Black Powder (31 page)

Wiseman. Tom folded the parchment and felt inside the pouch for the ring. He pulled it out and stared at it. The bird's head gleamed back at him, its diamond eye glinting like a tiny solitary star. So the Falcon must have kept his word after all. A strange ache started up in his chest and the bird's head began to blur. He scrubbed at his eyes with his sleeve and gritted his teeth. The Falcon might want him to have the ring, but it was a gift he couldn't keep. He leant forwards, held it out over the water and closed his eyes.

Footsteps sounded on the deck behind him. He snapped
his eyes open again, curled the ring up in his fist and dropped his hand back to his side.

A figure came towards him. For a moment Tom thought it was a trick of the sea light.

And then he knew . . .

A wave of happiness surged through him. ‘Father!' Heart pounding, he dashed forwards and flung his arms around him.

‘Tom! Tom! My son.' His father grasped him with strong, warm hands.

Tom pressed his face against his father's doublet and breathed in deep. He smelt of wool and leather, like he used to. Tears sprang and flowed hot and fast down his cheeks.

‘Come, lad.' His father pulled him away then looked at him with worried grey eyes. ‘Or are you not glad to see me?'

Tom gulped and blinked the tears away. ‘No – I mean yes – I mean, I thought they weren't going to release you for another month?'

‘They weren't, but I think someone in Cecil's pay must have taken pity on me and let me go early.' His father coughed. ‘And besides, three whole months in gaol is three months too many. Although, alas' – his eyes darkened – ‘others have paid a far higher price.' He put a hand to the cloth which covered his throat.

Tom clenched his jaw. He knew all too well what he meant. Although the King's men had cut Father down from the scaffold, Father Oliver had not been so lucky. He bent his head, crossed himself and said a quick prayer for the Jesuit's soul, then glanced up again. His father's hair was
flecked with grey and there were dark shadows under his eyes. His own eyes filled with more tears.

His father hugged him to him. ‘Come. You saved me, didn't you?'

Tom's heart fluttered against his chest. ‘But it wasn't me, it was—'

‘Hush, son. If it hadn't been for you and your cousin's bravery and quick-thinking, neither I nor our King would be alive today. We both have a lot to thank you for.'

Tom bit his lip. It was the truth, but only part of it: it was the Falcon who had really saved Father's life. That was the favour he'd bargained for with Wiseman in return for his confession. He fingered the ring. He wanted to tell everyone – to make them understand how, although he was a traitor, Fawkes had been a brave man too . . . but for his family's sake, perhaps it was best to leave it unsaid. They stood together in silence looking out across the water. After a few moments, his father cleared his throat and scanned the ship's deck.

‘This is not quite the same as the birthday trip I had planned for you back in November.'

Tom lifted his shoulders and smiled. ‘It doesn't matter. Have you seen Mother? Did she tell you the news about Uncle Montague?'

His father sighed. ‘Yes, but I understand the King values his friendship; so let us hope his confinement will not be a long one. Although' – the shadow of a smile played over his lips – ‘I believe that the gaol cells of noble prisoners are more comfortable than mine was . . . Still, we will make time
to pray for him on our crossing to France.' He held the battered prayer book up. ‘Your mother gave this to me. I understand it's been on quite a journey?'

Tom flushed. ‘Yes.'

‘You must tell me about it once we have set sail. What have you got there?' He pointed at Tom's fist.

Reluctantly Tom uncurled his fingers.

His father raised an eyebrow. ‘How did you come by that?'

Tom traced a fingernail over the bird's diamond eye. ‘A soldier gave it to me.'

‘I see.' His father frowned. ‘And was he an honourable man?'

The ache started up in Tom's chest again. He shrugged. ‘I don't know. He did bad things, but some good ones too.'

His father's frown melted into a smile. He ruffled his hair. ‘Then he is human, like the rest of us.' He pressed his fingers back over the ring. ‘Keep it, son. In memory of the good.'

Tom nodded. He opened the pouch and dropped the ring inside.

Somewhere back on land, a church bell tolled the hour. One o'clock. He shivered. A shadow passed across the deck. He glanced up. A black shape arrowed through the sky above them.

‘What's that?'

His father shaded his eyes. ‘A falcon, I think. Although I've never seen one so close before.'

They watched for a moment as the bird tumbled
through the air then swooped up again on the sea breeze. Tom felt his father's hand warm on his shoulder.

‘France lies just across the water.' He pointed to the horizon beyond the harbour walls. ‘A new start for us all, Tom.'

Tom glanced at his father quickly, then looked away. ‘Won't you miss William?'

‘What do you mean?'

‘Being so far from where he is buried.'

His father's eyes clouded, as if remembering. He gave a deep sigh and shook his head. ‘William is always close to me. I carry him here.' He placed his right hand over his heart. ‘Along with you and your little brother.' He smiled.

A gurgling sound rang out behind them. Tom turned. His mother approached carrying Edward in her arms. His stubby fingers clutched the model of the merchant ship Tom had carved for him with Father's knife.

‘Here, look after your baby brother for a bit.' She handed Edward to him. ‘Your father and I have much to talk about.' She linked arms with his father and tugged him away.

Edward chortled and buried his face into Tom's chest. ‘Look, Ned. A falcon.' He lifted him up and pointed, but the sky was empty.

The bird had gone.

About the Book

Black Powder
is a story. But like all stories, it contains truths as well as fiction.

The Gunpowder Plot was a serious attempt by a band of desperate men to blow up King James I of England, members of the royal family, the King's ministers and his bishops and Parliament too. If they had succeeded, they would have changed the course of Britain's history.

The idea for the story was first sparked by a visit I made to the ruins of Cowdray Park, a Tudor palace on the edge of the town of Midhurst, in West Sussex. During my visit, I discovered that a certain Mr Guy Fawkes had worked there as a footman, when a young man.

I was intrigued. And it didn't take long for a whole bunch of ‘What ifs?' to start buzzing around inside my head. What if, years later, Guy Fawkes returns from his time as a soldier abroad and stashes a secret supply of gunpowder at Cowdray? What if, when he comes down from London to collect it for use in the plot he and his friends have planned to blow up the King and Parliament, he has a chance encounter with a young boy who has arrived at Cowdray on a desperate mission of his own? And then, what if he agrees to take the boy to London with him?

I knew very little about the Gunpowder Plot, except the brief outline of the story I had learnt years ago at school. But the more I researched it, the more I realized it had all the elements of a brilliant adventure story – some of which you really couldn't make up if you tried!

To tell the whole story – or what is known of it – would need a different kind of book. But here are some of the more interesting facts about the people, places and events featured in
Black Powder
and one or two confessions about what I have invented in order to tell my tale of Tom and the Falcon.

People

The Plotters

There were thirteen plotters in total, but, to avoid things becoming confusing, I've featured only the key ones in my story.

Guy Fawkes
(1570–1606) was born in York into a family of mixed faith. He was baptized a Protestant, but converted to Roman Catholicism as a young man. His family crest included a falcon and it was this that inspired me to give him a gold falcon-headed ring and to have him encourage Tom to call him ‘the Falcon'. He was a man of many identities in real life too.

After serving for a short time in the Montague household as a gentleman servant, he became a soldier and learnt how to light a ‘slow train' of gunpowder – a skill which earned him his crucial role in the Gunpowder Plot. Although at first Tom is afraid of the Falcon and not sure he can trust him, as events unfold and he learns more about him, he comes to admire him for his bravery. The real Guy Fawkes earned just such a name among the men who fought alongside him. Even King James was impressed by his strength and self-control at his interrogation. Guy Fawkes
had a reputation for being strongly committed to his faith and was convinced that killing the Protestant King was best for both his fellow Catholics and the whole country too. He was fanatical and misguided, but it is hard to deny his courage. In my story, he confesses after a few hours of torture in return for the guarantee of Tom's father's life. But in reality he held out for several days.

Guy Fawkes was recruited into the gang of plotters by their leader, the charismatic
Robert Catesby
(circa 1572–1605), known as Robin by his friends. Catesby had been involved in earlier plots and it was he, not Guy Fawkes, who was the mastermind behind the Gunpowder Plot. He used religious arguments to justify his actions, and refused to put a stop to the plot when another of the plotters told him that their plans had been discovered. His foolhardiness contributed to the plot's failure.

Thomas Percy
(circa 1560–1605), who goes by the false name of ‘Harry Browne' in my story, was a poor relation of the Earl of Northumberland. Another convert to Catholicism, he was energetic and clever but also ambitious and regarded by some at the time as ‘a dangerous knave', having killed a man in his youth during a skirmish. ‘Harry Browne' is the enemy of the Falcon in my story, although there is no basis for this in real life.

Lords and ladies

The Montagues
were a wealthy, influential Catholic family who, in spite of their religious beliefs, managed to keep in favour with both the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I and her
successor, King James.

Their country seat was at Cowdray but they also owned Montague House in Southwark, London. Cressida is my own invention, but both Tom's ‘Uncle Montague' and ‘Great-Granny',
Magdalen, Viscountess Montague
(1538–1608), really did exist.

Although
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
(1563– 1612), is a shadowy figure in the story, he is as crucial to the events in it as he was to the solving of the Gunpowder Plot in real life. Cecil was chief minister and spymaster to both Queen Elizabeth and then King James. He was known to his enemies by a number of nicknames, including ‘the hunchback' and ‘the fox', but in truth, he was a brilliant and clever statesman who was prepared to go to sometimes extreme lengths to create political stability in England. One of the tools that helped him was the network of spies and informers he controlled. He posted men like Solomon Wiseman and Mister Mandrake (although they are my inventions!) across the country and abroad to gather evidence of intrigues, plots and assassination attempts on the King.

It has been suggested that the Gunpowder Plot itself was devised by Cecil to flush out Catholic troublemakers and to put an end to Catholic chances of gaining equality and toleration. But this has never been proved, and it's not something that happens in my story.

King James I
of England and VI of Scotland (1566– 1625) was intelligent and politically very clever, but his own behaviour definitely fanned the flames of the plot. Before he came to the English throne, he appears to have
made certain promises – including to Thomas Percy (‘Harry Browne' in my story), who eventually became one of the plotters – that he would show toleration to the English Catholics. Some Catholics even thought mistakenly that James was about to convert to Catholicism. James worried about his own safety, and for good reason. Within the first year of his reign in England, two plots against the new King – one led by Catholic priests seeking greater religious toleration – had been uncovered. When new anti-Catholic laws were introduced by the King's Parliament in 1604, it convinced the plotters, led by Robert Catesby (‘Robin Cat' in my story), of the need to act.

Priests

Catholic priests, and in particular the Jesuits, had been outlawed during the reign of Elizabeth I. They were accused of working with the Pope and the Catholic King of Spain to prepare the way for a Spanish invasion of England, and put a Catholic replacement on the throne. If captured they were put to death as enemies of the state. Although King James made peace with the Spanish in 1604, Catholic priests were still seen as a source of unrest and were again outlawed. Robert Cecil, who disliked the Jesuits, built a case against them that they were behind the ‘Powder Treason' and several of them were tried and executed as a result.

Places

The settings in the story are, in the main, based on real locations. In one or two instances, I have made things up to
suit the story – for example the street layouts in Tom's home town of
Portsmouth
on the south coast of England. And although Tom and the Falcon travel over two nights and days to London from Cowdray, it would in all likelihood have taken even longer. Travel by horse and cart in those days, on badly rutted roads, was very slow.

Cowdray House
was once one of the greatest mansions in England, visited by King Henry VIII and his daughter, Elizabeth I. Sadly, in 1793, it was destroyed by fire and is now a ruin, although thanks to a recent renovation project, you can visit it. You can still cross the causeway as Tom did and see the gatehouse and ruins of the Buck Hall; but the tunnel used for smuggling the Catholic townsfolk to the chapel and where the Falcon stores the gunpowder is my invention.