Inferno

Chapter 86

‘A fine nor’-westerly, Mr Brice,’ Kydd said briskly, sniffing appreciatively, as the ship ploughed steadily up the Baltic.

‘Pleased to see you on deck, sir.’

‘Thank you. Do pass the word for all officers in my cabin in twenty minutes, will you?’

They assembled promptly and Kydd didn’t waste time. ‘You’ll want to know why I’ve taken us off station.’ He fought to hold off a boyish grin at the thought of the effect of his next words. ‘So I’ll tell you. We’re off to rescue the King of France.’

There were sideways glances and troubled frowns.

After a stunned silence, one ventured, ‘Did you say, “King of France”, sir?’

‘I did.’

‘B-but-’

‘Sa majeste le roi Louis le dix-huitieme.’

Bray looked away in embarrassment and Brice blinked in bewilderment, both unsure of what was going on.

Bowden caught on first. ‘Ah. Your meaning is the Bourbon pretender to the-’

‘Never the pretender, sir!’ Kydd said severely. ‘Should Bonaparte lay down his arms and throw up his hands in surrender, France will be restored to the man styled King of France, he who is now in exile in the Duchy of Courland.’

‘I’ve never heard o’ this gentleman,’ Bray managed.

‘Well, now you have.’

‘Sir, you mentioned a rescue?’

‘I did,’ Kydd said, more seriously. ‘Boney has sent a parcel of footpads to seize him and take him back to France. This we cannot allow to happen.’

‘And we …?’

‘They’re coming by land, we by sea. We arrive first and convey him to safe haven. A simple enough task, I’d have thought.’

‘Courland. I don’t recollect I knows where this is, sir.’

‘Lay the Duchy of Lithuania to starboard thirty leagues, Mr Joyce.’

‘Oh.’

‘If I said Riga, would it signify more?’

‘Ah. An old trading port of our’n. Past where we was wi’ the Prussians. An’ I’m grieved to say, sir, I’ve nary a chart nor directions for such far.’

‘Have you been there? Anyone?’

There was a doleful shaking of heads. Kydd frowned. Not only was the further Baltic known for its hazards but when they arrived he had to find the palace. Other than what he’d learned from Bernadotte, that it was at Mitau in Courland, he had no idea where it was and time was not on their side.

‘Sir.’

‘Mr Brice?’

‘Why don’t we stop one of our merchant jacks and ask the way?’

Kydd answered wryly, ‘A good idea, but haven’t you heard? The Danish Sound is in uproar. There’ll be nothing getting past.’

The lieutenant smiled indulgently. ‘Sir, if I know your merchant captain at all in these parts, he’ll be main pleased to be through without he pays the toll, for just a trifle in the way of shot about his ears.’

In the main shipping lane to the north they soon had a stout Baltic trader hove to in their lee.

Kydd made the boarding himself, pacifying an irate master who thought it a scurvy trick to press men in these perilous waters. Further mollifying had him produce his charts and passage notes, which Joyce snatched up with glee.

‘So where are you bound then, Captain?’ the ship’s master asked, eyeing Joyce at the charts.

‘To Riga.’

‘I won’t ask what a king’s ship is about there, but if you’re in anything like a dash, I wouldn’t advise it.’

‘Why so?’

‘As the Gulf o’ Riga is found well in off the Baltic some hundred mile, but it’s set about with wicked shoals at the entrance, as can make anything of a westerly foul for leaving. You get in, you’ll never get out while the wind’s like it is now.’

‘Thank you for the advice, which I’ll take. So how …?’

‘In the main we anchors in Libau Roads, a tidy bit closer and clear o’ the gulf. Has a highway direct to Riga.’

‘And have you heard tell of a palace, Mitau Palace, at all?’

‘Palace? The likes o’ we don’t have dealings with such, Captain.’