ABC Affair- Stonehenge, chapter 10, letter J

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Open prompt: Jyväskylä

Napoleon would vacillate from physically struggling and being agitated to a deathly silence.

When he did speak, he begged to be let loose and repeated over and over that he had to go.

“Napoleon dearest, it’s me April,” she bent down, positioning her lips close to his ear. “Don’t you recognize me?”

Given the fact that she and Solo had been carrying on a relationship behind the scenes, she expected at least one of his libidinous responses.Yet he looked right through her as if she wasn’t even there.”

“It’s as if he’s under a spell,” Slade remarked.

“That is it!” Illya snapped his finger.”Why did I not think of that?”

He smacked himself in the forehead with the butt of his hand, instantly regretting it as he already had a headache from the pounding his partner had given him.

“Could you be a bit more specific?” Ellery asked.

“Hypnosis my dear Doctor,” Illya wandered around the makeshift lab looking for something, and making a lot of noise in the process.

“Can I help you, what is it you’re looking for?” She asked.

He paused, his hands animated as he spoke,”Something reflective that I can dangle in front of his eyes.”

“Darling, will this do?” April held up a sparkling vial, it was on a long gold chain around her neck.

She handed it over to the Russian.

“Perfect! What is it, not some sort of liquid explosive?” He eyed it with caution.

“It’s only a perfume bottle made of cut glass, you goose. It contains a small amount of perfume that was given to me as a gift.”

“By Napoleon?” Illya whispered.

“Yes,” April said, keeping her voice lowered. She hadn’t quite told Mark that she and Solo were seeing each other and wanted to let her partner down a little more gently as she suspecte he had a bit of a crush on her.

“Good,” Illya snatched it from her. “Nothing evokes memories as vividly as a familiar scent. They react with specific areas of the brain that are directly related to long-term memory.  Experiments conducted in Jyväskylä Finland have been exploring the connections between memory and our sense of smell. The research suggests that certain brain wave oscillations…”

“Illya, I think we get it mate,”Mark interrupted. “Smells trigger memories.”

The Russian opened the small perfume bottle and held it beneath Solo’s nose, letting him get a good whiff of the fragrance to get Napoleon’s attention. He quickly closed the small bottle and dangled it in front of Napoleon’s eyes from its chain, swinging it back and forth.

Using a hushed monotone voice, Illya spoke to his partner.

‘Think Napoleon, is this fragrance not familiar to you? Breathe it in. In and out, in and out.  Look at the pendulum, concentrate on the sparkling light. Remember who you are…”

Solo’s gaze was now focused on the pendant, not letting his eyes drift from it as it spun in front of him.

“Listen to that little voice in your head. It is your conscious mind that is telling you to fight any previous hypnotic suggestions. Abandon what ‘they’ told you..”

“Abandon what they told me,” Napoleon whispered. “No...I must go.”

“You will stay,” Illya said,” You will abandon what they told you. You are Napoleon Solo, chief enforcement agent for the U.N.C.L.E. Abandon what the others told you.”

“I am...I am Solo, Napoleon Solo, UNCLE agent extrodinaire,” he was now smiling.

Illya shook his head as he continued to drone on for several minutes, having his partner repeat himself several times.

“When I count to three and snap my fingers you will awaken refreshed, and you will be your old self again."

When Kuryakin finally snapped his fingers, Napoleon began to blink and stared wide-eyed as if he had just woken from a pleasant night’s sleep.

“Napoleon, are you all right darling?” April asked.

He looked at her and Mark, a bit surprised.”When did you get here? And why are we here again Illya?”

“What is the last thing you remember my friend?” The Russian asked.

“I was walking behind you and Ellery, with Officer Kingsley bringing up the rear.”

“Nothing else?”

“Wait…”Napoleon pressed his fingertips to his temples.”I remember hands, lots of hands grabbing me. I heard Kingsley’s voice. He was speaking to someone.”

“Do you remember what was said?”

Napoleon continued to massage his temples.”No. I do remember having a compulsion to go to the henge,”

“Any place in particular mate?” Mark asked.

A stone northeast of the sarsen circle, it leans inwards towards the stone circle.”



“That’s the Sun-Stone,” Ellery said.  At summer solstice someone standing within the stone circle, looking northeast through the entrance, would see the Sun rise in the approximate direction of the stone, also known as the Friar’s heel. There’s a folk tale that says that the Devil bought the stones from a woman in Ireland, wrapped them up, and brought them to Salisbury plain. One of the stones fell into the river Avon, the rest were carried to the plain.  A friar challenged the Devil, whereupon the Devil threw one of the stones at him and struck him on the heel. The stone stuck in the ground and is still there.”

“Yes Doctor,”Illya said,”there are numerous tales as to the origins of the stones that comprise the henge, some of which include Merlin and the Arthurian legend, but at the moment since the Summer Solstice is approaching and we have a number of apparent ritual sacrifices by some unknown perpetrators. I think it is the Sun Stone on which we should concentrate.”

"Hey, all that being said tovarisch,” Napoleon scrunched up his face,” but can someone please untie me?”

“I don’t know,”April smiled.”I kind of like you this way.”

“I’ll remember that next time we’re alone,” Solo whispered. 

Luckily Mark was out of earshot, though Illya wasn’t; he was well aware of his partner and April being intimate.

Chances were Slate already suspected the two had ‘thing’ going on; what kind of spy would he be if he didn’t?