Oubliette

"Today and tomorrow I'll be with you all the time, Hubert."

"I will appreciate that, particularly if you give me two kisses for each one from Rebecca."

"Or even more?"

Hermione demonstrated by kissing me several times before we got into the Range Rover. We drove back to the piggery.

Inside the Portacabin there was frantic activity. The students were studying detailed printouts and marking features with highlighters. I was surprised that Hermione left me to be hugged and kissed by Rebecca while she spoke to some of the women students.

Rebecca was still hugging me.

"Hubert? This afternoon we have started on the magnetic anomaly detection. We should finish tomorrow and then start with the ground penetrating radar. The majority of the students won't arrive until Wednesday morning. By then I should have decided where to start the first trench."

Hermione joined us and eased Rebecca's arms from around my waist before hugging me herself. Rebecca carried on talking as isf nothing had happened.

"On Monday morning the two archivists will arrive, Hubert. Can you collect them at nine am and show them the archives?"

"Of course, Rebecca."

"Thank you. Anne and Mary can read Latin and medieval English and French. If there is anything in the archives, they should find it."

"But not easily, Rebecca. There are thousands of documents that haven't been catalogued."

"I'll ask them to do that as well, and scan everything. They will have an A3 scanner and a computer. It will make their work easier if they produce a catalogue as they go."

"The family should be grateful, Rebecca," I said, "But most of them won't care. They're interested in making money today, not bothered about the family's history."

"But you are, Hubert?"

"Yes, Rebecca. That's why my grandfather gave me the job of working with you."

Despite Hermione's arms around me, Rebecca kissed me.

"I appreciate someone who understands, Hubert."

She was called away by one of the students. Hermione swung me around and kissed me fiercely.

"I don't mind Rebecca's hugs and kisses while I'm with you, Hubert, but please be careful next week."

"I will be, Hermione. What I want is you. I owe Rebecca for showing that I want and need my fiancée and that I enjoy her kisses."

Rebecca returned.

"Hubert, Hermione? If you come with me I can show you on the ground what you couldn't see on the computer..."

We followed her to the castle's site. A couple of students were walking magnetic anomaly detectors around the outside of the remaining castle walls.

"We're not sure just how far the defences went," Rebecca explained. "We don't expect to find anything out here, but if we do that could be interesting. Tomorrow we will do inside the castle remains and then follow with the ground penetrating radar."

We walked into the centre of what had been the castle. It just looked like uneven turf.

"Look along there," Rebecca suggested. "That is a straight line, probably the South wall of the hall. And there? The East wall. The West wall and North wall are more difficult to see but we're sure they are here. But we are sure about something else."

She walked about ten feet beyond where she had said the East wall would be.

"There is a circular depression here, possibly surrounded by a wall, probably with a roof originally. This must be the castle's well. If it is and the instruments confirm that? This will be one of the first places we dig. People threw all sorts of things down a well, particularly a disused one. There should be datable strata. But most ought to be after the Civil War because the well would have been cleaned out when the castle was being used."

We walked around the remains of the walls. Rebecca pointed out where the original work had been repaired during the Civil War. But both the original and the repaired versions were not massive defences. By the time of the Civil War a few medium sized cannon could have breached them in hours. But that was not their intention -- just to defend against a few dozen lightly armed renegade soldiers. For that they would have been strong enough to encourage them to try somewhere else. As far as I knew, no one had ever tried.

Even when first built any army could have scaled the walls and wouldn't have needed siege engines, just a few dozen ladders. During the Civil War, for which there were records I could read, the total defenders were fewer than thirty men armed with muskets. The walls were not substantial enough to mount cannon, and the family didn't have any.

Rebecca left us by the piggery to go in and organise her students. I would be back tomorrow morning to meet the archivists.

After I had driven Hermione to her home and been kissed frequently, I returned home and composed a number of emails, some about the Dower House; some about facilities for Rebecca and the students. I went to bed happy that I had started things moving. Monday afternoon would reveal what effects my emails had produced.

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On Monday morning I arrived at the piggery just before nine. Rebecca came out with the two archivists, Anne and Mary. I expected to be kissed by Rebecca and I was but Anne and Mary kissed me too.

One we were in the archives room, I helped them to set up their computers and scanner. When we had done that. We sat down with coffee.

"Hubert?" Anne said. "Your Hermione asked the students yesterday to protect you from Rebecca. They told us this morning. As well as being archivists, we are here to defend you to make sure Rebecca doesn't go too far. She shouldn't because that could jeopardise the whole project."

"But what that means, Hubert," Mary said, "Is that all of the time you are on site this week, one of other of us will be beside you to make sure Rebecca doesn't have you to herself."

"Thank you, I think." I said, "But what does that mean in practice?"

"This," Anne said as she kissed me. She swung me around so Mary could kiss me too.

"Hermione has asked that ALL the female students should take turns in kissing you during the week so that Rebecca knows she has competition," Mary added.

"But we two will do it more often," Anne said before both of them proved it.

"We aren't just doing it because Hermione asked," Mary said, "but also because we like Rebecca. She is hurting and is very vulnerable. She can't be kissed, or kiss a male student without getting herself in trouble, although many of the male students would be very willing. All she has is you, even though you are Hermione's. While she is hugging or kissing you she can forget that asshole of a boyfriend and I think you like having her in your arms."

"I do. If I wasn't engaged to Hermione? But I am and I love Hermione. If I can help Rebecca I will but I hope to have an alternative acceptable to Rebecca by next weekend. If so, we've only got to survive this week without Rebecca doing something silly."

"Which she could well do if left alone with you. We'll try to ensure she doesn't have the chance." Anne said.

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I left them to start their work. I had received answers to some of my emails which meant making appointments for the week. I wouldn't see Hermione until Wednesday evening when we would both be conducting classes at our local gym. Algy had told me he would be home on Friday evening and would be pleased to meet Rebecca on Saturday morning. I had sent him some pictures and videos of Rebecca and Algy seemed quite excited at the prospect of meeting Rebecca. He had described her as looking like a delightful passionate redhead, and with brains too, and that he was jealous of me. I could appreciate Algy's comment about brains. His recent girlfriend had been beautiful but I thought of her as a brainless upper-class twit, looking good but nothing behind the façade.

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By Wednesday evening over coffee at the gym, Hermione was able to tell me that she had been pleased with the archaeology students. They had been keeping her up-to-date about Rebecca's reaction to me and that she had rarely had even a few seconds alone with me.

I told her that the contractors had been over the Dower House with me and would be returning with the heritage body's staff next week. We had agreed what had to be done, and if they got agreement, it would cost about sixty thousand pounds. If they found anything else once they started, the price might increase, but should still be well within the hundred thousand pound budget.

At the end of the evening Hermione showed me that she wanted her fiancé and told me she hoped Algy would be the answer to Rebecca's hurt.

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The rest of the week I was often on site and close to Rebecca but with one or more female students always hovering close by. Work had started on the well and was about six feet down but so far everything had been 19th century rubbish. Rebecca told me they had found something in what had been a room in the gatehouse and that that would be excavated possibly by Friday evening. It was. Late on Friday I had a text message from Rebecca. Please would I meet her at the castle at eight thirty am on Saturday because she wanted to show me what had been found before she was busy with the students.

I was slightly concerned. Before agreeing to meet Rebecca I copied her message to Hermione and Algy. They agreed to come to the castle as soon as they could but probably wouldn't be there until nine am.

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When I met Rebecca on the Saturday morning she seemed distracted. She kissed me briefly on the cheek before I followed her into what had been the small room in one the gateway towers. There was a square of wood on the ground. Rebecca lifted it to show a deep hole.

"I think this is where your reluctant ancestor hid." Rebecca said. "It was an oubliette."

"An oubliette? What's that?"

"It was secure and very uncomfortable place to put a prisoner. The only access is from above. The prisoner would be lowered down and any food and water thrown down to them. It was inescapable because there would be no way the prisoner could climb out. Even if he could, there was a locked grate at the top. We saw it with ground penetrating radar. A couple of feet down there was a stone covering where the grate had been, now long rusted away. Once we lifted that stone, the whole space was clear. Let's have a look. We have checked that there are no noxious gases, but I left it for us to go inside first since it was your ancestor."

Rebecca unrolled a rope ladder that fell down into the hole.

"I'll go first, Hubert. You follow."

Rebecca climbed down into the hole, taking a portable lamp with her. I followed.

We looked around. For a prisoner this could have been miserable. But there was a bed with blankets, a couple of candelabra with the remains of candles in them, about six wine bottles, at least four still sealed, and traces of what might have been bread and cheese.

I used my mobile phone to take pictures.

"It won't work down here," Rachel said. "We couldn't get a signal anywhere on the castle site."

"That might have been true until yesterday, Rebecca," I said, "but the telecommunications contractors brought direct fibre to the Portacabins on Friday and installed a mobile repeating mast in the trees between here and the piggery."

While I had been speaking, I had composed a text message to Hermione to say exactly where we were. I hit send before showing Rebecca that we had a strong signal, even fifteen feet below ground. She hadn't seen me send the text. She was doing something by the rope ladder.

Suddenly she pulled at the ladder. It came down into the oubliette.

She turned to me and grabbed me for a passionate kiss.

"You're trapped here with me, Hubert." She said. "No one will find us for hours..."

"Wrong, Rebecca."

That was Algy's voice from above. He lowered a rope and slid down it.

"How? Who? Rebecca spluttered.

"Rebecca, meet my older brother Algy, actually Algeron. He has been wanting to see you."

"He has? Why?"

Algy grabbed Rebecca and kissed her. She didn't resist as he lifted her in his arms and kissed her again.

"Rebecca, I am here to rescue the damsel in distress -- you." Algy said.

"Not to rescue your brother?"

"No. He's just a brother. He can stay here for all I care but Hermione wants him. I have come for you."

He kissed her again before asking Hermione to pull up the rope ladder that he had fastened to the rope he had slid down. Algy had sat down on the bed and was holding Rebecca tightly as they kissed. I climbed out into Hermione's arms.

Algy and Rebecca seemed happy to stay where they were. It was at least a quarter of an hour before Algy pushed Rebecca up the rope ladder.

"Thank you, little brother," Algy said to me, "Rebecca is a glorious armful and even though I have rescued her from the oubliette, she's not getting away from me."

Rebecca might have protested but Algy just picked her up in his arms and walked away to sit on a loose piece of castle wall and kiss her into silence.

I found some more fallen masonry so that I could repeat the activity with Hermione.

Rebecca might have intended to trap me in the oubliette but she had been rescued and claimed by Algy. Over the next few weeks they got to know each other as the excavations progressed. Rebecca still kissed me, but only in gratitude. My elder brother, unattached and very willing, was an acceptable substitute.

The female students still kissed me, if less frequently. This time it was because Rebecca was now much happier, and so were they. They were grateful for the improved internet connection and the mobile phone coverage.

The archivists had found the account of the unwilling fiancée but the record did not show where she had hid. The evidence seemed to suggest that she had been in the oubliette because the things in that had been the right date.

At the base of the well there ere some broken Civil War era pistols and a whole heap of broken wine bottles. If the family had retreated into the castle, they had obviously taken most of their wine cellar too.

The excavations revealed the central hall and that it had been derelict long before the Civil War when a few wooden buildings had been erected. Overall, as I had expected, there weren't many finds because the whole complex had been used so rarely but there were enough to excite Rebecca, her students and their professor. Each new find meant that Rebecca attacked Algy, which he enjoyed but could have been awkward if I had been the target.

One evening the four of us went down into the oubliette with a takeaway meal and some bottles of wine. Algy didn't let Rebecca leave until she had accepted his proposal of marriage. Once she had, Hermione and I left them alone together. The damsel in distress, who had trapped herself and me in the oubliette, had to thank her rescuer before she was allowed to leave...

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