The Stone of Blood Read Online Free PDF Page B

charged at the beast. His flesh met my steel! The dragon and the Knight came together in battle! And the maidens screamed…
     
    You know how girls scream and stuff? Well this one was one of them high pitched shrill screams! You know the ones that just makes your whole spine twist around inside your skin and dang near makes it snap loose and break off from your neck? It was one of those kinds!
     
    “Toby what are doing out here?” A voice from out of nowhere said.
     
    Mama was upon me! She had me by the collar of my shirt before I even knew she was outside! How long she’d been standin’ there I did not know.
     
    “I’m fightin’ a snake Mama!” I said as I continued to slash at the bushes with my pocket knife. “I just saved these girls from a great big old snake!” I continued to slash while my mama held on to me and also while the girls told her about how I had just saved their lives!
     
    “I think I scared it away!” I said all heroic like. “At least I don’t see it no more.”
     
    “Well you need to come back inside with me and leave that snake alone!” My mama said.
     
    Whirlin’ around and gesturin’ towards the apartment houses where the girls lived, my Mama said. “You’d better go home too girls. You don’t want to be out here all alone, if that snake comes back do you?”
     
    The thought of that snake comin’ back made both girls run screamin’ to their apartment house!
     
    Mama smiled and laughed to herself for reasons unknown to me, and then we went inside too!
     
    The knight had defeated the Dragon but had left without as much as a kiss from his fair maiden. Not that he wanted one mind you. A true knight knows that justice is its own reward.
     
    For a knight must stand with honor and chivalry, to protect and defend the downtrodden and the weak.
     
    The fair maiden I had saved from the Dragon was the first girl that I ever fell in love with.
     
    My next love was for a girl in my second grade class. She would pass me notes when the teacher wasn’t lookin’! And she’d get the other boys in my class to catch me and hold me down on the playground, so that she could kiss my face!
     
    I’d wipe those kisses right off of my face! I tell you that!
     
    I wonder what ever happened to her.
     
    I was such a kid!
     
    ***
     
    October 1799
     
    Father Joseph Flaget met with Louis Philippe d’Orléans in Havana by urgent request. They met in his office suite overlooking the bay. It was
midday
and the sun shone brightly upon the pale blue waters.
     
    “ Bon après-midi père . Il est si bon que vous me rencontrer à nouveau aujourd’hui. V ous savez de ce Père boîte? ” Louis spoke in French tongue. “Pardon me Father. I spoke without thinking. Let us speak in English that others may hear but not understand our words.” he said smiling. “Please have a seat.” He turned to his servant then and said, “Francois, apportez quelque chose de nos invites à boire . ” as he clapped his hands towards him. “He will bring us refreshments. Please make yourself comfortable Père. ”
     
    “I wish to thank you for the monies you have helped collect for me. And if you will permit me, Père , I have one further request?” he stated as a question. From an open a drawer within his desk he removed and held out a small box to the priest. “Do you know of this Père ?” The Duke displayed the box, made of fine hand carved wood and aligned with gold, silver and pearl inlays.
     
    “This golden box holds the ‘Sang Pierre’, the Stone of Blood.” Louise said. “It is also known as the ‘Martyr’s Gem’. Early Christians used stones such as this to carve scenes of the crucifixion. And according to legend, these stones were first formed as Christ’s blood fell at the foot of the cross. But of course my friend, you do know this. Yes?” he said as he smiled and waited for the priest’s acknowledgement and then continued. “This stone …it is different Père . It is said to