Ink and Steel
( Promethean Age - 3 , The Stratford Man - 1 )
Elizabeth Bear
Kit Marley, playwright and spy in the service of Queen Elizabeth, has been murdered. His true gift to Her Majesty was his way with words, crafting plays infused with a subtle magic that maintained her rule. He performed this task on behalf of the Prometheus Club, a secret society of nobles engaged in battle against sorcerers determined to destroy England. Assuming Marley’s role is William Shakespeare— but he is unable to create the magic needed to hold the Queen’s enemies at bay. Resurrected by enchantment in Faerie, Marley is England’s only hope. But before he can assist Will in the art of magic, he must uncover the traitor among the Prometheans responsible for his death…
Table of Contents
Title Page
PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF THE PROMETHEAN AGE
Principal Players in Ink and Steel
Epigraph
Prologue
Act I, scene i
Act I, scene ii
Act I, scene iii
Act I, scene iv
Act I, scene v
Act I, scene vi
Act I, scene vii
Act I, scene viii
Act I, scene ix
Act I, scene x
Intra-act: Chorus
Act II, scene i
Act II, scene ii
Act II, scene iii
Act II, scene iv
Act II, scene v
Act II, scene vi
Act II, scene vii
Act II, scene viii
Act II, scene ix
Act II, scene x
Act II, scene xi
Act II, scene xii
Act II, scene xiii
Act II, scene xiv
Act II, scene xv
Act II, scene xvi
Act II, scene xvii
Act II, scene xviii
Act II, scene xix
Act II, scene xx
Intra-act: Chorus
Act III, scene i
Act III, scene ii
Act III, scene iii
Act III, scene iv
Act III, scene v
Act III, scene vi
Act III, scene vii
Act III, scene viii
Act III, scene ix
Act III, scene x
Act III, scene xi
Act III, scene xii
Act III, scene xiii
Act III, scene xiv
Act III, scene xv
Act III, scene xvi
Act III, scene xvii
Act III, scene xviii
Act III, scene xix
Act III, scene xx
Act III, scene xxi
Act III, scene xxii
Intra-act: Chorus
About the Author
PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF THE PROMETHEAN AGE
Whiskey and Water
The many varied plots skillfully and subtly interweave into a finale withserious punch. Elizabeth Bear’ writing style is as dense, complex, andsubtle as her plots and characters. The style reminds me a little of Tolkien.This is definitely not a book to sit down to for a light, fluffy read. But ifyou immerse yourself in this rich, dark world, you will be rewarded withcharacters with layers of motivation and relationships that weave through theworld’ destiny like an intricate spider’ web.
SFRevu
[Whiskey and Water] reaffirms [Bear s] skill at creating memorable and memorably flawed characters as well as her sure hand at blending together themodern world with the world of the Fae. Her elegant storytelling shouldappeal to fans of Charles de lint, Jim Butcher, and other cross-world andurban fantasy authors.
Library Journal
Bear brings a new level of detail to the subject, and her magical creaturesare an interesting mix of familiar and unfamiliar traits.
Don D Ammasa, Critical Mass
Bear succeeds in crafting a rich world… . It’ a book that I couldn tput down, with a world in which I found myself easily enthralled andenchanted, not necessarily by Faerie, but by Bear’ poetic expression andknife-sharp narrative.
Rambles
Intrigued and delighted sum up my reaction to Whiskey and Water as a whole. Don’t think of it as a sequel, because it’ not: It’ the next part ofthe story, and just as rich, magical, and poetic as its predecessor. … I mhoping for another one.
The Green Man Review
The wonderful Promethean Age series just keeps getting better. Bear has aknack for writing beautifully damaged characters, who manage to be both alienand sympathetic at the same time, and then putting them in situations wherethey have no choice but to go through the fire. The result is glorious.
Romantic Times (Top Pick)
Cleverly designed and well written … a delightful tale filled with allsorts of otherworldly species. Alternative Worlds Blood and Iron “Blood and Iron takes everything you think you know about Faerie and twistsit until it bleeds.
Sarah Monette, author of The Mirador
Bear works out her background with the detail orientation of a sciencefiction writer, spins her prose like a veil-dancing fantasist, and neverforgets to keep an iron fist in that velvet glove.
The Agony Column
Complex and nuanced… . Bear does a fantastic job with integrating thesecenturies-old elements into a thoroughly modern tale of transformation, love,and courage. Romantic Times
Bear overturns the usual vision of Faerie, revealing the compelling beautyand darkness only glimpsed in old ballads and stories like Tam lin.
Publishers Weekly
This is excellent work. Bear confronts Faerie head-on, including thedangerous and ugly bits, and doesn’t shield the reader with reassuringhappily-ever-after vibes… . She also writes a few brilliant scenes andset pieces, the most memorable for me being … the beautifully handled(and beautifully explained) Tolkien homage near the climax… . I’m lookingforward to spending more time in this world. Eyrie… and for the other novels of Elizabeth Bear
A gritty and painstakingly well-informed peek inside a future world we’d allbetter hope we don’t get, liberally seasoned with VR delights andenigmatically weird alien artifacts… . Elizabeth Bear builds her futurenightmare tale with style and conviction and a constant return to the twistsof the human heart.
Richard Morgan, author of Altered Carbon
Very exciting, very polished, very impressive.
Mike Resnick, author of Starship: Mercenary
Gritty, insightful, and daring.
David Brin, author of the Uplift novels and Kiln People
A glorious hybrid: hard science, dystopian geopolitics, and wide-eyed sense
of wonder seamlessly blended into a single book.
Peter Watts, author of Blindsight
Elizabeth Bear has carved herself out a fantastic little world… . It’ rare to find a book with so many characters you genuinely care about. It’ aroller coaster of a good thriller, too.
SF Crowsnest
“What Bear has done … is create a world that is all too plausible, onewracked by environmental devastation and political chaos… . She conductsa tour of this society’ darker corners, offering an unnerving peek into afuture humankind would be wise to avoid. SciFi.com An enthralling roller-coaster ride through a dark and possible near future.
Starlog
[Bear] does it like a juggler who’ also a magician.
The Mumpsimus
Principal Players in Ink and Steel
combined with a selection of historical and literary figures as may be convenient to the reader.
Alleyn, Edward : (Ned) A player. Principal Tragedian of the lord Admiral’s Men.
Amaranth : A lamia
Arthur : A King of Britain. Mostly dead.
/> Baines, Richard : An intelligencer and Promethean
Bassano lanyer, Abilia : England’s first professional woman poet. Mistress of Henry Carey. Sadly, not appearing in this book because I did not have room for her.
Bassano, Augustine : Court musician to Elizabeth, Venetian Jew, father to Abilia, and intimate of Roderigo Lopez. Also not appearing in this volume,but I promise you, he and Abilia and Roderigo and Alfonso had manyinteresting adventures that Will never found out about. Someday I will write the Jews of Elizabeth’s Court book and you can find out all about it.
Bradley, William : Stabbed by Thomas Watson in Bankside. Dead.
Brahe, Tycho : An Astronomer
Burbage, Cuthbert : Brother to Richard Burbage
Burbage, James : Father to Richard Burbage. Owner of the Theatre in Bankside.
Burbage, Richard : A player. A Promethean. Principal Tragedian of lord Strange’s Men, the lord Chamberlain’s Men, and the King’s Men. Eventual Shareholder at the Globe.
Burghley, Baron : (William Cecil) lord Treasurer. A Promethean. Mbber of the Privy Council. Father to Robert Cecil.
Cairbre : A bard, the Master Harper of the Daoine Sidhe
Cecil, Anne : Wife to Edward De Vere, daughter to William Cecil, sister to Robert Cecil
Cecil, Robert : Secretary of State. A Promethean. Mbber of the Privy Council. Later, the Earl of Salisbury.
Catesby, Robert : A Catholic recusant
Chapman, George : a playmaker and poet
Cobham : Briefly, lord Chamberlain
Coquo, Oratio : Edward de Vere’s catamite, a former choirboy. I am not making that up.
Corinna : The love object in Ovid’s fifth elegy, and a character in Tamburlaine
Davenant, Jenet Shepherd and John : Innkeepers along the road to Stratford
Dee, Doctor John : An astrologer
Drake, Sir Francis : A privateer
Ede, Richard : A keeper at the Marshalsea prison
Edward : A player. A mbber of the company of lord Strange’s Men.
Essex, Earl of : (Robert Devereaux) A Promethean Faustus: A Scholar
Fawkes, Guido : A Catholic recusant
Findabair : A princess of Faerie. Dead.
Fletcher, John : A vile playmaker
Forman, Simon : A physician of sorts
Frazier, Ingrim : A servant to Thomas Walsingham
Ganymede : Jove’s cupbearer. Euphbistically speaking, a term for a catamite. A gardener
Gardner, William : Justice of the Peace for Southwark
Gaveston, Sir Piers : lban to Edward II, formerly King of England
Geoffrey : A Faerie, with the head of a stag
Green, Robert : A vile playmaker and pamphleteer
Henslowe, Philip : Owner of the Swan Theatre Holinshed: A historian, of sorts
Hunsdon, lord : (George Carey) lord Chamberlain. A Promethean. Mbber of the Privy Council.
Hunsdon, lord : (Henry Carey) lord Chamberlain. A Promethean. Mbber of the Privy Council. Father to George Carey.
John : A carriagban
Jonson, Ben : A vile playmaker, son of a bricklayer, educated at Westminster. Formerly a soldier in the low countries.
Kbp, Will : A player. Clown for the lord Chamberlain’s Men
Kyd, Thomas : A vile playmaker
Langley, Francis : A moneylender
Lanyer, Alfonso : A court musician, and husband to Abilia Bassano. Sadly,also not appearing in this volume.
Lavinia : A victim of rape and dismbberment in Titus Andronicus
Lopez, Doctor Roderigo : A Promethean. Queen’s Physician and Ambassador from Antonio, pretender to the throne of Portugal. Of Jewish descent.
Lucifer Morningstar : An Angel, once, and most dearly loved of God. Gave Ned Alleyn rather a bad turn, on one occasion. A mare
Marley, Christofer : (Kit; Christopher Marlowe; Sir Christofer) A Promethean. The dead shepherd. A playmaker and intelligencer. Dead (to begin with).
Marley, John : Father to Christofer Marley, a Master Cobbler of Canterbury
Marley, Tom : Brother to Christofer Marley
Mathews, Mistress : landlord of the Groaning Sergeant
Mebd, the : A Queen of Faerie
Mehiel : An Angel of the lord Mephostophilis: A dbon of Hell
Merlin : A legendary bard
Monteagle, Baron : William Parker, a cousin of William Shakespeare
Morgan le Fey : The half sister to Arthur, King of England. The Queen of Air and Darkness. And, formerly, Cornwall and/or Gore.
Murchaud : Morgan’s son, a Prince of Faerie
Nashe, Tom : A vile playmaker
Northampton, Earl of : A friend to Sir Walter Raleigh
Nottingham, Earl of : The lord Admiral, a patron of players.
Orpheus : A legendary musician who sought to rescue his love from Hell
Oxford, Seventeenth Earl of : (Edward de Vere) A Promethean, alleging himself a poet
de Parma, Fray Xalbadore : A Promethean. An Inquisitor.
Plantagenet, Edward : (Edward II of England) A historic king, the title character of Edward II by Christopher Marlowe
Peaseblossom : A Faerie
Poley, Mary : Sister to Thomas Watson, estranged wife to Robert Poley, mother of Robin Poley
Poley, Robin : Son of Mary Poley
Poley, Robert : A Promethean. A moneylender and intelligencer. Eventually, a Yeoman Warder of the Tower.
Raleigh, Sir Walter : A sea captain, sympathetic to the Prometheans A lame raven
Robin Goodfellow (aka Puck) : A Faerie
Rosalind, also Ganymede : The heroine of As You like It
Sackerson : A bear.
Shakespeare, Anne : (Annie) Wife to William Shakespeare
Shakespeare, Edmund : Brother to William Shakespeare
Shakespeare, Gilbert : Brother to William Shakespeare
Shakespeare, Hamnet : Son to William Shakespeare
Shakespeare, Joan : (Joan Hart) Sister to William Shakespeare
Shakespeare, John : Father to William Shakespeare. A glover of Stratford-upon-Avon.
Shakespeare, Judith : Daughter to William Shakespeare
Shakespeare, Mary : Mother to William Shakespeare
Shakespeare, Richard : Brother to William Shakespeare
Shakespeare, Susanna : Daughter to William Shakespeare
Shakespeare, William : A vile playmaker. Principal player of lord Strange’s Men, the lord Chamberlain’s Men, and the King’s Men. Eventual Shareholder at the Globe.
Sidney, Sir Philip : A respected poet. Husband to Frances Walsingham. Dead.
Skeres, Nicholas : An intelligencer
Sly, Will : A principal player with the lord Chamberlain’s Men A sorrel gelding
Southampton, Earl of : (Henry Wriothesly) Patron to William Shakespeare,Promethean
Spencer, Gabriel : A player
Spenser, Edmund : A respected poet
Strange, lord : (Ferdinando Stanley) A Promethean, and patron to players
Stuart, James : (James VI, James I): King of Scotland and eventually England
Stuart, Mary : (Mary, Queen of Scots) Mother to James VI of Scotland. Dead.
Stubbs, Philip : A Puritan, dismbbered for treasonous writings
Taliesin : A legendary bard Tam lin: A legendary noblban kidnapped by Faeries
Thomas the Rhymer : A legendary bard
Topcliffe : The Queen’s torturer
Tresham, Francis : A Catholic recusant A troll
Tudor, Elizabeth : (Elizabeth I, Bess, Gloriana) The Queen of England, or perhaps Pretender to its throne
Tudor, Henry : (Henry VIII of England, Great Harry) Dead
de Vere, Elizabeth : Daughter of the seventeenth Earl of Oxford
Wade, William : The Queen’s other torturer, clerk of the Privy Council
Walsingham, Etheldreda (Audrey) : Wife to Thomas
Walsingham, Frances : (Frances Sidney, Frances Devereaux) Daughter to Sir Francis, widow of Sir Philip Sidney, wife of the Earl of Es
sex
Walsingham, Sir Francis : A Promethean. Spymaster to the Queen. Formerly, her Secretary of State.
Walsingham, Thomas : Cousin to Sir Francis, Patron to Christofer Marley
Watson, Thomas : A poet and intelligencer. A Promethean. Dead.
Divers demons, ifriti, faeries, prentices, goodwives, publicans, recusants, damned souls etc as required.
And since we all have suck’d one wholesome air,
And with the same proportion of Elements
Resolve, I hope we are resembled,
Vowing our loves to equal death and life.
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE, Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1, Act II, scene vi
Prologue
And since my mind, my wit, my head, my voice and tongue are weak,
To utter, move, devise, conceive, sound forth, declare and speak,
Such piercing plaints as answer might, or would my woeful case,
Help crave I must, and crave I will, with tears upon my face,
Of all that may in heaven or hell, in earth or air be found,
To wail with me this loss of mine, as of these griefs the ground.
EDWARD DE VERE, 17TH EARL OF OXFORD, loss of Good Name
Christofer Marley died as he was born: on the bank of a river, within the sound and stench of slaughterhouses.
The news reached London before the red sun ebbed, while alleys fell into straitened darkness under rooftops still stained bright. It was a bloody end to the penultimate day of May, in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of the excommunicate Elizabeth.
The nave of the Queen’s chapel at Westminster lay shadowed when, at the secluded entrance of a secret room, the seventeenth Earl of Oxford hesitated. Edward de Vere pushed his hood back from fine hair and wiped one ringed hand across his mouth. The panel slid open at his touch, releasing the redolence of oil. The sputter of candles along the walls reassured him that he was not the first. Four men waited within the stifling chamber.