EPUB Ebooks: Free ebook sample of "Miss Anna's Frigate" by Jens Kuhn

MISS ANNA’S

FRIGATE

Jens Kuhn

Miss Anna’s Frigate

Copyright ©Jens Kuhn 2010

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

Into the distance, a ribbon of black

Stretched to the point of no turning back

A flight of fancy on a windswept field

Standing alone my senses reeled

A fatal attraction holding me fast, how

Can I escape this irresistible grasp?

Pink Floyd

Many people have helped me with this book. I will explicitly mention just a few: Gudrun Ingemarsson for her knowledge about Swedish history, Melanie Sherman for her useful comments and adverbial forgiveness and, again, my wife Helena for being who she is.

Jens Kuhn is a journalist. He lives with his wife and cat in Stockholm, Sweden. During the summer months he sails his small yacht in the same waters where the action of this novel takes place.

Prologue

His Britannic majesty’s frigate Tartar of 32 guns labored heavily in the steep seas of the Baltic winter storm. Ice cold spray drenched the few people of her crew whose duty did not permit them to seek the shelter of the galley – or any other place that was less wet, albeit not less warm. Many of the crew were sick, a fact that might seem strange considering that the ships and men of the Royal Navy were used to sail in any weather and on any ocean on the planet.

But ships built to cross oceans in any weather, and men used to it, still can become affected by the unusual motion of the Baltic Sea. A small body of water it is and very shallow. It is this shallowness that makes the waves steep and choppy in a blow, a motion which still can make even a seasoned sailor’s stomach queasy. Add the extreme cold of the northern latitudes and the often poor clothing of the sailor – and you have a recipe that easily can get you into trouble.

In the great cabin, captain Baker tried to keep himself from falling out of his chair while he read his latest orders once again. He had been on the Baltic station for almost a year now, sent here last spring when war broke out between Sweden and Russia. Sweden, being Britain’s ally in the seemingly endless struggle against the ambitions of Napoleon Bonaparte, needed help with the Russian high seas fleet. A British squadron had been sent and together with Swedish frigates and ships of the line they had managed to blockade the Russians in Estonia and essentially prevent them from throwing their weight into the fight.

Not that it made any difference. Sweden was losing the war anyway, losing it rapidly. During the summer of 1808 Russian troops had managed to occupy Finland. Now they were preparing for the winter campaign – probably just waiting for the ice to bridge the way to the Åland islands and the Swedish mainland. Captain Baker tried to imagine the sight of a whole army, thousands of men, marching over the ice just like that. Horses, gun carriages, everything. The thought was so strange to him that he had difficulties taking it seriously. But he knew it had been done before, in fact quite regularly.

Returning back to his orders, Baker frowned. He would be stuck here during the winter and he didn’t like it. After a year of boring patrols and running errands for the bigger ships’ captains he would have liked to return to warmer waters and get some real action. Perhaps the Mediterranean, or even the West Indies. Where the water was warm, the sun shining and the crew could work on deck without freezing to death. He called to the sentry at his door. “Pass the word for Mr. Reeman and Mr. Pope!”

“Gentlemen,” captain Baker said, once the first lieutenant and the sailing master had arrived, shivering from the short walk on the deck outside. “We have new orders, I am afraid.”

“We are not going home then, sir?” Reeman’s words came out not really a question.

“No. Quite the opposite. We are to proceed to the Swedish capital, if the ice will let us, that is.”

The sailing master looked startled. “And if it does not, sir?”

“Then we are to anchor as close to the place as possible, Mr. Pope.”

“But why?” Reeman looked puzzled. “What can we do if we are all trapped in the ice and unable to move, sir?”

“I think,” the captain answered thoughtfully, “that this is quite the idea, my dear fellow. The admiralty wants us to be stuck up here.”

“But for what purpose?”

“In order to keep an eye on things, I dare say.”

“Like spying, sir?”

“If you choose to put it that way, lieutenant. Now, plot me a course for the coast, Mr. Pope. Mr. Reeman, instruct the lookouts to keep an eye open for ice. Oh, and they are to be relieved every half hour – if they’ll last that long at all in this cold...”

Chapter 1 – Winter bliss

“Won’t you come back to bed, darling?” Anna said softly. She was lying on her side, her head propped up by her left arm, looking at the naked back of the man who was in front of the fireplace on the other side of the room. He was stacking up pieces of wood, working efficiently. Anna admired the play of the muscles along his back. 

“In a minute, dear, I just want to get this fire going. Aren’t you freezing?”

Anna shivered. Of course she was freezing. This was Sweden in winter. She pulled up the sheet closer around her with her right hand.

“But the maid can do this, Eric.” Anna smiled to herself hearing her own words. She had never had a maid in her whole life. She had never even lived in a house this big, and she still had difficulties believing it sometimes.

Anna Wetterstrand, well, at least this was the name she was still using after the events of last summer, had never been rich. Of course, she had met rich people before, she even had stayed over in a few castles – but that had been work, duty. She had enjoyed it, naturally, but she had always been aware that she was there, doing what she did, for a purpose not of her own.

Then she had met Eric af Klint, the young nobleman with his thin, wiry body, soft, clean hands and this very special nose. He had been gunnery officer aboard an inshore fleet gunboat that had delivered her to one of her missions, into Russian occupied Finland. He had also saved her life and touched her heart. But many a man had done that, without her reacting this weirdly. Anna was a true creature of the senses, using her female abilities to her best advantage almost on a daily basis - and she had succeeded very well with this approach in the past.

She wasn’t a beautiful woman in the classic sense of the word. Her skin wasn’t pale enough, her face was a little too round and she might just be a little too short for her beam. But that was compensated nicely by her shapely breasts and her big eyes. The eyes were blue or pale green, depending on the light at hand – and perhaps her mood. Her hair was long and curly and not exactly blond unless she had stayed too long in the sun. However, her main attractiveness lay not in her bodily features themselves, but in the way she used them.

The men she’d met had been too dazzled, enchanted, to even understand that she wanted something different from them than intimacy and sex – or they had not been able to resist her anyway. And being who she was, Anna usually felt attracted to her victims herself, making it much easier to be convincing.

Eric, however, was different. He had not been attracted to her from the beginning, rather the opposite. He had kept his distance, always being polite, but never crossing the line. When they finally did make love, it wasn’t he who’d started it, and Anna had realized that Eric probably was the first man she’d met who really wanted her as a person, not only her body. And she had finally had to admit that she was in love with him as well.

She still did not think it would work in the long run. Eric af Klint was a nobleman and officer, and she was a poor mysterious girl who did not talk about her past, and who was deep into clandestine work, using her body as a tool. Eric knew this and had eventually convinced her to try being together anyway, at least over the winter. In the best of cases, this would be the beginning of something wonderful, but if it didn’t work out, they still would have shared a few weeks of bliss.

Eric had gotten the fire going and was turning around, facing her. “I might not want the maid in here for a while just yet,” he said, looking into Anna’s eyes.

“Oh.” Anna suddenly did not feel the cold any more as her body reacted to his words and the lust she saw in his eyes. She lifted the sheet and he slipped into the bed, his cold body pressing hard against the warmth of her. Anna sighed as he kissed her hungrily.

Two hours later they were having breakfast. The room was nice and warm and the coffee was fresh and hot. Eric af Klint looked out of the window. Snowflakes were falling lazily, some of them stuck to the glass of the window, slowly melting. He turned his head and saw Anna looking at him questioningly.

“What’s on your mind?”

They had been in this house for many weeks now. Anna, Eric, the maid and a groom who tended the stable. It wasn’t extraordinarily big, but it was an estate and it was Eric’s. His parents were both dead, the father having been killed in the last war against Russia and his mother had died only a few years later. It was the perfect love nest, Anna thought. The estate lay to the west of Stockholm, surrounded by deep forests and farmland. In front of the house was a big lawn that slowly sloped down towards the water of lake Mälaren. In the summer, one could sail a boat from here right into the center of the capital. Now, of course, the boats were all hauled ashore as the ice on the lake became thicker for every day.

“Well,” Eric said, looking at her. “I have been thinking for a while now – with the ice this thick...”

“Yes?” She looked at him curiously.

“Eh, well, we could take out the sleigh.”

“Oh! Yes, darling, what a marvelous idea! Where are we going?”

“Well, in fact we might go to the city. If you don’t mind, of course...” Looking a little worried.

“To Stockholm? Why should I mind, Eric?”

“Well, I thought, you might think it would break the spell, perhaps?”

Anna suddenly realized what he was thinking. They had been in this house together for weeks, never meeting any people except themselves. If they went to Stockholm, they would have to meet people, and now he was thinking that might shatter their blissful existence, pulling them apart. She put her hand firmly on Eric’s. “You are so sweet, darling. Don’t worry, I’d love to go to town. We could go to the theater, perhaps?”

Eric smiled. “Yes, we could. And we could meet Lieutenant Kuhlin and his wife, if you like”.

“When are we leaving?”

Chapter 2 – Ice piloting

During the night, the wind had eased a little and veered round to the southwest. It was still blowing a good force six, normally warranting top gallants and reefed topsails, but being quite a little wary of the threat of ice, captain Baker had ordered HMS Tartar to be under topsails only. Thus going slower, but steadily with the wind aft of the beam, the ship moved north towards the islands off the Swedish capital.

As a midshipman, Baker had been in a sloop of war on a mission to the Arctic sea. Chasing a French privateer, they had risked not only their lives, but their ship by cruising precariously near floating ice, growlers and even the occasional iceberg. Their prey, the privateer, had been a converted whaling ship, built much more sturdily and able to take the punishment from crushing ice – at least to a degree. They had taken her, but at a high cost indeed. Severely damaged by ice, with seams leaking and several fothering sails needed to keep her afloat, their ship had made it in the end, to the safe shelter of a British port, and a dry dock to take her in. But Baker had learned his lesson. Sailing into waters where there could be ice was not to be taken lightly at all.

When the ice forms in the Baltic, it starts from the north and from the land and slowly moves southwards and out to sea. The Gulf of Bothnia, from its inner end towards the Åland islands usually freezes solid and so do the archipelagos along the east coast. However, it varies considerably how far the ice will extend out to the open waters of the Baltic proper. Some winters it covers most of it, some not. In any case, it usually covers the most in late January and early February.

When HMS Tartar closed the shore, there was still no sea ice that far south of Åland, although it had been reported that the inner archipelago was iced over considerably. Still, Baker hoped they would be able to bring the ship far enough into the channels between the islands to make a journey into the capital reasonably comfortable. Having discussed the matter with his sailing master, Mr. Pope, an experienced man in his late forties, Baker had decided on two favored anchorages. The first was only six miles from the capital itself at Baggensfjärden, just outside the small channel of Baggenstäket, where Swedish forces in a desperate effort had managed to stop the Russian assault in 1719. The channel itself would most certainly be blocked by ice, but outside was a fairly big stretch of water that might be open. To get to it, however, the frigate would have to maneuver through the narrows at Saltsjöbaden. This was difficult enough to do without the right wind, but if there was already ice, it would be impossible altogether.

The second alternative was Dalarö. About three times farther south, the trip into Stockholm would not be as comfortable, but on the other hand there was a fortress at Dalarö and a small settlement which hopefully would have a boarding house or tavern. There being a military presence also should imply that some means of communication would probably be in place. But you could never be sure with the Swedes, captain Baker thought. After all they still didn’t copper coat their ships against marine growth, rendering perfectly good vessels much slower than they could have been.

Baker donned his greatcoat and made his way up to the quarterdeck once again. It was still cold, but with the wind blowing less strongly, being outside didn’t feel like imminent death any more. There were more men on deck forward now as well, mostly extra lookouts, but one group of men thrashed away at the lower shrouds with wooden clubs in order to remove the coating of ice that had formed on the tarred ropes. The ice did not only make it difficult for the crew to climb the rigging, if unattended it also could make the frigate top heavy. It was not uncommon for ships to capsize due to iced over rigging and sails. Baker moved over to the binnacle and checked the compass.

“North northeast as ordered, sir.” Reeman, his first lieutenant, offered helpfully.

“The log?” captain Baker asked.

“Five knots, sir.”

Baker grunted. Five knots was not fast for a frigate, but hitting solid ice at that speed could damage her nonetheless. Probably even sink her if the impact was in the right – or rather wrong – place. He considered ordering the topsails reefed to slow her down further, but decided against it. If they went too slowly they might not get to their destination before it was all iced over.

“Very well.” Baker turned and started to stroll back to the warmth of his cabin when there was a shout from the foremast top.

“Deck there!”

“Go ahead!” Reeman acknowledged.

“Ice on the larboard bow!”

“How much of it?”

“Looks like a lot, sir!”

Captain Baker turned to his second in command. “Go up there if you please, Mr. Reeman and take a glass with you”.

“Aye aye, sir”.

A few minutes later, the first lieutenant looked through his telescope at the distant white line to the northwest. It did not look as solid as he would have expected, like it could as easily have been a patch of fog or a low snowy skerry.

“What do you see?” The captain shouted impatiently.

“I’m not sure, it’s still quite far away, sir. Could be fog perhaps?”

“I’m coming up.”

Baker did not like going up into the rigging. Not that he was afraid of heights, he merely thought of it as a task not worthy a post captain. But this was important, none of the men up there had any experience of sailing in ice, and he had. So he bit his lip and climbed the cold tarry ropes. Once atop he took the telescope Reeman offered him and put it to his eye.

“That’s ice, no doubt,” he declared, moving the glass slowly to the right. “And there is an island. Hmm.” He put down the telescope and gave it back to the lieutenant.

“There is a stretch of open water between the ice and that island. We will alter course accordingly.”

“Aye aye, sir”. Both men descended to the deck carefully.

Two hours later, HMS Tartar was right in the middle of it. A vast expanse of ice stretched off her larboard side all the way to the distant coast. Farther to the north, a darker shadow loomed out of the whiteness, and on its seaward end showed something that looked like a small tower.

“That would be the Landsort lighthouse,” the sailing master pointed out. All three officers stood on the quarterdeck, shivering.

“Landsort, eh?” Reeman said. “Sounds almost like Land’s End. I wish it were...”

“Keep your mind on the task at hand, Mr. Reeman,” captain Baker snapped. This kind of piloting was not at all his kettle of fish.

“Sorry, sir. Um, sir, may I ask a question?”

Baker looked at him, smiling slightly now.

“Of course, lieutenant.”

“Well, I was thinking that, once we anchor, sir. If there will be ice all around us...will we not be crushed?”

“A very good question, Mr. Reeman. However, from my experience in the Arctic, we will not. You see, it is not the ice itself that damages ships, it is the movement of it. When the ice moves with the ship trapped in it, the ice will press onto the hull and damage it eventually. But, if the ice is still and does not move, the ship sits in it like in a cradle and will be fine.”

“I see.” Reeman did not look entirely convinced.

“This is why it is so important that we anchor – or moor – in a place where the water is sheltered and the ice does not move. Fortunately, in between these islands, there is very little movement of the ice. It is much worse in the open waters of the Arctic, or, as we have done, when one moors directly to an iceberg just like it was a dock.”

The lieutenant’s eyes widened. “You can moor a ship directly to the ice?”

“Yes, sometimes there is no other alternative. The whalers do it all the time. They get their drinking water from the ice, do you see?”

Reeman swallowed. Baker looked at him, smiling broadly now.

“So you see, what we are up to is nothing in comparison. There will probably be lots of ships in the ice at Dalarö. You will see.”

Chapter 3 – The ride to town

It was a glorious winter morning. Very cold indeed, but the sky was pale blue and the low sun was shining enough to make the whiteness of snow and ice glitter. Anna was slowly walking towards the edge of the frozen lake. The snow was almost knee deep, but there was a path that had been trampled down by the servants going for ice or water and of course by the horses and the sleigh that had been moved to the lake this morning.

She was dressed for travel. One of af Klint’s old cloaks over her dress and an old fur cap that covered not only her head but her ears as well as woolen mittens. Perhaps not the most endearing outfit she could imagine, but having several hours of travel in freezing temperatures ahead of her, she found comfort more important than looks.

Halfway down to the lake, Anna stopped and turned around, looking at the house where she had been living all these past weeks. She sighed. This was as close to paradise she would ever be. As close to happiness. Whatever was going to happen to her in the future, she would always remember this time of unconditional love and passion, these weeks of closeness with Eric. Of course, she was quite sure that this could not last. After all, there was still a war on, and Eric was an officer of the king. And she was a spy. When this winter was over, they would have to go back to their businesses, respectively, and that would surely tear them apart, would it not?

Anna continued towards the shore and the sleigh that waited there. It was old, an all wooden contraption with a single bench for passengers, a trunk at the back that could hold baggage or cargo. Two solemn looking horses waited patiently for their working day to begin. The groom was standing next to the sleigh, waiting.

“When did you use this thing the last time?” Anna asked, smiling.

“Oh, don’t worry, miss, we use it all the time.”

Anna raised an eyebrow. “So you say.” She looked more closely at the passenger seat. It was an old wooden bench that would have made her think of sore bottoms if it hadn’t been covered in an abundance of furs and sheepskins. She stepped closer and stroked a dark piece of fur that stood out from the others which were mostly light in color.

“This one is bear,” the groom explained.

“Oh.”

“Yes, it is very old. The rest are mostly sheep and reindeer. But it will keep you all warm during the ride, never you fear, miss”.

Anna lifted the bear skin and lowered her face towards it, wanting to touch it with her face and smell it. Suddenly there was a hissing sound and she found herself staring into two golden eyes. She gasped. The cat had been lying curled up between the furs and was now glaring at her with its ears angled back, whiskers trembling defiantly. Anna held out her hand to the animal.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you...and such a pretty thing you are...”

The cat looked at her inquiringly, all gray, sprinkled with brown and black and a white neck, chest and front paws.

“I don’t think we can take you with us, though,” Anna said, stroking its head. The animal started to purr.

Half an hour later they were on their way. Anna and Eric were deeply buried under furs, their heads barely visible if at all. They huddled together, his arm around her shoulders, her head resting against his neck. The sleigh was moving swiftly on the ice of the lake, in fact the ride was much more gentle than Anna remembered from her childhood. It was almost like sailing, but without the heeling and pitching.

“I remember it much more like riding a carriage,” she said. “Much bumpier.”

“Well, it can be bumpy as well,” Eric explained. “It all depends on the surface, do you see. On smooth ice like this it’s very comfortable, but when you travel on land, on a snowy or icy road, it’s much bumpier, worse than riding a carriage in fact, the sleigh not having any suspension at all.”

“I see.” She nuzzled her face deeper into the warmth of his neck. Nibbling softly at his earlobe. Whispering in his ear then. She felt his body tense with the sensation.

“This is like a fairy tale, darling.”

Eric turned his head towards her face and kissed her. “Then you are my fairy.”

Anna lifted her head and looked into his eyes. She started to say something, but kept her thought for herself. He might be more right than he knew. Because fairies could be quite evil at times.

They stopped for lunch a few miles outside the capital, not far from the royal palace at Drottningholm island. There was a small tavern near the bridge serving some hot soup as well as a tot of brandy.

“What are we going to do when we arrive at Stockholm?” Anna asked.

“Well, we will have to find a room at some boarding house of course. Then I don’t know. Would you like to call on the Kuhlins? Or check out the theaters?”

Anna looked at him, saying nothing.

“Or...,” Eric started.

Anna smiled at him. “Or we do all this tomorrow.”

Eric af Klint blushed.

Stockholm in the winter of 1809 wasn’t a happy town. The atmosphere was subdued by sickness and disease – thousands of soldiers and sailors too weak to be moved elsewhere had to be accommodated in the capital. The hospitals, or what went under that name, were overcrowded and chances for survival were greater outside of them anyway. So instead, ordinary people had to take in the survivors of the war, feed them and treat them in whatever way they could. In return, many got infected themselves.

But it wasn’t only the health problems that marked the Swedish capital. The war still wasn’t over and rumors of the Russian army finally having marched over the frozen Baltic to the Åland islands, or even the mainland proper, were the predominant topic for discussion. There was supposed to be an army on Åland still which could, perhaps, stop the enemy. If not, nothing could probably save the capital itself.

And then there was the question of the king. An increasing number of people found him a liability, a threat perhaps to the very existence of the nation. It wasn’t just that he was losing the war, which was bad enough of course, but he did not even see it as a problem. In his mind, the war could still be won, Sweden could still play an important role in the destruction of Napoleon and all his allies. Which, as everyone except the king did know, wasn’t only impossible but could not lead to anything less than utter disaster.

Already during the previous summer campaigns in Finland, the strength of the Swedish army had been severely hampered by too many officers not being as loyal to the king as should be expected. The mighty fortress at Svensksund had been lost, not to Russian guns, but to the wavering morale of the Swedish officers that should – and could – have held it. With it, the major part of the inshore fleet’s gunboats had been turned over to the enemy and then used against the remaining Swedish forces.

There were other examples. Examples of battles lost, or not even fought by officers who did not believe the king’s words of great landing operations and counter-offensives from the north. Officers who silently had accepted that Finland was lost and that this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Because the fact was that Sweden was broke. The war did cost far more than people’s lives – it swallowed big amounts of money – money which the king did not have. Sure, there were British subsidies, but they weren’t nearly enough. Now, the king had decided to blackmail the British for more money. If they wouldn’t increase their payments, the king would deny his virtually only remaining ally trade to the western ports.

They found two rooms at Beckens inn near the northerns town limits. It had to be two rooms because they were not married and af Klint was, after all, a nobleman. Fortunately there was a convenient door between their rooms, enabling them to efficiently keep their privacy up and their clothes off.

“Look here, my dear,” said af Klint, standing behind Anna at the window, his arms around her waist. “This is the very road the king’s sleigh comes past almost every day on its way from the castle to the new palace at Haga.

“Really?” Anna leaned back into him and turned her face towards him. “Does he keep to a schedule? I mean, does everybody know when he passes through?”

Eric af Klint looked into her eyes and lifted an eyebrow.

“You are not thinking up some mischief now, are you, my little spy?”

She smiled at him. “On the contrary, you know I am loyal to the king. But it is always good to know any weakness an enemy might exploit.”

“Indeed.”

Eric took a firmer grip around her waist and pulled her closer to him as their lips met in a kiss.

Chapter 4 – The embassy

”Now, ambassador Merry, sir, would you pray care to tell me why I am here with a complete ship’s crew freezing to death in the ice?” captain Baker frowned at the British ambassador. He was in a bad mood altogether, having traveled all the way from Dalarö on horseback, in a blizzard, almost getting lost in the woods several times.

“I am truly sorry, dear captain,” the ambassador replied calmly. “I know it takes some getting used to this climate during the winter. If one ever does...get used to it that is...” He hesitated for a moment.

“Still, I am glad you are here. Even though it had been better if you had been able to put your ship a little closer.”

Baker started to become impatient. “We tried, sir, indeed we did. But the ice did not let us through at all.”

It had been his first lieutenant, Reeman, who had taken the cutter on a reconnaissance trip from Dalarö only days before. They had pulled mostly, despite the wind being quite co-operative for sailing. But the men were so cold, and Reeman had decided to put them to work physically in order to keep them warm. They had pulled all the way to Älgö and the narrows before Baggensfjärden. There they had been thoroughly stopped by the ice. The narrows were completely blocked for at least half a mile and Reeman had been forced to return to Dalarö as quickly as he could or his cutter might have been frozen in as well.

“I see,” the ambassador continued. “Now, captain, if you would like to take a seat and perhaps a glass of port, I will tell you about the...situation here.

“Very well,” Baker agreed. He placed himself as close to the fire that was roaring in the fireplace, received his wine and looked at Merry questioningly.

“Well,” the ambassador began. “As you know, of course, Britain and Sweden have been allies during this past year’s war. Your ship is proof of it enough, together with the rest of your admiral’s squadron. However, we did not only support the Swedish monarch with ships. In fact, most of the support has been funds, money. 1.2 million of their currency in fact.

Baker widened his eyes.

“Yes. But now, do you see, their king is broke. He cannot really afford to continue the war. He will never be able to relieve Finland, whatever he might say in public. Fact is, dear captain, he might not even be able to keep the Russians out of Sweden proper.”

“Can we give him more money?” Baker asked.

“No. We are offering him the same amount as last year, but not one more penny.”

“Why not? Surely, every ally against Bonaparte should be worth a lot.”

“Well, two reasons. First, our government does not like to be blackmailed. The Swedes are threatening to close their western ports to our trade, do you see?”

“Oh.”

“Second, we are not even sure this king of theirs will last the winter...”

Baker gasped. “What?”

“There are indications of revolution, dear captain.”
”Like in France?”

“No, no nothing of the kind, thank God. It is the nobility and military officers which might throw over this king.”

“I see. But, sir, what is my role in all this. I cannot move my ship to fight until the ice goes away...”

The ambassador lifted his glass and took a slow sip at his port. Then he looked the captain straight into his eyes.

“You are to do nothing at all.”

“But sir...?”

“I will explain it to you in a minute, captain. Do you care for another glass of port?”

Captain Baker left the embassy none the wiser. He still did not know why his ship was here and what he was supposed to do. A frigate with a crew of 200 men isn’t a great show of force and less so if she is frozen immovably in the ice, several miles from the capital where, or so Baker thought, the action was supposed to be. If there was to be any action at all.

The ambassador had pointed out that the British government did have no intentions in openly interfering in case there was a revolution. However, how crazy he might be, the king, Gustavus IV Adolphus, was the legally reigning monarch in Sweden and an ally.

“So are we to give him refuge if there is a revolution? Is that why I am here?” Baker had asked.

“Perhaps, dear captain, perhaps,” the ambassador had answered, and that had been as specific as it had gotten.

Facing the question whether to ride back to his ship at once or stay in the capital for another day, Baker decided to stay. After all, his ship wasn’t going anywhere and it had been an awfully long time he had been to a theater. But first of all he would find himself a good meal and a warm bed.

Chapter 5 – At the theater

The next morning dawned cold and gray, promising more snow to come. Miss Anna and Eric af Klint took their sleigh to Södermalm in order to visit Johan and Charlotte Kuhlin. Kuhlin had been the commander of a squadron of gunboats the previous summer and af Klint had been his gunnery officer. During some dangerous endeavors they had become not only brothers in arms, but friends and when they parted company after the boat’s return to the capital, af Klint had promised to keep in touch.

The Kuhlins lived in a small house on the heights of Södermalm, overlooking the main harbor of Stockholm and the navy yard where the gunboats and galleys of the inshore fleet now were stored and repaired as well as new ones built. To get there, the sleigh had either to take the way through the city center, over a bridge, past the big royal palace and the old town on its own little island, then over another bridge and up the steep slope to Södermalm. Of course, at this time of the year there was another alternative. If they dared, they could take the sleigh right out on the ice and go directly to their destination, not caring about bridges or roads.

Had he been alone, af Klint probably would have done so, and perhaps the same would have applied to Miss Anna, who, after all, was an exceptionally daring young lady. But now, being together, in love, and in no hurry, they took the long way around. This also meant they got a good view at the royal palace and the fluttering activity in the most busy parts of the town. It being winter and bitterly cold did not lessen the activity at all. This was Sweden, and the people living here were used to cold winters and got about their business as usual.

Arriving at last, they got out of the sleigh and permitted the groom to take it to a nearby tavern, there to wait for their return. Eric af Klint knocked on the door and they were admitted by a maid who ushered them into a small parlor. Shortly after, Charlotte Kuhlin entered, a big smile on her face.

“Anna, Eric, oh, it’s so good to see you!” she cried. “I had no idea you were in town.”

“We just arrived yesterday,” af Klint explained. “And may I say you look very well.”

“Don’t flatter me, Eric. I am glad however, that we had the fortune to escape the illness that seems to have affected so many people here. The hospitals are still crowded with the sick and many a poor family has been forced to make room for them in their homes. But let’s not talk about these dreadful things. How are you Anna, you look like the weeks in the country did do you very good indeed.”

Anna blushed. “Oh, yes it was wonderful. So peaceful and quiet...”

“But now we thought we should meet some people after all,” Eric continued. “And perhaps go to the theater.”

“What a marvelous idea,” Charlotte exclaimed. “I haven’t been to a play for months. Perhaps we might all go together?”

“That was what we were hoping for,” Anna said. “But, dear, where is your husband? He is not indisposed I trust?”

“Oh, no. He is at the navy yard, doing something naval, you know.” Charlotte laughed. “He is a commander now, having gotten his promotion at last.”

“Good for him,” af Klint said. “and he might just be rid of those dreadful gunboats now. As a commander they will surely give him a bigger vessel next summer.”

“He very much does hope so,” Charlotte answered. “I guess that’s why he is keeping himself available at the yard so much. Now, I am forgetting myself! Would you not want a cup of coffee?”

Coffee was served by the maid and the conversation turned towards plans for the evening once more. Charlotte produced a printed newspaper in which there were advertisements of the several theaters the capital had to offer. Stockholm wasn’t a big city compared to London, Paris or Berlin, but thanks to the previous king, Gustavus III, there were more cultural establishments than normally would have been expected. Gustavus was known as “the theater king” and had been very fond of all things cultural. He even died after having been shot by an assassin while attending the opera. Of course he also had started the last war against Russia, but that was not really unusual for a Swedish king – rather something that should be expected.

Finally the decision was made to attend a popular English play at the new theater at Makalös, an old palace converted into a theater by Gustavus, of course. Eric af Klint had never been there, but Charlotte had and liked it very much indeed.

“It is a very pretty little theater,” she said. “Quite unrivaled actually”.

“You are so witty, my dear,” a voice suddenly could be heard from the hallway.

“Johan, look who is here!”

With the commander finally at home and all formalities concluded, it was soon time for dinner.

Captain Baker ate his dinner alone at the fashionable inn overlooking the old town and the harbor. The food was quite good, he thought, considering Sweden not being a very rich country and at war as well. But apparently there was no lack of provisions, if you could pay for it. Which he could. Having been a post captain for ten years he had made a small fortune of prize money, which he mostly kept tucked away in the bank. He was unmarried – feeling that he could not lay the hardships required of a wife to a navy captain in active service on any woman he loved. Not that there hadn’t been a few who would have been prepared to endure the loneliness and fear for him never to return, but he was a man of principles – and then again he hadn’t really been sure if it was him or his prize money that had attracted the prey so to speak. Or if it was him who had been the prey.

He pushed the thought away and tried to concentrate on the port and cheese that concluded his meal. Suddenly his eyes caught a poster on the wall. It was for a theater play and although it was in Swedish he did recognize the name of the playwright. It was English.

“Oh, this is beautiful!” Anna gasped. And indeed it was. There was nothing of the glum feeling of war and doom in the theater during that evening. The play was no classic, but it was entertaining and made people laugh and yelp with surprise at the final scene before the intermission.

They had gotten seats on the balcony, providing them not only with a good view of the stage, but also a good peek at the people seated below. The theater was quite full and there was an even mixture of uniforms and civilian clothes. The ladies wore their finest dresses, many of them for the first time in months, just like Anna. In fact, the dress had been chosen by Eric especially for this event. It was fashionable, low cut in front and emphasizing her impressive cleavage. Charlotte wore a little less intriguing gown, but becoming her very well and stating her position as an officer’s wife. Johan Kuhlin and af Klint wore their best uniforms, glittering away in the reflection of the hundreds of candles lining the walls.

Eric af Klint rose. “Shall I get you something to drink? I think we will have at least a quarter of an hour.”

Anna put her hand on his arm. “I think I’d like to take a stroll. Have a peek at people?” She smiled, looking at Charlotte. “What do you think, dear?”

“I would very much like it. Let’s all go,” Charlotte suggested.

Having descended down the stairs to the great hall where waiters scurried around with trays, offering wine and brandy, they stopped and looked around, soaking up the atmosphere and reveling in the beauty and gaiety of the evening. Suddenly, Kuhlin gasped. “I cannot believe this! What on earth is he doing here?”

“Who?” Eric af Klint and Anna asked simultaneously.

“The gentleman over there, he is a British captain. I met him at sea last summer.”

Eric af Klint remembered. “The frigate we met just before we took the Russian brig?”

“The very one. I have to go and talk to him.” Kuhlin took his wife’s arm and started to walk, Anna and Eric following in his wake.

”Captain Baker, sir!” Kuhlin cried.

“Ah, lieutenant, I am sorry to say, I do not recall your name...”

“Kuhlin, sir. And it’s commander now.”

“Ah, right, congratulations.”

“Thank you, sir. May I introduce my wife, Charlotte. And this is lieutenant Eric af Klint, my artillery officer...or so he used to be. And Miss Anna Wetterstrand.”

“I am enchanted, madam, miss. Lieutenant.” Baker’s eyes returned to Anna. “Um, yes, very enchanted indeed.”

Eric af Klint started to say something, but Anna squeezed his arm and smiled at the captain. “So what are you doing here in the middle of the winter? You are not trapped in the ice with your ship, are you?”

The captain looked at her questioningly. Then he returned her smile. “But yes, exactly so, miss. My ship is in the ice, at Dalarö and cannot move at all. I am positively trapped here.”

“Oh.” Anna’s eyes widened. “Won’t your men all freeze to death?”

“Not at all, miss, not at all. There is a fire in the galley do you see and we have pots of glowing coal. No there is a much higher risk of the ship catching fire than the men freezing to death, I think.”

“You are almost being funny, captain.” Anna winked at him.

“Sir,” Kuhlin interrupted. “If you do not have to return to your ship immediately I would be honored if you would join us for dinner some time?”

Baker considered this. “I might stay here a few more days. And would be glad to accept your invitation, commander.”

The bell rung then, calling them back to their seats.

Chapter 6 – Plans and Plots

The two men were already halfway through their dinner when the third one finally arrived. They sat at a window table in the dining room of Beckens inn, the very same where Miss Anna and Eric af Klint had taken their lodgings the day before. Both men had the stiff appearances of officers, although they wore civilian clothes on this occasion. They were young, in their twenties, and had not yet climbed very high in rank. The first, whose name was Dillquist, was an army ensign and had arrived recently from the front on Åland, carrying despatches. His friend was a sub-lieutenant with the Royal guards regiment and his name was Winther.

Both men were nervous. When the third man arrived, they waved him towards their table and looked at him apprehensively. He was older than they were and looked a trifle shabby in his old thick woolen coat and tricorne hat. He called himself Gray, but they were certain this wasn’t his real name. He probably just got inspired by his coat. Now he took off his hat and sat down at their table.

“Do I get something to drink here, pray?” He said.

Dillquist smiled warily. “Of course.” He beckoned the waiter who came with another mug of beer. Gray took a sip and sighed. “Well, I don’t think he’ll do it.”

“Why?” Winther asked.

“He thinks it’s too dangerous.”

“But it isn’t dangerous at all! We have been watching the road for weeks, and there are almost never more than two or three servants and the groom. No escort, nothing.”

“It’s not that,” Gray replied. “I agree, capturing him would be easy and so does he. The concern is what’s to happen afterwards.”

“Most of the troops will do nothing.” Dillquist was certain.

“Perhaps. But there needs to be someone in charge. A council of men or one important man. Someone.”

“And why can’t he be this man?” Winther frowned.

“He thinks he isn’t high ranking enough. There needs to be order, do you see. And order cannot be kept by a council of low ranking officers, lieutenants or even captains.”

“But he isn’t low ranking.”

“No. But he isn’t famous or trusted enough. We need someone who has the support of most of the troops and the people. Someone like general Döbeln.”

Winther gasped. “But Döbeln is loyal.”

“Yes, unfortunately he is.”

They were silent for a moment. Then Dillquist leaned forward and almost whispered. “What if we do it by ourselves. Today?”

Gray looked at him seriously. “Then you will get yourselves hanged. And start a civil war in the process.”

“Ah, captain Baker, good day to you, sir,” ambassador Merry said. “So good of you to come so quickly.”

“Of course, sir”. Baker replied awkwardly. He wasn’t quite sure if the ambassador had objections to him still being in the city. Perhaps he should have gone back to his ship directly. But how was he supposed to gather information if he had to stay on his frigate, miles away from the capital?

The ambassador opened his desk and produced a written note. He read it through, like it was the first time he saw it. Which couldn’t be true. He is groping for time, Baker thought.

Finally the ambassador coughed. “Well, captain, I am glad you are still here.”

Baker relaxed as Merry continued. “Yes. Now I do not need to send a messenger out to that wilderness where your ship is.”

“Bad news, sir?” Baker started to become impatient.

“Indeed. Well. The Swedish king has decided to seize all English ships in harbors on his west coast.”

Baker gasped. “But...?”

“There still being no ice yet, do you see. Unlike here, where you have been seized by the forces of nature, so to speak.” He made a chuckling sound.

“But why?”

“As to be used in negotiation, of course. He wants more subsidies.”

“Ah yes, you mentioned something of the sort.” Baker remembered his last visit at the embassy. There had been talk of closing the ports. But seizing British ships?

“But isn’t that an act of war? Seizing our ships?”

The ambassador looked at him gravely. “Technically yes.”

“And what are we going to do about it?”

The ambassador frowned. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?” Baker started to get angry. “But those are British ships!”

“Yes, yes. But they will not sail until spring anyway. And by then...”

Baker widened his eyes.

“By then there will be another king?”

Merry smiled. “I do believe so.”

“What do you want me to do, sir?”

The sleigh was gliding effortlessly over the brownish white surface of the road. Snow, days old and packed by sleighs, carriages, feet and hooves, turned into sleet and then into ice by the cold of the next night, made for a good ride. Anna cuddled closely to af Klint under the warm furs. His right arm was around her waist, hugging her close into the warmth of his body. Only their faces were peering out of the furs into the dark of the evening. They had dropped off the Kuhlins at their home and were now on their way towards their lodgings.

Eric af Klint turned his face towards hers and looked into her glittering eyes. She smiled at him in return. “Thank you for taking me here, darling,” she whispered, her mouth close to his.

Eric kissed her softly, savoring the warm moistness of her lips. Anna moaned and opened her mouth to him and the kiss grew deeper, hotter, their mouths melting together. Anna’s arms slid around him, dragging him down under the furs.

Suddenly the sleigh lurched violently. Anna gasped as their heads shot up out of the furs. Another sleigh had appeared out of the dark, almost colliding with theirs as it tore past and disappeared ahead.

“What was that?” Anna growled.

Eric looked at her face and started to laugh. “That, my dearest, was the king.”

Anna’s jaw dropped. “The king?”

“I believe so. He usually takes this route on his way to the palace at Haga where he lives.”

“But doesn’t he have an escort?”

“No, I don’t think he ever has. Perhaps he thinks his sleigh is so fast, nobody could catch him.”

“That’s not funny Eric!” Anna’s eyes were still wide in astonishment. “You know there are people who would want him dead.”

“I know, darling.”

“So shouldn’t he have some protection?”

“Probably yes. But it is his decision. He is the king.”

Anna frowned.

The two young officers were still sitting at their table when the king’s sleigh sped past outside the window.

“There he is,” Dillquist said, his voice low.

“Only he and the groom,” Winther added.

Simultaneously they took another sip at their beers. A short while later, Anna and af Klint entered through the front door and strolled past them towards the stairs to their rooms on the first floor.

Chapter 7 – Suspicions

Captain Baker was freezing. About an hour after he started his journey back to Dalarö and his ship it had started to snow. Thick white snowflakes danced everywhere around him. In fact, everything was white, it felt like he sailed in dense fog. And it was so quiet. Aboard ship, there were always noises, even in a calm. And there were always people. But here was only cold white nothingness. Except for him and the horse he was riding. And some peculiar horse it was. Some Nordic breed, well accustomed to the cold weather it was small, not much bigger as a pony. Trotting along well enough, it sometimes started to pace in a most uncommon way, making him almost seasick before he got the animal to walk decently again.

He smiled for himself at the thought of a Royal Navy captain being seasick on horseback. Then he became serious again, wondering how long he could go on like this. Could he even be sure he was on the right road? He couldn’t see much more than fifty yards ahead in this snow and there might be any number of junctions he could have missed. Finally he saw a small cottage next to the road. Baker halted his horse and jumped into the snow and walked up to the door. He knocked.

The door was opened by a young woman in a simple dress. She did not have any English and very little French, but she admitted him into the kitchen and beckoned him to sit at the fire.

“Thank you very much,” Baker tried. But the girl only gave him a shy smile and disappeared through another door.

“Ah, now what business does an officer have out in this weather?” An older man entered through the same door the girl had vanished. He held out his hand. “And a foreign one as well.”

“Ah, yes, captain Baker of the British navy.” Baker shook the man’s hand.

“Are you a sailor yourself?”

The man nodded. “I used to be. But I am too old now. A bosun I was, on the Camilla.”

“That’s a frigate, isn’t it?”

“Aye. And one of our best. Almost got to battle your ships in 1801 we did.”

Baker smiled warily. “I heard about that. Off your west coast. Well we weren’t allies then.”

“Aye. Now, do you care for something hot to drink, sir?”

“Yes, thank you very much. I have to admit I am frozen quite solid.”

The old man laughed. “My daughter will make us some soup.”

“Eric?” Anna lifted her face and looked at the man next to her in the bed. The small room was warm, with a fire blazing in the iron stove and they were naked. “Did you notice the two men sitting at the window table when we came in?”

“Hmm.” Eric looked at her, raising an eyebrow. “What about them?”

“They were here yesterday as well.”

“So?”

”And I think I have seen one of them before. The younger one? He wore a uniform then, just before we left Åland last autumn.”

Eric considered this. “So he is on leave, perhaps?”

Anna frowned. “The army isn’t on leave. They aren’t hindered by the ice like your boats.”

“Yes, but he might be here temporarily, perhaps carrying despatches.”

“Then he should be wearing his uniform, should he not? And he shouldn’t sit here and watch the king’s sleigh pass every night.”

Eric smiled. He put his right arm around her and his hand started to trace the delicate lines of her body, from the neck downwards. He stopped in the small of her back.

“You know what I think?” He said softly.

Anna raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“I think, my little spy is coming awake again.”

Anna frowned at him and opened her mouth to speak, but he gave her no chance. He slid his other arm under her waist and, tightening his grip, lifted her on top of him. Anna yelped in surprise as she felt him ready and eager between her thighs. Propped up on her arms on either side of his body she looked into his eyes and the raw passion she saw there made her almost blush.

She lowered her face and kissed him then, tasting his desire for her. Her breasts were just touching his chest and the sensation made her shiver. Pulling away from his mouth at last, she pushed her body lower towards him. His hands were on her buttocks now, guiding her onto him as he entered her slowly. Anna moaned and pressed herself against his body as hard as she could, letting him fill her completely.

Captain Baker stayed at the cottage over night, sleeping on a narrow bench in the kitchen. But it was warm and his belly was full. It had been interesting to chat with the old bosun as well. Baker learned a few things about the Swedish frigates and how they were handled. He was astonished that their hulls still were not copper coated against the ship worm and marine growth. But the bosun had told him that the water in the Baltic did not hold the worm due to its low salinity.

“Still, there must be other growth that slows the ships down?”

“Aye, ‘tis true. But I reckon it’s a question of money in the end.”

To that, the captain could say nothing. It was the same in his navy after all. Even if the copper coating was standard now, there still were lots of other things to save money on. Like paint, or powder and shot.

While they had been talking, the daughter had been sitting quietly, repairing a piece of clothing. She was a pretty enough girl, Baker had thought and something must have shown in his eyes, because the bosun had told him that she was married then.

“Married to a soldier, she is. But if he is still alive, we do not know...”

The next morning the snowing had stopped and Baker was able to resume his journey. It was still cold, almost colder still than the day before, but at least the sun was shining and the landscape was all aglitter with reflections from the snow. Baker literally had to squint in order not to be blinded.

However, the road lay clear ahead and he made it to Dalarö by lunchtime. Leaving his horse at the small tavern in the village, he walked towards the docks and saw his ship once again. The ice was thick around the frigate now, in fact thick enough for it to bear both man and horse. There were other ships in the anchorage, frozen in as well. Most of them were merchant ships, brigs and flat bottomed things with a cutter rig, designed to carry a huge deck cargo of wood.

Baker shuffled carefully towards his ship. This felt wrong, you weren’t supposed to walk on your own feet towards a frigate at anchor. But walk he did and when he was a few yards away, a marine sentry challenged him formally, even though he could clearly see who he was.

Continue reading this ebook at Smashwords.
Download this book for your ebook reader.
(Pages 1-30 show above.)