time-historical The Victorian Hero

[CardiMuscleman]

This was spawned by something that I have just written. Back in 2012 I wrote a version of "Around the World in Eighty Days" where I was able to take part in the story. When it came to rescuing Aouda from the worshippers of Kali I blindly agree to let Passepartout hypnotise me into becoming a Victorian Hero. He does so again, in my version of "Journey to the Centre of the Earth", where I clearly make an impression on Axel Lidenbrock (Otto's nephew) so that at the end of the story he stands up to his uncle and announces that he's going to marry his ward. In the third in the series based on "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" I find that Axel has written a pulp fiction magazine all about the Victorian Hero and this story is meant to be how that magazine's first edition would have looked like.

Chapter One

"Please, hurry my man, I fear that this storm is getting worse!"

As the coachman cracked the whip carrying the carriage of the Lady Southam, the storm that seemed to have been following them all the way from Coventry increased in intensity. For Lady Southam, it was the worse possible time to travel. She was heavily pregnant with Lord Southam's first child, a possible heir to the title, and although her doctor had permitted her travelling to their home in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside, the storm that was battering them seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Suddenly, without any warning, a streak of green filled the sky and a rock, the size of a melon, crashed into the road in front of them exploding and scaring the horses so much that it took every ounce of strength by the coachman and his skills to prevent the carriage from toppling over. Jumping down, he rushed to his passenger and said "Are you all right, my lady!". Lady Southam nodded and his concerned alleviated, the coachman investigated the now smoking hole in the road. As he peered into the hole, the rock at the bottom of it was still glowing green and gingerly fishing it out with a handkerchief he tossed it from hand to hand until it was cool enough to handle. Presenting it to Her Ladyship, he resumed his place and avoiding the hole in the road made top speed to Southam Hall.

Lord Southam was overjoyed to hear of his wife's safe arrival and to thank the coachman for his efforts, he presented him with a golden sovereign (more than the coachman would earn in a year). The coachman bowed and as he returned to his coach, he looked at the sovereign in delight but as he put it in his pocket and chuckled to himself he felt different. He felt stronger, stronger than the time when he wrestled Big Brute, the county's biggest all in fighting champion. As he cracked the whip and headed back to Leamington, his mind started to fill with wonders beyond his wildest imagination. He was inventing things that would revolutionise the world, he would become an engineer and bring his family out of the poverty they had been stuck in for centuries. As he roared with delight, his jacket started to bulge, he never thought for a moment that he would not be the only superman born that day.

Edited July 2, 2015 by CardiMuscleman

[muscle16a]

I like it!  Nice beginning.

 

I hesitate to even mention this, but I just cannot resist:  While getting a whole guinea as a tip would be a most unusual experience for a coachman, it is a bit of an exaggeration to say that a guinea is more than he would make in a year. 

One Guinea is worth (in the old system) 1 pound plus 1 shilling, which is to say, 21 shillings.  Even common laborers of the time could expect to make 3s. 9d per week.  Coachmen made more than this.

http://www.victorianweb.org/economics/wages2.html

[CardiMuscleman]

Thanks for that, I opted for a guinea as I thought that would be just the right amount, therefore I have changed it to a gold sovereign

[CardiMuscleman]

"Entry into the church is a solemn vow, and it is for this reason that you, the godparents of this child, promise to bring this child up as member of this church. Do you promise this?"

Everyone gathered around the font at the church of St. Mary's, the local parish church of Lord Southam, nodded and with that the vicar continued.

"Therefore, I name this child, Charles James Victor Southam" and with that poured a small trickle of water over Lady Southam's child. As he did, the baby gurgled slightly, but otherwise didn't react. After the service the vicar, the long serving Reverend Wilson spoke to Lord Southam and congratulated him on his son and his son's behaviour.

"Well" replied his Lordship, "I understand that I was the same, must be a chip off the old block, eh?"

The vicar smiled and handed the child back to His Lordship saying "I hope you don't mind me asking, your Lordship, but what is the pendant for?"

His Lordship's smile faded and he replied, "To remember"

The reverend nodded. Although Charles was a healthy baby boy now six months on, sadly he had no mother. Lady Southam had been killed in a tragic riding accident just three months ago and would never know the woman who had safely delivered him into the world.

"This pendant" said His Lordship, "contains the last thing that my dear wife saw with her own eyes. It is a section of the rock that fell from the skies when Charles was born. Every day after his birth, she would go into the hall and kiss the container that it was in. After her death, I felt that I should ensure that if Charles never remembered his mother, he should at least have something to remember my love for her mother!"

"A Christian moral indeed!" replied the vicar, "Please excuse me, but I believe that Mrs. Ponsonby wants me!"

As the vicar left, Lord Southam dangled the pendant in front of Charles who gurgled happily.

"Once you are eighteen my child" he said, "this shall be yours to own. From now until then, I shall tell you everything about your mother. The love she gave me and the love I gave her" and then placing the pendant back in his pocket he whispered, almost with tears in his eyes, "I pray, Charles, remember everything about her!"

***

"Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust" said the Reverend Wilson, "We commit the body of Lord Southam to the ground in hopes of the resurrection eternal, Amen"

"Amen" replied the crowd gathered around the grave but for one of them it was too much and as the crowd started to depart, Charles Southam, now nineteen years ago collapsed to the floor in tears. Although now technically a man, he was now an orphan, never to know the love of a father and a mother congratulating him on graduating from Oxford where he was due to start the following week. The Reverend Wilson tried to console him but it was no good and as it started to pour with rain, Charles took something out of his pocket and held it in front of him.

"Father" he said hoarsely, "you gave me this gift as a child in order to remember my mother. I remember every story you have told me, every act of kindness she did, every..." and he broke down in tears. Placing the pendant around his neck he added, still sobbing, "Father, I honour your memory and shall think of you always" and with that got to his feet, bowed to the grave and left the graveyard not knowing what the future might bring.

[CardiMuscleman]

"You are men of England" bellowed the teacher as the class presented itself for physical education, "Men who will be expected to lay down their lives in defence of this glorious nation and Her Majesty. The game of rugby may be a new invention but it was an Englishman who invented it and England shall prove themselves worthy. So, get out there you men of England, and show that Cambridge team what it means to be an Oxford lad!"

As the team charged out onto the field, Charles followed them some way behind. Compared to the rest of the team he was the smallest, weakest and slowest and yet because his father had been a team captain tradition dictated that he had to be a member and so as he lined up next to his team mates and sang that famed anthem of Oxford University "Shoo the Tabs" he couldn't help but notice compared to the team from Cambridge he was the smallest man on the entire pitch

***

For most of the first half of the game Charles managed to keep out of trouble. Whenever the ball was thrown to him, he threw it to a team mate almost instantly however in the twenty five minute of the half, Charles was thrown the ball and didn't have anyone to throw it to. There was no other option but to run and try and get to the opposition's try line before anyone caught him but it was to no avail as he was piled on by the biggest man on the pitch, Cambridge's prop, covered him with his mass and slammed Charles into the ground. For a moment there was a deathly hush. The prop weighed a good fifteen stone and compared to Charles who only weighed ten there was no way that Charles could have survived such an impact and, if by some miracle of God he had, he would probably be confined to a wheelchair for life.

Suddenly, the ground underneath the prop started to glow with the brightest green light ever seen. It was so bright that the other members of both teams had to shield their eyes but when the glow faded everyone present gasped as the prop was now being held aloft.

"BY THE GLORY OF HER MAJESTY, I AM THE VICTORIAN HERO!"

As everyone stared at the man, standing at least seven feet tall and yet dressed in a jacket of the most brilliant white billowing in the late afternoon breeze, Charles realised what had happened. As he lay underneath the prop, the breath being crushed out of him, his pendant had cracked under the strain and the piece of meteorite bequeathed to him by his father rolled in front of him. As it did it glowed and Charles felt himself become bigger, stronger and more powerful than any man alive.

***

Charles managed to explain his sudden disappearance from the rugby field and his transformation into the Victorian Hero as "a rare example of ball lighting" but as he held the fragment of meteorite in his hand, now just a dull piece of rock, he knew that he had been given a great gift and a gift that he would keep secret from all bar those he knew he could trust. For as he said when he heard people talk about the Victorian Hero for the rest of that term "Well, he sounds like what every Briton should be. Someone willing to stand up for those who cannot and uphold the glorious reign of Her Majesty"