.
The arrival of Jack and Angus took him by surprise. He swivelled around and, in panic, fired. He missed. Lady Sarah screamed. Jack and Angus dived for cover behind a thicket on the edge of the clearing.
Pendelshape shouted out at them, “You have interfered for the last time.”
He fired again but Jack and Angus were well hidden in the thick foliage. Beside himself with frustration, Pendelshape let loose a further two shots, but again they went wide. Swinging the gun back towards Lady Sarah and the queen, he fired again. This time he could not miss. As Jack peered out from the foliage, he saw Lady Sarah’s legs give way and she collapsed in a heap. Something inside Jack snapped. He felt a visceral anger well up inside him. He pounced forward, but as he did so, Pendelshape pressed his gun to Elizabeth’s head. She stared back, head high, jaw clenched, eyes defiant. Pendelshape pulled the trigger. Nothing. The magazine was empty. Pendelshape screamed in frustration and fumbled for a fresh magazine, but he was too slow. Jack, enraged by the brutal murder of Lady Sarah, leapt up and crashed into Pendelshape’s ribcage at full tilt, lifting him clear from the ground and propelling them both forward a full two metres before crunching back to earth. Pendelshape’s gun flew free.
Angus, now also up on his feet, looked on with a mixture of dumbfounded astonishment and admiration. Jack was really no match for the stocky and powerful Pendelshape. The teacher had been caught by surprise but he was quick to recover. Enraged, he lashed out with a clenched fist, which caught Jack square on the side of the head. Jack spun sideways, and the world went dark.
