165
“Come, young waverer, come, go with me, in one respect I’ll thy assistant be,” you tell the youth, “for this alliance may so happy
prove, to turn your households’ rancour to pure love.”
“O, let us hence; I stand on sudden haste.”
Romeo leaves the apothecary’s shop through the small, sunlit courtyard that lies behind it, and you follow. He leads you through the backstreets and along narrow alleyways between the houses, until you come to a walled orchard. The two of you scramble over the wall and hide yourselves among the apple trees.
At that moment, a girl appears above at a balcony overlooking the orchard. Such is her beauty, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
“But, soth! what light through yonder window breaks?” whispers Romeo beside you. “It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”
“O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?” the girl suddenly cries, although you do not think that she knows the two of you are hiding in the garden. “Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet.”
“Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?” Romeo asks in a hushed voice.
Before you can answer, the maiden speaks again.
“’Tis but thy name that is my enemy; thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, nor any other part belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What’s in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet; so Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, retain that dear perfection which he owes without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, and for that name which is no part of thee take all myself.”
Then, parroting the words you give him, Romeo addresses Juliet: “I take thee at thy word: call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized; henceforth I never will be Romeo.”
“What man art thou that thus bescreen’d in night so stumblest on my counsel?” she replies, clearly surprised.
“By a name I know not how to tell thee who I am: my name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, because it is an enemy to thee; had I it written, I would tear the word,” Romeo declares, at your direction.
“My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words of that tongue’s utterance, yet I know the sound: art thou not Romeo and a Montague?”
And so they continue, in this fashion, back and forth, until, lecherous as a monkey, Romeo climbs an apple tree and from there swings himself up onto Juliet’s balcony, and the pair of star-cross’d lovers disappear into the lady’s bedchamber.
Your work here is done and so you leave Verona under cover of darkness, though parting is such sweet sorrow, and make it to the river unseen. Several ships are moored at the docks there.
One of the ships – a large galleon of black oak – is preparing to cast off and, just before the sailors can pull up the gangplank you board the vessel.
Tick off the Stage Direction Star-Cross’d and turn to 121.
121
When the crew challenges your presence on board, you tell them you are a merchant of Syracuse: “The enmity and discord which of late sprung from the rancorous outrage of your duke to merchants, means I am done with Verona and would seek to take my trade elsewhere.”
But you are not the ship’s only passenger. Two noblemen of Danish descent are also on board, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and from them you learn that the Tiger is sailing to Denmark. Seeing your dishevelled state, they take pity on you and gift you a cloak and a pack (as well as a Sword if you do not have one, which will add 1 point to your Combat score whilst you are using it). Record these on your Adventure Sheet.
Aer weeks at sea (restore your Agility, Combat and Endurance scores to their highest levels to date) and with the climate having become noticeably colder you sail into the port city of Elsinore. It would appear to be that time of the year when icicles hang by the wall, and Dick the shepherd blows his nail, and Tom bears logs into the hall, and milk comes frozen home in pail.
On the cliffs above the harbour are the forbidding walls of Elsinore Castle itself. Not far from the citadel you can see the silhouettes of gravestones protruding from the scrubby grass of a graveyard that lies atop the craggy bluffs.
You disembark from the Tiger along with your new friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and they invite you to go with them to Elsinore. If you want to take them up on their invitation and follow them along the road that leads directly to the castle, turn to 225. If you would prefer to take the clifftop path that leads towards the jumble of gravestones, turn to 189.