I stood in the farthest corner of the Great Square. In the highest building in the land. Deep in the deepest shadow. I stood waiting. She stood on the balcony. Correction, she stood on the balcony as a princess, with her prince. My heart felt like it had been torn out the second I learned that Buttercup was engaged to another man, and yet I still loved her. She left the balcony, and walked among the people. The people loved her too. Before I left, I thought she was the most perfect creature to walk the earth, but that was nothing compared to this vision of beauty I saw before me. But, she was marrying this prince. Ugh, I didn’t know what to think.
She still loved to ride, that hadn’t changed. I watched her ride for several hours in the wild land beyond the castle every afternoon. On that fateful afternoon, “dusk was closing in when Buttercup crested the hill. She was perhaps half an hour from the castle, and her daily ride was three-quarters done” (Goldman). Suddenly, she reined Horse, she saw standing in the dimness, a strange trio: a Sicilian, a Spaniard, and a Turk, who was easily the biggest human being I’d ever seen. They attacked her, brought her to the coast. I followed them. By this time, darkness had fallen, I followed their boat for some time. Not much happened, I made my approach, desperately trying to catch up, while also trying to go unnoticed. Suddenly I saw Buttercup dive into the Florin Channel. This is when I really sped up, no longer caring about being seen. There were sharks in those waters. I heard a commotion coming from the boat. When the moon came out, I saw Buttercup get snatched from the waters and put in the boat once again. I believe this was when I was spotted. I no longer cared, I began to gain on them. I was set on saving Buttercup, I loved her, though I wasn’t sure if she still loved me. They were heading towards the Cliffs of Insanity. “And then everyone got busy. The Spaniard took a rope, tied Buttercup’s hands and feet. The Turk raised a great leg and stomped down at the center of the boat, which gave way immediately and began to sink. Then the Turk went to the rope and took it in his hands. The Spaniard lifted Buttercup and draped her body around the Turk’s shoulders. Then he tied himself to the Turk’s waist. Then the Sicilian hopped, clung to the Turk’s neck”. And then they began to climb, up, up, up. I sailed like lightning towards the Cliffs, I then quickly jumped onto their rope and started up after them, up, up, up. I cut their lead by half, or more. I was flying up the rope, and yet I didn’t seem to be going quickly enough. The Turk pulled them all over the edge of the cliffs, they had reached the top. I was no more than three hundred feet away. They acted exactly as I expected them to, they untied the rope, I was able to release the rope in time. It was now I found myself “hanging in space, clinging to the sheer rock face, seven hundred feet above the water”(Goldman). It was in this moment that I began to climb. “Not quickly, of course. And not without great effort”(Goldman). But still, there was no doubt that I was, in spite of the sheerness of the Cliffs, heading in an upward direction. I climbed by making fists and jamming them into the rocks, and using them for support. I would then reach up with my other hand until I found a high split in the rock, and make another fist and jam it in. Whenever I could find support for my feet, I would use it, “but mostly it was the jammed fists that made the climbing possible”(Goldman). When I was about forty-six feet away, I heard the Spaniard holler, “Hello there, I’ve been watching you.” I nodded. “Slow going,” he said. “Look, I don’t mean to be rude,” I said, “but I’m rather busy just now, so try not to distract me.” “I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t suppose you could speed things up.” “If you want to speed things up so much,” I said, I was quite angry now, “you could lower a rope or a tree branch or find some other helpful thing to do.” “I could do that,” he agreed. “But I don’t think you would accept my help, since I’m only waiting up here so that I can kill you.” “That does put a damper on our relationship,” I said then. “I’m afraid you’ll just have to wait” (Goldman). Just imagine this conversation going on longer, while hanging hundreds of feet above my death. It was not pleasant. He vowed that he would help me make it to the top alive, something in his tone said I must believe him. I accepted the rope. He then gave me time to rest before attempting to kill me, which seemed very considerate of him. We dueled, and oh, was it a duel, he really was a master, and in the end I could not bring myself to kill him. I left him unconscious and continued on to find Buttercup. I then faced the giant, who also seemed a decent fellow, I could not bring myself to kill him as well, and left him as I did the Spaniard, unconscious. I continued on, the Sicilian was waiting for me. He had set out a little picnic spread, two wine goblets, some wine, and some cheese and apples. Buttercup lay helpless beside the picnic, gagged and tied and blindfolded. The Sicilian held his long knife against her white throat. As I inched forward, “with a smile the hunchback pushed the knife harder against Buttercup’s throat. It was about to bring blood. ‘If you wish her dead, by all means keep moving,’” (Goldman). I froze. I edged forward as I tried to explain. “‘You’re killing her!’ the Sicilian screamed, shoving harder with the knife. A drop of blood appeared now at Buttercup’s throat, red against white”(Goldman). I retreated. As the Sicilian spoke the more I realized how highly he thought of his own intellect. This would be his downfall. I challenged him to a battle of wits, for the princess, to the death. The Sicilian was excited. He poured the wine into the two goblets. I pulled from my dark clothing a small packet and handed it to him, asking him to inhale, but not to touch. He followed instructions. I explained to him that the packet contained iocane powder, “it is odorless, tasteless and dissolves immediately in any kind of liquid. It also happens to be the deadliest poison known to man”(Goldman). I reached for the goblets, took them and turned away. The Sicilian cackled aloud in anticipation. I busied myself a long moment, poisoning both goblets, I turned again with a goblet in each hand. Very carefully, I put the goblet in my right hand in front of the Sicilian and put the goblet in my left hand in front of myself. “Your guess,” I said. “Where is the poison?” (Goldman). “Guess?” the Sicilian cried. “I don’t guess. I think. I ponder. I deduce. Then I decide. But I never guess” (Goldman). “The battle of wits has begun,” I said. “It ends when you decide and we drink the wine and find out who is right and who is dead. We both drink, need I add, and swallow, naturally, at precisely the same time” (Goldman). He claimed that it was all so simple, but he was stalling. After a dizzying conversation, he chose we both drank. He chose wrong. “He was quite cheery until the iocane powder took effect” (Goldman). I stepped quickly over the corpse, then roughly ripped the blindfold from Buttercup’s eyes. “‘I heard everything that happ—’ Buttercup began, and then she said ‘Oh’ because she had never been next to a dead man before. ‘You killed him,’ she whispered finally. ‘I let him die laughing,’ I said. ‘Pray I do as much for you.’” When she was wondering about the poison, I explained how I’ve spent the past two years building up immunity to iocane powder. She asked who I was. She didn’t know, couldn’t she recognize her love, despite the cape and mask. I wasn’t even sure if she still loved me. I yanked her upright, and started running. She had no choice but to follow.
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AuthorWestley began as a farm boy on Buttercup's farm. He and Buttercup fell in love and he left to find his fortune across the sea so he could marry Buttercup. He was reportedly killed on the high seas by the Dread Pirate Roberts. This crushes Buttercup. She gets engaged to Prince Humperdinck of Florin and subsequently gets kidnapped by a Sicilian and his team who were hired to start a war with Guilder. The kidnappers are apprehended by a man in black who soon best the swordsman and giant who work for the Italian. He then defeats the Sicilian in a battle of wits and rescues Buttercup. Soon it is revealed the the man in black is Westley, who was the new Dread Pirate Roberts. He is tortured and then killed by Prince Humperdinck and Count Rugen. He is later revived by a miracle man and saves Buttercup from Humperdinck, her would be husband, on her would be wedding night. Quotes“Do I love you? My God, if your love were a grain of sand, mine would be a universe of beaches.” “As you wish...” “Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something.” “To the pain means this: if we duel and you win, death for me. If we duel and I win, life for you. But life on my terms. The first thing you lose will be your feet. Below the ankle. You will have stumps available to use within six months. Then your hands, at the wrists. They heal somewhat quicker. Five months is a fair average. Next your nose. No smell of dawn for you. Followed by your tongue. Deeply cut away. Not even a stump left. And then your left eye. Your ears you keep, so that every shriek of every child shall be yours to cherish—every babe that weeps in fear at your approach, every woman that cries 'Dear God, what is that thing?' will reverberate forever with your perfect ears.” “We are men of action. Lies do not become us.” |