Tanzhang: My Henries have been rather inverted from the real ones, I think you'll agree! Henry IV comes to power with popular acclaim and lasts for 23 years. Henry V dies as a minor, while Henry VI is the equal best (stat wise) ruler I ever got. Very interesting. Yes, Ireland was completely annexed during the Civil War for the final time.
The party names: Whig and Tory refer to Scottish bandits and Irish horse thieves...that's what the words mean. Their circumstances of use were entirely situational...I couldn't see how they'd come up in this very different reality. Wheat and Barley means something in this universe, so I chose that.
America I feel is entirely logical. After all, nothing pre-destined Spain and Portugal to take what they did, especially with a much stronger England.
Chris Taylor: I did a full family tree, which I can send to whoever wants it, as much for my own use as anything else as it was proving impossible to keep up with things without one! Kyran will get his just desserts....
Morrell8: Yep. Britain lost control of it during James' reign, but won it back later.
Sather: Good man!
You're spot on.
Arakhor/Sethanon: Thanks! Both those provinces are coming. Brabant annoyed me so much in this game, continually trying to use spies on me. In the end I annexed them just to stop them irritating me.
Loki: I got his stats naturally too. They're the best of any ruler of mine. Thomas Cromwell and Caroline share second best. I actually wanted to, and forgot, to edit him to have a 9 in ADM. I had planned to have one ruler have a 9 (normally unattainable for monarchs) in each stat. Caroline was DIP, Thomas Cromwell in MIL.
And...since I got such nice replies, have another update!
Chapter 41 – Treason and Plot
5/2/1820
“Soldiers in the streets! Gun battle in central London!” Elijah Hill exclaimed grandly. “Somehow I just knew you’d be stuck in the middle of it! If nothing else, your girlfriend has at least made you a little more exciting!”
“Oh, cool it,” John said, embarrassed. “Besides, it’s your fault. You got us just the info we needed and we moved in to get him.”
“But he got away?”
They were sitting in the St James Club, drinking tea while others bustled around them.
John nodded, sighed. “Her Ladyship…well, she was shot at and fell to the ground, and I went to see to her. But I got him with fragments across the face. My bullet missed him but hit a tile.”
Elijah just shook his head in frank amazement. “You’ve turned into a great warrior it seems! Was she alright?”
John couldn’t explain the whole amazing tale to his friend. It was simply too hard to make him understand. So finally John settled for a partially true answer. “She’s fine, but unfortunately I didn’t know that at the time.” He took a deep breath. “He’s the man who killed my mother, Elijah.”
His friend’s face suddenly became one of concern. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. That’s why it’s so important that we catch him.”
“You’ve changed, John, in just a few weeks. It’s a good change though I think.”
“I’ve learned some things which…well, I didn’t expect. I mean, what would you do if you found out that everything you knew was different from what you thought? What if you learned the truth?”
“What, like that world is really flat? That sort of truth?”
John shook his head. “Look, don’t worry about it. Sorry.”
Elijah gave him a shrewd look, as if he guessed more than he said, but finally nodded. “As you wish, your greatness! So, what are you going to do now?”
“I’m going to go see her again tonight.” He glared at Elijah. “And no quips from you!”
“None, I promise you! Come, let’s walk back past the river there. I fancy that Spanish lady is still at the Embassy!”
“Can you even speak Spanish?”
“It hasn’t been a problem so far!” Elijah said dismissively.
And so the two of them walked in the late afternoon sun along the Thames. Passing along the front of the Parliament building they came to a line of old houses on the river. Most of them were old, from the time of the de Veres or older. Their primary benefit was that they were directly on the riverfront.
“Father won’t be back for the opening of Parliament, he says,” Elijah was saying. “He sent me a message last night that he has got passage on a clipper. He still doesn’t trust my opinion of steamships, mind!”
John wasn’t listening. Instead he’d wandered over to the last house in the row and looked at it curiously. It seemed empty, with boarded doors and windows. And yet…the mud from the road footsteps that led inside. They were relatively recent for they were only partially covered by other tracks. There were also other odd markings too which had obliterated most footprints, as though something heavy had been rolled over the cobbles.
“What is it?” Elijah asked.
John said nothing, but followed the footprints and the other track to the water’s edge. There was mooring for a boat. John returned to the house and looked at the boards.
“John?” Elijah asked.
“Maybe I’m paranoid, but this is weird. Tracks and something heavy being put into an empty house?”
Elijah looked at the towering House of Parliament with the mighty statue of Britannia. “The Queen is swearing in the new cabinet tomorrow and then speaking to the Lords. That is, if she is well enough, otherwise it would be done by Prince William.”
John reached out and touched the door.
At that moment there was the sound of oars and John dragged Elijah instinctively behind the corner of the house. He motioned his friend to be quiet, and listened.
Six men got out of a boat. While two seemed to be in charge and one was clearly on watch, the remaining three lugged out two large barrels and rolled them to the boarded up house. The boards themselves were only loosely attached and easily removed. The boat was sent away, and the five remaining men headed inside the door. The boards over the door were replaced, and they adjourned inside.
John could feel a tingling up his back. There could be a harmless explanation, or even just simple smuggling. However, he figured that there was something more to it.
A high wall and embankment prevented him from getting further around the side and rear of the house. Parliament was literally right above him, built up slightly above the river level so this house was on a level with its foundations.
“Elijah, it might be nothing, but I suspect something very bad is going on here. Give me a boost up onto the roof.”
Elijah didn’t protest, though he did grin a little wryly. “You know, Johnny, I could get used to this excitement.”
John was able to use his friend’s help and the wall to get onto the roof. There were few people around, but he still crouched down and took cover by the chimney so he couldn’t be seen, but could listen in below. By quietly putting his ear to the chimney, which was not being used since that would have given away the fact that the building wasn’t really abandoned, he could just hear what was being said below.
“Are those the last barrels?” a voice asked in French.
“Yes, sir. They’re all packed in place,” another man replied.
“Good. See that they are guarded night and day.” He paused, and there was some movement down there that John didn’t understand. Finally, the leader spoke again. “Would you stop bleeding on my floor?” he snapped.
“I can’t help it!” a man with an American accent said a bit indistinctly.
“You could have avoided being shot,” the leader said unsympathetically. “It wasn’t even the woman who got you, but a mere boy!”
“I’ll deal with both of them.”
“You won’t. You will stay here and guard this place. I have a score to settle with that woman. We’ll deal with her soon enough.”
“When?”
“Soon!” the Frenchman insisted. “All we have to do is wait until tomorrow and then…our revenge will be complete.”
John listened to no more, but quietly went to the edge of the roof and dropped heavily to the ground.
“What is it?” Elijah whispered.
“Masters…and someone else. They’re going to blow up Parliament tomorrow!”
“Blow it up?” his friend asked, shocked.
“Those barrels, they’re full of gunpowder!” John insisted. He didn’t know that, but what other sort of barrels would enemies like Masters put under Parliament House?
“We need to do something!” Elijah said.
John nodded. The problem was finding someone of authority and getting them to believe the story. “We’ll go to my father, then her Ladyship. Come on!”
John knew they didn’t have long. They had to move quickly and decisively, or else Parliament – and much of London – might go up in smoke!