Her screams rang off the walls, until a moment later there was only silence.
'Lock the doors,' Will instructed Mayhew, 'so we are not disturbed.'
Grabbing the priest roughly by his cassock, Will threw him across the altar. His head bounced off the table and his eyes grew wide with fear as he began to intone a prayer.
'Do not waste your breath, Father,' Will said. 'No higher power will save you, and none on Earth either.'
Blood pumped through Will's head as he stared into Celino's face. All his repressed fears about Grace rushed up, and his rage at the suffering heaped on an innocent person, and his frustration that he could not move faster and harder to find her.
'You would dare harm a servant of God in His very house?' Celino uttered.
'There is a woman under my protection whose life is at risk. I would dare anything, Father.'
'What about your eternal soul?'
'My soul was lost long ago.'
'But God-'
'I care not for God!' Will snapped. 'The things I have seen ... the pain that has been heaped on the people I know ... If there was a God, would he allow such things to exist? This religion tears us apart when we should be joining together to fight greater threats.'
'The word of the Lord brings comfort-'
'And pain and suffering to many who have suffered the whip of the Catholics, or the persecution of King Henry's church. This world will be consumed by the flames of hell and you will still be arguing over whose Bible is stronger.'
Celino saw something in Will's face that made him even more terrified. He began to intone another prayer until Will cuffed him forcefully across the face.
'I have questions, Father, and I am not in the mood to be resisted.' Will moved the tip of his knife slowly across Celino's cheek to touch his lower eyelid. The priest's breath caught in his throat. 'If the answers I receive are not to my liking, I will cut out this eye,' Will continued. 'And if you continue to live out your fantasy of being a martyr, I will cut out your other eye. And then I will whittle you down little by little until there is nothing left. We shall see whose will is stronger.'
Celino began to whimper and struggle in the panic that consumed him. Slipping the tip of his knife into the priest's nostril, Will ripped up through the flesh. Celino howled as blood spurted across his cassock and onto the altar.
'Pay heed to that pain,' Will said. 'It is nothing compared to what is to come. Are you ready to answer my questions?'
Trembling, the priest nodded.
'Don Alanzo de las Posadas visited you here at the cathedral this very week. What did he want?'
Celino swallowed, his eyes darting towards the chapel where Sister Adelita had been killed.
'Yes, we forced her to ask you these questions. You could have saved her life if you had answered them then,' Will said. 'Her death is on your conscience. Now ... what did lion Alanzo want?'
Blinking away tears, Celino replied, 'To find the most knowledgeable man in all of Spain on matters of the occult, and ancient mysteries, and the secrets of the past.'
'And you helped him?'
'Yes-there is such a man in Seville, a great philosopher and alchemist who knows the languages of the ancient Greeks and the Moors and the Arabs, and who owns the most extensive library of occult volumes in existence. His reputation is known only to a few, but I have consulted with him on more than one occasion.'
Why would lion Alanzo want to contact such a man so urgently? Will wondered. The Spanish had all the knowledge they needed to use the Silver Skull in the invasion, if not the Shield that allowed protection from it. 'Who is he and where do I find him?' Will drew a bubble of blood from Celino's eyelid with the tip of his knife.
'He is of mixed Moorish descent and he has taken the name Abd alRahman after the emir and caliph of Cordoba, a prince of the Umayyad dynasty in the Moorish occupation of our land. His true name is not known.' Celino tried to swallow, but his throat was too dry. 'You will find his shop in the Barrio de Santa Cruz, the Jewish quarter, on Susona Street, just north of Real Alcazar, the royal palace,' he croaked.
As Will withdrew the knife, Celino was convulsed by a shudder of relief. 'Very good, Father. You live to pray another day.'
At his command, Launceston and Carpenter emerged from the chapel dragging a still-living Sister Adelita. They threw her onto the flags before the altar. Gaping in shock, Celino stumbled down to put his arms around her.
'They held a hand over my mouth so I would not call out,' she gasped. 'I wanted to, Father. Oh, I did ...'
She was a good actress, Will noted.
'You are the Devil himself,' Celino growled.
Shrugging, Will returned his knife to its sheath and indicated to Mayhew to begin scouring the rooms along the nave as they had agreed earlier.
'Do you think four Englishman can attack the heart of Spain with impunity?' Celino continued angrily. 'We are the most powerful nation in this world and you ... you are nothing but dogs. Your deaths will be upon you before you know it.'
'My invasion of Spain is built on more solid foundations than your attack upon England,' Will replied, 'and I will not be turned away by prayers or curses or all the swords you can muster.'
When Mayhew returned, Will gave the signal and Launceston and Carpenter roughly dragged Celino to a small, dark room near the altar that contained the tabernacle. Will and Mayhew accompanied Sister Adelita. As they walked, she kept her eyes ahead and her chin raised defiantly, but she secretly felt for Will's hand and gave it a brief squeeze of support. He returned her touch.
Once Celino and Sister Adelita were in the room, and Will had the large iron key to lock it, he said, 'Take heed, Father. No lives have been lost here this day. But if you raise the alarm before we leave Cadiz, I will make it my last act on this Earth to return here and slay you both.'
As he closed the door, the last thing he saw was Sister Adelita's face, pale in the growing gloom, and filled with a look of such yearning, it caught him by surprise. He held her gaze for a moment before locking the door.
Slipping the key into his pocket, he led the way to the side door through which they had entered. 'We must move fast,' Will said. 'Celino will be discovered in no time, and he will have the authorities on our heels before the sun has started to move down to the horizon. We must be into Seville and out in a flash. Are you ready for the flight, and the fight, of your lives? Then let us depart!'
CHAPTER 34
lizabeth's incandescent fury terrified the greying men gathered around the meeting room. 'One man!' the queen raged. 'All our futures are dependent upon one man!'
All eyes looked down. The queen turned her powdered white face from one to another of her circle of closest advisors, waiting for a response.
Walsingham understood their reluctance. Elizabeth was like a storm at sea, as quick to turn from coquettish flirtation to volcanic anger without the slightest warning. But who would tell her that her own indecisiveness had led the country into the desperate strait in which it now found itself?
'Will Swyfe is-' he began.
'Yes, yes! I know all about Master Swyfte's abilities!' she roared. 'Now where are the bearers of good news?' The whip-crack in Elizabeth's voice kept all heads bowed. 'Lord Walsingham,' she pressed. 'You still say the Armada will sail shortly?'
'That is the information I have, Your Majesty. There are conflicting reports-some say five hundred ships,
