1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 37:
Once outside the Lieutenant’s House, Thomas headed for the gate next to Wakefield Tower that gave onto the Outer Ward and, from there, the gate at Byward Tower that allowed egress from the fortress entirely. But he paused, for a time, catching a glimpse of the small doors leading to the dungeons between Lanthorn Tower and Salt Tower. He could just see them, over the mass of wooden dwellings and shops that piled up against the Inner Ward.
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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 36:
Not far away, in that section of the Tower of London known as the Lieutenant’s House, Thomas Wentworth, the Earl of Strafford, was fending off questions raised by his daughter. No easy task, that. Nan was precocious, not in the least bit bashful, and had the normal lack of tact possessed by any six year old child.
“But why don’t you have them standing guard outside the dungeons? A prisoner might escape!”
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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 35:
PART II
Frenzies bewilder, reveries perturb the mind
Chapter 11
The Tower of London
January, 1634
“I think I’m going to tear my hair out,” Melissa Mailey announced, to no one in particular. She was looking through one of the windows in St. Thomas’ Tower that overlooked the broad alley that separated it from the Inner Ward and the rest of the Tower of London. Glaring through it, more precisely.
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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 34
By the end of the day, he already knew it would be one of his best paintings. He had that sure sense of the thing, that always came with the very finest ones.
A painting that existed in no up-time book, because he had never conceived such a portrait in that other world. Could not have conceived it. He didn’t think Brueghel’s fevered mind could have dreamed of it—nor even the mad brain of Hieronymus Bosch, for all that the structure of the image shared the logic of Bosch’s triptychs.
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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 33:
As he walked back to his quarters, picking his way carefully through the trenches and earthworks that had turned the land around Amsterdam into something that reminded him of nightmarish paintings by the elder Brueghel, Rubens mused over which up-timer would be sent as a consultant.
Not Anne, unfortunately, as much as Pieter liked the woman. The young nurse had several times commented jokingly on her complete ineptitude with up-time mechanical devices. “Outside of nursing and medical equipment, I’m hopeless. I can change a light bulb and that’s about it. Ask me to tell a spark plug from an alternator, and I’d have to go eeny-meeny-miny-mo.”
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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 32:
He lowered the hand and clasped the other behind his back. Then, began rocking on his feet a little. “Will you keep our discussions privy, Pieter? I mean, from my brother as well.”
Rubens nodded. “Yes, Your Highness. I do that with all such discussions, in any event. But in this case…”
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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 31:
Chapter 10
The siege lines of the Spanish army in the Low Countries,
outside the walls of Amsterdam
“This would be an irrevocable step, Your Highness. I do not say you should refuse, simply…”
Pieter Paul Rubens shrugged. “Simply be aware, from the beginning, of the likely consequences. They will most probably be severe.”
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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 30:
After Caroline finished her quick summary of the Engler case, Maureen Grady shook her head. “God, that accident was horrible. Dennis got there toward the end, you know. There were still pieces of people lying all over. One corpse he saw hadn’t even been decapitated. The head was simply disintegrated. Dennis almost vomited.”
Caroline grimaced. Maureen’s husband Dennis was a cop, and as hard-boiled as most cops are. It took a lot to penetrate his hide.
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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 29:
Luckily, he still had enough of his wits to remember that she’d now asked him the same question twice. Or maybe it was even three times.
“Friends recommended I come here. Today, because I just enlisted in the army and I will soon be leaving for the training camp. I was involved in the accident at the coal gas plant. Very closely involved. And… well, I am having nightmares. And I keep seeing images of what happened. Very vivid images. They told me I might be suffering from some sort of—of—what is it called?”
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1634: THE BALTIC WAR – snippet 28:
“Never mind,” she said cheerily. “You managed to get in. I’m Caroline Platzer, by the way. I’m the receptionist here, three mornings a week. What’s your name, and what can I do for you?”
Thorsten cleared his throat. “My name is Thorsten Engler. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Fraulein.”
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