Welcome to Chapter 14!
DISCLAIMER - I own the following: Montagues: None. Kinsmen of the Prince: None. Capulets: Allegra, Theobald, Ricardo. I also own Simon.
Thanks to all readers and reviewers! (especially Pargoletta)
Shouldst thou review, I shall be forever in thy debt. Thank thee.
Enjoy!
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Simon was a Capulet to everyone he met, though he was truly the heir to the Alaverti family. He had met Tybalt years ago and they had taken an immediate liking to one another, seeing as how they were both tall, handsome and fearless. Ladies would swoon at their feet and men would cower at their feet, and they never lost a fight.
At least, Simon had never lost a fight.
One day while the heat wave was still upon Italy, Simon, Tybalt and a few of their friends paraded down the streets of Verona, treated more regally than perhaps even Escalus.
"Ugh," Tybalt said as a lady gave him eager eyes. "Never her. Simon, hast thou seen any open Montagues to-day?" Tybalt had explained everything that had happened with the Montagues in the past month, and Simon, as always, hated the Montagues as Tybalt and his kinsmen did.
Simon looked around. "Nay. I suppose they all ..." Simon stopped to stare for a moment at a raven-haired maiden who stood with a few friends.
"Simon!" Tybalt almost laughed. "Tell me you are not thinking of that child!"
Simon had been thinking something much stronger than that. He said nothing. The maiden looked wary of him.
"Come, Simon," Tybalt said, pulling his friend away. "The sun is strong to-day and I desire something cold. Let us find a tavern."
The group passed by the plaza. Too engrossed in conversation, the Capulets did not notice, but Simon did: a group of Montague men were gathered near the fountain, laughing and talking as though they ruled Verona. Simon would have stopped his friends, but something stopped him.
Among the men was a young maiden, looking no older than fifteen; her smile was wide, and the Montagues all adored her; Simon could plainly see it, the way they teased and complemented her to force a laugh out of her. What Simon did not plainly see, at first, was the man who had his arm around the maiden's waist.
Mercutio, Tybalt's only defeater, the Montagues' friend, the Capulets' enemy. Whoever the maiden was, she belonged to him. Mercutio was unarmed, and certainly not prepared for a fight with a maiden around. Simon could have told Tybalt he had seen Mercutio, but Tybalt and the other had gone without him. Mercutio and the maiden strayed away from the Montagues and sat on the fountain. Simon watched them, and the two of them did not notice him.
"...'tis my third to-day," the maiden was saying. She held a half-eaten peach in her hand, and tossed it up and down once.
"Ay, and thy twentieth this week!" Mercutio cried. "'Twas it not only three weeks ago, the day thou met Romeo and Valentine was with us, I said, 'Why, wouldst care for a peach?' and thou didst replied, "Nay, thank thee anyway, Mercutio, I do not like peaches'?"
The maiden mimed throwing the peach at his head, and he swiped at it. She pulled it away and hugged it to her chest.
"I never did say such a thing!" she said. "Or if I did I was out of my wits. What could anyone not love about peaches?" She pursed her lips together and lowered her voice in a provocative way. "Peaches are soft, and luscious and..." She had attempted to toss the peach up, but when tried to catch it fell down her dress and into her cleavage. Unlike most gentlemen, who would probably blush and look away, Mercutio doubled over laughing. The young lady was laughing as well.
"Hush, Mercutio, I beseech thee!" Her face was bright red. "Not all Italy doth wish to hear of what hath fallen down my -"
"OI, BOYS!" Mercutio yelled to the Montagues. "DO YOU THINK PEACHES ARE IN SEASON IN ALLEGRA'S BOSOM?"
Allegra. That was her name. Simon wondered what kept him from pouncing on her just then. As Simon watched Mercutio tease her and make her smile with such affection and pure joy, he felt something like a monster clawing at his senses. She loved Mercutio. The only one who could have her was Mercutio.
"Come, Allegra, it shall not pain thee!" Mercutio said. Allegra squealed as he swung at her again.
"Nay, nay!" she snickered. "I am ticklish, I pray thee!"
"Haha! I've forgotten!"
"No, no, NO!" Allegra begged, but it was too late.
As though he and Allegra were the only people in the crowded plaza, Mercutio tickled her, and she tried to push him off. Her words were lost in laughter. He kept going until the peach had been successfully removed from her dress. Benvolio Montague, whom Simon had seen around Verona before, ran from the other side of the fountain and gaped at the two cackling lovers.
"People shall think you two are out of your minds!" he cried.
"Let us not lie to the people." Mercutio was panting slightly by the time he had gotten off Allegra.
Benvolio shook his head, making sure no one had seen the two of them. "There are rooms all over Verona! Why do not you use those for such frivolity?"
Allegra spread her arms out. "'Cest la vie*!"
"'Lah vee'!" Mercutio said. Benvolio and Allegra exchanged glances and laughed at this for a very long time. Mercutio did not know why, but to keep Allegra laughing, he shouted 'Lah vee' a few more times.
"Poor little Allegra!" Benvolio wiped a tear away from his eye. "Mercutio, thou bawdy dog, thou wilt drive her mad." Mercutio nodded as if it were a very serious matter. Benvolio turned to Allegra. "Pardon him, Allegra. He doth forget that 'twas years ago he was a naughty Latin schoolboy. He shall always think he is eight years old."
"Eight!" Mercutio cried. "Ben, thou art cruel! More like eleven, the age boys are introduced to the wild world of maidens."
Benvolio flicked a bit of water at him. The two gentlemen gave each other tough looks and raised their arms as though they were ancient Chinese karate masters.
"Thou forget'st - thou hated girls until the age of nineteen, young grasshopper," Benvolio said, "and the world was wild far before that."
"How far before that? The day I was born? Hooy-a!" Mercutio said, tricking Benvolio into thinking he would hit him.
"The day you were conceived," Benvolio taunted. "That coldest day of winter when thou wert created of thy parents' frozen desires." Mercutio kicked him. "Dah! Naughty child!"
"Hmmph," Mercutio said, tossing his head. "Naughtiness is an art." His eyes wandered to the other side of the fountain. "'Tis something thou couldst never learn in thy books." He ran to the other side of the fountain and Benvolio stumbled after him. Allegra turned herself to look at them, enjoying every second of this.
Mercutio imitated Benvolio's scholarly way of flipping through the book. "Ah yes, the human body. How very intriguing. I can study this. I think I shall write a book myself. 'The Bawdiness of the Human Bawdy', by Mercutio -"
"You are the Aristotle of annoyance," Benvolio said.
"I try to be and so I like it," said Mercutio, walking on the edge of the fountain back towards Allegra. "Blah blah blah…'a true friend is one soul in two bawdies'. That's what I say."
Benvolio looked around to make sure no one but Allegra saw him, and jumped up on the side of the fountain with Mercutio. "Have at thee, coward," he said. Simon gritted his teeth as he realized this was to taunt Tybalt.
"What, a practice for next time I see the King of Hairballs?" Mercutio asked.
"Why not?" Benvolio asked. "The day is young. Let us!"
"We haven't swords, Tibby-Ben," Mercutio said.
Benvolio thought for a moment. Then he broke back into his karate-mode. He and Merctuio play- fought, attracting amused and shocked glances from street-dwellers. When Mercutio had his back turned to Allegra he started to get a bit carried away, swinging at Benvolio until Benvolio lost control and jumped down from the fountains' edge.
"Surrender, Tibby?" Mercutio asked. "My tongue and I are prepared!"
"Ah! Nay!" Benvolio cried. "Nay, nay!"
Mercutio swung at him twice as hard. He was quite intimidating, but then Allegra crept behind him and kissed him on the cheek. He stopped and looked delirious.
"Thank thee Allegra, brave girl!" Benvolio cried. Allegra began to massage Mercutio's shoulders, and they both sank back down onto the fountain's edge.
Benvolio's face fell a bit but he teased Mercutio still. "So the beast is tamed. Mercutio, humors, madman, passion, lover, dost thou still wish to lose to me?"
"Nay," said Mercutio, "I like this better."
"Dost thou know what I would like?" Allegra asked in a breathy voice. Mercutio sighed in pleasure for his response. Allegra gave him an innocent smile.
"Ah, I might have known!" Mercutio said, laughing in spite of himself. "I shall go and get thee another peach. Benvolio, wilt thou come along or keep Allegra company?" Mercutio jumped up. Allegra did as well. "Nay, Allegra," Mercutio said, gently sitting her back down, "'tis crowded. Stay here by the fountain and wait for me."
"Really?" Allegra said.
"Ay, of course," Mercutio said as he and Benvolio started toward the other side of the plaza. He blew Allegra a quick kiss. "I shall return! Aww, do not look at me that way, pretty one. Sing to amuse thy fair self while I am gone; Verona will love thee."
Allegra sang a few notes of a Latin song while Mercutio and Benvolio waved to her and disappeared into the crowd. She had a light and high voice, and though she sang quietly, Simon found himself mesmerized. This was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and without Mercutio there, here lay Simon's chance. He readied himself to approach her, and then heard a voice behind him.
"Simon, you have strayed behind us," Tybalt told him, annoyed. He and the other Capulets had come back to find Simon.
"Tybalt," Simon asked, "what is yond lady?"
Tybalt looked, then snorted. "Monster, not lady. 'Tis my cousin, Allegra Capulet, sister of Ricardo and Theobald."
"Monster, how?" Simon asked.
Tybalt blinked. "Simon, do not tell me thou dost consider her. She is a devil in a girl's body, and a disgrace to the Capulet name. Leave her be and come with us; I've a headache just looking at her." He tried to drag Simon away, but Simon would not go.
"Simon!" Tybalt said.
"I shall not ask to wed her!" Simon said. "Hold me not. I shall approach her."
"What do you want of her?" Ricardo, who had been listening, inquired. "She hath already some man who doth want her."
Simon looked at him, then back at Allegra. "I shall congress with her, then come back. Thy sister shan't mind."
Ricardo looked taken aback, but nobody, not even his brother, acknowledged him. Simon, walking tall, approached Allegra with no doubt in his mind.
. . . . . . . . . .
Allegra had finished her song and hummed the melody once again as she waited for Mercutio and Benvolio's return, and her peach. She felt a light tap on her shoulder.
She turned around.
"Good morrow, maid." An incredibly handsome gentleman stood before her. He was dressed more handsomely than any portrait of a king Allegra had ever seen, his muscles draped in gold and green and his hair a luscious brown. He had deep brown eyes and a proud smile, and looked about ten years Allegra's senior. Although she thought he was very, very good-looking, something about the gentleman made Allegra shiver a little.
"Good morrow, sir," Allegra said, standing and curtsying.
"Upon this morrow, hast thou yet been told thou look'st fairer than any woman in Verona?" the gentleman said.
Allegra froze. There was definitely something strange about this gentleman, she thought. "Why, no, sir. Thank thee." She cleared her throat, then added, "Mind you, I'd hardly say I am a woman. I am but fourteen."
"Young as the day and pretty as the morning," the man said. He tried brush Allegra on the shoulder.
"I beseech thee, sir, I would not be touched." She drew back. The gentleman had a thirsty sort of glint in his eye. Allegra wished Mercutio had let her go with him. "Good day," she muttered, and began to go in the same direction Mercutio and Benvolio had gone. She knew he followed her through the crowd. She ran a bit, and quickly, but the crowd was thick and Mercutio, Benvolio and the others were nowhere to be seen.
Allegra stopped in front of an alleyway where she stood against a wall, thinking perhaps the gentleman had lost sight of her in the crowd. The gentleman had not; he found her.
"Why, lady, you run from me," he said, smirking.
Allegra had no reply.
"Not talking? No matter." He kissed her hand. His lips were slimy. It took a full minute for him to tear himself away from her hand.
"Sir," said Allegra, her voice shaking, "whither would you have me?"
"I would have you here." The gentleman, whose hand was very big, squeezed Allegra's hand with such force she felt her blood stopping.
"What?" said Allegra, forgetting her manners and forcing her hand away from his clutches. "But I know thee not, sir!"
"He is a friend of mine, so treat him with respect, brat."
Tybalt, Ricardo, Theobald and a few of their servants and friends had come to where Allegra was. Tybalt, as usual, led them. Allegra was so shocked she could not think of a smooth reply for Tybalt.
"Theo, Ricky, do you know this man?" Allegra asked her brothers.
"This gentleman, brat," Tybalt hissed. "Mind your manners."
Allegra narrowed her eyes. "I know etiquette far better than you do, Tybalt. Now let me go!" she begged the gentleman.
The man's proud smile turned into an aggravated glare. "You are too demanding for a little maid."
"Listen, pray," Allegra said, backing away from them. "My heart is taken. I must go now."
She gasped. The gentleman had grabbed her arm and pulled it at, keeping her from leaving. "Your heart is taken," he said darkly, "and yet, you are heartless."
There was a lump in Allegra's throat. She looked at her brothers for help - but Thoebald looked as amused as Tybalt, and Ricardo dared not step forward.
"I pray you, let me go!" Allegra cried again. "This is not right - I have a heart - let me go, pray!"
"If you've a heart, then use it!"
Allegra did not realize what had happened until the pain in her head had kicked in. The gentleman had thrust her against the wall. The pain was too great for her to even cry out or protest. The gentleman lifted her a few inches off the ground and onto the wall. Tybalt and his friends were cheering, cheering -
"Ricardo!" she screamed, her eyes closed. "RICARDO!"
Ricardo did not stop him, nor did Theobald, nor did anyone. They stood back, Tybalt in front of them. Allegra was alone, helpless, too weak to defend herself from his awful gentleman and his awful plans. She could not force away his hand when it strayed too near her bodice. She tried her hardest not to scream, but found she could not keep herself from it any longer when the gentleman had hold of her skirt -
She felt herself falling, and the cheers stopping. A new round of cheers erupted from a new group of men. The gentleman no longer held Allegra up, and the darkness in front of her closed eyes was replaced by a sparkle of gold. A sweet, wonderful feeling of safety was reaching out to grasp her. She lifted open her eyes and the world was brighter than ever.
* "It's life" (French) Pronounced, "say-lah-vee"