How I wished Tom and Sally were here. I spotted Dorothy hovering by the door to the Missing Finger, worried. So I enlisted her help instead. We each grabbed a pair of buckets, filled them, and brought them up the stairs, puffing.

The apprentice took them from us at the bedroom door. The doctor’s stocky frame blocked our view, but I could see he’d cut away Simon’s clothes.

There was blood on the sheets. Dorothy blanched at the sight of it. She grew even whiter at Simon’s howls as the doctor began to work. I led her back down to the shop.

Bridget flew to me from her perch, alarmed by the commotion. I held her just a moment, then put her aside. “I need to send a message to Whitehall.”

What I’d said was so unexpected, Dorothy stopped thinking about the horror upstairs and stared. “The palace?”

“Yes.” I scribbled a note on some paper I pulled from under the counter. “Can you find someone to take this to Lord Ashcombe? Make sure it goes straight to him, and that he reads it immediately. I’ll pay for the courier, just come find me for the penny.”

“Ashcombe? The King’s Warden? Christopher… what have you got yourself into?”

“Please, Dorothy. I really need your help.”

She stared at me for a moment, then glanced at the pistols on my belt. She grabbed the letter. “I’ll take it myself.”

“Thank you,” I said, grateful.

She stopped, regarding me from the door. “You’ve changed,” she said.

Had I? Then how come I still felt like the useless, clueless boy stuck in the middle of things he didn’t understand? I couldn’t even keep my friends safe.

Dorothy left. I shut out Simon’s cries and got to work.

CHAPTER 4

MY FIRST TASK WAS TO make the honey balm. That was Master Benedict’s recipe to spread over wounds. Once that was done, I took the jar upstairs, leaving it in the corridor outside my bedroom. I then returned to the workshop to make some pain reliever. Willow bark extract would do nothing for this level of hurt; I’d need to boil a poppy infusion.

Bridget fluttered about the workshop, agitated by Simon’s howling, but I had no more time to calm her. Again I wished Tom and Sally were here. Fortunately, working distracted me, and Simon’s cries faded as the minutes passed. I hoped that was because the surgery was ending, and not because…

I shuddered. I didn’t even want to imagine it.

When the poppy was ready, I carried it up. Just in time, it seemed, because the doctor and his apprentice were already wrapping Simon with bandages. They’d dipped into the honey balm; I could see it smeared all over Simon’s back.

“Leave the pot there,” the doctor ordered. I did as he asked, then went back downstairs to pace the shop and wait.

When Lord Ashcombe arrived, he was flanked by four of the King’s Men. Two stayed with the horses, while the others accompanied him inside.