THE GOLDEN LIQUID
Written By - Prabir Rai Chaudhuri
© All Copyright Reserved By Prabir Rai Chaudhuri- 2023
"In the year 1099, Godefroid de Bouillon, at the head of his
army of crusaders, surrounded the city of Jerusalem and delivered the tomb of
Christ from the grip of the enemies who occupied the holy places.
"On
the evening of the battle, in the main fortress of the city, a great feast and
a feast were organized in honor of the victors and the new king of Jerusalem.
Among the many participants, alongside Godefroid de Bouillon, was a man, also a
crusader, called Joachim Martounet de la Vielle. He sang, he drank, he ate like
the others. Everyone rejoiced to celebrate the hard-won victory.
"Suddenly,
during the meal, a servant approached him. He whispered in his ear.
- Lord,
a man who claims that you sent for him, is waiting for you downstairs, in the
armory.
- Thank
you, replied Joachim. I go.
"He
got up and went down the great staircase leading to the place indicated. He
touched his sword, which was well slipped in its scabbard and hung on his belt.
"The
individual was standing in a dark corner of the armory. He was wearing a long
coat and concealed his face under a balaclava.
- I am
the knight Joachim Martounet de la Vielle, declared our soldier. I'm
listening to you.
"The
man slowly turned his face towards the light. Joachim noticed that he was
devastated. He was missing an ear. A major gash damaged the right cheek. The
jaw bone was visible. The knight could not prevent a gesture in disgust and
backed away.
- I
come, Lord Joachim, for the object you seek. I will take you to the
merchant if you come in a few days, on the evening of the new moon, to the
southern gate of the city of Jerusalem. You will be on horseback and you
will bring some provisions because it will take a whole night, a day and
another night to reach the place where he is. You will take with you ten
diamonds, the smallest of which must have the size, the diameter, of the nail
of the little finger at least. This is the price of the item.
"The
man, hooded, descended the stairs and disappeared into the night.
"The
Chevalier Joachim slowly went up to the guest room.
"He
sat down for a moment, thoughtful, then he approached Godefroid de Bouillon.
- Dear
friend Godefroid, he said.
-
Joachim! What a famous victory! You're having fun now, I
hope. You deserve it a hundred times over.
- Thank
you, stammered Joachim. Godefroid, I need ten diamonds and the size of
each of them must exceed or be at least the diameter of the nail of my little
finger. Do you think my castle in the Ardennes, with the forests, the
lands, the farms, is worth that price?
"Godefroid
de Bouillon thought for a moment.
"Certainly,
certainly," he affirmed.
- Would
you agree to provide me with these ten diamonds in exchange for all my goods?
- But
what's going on, Joachim? Would you be sick or in difficulty?
- No,
dear Godefroid. I discovered an object that fascinates me and I want to
acquire it.
"A
few days later, at the southern gate of Jerusalem, at dusk, under the new moon,
Joachim Martounet de la Vielle, in armor, sword in sheath and on horseback,
presented himself before the man in the hood, also in the saddle.
"They
went away from the city. They traveled all night and the whole day of the
following day, stopping from time to time to eat and water the horses, let them
rest and then continue their journey. They did not speak to each other. not.
"At
dawn on the second day, the hooded man and Joachim took a narrow defile, a kind
of canyon, whose increasingly tight walls cut the sky fifty meters high.
"Suddenly,
they emerged into a perpendicular valley, illuminated by the rising sun. Under
the amazed eyes of the knight stood a majestic temple, preceded by sumptuous
columns cut in the brown rock.
"Joachim
Martounet de la Vielle did not know that he had just ended up in the famous
valley of a thousand tombs, the valley of Petra in Jordan.
"They
entered the largest of the sanctuaries. The place, lit by torches hung on the
dark walls, impressed by its disproportionate dimensions.
"A
man, seated at the back of a large room the size of a gymnasium, and even more
diminished, diminished, than the guide, watched our friend. He had no legs. His
right hand seemed to be severed with a blow of an axe, the bones of his forearm
were visible. But above all, his ravaged face was striking. Indeed, the
interlocutor had only one eye left. The orbit of the other was hollow. Part of
the jawbone was missing from the face, and the man looked both terrifying and
fascinating.
- Do you
bring the ten diamonds? he asked by way of hello.
-
Yes. And you, replied the knight, do you have the object I seek?
"The
guide took out of the shadows a blue-painted earthenware pot, the size of a
saucepan, and closed by a lid. He unscrewed it.
"Joachim
leaned over the opening, and saw what he was looking for.
"Inside
the pot was a liquid that looked like gold. But gold is a solid metal at room
temperature. Here, a liquid was moving and quivering like water. The diminished
man stirred his lips.
- Along
with this blue pot that contains what you want, here is a gold chain and a
small gold case as well. You will find all the necessary explanations in
the cover of the case.
"He
held out the box with his only left hand.
-
Present me now the ten diamonds.
"The
knight Martounet de la Vielle took the bag containing the precious jewels from
his helmet. He opened it and scattered the stones on the ground.
"On
this single left hand, the man had only the little finger and the thumb, but he
knew how to use them skillfully and counted the diamonds.
"The
knight Martounet de la Vielle did not return to Jerusalem. It took him a year
to find our Ardennes and when he got there, of course he no longer owned a
castle, land, forest or farms. He went to our abbey.
As
always, the guide, who was finishing her story, appreciated the effect of the
silence that lasted among the visitors.
- The
knight was welcomed in our abbey of Bois-le-Dieu like a hero. He had just
liberated the tomb of Christ. Pilgrims could once again travel to the Holy
Land, in complete safety.
The
listeners were silent.
- But
strangely, continued the guide, twelve days later, this same crusader was
driven out and banished from the abbey. He was called a henchman of the
devil!
"The
man screamed for two days and two nights in the woods, without anyone
intervening, then he was found dead sitting against a tree. They buried him at
the foot of a stone cross which you can still observe from he other side of the
abbey forest ten kilometers from here, along the small road leaving the
village, which crosses a fir forest and then runs along the river.
"Follow
me, ladies and gentlemen, if you please. We are going to visit the main nave of
our church and I would like to show you a particularly interesting and
mysterious stained glass window. Father Barthélemy's stained glass window.
Alex and
his sister Linnea, on vacation with their grandmother, had been able to invite
one Ethan, the other Celeste, their best friends, for a few days.
That
morning they were visiting the Abbey of Bois-le-Dieu. They listened, in fascinated
silence, to the fascinating explanations given by the guide. The small
group of visitors stopped in front of Father Barthélemy's stained glass window.
The
guide spoke again.
-
Observe the different parts of this window, she said. They recount the
life of this knight, of this crusader, who however only spent a fortnight
within our walls. On the upper part of the stained glass window, you can
see the crusader going to war. Just below, the capture of
Jerusalem. Then you notice a kind of temple and in a corner of it, the
blue pot, which proves that Father Barthélemy had discovered it and was himself
in possession of the secret object of the crusader.
"Father
Barthélemy lived here around the 1650s.
Visitors
literally drank in the guide's explanations.
- At the
bottom of the window, finally, is a strange series of letters, separated by
dots. No one understands the meaning of these letters.
.MP.CE.NT.B.TES.IN.QUE.BREDE.GRA.DE.DU.ME.RE.USLAL.NE.DE.ILL.AMI.IT
- Father
Barthélemy, finished the guide, had a tragic end. Shortly and no doubt
after discovering the crusader's secret object, he was heard screaming one
night in the corridors. He was screaming in pain. He was rolling on
the flagstones and writhing badly. A few monks approached, awakened by her
cries. He begged to be taken to the abbey treasury, but the abbot
refused. The man seemed in the grip of a demonic madness. They took
him to the infirmary. He suffered there atrociously for two days and died
in a terrible delirium at dawn on the third day.
The guide
resumed after a silence.
- At his
request, he was buried at the foot of the cross, which is on the other side of
the national forest. This same cross where the knight Martounet de la
Vielle had been buried five hundred years earlier.
- If you
want to follow me now, continued the guide. We are going to visit the
choir of our church.
Alex, Ethan,
Linnea and Celeste exchanged a look. They continued the visit, but they
reflected on this strange phenomenon.
Celeste,
who was carrying a small notebook and a pencil in her pocket, noted the letters
inscribed on Father Barthélemy's stained glass window.
In the
afternoon, the four friends put on their jerseys, old shorts over them, got on
their bikes, and went for a swim in the river, fifteen kilometers away. It
was very beautiful and very hot.
Crossing
the national forest, they stopped for a moment in front of the cross where the
two bodies, the crusader Martounet de la Vielle and Father Barthélemy had been
buried. They distinguished, engraved in the cross, a series of letters,
but not the same as those which were on the window of the abbey. They
decided to come back to it a little later in order to note down its contents.
LE.LA.ME.DELO.JE.T.DI.PARLOM.LA.N.CROIX.CI.TIE.SO.UNEPLEI.JU.ET.NU.
In the
evening, our friends examined the two strange messages. These series of
letters seemed incomprehensible. In addition, those of the stained glass
window were underlined by a broken line whose meaning escaped them completely.
The next
day the rain was there, as often after a hot day in summer. They plunged
into their books, into their reflections.
Celeste
tapped on her friends' grandmother's computer. Alex blackened paper on
paper in search of an explanation for these mysterious letters. Linnea was
rummaging through books stacked in front of her. Ethan seemed to be
sleeping in the barn, his eyes closed, a flower between his teeth.
Towards
the end of the morning, Alex approached his friend.
- It
does not interest you? he asked.
- Oh
yes, that fascinates me, affirmed Ethan.
- But
then, why don't you search with us?
-
Because I found the explanation.
- You
found her and you leave us fueled.
- No, I
leave a little mystery. It's worth it, the boy added, smiling.
- How
did you find the solution?
-
Thinking about it.
- You're
really great then, declared the girls who approached while
listening. Explain to us.
And
you who read this story, have you found it? Do a little more research
before reading on.
Ethan
told how he had managed to decipher the strange message that was inscribed on
the stained glass window and on the stone cross along the road. It was
necessary to integrate the two texts, to place them one above the other and to
be guided by the broken line from top to bottom and from bottom to top which
indicated where it was necessary to read. This gave:
.MP.CE.NT.B.TES.IN.QUE.BREDE.GRA.DE.DU.ME.RE.USLAL.NE.DE.ILL.AMI.IT
LE.LA.ME.DELO.JE.T.DI.PARLOM.LA.N.CROIX.CI.TIE.SO.UNEPLEI.JU.ET.NU.
SO :
THE
LOCATION OF THE OBJECT IS INDICATED BY THE SHADOW OF THE GREAT CROSS OF THE
CEMETERY UNDER THE FULL MOON OF JULY AT MIDNIGHT.
-
Fascinating, declared Celeste.
It was
therefore necessary, according to the message that our friends had just
understood, to go at night under the full moon of July, to the cemetery of the
abbey. The shadow of the large cross would indicate to them at midnight
the location of a slab, under which was the blue object bought at a great price
and brought back by Joachim Martounet de la Vielle.
That
evening, precisely when the moon was full, when Alex and Linnea's grandmother
was asleep, the four of them got up and went down the stairs
noiselessly. They didn't want her to worry. They had prepared a
crowbar so they could lift the graveyard slab. They got on their bikes and
headed for the abbey.
They put
the bicycles in a ditch along the old wall and stepped over it quite
easily. First, because it was old and cracked. A few bricks were
missing, which made it possible to put the feet in the notches. Then,
because Alex and Linnea practice climbing wall regularly. They helped Celeste
and Ethan, less athletic, to join them.
The four
of them sat astride the wall of the cemetery and observed the scene for a
moment. They did not see a living soul. So they jumped inside the
necropolis. It was five minutes to midnight.
The shadow
of the large cross indicated a specific slab on the main aisle. The four
children got on all fours around her and scraped the pebbles and grass that
grew in the grooves. Using the crowbar and after a lot of effort, they
finally managed to unseal it. They slid her aside.
They
then saw a small pit fifty centimeters across and sixty deep. At the
bottom was a blue pot with the lid tightly screwed on.
The four
friends, impressed, took the jar out of its hiding place and slowly unscrewed
the lid of the crusader's famous secret object. Inside, by the glow of the
full moon and the flashlights they had carried with them, they saw a
gold-colored liquid that quivered with the movement of the container.
- That's
all? wondered Linnea, disappointed. So many diamonds for that.
- I find
that very strange, affirmed Alex. Gold is never liquid at room
temperature, as the guide said, but solid. This may hide a
surprise. Hold on.
The boy
reached out and dipped his index finger inside the golden water. There was
only two centimeters of liquid left. Bending his finger, he managed to wet
it quite. He takes it out. It didn't make him feel any particular
way. He eyed her golden finger.
- Weird,
said Alex. Nothing happens.
- Maybe
over the centuries, the liquid has lost its power, Ethan suggested.
- The
power of what? asked Veronique.
- Wait,
proposed Linnea, there is perhaps something hidden under the liquid.
She
reached down with both her hands and waved them. His two hands and his
wrists were completely covered by this golden water, which dried quickly
because strangely, it evaporated very quickly like ether, but left a golden
color.
Our
friends, a little disappointed, were about to put everything back in place when
suddenly Alex cried out.
-
Look! Look at my hand! My index is gone! I feel it, but it has
become invisible!
A few
seconds later, it was Linnea's two hands and wrists that disappeared from view
of our friends. You could see the rest of the forearm. The bone stuck
out as if the wrist had just been chopped off with an axe.
-
Fascinating, declared Ethan. This liquid is the most prodigious thing I
have discovered. Wait.
He
plunged his hands into the liquid and smeared it on his neck. Moments
later, the boy's head seemed to float freely above his body and his hands were
gone.
Celeste,
more fearful, did not want to touch this golden juice.
- You
realize, declared Ethan. Do you realize, my friends? If someone can
make this liquid and immerse themselves in it, they become invisible. Ah,
I swear to you, I would give ten diamonds without hesitation, to have
that. If I owned them...
A few
moments later, Alex asked that we go back to his grandmother's house. His
invisible finger was hurting him. It throbbed, it gave him a burning
sensation. Shortly after, Linnea, whose hands had also become invisible,
also began to moan and then it was the turn of Ethan, whose neck and both hands
became painful.
Our
friends left the cemetery and got back on their bikes. Celeste followed
after having placed the pot and its lid at the bottom of the hiding place and
put the slab of the alley back in place.
What a
strange phenomenon! Pedaling with two forearms that ended five centimeters
from the handlebars, and holding it with two invisible hands. Ethan's
head, which seemed to float five centimeters above his neck, could have
surprised more than one. But they did not meet anyone on the way back.
They
arrived at Alex and Linnea's grandmother's at one o'clock in the
morning. They woke her up.
The
three children were getting worse and worse. Everyone was thinking of
Father Barthélemy, who had also suffered terribly, no doubt, after discovering
the crusader's secret object and using it.
Fortunately,
it was no longer in 1650. A doctor was called. He gave pain medicine, but
it had no effect.
At dawn,
the parents, who came urgently, took Alex, Linnea and Ethan to the
hospital. We placed an infusion containing the most powerful analgesics,
but nothing helped. The evil persisted and became more and more atrocious,
intolerable.
Only Celeste
escaped the dreadful curse because she had not touched the liquid. She had
simply put the lid back on the blue pot, slipped it into the pit, and put the
slab back in place the night our friends had discovered the crusader's secret
object, just before they left. go back to the grandmother's house.
That day
was horrible for the three children. They writhed in bed despite the care
they were given.
Suddenly,
at midday, in the midst of screams and sweats, Ethan called his parents.
- Go to
the treasury of the abbey to look for the gold pendant. Father Barthélemy
asked, begged, to be taken to the treasury of this monastery. This was
refused him. It was certainly to take this object, this gold pendant,
which the very diminished man had given in the site of Petra to the knight
Joachim Martounet de la Vielle. The guide explained it during the
visit. There probably is the counterpoison, quickly, go get it.
In front
of the insistence of the parents and the children, the father abbot made open
the room of the treasure. One found without difficulty among the precious
shrines, the objects of worship and the chalices enhanced with precious stones,
the chain and the case in solid gold. When we opened it, we found
unfortunately that it was empty.
All the
explanations for recreating a calming balm were engraved inside the lid, but
alas, written in the Arabic language of the year 1100, very different from that
spoken today.
The
parents contacted a university professor specializing in ancient oriental
languages. He succeeded after many difficulties in translating this text,
which spoke of little-known plants in our regions.
We
contacted the botany department of the University of Riyadh in Saudi
Arabia. They succeeded in gathering the plants. They were flown in
from the Middle East. Finally, we managed to make the precious cream.
It was
applied to Alex's finger, Linnea's hands and Ethan's hands and
neck. Instantly the pain ceased.
Their
limbs remained invisible for a few more days and it was necessary to apply this
balm several times to protect them from the pain which would otherwise recur.
It was
undoubtedly what had done, on the one hand the man who had sold the liquid and
who seemed very diminished, the guide of Joachim, and finally Joachim himself,
before being ejected from the abbey. as henchman of satan and to die in
excruciating pain in the forest, because there he was separated from the
counterpoison, like Father Barthélémy.
Our
friends escaped this terrible curse.
During
this time, under the guidance of Celeste, the crusader's secret object was unearthed. But
forty-eight hours had passed. Our friend, in her haste to accompany her
friends who were suffering, had not screwed the lid back on. She had only
put it down. The rest of the golden liquid had evaporated! There was
no longer any trace of it.
The
inside of the gold case lid showed how to craft the counterpoison, but not how
to recreate the golden liquid. No one has found the precious recipe.
