Will stood back until the rack had been tightened to the point where every incremental turn of the winch pulled a cry of agony from Pickering. 'You are inhuman!' he screamed.
'We are,' Will said. 'No good man should ever submit another to these deprivations. It would behoove neither of us to say you brought this upon yourself. Nor should we consider it a punishment, for I pass no judgment on you. But at this point all men and women in England are at risk of the worst death imaginable. I weigh my own soul, and your agonies, against that. Now, let us proceed slowly and carefully, so there is no room for doubt. You are the cousin of Bulle, the Tyburn hangman. Is that true?'
'Yes, yes, yes!'
Walsingham watched Will, curious to see where the line of questioning would take him.
'I am always troubled by seemingly random connections,' Will stated. 'This business began with the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, at the hands of Bulle. Now his cousin is involved in the next stage. By chance?' Will shook his head. 'What did Bulle learn at Fotheringhay?'
It took a moment for Pickering to stifle his sobs, and then he began, 'Mary ... Mary delayed her execution for hours, through pleas, and prayers, and lies, and deceit.'
'That is true,' Walsingham said.
'There was nothing to gain by delaying her execution. She was not afraid to die.'
'Why, then?' Will pressed.
'She was waiting. For ... for news of the discovery of the Key to the Silver Skull.'
'No news could reach her in Fotheringhay,' Walsingham said. 'Guards were at the door of her chamber continually. All letters in and out were carefully scrutinised.' He nodded to Kemp to turn the winch another notch.
When Pickering's screams had died, the King of Cutpurses cried with a raw throat, 'What I say is true. She did receive news by ...' He looked from face to face fearfully. 'You will not believe me, but it is true!'
'Go on,' Will said.
'By a mirror. A magic mirror!' He screwed his eyes shut and waited for the pain to lance through his joints. Kemp poised with one hand on the winch.
'A magic mirror,' Will mused. 'That is how the Enemy communicates?'
'Their own mirrors? Or all mirrors?' Walsingham queried aloud. 'Should we remove every looking glass from the Palace of Whitehall? Are they spying on us as we look into our own faces?'
''Tis true,' Pickering gasped, relieved. 'That is how Bulle told it to me. He spied upon Mary through the secret passage that ran behind her chamber.'
'He knew of that?' Walsingham asked.
'He bribed the captain of the sheriff's guard,' Pickering continued, still desperately eager to please. 'Many of the women brought to execution offered their bodies to Bulle in return for their freedom, or at the least a quick end. He took them regardless. This time, he thought ... perhaps-'
'With a queen?' Walsingham said, disgusted.
'Mary was renowned for her skills between the sheets,' Pickering noted.
'So, while Bulle spied on Mary in the hope that he could steal favours from her, he saw her speaking at the mirror?' Will enquired.
'Yes! As my cousin told it to me, the glass grew cloudy, as if the smoke of a great fire billowed within it. From his vantage point, he could not see any face within it, but he could hear a voice.'
'What kind of voice?' Walsingham asked.
'A man. Or something that purported to be a man. It told Mary that the key had been recovered ... from the crypt beneath the Holy Rood-'
'The palace in Edinburgh.' Will wondered how long the Enemy's plan had been in motion; when had they first seized control of Mary to manipu late their way into the Palace of Holyroodhouse to search for the key? Months ago? Years? Had she always been under their control, as they slipped into the spaces and the weaknesses between human prejudices?
'And then the voice proceeded to tell Mary about the plot to steal the Silver Skull from the Tower, and the time and the date.'
'And Bulle passed this information on to you, for you to find some way to gain financial advantage from a blow against England itself,' Will said sharply. 'You did not pass this on to the authorities. You sought only your own personal gain. That is treason in and of itself.' He nodded to Kemp to tighten the winch another notch.
Pickering's shrieks ended in a series of juddering sobs. 'I did not seek to harm my country or my queen!' he wailed. 'I simply saw an opportunity.'
'As all men of business do,' Will said sardonically.
'I planned to return the Skull to the authorities-'
'Once you had played England and Spain off against each other, and grown fat on the proceeds. What else did Bulle tell you?'
'Nothing.'
'Nothing that you remember?'
'No.'
Will gave the nod to Kemp, who tightened the rack another notch. Briefly, Pickering blacked out from the pain, and when he finally came round, Will said, 'Jog your memory, while your limbs are still attached.'
Babbling incoherently, Pickering eventually attempted to run through everything his cousin had told him, one drunken night in the Bear in Alsatia. It was only after two more turns of the winch that he recalled something new.
'The voice said ... they still search ... beneath the palace,' he gasped.
'For what?'
'I do not remember! I ... I ...' Kemp moved a hand onto the winch. 'A shield! Yes, my cousin said a shield!'
'A shield,' Walsingham repeated.
'Thank you for your time,' Will said to Pickering. 'You have been most helpful. Now, I believe Master Kemp has some further questions for you on other matters.'
From a brown leather bag, Kemp removed a sheaf of documents an inch thick. Pickering began to sob gently.
As Will and Walsingham made their way back to the light, Walsingham mused, 'The Shield. The third and final item required for the Silver Skull's operation. It lies-or lay-beneath the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The Enemy searched at the time of Mary's execution, but do they now have the object they sought?'
'If the Enemy had the Shield, the Hunter would have used it in Alsatia,' Will replied. 'As it was, the Skull's power was only released briefly, the display stopped before it could do harm to all present. It was a warning to us ... mockery, perhaps ... nothing more.'
'My agents in Hertfordshire reported a black carriage moving north at great speed, all curtains drawn. It did not stop at the usual places,' Walsingham said.
'Then I will be away to Edinburgh within the hour,' Will announced. 'There may still be hope if we act swiftly.'
'Godspeed,' Walsingham said. 'But remember, Scotland and England may now have a steady relationship, but Dee's defences do not extend beyond the border. The Enemy has always thrived on the lonely moors and misty mountains of that northern land, aye, and in their cities too. One reason why King James is so keen to bring England into an even closer embrace. It is said he rankles nightly to his advisors about yawning churchyards, straw dolls in babies' cribs, and the threat that waits for him and all Scotsmen under the Hill of Yews. You must watch your back at all times.'
'Nathaniel will do that for me. Our spies in Edinburgh are to be trusted?'
'As much as any. I will alert them to your arrival.'
'No,' Will said. 'Let my arrival be a surprise. I will contact them when I reach the north.'
In the carriage on the journey back to the Palace of Whitehall, Will ordered Nathaniel to pack his bags to accompany him on the journey to Edinburgh.
'Scotland.' Nathaniel sighed. 'I hear it is a place of hard, grey skies and a constant drizzle that dampens the spirit as much as the clothes.'
