The Wolf and the Snake (English version)

Chapter 36

When Sordello regains consciousness in the dingy room, his head is in excruciating pain, and his stomach wound hurts like hell.

Memories come back to him little by little.

He was certain of taming this angel-faced whore, except she stabbed him like an ox. He also remembers that he tried to cut her pretty neck in retaliation. But alas, she fought back.

He still managed to drive a dagger into this bitch's back.

And apparently, she managed to get away, leaving him for dead.

He's sure he didn't miss her.

She must be hiding in the harbor, seriously injured or already dead. The troubadour gets up painfully; he's too badly hurt to find and finish her off if necessary.

But with good fortune, a physician will get him back on his feet to flee far from Provence. Discovering Ada of Chasseney bled out, the count will have him hunted like a wilder beast.

Sordello remembers that Paulet spoke of a large hospital in Marseille, marking the limit between the lower city and the bishop's city. He doesn't know Marseille well, but finding this place is imperative. He tears a sheet to improvise a bandage on his stomach. Then shaky, haggard, bloodless, he starts to walk.

He has no desire to die tonight.

Hugging the walls to avoid the lookout, he wanders around for a while before knocking on the door of St. Martha's monastery as hard as he can, praying to the devil that fucking monks don't be asleep. The heavy door opens with a metallic squeaking, cracking his poor brain a little more.

But relieved, the troubadour falls into the clerics' arms. Once pampered and carefully sewn up, he tells them that some vile thieves robbed him and threw him half-dead on the pavement.

The brave clerics cross themselves and grumble that the count and his sergeants aren't protecting the honest people enough. Petrified by anguish and fear, Sordello prefers not to think about what the king's brother will do to him if he manages to catch him.

In Italy, he witnessed the torture of a poor boy.

The tanner and his son took off his clothes, then tied the condemned man in front of the crowd. He was naked, head down, arms and legs spread. Women laughed at him because of his suddenly, unfortunately, erect sex. The tanner and his son seized this opportunity to provide a distraction for the rabble. The two torturers had tiny, sharp knives. While the father cut the man at the feet, his evil son cut the skin on the victim's sex and slowly pulled to uncover the entire penis.

The condemned man cried out in agony!

He was a handsome boy, a young knight without money, who had dared to seduce the wife of one of the wealthy city lords. The outraged husband had a front-row seat to watch the awful spectacle. Right next to him, his beautiful wife was showing with dry eyes the martyred body of her lover. She was a gorgeous little whore, like this Ada of Chasseney.

The poor boy howled for a long time because the tanners were skillful enough to skin him from head to toe while leaving him alive.

Shivering, Sordello chases away these nightmarish images haunting him. His head hurts much less, but his wound remains painful.

Terrified, he hears the count's sergeants entering the hospital.

But he feels strong enough to borrow some clothes and stagger out of the hospital.

He still has so many beautiful songs to write.

And if he gets out of this wasps' nest alive, the troubadour swears not to rave about the angelic face of a filthy whore.

Never again!

***