As promised here is the next instalment of Faith in War. Please take the time to read it over, and keep the opinions coming! All the feedback I get is great and real helps... Well, hope you enjoy.
One may be quite intrigued as to why a man of Mr. Blake's personality would be so interested in a simple map. For this we must delve deeper into history, back to the time when Henry VIII ruled over the British Isles and the protestant reform was at hand, rising like a phoenix, powerful, inexorable, from the decadent ashes of the Catholic Church.
William was the descendant of the Duke of Exeter, or so he would have been, had it not been for a rather disastrous misunderstanding between the Duke and his majesty, the King: for it was the Kings intention to divorce his first wife, and remarry, although his holiness, the Pope, had already denied his request. Now Henry was not easily dissuaded and broke away from Britain's Catholic roots, creating the Anglican Church in order to divorce and remarry. Thus began the protestant reform of his majesty's kingdom. Many devout Catholics were forced to convert to Anglicanism and those who refused were often tortured and burned. The Duke and his family were among these devout Catholics and declared they would not pay homage to Henry VIII for, in their eyes, he had brought slander and ridicule to the throne, dishonouring forever the British crown. For their declarations the Duke and his family were striped of their title, their lands, and everything that tied them to their royal ancestry, but to this day their pride and unwavering courage withstood.
And to this day the Heirs of the Duke have maintained a secret pledge, a pledge to restore their bloodline to its former glory, a pledge that he was planning to fulfil. And this map was the key. The key to a secret so powerful that as he sat clutching that yellowing piece of parchment he felt a slight shiver run up his spine, something that didn't happen very often and, definitely, something he did not like in the least.
Just then someone knocked on the door. Blake who had been expecting this barely moved, making just the slightest of gestures on order to hide his map from view, instead he simply said:
- Come in Jude.
As the door opened a greasy, dark, unkempt fellow entered the room. All of him seemed to be made of shadows, he seemed like smoke, fragile, weak even, and yet, impossible to catch. Rather than walking upright like proud William, he crept around the room, slightly lowered, head alert, like a snake in an inhospitable setting. He looked incredibly out of place in such a splendid office, and William was most aware of this. His face wore a look of extreme revulsion, and as the man called Jude made a gesture to sit down William barked:
- Don't you dare!
