73.
“Wake up, sleepyhead.” The
lady snuggled up to the man in the bedding. “The sun rises above the ……”
“Risen, I am.” The man
rolled over the lady and laid the kiss on her.
“Stop it, Maurice. We are to
get up and get ready to leave for the wharf. The ship leaves at noon.” Nerissa
pushed the man off her. “And get a bath. You cannot walk around with the
flagpole. That will……”
“Attract the ladies to my
cause.” Maurice roared out. He then sang the tune that was his favourite.
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start.
When tomorrow comes!
(Taken from https://genius.com/Les-miserables-do-you-hear-the-people-sing-lyrics.)
“Oh, please. Hurry up … or
down. Portia is in Spain waiting for us.” Nerissa left the chamber to check the
baggage that she had packed. She had stayed back to clear the issue with the
estate, and amid it, she met Maurice on the street, hurt and broken.
“I was removed from the
authorities.” Maurice told her. “The magistrate deemed me unfit to do my
duties. So was he. I was told that he retired to France, where he has his home.
I think we will not hear the last of the name Javier there.”
Nerissa had him taken to the
house and nursed him back. Then it was to take him to the new life in Spain,
then after clearing all that was needed there. She heard that Jean Valjean, as
was his full name, had settled in Spain with his new business as a trader in
partnership with Portia Belmont.
And Portia Belmont was
getting engaged when Nerissa arrived.
“Nerissa, it will be a
double wedding.” Portia wrote to Nerissa. “Yours and mine. What lucky men they
all are. We met this young couple from Genoa. They are the Tov’s. We will
introduce you to them when you arrive.”
“I heard Enrico Moet is
engaged to a lady named Rosaline Alger. My regard to him for me. And thank him
for managing the matters on the estate.”
Nerissa had smiled at that.
It was love for them all. She called out to Maurice to hurry up. The man
appeared at the doorway dressed and smiling.
“You told me not to be many
times. You were not ready then.” Maurice replied. “Anyway, I came.”
The ride to the wharf was
short, but the waiting there took some time. Nerissa looked outside and saw the
porters there arguing with a couple over the fees for their baggage. She had
seen them before; they were the Judas’s family and were then leaving on the
same ship as Nerissa.
“Nerissa, I presume.” The
voice was to the left of the lady. She turned around and smiled.
“Good day, my lady. I did
not know you were travelling today.”
“I am from Spain a long time
ago. I must meet my relative there.” Lady Sofia told her. The lady was dressed
in the dark gown and held an umbrella in her right hand. Nerissa heard that the
lady was still in mourning for the death of her son. “Are you on the same
ship?”
“Yes, I am. How is Lord
Gencio Capulet?” Nerissa asked.
“He is fine. He is……. Away.
I was told to do trading somewhere east. He is always busy.” Lady Sofia smiled.
“Thank you for asking.”
Then, at the deep valley
inside Transylvania, far from the border of Hungary, Lord Dante Montague leaned
back on the wall there. His hands were bound by the ropes, and he looked to the
other, who was seated nearby. They are in some wooden hut, but he could not
make out the exterior.
It was dark outside, and
there were some commotions out there.
“Not exactly the vault where
my daughter is kept, huh?” The lord laughed. “This is more spacious.”
“Are you talking to me,
Dante? I thought I was to be silenced or unseen to you. However, I can agree to
the space here; it is less cramped compared to the vault of yours. How many of
the Montagues are there?”
“Last I checked, we still
have vacant spaces.” Lord Dante Montague laughed. “Yours?”
“The Capulet hardly dies
early nowadays.” Lord Gencio Capulet smiled. “We tend to live longer.”
It was then the door to the
hut opened.
“They are here.” The newly
arrived called out. The figure walked towards the lords, was clad in a cloak
with the overhead cover over the head, and had his face covered with the cloth.
“Far from Genoa, my lords.”
“Who are you?” Lord Dante
Montague asked. He was captured some days back on a trade call to the hills
nearby. Soon Gencio joined him the next day.
“Not your everyday sight, my
lords.” The covered figure removed the face cover.
“Vlad ….” Lord Gencio
Capulet was stunned. “Is that you?”
“Vlad ‘Dracul’ Tepes. That
is my new name, or to many others, Dracula. Now they accessed me of drinking
blood. So, I am named Dracula.” The Wallachian proceeded to untie the lords.
“Do tell me why both of you are here. I hope it was not about the rumours of
some rare jewels.”
“I was ……” Lord Dante
Montague brushed the dirt off his clothes. “I was here on… trade for the
Caspian stones.”
“So, you were the other I
was told to beware of.” Lord Gencio Capulet stared at the other. “Why must we
compete with each other … every time?”
“Another time to argue, my
lords. We must leave now. Chorbaji is a good warrior, but we try to keep fights
brief.” Vlad motioned for them to leave. They met the other outside, and Lod
Date Montague saw the carnage there.
There were the dead bandits,
and it looked like a mauling by a beast there, with blood seen everywhere. He
saw another familiar sight, who was slicing the throat of the bandit.
“Are you safe, Lord Dante
Montague?” The voice belonged to the one named Chorbaji Tarmuk. He saw the
stunned look on the lord. “This is our method to deter the bandits from the bordering
lands. They crossed over to kill and pillaged but of late, they are hardly
seen. We frightened them with the sight bloodless corpses. The sight of lack of
blood will make them think twice before they come here.”
“As Vald did with the
stakes.” Lord Gencio Capulet looked at dead bandit,
“We must ride now.” Vlad
Tepes cut in. They took the ride to the castle of the Wallachian. They were
treated to a feast there of meat and red wine.
“My lords, there are no
Caspian stones. Be content to ride back to Genoa with that in your mind.”
Chorbaji Tarmuk said during the feast. “Greed makes a man blind and foolish and
makes him an easy prey for death. However, take with you the loot we recovered
from the bandits. That will compensate you well.”
“You could say we suck the
blood off them.” Vlad Tepes laughed. Chorbaji Tarmuk also laughed then. His
mind went back to the last days when he was leaving Genoa with Vlad Tepes. The
latter riding beside him asked then.
“Where did you hide the real
case, Chorbaji?” Vlad asked.
“It lies in the dark
deep-sea bed, far from the clutches of any man. I had sailed to the sea just before
Radu’s death and tossed it off. I replaced the case with the fake one. It is
time to end the curse.”
“I also lied about the
Sultan having it.” Chorbaji Tarmuk replied. “Let no man find it anymore.”
It ended the saga of the
Empress Jewels, but the endearing love of some lingered on.
“Romeo and Juliet, I cannot
free you from the vaults of your family, but I could release your souls here.” Rosaline
Alger stood there on the new bed of flowers commissioned by her for the dead
lovers. “I have created a garden for the two of you. Beneath its surface, deep
below, your lasting gift rests: the red dress and costume that both of you wore
at the ball. It will be your new beginning from here.”
“My dear, it is time for you
to rest.” Rosaline Alger heard the call. She turned to her lover and smiled.
“Yes, I do. Enrico, do
assist me. I am getting tired.” Angeline Alger walked back to the carriage with
her hands over her tummy. A child grows inside, and if it is a boy, he will be
named Romeo, or if it is a girl, she will be named Juliet. She smiled.
Epilogue
“See what I found.” The
diver in the sea handed over the item to the friend on the fishing boat. “It
must have been there for ages.”
The diver climbed onto the
boat and removed the diving gear. It was a lady dressed in the scuba suit, and
she joined the crew member who was scraping off the hardened dirt from the
item.
“It looked like a metal
case. No, wait, it is encased there. The crew member smiled. “I think you
recovered a treasure, Ms. Croft.”
“Well, we need to get going.
A storm is at the horizon and it will reach us soon.” Ms. Croft smiled. “And I
have a date with a beau named Romeo.”
No comments:
Post a Comment