Dewirix: She does indeed, but we'll get to that next time. This ended up being a very successful Reformation even without me. I was surprised.
blsteen: The crisis will come...soon. As for a husband, she's like Maggie Thatcher there; far too strong for any man to eclipse her.
Sather: Ah! I've seen that happen a few times now. Seems this story is so popular even the spammers want to be in it!
Avindian: I will admit and confess that I did kinda use both NIs and the horde bonuses to quickly colonise along the coast. That was more for gameplay than story reasons...in the story it counts as 'claimed' land, but not necessarily settled. And you changed icon too! I is confused!
Loki: She is! Enough to deserve a brooch.
Arakhor: Very likely....
We're building up....
Chapter 18 – The Secret Chamber
24/1/1820
The stairs ended at another door, but it wasn’t locked. Rather, it opened at John’s push, and he entered in. He hadn’t known what to expect in a secret chamber owned by the most mysterious of women, but his mind had pictured some lurid things. Perhaps it would be a hidden dungeon where people her Ladyship disliked would be kept. Alternatively it might be a place where gold, gems and other treasure might be stashed. Perhaps, John thought, it might lead to some secret passage out of the palace in case danger threatened.
However, when John entered he was faced by a rather small, cramped chamber. Rather than a grim dungeon or a splendid vaulted room, it was rather simply a place below the walls near the moat. The whole room was rectangular, no more than ten by twenty feet. However, if the room’s design was unimpressive, its contents were certainly very special.
Paintings adorned the bare walls, artworks of all types and from all different eras. John could barely understand what he was seeing at first, but slowly his mind begun to comprehend. Every picture showed a woman with dark hair and eyes in different fashions and times. Some had men beside her, but in every case they were of subordinate status to the woman.
At first John thought that they were simply the Lady’s fancy for dressing up in the old styles, but when he looked closer he saw that the paintings were old. An ancient tapestry from the 15th century showed someone very much like her with Charles II, while a miniature statue showed someone like her kneeling before a Queen.
Further down in the room John saw a glass case locked and sealed shut. In it were several pieces of old parchment. John approached and read the first part of a page.
Her Majesty Queen Caroline, Lady Regnant of England and France, High Mistress of the Americas and Lady of the Indies to
Countess Mendenhall.
Dearest Sophia,
I write this message in haste, for I am eager to hear from you the news you bring. The Lord Chancellor tells me that the coronation will be in two weeks, and I pray that you have returned before that time. I have not forgotten the great service you did for me two years since, and I will gladly reward you further when you return. I attach a small token of my appreciation. May it serve you well. I pray you return from the quest unharmed.
Caroline, Regina.
28th April 1523
John stared at the letter, and then at the others. There were more like it, all of them written between ‘Sophia Mendenhall’ and Queen Caroline. He did not have time to read them properly though, or to comprehend much about them. Something was stirring in his mind, and as he looked at the paintings he knew what it was.
It was as though a light had come on. All the paintings were of the same person. Oh, the clothes, the hair, the makeup was different, but it was the same person. It was why she had hidden them down in this cellar.
John shook his head and backed for the stairs, and then panic took him and he fled up them, away from a crystallising truth. It was indeed fortunate that there were no guards outside as he ran out, closing the door behind him, then headed for his room.
He was beginning to understand the truth, even if he didn’t want to!