The Blackthorn Key

The Blackthorn Key book cover

***The Blackthorn Key*** is a historical/paranormal fiction written by Kevin Sands. It was published on 2015 by Simon and Schuster. It is the first novel in the *Blackthorn Key* series, followed by *Mark of the Plague*, then *The Assassin's Curse*, then *Call of the Wraith*.

Set in the mid-17th century, the book follows a boy named Christopher Rowe and his best friend Tom as they work to solve a series of murders, the latest of which concerning his late master, Benedict Blackthorn. Using his skills as an apothecary-in-training, Christopher dives deeper into the conspiracy, struggling to uncover the mystery surrounding a dangerous new cult searching for a mysterious substance with a terrible power.

## Blurb

### Blurb 1

"Tell no one what I've given you." Until he got that cryptic warning, Christopher Rowe was happy, learning how to solve complex codes and puzzles and creating powerful medicines, potions, and weapons as an apprentice to Master Benedict Blackthorn—with maybe an explosion or two along the way. But when a mysterious cult begins to prey on London’s apothecaries, the trail of murders grows closer and closer to Blackthorn’s shop. With time running out, Christopher must use every skill he’s learned to discover the key to a terrible secret with the power to tear the world apart.

### From Author's Website

Following a series of murders, an apothecary’s apprentice must solve puzzles and decipher codes in pursuit of a secret that could destroy the world in this suspenseful debut novel.

Christopher Rowe, apprentice to Master Apothecary Benedict Blackthorn, is learning all his master’s secrets—like how to decipher complex codes and puzzles, and how to transform simple ingredients into powerful medicines, potions, and weapons.

Christopher’s beloved master guides him with a firm, steady hand—a confidence even more vital as Christopher learns of a mysterious cult preying on London’s apothecaries. The murders grow closer and closer to Blackthorn’s shop…until Christopher is torn from his home with only a cryptic message and a warning from his master: “Tell no one what I’ve given you.”

Aided by his best friend, Tom, Christopher must race to decipher his master’s message—and follow a trail of deceit toward an unearthly secret with the power to tear the world apart.

## Plot

Christopher is an apprentice to an apothecary, Benedict Blackthorn. Ever since he was rescued from the Cripplegate Orphanage, he has been learning how to use ingredients to create remedies, cures, and poisons. He knows how to mix up Venice Treacle, a snake bite antidote, from sixty-four different ingredients. He can mix gunpowder from saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal. He can prepare a solution with madapple seeds that can kill a grown man in minutes.

Recently, murders have been taking place in London, leaving victims butchered, slit at the stomach, and left to bleed out. Three of the five murders were apothecaries. When Christopher's master becomes another victim of the plot, Christopher is determined to find the killers.

### Ascension Day (May 28th, 1665)

In the apothecary shop, Christopher finds a coded recipe from his master's papers. He shows it to Tom, who immediately argues against making the recipe, which turns out to be gunpowder. Christopher, who deciphered the recipe, mixes it up and prepares to shoot it at the cauldron using a pipe, ball of lead, and cannon fuse. Unfortunately, the makeshift cannon hits Christopher between the legs and shoots the lead into a stuffed bear.

#### Nathaniel Stubb

At that moment, Master Benedict Blackthorn and his old apprentice and friend, Hugh Coggshall, enter the shop. After quietly asking Tom to leave, he delivers a small lecture to Christopher, then retreats into the workshop at the back of the shop. Nathaniel Stubb, a cruel apothecary competitor, enters the shop, and asks to see Master Benedict. Christopher hesitates, and Stubb smacks him with his cane. Christopher is sent out of the room while the three master apothecaries talk, but catches the end of the conversation- they are talking about the murders, and Stubb appears to be threatening Blackthorn and Coggshall. Stubb leaves, and after a brief warning Coggshall gives Blackthorn to ''watch out for that apprentice'', he leaves too. After consoling Christopher, Blackthorn tells him that he can't eat dinner with him, and leaves the shop. Used to this, Christopher eats dinner, finishes his duties, then goes to sleep.

#### Injured Master Benedict

In the middle of the night, Christopher wakes up to the sound of the door being opened. He prepares to fight, but quickly sees that it is his master, injured, shuffling through the room. Christopher helps Master Benedict to bed and treats his wound, which is a burned shoulder. Christopher asks how he got hurt, to which Master Benedict says nothing. Master Benedict tells him he has done well in treating him and gives Christopher an early birthday present, a beautiful puzzle cube made of antimony. Blackthorn tells him that another present is inside, if he can solve the puzzle.

### Oak Apple Day (May 29th, 1665)

Being Christopher's fourteenth birthday, Tom comes over and gives him an apple pie. He and Christopher work on the puzzle cube together, and Tom gives him the idea of a liquid key. Christopher figures out that Mercury (also known as quicksilver) was needed to pour into the cube's markings to open it. When he does, he finds the present inside- a silver shilling, which is more than he has ever had in his life. He and Tom spend it on sweets and ice-cream, saving a few pennies to buy rotten eggs, to throw at people who weren't wearing the oak (a pin which all people wore on Oak Apple Day to celebrate the king's birthday).

#### Meeting Sally Deschamps

Christopher and Tom meet Sally Deschamps, a girl whom Christopher fed soup to once when she was sick in the orphanage. Christopher gives Sally his last penny, reasoning that she needed it more than he did. Sally knocks off the oak pin on Stubb, who was standing nearby, shouting, "He's not wearing the oak!", giving Christopher, Tom, and some other nearby boys the chance to throw rotten eggs at Stubb.

#### The Madman and the Body

Christopher and Tom flee to the town square to get away from the angry Stubb, when a madman grabs Christopher.

> "*Do you know? Do you see? The Cult of the Archangel hunts. Who is its prey?*"
> *-*the madman, to Christopher
>
>

They get away from the madman and prepare to leave, but are drawn to another commotion on the other side of the square. Lord Ashcombe, the fierce general and King's Warden, is inspecting a mound of dirt below a statue of an angel. Then, they see what he sees- an arm, blackened and burned, torn from its body.

#### Sawdust

Christopher and Tom burst into Blackthorn Apothecary when they see Master Benedict trying to clean up a broken pot of boar's blood, struggling because of his bandaged arm. Christopher helps him, taking sawdust from the back. Master Benedict watches him, entranced, soaking up the boar's blood with the sawdust. He suddenly jumps up, says "Well done, boy!" and hurries out of the shop. To this, Tom shakes his head, saying, "Madmen everywhere today."

### The Feast of the Burning of Joan of Arc, Heretic (May 30th, 1665)

#### Master Benedict Hits Christopher

As Master Benedict hadn't returned from his sudden departure the day before, Christopher readied the shop for customers as usual the next day. In the middle of handling the horde of shoppers, Master Benedict enters the shop, and smiles at Christopher. In the presence of customer Lady Brent, Master Benedict suddenly starts shouting at Christopher, yelling that he told Christopher to collect money from a customer (which he certainly didn't). When Christopher objects to this claim, Master Benedict hits him on the jaw. He tells Christopher to get out of the shop and buy some natron.

#### Christopher Finds Master Benedict

Christopher is shocked and confused. On his way out, he sees a tall man and a long-haired boy throwing dice outside the shop. He goes to buy natron, but it is completely sold out everywhere. Defeated, he returns to Blackthorn Apothecary and finds it empty, with the door locked and the shutters closed. On the ground, there are madapple seeds scattered on the ground. Christopher sees blood all over the floor, and finds Master Benedict's body, with his stomach cut open.

> "*They'd left him slumped against the front of the counter, his wrists and ankles bound with rope. His shirt was ripped apart. His stomach, too. His eyes were open, and he stared back at me, but he couldn't see me, and he wouldn't, never, ever again.*"
> -Christopher Rowe, about Master Benedict
>
>

#### The Ledger and Lord Ashcombe

The shop slowly fills with curious customers, and Lord Ashcombe arrives with his King's Men. Everyone is ushered out, and Lord Ashcombe questions Christopher on what he knows about the murder. He asks Christopher if he and his master was Christian or Catholic, and Christopher firmly tells him that they were devout Christians, absolutely loyal to the king. Lord Ashcombe asks Christopher if Master Benedict ever told him about the Cult of the Archangel, to which Christopher says no.

Christopher tells him what he remembered that day that might be suspicious- a big, redheaded sixteen year-old apprentice standing outside the shop, with a tall, thirty year-old man who looked wealthy, wearing a big black wig. He realises something was missing; the ledger, where they recorded all their notes on customers, sales, and everything. He finds it on top of the lemon juice jar, and Lord Ashcombe asks him if anything was wrong. Christopher lies, and says everything is normal, when he in fact sees a code written on the front page, along with the Latin words "*nemini dixeris*", or "tell no one".

#### The Apothecaries' Guild

A disturbance at the door gives Christopher the chance to rip the page out and slip it under his shirt. The Apothecaries' Guild Council- Sir Edward Thorpe, Valentine Grey and Oswyn Colthurst- enters the shop. Lord Ashcombe looks angrily at Oswyn, as the latter is a Puritan.

> "*When our king returned [from exile], Lord Ashcombe had spearheaded the Puritans from the ranks of power. Those who were proven traitors (and those who weren't) were executed. The way he glared at Oswyn now made me think the King's Warden wanted to add another head to the pikes on London Bridge.*"
> -Christopher Rowe, about Lord Ashcombe's hatred towards Puritans
>
>

The Guild asks Lord Ashcombe for help, and he replies coolly that that is the reason he is here. Stubb enters the shop, and claims that the Blackthorn Apothecary belongs to him. He says that since Benedict Blackthorn 'stole his recipes', he was entitled to compensation. The Guild dismisses this, but agrees to check the records, to see who Blackthorn's next owner should be.
Christopher goes behind the counter to collect his puzzle cube, but Stubb sees and the Guild confiscates the cube, as no apprentices are allowed possessions. Stubb contemplates whether to search Christopher for any more items belonging to the shop, and for a moment, Christopher is worried because he did steal something- the page from the ledger. However, the Guild are disgusted and says that it is not necessary.

> "*Oh, do shut up, Nathaniel.*"
> -Oswyn Colthurst, to Nathaniel Stubb
>
>

Christopher is told to leave the house, as he is no longer allowed to reside there since his master is dead.

#### Christopher at Tom's House

Since he has nowhere to stay, he goes to Tom's house. At the door, Tom's father, William Bailey, refuses to let him in.

> "*I have enough mouths to feed. Can he pay for his lodgings? Will he work?"*
> -William Bailey, about Christopher Rowe.
>
>

Luckily, Tom's mother and his five sisters are able to convince him to let Christopher stay. Mrs Bailey brings him upstairs and he has a wash. When he is done, Mrs Bailey gives him some old clothes of Tom's. Tom offers too help with whatever 'scheme' Christopher is thinking up, and Christopher shows him the ledger paper.

#### The Ledger Paper

```
esidarapfosetagehtsnoilehtwolebht4shguh ←

```

He reverses the letters to reveal the letters.

```
hugh's4thbelowthelionsthegatesofparadise

```

Tom wonders what that could mean, and asks whether Hugh could've killed him. Christopher is dubious of this thought, then shows Tom the rest of the paper. The code 'M08' that he used to find the gunpowder recipe is also written on the page. Christopher then tells Tom to smell the paper- it smells of lemon juice. Christopher says that lemon juice was on top of the ledger, where Master Benedict could have written the code before being killed by the mystery murderer. He reveals the code by hovering the paper above a hot coal, the heated lemon juice revealing the words:

```
M08 05142020222207201601080420210115 end.swords

```

Christopher attempts to solve the code using the usual cipher, M=08, N=09, etc., but it doesn't work.

> *"I stared at it. 'I... I don't know.'*
>
>
> *Tom scratched his head. 'Is it Latin?'*
>
>
> *'It can't be,' I said. 'There's no letter J in Latin. No U, either.'"*
>
>
>
> -Christopher Rowe and Tom Bailey struggling to solve the code
>
>

#### Going to Hugh's House

Christopher wonders about the indecipherable message. He figures that since they couldn't solve the code, maybe Hugh could. Although his master told him 'tell no one', he decided to go to Hugh for help.

Christopher and Tom go to Hugh's house, but he is not at home. They see Dr Lange, Hugh's best friend and employer, there. Dr Lange tells them that Hugh was not there for Oak Apple Day, and seems oblivious to Master Benedict's murder.

> *"If he's gone to see his wife without informing me, I'll plant my boot in his backside. And when you see him, tell him that."*
> -Dr Lange about Hugh's absence
>
>

#### Meeting Dr Parrett

Tom and Christopher go back to the street of the Baileys' house, but instead of going in, Mrs Bailey hands them a sack of bread. Christopher follows Tom into the back alley where they meet Dr Parrett. Dr Parrett is wearing ripped, dirty once-fine clothing, and a wig resembling a 'bird's nest'. Tom gives Dr Parrett the bread. He gives Christopher his condolences, saying that if Christopher ever wanted to visit, he was welcome to. He adds that James, his twelve year-old son, would be happy to meet him. Christopher is unsettled, as Dr Parrett's entire family, including James, had died in a fire a year ago

Tom and Christopher go back to the house, where they have dinner. After the supper, Christopher and Tom wash the dishes, as the five Bailey sisters try their hardest to make their job difficult. Christopher reads them all the story of 'King Arthur and the Giant of Mont Saint-Michel'. Cecily, the oldest sister, remarks on how things would be different if King Arthur was more than just a story. Tom notes the look in Christopher's eyes,

correctly guessing that Christopher was going to 'get him into something'.

> "*The Cult of the Archangel took my master. The Apothecaries' Guild Council took my home. I had only one thing left of my life: my puzzle cube. And I'd burn in the pits of hell before I'd let anyone take that, too."*
> -Christopher Rowe
>
>

#### Stubb in Blackthorn Apothecary

Later that night, Christopher and Tom sneak into the Blackthorn Apothecary using a key hidden along a door frame, which is marked with the symbol of Mars.

Before they can enter the house, a pigeon (one of the Blackthorn birds) names Bridget flies down to Christopher, who is overjoyed to see her.

When they enter the house, they see immediately that it has been ransacked.

> *"Pots and cookware were scattered across the benches. Books, flipped open, had been tossed aside like garbage. The ceramic jars were overturned. leaving rainbow powder starbursts on the floorboards. Even the ice vault was open, the precious chips of ice left exposed to melt."*
>
>

There is even more mess in the shop. Christopher finds his Master Benedict's sash, and puts it on. He also finds his puzzle cube, and sees Bridget eating some sugar. Then, he notices that the things that were overturned yet left behind were valuable, and that only dry ingredients were messed around with. He realises that it wasn't thieves who ransacked the shop, but people who were searching for something.

Then, Wat enters the shop. After him comes Stubb, who is indignant at all the precious apothecary supplies wasted. He asks Wat what happened, who reveals that Master Benedict killed himself with poison. He again asks why Wat didn't question the apprentice, Christopher. Wat says that Master Benedict clearly hated Christopher, since he saw Benedict hit Christopher, but Stubb tells him to interrogate and kill Christopher anyways. They search through the shop's books.

Christopher, realising that he and Tom might be discovered eavesdropping, mixes gunpowder from the ingredients in the sash and throws it in the fire. He and Tom run outside while Stubb and Wat are distracted by the sudden explosion of fire.

### The Visitation of Mary (May 31th, 1665)

#### Christopher Visits the Apothecaries' Hall

Christopher can't sleep that night, worrying about Wat coming to kill him. He knows that he can't tell anyone about Stubb being the killer, because nobody would believe him or Tom.

The next morning, he goes to the Master Edward Thorpe's house and requests to be let in. The girl at the door doesn't let him in, so he goes to the Apothecaries' Hall. The apprentice at first doesn't let him in, but opens the door when Christopher mentions that he has information about Master Benedict's murder.

Christopher falls asleep whilst waiting, and is woken up by Oswyn. He tells him that Thorpe wasn't at the Hall; he'd already gone to the church services. Christopher says that he knows who the murderer is. Upon hearing that it was Stubb, Oswyn is shocked and drags Christopher out of the hall.

> '*"Everyone knows who killed him," Oswyn said. "The Cult of the Archangel."*
>
>
> *"Yes, Master, but I meant, I know* who *it was."*
>
>
> *He stopped, surprised. "Go on."*
>
>
> *"It was Nathaniel Stubb."*
>
>
>
> *Oswyn's jaw dropped. Then, he grabbed my ear, twisted it, and opened the door to the clerk's office with my head.*'
>
>

#### Christopher Talks to Oswyn

Oswyn brings Christopher into an empty office and berates him for speaking ill of Stubb in plain sight. Christopher explains what happened the night before, and describes Wat to him. Oswyn is doubtful, telling him that the two apprentices Stubb had- Edgar Raleigh and Adam Horswath- didn't match Wat's description. Furthermore, he says that Stubb's only possible motivation was money, and that he surely wasn't brave enough to kill Master Benedict.

Lecturing Christopher, Oswyn tells him that what the Cult of the Archangel wanted was the power of God Himself; the killings weren't sacrifices, but interrogations. He asks him whether anyone else could 'verify his story', but Christopher lies and says no. Oswyn promises to go tell the Grand Master, as long as Christopher stayed in the office. His reasoning is that Stubb may come to the Hall to look for Christopher. The latter promises him, and Oswyn leaves.

#### Breaking Into Hugh's House

Christopher promptly breaks his promise and leaves, figuring the streets were safer than the Hall. He goes to find Tom, and Mistress Bailey berates him for not going to church.

> *'I don't know what your master got up to, Christopher, but if you're staying in this house, you're going to church like a proper Christian.'*
> -Mistress Bailey
>
>

Christopher apologises and takes Tom to get 'a second helping of the Lord's wisdom'. Actually, the pair go to Hugh's house to find 'Hugh's fourth'. Tom is reluctant, as there could be Hugh's dead body in there.
Christopher finds the same mark of Mars on the brick with a hidden key as Blackthorn's, and they enter the house. It is clear that nobody has been there for a couple days, and Christopher searches through Hugh's papers. After taking off his sash, Tom goes through the things and comes across castor oil, which he avoids because it 'gives me the trots'. When he finds the oil of vitriol, Christopher warns him not to touch.

> "*Don't touch it! That's not something you eat. Oil of vitriol dissolves iron. It also dissolves people. If you get it on you, it'll melt your flesh."*
> -Christopher to Tom
>
>

Bridget is sitting on Hugh's windowsill, and Christopher opens to let her in. When he does so, he realises that he is on Hugh's fourth floor, and that statues of lions are directly in line of sight from the window, in a walled-up private garden outside.

#### Finding Mortimer House

The pair are briefly lost on the way to finding the lion statues, but Bridget leads them there. Christopher and Tom enter through the gates, and see a plaque with the name 'Gwynedd Mortimer'- the surname of which Tom identifies as Lord Henry Mortimer, the third man killed by the Cult. They go to the mausoleum, and find Saint Peter next to the stone lions- *below the lions, the gates of paradise.* Entering the mausoleum, they see the words 'DOMINUS ILLUMINATIO MEA' inscribed into the side of a sarcophagus, 'The Lord is my light'. Further in, there is a statue of an angel with its sword tip pointed downwards. Christophe follows the direction of the sword tip and finds the same Mars symbol. Pushing it in, the sarcophagus moves, revealing a space below.

#### The Dragon Mural

Pushing the sarcophagus back further, they enter the space, which turns out to be a crypt with a long tunnel ahead. At the end, they see a mural with an angel stabbing a dragon, and two more dragons below, with a long snake ringing the painting. All dragons seem to be swallowing a black ball. Tom thinks it's the lair of the Cult of the Archangel, while Christopher reasons that Master Benedict wouldn't have sent them down here without warning.

> *"Tom stabbed a finger at the mural. 'Cult.' Then he pointed to the figure at the top. 'Archangel.' He shook me. 'Now put them together. How hard is that?'"*
> -Tom expresses his doubts
>
>