This is a bit unusual, but Chapter Six is probably unfinished, and the later editing may yield some new stuff to be put in it, but for now, here it is:
Chapter Six
“I am Diego Monteverde, prince of Catalpa,” he said without difficulty or significant slurring. “And you, my most precious little child, are Alexandra. That is a name that in my land shall become… as a saint!”
Alexandra smiled at her man, radiant as a sunbeam.
“Come, my prince, let me take ye to the others. Show ‘em that ye’re doin’ better.” Then Alex took his arm and walked with Diego, still limping slightly, out into the waiting area outside her room. She turned down the hall and headed toward the dining area. She could hear voices, and she entered, leading her man by the arm.
“Look who I’ve got wi’ me. You tell ‘em, me prince.”
With a slight bow of the head, he said, as plainly as could be, “I am Diego Monteverde, prince of Catalpa. And this young angel has been so kind as to have brought me through this – I hate to say it – this ordeal.”
The gasps that came from the other residents of the room were palpable. But no one said a word until Chauncey spoke, “M’lord, did ye but say that ye came from Catalpa, me wife’s family’s home? And if so, did ye come all this way on a mission of vengeance?”
“Aye, that is the truth. And ye be Chauncey, a man of great knowledge, and of great secrets as well, eh?”
“Aye,” Chauncey answered. “But it would appear, me good prince, that yer own story must be one that we should hear. Fer me own can wait, and I would guess that yer own is one that may mean the difference fer all of us.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Truly simple, fer ye were saved from disaster fer some purpose by forces beyond yer ken, no? And it was none other than Maggie, with her blue light which saved ye from the shipwreck, and then by the hand o’ this young lass,” he gestured toward Alex, “ye were allowed to heal. And may I say, that we are truly grateful fer that.”
“As am I, friend. Then, I should, as it would seem right, to tell of my tale. As you indicated, it is, indeed a tale of vengeance.” Saying this, he sat down, and began his story.
“It did begin some two years ago, when one of my knights, a man of integrity, who was a widower and owned some land in the southern part of my country, came to me with what I thought was a most strange story, indeed. He said that he had been approached by a man, who knew of his ownership of the land, who told him that he had a deed to the property, and that my knight, whose name was Anselm, had three months to get his things off the property, and that he would be back in three months to claim it as his own. When Anselm asked to see the deed, the man told him that it was not his to see, and that if he did not comply with his request, that he would be certain to kill each and every member of Anselm’s family, beginning with his youngest son, then his two daughters, then his eldest son and heir.
“Then Anselm asked him his name, and was told by the man, that it was LeGace. And when Anselm took out his sword in rebuke, LeGace told him to sheath his sword, as they had his youngest son out back, and would certainly kill him if any harm or perceived threat came to LeGace. Then he turned on his heels and walked out of his house, with his word of warning being, “three months is all!”
“Well, time passed, and Anselm’s youngest was in LeGace’s custody, and then three months to the day came, and there on his front step was the body of his youngest child, with a knife in his chest, and a vicious note, which was pinned to his chest by the knife, and said that he and all his possessions must by now be off his land, and that he was now familiar with the consequences.”
A gasp rose from the others in the room. After a brief pause, Alex went over to Diego, gently took his arm in hers, and then asked him if this boy’s name was Tristan.
“Why, aye, his name was indeed, Tristan! How would you know such a thing?”
“Me dreams. Tristan was in them, an’ he tol’ me that you would be comin’, an’ that I was to take good care of ye. He said that ye’d be acomin’ fer to avenge his father.”
“Goodness, child, you are so right! I did promise his father that I’d be seeking revenge. You see, Anselm got his family together and came to my castle to ask if I had any place for his children to be staying. I said, most certainly, that the three remaining children could stay in my servant’s quarters. He then thanked me and said that he must now seek out this man, LeGace, and his doings. I did not hear from Anselm until four months ago. He had sent a messenger, as he was severely injured, and was dying in one of our port cities. He said that he found out that LeGace was now in Shepperton, and planning to take it by force, and to make it his new center of
operations, and further, he had developed an alliance with the king of England to guarantee that he would be able to do so safely. Just what that alliance entailed amounted to was that he, the king, would get a continuous supply of Shepperton pottery.
“Now, I was not aware until coming here that the pots of Shepperton were anything special, but evidently they are, indeed. I did try to send aid to the port of Weston where Anselm was, but alas, too late. It took the next few months to assure that my own affairs, as well as the welfare of Anselm’s children were in order, before I could set out with a small army toward Shepperton. And you have certainly heard of what happened to my ship and my army.”
At this, he began to choke and had to pause in his narration.
“It does seem to me,” Chauncey broke in, “that yer loss of men was a significant blow, as ye must have had some good friends among the others on board.”
Diego nodded, and when he could recount his story again, said in a hoarse voice, “Aye. That I did. I have tried not to think on this. For it seems that my whole ship was lost, save me. And that was not of my doing, but as you noted, it was through means unknown to me.”
At the mention of his ship and his crew, the others in the room closed ranks, and listened with even more attention, including Charlie Stephens, who had noticed that Maggie was a part of this story too.
“She was there, after my main mast had broken,” Diego continued, “and we were there in the sea, drifting on those great waves. She was just there in the darkness as calm as she could be, with her blue luminescence coming from deep inside her, as if she were some kind of otherworldly torch. Then when she spoke, I could not resist, and I went toward her and together we went over the railing and into the ocean. Then I remembered nothing until awakening in the arms o’ my Alexandra, singing to me on the shore.”
He paused, long enough to notice Alex’s reaction, which was one of extraordinary tenderness for her man.
“I remember what Maggie said to me. She said that it was to be the last voyage for my men and my ship, but it was not to be my last one. The implications of her words have filled me with both determination and grim hope. For ‘twould seem that my next voyage would be in saving the integrity of this isle. But for that to be true, ‘twould seem that I must find a way back to yer port, and yer castle. For I must talk to the lord of the castle and see of his needs and what ships he has at his direction.”
Gilbert, who had been listening intently, then broke in. “Good sir, the only ships that come to our harbor are already owned by the merchants who do the tradin’ fer the goods o’ Shepperton. We have no ships o’ war.”
“But you see that is good.” Answered Diego. “For you see, it would be much more effective of the enemy did not know that he is being attacked until it is too late to do anything about it. So, if it would be possible to use vessels that seem like the ordinary fleet that serves to simply carry goods to and from your port, it would make sense to me.”
“That does seem to be true,” Gilbert acknowledged, “but we shall have to get ye to Lord Craycroft so that ye can plan strategies with ‘im. I know not if the pigeons would work t’ send a message t’ Shepperton Castle.”
“The pigeons?”
“Oh, aye! We have carrier pigeons so we can send messages back an’ forth upon this isle.” Gilbert said proudly. “If ye’d like, we might send a message t’ Lord Craycroft, and it shall arrive in Shepperton Castle afore we do.”
Within the hour, Diego was sitting with Chauncey, Gilbert, Charley Stephens, and with Alex and one of the pages around a rough table high up in the castle. Charley had provided the paper from his notebook, as well as a pencil to write with. The persons all around gathered to see the spectacle of twentieth century paper and pencil being utilized for the important message to be sent. Diego had tried to write, but his right hand was still too clumsy, so the task of writing fell to Charley, who took dictation, as he put Diego’s idea on paper.
The people in the room were all amazed at the paper, which could be easily folded and then rolled up, placed into a tiny cylinder. This, in turn was latched to a metal ring which was on the left leg of one of the birds. The bird was then sent on its way, as it circled a couple of times, then headed south, toward Shepperton Castle.
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