Part 19
The Tower Innominate
Lizzie wandered the cold empty corridors bathed in the moonlight streaming through open windows, her bare feet padding almost silently across the bare flags. UnÂbeknown to her Puck watched from a vantage point high above an empty fireÂplace. He smiled to himself, Miss Sherrell was proving more and more amusÂing by the day. What had she planned for Worrity? What was her merry wanÂdering of the night? He foresaw amusement.
Earlier that evening Lizzie had been to the ball. She had never seen anyÂthing like it. The ball itself had initially been magnificent, colourful, a real specÂtacle but its degeneration into a drunken orgy spoilt it for her. Conrad had been brash, noisy and commanding as the host. The Marchioness had not seemed to mind and had certainly enjoyed the attentions of the many men who had fawned on her, indeed as the night had worn on had more than fawned, indeed had come on and in her as seemed inevitable in Conrad's peculiar world. Conrad, of course, had sought out Lizzie with the intention of once more seducing her â but such a thing was quite impossible. He could only sucÂceed by force, trickery again or, as Lizzie recalled from the stocks, restraint. As the evening had progressed Lizzie had tried to melt into the background, climbÂing the steps to the musicians gallery and watching as the musicians played for the revellers. The wine flowed, dish upon dish appeared from the kitchens and the noise and merriment grew louder.
"This looks almost like you are hiding, Lizzie Sherrell," said a voice next to her. Lizzie turned from watching the revellers to see Puck sitting on the balÂcony rail, goblet in hand. "Watching not participating. That is not like you â a healthy energetic girl. Such girls need regular exercise to keep those thigh musÂcles in tone. I could assist if you like?" His head was once again on one side and his ever-present outsize penis was firming.
"Do you think of much else, Robin Goodfellow?"
The blue cap tilted to the other side, "Let me see, Japes, Wenches and MerÂriment. What else should I think of? You though, Lizzie Sherrell, think of esÂcape, but the Writer won't like that. He could get very angry, cross and vengeÂful. You wouldn't like to be chained in his dungeon would you? All those chains, leather, whips and straps. Not perhaps your idea of amusement? He might see it differently. A little enforced sex, he might think, would do you good - cool your temper!"
"And would you help him, Robin?"
"Me, help? What a strange notion. Me help someone! I should think not!"
Lizzie had not intended, had not expected to have any interest in sex that night. She had already enjoyed a bout of sex that afternoon which had extendÂed beyond the dreams and certainly the experience of most girls, being succesÂsively penetrated by a team of the most beautifully male men imaginable, expeÂrienced a tender erotic lesbian dream which, whilst she might not want to reÂcount its substance to her friend Lotte, was not at all a distasteful memory and experienced a further orgasm at the end of Robin Goodfellow's ridiculous outÂsized penis â perhaps that was a memory she would prefer to pass over - there had been a need at the time.
No, she had not intended to have any more sex that day. She was actually a little sore from perhaps too much stretching and her muscles were in need of no further toning as they ached a little from exertion. Bed would have been senÂsible but she did not feel tired. Her afternoon nap had done her good. It was not that she was enjoying the later stages of the ball, she was detached from that, Lizzie just was not sleepy.
It was the sight of the gymnast, the gymnast with the hanging scrotum Lizzie had so much admired, crossing the hall beneath her, which changed things. Her eyes followed him and her interest was not lost on Puck.
"Fabian Fetherstone," he said, "impressive physique if," he looked at Lizzie obliquely, "you like that over tall shape."
Lizzie turned to him with a smile, "Jealous, Robin?"
"I could be that shape if I wished," Puck said with asperity, "I just choose not to be. I am Faerie you know. Intimate with the Queen."
"You're not going to tell me her name is Titania are you?"
The head with its blue cap, dropped to one side with a half smile, "Might be, might not, and where would you have got that idea from, I wonder?"
Lizzie turned back and watched Fabian Fetherstone. Why was he wearing a tunic, it looked almost like a dress? She got up, not with any plan or purpose in mind but knowing she would like to speak to him and, yes, she would like to see his balls again. What an odd thing for her to want.
"See if I care," said Puck as Lizzie headed off to the stair.
Down in the hall Lizzie was uncertain how to broach the subject. She could not possibly imagine doing so back in her own world. The idea of asking a boy if she could see his genitalia, "Excuse me, I saw you exercising earlier. Would you mind showing me your equipment?" Even so, Lizzie was intrigued. Much more so than she had been with Dai Ambrose Penstimen Fallick but Fabian was more her own age and rather good-looking.
And there he was, right in front of her. She had not worked out at all what to say, what to ask.
"Why the dress?" she said.
Fabian Fetherstone looked rather surprised.
"Tunic," he said, "to let the weights hang."
"Weights?" Lizzie had not heard them called that before. "I saw you, this morning, your exercises."