Caged Poetry

Story Details:

(Length: 20k words, 80-minute read) This is the first installment of a romantic mystery thriller with light erotica. It's story-heavy and a slower read compared to my usual stuff. If you have time to read it, I would love to hear your thoughts.

Synopsis:

Set in 18th century Europe, the story follows Lily Shepard's life after the death of her parents. Lily inherits their debt and is sold into domestic servitude to avoid prison. Lily is twenty when she is purchased by Doctor Murdoch Hansel. He intends for her to be a maid in his eccentric household and a participant in his current experiment. Doc Hansel lives in a renovated castle in the country. He is a brilliant scientist in a world that cares little for his strange endeavors. He hopes Lily can befriend his mentally unstable ward, Fredric.

Chapter 1: A New Home

Doctor Murdoch Hansel set out early one morning to acquire the second participant in his groundbreaking experiment. As he approached the busy merchant wharf of Clairemont Village, he stopped to breathe in the briny mist of the harbor. Seagulls were drifting on the sea breeze overhead, and a particular young woman standing on the pier raised her bright eyes and smiled at the birds. Her beauty captured Doc's full attention. She was a jewel among stones standing in a line of young men and women, waiting to be claimed and put to work. Doc Hansel slowly approached the trading post, keeping his gaze on her. He had found what he was looking for.

"She'll do perfectly. Dark hair, bright eyes, healthy complexion... if my experiment doesn't like her... I mean, if my ward doesn't like her, I shall simply keep her around to clean the laboratory," muttered Doc, more to himself than anyone else.

Toby McLary, the scruffy labor merchant, looked at Doc Hansel with an eyebrow raised as he inspected his new arrivals. Toby knew the middle-aged doctor was a bit mad. He dressed in eccentric clothes when he went into town. The most noticeable part of his wardrobe was the shiny black cane with an apricot-sized ruby on its handle. Folks assumed he carried the cane to show off the ruby since he didn't need it for walking. Dr. Murdoch Hansel was wealthy, well educated, reclusive, and obsessed with his work. He often lectured folks about their scientific ignorance.

"Aye, she's a strong lass," Toby agreed. "She goes by Lily if ya were wondering. The man that sold her to me said she's twenty and pure. She worked on her parents' farm until they died of the pox. They were in debt, so she was sold to settle it. She ain't cheap, Doc, if ya were wondering."

"Indeed, draw up the papers," Doc Hansel said as he tossed a bag of coins to Toby.

Once Lily's new papers were ready, every witness signed them. She was officially Doc Hansel's property.

Lily's new master promptly escorted her away from the merchant wharf and into his personal coach. She had never seen so many nice things before. The coach had dark velvet seats and shiny black paint. The horses pulling it had healthy brown coats and a majestic look about their muscular bodies. They towered over the other horses in town.

Lily thought her new master's clothes and cane were exceptionally fancy. He looked like a proper gentleman, her mother would have said. His jacket was dark red leather and accented with shiny brass buttons. The top hat that sat upon his thick black hair was made of the same worn red leather. His tall black boots were also covered in brass buttons. He had a short, neatly trimmed black beard speckled with gray. His eyes were a misty blue under thick, brooding eyebrows. The doctor presented himself as a handsome figure. Still, his face was a little too sharp to be attractive in a traditional sense. Long, exhausting hours of experiments had taken a toll on his once-vibrant appearance, but his mind was sharper than ever.

Lily thought he was handsome enough to be admired. She assumed he was in his late forties, definitely older than her father before he passed. She was timidly studying him as he rotated his cane in a beam of sunlight coming through the coach window. The large ruby refracted brilliant red light on the walls and ceiling. It was fixed on the end of the cane with a smooth cradle of burnished gold. Lily figured the gem cost more than she did.

"Well now, Lily," Doc Hansel began as the coach clattered along the cobblestone road out of town. "I hope you realize you have landed in a remarkable position. You will be helping me further my research. I expect you to take orders and cause me no trouble. You will be the only servant allowed in my laboratory. It is an extremely important and dangerous place. I conduct most of my research there. I will educate you along with my current ward. You may find him a bit scary, but rest assured, I keep him on a short leash," he said casually.

"May I speak, Master Hansel?" Lily asked, barely above a whisper.

"Please do."

"What is a ward?" she asked.

"The courts have awarded me guardianship of a young man that appears to be insane. That makes him my ward. They consider him a danger to others, and I can't disagree with them. That's all you need to know for now," he said dismissively.

When they finally arrived at their destination, Lily stared at Doc Hansel's beautiful home in wonder. It had once been a castle that fell into disrepair. The outer gray stones were rather dim and uninviting, as were most fortified buildings meant for war. Lily thought it was majestic, sitting at the top of a hill on the outskirts of town. Farmland, meadows, and woods spread out as far as the eye could see behind the castle.

Mindy, the head maid, led Lily to her bedroom in the servant wing. Doc had ordered her to rest and settle in. She would be expected in his lab first-thing in the morning for further instructions. Lily smiled as she looked around her new room. A large arched window with an inviting sitting nook sat between the two beds in the room. The furniture was simple stained oak. She had her own chest of drawers, a little nightstand, and a small trunk at the end of her bed. A round burgundy rug took up most of the floor space between the beds, giving the room a softer feel. Lily was bunked with another young maid named Ruby. Ruby was a charming young woman in her early twenties. She had dark blond hair and big blue eyes. She greeted Lily with a warm hug when she entered their bedroom. Mindy left the girls alone to get acquainted.

"Oh, you're a pretty thing," Ruby said with a smile as she stroked Lily's long dark hair and admired her bright gray eyes. "Here is your uniform. I'll help you put it on. Have you ever worn a corset, love?" she asked as she looked over Lily's simple dress. It was obviously something a poor farmer would wear.

"I have not," she admitted in embarrassment. "Your dress is beautiful, but it looks rather uncomfortable," Lily noted as she examined Ruby's uniform.

Ruby was dressed in a fine red corset frock over a simple ruffled silk blouse. A frilly white apron that began at the waist covered the front of her dress's skirt. The corset was built into the dress, keeping it simple and beautiful. The most noticeable aspect of the dress was the blush-inducing way the corset pushed Ruby's breasts up out of her bodice. In Lily's mind, that made Ruby look fancy, as her mother would have said.

"It's actually quite comfortable. Master Hansel designed them himself. Here, let's get this off and to the laundry," she said as she began pulling Lily's dress up and over her head.

Lily stumbled and laughed as Ruby stripped her. It reminded her how her mother would rush her out of her clothes when she needed to do the laundry.

"There we go," Ruby said, once she had Lily naked. "You are a very pretty thing indeed," she said with a smile as she admired her.

Lily blushed to have a stranger staring at her nakedness. That was something new.

"Let's see," Ruby continued as she picked up Lily's blouse and gave it to her. "Our breasts are about the same size, so this should fit you splendidly. You can wear it as-is today. If something is amiss, I'll take it to Nelly for adjustments."

Once Lily was dressed, she stared at herself in the standing mirror for many minutes. She looked fancy. She would have loved for her mother to see her new dress. It made her heart ache for her. A tear dripped from her eye before she realized it.

"What's the matter, love?" Ruby asked in concern.

"I miss my mother," she whispered as more tears fell down her cheeks.

"You poor thing," she sighed and pulled Lily into her arms.

She held Lily tight for many minutes before she finally stopped crying. Once Lily had collected herself, Ruby led her all over the castle to meet the rest of the servants and to learn the layout. Murdoch Hansel's home was as elegant as he was. Most of the castle hallways were adorned with long red rugs. Some halls had blue rugs. Old suits of armor, marble sculptures of naked men and women, and large oil paintings of nude figures could be seen in every hall. By the end of the day, Lily felt welcomed and comfortable in her new home. Doc Hansel was nowhere to be seen that afternoon. Lily thought that was strange. Ruby said it was normal not to see the master for days at a time.

Lily was exhausted as she settled into her new bed that night. She was happy to have a new friend to keep her company, but it didn't chase away the hollow ache in her chest. She sorely missed her parents and their simple farm in the meadow below the mountains. She would likely never see that beautiful place again. Since her parents died, her slumber was often haunted by dreams of Death lurking behind every door and in every shadow. Death was an unwelcome guest residing in her mind. She felt he was waiting, just out of sight, for the chance to take her like he took her parents. Her fixation on Death as a tangible entity kept her awake most nights. She watched as Ruby drifted off to sleep, and in spite of her anxiety about Death lurking somewhere close by, she soon found herself following suit.

At some point in the night, a creaking sound in the hall startled Lily awake. She gasped as she sat up and looked around the moonlit room. She looked over at Ruby's bed to find it empty. Her heart began pounding as the awful creak resounded in the hall again. She gasped and pulled her sheet over her head. She felt a chill in the room between the gap in her sheet and pillow. She had no idea where it was coming from. The room wasn't drafty earlier that night. Then she heard another creaking sound in the hall followed by a bang, causing her to cry out in fear. She was suddenly worried about Ruby's safety. What if her new friend had also heard the noise and went out in the hall alone to investigate?

Lily cursed under her breath and hurried out of bed. A cold draft wafted across her legs from under the bedroom door. She gathered her courage and peeked out of the door into the hall. The little bit of moonlight coming through the window at the end revealed it to be empty. Another startling bang almost made Lily bite her tongue. She looked at the end of the hall to see the small window swinging in the wind. She grumbled and stomped out into the hall to secure it. She wondered how it had come loose in the first place. The latch was not easily dislodged. The metal latch was so tight it hurt her fingers as she jammed it back into place. Then, a soft noise of feet brushing over the rug made her gasp. Her head snapped to the left in time to see a dark figure slink into a wall nook behind a marble statue of Apollo.

The terror that seized Lily at that point froze her breath in her lungs. She stared down the hall at the pitch-black nook, unable to move as someone's dark head slowly peeked out at her. The head didn't duck back into hiding when it saw her. It gazed at her steadily, like a cat watching its prey at a distance. Lily didn't know how she did it, but she forced herself to turn and very slowly walk back to her room. She kept her eyes on the mysterious figure as she walked, and as soon as she was out of the hall corner and out of view, she dashed back to her room. She slammed the door behind her and locked it. She was shaking with fright as she curled up in bed, pulling her heaviest blanket over her head. She was sure she had just seen Death himself lurking in the hallway. He had followed her from her parents' farm.

She lay awake for at least an hour after that, listening for any sounds that might warn her of Death attempting to break into her room. Her stomach flipped when she heard someone unlocking the door. She held her breath for a moment, waiting for Death to strike, but to her relief, she heard Ruby's slippers on the stones as she entered the room. Lily breathed easily as she listened to her friend locking the door back and returning her lamp to the small shelf on the wall. Lily pulled the blanket off her head and watched Ruby in the moonlight as she crawled into bed and pulled her own blanket up to her chin.

Lily thought she saw Ruby smiling to herself. She wondered what her new friend had been up to that night. She figured she would save her questions for the morning. She wanted to tell Ruby about the person she saw in the hall earlier, but it was a bit too soon to declare Death was haunting her new home. She was willing to believe she saw the farm boy she met earlier in the day, or maybe the grumpy groundskeeper. Ruby's comforting presence helped chase the ghosts from Lily's head, allowing her to drift off to sleep again.

Chapter 2: The Laboratory

After breakfast the next morning, Ruby led Lily down to the lower corridors of the castle. The south side of the structure sat upon an exposed outcrop of stone. The original builders used the stone in their fortification and built a spacious storage cellar into the outcrop itself. Doc Hansel refurbished it into his personal laboratory. Ruby stopped at the lab's thick oak door and knocked. Then she bid Lily farewell and hurried away, leaving her alone in the chilly corridor to wait for Master Hansel.

Lily gulped and rubbed her cold arms, wishing she had thrown a shawl over her shoulders that morning. She wondered what was taking the doctor so long to come to the door. Suddenly, she thought she heard a thump in the hall behind her. There were many dark recesses in the old cellar access, perfect places for shadowy figures to hide, possibly Death himself. She shuddered all over at that thought and backed against the oak door. It squeaked open, causing her to gasp. She jumped away from it and twirled to look at it.

"Uh... Master Hansel? Are you there?" she whispered as she gently pushed it open until she could get her head in.

Warm air and the smell of burnt wood from a hearth surrounded her. The door opened onto a small stone landing before transitioning into stairs that led down into the lab. Bright beams of sunlight were spilling through the decorative arched windows that lined the upper half of the south wall. Lily gasped in amazement as she gazed down into the lab below.

It was quiet, sleepy, and a little hazy in the morning light. There were glass tubes, beakers, orbs, metal contraptions with colored glass bulbs jutting out of them, metal and stone tables, metal and stone shelves packed to the gills with gadgets, boxes, parchment, and books. It looked like a grim toy store if Lily had to compare it to something. The one time her father took her into town, she had begged him to enter a small toy store. That store had filled her with joy and wonder. Master Hansel's lab filled her with awe and respect in a similar way. It also filled her with dread. It exposed a world to her that she never knew existed. Nothing in the room had meaning or purpose to her besides the shelves and tables.

"Master Hansel, are you here?" she called softly, fearing to raise her voice in such a strange place.

Suddenly, the shrill noise of a chain being dragged over the stone floor caused Lily to gasp and freeze. The noise came from the back of the lab. She took a few deep breaths to calm her pounding heart before she crept across the landing and peeked around the stone wall. In the back corner of the lab, there was a small bedroom inside a wrought-iron cage. It had a small cot and a simple desk and chair. It was a prison cell, and a young man was lying on the floor inside it. There was a manacle around his left ankle. A long chain connected the manacle to one of the iron bars of his cage. The door to the cage was standing wide open.

Lily's heart sank at the scene. The room felt less intimidating with someone in it, but that someone appeared to be a criminal. She had already forgotten Doc Hansel's mention of his ward the day before. The young man's limbs were splayed around him like he had fallen where he lay, raising her concern. Perhaps the young man needed help, and that's why Master Hansel rushed away, and in his haste, he failed to lock the cage door. She knew it was her duty to check on him. She couldn't bear to see another living soul in distress, even a criminal.

She carefully made her way down the narrow stairs, being careful not to miss a step and risk falling thirty feet onto the stone floor. When she reached the bottom, she dashed across the lab, glancing around at the fantastic equipment and trinkets as she went. She stopped when she came in full view of the cage. The area was drenched in sunlight. Sparkling dust particles were suspended in the beams, giving the area a mystical feel. A large fireplace was built into the back wall of the lab close to the cage. A pile of glowing embers kept the giant room from freezing.

Lily gazed in wonder at the young man lying on the floor inside the cage. He had shiny brown hair that fell in careless locks over his forehead. He was dressed in a simple white linen shirt and brown slacks. His feet were bare in spite of the chilly floor. His handsome face was turned towards the light. He looked like a sleeping angel that had fallen to earth after some cataclysmic event rendered him flightless. She felt strange as she gazed at him, wondering if he really was an angel. Lily had read stories about fallen angels, and they never ended well.

She pushed her silly fantasies aside and stepped into the cage. She knelt close to the young man's head and touched his neck. His pulse was strong, his skin was warm, and he smelled wonderful.

"Hmm, you seem perfectly healthy, but probably not an angel," she whispered with a soft smile as she gently brushed the shiny caramel-colored locks off his forehead. "I need to find Master Hansel. I was supposed to meet him here twenty minutes ago. Next time, nap in your bed," she sighed as she stood to leave.

As she approached the cage door, a cloud drifted across the sun and doused the light. Lily froze at the sudden change in atmosphere. It was like a candle had been snuffed out. The lab looked completely different in the dim light. It was no longer a place of wonder and amazement. It had taken on the look of a dungeon inside a cave.

Suddenly, the chain scraped and clinked across the stones behind her, sending absolute terror up her spine. The prisoner was awake, and she was standing in the doorway of his cage. Her heart began to race, and her limbs wanted to tremble. She didn't think she needed to fear the handsome young man, but he was chained in a cage for a reason. She swallowed her terror and forced herself to turn and face him. Her breath went shaky in her chest when she laid eyes on him in the dim light. He no longer looked like an angel. His skin had paled while his overall countenance darkened. His hair looked lank, and his brooding brow looked menacing, but the most terrifying thing about him was the pale light from the window glinting in his large eyes.

Lily gulped and took a tiny step backward. The young man let out a hiss of a breath and narrowed his eyes at her. The slight movement of his head caused the light to catch his eyes again. Lily gathered her nerves and took another step back. That's when he bared fanged-teeth and let out a low growl. He shifted his weight, leaning forward like he was preparing to attack. Lily's body tensed and she sucked in a breath, preparing to scream, but a warm hand clamped over her mouth before she could get it out.