Chapter No. 2 Vita et Mors

When he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.

His eyes glistening with a wistful melancholy, Grimsley the II surveyed the magnificent vista of flower gardens outside his bedchamber window and sighed.

"What troubles you, my brother," said Estard, from a plush leather-cushioned divan.

Grimsy, as his intimates call him, turned to survey his sister's dark expressive eyes set in a delicately chiseled face exquisitely framed by long, blond, straight hair.

"I'm bored." He cradled his cherub face and blinked his large blue eyes. "I require challenge."

"Challenge?" She stood up and gracefully strolled to his bed, allowing her crimson silk robe to brush along the polished marble floor. "The great Grimsley, heir to the Terrin Empire, needs challenge?"

He blew out a disgusted breath. "The great Grimsley is tired of this waiting for a chance at destiny. Time is the bane of all men, but it's especially harsh on an heir."

"You need to hone your practice of patience. Your subjects will expect it of you."

Gathering the bed sheets around his body, Grimsy stood up and gave his sister a smug grin before disappearing behind an ornate wooden screen. "You should learn to abide your tongue, my sister, especially when you become one of my subjects."

"As you wish, my lord." She emphasized the last word with a tinge of sarcasm.

"I'll give you just reward for a sharp tongue."

She laughed. "What reward can I look forward to, my lord?"

He appeared from behind the divider wearing a white lace shirt and royal blue pantaloons.

"I'll have your pretty back scourged," he said, shaking a finger at her.

She gave him a mock pout. "You wouldn't be that cruel to your loving sister, would you?"

A knock ended their banter.

"Yes?" Grimsy yelled.

"Your father wishes your attendance, my lord," a timid young male's voice proclaimed.

Grimsy smiled at his sister. "Ah, I believe that my challenge is at hand."

She smiled back, adding a playful head tilt. "I shall attend you, my brother."

They followed the page down a long stairway to the main corridor, past tapestries richly adorned with colorful feline patterns to a solid oak door decorated with relief carvings of large cats. Two imposingly huge, chain mailed swordsmen flanked both sides of this impressive entrance.

The large door parted as if by magic.

"Come forth, my children," Emperor Grimsley urged from an ornate gold encrusted chair atop a polished marble dais.

A large man with a craggy face, the Lord of Terrin was garbed in a golden threaded robe and was gripping a large ornately carved staff. His penetrating eyes commanded immediate, unflinching obedience.

The first thing that Grimsy and his sister noticed was three men and two women standing in chains off to the left. They were a motley group, longhaired and mustachioed men, long curly haired women, all dressed in ragged, worn clothes.

Estard's attention was drawn to one of the women, a young fiery-eyed wench with child, very close to her time.

Attention was quickly drawn back to Lord Grimsley's impatient face. The impatient face smiled briefly before its owner gestured to the chained prisoners. "These vagabonds have been adjudged thieves. They stole from the Royal Stores." He pointed at his children. "You two will participate in the execution of their sentence."

Grimsy's eyes narrowed. His sister's widened.

"What do you wish of us, my lord?" Grimsy asked after a quick glance at the prisoners.

"I have given them each a chance at freedom. They will be permitted to run out of the East Battlement, and you will be charged with stopping their escape."

"By what means, my lord?" asked the young Grimsley.

His father gave him a fatherly smile. "We will see how faithfully you have been attending to your archery instructions."

Grimsy tilted his head. "How much lead are we to give them, my lord?"

"Flags will be set. You will allow them to clear these markers. Just make sure that you do not allow them to clear the gate beyond."

"Yes, my lord."

Estard glanced at the pregnant woman before returning her gaze to her father. "I see that one of the prisoners is with child. Is it right to have this unborn innocent suffer for the sins of its mother?"

"No," her father said. "But, how will you resolve this dilemma?"

Estard's face cycled through confusion, doubt and concentration. "Can the mother be imprisoned until after the birth?"

The Lord of Terrin shook his head. "Judgment has been given in this case. You must take the child after sentence has been consummated."

"That will be difficult at best," she said with a scowl.

"I have confidence in your abilities," her father said with a stern stare.

She gave him a curtsy, but her usually happy face was dressed in dismay.

###

The morning dew had just begun to burn away. The chill that fell in its wake remained, especially in the heart of a young woman waiting on a balcony overlooking the East Battlement of Castle Terra.

Her brother sensed her timidity. "Ah, dear sister, I pray that your skills are up to the task at hand."

"I know how to shoot arrows," Estard said with a scolding tone.

Grimsy smiled. "Good. I'll leave the women for you. They run slower, especially the pregnant one."

She made a face at him, eliciting a mocking smile.

The first male made his appearance at a doorway. Pausing to nervously glance back at his young executioners, he took off with a burst of speed that startled Grimsy. He quickly recovered, drew an arrow back, took careful aim and let it fly. The arrow sliced through the cool morning air and found its mark.

"Right through the back," his sister said. "Not bad at all."

He gave her a haughty look. "Just as I planned it." Then he grinned. "Now, it's your turn."

Estard immediately drew her arrow back. Her intended target was young and ran like a deer. Impressed with her target's speed, she rushed the shot and it penetrated the women's shoulder. Noting that the prisoner was in the process of getting back up, Estard mounted another arrow and hurried a shot.

Grimsy's face burst with a wide grin. "Wow! You put it through the skull. I'm impressed."

"I wasn't aiming for her head. I let fly too soon."

Grimsy laughed. "With practice, you'll improve."

He didn't have much time to gloat. The next man appeared and wasted no time in clearing the flags. Grimsy quickly took a shot but the arrow only glanced the man's side. He had to load another arrow and take a second shot that hit the wounded man square in the back just as he reached the outer gate.

Estard couldn't resist. "With practice, you'll improve."

"I wouldn't be so smug if I were you. You have a most difficult shot coming up."

She tightened her face muscles. "I know. I know. If I aim too high, I may hit her heart and she'll die too fast. If I aim too low, I may hit the infant. What to do?"

The pregnant woman began her run. The good news was that she couldn't run swiftly. The bad news was that she made a difficult target. Estard took careful aim and waited patiently until she was sure she had the proper lead. The arrow flew true and struck the woman right below the left clavicle, piercing her lung. She staggered and fell slowly.

"I take it back," her brother said. "You are good."

"The real challenge is at hand. I must take the baby before its mother succumbs."

###

By the time Estard and Grimsy arrived at the prison chamber, the pregnant woman had been stripped of her clothing and laid spread-eagled on a stone table used to execute prisoners by quartering. Her wrists and ankles were secured in manacles, stretching her body taunt. A prison attendant stood over her with a short broad knife.

Grimsy raised his hand. "Wait! This prisoner is our responsibility."

The attendant bowed and backed away.
Listra, a gangly midwife with a round motherly face, entered the chamber and promptly handed a sharp cutting blade to Estard.

"You must make haste, my lady. She is close to death."

The pronouncement was unnecessary. The pregnant female was making a gurgling sound and blood welled ominously from her mouth and nose.
Estard took the blade and contemplated the woman's bloated belly.

"Cut the flesh in an arc below the naval."

The blade easily sliced through the taunt skin, causing a trickle of blood to follow.

"Now, cut through the muscle. You will need to use more force."

She was right. The muscle required more pressure, but it separated to reveal the womb.

"You'll have to be careful, my Lady."

"I know," Estard said in woeful tones.
With one hand feeling for the baby, Estard made her cut into the womb. Blood and copious quantities of a dark cloudy fluid oozed from the wound. Estard looked at Listra with eyes that oozed with confusion.

"You must pull the child free, my lady."

Estard slowly thrust her hands into the incision and searched for a firm grip. She pulled the baby's head out, shifted one hand under its body and yanked. The child emerged in all its disgusting glory.

"Clamp the cord," Listra told her. "You must suck as much of the birth fluid from the baby's lungs as you can." She handed her a metal pump that resembled a large syringe.

Estard inserted the tip of the device in the baby's mouth and pulled back on the plunger.

Two more attempts coaxed a cough from the child. Soon it turned red with oxygen, vociferously announcing its displeasure with the cruel world that it had been unceremoniously plunged into.

Estard held it up for all to see. "It's a boy, and it lives!"

Grimsy rewarded her with a grin. "It owes its miserable life to your perseverance, my sister."

She handed the baby to Listra. "Clean it up. I will give it to Harah."

"Good choice, my lady. She recently lost her own child."

Turning to her brother, Estard bowed. "I must take my leave, my lord."

He tilted his head. "You're not going to stay and see this prisoner's final fate?"

She looked at him with a confused expression.

"Executed prisoners are sectioned and fed to the dogs. Even their bones are used, but, if you wish, I can have this one's skull preserved as a memento."

Estard grimaced and shook her head. "I'll forgo that experience, my lord. I have seen enough blood this day." She looked down at her blood stained arms and hands before looking back up at him.

He flashed a sardonic grin at her. "As you wish, my sister."

###

With a wide grin, Estard received the baby from Listra and examined its face. "Oh, he's so cute."

"As all babies are, my lady." She said it with a smile.

Estard gave her a smile back before turning to look back at the door to the servants' anteroom. "Where's Harah?"

"She's bathing the Lady Shara, my lady."

"Shara needs someone to bathe her? Is she an invalid?"

Listra's lips twisted with a mocking smile. "She derives pleasure from it, my lady."

"I don't doubt that. She's enjoys a life of pleasure."

"Unlike you, my lady. She could not have done what you did today."

Estard sighed. "There is good and bad to that. I did not enjoy taking a life, but I rejoice in the saving of a life. It is a trade off."

"I don't know how you can kill so easily. It is the providence of men to kill."

"I do as I am commanded, as you are."

"I understand, my lady."

Estard smiled. "Let us go see how the Lady Shara enjoys her leisure."

They made there way to the left wing of Castle Terra, the main enclave of the Royal Compound, where many lesser relatives make their abode. The Lady Shara is Estard's cousin on her mother's side and merely a year older. She lives with her mother, the Lady Teresa, in a richly appointed suite of rooms.

Estard and Listra found Shara in the bathing chamber where Harah was busy scraping her skin with a well-polished shell. Water sprayed in rivulets from the base of a marble statue of Aphrodite next to the bath.

Estard gave her a smile of deference. "I pray that you do not take offence at our intrusion, my cousin."

Shara's eyed the baby in Estard's arms. "What child is this?"

"A prisoner's child, and a very lucky child at that."

"Why have you brought it here?"

"I offer it to your maidservant, Harah."

Harah's eyes widened, but she didn't get up.

"Do you not wish this child?" Estard asked her.

"I am honored by your gift, my lady, but I am occupied."

Estard smiled. "Listra and I will finish your occupation." She held the child out. "Here, take it and see to its needs."

Harah frowned. "I cannot allow you, the daughter of my lord, to do the work of a maidservant."

"Do not concern yourself. After what I've done today, bathing the lady Shara will be a labor of ease." She flashed a grin at her cousin. "Besides, I may even enjoy it."

Shara's licked her lips and flicked her eyelashes. "The pleasure will be mine, my cousin." She looked at Harah. "Go, and see to the child."

Harah got up and received the baby. "Thank you, my lady."

"Go with her," Estard said to Listra. "I can do this myself."

"As you wish, my lady," Listra said with a bow.

After watching Listra and Harah depart, Estard turned to her cousin, tilted her head and smiled. "Perhaps this would be more enjoyable if I joined you."

Shara leaned over and planted a kiss on Estard's lips. "It would please me, my cousin. It would please me greatly."