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Footprints In The Sea Vol 3 Chapter 1 (46) free porn video
Footprints in the Sea Volume 3
Chapter 1 (46)
The Enchanted Island
By
Frances Penwiddy
Copyright©Frances Penwiddy 2015
The characters in this novel are fictitious and any resemblance to
persons living or dead is coincidental.
Footprints in the Sea is not suitable reading material for minors.
The Chapter numbers of Vol 3 continue from where Volume 2 ended. If you
have not read Volumes 1 and 2, it is recommended that you do so before
starting Volume 3.
Reprise from where the story ended in Volume 2
Chapter 45
I was so tired when I eventually went to bed. So much to do, so many
people to see, meetings, statements to be prepared... but I did
eventually manage to close my eyes and lulled by the soft reassuring
breathing of the man I loved so much, the man who had shielded me, stood
at my side and had always been there when I had reached out for him, I
fell into a deep sleep...
...I don't know how long I had been asleep but for a good while...
The house was quiet and the soft glow of moonlight bathed the bedroom
and she stood there quietly, not speaking just looking at me a sweet,
comforting smile on her face. Dressed in a moon-glow white silk robe I
thought at first it was an angel. I glanced at Will but he was still
asleep his regular breathing barely audible. I looked back to the woman
and slipped my hand from beneath the bedclothes and held a finger to my
lips less she speak and awaken him. She nodded and held her hand out to
me, "Come, Charlotte, come and we will sit in the chairs beside the
window," she whispered, "And there we can speak without disturbing him."
I slipped out of the bed and barefooted walked to her and took her hand
in mine. My nightdress was white silk, ankle length and generous in its
Empire cut and the gown the woman wore was of a similar style.
"You know me?" she asked.
I studied her face in the moonlight and it was familiar and for a moment
I couldn't place where I had seen the likeness before and then it came
to me the painting I had seen, "Penelopeia? Penelopeia of the Odyssey"
She nodded. "Like your Penelope and so called by many."
"But your face is so like hers, perhaps a little older."
She smiled. "By twelve years, many of which I spent weaving and
unweaving a shroud. Yes twelve years older in terms of body age but by
the passing of time, eons."
"The shroud was for Odysseus."
She nodded. "For Odysseus."
"But he came back."
"He came back to me and my child and we are still together and had no
need of the shroud. Shall we sit?"
We made ourselves comfortable but her likeness to Penny still intrigued
me, "Penny is your child as well?"
"No, just a young woman, a troubled young woman that I was told about,
another daughter that I yearned for."
"So why have you come to me, she sleeps in another room?"
"Yes, I know and I did visit her, to see her, to see her sleeping
peacefully with a smile on her face but I did not speak. It is you I
have come to see."
"Oh."
Penelopeia smiled. "Before Penny came here to your house she was a
troubled girl and I went deep into the forest seeking a dryad, a dryad I
could call on for help but there were none, they are such shy creatures.
I was on the point of giving up and perhaps asking Zeus himself for help
but Artemis met me and told me I had no need of Zeus or a dryad. She
told me of a child of Undine the water sprite, a child who, like Artemis
herself, though a huntress, cared for wild animals and would not see
them harmed needlessly and also a child of Hermaphroditus as is Penny.
"Penelope is a mortal," Artemis reminded me, "And it requires a mortal
woman to help her, to give her hope, to show her how to accept and
embrace who she is. A mortal woman who now needs help herself and the
name she gave me was yours."
"But I have no need of help, not the help one would expect of a nymph,
dryad or even a goddess."
"Not now, not here in this house or even in the Britannic Archipelago,
but soon you will need our help."
"You're frightening me."
She reached across and took my hands in hers, "There is no need of fear.
One like yourself who has risked her own life to save others, who
reached out to a young woman who was lost and showed her the way home is
someone that the gods are obliged to protect. That is the task we have
been given. Do you remember the glade on the island, the glade where
you found your fawn and discovered some of the magic of your island."
"Yes, I'll never forget it and when I go back, it is one of the places I
shall visit on my first day."
Penelopeia smiled. "You made a law for the mortals, a law forbidding the
killing of deer?"
"Yes, I remember."
"You touched Artemis's heart and then you helped a child and that too
touched her heart and that is why she has sent me. I in my turn have
told Odysseus that he must go to your island and protect you against
those who will come to harm you. Undine will also be there, her spirit
hiding in the waterfall and if she thinks it necessary, Artemis herself
will also be near. Have no fear Charlotte, there are those in the lands
of myth and magic who love you."
"But you can't send Odysseus, look how long it took him to return the
last time he left you to carry out his tasks."
"But this time he will have Artemis and Undine both of whom carry great
beauty and when Odysseus has completed his task, those two will charm
Poseidon who in turn will return my husband in a single day. Why do you
think the goddesses are so beautiful, it allows them to rule Olympus and
yet let the men think they do it?"
I lifted a fold of my nightgown and stroked it as the fear left me,
"Guile, beauty and the industrious work of the silkworm, they are the
weapons of true power, Penelopeia."
"As they have been since Eve. In the morning, your head will remember
my visit as a dream but your heart will know otherwise, farewell,
Charlie Mermaid."
"I had such a strange dream, the night after Penny and Morris went to
the model village on their first date," I said as I turned from the
window after watching the runway at RAF Northolt fall away and vanish
beneath the cloud cover.
"About me?"
I smiled at him and reached for his hand, "Not directly but you are
involved."
"It sounds ominous."
"No, the opposite really. Reassuring is a better word but it was only a
dream so I suppose it doesn't really matter does it?"
Will turned in his seat and studied my face for a moment, "You don't
sound so certain. Tell me about the dream?"
"It was about the island and us. I dreamed I was visited by one of the
ancient spirits, a Greek mythical legend, though I'm beginning to have
doubts about the mythical bit. It was Penelopeia the wife of Odysseus,
the warrior who took ten years after the Battle of Troy to find his way
home and had to fire an arrow that penetrated a row of axe heads before
she would believe it was truly him."
"I remember the story from Homer, The Odyssey and she had remained
faithful to him for all those years."
"That's right. She told me she was walking in the forest looking for a
dryad to send to Earth to help our Penny to find her way in life. She
couldn't find one and was about to give up when Artemis, the Goddess of
the forests. The huntress and protector of wild animals and children
met her. Artemis told her it was of no use sending a dryad, Penny
needed a mortal woman to help her so Penelopeia came down to visit and
explained why she had sent Penny to me."
"She did the right thing then didn't she?"
I smiled. "I think so, Penny does seem to be happy now but let me finish
telling you about the dream. Penelopeia said there were going to be
threats, dangers coming to the island but I wasn't to worry because she
was sending her husband to look after us and he would have Undine as
backup and we would be okay and weren't to be frightened."
He started to stroke my wrist with his free hand, "I'm not frightened, I
have Charlie Mermaid to look after me and she has the power of Mount
Olympus backing her, why should I be frightened."
"You're mocking me."
"No. I have been enchanted by you for a long time and I wouldn't mock
anything that I have come to love so much."
I nodded. "Good because I want to make a new law. We mustn't allow
anybody to cut down oak or ash trees because there might be a dryad
living in one. In fact there might be dryads living in all the trees."
"We'll have to cut down some of them from time to time, we'll need them
for wood and clearing land."
"Well we must make sure that a new tree is planted every time we cut one
down."
"Emma, Liz and Faye will make sure of that, just tell them about the
water sprites, nymphs and dryads and they'll set themselves up as
protectors of all endangered fairy creatures."
Volume 3
The Enchanted Island
Introduction
Having completed her operation in England, Charlotte and Will return to
their island in the South Pacific. There is a rush to familiarise
themselves with the progress made in their absence, make new friends and
renew old acquaintances.
Whilst Charlotte is doing this, she makes her first of a chain of
discoveries, a hoard of laundered currency and packages of uncut heroin!
Then a trip to the scientific laboratories on the south side of
Charlotte Island leads to the second discovery; over twelve thousand
miles away from where they should be, evidence of an early settlement is
discovered with Anglo Celtic Iron Age roundhouses, altar stones and
jewellery dating back to a time before the first Roman invasion of
Britain!
Shortly after this and whilst on her honeymoon with Will, Charlotte
finds a letter written by the settlers who built their original house
and two or three days later a hidden casket with more connections to the
past!
But there are other discoveries to come. Is there a touch of magic
involved? Charlotte becomes suspicious that this might be connected to
her meeting in Berkshire with Penelopeia, ancient wife of Odysseus, the
Greek hero of Troy and are the water sprite Undine and Goddess Artemis
figments of her imagination, the early signs of a mental breakdown or
visitors from another dimension?
Perhaps it is a reaction to the events of the past eight months,
shipwrecked, marooned, her sexuality confused? Then a battle for her
life on the high seas and the biggest shock of all; discovering that all
her life she had been intersexed, a male and female sharing the same
brain and body and all of this followed by the recent string of
astonishing discoveries. Is that too much to ask of a person with XXY
chromosomes?
Chapter 46
Will and I sat at a highly polished, rectangular table on either side of
Sir Wilmot Martindale the representative from the Governor General's
office. Running down from our table were two others at which sat a rear
admiral from the New Zealand Defence Ministry, a senior civil servant
from Home Affairs, another from the Environmental Office and at the
second of the tables were a government constitutional lawyer, a chief
scientific advisor from the New Zealand Antarctic Survey team and the
police chief superintendent in charge of the drug investigation with a
representative from the Crown Prosecution Service at his side.
"This meeting has been called to discuss two matters of which one is
most urgent and the second, though very important will not suffer from
being delayed if it becomes necessary," began Sir Wilmot, "Charlotte
Broughton and William Devonshire are known to you and you have already
been formally introduced at the reception we held earlier so as they are
currently the recognised chief executives and have sovereign rights over
Charlotte Island I would ask them if we may proceed with the more urgent
business and that is the incident involving the MS Pacific Wanderer and
the motor cruiser operated by the South American drug smuggling
operation."
He looked at me and I nodded. "This is being handled by Mr. Devonshire
so I will defer to him."
"Right." Will began, "Miss Broughton and I have both made our statements
to Chief Superintendent Stone's officers and so, I believe, have Doctor
and Mrs Williams. I cannot speak for the other witnesses on board
Pacific Wanderer at the time of the action so I think it best at this
stage if I ask him to present us with an update."
I left the meeting after we had gone into the details of the court case
and left Will to negotiate on our behalf when they got down to the
business of the island's status and its relationship with New Zealand.
I knew the rough details but as for the nitty gritty of protocols and
relationships with other nations, I was lost. I understood that New
Zealand would speak on our behalf on the international stage and had
undertook the responsibilities of defence and stuff like that and we had
agreed that The Queen as Head of State of New Zealand would also be the
Head of State for the island and that the Governor General of New
Zealand in her capacity of the Queen's Representative would need to
appoint somebody to represent her. That would be a person who would
need to live on the island, but I had ideas about that so wasn't unduly
worried.
I was woken from my thoughts as I walked through the reception area of
the Governor General's office. "Commander Broughton, I'm your escort
when you are alone." A tall, rather hard looking character offered me
an identity wallet with his picture and a badge from the Governor
General's office but as tough looking as he was he was a good looking
man.
"I'm in civvies so I'm Miss Broughton at the moment, well until I get
married, then I'll become Mrs. Devonshire and when they ratify the
status of the island, I don't know who I'll be. Lady Devonshire,
Empress Charlotte or just the Hon, Charlotte Devonshire, Lady Protector
of the Sovereign State of Charlotte Island."
He smiled and walked alongside me towards the doors, already being held
open by a security man, "We have a car waiting for you and I will be
nearby all the time until this court case is over."
"What about Will, I mean Mr. Devonshire?"
"He's ex special forces and only warrants an unmarked police car."
I nodded. "He's wearing lace-up shoes and can defend himself so he'll be
okay. What about the other witnesses?"
"All being taken care of." I smiled a thank you at the security man to
acknowledge his salute and allowed my guardian to steer me towards a
Mercedes. He glanced around quickly, opened the door and I stepped in
and sat on the offside of the rear seat and he followed but sat on the
nearside of the seats facing me. "You're returning to your hotel?"
"Yes please."
The car pulled away and for a few seconds my guardian looked out of the
rear window and then spoke into a button microphone on his lapel. "On
our way to the hotel and all clear," and returned his attention to me.
"Sorry about the performance but it is necessary."
"That's okay, I had something similar in England. Is it really needed?"
"New Zealand attracts a large number of visitors and though our border
checks are thorough, there's always a small chance that somebody might
slip through the net and we know they have one or two people working for
them here even though they are only minor players. If we thought there
was a real chance of an attempt on you, there would have been a police
car in front and another behind."
"The sooner this court case is over, the better."
"You'll still have a chauffeured limousine though because then you'll be
a visiting state dignitary."
"That's okay, it will save me the trouble of finding a cab at busy
times."
We arrived at my hotel and I allowed him out first so he could catch me
when I swooned if a tough character approached us and he escorted me
through to the hotel residents' saloon. "I won't be far away and if you
do decide to leave the hotel, let the concierge know and we'll bring the
car round to the main entrance. There's one of our blokes looking after
Dr and Mrs Williams so I'm not needed in here," and with a nod he walked
off speaking quietly into his button microphone.
"Does Will know you're seeing a tall dark handsome stranger?" asked
Gwyneth as soon as I joined them.
"He wouldn't care, he's happier chatting about democracy, protocols and
constitutions with his New Zealand mates, probably chatting about the
Rugby World Cup as well."
"And you got bored and ducked out of the meeting?" asked David with a
smile.
"It wasn't my idea. It was Wilmot, the man standing in for the
Governor-General. I think it had something to do with the yawn I
couldn't control when the policeman finished talking."
"And you protested?" grinned Gwyneth.
"Certainly not, Wilmot was most diplomatic and said, as I had other
duties to undertake and if I was agreeable to the acting premier
speaking on my behalf and on behalf of the Legislative Council he saw no
reason to detain me unnecessarily as I had such a busy schedule."
"Busy schedule?" asked David.
"Preparing for a state occasion of course. An important state occasion
that will, over time, have considerable influence on the manner in which
Charlotte Island affairs will be conducted."
"Wedding dresses, weddings and bridesmaids," explained Gwyneth.
"Ah yes, of course but you won't have time for that today."
"Tomorrow. Today I am caring for the needs of my loyal subjects, where
are the other three and their loved ones?"
"Shopping of course," Gwyneth caught the eye of a waiter, "Could we have
another pot of tea please."
"And cakes, a mixed selection if you would. And perhaps you would ask
the tall gentleman sitting at the table close to the door, the man in
the dark suit if he would like something."
"Of course your Ladyship, will he be joining you?"
"I don't think so, he'll prefer to sit where he is, but ask him if he
would prefer a sandwich instead of cakes."
Gwyneth was grinning, "Your Ladyship?"
"Of course, I'm a head of state now. The officials keep calling me
Commander and most of the others are calling me Miss Broughton or Your
Ladyship. Haven't you seen the courtesy flags outside the hotel?"
"No, I didn't take much notice."
"There's the New Zealand flag, the Stars and Stripes, The Union Jack,
the Australian flag and right in the middle is the Charlotte Island
Flag, it's the same as the New Zealand Flag with a dusky dolphin in a
curved leap in the middle of the Southern Cross. Will arranged it
whilst we were in London and once it was approved by the College of
Heralds and the New Zealand Government, they had some made. There's one
on Pacific Wanderer another big one at the island and a few others
stored at the island in the cave. The Stars and Stripes is for Faye I
expect and the Union Jack for you, Liz and Emma."
David laughed, "I doubt it's for us specifically, there are other guests
from the countries you mentioned who are staying here and it's normal
practice for larger hotels to fly the flags of the nations represented
in their guest list."
"What about the Charlotte Island Flag, I suppose that's for all of us as
well. There's Will and I, you and Gwyneth, and Liz, Emma and Faye they
are all entitled to Charlotte Island nationality, they have lived on the
island for three months which is what you need to do. All the others
weren't residents technically, they were servicemen in the navy."
"Well whose the man you ordered tea and sandwiches for?"
"You bodyguard, didn't you notice him?" They both shook their heads.
"He's the only one who looks like a bodyguard, we'll know when he stands
up and walks, he'll have a limp."
"Why would he have a limp, he can't be disabled if he's a bodyguard?"
asked Gwyneth.
"It's because he probably has a grenade launcher hanging down inside his
trouser leg."
There was the sound of laughter coming from the reception lobby and a
worried assistant manager approached our table, "Lady Charlotte, Dr. and
Mrs. Williams, some of our other guests have voiced their intention of
joining you for tea?"
"Three men and three women, rather disreputable types, noisy, not the
sort of people we might wish to share a table with?" I asked.
The assistant manager looked nervously over his shoulder, "I would not
go so far as describing them as disreputable but they are certainly
noisy and I suspect they are not members of the diplomatic corps."
"I should hope not indeed. Are they drunk or just in a merry but sober
mood."
The assistant manager looked horrified, "Lady Charlotte I assure you
that had we suspected they were drunk they would have been removed from
the hotel or as guests, very firmly escorted to their rooms and told to
quieten down or settle their bills and leave."
"Quite right but they can join us and if they continue to make a
nuisance of themselves, I'll have them executed under Charlotte Island
Sovereign Laws. We will need a larger table though and ask them to
leave their bags and packages with one of your people."
"Are you sure they won't disrupt you own tea?"
"Certain, none of them would dare upset me. You'd best lay a place for
Premier Devonshire he may also join us later if he completes his
business with the Governor General."
He raised a hand and signalled one of the waiters, "Set the Queen
Elizabeth table for Lady Charlotte's party please and ask the Ma?tre-D
to see me." He returned his attention to me, "For ten people, Lady
Charlotte? You at the top and Premier Devonshire at the bottom?"
"Ten people I expect but that depends on the Premier arriving and just
set it for an informal gathering if you would. We shall stay and have
tea and then we must go to our rooms to rest and prepare for dinner this
evening."
"A table for ten again?"
"If you would be so kind." And with a noticeable bow of the head he
left to make the arrangements and oversee the setting of the Queen
Elizabeth table. Gwyneth was grinning all over her face and David was
chuckling. "You are really shoving your diplomatic clout about now."
"And I'd better make sure my loyal bloody subjects behave themselves as
well and you can stop grinning Gwyneth or I'll make sure your Maid of
Honour frock has a hem six inches above the knee."
"If you do, me and Kate will get up and do the can-can half way through
the ceremony."
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The complete version of Footprints in the Sea Vol 3 will be available on
Amazon Kindle on or shortly before July 1, 2017
Volumes 1 and 2 are already published
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