T.T.T.T. does Corke

Sat 14-Jun (4-Jun) continued ... 

The party (Art [Jeff], Roma [Chris], Sean [Shane], Thomas [Kevin, absent], Ab Siddy [Darryl], Baron [Deacon], and Elrick [Ian], plus the five Spaniards), left Our Lady of Perpetual Succour after their not-so-successful performance, and headed towards Corke.

They met an English patrol along the way, who recognized the TTTT straight away.

"Are you playing in Corke tonight? Where?" said the sergeant.

"In the city."

"We will be there!"

They climbed the hills around Corke, and then headed down into the Lee river valley, past the New Fort, which was where most of the English soldiers were stationed since the Nine Years war, and proceeded into the city. There were no problem at the gates; they were just waved through - Spaniards and all.

Now that they were inside Corke, Contessa and her boys left the group.

"We return tonight for ze show," she promised.

Ester

The party went straight to Ye Docks Lookout and reconnected with Ester. Ester, a bright girl, was now the manager there, and basically ran the place for the owner Toby Staunchness, an English absentee landlord.

First off, Ester gave them back the Pig Peeker. It had been pickling in brine for almost three weeks. This could be carried in the wagon, and be kept in its pickle barrel. That would slow its deterioration.

Ester could get them a hall to perform tonight, and she could send out criers to announce the show. It would hold 300 souls. Ye Docks Lookout would cater the place and provide food and drinks with the party getting 25% of the profit.

Roma contacted his pikey mates and they would provide street entertainment, as well as "fleecing entertainment" of the patrons. Roma would get a cut of this.

Just before the show began, Elrick went looking for the Spaniards. He found Contessa near the venue speaking to a group of soldiers dressed in the Witch-finder's livery. He didn't confront her there and them, but told the group.

The show went really well.

• Thomas's oration and flageolet playing was adequate.
• Roma's ventriloquism was great. The Bay of Biscay storms came through clearly, and St Paul's crossing of the Mediterranean to Cyprus was the best he had done. His goat skull doll (which had now lost all its rotting skin) croaked out "ze storm, ze storm!" in a masterpiece of vocal perfection.
• As expected, Sean did muck up his interpretive dance again, and it deteriorated into a disgusting writhing break-dancing mess; but this was par for the course. The frustration of the Duke of Parma never got across to the crowd. Not aided by the sight of Sean's wobbly buttocks, when his shift rode up from the fitful writhings, which never failed to turn stomachs.
• But Elrick, Sean and Baron nailed the dance of the Molly's; the English fire-ships were brought out in the Galliard dance, and Battle of Gravelines was interpreted superbly by the Courante. 
• The sharpshooting went well. That never failed to impress. 
• And the greased pig riding was fine. Sean didn't fall off.

They got a raucous ovation, and a heap of coins were tossed onto the stage. After expenses, and including gate admission and their cut of Ester's refreshments and drink, they made a tidy sum of 518 pennies. Divided by twelve (the group plus the Spaniards), this came to three shillings sixpence each plus some sundries for the kitty.

Later that evening, they confronted Contessa about what Elrick had seen. She was a bit cagey, but revealed that she had "important matters" to discuss with Witch-finder's men. Despite questioning, the group could not fathom if her dealings were with the Witch-finder himself, or his men. Or if there was some friction between him and the men. Contessa's English degraded, probably deliberately, and she made full use of any ambiguity of Spanish syntax. They did get a name however: Ratchet O'Reilly, the sergeant of the Witch-hunter's guard. Ester, who had a wide network of Corke notables, did not know anything significant about this guy.

Sun 15-Jun

They were woken early in the morning by envoys of the English Colonel Cholmondeley from New Fort making sure that they were to perform tonight in the fort. Dinner would be provided. They assured the aides that this was the case, and that they would be there before sunset.

They spent the day tying up loose ends in Corke. Contessa and her boys would perform with the party at the show tonight, but would then be leaving them to head back to Bannon Bridge. Since the party was planning on heading there themselves, after the New Fort performance, they could stay for the ride.

There was no problem at the gate leaving Corke. The guards waved them through. In fact, all the gate guards, who had been at last night's show, clapped the TTTT as they left.

At New Fort a large marquee had been put up, with a make-shift stage. The camp victualler had a small farmyard - after all, New Fort contained a battalion of soldiers (about 1000) - so he was happy to supply a pig for the show. Baren was keeping up with the daily swallowing of the Clough Caint, so he was in charge of wrangling it with pig-whispering.

Unlike last night, the show was not so good. Anything with dancing was a shambles. Thomas had reverted to his bad playing. But the audience, entirely of soldiers, still liked the pig-riding, and the sharpshooting, and Contessa and the Mollys' boobies, so they gave a polite clap at the end.

The group was payed a pound.

Ab Siddy suggested that they should leave straight after the show, even though it was dark (and it was overcast) and the roads were treacherous and you could easily break a wheel. But qualms were unfounded, and they travelled for an hour, with no damage, then stopped for the night.

Mon 16-Jun

The trip to Bannon Bridge was uneventful. Patrols of English soldiers knew the TTTT now, so not only were they never stopped or searched, but they were often clapped or cheered.

They stayed the night in the tavern at Bannon Bridge.

Eileen

Tue 17-Jun

Contessa and her fops left the party here. They were headed towards Baltimore. So they said their good-byes and parted.

When Catriona of the Rebels was last with the group in Fallis, she had given Art instructions as to how to find the secret path to the Rebels' secret Rinalmead Fort. This secret track left the road between Bannon Bridge and Killerea, but it was not suitable for a cart, nor even for a horse. So the party agisted their TTTT cart and horses in Bannon Bridge, and walked up to the path. Then spent the rest of the day walking down this goat track. It was a well-trod goat track, but none-the-less was still windy and convoluted.

Brigid

They arrived at the Rinalmead Fort. It was a tent town guarded by plenty of volunteers, and now guarded by the new bronze cannons that the Rebels had got from the Spanish in Fallis.

Catriona came out to greet the group. She had heard about the TTTT's success.

"We think it's a good idea to use you and yer wagon to smuggle," she said. "You can go in and out of cities performin'. And ye can be takin' stuff for us and for the rebellion. Cos ya don't get searched. What say you?"

The party, mercenary to a tee, asked what was in it for them.

Orla

"Well, we aren't rich, and we can't be payin' yer much silver, but we can let you take a cut of the smuggled stuff."

"We will also need some more girls ... I mean ... ladies to join our troupe," pushed Thomas. "We lost our best dancer in Contessa."

Catriona rounded up three girls from the rebels: Eileen, Brigid, and Orla. It wasn't hard; the prospect of living in towns and in wagon certainly beat a squalid life in the tent under fire.

Catriona added: "If they be gettin' pregnant, then you'll be marryin' them. Is that clear?"

The party nodded sheepishly. Butter wouldn't melt.

Roma beamed.