The Tudors

Chapter Two- Masquerade

"Let's rehearse again everybody!", Cornish shouted.
"Well go on then!", he yelled, "Attack!".
Everyone scrambled and began acting to fight them.
It became chaos and a bullet was shot across the room. "Stop!", he yelled.

People arrived and began to stand before the set, cheering and holding glasses of wine. They clapped as me and a few other ladies stepped onto the set and up the steps. We wore white dresses and white masks. "Who are those ladies?", one of the men asked. "They are the graces, your excellence", another replied. "They have names like Kindness, honour, constance and pity", he continued. "They are prisoners in the castle, the figure to the left under the broken hearts is his majesty's sister, Princess Margaret", he continued. I stepped up the steps to the highest part of the set and stood next to Princess Margaret. "Who is keeping them prisoner?", the man from before asked. "Danger, jelousy, unkindness , scorn and strangeness".
Bells rang and petals were thrown into the crowd. A trumpet sounded and the men wearing black and gold costume walked in wearing gold masks. "Is the King there, which one is the King?", the same man as before asked. "The men represent youth, loyalty, and pleasure, and yes his majesty is amongst them".
"I demand you release your prisoners!", Cornish yelled at the ladies on the set. "As lady Scorn, i laugh at your desires", the Scorn lady yelled out. "These men are noble Lords!", Cornish yelled. The crowd cheered. "No, they are just men dressed up", one of the ladies in black replied. The crowd booed and laughed, "I say it again, release these fair damsels that you keep so cruelly", Cornish yelled. "Never!", one of the ladies below us yelled. "You give us no choice, but to attack, and breach your defenses!", Cornish yelled. "No knight shall ever breach mine", a red haired lady below said smugly. The crowd cheered and the noble men below got ready to attack. "Lady, desire overcomes all", Cornish began. I looked around at the crowd and men below, i caught eyes with a man with dark hair and blue eyes, i look at him quickly before turning away. Trumpets sounded and a canon burst from either side of the set. "Attack!", Cornish yelled. The ladies dress in black threw petals down at them from above and the men began to climb onto the set and up onto the walls.  The King climbed up the set and came face to face with me. I stared deep into his eyes, the focus of my face being my eyes because of my mask. He held my hand as i leaned down staring at him. He was entranced by my eyes and stayed silent. "Perseverance you are my prisoner now", he said finally, still holding my hand. I smiled and laughed before letting go of his hand walking away down the steps. He followed and climbed up before staring down at the steps. "Sister", he said realising Princess Margaret was next to him. "Brother", she replied taking his hand down the steps.
I took Sir Charles's hand and followed him to the centre of the room. I could see my father watching from the corner of my eye. We all lined up next to each other in front of our partners. Drums began to roll as Cornish walked down the centre of the lines. Henry glared at me quickly before looking back in front of him. "And now all shall be unmasked!", Cornish yelled. The people behind us stepped forward and untied the strings to our masks and helped us remove them from our faces. Henry looked over at me, i smiled at Charles. He was a nice man, very handsome too. The crowd of people clapped and cheered seeing the mystery actors and actresses. Music began to play and the lady stepped to the side and curtsied before beginning to dance with one another. We circled each other before joining arms, "I plead with you as your sister, don't make me marry him he's an old man!", Margaret whispered. I overheard them as i danced beside them, interlocking arms with Charles.  We joined with the couple beside us which happend to be Henry and Margaret. We connected hands int he centre to the group as we continued to dance, "Who are you?", Henry asked quietly as he stared at me beside him. "Anne", i replied softly. "Anne Boleyn", I said holding the back of the King's hand as we danced. The dance finished and he stared at me from the side. Everyone clapped and cheered, i noticed Cornish walking over to my father and watched them.
"Thank you Master Cornish. I'm very grateful to you", He said quietly looking around the room. He passed Cornish a small bag. of coins, "Sir Thomas" , Cornish nodded before taking the bag of money and walking away.

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"It pleases me to make you a Knight of the Garter, i am also appointing you Comptroller of my Household", Henry said as he walked beside Thomas. "I believe your majesty has a greater opinion of my talents than i have", Thomas said with surprise. "We shall talk more later", Henry said before patting his shoulder. He began to walk away before turning back around, "Oh. I almost forgot, your daughter, the one who performed in our masquerade?", he questioned. Thomas turned around, "Anne?", Thomas said with a small grin. "Yes", Henry said in awe. "As a matter of fact she is soon to come to court as a lady in waiting to her majesty", Thomas said. Henry raised his eyebrows before nodding and bowing his head to Thomas.
He smiled into the distance:

In Hever castle

I lay in the grass, Thomas Wyatt sat in a tree reciting poetry to me. "Do you like it?", He asked expectantly as he got down from the tree. "Should i like something that accuses me of being cruel?", i asked.
He got down from the tree and sat hovering above me, "You are cruel, mistress Anne", he said lowly. "Am i?", i questioned as i turned my head to the side away from his kiss. "You have no claim on me, Master Wyatt", i said softly. He ran his fingers over the top of my head, "I have the same claim as every other lover, to whom a woman's heart has been freely given", he responded slowly. "You are a poet as i am a woman, poets and women are alway free with their hearts, are they not?", I questioned now turning my face to face his. "Anne", he said quietly before leaning down quickly. I turned my head to my side once again, "Stop it Tom, you mustn't", i said carefully, trying not to seem rude. "Then i was right?", he said as he turned his head away. "You are leaving me", he said sadly. "Why don't you answer me?", He said suddenly looking back at me. "You are married", i said quickly. "Yes, but im going to divorce, i mean who isn't married?", he said. I shrugged his arm off of me and sat up, "You must never ask to see me again, do you promise?", i said sternly. "Why should i?", he shook his head. "Is it another, is that it? Do you love another", he said now raising his voice slightly. "Never ask of me, and never if you value your life speak of me to others, Do you understand?", i said before storming up the hill and back to the castle.

~

"I had a dream", Catherine said as she stared at Henry across the table. "In my dream you came to me again and held me in your arms and you whispered that all would be well and all manner of things would be well", she said with a soft smile. Henry looked down at the table whilst clutching his wine. She reached for his hands before he pulled them away. He eventually got up and walked round towards her, holding the side of her face before kissing her forehead and walking away.