As we rode through the crowded streets, I couldn't help but people watch from my elevated vantage point. Around our horses people crowded and pushed, but now that I wasn't eye level with them, I could really see who each person was. A page boy ran through the thicket of people wearing the royal livery off on an errand. A gaggle of girls stood in front of a shop with fabric running through their arms like water. It was a woman, however, who caught my attention, she pushed through the crowd hollering at anyone who came too close. As we drew closer to her, I could make out her outrage against witches.
"These blasphemers shall be punished in the raging fires of hell," she proclaimed as we pulled up alongside her. When her gaze rose from the cobbles up to my escorts and I, she pushed through the nearest onlookers and grabbed at my feet with both hands. "You! You wear the sight. Beware, nothing good comes to those who disown God and his kingdom," she moaned up at me. She smelled heavily of incense and holy water, a strange yet sickening combination of smells on this warm day in London.
My other escort was quick to bring his horse around to cut off the woman's reach and quickly reprimanded her. Before I could get a chance to see or hear her again, the escort with whom I was sharing a horse spurred us forward and through the streets. The people I had just been watching became blurs as we drew closer and closer to Windsor Castle. By the time we rode through the shade of the front arch, I no longer cared about missing out on people watching, for the majesty of the court quickly took my breath away.
Everywhere horses and people were heading this way, and that. As we rode into the main courtyard, men rushed forward to help me back to my feet, and lead our horses away. Quickly, my escorts whisked me away into the cool interior of the palace. Tapestries lined the walls, the light was entirely natural as it cast window shapes upon the floor, and people in livery waited at each door. Before I knew it, we came upon the royal rooms where ladies in gorgeous gowns should have been sitting gossiping and stitching their information into the very shirts they embroidered.
But there was no one there at the Queen's feet.
She was there. Anne herself. She sat upon a dais with a throne carefully stitching a shirt collar fit for a king. Although she sat regally before us, I could feel her soul longing for relief. She seemed so incredibly tired. Her exhaustion filled every part of the room to the point where I felt I could reach out and take some of it away for her.
I walked slowly up the room and curtsied to one of the most talked about women in history.
Her sharp black eyes roamed over my every feature. I felt like a piece of meat in a butcher's window under her scrutinizing gaze. "You must be our new soothsayer, well I can't find a place for another pretty girl in my court. Thank you, but you may go," she spat in my face.
"Wait" a man's voice boomed across the room. In that instant, I felt every pound of her exhaustion suck from the room, and aloof regality replaced it. I turned to see who had called to the Queen, and I bit my tongue and dropped into the deepest curtsy... Henry in the flesh.
"Since your recent endeavors have not succeeded in achieving my son, perhaps a new soothsayer is exactly what you need, madam," he shot at her. "Of course, your grace," she replied, stung. "So my dear, what predictions do you have of my future, and the Queen's," Henry entreated. What do you tell the King of England 500 years ago that doesn't ruin absolutely everything afterward....?
"Your heir will be one of England's greatest monarchs," I said to Henry, and then to Anne, hesitantly. Henry laughed, "Of course he will be! Tell me something that proves your worth," he changed direction quickly. "Your Highness, this monarch will not be a he," I replied giving another deep curtsy. "What?" Henry spat. "She will rule England for many years, and be remembered in history for hundreds of years after her death, of course along with yourself," I said quietly. Henry looked flabbergasted but didn't argue again.
"Her name?" he demanded softly. "Elizabeth," I replied. "I guess you've done one thing right according to the future," Henry flung at Anne. Anne's gaze went from his to mine, "Can you prove this?" she asked, with a glint of hope in her eye. "I can't prove that to you, but I can prove my worth o you in another way?" I carefully replied. "Go on," they both said, equally eager and ambitious.
"In a few weeks time, news will reach you that Katherine's nephew Charles has conquered Tunisia in the name of Spain. I guarantee it." The two exchanged a look. "If this is, in fact, true - then you will have a place among Anne's ladies, and give advice as needed for our knowledge of the future," Henry reasoned. "Thank you, thank you, my lord," I curtsied yet again. Henry quickly turned, his clothes swirled with his movement for the door. "You'll never get the sweat my lord, I promise," I called to his back. "Praise God, that is the very news I needed today my dear." And he was gone in a moment of rich fabric and fur.
"All you say better be true girl and don't you dare think of getting close to him," Anne warned, her eyes like daggers. "Don't worry about me, Anne, but be wary of Jane," I replied. "Seymour," she said the name like it was the plague. "She won't get the best of me," she swore. "Not in the end, your highness, not in the end," I said sadly more to myself than to her furious gaze out the window where Henry mounted his hunter and rode off with a herd of women behind him.
