The Rose, The Falcon, and The Tower

Rough Riding

Sir Anthony Wingfield*, the Lieutenant of the Guard rode as hard as his horse could go. His Captain had given him a letter that was to be place directly in to King Henry's hands. The king was currently visiting his daughter, the Princess Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey. It was roughly an hour ride to Westminster from the Tower, and this letter had to be delivered as quickly as possible.

Sir Anthony had just arrived when Henry and Charles Brandon were preparing to saddled up. "Your Majesty! King Henry!" Sir Anthony shouted hoping to catch the King's attention. At the sound of his name, Henry looked up to see Sir Anthony quickly dismounting from his horse before rushing over to his side. "Urgent news from the Tower sire." Anthony said as he handed the Captains letter to his King. Henry quickly ripped the letter open, reading its content. "God's teeth!" Henry exclaimed as he kept reading, anger starting to seep in as he read. The angry monarch looked at Sir Anthony, "Tell me Lieutenant, what was happening when you left the Tower." "Yes Sire, a young woman came from the Queens chamber, a Lady Katherine if my memory serves majesty." Henry nodded, "That's Anne's young cousin Kitty. Go on."

"She came rushing out of the Queen's chambers saying two women had broken in and were currently incapacitated in the chamber." Sir Anthony continued his tale "We identified them as Mistress Jane Seymour and Lady Mary Talbot-Percy, Countess of Northumberland. Both women were placed in a heavily guarded cell far from her Majesty, Queen Anne."

"How was the Queen when you left, Lieutenant?" Henry asked as he and Charles saddled up ready to ride. "She was experiencing the first pains of childbirth sire, but the doctor was not sent for, and Lady Katherine said that the queen was in the expert hands of the midwife and the Countess of Lincoln." "Charles we must ride fast, once we arrive you are to go speak with the Captain of the Guards, Sir William Kingston, I need to be with Anne." Henry spoke with determination, that added a hard edge to his words as he continued to give orders. "Sir Anthony, please ride to Heaver and let Lord Wiltshire know that his daughter is in labor, Thomas can send word to George Boleyn after you arrive, both men are to be at the tower as quickly as possible." "Yes sire, right away." Sir Anthony hurried back to his mount, saddling up, and ridding off as fast as possible for Heaver while the King and the Duke of Suffolk made their way to the tower.

Today's historical significance is the 481st anniversary of the execution of George Boleyn along with Brereton, Smeton, Norris and Weston. God rest there souls. 

Hello my Lovelies,

One of two new chapters today, there will be another update later in the day.  It was originally going to be one chapter, but it was so long I split it into two. I may have to do the same thing to the chapter updates on the 19th.  I hope you enjoy.  

~LadyHannahMuir

* Sir Anthony Wingfield was actually a Captain of the Tower Yeomen in 1539. I tweaked his story just a bit so he is second in command at the Tower after Sir William Kingston, who during 1536 was the 8th Captain of the Tower Guard as well as Constable of the Tower. Please pardon this tweak to history but the story is historical fiction so I'm allowed to bend things a tad for the sake of the story. 

**Also go check out my tumblr page (link found in my profile) for story updates and other Tudor related things.