The Massacre by John Lucarotti

Author:John Lucarotti [Lucarotti, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Saint Bartholomew's Day; Massacre Of; France; 1572
ISBN: 9780426202974
Publisher: Not Avail
Published: 1988-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

‘I’ll be safe with you,’ she replied beguilingly.

Steven sighed. ‘This is against my better judgement but come along if you must,’ he said and opened the door to the tunnel which was about thirty metres long.

‘They say there are lots of these but much bigger under Paris,’ Anne announced as they bent down to make their way along it. Halfway along a tunnel led off to the right.

‘Where does that one go?’ Steven asked as they passed it.

‘I don’t know and I don’t want to,’ Anne’s reply was a frightened whisper which made Steven chuckle. They came to the door at the far end which opened inwards. He extinguished the taper before peering outside. It was a small three-sided enclosure, like a stable with a wicker gate closing off the fourth side. He stepped out and Anne followed him, shutting the door behind them. Steven opened the wicker gate and looked up and down the street at the back of the house. There were no sentinels in sight and they hurried away in search of a carriage to take them to Montparnasse.

As the Doctor changed into his Abbot’s habit, Lerans explained the plan to him.

‘You’ll be taken to the entrance in Notre Dame,’ he began.

‘There’s one in the Cathedral?’ The Doctor was surprised.

‘We have ways in almost everywhere. The Catholics sealed them and then forgot about them. We remembered them and opened them. You entered the Cardinal’s palace through the scullery yesterday,’ Lerans reminded him.

‘True, but why am I not going back there?’ the Doctor asked as he finished dressing and Lerans produced a transcript of the royal audience which he gave to the Doctor to read.

‘That’s where we start undermining them,’ he said, tapping the document with his forefinger, ‘with Tavannes.

And you have two hours, Doctor, as the Abbot should he in his quarters resting and reading his Office.’

‘Should be, not will be,’ the Doctor remarked.

‘Almost certainly will be,’ Lerans replied with a smile.

A few minutes later the Doctor was on his helter-skelter ride through the dark tunnels until the driver drew in the reins and the dogs stopped.

‘Up the steps over there, sir,’ the driver said, handing him a lit taper. ‘There’s a judas-hole in the door and when you come back, I’ll be waiting here.’

The Doctor went up the steps to the door and blew out the taper which he laid down on the top step. He peered through the judas-hole and saw that he was looking into a small crypt.

No one was in sight so he cautiously opened the door, went into the crypt and closed it behind him. Light filtered in and he saw that on either side of the crypt was a stone tomb, with the effigy of a reclining knight in armour on one and a woman in a flowing robe on the other.

At the end of the crypt was a wooden door with an iron grill. The Doctor pushed down the latch and pulled the door open. In front of him was a short flight of steps leading up to one aisle of the Cathedral.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.