Human dimension reduction

The Tower of London and the Palace of Westminster are not far away. Both are located on the banks of the Thames. Standing on the tower of the Palace of Westminster, you can see several iconic watchtowers of the Tower of London.

Although this building is named "Tower", it is actually a set of buildings covering an area of ​​about [-] acres. William I built this military fortress in order to control the city of London. There are observatories, churches, prisons, and even a small zoo and a small dock within the tall walls. For hundreds of years, the Tower of London has been one of the most important palaces of the king. The supporting facilities can't keep up, and it has gradually become the prison where important royal family members are imprisoned in people's impression.

Richard looked out from the gap in the curtain, and the knight beside the carriage watched his every move vigilantly, as if afraid that the young Duke of York would do something irrational.

But soon, the curtain was lowered, and through a heavy and narrow iron-wooden gate, the carriage grunted and rolled over the white gravel that lay on the ground of the atrium, and a wide open space was surrounded by square towers. , in the center of the open space is a strange wooden platform.

The carriage stopped, and no one went to help the Duke of York, and of course Richard didn't need their help.

He jumped out of the carriage, and his eyes fell on the abrupt high platform in the white sandstone. His eyes were cold. This high platform is the guillotine of the Tower of London. In order to maintain the dignity of the royal family, members of the royal family who have committed serious crimes do not have to be seen by everyone. Under the execution, this hidden guillotine is the last mercy left to them.

Richard's eyes were quickly removed from the guillotine. A knight climbed into the carriage and carried the king who was still unconscious. Several others surrounded him and Richard, half-oppressively facing it. Go to a tower.

Obviously, the Duke of Gloucester did not let his nephews come here to enjoy themselves. The residence he chose for them was far away from the palaces specially built for the king at the rear, but a three-story stone tower on one side of the atrium. The tower was also sometimes used to hold prisoners who were about to be executed.

The heavy and narrow door at the bottom of the tower opened. This door can only accommodate one person. Behind the door is a deep and cold tunnel. The steam pipes and brass boilers have not yet covered the place. It is like a ghost wandering in the ancient times. Similarly, kerosene lamps are lit on the wall of the corridor where only two people can walk side by side, and torches are still inserted at the corner. Because people entered, the airflow rolled the flames, casting a slender shadow on the dark wall that reached the zenith.

The light in the tower is very bad. The Tower of London was originally a military fortress built for defense and battle. For safety, the architects chose thick walls for the Tower of London, and at the same time greatly reduced the design of windows. The windows are placed in extremely high positions, only a little light can leak in, preventing enemies from climbing in through the windows.

The environment next to the Thames makes the tower very dark and damp, and there are even thin water stains on the ground.

They walked up the winding stone stairs to the second floor, and the caretaker with the glass gas lamp obviously knew who the person was about to move in. He led the way with a low eyebrow and did not say a word from the beginning to the end. .

The second floor is slightly better than the first floor, at least it is no longer so humid and cold. They came to the room at the end of the passage—actually, they didn’t go very far—the guard opened it with a rusty iron key. The iron gate of the fence, and another key was used to open the heavy wooden door of the back door, revealing the small room to everyone.

It is not impossible to say it is a room, or maybe a cell.

There is a four-poster bed of a small size in one corner of the room, two chairs and a table in front of the window, the fireplace in the corner has been lit to dissipate the musty smell and damp smell, and a few dogs are placed on the other side The big box was sorted out by the maids yesterday, and it was left there intact.

At any rate, the furniture inside did not cut corners, and was configured according to the identity of the king, Richard thought bitterly.

The knight went in, put the king on his back on the bed, exchanged glances with his companions, and then walked out silently. The door behind Richard was shut with a bang, followed by the clanging of chains. .

The Duke of York turned around and looked at the wooden door that had appeared countless times in his dreams. There was a small door more than a foot long and wide in the middle of the wooden door. The guard opened the small door with a click and said to the Duke of York who was looking at him: "Your Highness, I will deliver the lunch for you and His Majesty the King on time, please rest well."

At this time, another face squeezed him away, and the leading knight stared at Richard for two seconds, and said in an emotionless tone: "Your Excellency the Duke ordered me to convey that if His Majesty the King needs a priest, they will wait downstairs .”

After speaking, before Richard could respond, the small door clicked shut again.

So in this small room, only the crackling sound of burning firewood remained.

Richard covered Edward on the bed with a quilt, dragged a chair, walked to the edge of the bed and sat down, lowered his head and began to look at the pale face in a daze. Looking at it, he suddenly felt a little cold, so he rustled He quickly took off his coat and shoes, sneaked into the quilt lightly, and put his face on the boy's cold shoulder.

"Wake up quickly..."

The child's voice was muffled under the blanket.

Richard forgot how long he had been asleep. He was awakened by a harsh creaking sound. The little door opened, and the watchman pushed a tray in from the outside, and put it on a shelf under the little door, without saying a word. Said and closed the small door.

Richard lay on the warm bed for a while before he climbed down to get their lunch. On the tray were only a jug of water and two rough pieces of black bread. There was no fine sugar sprinkled on the bread, and there was no honey or cream. The thorns were not removed from the grain, and beside the bread was a wooden bowl with some pieces of meat in it, and the fat on it had turned into white putty.

There was no change on Richard's face when he saw these things. He walked to the table peacefully carrying these things, found a long and thin wooden stick from the firewood pile, broke open the bread, held the cold roast meat, and stuck it in the Put it on a wooden stick and bake it on the fire.

The taste of these things is really not flattering, Richard swallowed his own portion of food with difficulty, baked another piece of bread, put it in a wooden bowl, soaked it in clear water to make a paste, climbed into the bed and fed it bit by bit his king.

The only thing that made him happy was that the little king still had an instinctive swallowing response, otherwise he wouldn't know what to do.

He put the remaining half of the bread on the table, and put the tray back on the backing board behind the small door.

The windows on the second floor faced the Thames River, and he could see passers-by passing by in a hurry on the street. Some people looked up inadvertently, and when they saw the face of the child behind the window, they would stop and stare at him in surprise, but they He quickly remembered what this place was, and his surprised face immediately turned into fear and avoidance.

The sky darkened quickly, and rainwater began to float outside the window. The windows of the Tower of London were completely sealed, which prevented the intrusion of the rainwater. Cheese and two apples, Richard grinded the two apples with a spoon into apple puree, and fed them all to the king along with the cheese.

The fire in the fireplace provided all the light and temperature in the room. Richard went to bed early and fell into a deep sleep holding Edward's hand, but he was awakened again in the middle of the night. Like the shrill howl of a banshee, the rain beat frantically against the windows, making a continuous thud.

This voice is really frightening. If a real child was here, he might have been frightened to cry by the environment, but Richard was not an innocent child. He looked at the dark night—of course Seeing nothing, he stretched out his hand and sensed the sharp drop in the temperature in the air, so he jumped off the bed, stuffed several pieces of firewood into the fireplace, and took out a few thick cloaks from the box, covering them all. bed.

Just as he was doing this, another movement caught his attention.

Mixed in the violent wind and rain, like a devil tap dancing...

Richard's eyes froze, this was not his illusion, someone was really approaching!

The footsteps in the corridor became louder and louder, as if a group of people were approaching here quickly, the stone walls and the ground trembled slightly, the next second, someone hammered the wooden door hard, and shouted violently: "Open it!" it!"

The keys jingled, and the wooden door, which had been closed in the morning, was opened again, and behind it stood a great crowd, with bright lanterns in their hands and swords in the other, and the light flooded into the dim little room, Richard tilted his head involuntarily.

However, in this brief glance, he still saw the appearance of the leader.

Tall body, with a dark blue cloak on his shoulders, dark golden hair drooping on his shoulders, his clothes soaked in rainwater were still dripping down, and after a while, a small puddle formed on the ground .

Duke of Gloucester.

"Richard," the Duke read out his nephew's name in a low and slow voice, "is he awake?"

He asked "Is he awake?", but there was no emotion in his tone. Richard thought, what he actually wanted to ask was "Is he dead?"

"No," Richard replied coldly, "not awake, but not dead either."

As he said that, the Duke of York turned his head and looked at his relatives who were connected with his blood with emerald light green pupils: "It's very windy and windy outside. Did you come here at night just to care about Brother Wang?"

The Duke of Gloucester looked at the little king on the bed from a distance, and as if he was comforted by the other person's complexion and pale face, he turned his gaze to his little nephew: "Richard, my dear Richard, you and your Brother Wang is always inseparable, and now I have a confusion that makes me toss and turn, and I have to brave such a big wind and rain to come to see you."

Richard was expressionless.

"Just this afternoon, the Earl of Essex, who was appointed by your brother, and all his guards disappeared. Do you know where they are?" the Duke of Gloucester asked, with the sharpness of a hawk His eyes were fixed on the little child, not letting go of the slightest change in his face.

But he was a little disappointed, the other party was always like a frozen stone statue, frozen in despair and numbness.

"Oh, really," Richard sneered, "another despicable traitor, who is in a hurry to escape from the dying king and duke—just like those maids, thank you Uncle Wang for the news, thank you for telling me Me, what kind of situation we have fallen into, do you have anything else to say?"

The Duke of Gloucester frowned: "Defected?"

This answer was ruled out by him from the very beginning. For some reason, he always felt that things were not that simple. Maybe the little king left him with too much fear, and the king was poisoned and unconscious too easily, and the victory came so easily. It was so easy that the Duke of Gloucester felt uneasy in his heart.

But it was true that the king was poisoned and comatose, and it was true that his life was hanging by a thread. All the court physicians came to the conclusion that the king had eaten belladonna. This conclusion cannot be false.

Everyone knows what happens to people who eat belladonna, the king is dying.

Maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow, maybe just tonight.

Gloucester suddenly felt that his attitude as if he was facing a big enemy was a bit ridiculous. He was actually afraid of a child who was only 13 years old and was about to die?

He had proved to be the winner in the end, he would be King of York, and the child was about to die in this dim Tower of London, buried with the title of Prince instead of King.

The Duke of Gloucester thought so, and felt that he was making a big fuss. After all, he was only a 13-year-old child. No matter how smart he was, how could he be so smart?Could it be possible to threaten him with a few people who didn't know where to go?

The tense nerves slowly eased, the Duke looked down at the surrounding environment, and his eyes stopped on the two pieces of black bread on the table: "I hope you didn't lie to me, dear Richard, and you don't have to worry about them It is understandable to escape the sadness."

Richard raised his eyelids and looked at him, his lips moved, showing a sneer expression: "Yes, I understand."

Gloucester graciously forgave the offence, and led the knights out.

The wooden door was closed, and the room was once again filled with the monotonous sound of wind and rain.

Richard put the last cloak in his hand on the bed. His hands were covered with red marks from his own pinch just now, and his back was wet with sweat.

He bent down, like a kitten whose fur was wet by the rain, curled up beside his master cuddly, and after a while, he rubbed against his master's chest again, listening to the regular heartbeat, slowly fell into a dream.

For the next two days they seemed to be forgotten by everyone, and the watchman brought bread and water on time, but nothing else.

In the afternoon of the third day, the heavy rain subsided, and the sky was still gloomy like dusk. There was a huge roar in the distance. The roars and shouts of countless people mixed with the sound of swords clashing resounded through London, and the short rhythm of flintlock guns was mixed with it. , the rain covered the smell of black powder, and corpses in military uniform appeared on the Thames.

Richard's forehead was pressed against the window, and he could make out the clothes the corpse was wearing, bearing the white rose of House Lancaster.

There was a loud bang that exploded, and the bomb blasted open the door somewhere. The aftermath of the explosion ignited the house and the haystack. Even the rain could not pour out the ignited fire. A small half of the sky was covered.

Richard stared blankly at this scene, a cold hand suddenly pressed his shoulder, and the cold light golden hair fell on his cheek, and a soft and hoarse voice sounded: "Like a red rose, very beautiful, Yes or no?"

The man who had been in a coma for many days was standing beside him, looking out the window and smiling, his cheeks were terribly thin, his pale green eyes were as bright as diamonds, his smile was a bit weird, as if he was caught by this rare sight Shocked by the beautiful scenery, it seems to be intoxicated by this bloody grand scene.

He has just woken up, and he is clearly in the cell of the Tower of London, but he is arrogantly watching the song and dance drama presented by his subjects like a monarch.

Everything is under his control.

For some reason, Richard trembled a little. He relied on instinct, stared at the other side's face, and murmured: "...Yes, this is beautiful...My Majesty the King."