Page 15 of The Uprising
‘Dear Eddie; that reminds me to call him and see how he’s doing, beavering away at the university. I keep hoping he’s getting closer to discovering a way for us to control our time travel. I really miss our quiet life.’
George patted the seat for Cara to join him and draped his arm round her shoulders. He pulled her closer, and then kissed her nose, before releasing her.
She nearly slipped off the sofa. ‘Easy tiger,’ she protested.
‘Fancy a cup of tea and a slice of madeira cake?’ he asked.
‘Oh yum. What a question! I do...you know I do, but sadly I’ll have to say no to the cake. I’ve put on quite a bit of weight; I really must stop eating so much. I don’t know where you put it all.’
‘Nonsense, you’re skinny and gorgeous as ever. But, we’ll skip the cake and I’ll just make us a pot of tea.’
‘You always say the right thing, but my jeans tell a different story.’
Cara kissed him before he ambled off into the kitchen to put the kettle on. What a blessing it was that they had such a wonderful time together doing the most ordinary things. She was even more grateful for the simple pleasures now she was time travelling again and never knew when she would be snatched away and plunged into the inevitable drama of Tudorville.
Cara picked up the book George had been reading, borrowed his reading glasses and leafed through the pages.
He sensed what she needed, even when he didn’t know why; it was extraordinary. Cara had intended to look up the Pilgrimage of Grace and memorise the dates, but forgot about this book from her studies. Funnily enough, she’d purchased it in the same bookshop where she met George.
Cara turned the pages and read: “Robert Aske, leader of the most famous Tudor Uprising: The Pilgrimage of Grace, was executed for treason by order of King Henry VIII on 12 July 1537.”
‘Oh shit!’ she said, as George entered the study holding the tea tray.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘Well, you; I mean, Tudorville George has a dear friend called Robert Aske. He’s told me about him many times and they are fond of each other. Robert had his back as a young boy and he’s never forgotten.’
‘Aw, well that sounds all very lovely.’
‘Not really...’
‘What? How bad can it be? It all happened five hundred years ago, anyway. We can’t change it now, so there’s not much point getting upset...’
‘Um—pretty bad, I’m afraid. Let’s just say I don’t want to be the one to break the news to you, back then.’
‘Oh, no. What happened?’
‘Robert was executed for treason in 1537 with the other papist rebels.’
‘That is pretty bad. Well, what can we do?’
‘That’s just it. That’s why this is so frustrating. I can’t even discuss it with you in Tudorville and so I’m going to have to sit back and watch you jump through hoops trying to save your friend, knowing all along he will die. It’s heart-breaking.’
‘Can’t we save him somehow?’
‘You know we can’t risk meddling with the timelines, again. You only escaped execution last time because the king had second thoughts. We were close to having our heads dipped in cumin and set on spikes.’
‘You do love to paint a gruesome picture,’ he said.
‘The entire future of Christendom and the Crown could be at stake if we make a wrong move and reset the timeline.’
‘Yes, you’re right.’
‘I mustn’t meddle with anything, but how do I know what I would have done if I didn’t know the future?’ Cara sipped her tea and continued to flick through the book. ‘Listen to this: “The Pilgrimage of Grace was a huge rebellion against the policies of Thomas Cromwell and the Crown.” It says that the Duke of Norfolk promised a pardon to Robert Aske when he saw that as many as forty thousand men gathered, and the uprising had a chance of being a great success, but then when the rebels, or pilgrims as they called themselves, dispersed, the king changed his mind, or had never intended to keep his word.’
‘What a double-dealing scoundrel the king was,’ said George. ‘Poor Robert. I wish we could do something meaningful to help.’
‘You know the rules. If we change anything, there is a real possibility the rebels could succeed to overthrow the Crown, and the country would have reverted to the old religion which would have triggered all-out civil war.’
