Ink and Steel

The tremors still subsided when Will put his fingers to a task. Such as flipping a silver shilling older than Annie. Mayhap as old as John Shakespeare: turning it in his fingers, over and over again, Will could just see the shadow of a hawk-nosed face when the light fell against it right. The shadow of Henry the Eighth, father of Elizabeth, founder of the English Protestant Church. And author of all my troubles,Will thought, laying the coin on the table beside the inkwell. He spread his pages across the desk and recut a quill, nicking his finger on the knife when his right hand trembled. He thrust the knife into the tabletop and his left middle finger between his lips. Damn it to Hell.

“Now there’s a scene from Faustus,” an amused voice said from the corner. “Writing our plays in blood now, are we? That should be some sorcery.”

Will pulled his bloody finger from his mouth and raised his eyes to the mirror. Kit lounged beside the fireplace, one elbow on the mantel, his left hand steering the hilt of a rapier.

“You could have announced yourself.”

“I was waiting for you to set down the knife,” Kit said dryly. He straightened and came forward, producing a kerchief from his sleeve. “So you wouldn’t cut yourself. Let me see.”

Will held out his left hand, picking up his pen with the right one to conceal its tremors. “Tis just a scratch.”

“Not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door? But deep enough, Will. Ah, you’ve missed the tendons and the bone. Good. It shouldn’t bleed longer than half an hour. Morgan would say to wash it with soap.”

“Lye soap?”

“Aye, and it might be wise. She saved my face from taint that way. Is there water in the ewer?”

“Some.” Bemused, Will suffered himself to be led to his bedroom and fussed over. He gasped when Kit scrubbed the wound, then pressed the edges of the cut tight and bound his first and middle fingers together with the kerchief to hold them closed and sop the oozing blood.

“Who is Morgan?”

Deftly, Kit tightened the bulky bandage. He gave Will’s hand a squeeze andlet it go. “My mistress in Faerie. A sorceress. That will bleed less if you hold it up.”

“Morgan?”

“Yes.” The sidelong glance. Kit’s face was pale, and Will thought if he touched his friend’s cheek it would be cool. “That Morgana. Will, about your letter.”

The bandage pressed the pain back to a dull, warning throb. Will gestured widely with his bloodied hand, and went in search of a rag. “I’ve wine hock. Can you stay a little?”

“I’d meant to. Are you expecting company?”

The stress on that word brought Will to alertness. He led Kit back into the sitting room. “Company? Burbage, you mean? Or Mary Poley ?”

“If they come, I can step through the looking glass. Give me that rag. I’ll mop the blood. You pour the hock. Tell me what Mary says of Fray Xalbador de Parma.”

That stress again, and Will puzzled it as he poured left-handed, despite his bandages. He got the harsh Rhennish white strained into the cups without spilling it and found bread and an end of cheese, which he set on the table beside the upright knife. “I’ve sugar for the wine.”

“I’ve gotten out of the habit,” Kit answered, tasting. “And this is sweet enough without assistance.”

“You know the name of the Spaniard.”

“We were acquainted. He pretends to many things but I had asked about Mary.” Kit twisted the knife free of the boards and cut cheese dyed with carrot juice, broke bread, handed the first bit to Will. “More on the Spaniard when the wine is drunk.”

“Everything she told me was in the letter. She’ll come again when she can.” The bread was hard to swallow. Will dipped it in his wine to soften it, much to Kit’s amusement.

“I see. And little Robin?”

“Sleeping better.” Kit rubbed bread between his fingertips. He rolled the crumbs against the tabletop. Will picked the shilling off the boards and turned it in his right hand. “Art jealous? Or is it that I’m jealous, and I pass it on to thee?”

“Jealous?” Kit looked up. He pushed the crust of bread away, and cupped both hands loosely around his wine, leaning back on his stool as if the scent of London, the reek of the gutters twining the perfume from the gardens pleased him.

“Of Mary Why should I be jealous?”

“Robin’s your son, isn’t he?”

Kit’s eye went wide, his face seeming to elongate as eyebrows rose and his jaw sank. “What gave you that idea?”

“Tis as good a reason as any for Poley to hate you. Beyond the political motives, which seem inadequate.”

“Adequate for murder. Inadequate for loathing.”

“I won’t think less of you… .”

“Nor should you,” Kit answered, reaching for his cup. “Given the somewhat hasty circumstances of your own marriage.”

Will laughed, knowing he’d touched a nerve to draw that response.

“Touch . Is he yours?”

“Why does it matter? I would not impugn the lady’s honor. A man can have care for a dead friend’s sister,”

“It matters,” Will said, “because a man can also have a care for the children of a dead friend.”