Playing the King's ***

I woke up to beams of sunshine illuminating my face through the branches, and wood pigeons cooing in the high treetops. Honey was tethered to a tree about three metres away from me, and her presence made this scene all the more perfect. The grass was lusciously green beneath me, making it a comfortable place to have spent the night. I rubbed my eyes and smiled across at my beautiful horse, as I watched her scrape the ground with her hooves for a while.
My calm was distracted momentarily as I heard footsteps rapidly approaching, and I began to climb the tree behind me. As the figure came into focus, I realised however that it was Ben, wearing my shift and trying his darnedest to catch up to me before anyone came looking. I lowered myself from the branch I was sitting on and opened my arms to embrace Ben as he arrived.

Ben's embrace hit me like a ton of bricks. He was breathing heavily from the running, and he was perspiring profusely. I wrapped my arms around him, not caring for sanitation in that moment; I was simply happy that he had arrived safely and without harm from my Father.

"Come on, Ben darling." I whispered, giving him a leg up onto Honey. I began to untether her with haste, and made my way up onto her to begin the long ride to the shore.

The ride was wonderful. I used the lesser known lanes to cross the Island to the fishing village of Ryde, and the breeze was beautiful. Ben was clinging onto my waist like a child at the leg of their Mother. I had to smile; it was adorable that he was so inexperienced on a horse. I was too in the moment to say a word, I was determined to make the shoreline in as quick a time as possible.

Ryde was a quaint little community. Fishermen wandered the streets with poles and baskets, and buckets full of produce to sell at markets. Wenches hollered to people walking the streets looking to buy fresh food from the Island for the night, and from all directions you could hear 'fresh fish, sixpence!' and 'fruit and veg, come and get it lads!'. I slowed down as we got further into the area, as being dressed as a boy meant that no one would give me a second glance.
From asking around through family friends, I had discovered that from Ryde a fisherman was required to make Solent crossings every two hours this time of year. Honey walked us down the esplanade, and I noticed Ben was still holding onto my waist. I spotted an older man with a greying beard and a sunhat unwinding some rope that had his boat tied to the shore. I jumped from Honey and helped Ben down, and pulled her reign to lead her to the man.

"Um, excuse me?" I said, in a casual, deep voice, keeping up the male façade. The man looked up, squinting into the sunlight behind me. I smiled at him, but kept my head lowered so it wasn't too visible. He straightened up from his stupor and dropped the rope, extending a hand to me. I shook it vigorously, wanting to speed up the process.

"What can I do for you two lads?" He said, looking at me and then Ben with a slightly taken aback expression (possibly due to the fact he was wearing a shift of mine...).

"Hello. My name is... Bernard," I said, thinking of the first male name to come into my head other than Ben.
"I'd very much like it if we could hitch a ride with you on your next crossing?" I said, taking out my purse and bringing Honey into the spotlight. He looked up at my beautiful stallion and back to me in disbelief, understanding that she was a thoroughbred horse.

"The horse would be enough, son! She's a wonder. Does she have a name by any chance?" He asked, his country accent shining through.

"Honey. She's called Honey. Thoroughbred, fast and a good hunting horse if you're interested." I said, trying to sound intelligent in terms of horses. I wasn't too into the background but I knew a fair bit from my Father and his hunting friends, having had to sit in on the meetings he insisted on having with them to discuss killing methods. I shuddered at the thought and put it to the back of my mind.

"She's a stunner. I'll take her to me' wife and we'll be off if you like?" The fisherman said, smiling a gummy smile at me more so than Ben. I think he was still a bit confused by him in all honesty. I nodded and smiled, upset inside at having to give up my beautiful stallion. I packed my purse back into the pocket of the trousers I was donning. My calves were exposed with them, but hopefully no one would notice how feminine they looked.

*****

The Solent crossing was stunning. I breathed in the fresh sea air and looked out to nothing but an expanse of crystal blue. The boat made breaks in the ocean, and the waves glittered in the warm sunlight that was delighting my cheeks with it's rays.
With an excited sigh, I sat back down next to Ben, who was not enjoying the voyage. A wooden bucket was between his legs as he was feeling extremely seasick.

"Are you feeling unwell, Ben?" I asked, rubbing his back sympathetically. He looked up at me, his face pale and tinged with green.

"How do you do it?" He croaked.

"Do what?" I asked, scratching the back of my neck which was getting hot under the hair I had bundled under the hat.

"You're so very fearless. Nothing I've seen us go through so far has worried you at all. I can't even cope with a ride on a horse, let alone this boat trip!" Ben mumbled.
"And you're a woman!" He whispered, casting an eye to the old fisherman who was looking out front anyway.

I chuckled at his comments.
"I've wanted this for too long, Ben. It means too much to me for me to simply throw everything away for the sake of a few fears. You must conquer them in order to ever succeed. I haven't had one doubt since the beginning of this plan and it's worked perfectly. Not one person has recognised me, and Mother and Father haven't seen me once. Just remain calm, and everything will turn out wonderfully. I have no doubts." I said quietly, putting a hand on his knee. I tried to be inconspicuous so as not to look like a homosexual couple, as that was something you often kept quiet in this day and age. Of course it was common knowledge that it occurred; even the King was at it.

We approached land, and the fisherman yelled to us.

"Land ahoy, lads! We'll be hitting Portsmouth in, I'd say, five minutes. Gather your belongings and get ready to jump off." He said, smiling his gummy smile again. I returned it gratefully.

We jumped off onto the sandy beach, and thanked the bearded fisherman.

"Take care of Honey for me, won't you?" I tried to say in as manly a way as possible. The fisherman nodded and set up his boat to take more people across the Solent again. I thanked him again and grabbed Ben's arm to run somewhere that was hidden, where we could decide what to do next on our journey to London.