Читать книгу But For A Penis… - Welby Thomas Cox Jr. - Страница 15

The fog enveloped the distance...objects beyond its shapeless protection remained suspended in the magic of Bordeaux, veiled as in animation. Soon from the east a ray would slice the grey opalescence...and in time the truth would shine as brightly as the morning sun on this June day of 1137.

He was there after moving deliberately but with caution, at the foot of the tower, and there he stood, like David...wondering, measuring before engagement. From his pocket he withdrew a cold, round, smooth grey stone. He looked at the top of the tower and thought it impossible to hit the hole where he knew the stone must go. But this was a mission fringed in magic, and like David...there would be no second chance if he missed his target.

His aim was flawless, his strength propelling and the stone sailed high and through the hole. Only time would tell...now, as he waited with emotion crowding his throat like the rain which was due last Thursday, and he knew it would come in a gush... and, then his fingers stroked another round stone. Surely he thought, I will miss if I must try another? His thoughts went to why he must experience this bitter task. Then without warning a door creaked near him and a shadow motioned the young man to make haste as a voice bade him well but with eyes only!

The girl at the door placed her hand over his mouth and whispered,

"Speak softly, there are ears in these walls!" She closed the heavy door and prayed it would not squeak and amplify the stillness of the night. Mercifully, it swung silently on the hinges but she failed to replace the weighty metal cross-bar, there for her security.

Certainly, the ears in these walls went back to the far distant time and this part of the original castle. A time when the Roman occupation of Acquitaine had formed the primary approach to the lookout turret at the top of the tower; for the past two hundred seventy-five years to around 850, the steps had been used only by those on a secret errand...but delivery to those restrained here, in this dreaded place, must first endure the eighty-four steps carried on the tapered limbs of lovers and assassins alike. By steadfast men on dangerous but hollowed missions...by dedicated men carrying coded documents from popes, kings and captains of armies and to Dukes of Acquitaine or the lady who now pushed the young man toward the final step around the last curve, and the chance to catch a breath of anything but the stale void of its impenetrable antiquity tinged with the memory of good men and honest women, wronged by tyrants and fools. (Not unlike federal judges, today)

At the top of the winding staircase where each footfall fell into the hollow carved into the stone by boots hastening them to certain death if caught...it ended at the doorway, always locked and hidden by drapes within arms reach of a bed near the Duke's chamber. Tonight, on this occasion, the door was ajar and as young Richard de Vaux he could see a sharp streak of light from afar. Soon, he was in the room from whence the light came and there was a sweetness as he took in a mighty breath as though he had been too long beneath the sea and his lungs screamed in unison at the relief for the God given fresh air. He waited at the door, as any gentleman and Eleanor moved graciously through the door. Richard stepped into the room and left the door partially opened.

"You must leave quickly," she implored, "So please leave the door open...that we might hear anyone approaching from that door across the way." She nodded toward a closed door across the room. "If you hear a sound, make haste Richard...do not wait an invitation to your death, certain to come after an acknowledgement of the secret I hold for your ears tonight...your life will be less than dust into which it will turn."

"What is this of which you speak? And what is it which caused you to beckon me in such haste. Eleanor, why did you call for me in such a clandestine manner? I have longed to see you...but time has clouded the distance between us." He took her hand and touched it gently to his lips. He wanted more of that which he had dreamed might be possible had time not interfered but now instead of sweet nothings, she spoke of danger. "Please Eleanor!" He asked sternly.