Chapter 8
"Interrogating the Spy"
Boarding the HMS Pigot, I could only wonder just exactly what I would be dealing with. This French spy, whoever he is, was just like all the others that my family and I had dealt with. My parents were mostly lenient, but they weren't afraid to show their other side. But this wasn't Arendelle by any means.
"He's down below, your highness," said a Royal Marine, directing us down to the Pigot's brig. Inside the brig, there was a young man of 30 his clothes torn from the supposed struggle he had with the Royal Marines.
"Do you know who we are?" I heard Eric ask in a commanding voice. "We are the enemies of France looking to stop your emperor Napoleon from conquering all of Europe! Are you a spy?"
The spy said nothing and Eric could only look back at me with disappointment.
"Are you a spy?" Eric asked, gesturing the cell door to be opened. Stepping inside, he bent down and took out a small knife that he had in his boot. With a firm commanding voice, he asked again.
"ARE YOU A SPY?"
Eric then took the blade and placed it against the spy's face, being careful not to cut him.
"Your silence says that you are a spy," he sighed.
"So you say I am a spy," the spy replied in a French accent. "And you are correct. I am a spy acting on behalf of his highness, Louis XVI."
Angered by this sarcasm, Eric struck the spy with the back of his hand.
"You liar," he sneered. "Louis XVI was exiled by your beloved Napoleon! Lie to me again and I will ensure that your life will not be spared!"
"Mon dieu, I am telling you the truth! His highness wants me to…"
Before he could finish his sentence, Eric struck him again across the face.
"That is not what our men say," said Nelson, stepping into the cell with me following close behind. "One of them say you boarded our fleet in Portsmouth, disguised as one of our lads. And we believe that your name is not John Smith as you say it is. That was the name of a sailor you murdered the night before we left."
I couldn't help but wonder about this man. He looked so strangely familiar to me, almost as if I had seen him before.
"So what were you doing on this ship? Were you planning to spy and reveal to Villeneuve of our weaknesses? If so, you have failed!"
Eric then grabbed a hold of the spy's hand and began to press down hard on it, causing the spy intense pain.
That's the median nerve that I'm compressing," Eric said. "On a scale one to ten, that's two. That's three. You don't want me to go to four. I go to four, you shit yourself. You don't want that. I don't want that! They don't want that! So tell us who you really are!"
The more the spy screamed, the more I began to feel like I needed to do something. Finally after a few moments, I did.
"All right, all right!" he cried, tears forming in his eyes. "I'll tell you, I'm from the Southern Isles!"
Right there, his confession said everything to me. If he was from the Southern Isles, then it all made sense to me.
"Eric, stop for a moment!" I commanded and Eric complied, releasing his grip on the spy. I then motioned for him to look at me. "You are from…the Southern Isles? What are you doing here?"
"Queen Anna?" the spy gasped. "Mon dieu, it's really you! Please, have mercy on me! My brother talked me into this!"
"Hans talked you into spying for Napoleon?" I asked, bending down to his level. "Why? Is this part of some plan to conquer Arendelle? Answer me!"
"He…he wanted to prove himself that he was still capable of being a king," confessed the spy. "At his trial, I voted against my other brothers saying that he was not guilty of his crimes…"
A sense of anger befell upon me and I forced him to his feet, before pulling him directly in front of my eyes.
"Not guilty of his crimes?" I asked crossly. "Your brother tried to murder me and my sister and seize Arendelle for himself, but not before using me to fall in love with him! I knew that there was one frozen heart in that family, but you have one as well! What did Hans tell you to do?"
"To broker a deal with Bonaparte," whimpered the spy, as I dug the spike in my heel into his foot. "He wants to finish what he started, but…but…."
"BUT WHAT?!" I cried, furthering digging the spike into his barefoot to the point blood started coming out. "ANSWER ME!"
The more I dug into his foot, the louder he screamed. Finally, he repented.
"But he…he couldn't do it alone…your majesty," he gasped, sharply wincing in pain from the work I did to his foot. "Napoleon promised to invade Arendelle, kill you and have Hans rule as a puppet king."
Scoffing, I rose back up and looked down crossly at the spy.
"But why are you on here?" I asked.
"To understand your weaknesses and bring them back to Napoleon once you were near France."
"Still, you haven't answered our question about that wedding ship that was attacked," Eric asked. "Was this part of your plan?"
Gasping, the spy said nothing and Eric then took a tourniquet, placing it around the spy's forehead and tightening it.
"You knew all too well that Villeneuve decided to attack the first ship you saw, didn't he? DIDN'T HE?"
The spy continued to scream further and further in pain as Eric continued to demand answers.
"So he ordered you to hunt for wedding ships in the area because there would be sailors on that ship? You French are monsters…an embarrassment to Europe!"
"I was just following orders your highness!" cried the spy. "Villeneuve wanted to attack wedding ships because they would have sailors we could impress in our navy!"
This made Eric loosen his grip on the suspect.
"We attacked a wedding ship, I was on the lookout of the Scorpion and made the call that there was one nearby."
Disgusted, I stepped back and it was all starting to make total sense on account of what had been heard.
"How many sailors did you impress?" asked Nelson.
"About 25. Those who refused to comply were killed."
"How many are alive?"
"10, sir. 10. The groom is one of them."
Eric scowled the spy upon hearing that one of his own was held prisoner.
"Is he on the Scorpion? Is he on Villieneuve's ship?"
"He is. I then was ordered to come aboard here and sabotage your fleet."
"If you have come to sabotage," Eric said. "Then you have failed. Did you take any women and children prisoners?"
"Yes, they are also prisoners aboard the Scorpion. Villeneuve is taking them to by way of our ally, Spain, to Naples."
"For what?" asked Nelson.
But before the spy could answer, he collapsed from the blood loss in his foot. Disgruntled, Eric and Nelson stood back.
"Trafalgar is along that route," Eric said and right then and there, we were all aware of what needed to be done. We'll have to stop them there."
So it was clear to us now…we had to confront Villeneuve and his fleet at Trafalgar ensuring that not only he would be stopped for good, but also to save the prisoners. But as we left, I looked back at the spy and slightly sympathized with him.
"Have the surgeon take a look at him and dress any wounds that are on him," I ordered to the jailer before leaving the brig. Still, I couldn't help but wonder why Hans wouldn't just accept defeat? Especially after all he did in attempting to do away with me and Anna? I began to get the feeling that I would see him again during this war…
…but I wouldn't be sure when.
…
…