Bosun Island was a tiny island, quarter of an Irish acre (circular, 50 paces across), right next to Inishbeg Island. The island had a single sidhe circle which all but covered the entire island, and had a stone cairn like the one on Lamb Island.
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| Golden Hind |
There were two hours left of the day, but the wise Captain suggested: "Baton down the hatches, lads. It's too dangerous to put the jolly boats out in this. We'll try in the mornin'."
A crack of lightning emphasized his words in stark silhouette.
Everyone went below, out of the driving rain. Except Roma. He was up on deck, when another crack of lighting struck the spike on the ball at the top of the mast. Roma was blown off his feet: ears ringing, sight blinded.
Edward Kelley came scurrying up from below, dragging a long rope. He inserted it into a hole at the foot of the mast, then went below again. Roma had a look at the rope; it was braided with small pieces of metal wire. The rope went from the mast down below, through the ship and under the door to Edward's room at the bow.
A few minutes later, another bolt of lightning struck the mast spike. The rope crackled and smoked. This time there was a whining noise coming from Edward's room.
Where the rope snaked over the deck, it left a charred trail on the wood. Captain Owens was asked, by the party, if he worried about this, but he seemed to trust Edward's assurances.
The Bishop, Deacon and Tess were doing Vespers in the chapel when the lightning struck. The flash lit up the chapel quite artistically though the stained-glass window on the ceiling. They could hear the whining too. [ Tess played by Charlotte this week ]
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| Captain Owens |
Mon 21-Apr
In the morning, it was still raining hard and there was quite a sea, but the lightning no longer raged.
After Prime mass, the ship's compliment loaded the two jolly boats with Edward's equipment and went ashore. Edward walked the queen, stiffly, into the centre of the island, and sat her down in a sturdy chair which had been placed next to the cairn. Edward fashioned a metal helmet, with a cross on it, for her head, and connected it to his equipment.
Edward activated his gear, the three men-at-arms turning cranks, and he gave a nod to the Bishop who began the ritual. Again, it was the funeral mass done in reverse Latin. At the culmination of the service, the grass in the circle suddenly went brown, and the archway through the cairn went dark. The queen, on the chair, rolled her eyes, opened her mouth and screamed, then thrashed about convulsing and writhing as if in agony. Everyone tensed and covered their ears from the deafening howls, worried what would happen next. But the convulsions and spasms faded and stopped.
Then her eyes lolled, and focused on Tess, staring intently. Her mouth and tongue gibbered and flapped. Then she spoke. It was Irish Gaelic. The words started off raspy and sibilant, but got clearer as she spoke. (Only Tess and Edward could understand Gaelic.)
"Cé tusa? Cé tusa?! Cé tusa?! Cé tusa?!!"
"Ah... Tugtar Tess orm," said Tess. "I am Tess."
"Bráithre! Bráithre!" the queen said. "Is mise mo bhráithín daor."
"She says I am now ... her servant," translated Tess. "Her ... erm ... hand-maiden."
"Fola. Tá fuil orm. Anois! Anois!! Anois!!!"
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| Queen Elizabeth (post-blood) |
"And she says she needs to drink," said Tess. "Um... drink blood. Now. Urgent."
Roma muttered quietly "Vampire."
Roma muttered quietly "Vampire."
The queen scanned everyone present, eyes alighting on each, staring into their very souls: Bishop John Dee and Edward, the four men-at-arms (Sergeant Evans, and the three privates Smith, Staines and O'Halloran [ Private Smith guest-played by Andreas ]), the party, and the group of twelve jolly Jack Tars off the Golden Hind.
"Níl aon duine anseo íon, ach amháin tú féin agus tú," She pointed at the Deacon and then to Tess.
"She states that no-one here is pure except the Deacon ... and me," translated Tess. "It seems you have all had ... carnal knowledge in your pasts. I don't think she can consume blood of the ... sullied. I did ... er... think I was sullied, but maybe the 'conversion' made me pure again."
After a bit, the Deacon came forward and offered his hand to Edward, who used a small blade to cut the Deacon's wrist, and then bled him into a cup. Then Edward put a dollop of some cold stinging unguent on the wound, and covered it with a piece of sticky cloth. This stopped the bleeding.
Edward gave the cup to the queen: "Fola an sagart a thugtar duit. The Deacon's blood, given for you."
She drank it down in one. Blood came out her eyes.
Roma said "Vampire" again.
Edward frowned at Roma and said: "Those foul creatures can not function during the day. And they have bitey teeth. Do you see such teeth on our great Queen here? No. So don't say that word again."
"How often need she feed?" asked Art.
Edward asked the queen quietly, and then he said sheepishly "Um ... Six times a day."
"How many times can the Deacon and Tess give blood before they will start to ... be harmed?"
Edward thought about this for a while. "We don't really want them killed. So, I would say, three cups a day for two days, each, should be fine, but then they must wait for ... erm ... many weeks, to refresh ..." He interrupted the look of concern on their faces. "... but we will make for Baltimore on the next tide, and round up some pure ... criminals, urchins and strays, and volunteers."
They began to load all the arcane gear back on to the ship.
The queen was ensconced in Edward's room (his laboratory) using the stout chair as a make-shift throne. Tess was required to stay with her all the time as her hand-maiden. Tess did her hair and made-up her face. Todd Unctuous had, understandably, no experience with make-up, nor lady coiffure, but, as Tess, seemed to manage remarkably well. Maybe he found his feminine side. [ excellent rolls done ].
Queen Elizabeth was 70 when she died, but already the signs of aging, and the signs of being dead and embalmed for three weeks, were beginning to lessen. Maybe it was the blood, maybe it was the recent ritual.
El Gato Diablo, Ab's cat familiar, joined Tess and the queen in Edward's room, and spent the time curled up on some cushions in the corner of the lab. Ab had learned a lot more "remote control" of El Gate, so having another pair of eyes on the room seemed a good idea.
She drank it down in one. Blood came out her eyes.
Roma said "Vampire" again.
Edward frowned at Roma and said: "Those foul creatures can not function during the day. And they have bitey teeth. Do you see such teeth on our great Queen here? No. So don't say that word again."
"How often need she feed?" asked Art.
Edward asked the queen quietly, and then he said sheepishly "Um ... Six times a day."
"How many times can the Deacon and Tess give blood before they will start to ... be harmed?"
Edward thought about this for a while. "We don't really want them killed. So, I would say, three cups a day for two days, each, should be fine, but then they must wait for ... erm ... many weeks, to refresh ..." He interrupted the look of concern on their faces. "... but we will make for Baltimore on the next tide, and round up some pure ... criminals, urchins and strays, and volunteers."
They began to load all the arcane gear back on to the ship.
The queen was ensconced in Edward's room (his laboratory) using the stout chair as a make-shift throne. Tess was required to stay with her all the time as her hand-maiden. Tess did her hair and made-up her face. Todd Unctuous had, understandably, no experience with make-up, nor lady coiffure, but, as Tess, seemed to manage remarkably well. Maybe he found his feminine side. [ excellent rolls done ].
Queen Elizabeth was 70 when she died, but already the signs of aging, and the signs of being dead and embalmed for three weeks, were beginning to lessen. Maybe it was the blood, maybe it was the recent ritual.
El Gato Diablo, Ab's cat familiar, joined Tess and the queen in Edward's room, and spent the time curled up on some cushions in the corner of the lab. Ab had learned a lot more "remote control" of El Gate, so having another pair of eyes on the room seemed a good idea.
Four hours later, all the gear was tidied up, and the ship pulled back from Bosun Island and achored for the night.
"We will head for Baltimore in the morning," said Captain Owen.
After None mass, it was Tess's turn to give blood. Like with the Deacon, Edward cut her wrist. He bled out two cups of blood. One he gave the queen to drink; the other for later.
Tess briefly considered consorting with someone to break her purity and thus save on "blood donations". Handsome and charismatic Elrick was a superb candidate, and he was certainly keen. But there was still the mind of Todd Unctuous in Tess's womanly body, and the thought of doing that with a man turned his/her stomach."We will head for Baltimore in the morning," said Captain Owen.
Someone suggested that the Spanish girl be used as a blood donor, but the queen quickly discounted her. The act of sidhe gender re-assignment apparently made one pure (Todd was a bit of a lad in his past, yet Tess was now pure), but when the hapless Spanish prisoner was being held in chains in the Baltimore barracks' cells, half the garrison had "conjugally-visited" her.
The Spanish girl was beginning to learn a few words of English (and John Dee was fluent in Spanish), so she had a name now. Before the change, he was called Lucas, now she named herself "Lucia". She was on the path of becoming a fully-fledged NPC.
While Tess was alone with the queen in Edward's lab, she examined his impressive library. Tess could read Latin and English, so had no trouble at least reading the spines:
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| Prague Golem - Play-Golem's Golem of the Year, 1602 |
- Trithemian Steganography
- Marsilio Ficino's Neo-Platonism
- Studia Humanitatis.
- Cosimo de' Medici's The Schism
- Reuchlin's De arte cabalistica libri tres, iam denua adcurate revisi, 1530.
- Francesco Giorgi's De harmonia mundi
- Necronimicon
- Voynich Manuscript
- Demonicron
- Taverner's Book of Angels
- Dr. Dee's Book of Spirits
- The seven main versions of the Quran: Nafi`, Ibn Kathir, Abu `Amr al-`Ala', Ibn `Amir, Hamzah, al-Qisa'i and Abu Bakr `Asim.
- Wycliffe's Bible 1388, hand-copied
- Various printed versions of the Bible: Tyndale Bible, 1526; Coverdale Bible, 1535; Matthew's Bible, 1537; Taverner's Bible, 1539; Great Bible, 1539; and Geneva Bible, 1560. [ note, the King James Bible comes out in 8 year's time ]
- J.P. Sopwith's Dummy's Guide to Physics
- And a good selection of golem pornography (Play-Golem, Lewd Things to Make with Clay, Clay Boy, Suck My Name)
Tue 22-Apr
After Terce, the Deacon used his innate healing "blessing" skill on himself. Not only did this heal the wrist wound, but it restored the lost blood. So, the next time Edward came to collect blood from the Deacon, he was most surprised.
"Your group astounds me more and more, with your preternatural abilities," Edward said to him. "You do know that healing ability will get you burned as a witch if the Church finds out?"
Ab had two healing potions that he had brewed when last in Baltimore. He gave one to Tess when she returned from Sext. It had a similar effect to the Deacon's blessing - healed the wound and restored the blood. So, the next time Edward came to collect blood from Tess, he was, again, surprised.
"Your group astounds me more and more, with your preternatural abilities," Edward said to Tess and Ab. "You do know that healing ability will get you burned as a witch if the Church finds out?"
Later on in the trip, Roma had an idea to get the queen to eat some of the magic sand; maybe it would change her to a man, maybe it would affect her in other ways, maybe it would "destroy this vampire". He conspired with Ab to slip a pinch of sand into the blood cup the next time the queen fed. This required the Deacon or Tess's tacit assistance. Tess made it clear that she would not help. Nevertheless, it was all set up to happen, with a diversion using El Gato, and Roma's sleight-of-hand. But the Deacon got cold feet and they decided not to attempt it.
They arrived in Baltimore harbour late afternoon (after None). The Brig HMS Dreadful was still docked at the wharf, but the Painted Lady of Riga was gone.
As soon as the ship was secured to the wharf, Ab scurried off and went straight to St Mary's. He found Father O'Reilly and pleaded for a confession. Father O'Reilly sat dumb-founded in the confessional as Ab spilled his guts with not only venial sins, but a host of mortal sins too: wild stories of little-people magic, sidhe gender re-assignments, magical storms and lightning, participation in the raising of an undead queen, the undead creature drinking blood of a priest, magical potion brewing and cat familiars. Father O'Reilly thought he was dealing with someone touched in the head, as all these confessions out-weighed the total of all the confessions he had ever heard. The good Father, like most Baltimorians, had always seen Ab as a weird, social pariah (not helped by his stomach-turning visage), and this rambling confession only helped to cement that belief.
After Ab had finished, the Father paused and digested the extensive litany "Perform ten Rosaries, my son, and then give what you can to the Church. Give until it hurts."
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