A Beggar’s Kingdom

Julian wishes they were in the East End. Wapping, Shoreditch, Bethnal Green. The East End is a little safer because of the direction of the wind. Trouble is, the two of them are on the west side. And between east and west there’s a mountain of flame. Not listening to him anymore, Mallory rushes down Fleet Street; Julian follows close behind. Aldgate is unmanned. The gates are open. The gatekeepers have fled.

Inside the City walls, the heat and smoke are much worse. Julian knows something about out of control firestorms. In California, the Santa Ana winds are called the devil winds. Every September during the drought, they blow downhill through the mountain passes and scorch the forest using chaparral as fuel, and then obliterate the valley from San Bernardino to Santa Barbara, using homes as fuel. That’s what this is, too. But instead of thorny bushes and tangled shrubs, the City of London all in a blaze is chaparral for the wildfire. It’s the destruction of a civilization. Why can’t his stubborn girl understand? “Mallory, please.” He wipes his sweating face. He is so hot.

Without looking back at him, she hurries down Ludgate Street. She is brave because she knows he is right behind her. It’s as if in the heart of her soul she knows he won’t leave her side. “Is the man afraid of a little smoke?”

“Not smoke, Mallory. Fire. And yes,” Julian says. “Afraid of this fire. But not for myself. For you.” He tries to take her hand. She pulls away. Her legs get caught up in her skirts, she trips, rights herself, won’t even let him balance her.

“I can’t believe you’d hide all of it,” she says. “Not leave even one little coin for the just in case.”

“I sold one coin for the just in case,” Julian says, showing her the crowns and shillings inside his small purse.

She snatches it out of his hands and hides it in the apron of her skirt. “For safekeeping,” she says. “How much did you get for it?”

“Three hundred shillings.” Julian thinks she’ll be as impressed as he was.

“You got three hundred shillings for a priceless sovereign?” In disgust she shakes her head. “You were robbed. Come on, hurry. We need to get my money before you give any more of it away.”

Julian is troubled as they race forward, sweat dripping off them. But Mallory’s spirits have been lifted not only by the promise of a stash of gold nearby but by the actual shillings now in her possession. Things are looking up. She chatters excitedly. “Why so glum, mason? With the gold, we can get anywhere, bribe anyone, barter for anything. No guard will stand in our way. We’ll buy our way out. We are set for life. We’ll make it last. You’ll see, we won’t need much.”

“Much? How about nothing?” Julian says, looking around for a conduit, a fountain, a bucket of dirty water. They need to breathe into something wet—and soon. Smoke inhalation doesn’t favor survival. “Because that’s what we’ll have if we continue to Cripplegate. Nothing.”

“You yourself were blithely headed into the City not ten minutes ago!”

“To hide you!”

“Julian,” Mallory says, slowing down and turning her face to him. “There’s a time to think and a time to act. If we are going to make it, you really need to learn the difference between the two. Guess which time this is. Do you remember yourself on the stairs not an hour ago? Had I not reminded you with a sharp fist to your back that the time had come to run, not ponder, you’d be in Parker’s custody right now on your way to Tyburn. The Master of the Mint is dead! A prostitute is dead! And London is burning. This is no time to stand around, waxing poetic about what could’ve been and should’ve been.” She takes his hand and stares deep into his face. “No one can protect us if we ourselves are not prepared, not even God. Not because he won’t. But because he can’t. That’s what Jesus said. Carry oil in your lamps, he told us. I can’t protect you if you are not ready.”

“I’m not sure that by oil in your lamps Jesus meant murder,” says Julian.

“You and I have a chance for a real life somewhere,” Mallory says. “Someplace beyond this city. It’s waiting for us, like you said. But first we must act. We can’t simply will it to happen. We have to do something for ourselves. What will you do if the wall falls and we can’t find the purse? How will you feel if the guards find us hiding like leeches in some wet gulley? What are you going to say to me then? I’m sorry, O dainty duck, I tried?” Mallory pulls on him. “Let’s go. To get to the wall is the most important thing.”

“Are you sure it’s not love over gold, Mallory?” Julian says.

“Without the gold there’s nothing, not even love,” she replies. “But with it, there may be both. So hurry.”

It’s difficult to run. With each panting breath, they swallow more smoke. They’re dripping wet. He gapes at her as they do their best to hurry. “Who are you?” he says. “This wasn’t you two days ago, a month ago.”

“You are so wrong, dear dove.” Mallory yanks on him. “This was always me. Ruthless and resolute. What did Ivy call me?”

“Wanton and cunning.”

“You should’ve listened to her. The other Mallory you saw, you know what that was?” Stopping for a moment, the young panting woman sidles up to Julian, batting her eyelashes, rubbing against him, pitching her voice to a high shy purr. “That was an act, sire.” She kisses him deeply on the lips and tugs on him to get going. “I told you my life was my stage. Why do men never listen when women speak?”

Julian is breathless with love and terror as she leads him deeper into the siege. “Without your life, there’s nothing else, Mallory. No acting, no cunning, no gold.”

She shakes her head. “Gold over everything.”

Julian shakes his head, even though he knows she is right.

Because what you want most is what you have the least of.

Josephine over everything.

Hand in hand, they walk into the apocalypse.

The church at Cripplegate is a long way away through a burning city. It’s nearly a mile away. In just the last few minutes, the smoke has grown higher, turned blacker, the smell of charred wood and linen has become more acrid. There’s screaming near them, the neighing of frightened horses. The flames rise in the streets, and the wind carries fire like airborne tumbleweeds. They’re almost at St. Paul’s.

“Why couldn’t you have dug a hole in the ground at St. Paul’s?” Mallory says. “Would’ve been so much simpler.”

“I didn’t do that,” Julian says, “because tomorrow, there isn’t going to be a St. Paul’s.”

Mallory glances into his face to see if he’s joking. “You kept yammering about it.” She sounds mystified. “You wouldn’t shut up about a fire cleansing our city of Black Death. How did you know it was coming? How did you know the future?”

“Oh, Mallory,” Julian says. “I wish to God I knew the future. I don’t. I know the past.”

Their eyes catch for a moment. “Do you know what happens to you and me?” she asks, almost whispering, as if she wants to know, doesn’t want to know.

“No,” Julian says, and can’t even tell if he’s lying.

A vicar stands in the churchyard of St. Paul’s, shouting encouragement to the fleeing people. “We have a mayor who’s helpless before the conflagration!” the priest shouts. “Brothers and sisters, help yourselves! Do not be like our esteemed leader. Lord, what can I do, he cries. He says he’s out of solutions, though the fire has raged for barely a day! He’s like a fainting woman, and do you know why? Because his faith is faint! Do not be like Thomas Bludworth! Be unshakable! Straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads unto life. Aldgate, Ludgate, Newgate, Bishopsgate, Cripplegate, Moorgate, Aldersgate! Seven gates out! Seven ways to save your life! Run, brothers and sisters, go find your gate!”

Julian’s eyes are tearing, and it takes him a moment to recognize Reverend Anselmo from the Silver Cross. Weakened by inhaling the smoke, the holy man wobbles on the apple crate as he fortifies the misplaced with prayer. “Oh, it’s you two,” Anselmo says when they stop at his feet. “The whole world is looking for you.”

Mallory holds on to Julian, weighing on him as she rests. “They’re not looking for us here,” she says.

“Yes, hide in hell,” the vicar says. “That’ll teach them.”

“All the parish churches inside the City will soon be cinders, Reverend,” Julian says. “Despite what you think of us over on Whitehall, you’re safer in the Silver Cross.”

“I don’t go where it’s safe, my son,” Anselmo says. “I go where I’m needed. And today, it’s here.”

“You don’t have any water, do you?” Julian asks. They desperately need something wet to breathe into.

“Find your narrow gate out, and you will find living water there,” replies Anselmo.

“Come on, Julian,” Mallory says. “No time to waste.”

The wood houses crackle, timber bursting apart in venomous flames and falling in ruins. The smoke makes everything dark upon the streets, dark upon the steeples, smoke whirls like ghosts between the homes and the cathedrals.

St. Martin’s Le Grand that leads to Cripplegate is impassable. The buildings have collapsed into the road. “Julian,” Mallory says, “in case we get separated, tell me where in the wall you hid my purse.”

“It’s down the slope and straight across from the last window in the back of the nave. About three feet off the ground. The gray mortar should still be fresh. You can’t miss it. But we’re not going to get separated.”

They walk in single file, she ahead of him. They’re drenched with sweat. The fire that swirls and fills the air with black satanic smoke slows them down. Her especially. “It’s not too far now,” Mallory says. She’s wheezing. “We’re close. Soon we’ll be out.” She stops walking. “Just let me catch my breath for a minute.”

“We don’t have a minute, Mallory,” Julian says, throwing his arm around her and helping her forward. “You told me so yourself. It’s more true now than ever.” There’s no preparation for the plague. There’s no preparation for the fire. Not even when you know it’s coming. No oil in the lamp will protect them now. Nothing could have prepared them for this except staying away. The hot wind fans the flames just like the Santa Anas. Who travels faster, a young determined rasping beauty under his arm or a blaze blown out of all control by a stiff dry breeze?

“Come on, just a little farther.” Who says that?