Heartstone (76 page)

'I think I know what happened there, and it did not involve Hobbey or Dyrick. I will pick up that matter in London. I will say no more now - if I am right it could be dangerous to know. But I will tell the Queen. This time Richard Rich may find he has gone too far.'

'Sure you won't tell me?'

'Quite sure. Tamasin would not want me to.'

'If Emma has chosen to go for a soldier, it is what she always wanted. Why not leave her to follow her choice?'

I answered firmly, 'She has been so hemmed all these years she is in no right mind to make a decision like that.'

He shook his head. 'You are determined to rescue her whether she wants it or no. Whatever the consequences. As with Ellen.'

'Yes.'

'What if she's not in Portsmouth?'

'Then there will be nothing else I can do, and I will return alone. Now, goodbye, Jack.' I put out my hand. 'Until tonight or tomorrow.'

'Mad,' he said. 'Completely mad. Try to stay safe, for God's sake.'

He turned his horse, spurred it, and rode fast up towards the London road. He disappeared round a bend. I patted Oddleg. 'Come, back to Portsmouth.' I said.

T
HE ROAD SOUTH
was strangely quiet. I thought, it is Sunday. No, that was tomorrow. From the deep-set lanes I smelt smoke several times and thought, are the charcoal-burners working as far south as this? I heard shouts, too.

I began the slow climb up Portsdown Hill. And then, near the top, the air became thick with smoke and I saw a burning beacon, men milling round it. My heart thumping, I crested the escarpment. Smoke from beacon after beacon was visible, in a line all along the hills. I looked down, across Portsea Island to the sea. Then my jaw dropped and I gripped Oddleg's reins, hard.

Most of the warships were still at anchor in the Solent, though some of the smaller ships were in the harbour, small dots from here. In front of the warships half a dozen larger dots were manoeuvring rapidly to and fro. I heard a sound like the rumble of thunder that could only be cannon firing. I thought, those ships are moving and turning so fast they must be galleys, as big as the
Galley Subtle
. Then I saw, at the eastern end of the Isle of Wight in the distance, an enormous dark smudge. The French fleet had arrived. The invasion had begun.

Part Six

THE BATTLE

Chapter Forty-three

I
SAT FOR
several minutes watching the extraordinary scene in the distance. The English ships, at anchor and with sails reefed, looked terrifyingly vulnerable. I wondered why the huge French fleet did not advance and assumed the wind was against them. A little way along from me, near the burning beacon, a group of country women stood watching the fighting. They were silent, anxious-looking, and I wondered if they had menfolk down there.

My instinct was that I was too late, I should turn and ride back. But Emma had been only three hours ahead of me at most; if she had come to Portsmouth she could surely not have found her way into battle yet. I thought of her watchfulness, her carefully considered speech. With the companies short of men it was perfectly possible she could get herself taken on, all the more now the French were here. I remembered Hobbey saying how Abigail had helped her bind up her breasts as they grew, and Hugh rubbing uncomfortably at 'his' chest. How much discomfort must she have undergone these last six years?

At the bridge linking the mainland to Portsea Island everything had changed since the morning. Now people were trying to get off the island, not on to it. A stream of people was crossing from the seaward side; women with babies, children, old people hobbling on sticks, all fleeing a possible siege. Most were poor; they carried bundles or hauled their possessions stacked on rickety carts. I remembered Leacon talking of the populace of the French countryside, begging and starving beside the road. I thought, is this about to happen here?

I waited till the refugees had passed. They began wearily climbing Portsdown Hill. An old couple started to argue about whether to abandon their cart, which contained a dismantled truckle bed, some poor clothes, pewter plates and a couple of stools. People trying to get past shouted at them to get out of the way. Then I heard drums, and a company of militia with an assortment of weapons marched rapidly down the hill. The refugees jumped quickly aside. The soldiers marched rapidly past me, the half-armour some wore clinking and rattling. The guards at the bridge saluted as they tramped across in a cloud of yellow dust.

When they had gone, I rode up to the nearest guard and asked what the latest news was. He looked at me with irritation. 'The Frenchies have come, that's what.' He was an enlisted man, who normally would not have dared talk to someone of my class like that; but as I had seen many times now, the war was dissolving social boundaries.

'Can I get into the city?'

'Everyone's trying to leave.'

'There is someone I need to try and get out. A friend.'

'Well, master lawyer, if you can persuade them to let you in, I wish you the best of luck.' He gave me a glance of grudging respect, and waved me on.

O
N
P
ORTSEA
I
SLAND
the soldiers' tents still stood, but they were all empty now, the flaps open, only a handful of men on guard. Small objects were scattered here and there on the grass - a bowl, a spoon, a cap - the soldiers had been called away in a hurry.

As I approached the town walls, where men still laboured hard to strengthen the fortifications, I passed another group of refugees trudging towards the bridge, among them a group of prostitutes, their painted faces streaked and dusty. Then I had to pull into the side again to allow another company of soldiers to march past; foreign mercenaries this time in bright slashed doublets, talking in German. I had a view of the fleet: the ships still rode at anchor, among them the
Great Harry
and the
Mary Rose
; I saw the
Galley Subtle
with the galleasses, between the warships and the huge French galleys half a mile off. I wondered if Leacon and his company were already aboard the
Great Harry
. A cloud of dark smoke came from the front of a French galley, followed by a distant boom; an English galleass had fired back.

I reached the tents outside the city. As I feared, they, too, were empty. Looking up at the walls, I saw the soldiers lining the top had their backs to me, watching what was happening out at sea; the city wall now blocked my view. I turned Oddleg towards the tents, hoping someone had been left on guard who could give me information, but could see nobody. It was strange riding among the tents and hearing no noise, no shouting or clattering. The tents of Leacon's company, like the others, were empty. I was about to turn back when I heard a voice calling weakly.

'Lawyer Shardlake! Over here!'

I followed the voice to a tent from which a cesspit smell emanated. Hesitantly, I looked through the open flap. In the half-light within I saw bowls and clothing scattered about. In a corner a man lay, half-covered by a blanket. It was Sulyard, the bully who had been so full of bravado the night before. His ugly bony face was white as a sheet. 'It is you,' he said. 'I thought I was having bad visions.'

'Sulyard? What ails you?'

'There was a barrel of bad beer last night. When we went into Portsmouth this morning four of us were sent back with the flux.' He gave a little smile, and I saw that he was glad.

'Where is the rest of the company?'

'On the
Great Harry
. Listen, can you get me something to drink? There's beer in the tent with the green flag.'

I went and found the tent he described. There were some barrels of beer and drinking vessels stored there and I filled a tankard. I took it back to him. He drank greedily, then he gave me an amused, calculating look. 'Have you come for the boy?'

'What boy?' I asked eagerly. 'Do you mean Hugh Curteys?'

'The one that was with you the first time you came here, the good archer.'

'Have you seen him? Please, tell me.'

'We were supposed to go on the ships this morning, but the King was on the
Great Harry
and they weren't going to put us on till he'd gone across to the
Mary Rose
. We were waiting on the wharf, when your lad ran up. Hot and dusty, carrying a bow. He recognized Captain Leacon and asked to join the company. By then four of us were crouched against a wall shitting like dogs, and the company's already short. So the captain took him on, and sent us sick ones back.'

'I need to find that boy.'

'You'll have a job. Just after, there was a great commotion and the King's barge came speeding back to shore. Then the French fleet comes into view round the Isle of Wight.' With difficulty, Sulyard leaned up on his elbows. 'Do you know what's happened since? Have the French landed?' I understood the reason for his unaccustomed civility; it was not just drink he wanted; he was afraid the French would come and butcher him in his tent.

'No. They're skirmishing out at sea. Listen, did they take the boy on board the
Great Harry
?'

'They must have done.'

'I must try and find him. I must go into town.'

'They won't let you in, they've been clearing civilians out all morning. You'd need to go to the army quartermaster's office at the royal tents.'

'Is the King there?'

'I heard he went to South Sea Castle to watch the battle. I saw him when he landed - Christ, it took eight men to get him up the steps. Listen, can you get me out of here? Off the island?'

'No, Sulyard, I can't. I told you, I am going into Portsmouth.'

He scowled, then gave me a leering wink. 'You like the boy, eh?'

I sighed. 'Is there anything else I can do for you?'

'No. You've brought us enough bad luck.'

M
Y ONLY CHANCE
now was to try and find the quartermaster. As I had told Hobbey, I planned to say Emma was a young woman driven by patriotism to impersonate a man and join up - I had heard tavern tales of such things. But I feared she could already have been rushed on board the
Great Harry
.