TIME QUAKE (6 page)

‘Oh no!’ cried Kate. ‘How could they do such a thing?’

Gideon guided her gently away.

‘Can you smell that awful smell?’ Peter asked, wrinkling his nose. ‘It’s like a butcher’s shop. Worse.’

‘‘Tis hardly surprising,’ said Gideon. ‘Smithfield is a meat market and always has been to my knowledge. This place is steeped in the stink of slaughter.’

The children exchanged glances. A more savoury smell drifted towards them, however, and Parson Ledbury lifted his head and sniffed the air appreciatively. He was watching two bare-chested men, their pronounced muscles gleaming with sweat, slowly turn a giant spit on which two whole pigs were roasting. The fire hissed as drops of grease fell into the glowing embers.

‘I begin to feel an appetite,’ said the Parson. ‘I hope we might make short shrift of running down Master Blueskin, for I declare I should make fine work of a rib or two of pork.’

‘We have need of your bottom, not your stomach,’ quipped Sir Richard. ‘And your stout heart, too, no doubt before the night is out.’

‘Upon my life, sir, not a morsel will pass my lips until we’ve cowed the scoundrel into submission and then, I promise you, I shall sate my appetite and not hold back!’

Gideon smiled. ‘Do you see that Up and Down yonder?’ he said, indicating a wheel-shaped structure rising up out of the centre of the fair. ‘That shall be our meeting place.’

‘When I rode on them as a child we always called them whirligigs,’ commented Sir Richard. ‘But then, I have twenty years on you, at least, Gideon.’

The children looked to where he was pointing.

‘Can you believe it? It’s a Ferris wheel, for goodness’ sake!’ exclaimed Peter to Kate.

Sir Richard turned to Gideon. ‘Should we divide ourselves into two or three parties, would you say?’

‘Three, sir, in my opinion. For surely we must cover as much ground as we can in all haste.’

‘Very well. I suggest that Parson Ledbury accompany Hannah and that you, Mr Seymour, take Peter. And, if I might be permitted that honour, I shall chaperone Mistress Kate,’ said Sir Richard, not noticing Kate’s expression.

Kate tried to master her emotions but a feeling of desperate panic rose up inside her. How could she reject Sir Richard’s kind offer? But she
had
to stay with Peter.

Peter felt Kate grip his hand even more tightly and he wondered if he should say something. But it was Parson Ledbury who came to her rescue.

‘I believe that Mistress Kate would prefer to have the comfort of her friend at her side, my dear Sir Richard. And, as it is all the same to me whether I go accompanied or alone, I suggest that you escort Hannah.’

Sir Richard, however, would have none of it and ventured forth into the fair by himself, saying that he would search the north end of the square. He told the Parson and Hannah to take the west side while Gideon and the children should take the east.

‘Let us agree to meet at the foot of the whirligig within the hour, whether we have caught sight of the Tar Man or no.’

‘Stay close by me,’ said Gideon to Peter and Kate.

He set off at a rapid pace and his young companions kept up as well as they could. Peter turned to Kate. ‘It’s not that I mind, Kate, but why is it that you have to hold my hand
all
the time? It’s as if you’re frightened that I’ll go off if you don’t. Listen, I
swear
I’m not going to leave you behind. Surely you must trust me by now!’

Kate blushed, which made Peter wish he had not said anything. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I know I’m being a pain.’

Kate was already panting with the effort of keeping up with Gideon. Peter glanced at her. She didn’t look too good. Kate had not loosened her grip on his hand for an instant. He wondered if it had been such a great idea bringing her along. They passed wooden stalls piled high with gingerbread and puppet shows and games of dice. All the while the threesome scanned the sea of faces that surged around them for a glimpse of a livid white scar and a slim, athletic build and those fathomless dark eyes which all of them now had cause to fear.

‘I forgot to say that the Tar Man has whiter teeth now,’ said Kate breathlessly to Gideon. ‘He’s had them done. And I think he must have had treatment for his dodgy neck, too, because he doesn’t hold his head to one side any more.’

‘Upon my word,’ replied Gideon. ‘Do not tell me that the brute has turned handsome.’

‘Actually,’ said Kate, ‘he looked pretty good when we last saw him . . .’

‘Kate!’ exclaimed Peter.

‘Well, he did!’

‘What miracles your century can work,’ said Gideon. But he did not smile.

After perhaps a quarter of an hour of fruitless searching, Kate asked if they could stop for a moment for her to get her breath back. They found themselves outside a canvas tent, its entrance
guarded by a burly figure in the costume of a Turk. The man stood erect and motionless, his arms folded across his impressive chest, although when a woman from an adjoining stall brought him a tankard of ale, it was with a Cockney accent that he replied.

‘Bless me,’ he said in a nasal voice. ‘I am heartily glad to see you. I did not imagine that standing still would bring on such a thirst.’

At that moment the door of the tent flapped open. A black-haired woman in an exotic silk dress and with something of the gypsy about her escorted a doe-eyed girl from the tent. The girl turned around and Kate saw her swelling belly.

‘Bless me, madam, if I didn’t forget to ask you how many children I shall bear!’

‘To foretell the future, sweet child, is a terrible burden and costs me dear each time I step into that mysterious realm. But cross my palm with silver and I shall tell you anything your tender young heart desires.’

The girl pulled open her purse and peered inside.

‘Perhaps it is best not to know . . . Upon my life, it wouldn’t do to go frightening my husband! Fare thee well, madam, and thank you.’

The fortune-teller shrugged her shoulders and bade the girl farewell.

‘What am I paying you for?’ she snapped at the keeper of the door, nodding at his tankard. ‘Three customers a night won’t pay for that beer!’

Peter and Gideon continued to scrutinise every face in the crowds that filed past them but Kate’s gaze happened to fall on the fortune-teller. The woman, who had been on the verge of re-entering the tent, suddenly stood stock-still and stared directly at Kate without blinking. Then, after a moment she took an uncertain step backwards, putting her hand to her mouth. The colour had
drained from her face. It was fear that Kate read in those dark eyes. She pointed a scrawny finger at Kate and then backed slowly into the tent, tugging violently at the canvas door flap to close it. No one else witnessed the woman’s reaction. Kate’s heart thumped in her chest. The only thought that came into her head was
she knows
.

‘Ouch!’ cried Peter. ‘There’s no need to dig your nails in!’

‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ Kate replied. ‘I didn’t realise I was.’

Gideon turned to her. ‘Do you feel recovered enough to continue awhile, Mistress Kate?’

Kate nodded and Gideon strode on ahead. He stopped again, however, after only a few paces when a booming voice called out to him.

‘Mr Seymour!’

Gideon turned to look at a man of majestic proportions advancing towards him with a broad smile on his face. Gideon walked over to greet him.

‘Mr Featherstone! It is good to see you! Though I am astonished to find you here! Who attends to your customers at the Rose?’

‘The Rose is three-quarters empty on account of the fair, Mr Seymour. So I said to myself, why the devil
shouldn’t
old Featherstone seek out a little diversion? Come, will you drink a glass with me?’

‘On another occasion with a good will, Mr Featherstone, but you find me in search of a certain person and I must not tarry lest his trail cool.’

‘A pity. I should have enjoyed your company. But who is it that you seek, if I might be so bold as to enquire?’

‘Blueskin.’

Featherstone laughed out loud. ‘In which case you shall be
happy indeed that Fortune caused our paths to cross. I exchanged a word or two with Blueskin not five minutes past!’

Gideon was a good head shorter than the porter of the Rose Tavern but he grabbed him by the elbows and half lifted him into the air.

‘You have spoken to Blueskin! Where? Tell me, good Mr Featherstone!’

‘Why, in Newgate Lane heading east.’

‘Was he alone?’

‘Joe Carrick walked with him, I believe, though I did not speak to him.’

Gideon bade farewell to Featherstone and rushed back to Peter and Kate to tell them the good news.

‘The Tar Man is but five minutes hence with Joe Carrick. I must run if I am to stand a chance of catching him. Make your way to the meeting place and tell the others there has been a sighting of the Tar Man and that I have gone to Newgate Lane in search of him.’

‘I’m coming with you!’ cried Peter. ‘I’m a fast runner! I’ve won prizes – well, one . . .’

‘I do not have the time to argue, Master Peter,’ said Gideon. ‘Stay with Mistress Kate. I must fly!’

Peter turned abruptly to Kate. ‘I
have
to go with Gideon. If the Carrick gang are with the Tar Man he’s going to need help! I’d say that you could come, too, but . . . I just don’t think you’re fit enough to run a long way.’

Kate looked desperate. ‘No! Please! Don’t leave me alone!’

Peter turned on her angrily. ‘Kate, don’t give me a hard time about this! I’ve got to go. I won’t be long. Go to the meeting place and tell the others what’s happening.’

‘
Peter! Please!
You said you wouldn’t leave me . . .’

‘And I meant it! I’m not
going
to leave you! Do you really think I wouldn’t come back for you? Surely you don’t need me to be with you every single second . . . Can’t you see that the sooner we catch the Tar Man, the sooner we can get you home and make you better?’

Kate watched Peter’s back receding into the distance. Gideon’s blond head had already disappeared from view. How long before she fast-forwarded? The cold, creeping fear that was becoming her constant companion made Kate’s shoulders slump and her head droop towards her chest. Groups of revellers sailed by: poor and rich, young and old, comely and plain – the whole world, it seemed, was in high spirits except for Kate.

A grimacing fool approached, beating a drum and capering and frolicking about, drawing attention to a mountebank who followed in his wake. The Merry Andrew suddenly threw himself to the ground, performed a perfect somersault and stood up so close to Kate that she could see lice crawling in his coarse hair. In a reflex action she pushed him violently away. The fool staggered back a step then used the momentum to turn a deft back-flip causing the tiny bells sewn to his costume to tinkle. There was laughter and a smattering of applause.

Kate felt someone brush past her skirts and she took a step forward to give the person behind room to pass. But the person did not pass and she felt the warmth of a physical presence at her back. The next moment she felt a hand on her shoulder. She started in surprise. Then a second hand took hold of her and strong fingers squeezed her flesh until she was held in a vice-like grip. Kate gasped with the shock of it and felt her palms grow cold and clammy and the hairs rise at the back of her neck. A sixth sense told her who it was before she even turned around to look. She peered upwards over her shoulder.

‘You!’

‘Greetings, Mistress Dyer,’ replied the Tar Man.

‘I don’t understand, Gideon—’

‘Contrary to what Mr Seymour might believe, he would not be here had
I
not summoned
him
.’

Kate’s mind raced. Gideon and Peter would be far away by now. The others were at the other side of this huge fair . . . Should she scream? Run? Shout for help? After a moment’s hesitation she craned her neck to one side, sank her teeth into the Tar Man’s hand and ground them into his flesh, clamping her jaws together with every last ounce of her strength.

C
HAPTER
F
IVE

High Treason

In which Lord Luxon gets an answer to his
question and Alice encounters a dog with bottom

No sooner had Lord Luxon commented that he had taken a fancy to observing the New York skyline from the sea, than Mrs Stacey remembered a pressing, prior engagement and volunteered Alice to accompany him on a boat tour. Alice opened her mouth to object but Lord Luxon seemed so genuinely pleased that she relented and closed it again.

Mrs Stacey flagged down a cab and as she got in she whispered into her niece’s ear. ‘How many men have you met who can boast a castle in Scotland?’

‘Oh, hundreds,’ whispered Alice back. ‘Enjoy your afternoon, Aunt Laura.’

Mrs Stacey got into the cab and called through the open window, ‘I look forward to hearing
all
about it . . .’

‘Thank you
very much
, Aunt Laura,’ said Alice pointedly.

Mrs Stacey smiled sweetly at Lord Luxon. Accustomed as Luxon was to half the matrons in London throwing their daughters at him, his face betrayed nothing and he merely expressed
regret that he was to be deprived of Mrs Stacey’s company that afternoon.