This is the last story in my romp through history using an old book. Read to the end to find out why there are no more.
If you've read Power of Words 08, the Marquis de Sade, and not scored it, the piece needs one more rating. Thanks.
Ah, Napoleon Bonaparte: who wouldn't want to go back in time to meet this intriguing man? Who wouldn't try to get into his head and try to understand what motivated him, what drove him relentlessly in his quest for power and domination?
As interesting as his mind might be, teacher Marie Benoit also wanted to get into his pants. What sexual desires emerged from his intense personality? Did he seek control in the bedroom like he did on the map of Europe? Were his bedroom impulses wild and strong, or was he slow and calculating with a woman?
Marie thought about such questions as she led her classes through a study of the French Revolution. They learned about Napoleon's humble origins on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, and his military training as a young man. He was a topic that drew her students' attention, if only to mimic his famous hand-in-the-tunic stance seen in paintings.
Marie's new girlfriends and time-travelers, Genevieve and Francine, were teaching about the French Revolution too. They knew that Marie's magical old books could give them insights into Napoleon. And they were aware that the Power of Words from the books could offer them incredible sexual pleasure as it carried them into the lurid past.
Genevieve and Francine weren't shy about letting Marie know what was on their minds. The former phoned one evening mid-week to talk about the possibility of more time travel together.
"Hi Marie. How have you been? We haven't got together recently. What have you been doing with yourself?"
"Genevieve! What a nice surprise. Doing with myself? Just the usual- my vibrator," she joked.
"Funny, but me too. Have you been teaching anything interesting these days? Francine and I are just getting into the French Revolution. How about you?"
"Yes, the same. Young Napoleon right now. I think the revolution has a lot to teach us about change and the world we live in, don't you?"
"Definitely, the Spirit of Humanity would want us to highlight that relevance for sure. He always does."
The Spirit of Humanity was the voice from the past that came from the old books. Right now, it lived in the body of the superintendent at the women's apartment building, J.J. Talmann. He was one of the living dead who dated back almost to the beginning of civilization on Earth. Their mutual friend Vanessa had met him when she time-travelled back to ancient Sumeria, Egypt and Rome.
The Spirit wanted these history teachers to help their students really understand the past. He hated efforts to 'whitewash' the story, shaping it to the current mindset; for example, by tearing down monuments to the great and glorious; or, reducing the age of exploration to 'exploitative colonialism'; and replacing truth with conspiracy theories.
Meantime, Marie understood what Genevieve was really saying to her.
"I suppose you two would like to go back to Napoleon's era, like we did recently with Catherine the Great in Russia?"
"Well... since you mention it I'm sure you could interest us in that."
"You're not fooling me one bit, Genevieve. You and Francine are as eager to get to know Napoleon as personally as I am. I just hope that there's enough of him to go around!"
"He probably has some real studs in his army, don't you think? We wouldn't all have to try to bed Napoleon when there are other virile men."
"Agreed. If I went back to his era I think I'd want to be Josephine, always the object of his love. Now that would be an exciting role, don't you think?
"Yes, or Pauline Foures, the beautiful woman who Napoleon stole from her husband. He even considered divorcing his wife Josephine for Pauline. That must have been a hot affair!"
"So, you could be Pauline then, OK?"
"And now that we're busy carving up Bonaparte, what part shall we save for Francine?" Genevieve asked.
"I think that his first sexual experience was with a prostitute in Paris when he was only nineteen. Francine likes it a bit rough so she might be quite happy as a street hooker, Napoleon's first sex educator," Marie laughed.
"I'll tell her. Does this mean that we're going to read from your old books soon, Marie? I hope so."
"How's this Friday or Saturday night? Like last time: order in supper, lots of wine, sexy clothes, then the book."
"Perfect! I'll check with Francine about which night suits her best."
****
Where did this time-travel all begin?
The old books in her apartment had become the major part of Marie's sex life, books that she had acquired recently from her best friend Vanessa Wordsmith. When Vanessa moved into her apartment after divorcing her cheating husband, an old man vacated the place. While they were cleaning the apartment, Marie found a box full of dusty old books in a closet. Vanessa saw that they were history books, so she kept them.
She found out that reading from them carried her back into the past. The 'Power of Words' was what the Spirit of Humanity called it. He explained that she must read from the books to teach the important lessons of history to her students. Later, he suggested that her friend Marie accompany her on the journeys. Recently Vanessa became fed up with rough treatment during some visits and given the books to Marie in disgust.
Marie had only pleasurable experiences after reading the magical words. She continued to fuck her way through history, most recently in the company of two new friends, Genevieve and Francis. They were actually zombies, the living dead who lived in Vanessa's strange apartment building. The superintendent, J.J. Talmann made sure that people from the past occupied almost an entire floor of the place.
The two newcomers weren't convinced of the Power of Words until a couple of weekends earlier. They'd gathered at Marie's apartment and been transported to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. There they'd had wild sexual adventures and satisfying orgasms at the hands of Russian aristocrats. No wonder they were so eager to do it all again!
On Saturday night, Genevieve and Francine came to Marie's apartment ready for another time-travel adventure with the Power of Words. Under their jeans and sweaters, they were decked out in scanty lingerie like last time, lacy thongs and half-bras which lifted their tits up and out. The three of them talked and laughed and drank through supper, all anticipating a meeting with the French Emperor.
"We're all feeling no pain," Genevieve announced. "So let's get comfortable in our lingerie, then we'll sit together on the sofa to read the old book."
"My, aren't you two sexy tonight," Marie remarked. "Napoleon is in for a hot time with us. I wonder if it'll your superintendent, J.J. Talmann? He seems to show up at a lot of these visits." She continued, "I found a couple of Napoleon's love letters in this volume, so we'll read one now."
Then they sat together and read aloud from a letter which Bonaparte had written to his wife Josephine a short time after they were married. It was filled with emotion and anxiety, quickly infiltrating their minds and carrying them off.
...."31 March, 1796
Not a day passes without my loving you; not a night but I hold you in my arms. I cannot drink a cup of tea without cursing the military ambition that separates me from my life. Whether I am buried in business, or leading my troops, or inspecting my camps, my adorable Josephine fills my mind.
My soul is sad, my heart is in chains, and I imagine things that terrify me. You do not love me as you did; you will console yourself elsewhere. Goodbye my wife, my tormentor, my happiness. I do not ask you to love me forever, or to be faithful to me, but simply to tell the truth...."
[Will and Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilization XI, The Age of Napoleon, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975, pp. 97-98]
An unworldly wind swirled into Marie's lounge. It began to lift the words from the page and spin them over their heads. It was magical. The wind circled above the page, sweeping them upward with it, words and all. With its strength, it seized total control of their minds, transporting them far away. They simply disappeared from the sofa, carried wholly into the past by the Power of Words. They were on their way to meet Napoleon Bonaparte.
Soon they had arrived in Paris and found themselves in the second level of a large old house. From their perch in the upper landing, the women could see two men talking in the open room below them. The short one was unmistakably Napoleon Bonaparte, but the other was a mystery.
Listening closely, they heard the little Emperor address him as "my friend Talleyrand". The women were history teachers, so they knew the man, France's long-time Minister of Finance, occasional friend and sometime critic of Napoleon. Talleyrand was wily, one of the few aristocrats to survive the turbulent radical phase of the revolution.
They followed the conversation below.
"Yes, I agree, Bonaparte. A good woman is a wonderful thing- spirited like my horse and just as eager to be ridden hard, then put away wet."
"Ha! We certainly have had a few in our time, haven't we Talleyrand?"
"So, who was your first, Napoleon?"
"Ah.... I was just nineteen and Francine was a beauty, a Parisian prostitute with curly red hair and moves like a cat. I thought that I had died that night!"
The time travelers straightened up when they heard this.
"Francine, he's talking about you now. Quick! Go downstairs and let him relive that experience. Go! Go!"
They pushed her firmly forward. She descended, and Bonaparte remembered her immediately. His face lit up and the years fell away to a time when he was not yet twenty. He was on the backstreets of Paris again, alone and looking for some action. Talleyrand saw the prostitute, so politely excused himself and hurried out.
"How much do you charge, madam?" Bonaparte asked as he approached Francine, a ragged street hooker. "Consider that I am a poor soldier."
"Same as anybody else. For three francs I suck, and it's six more to fuck. Anything else is double."
"I'll pay nine then."
