Part 4 Chapter 4

CHAPTER 27

 

 

The hooded figures called Three and Five are standing together far in the darkness of Divinwood. The figure, One, is with them. Three and Five have recently come back from deep meditation and have discovered the events in Burden.

  “It has happened as we have seen. The assassin has chosen the prince.”

  One nods and is silent for a moment.

  “Have they left the city Burden?”

  This time the one called Three nods.

  “He has another trial before he comes here. I can see two possibilities, each equally possible.”

  The three figures start walking. The patterns on their hoods and cloaks change as they do to match what is around them.

  “Should we give him another message, give him guidance?” asks Five.

  One and Three both shake their heads.

  “We cannot influence anything here, we can only watch and hope.”

  They make their way to the circular clearing. It is empty; they are the only ones there. They walk through to the centre and stand on the particular flat stones. The same ones they stood on before.

  “We can only wait. Hope for success.”

  They are all silent listening for anything as if it can be significant but no sounds can be heard. They don’t seem disturbed by the surrounding silence.

  “Summon the others.”

 

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Moira cannot believe she had sex with Bevil. It isn’t that she feels bad about, or that the sex itself was bad, it is more she cannot believe she actually went for it. She went into his office took his hand sat on his table and they just went after each other. She cannot help smile at the memory of it: the feel of him inside her, the taste of his tongue in her mouth and the rush of excitement of the possibility of getting caught. The feel hard table that scrapes loudly along the floor with their movements makes getting caught all the more possible, all the more exciting.

  When she left his office there was the promise of more to come. She walks away with a smile and a remnant of the feeling of him inside her.

  She walks around in a daze until the night approaches, darkening the sky and soon her mood.  A servant comes to her and gives her a folded parchment. When she thanks him he leaves and she unfolds it. It deals with Sertia’s punishment, or more precisely, Sertia’s execution. She reads it once to let the thought of the execution soak in, and then reads it again to know the details of it.

  According to the parchment the execution is to be done publicly in front of all of Tov’ra by decapitation in one day at high sun. All it asks for from Moira is her signature, telling those it concerns to start preparations for this execution.

  She folds it again and takes it with her to her bed chamber. There she sets it unfolded on a table, takes out an ink bottle and a feather quill. She dabs the feather quill in ink from the bottle and positions it over the parchment, then hesitates. A drop of ink falls onto the parchment, obscuring Sertia’s name as the traitor being executed so it looks to say ‘Se-ia Kvathrock’.

  She suddenly places the feather pen on the table and pushes the parchment away from her and stands. She paces back and forth, thinking of what to do. If she signs it her daughter will die and she will have to suffer that the rest of her life. But if she doesn’t the question comes of what to do with Sertia. She cannot be released and cannot stay in the Highguard cell forever. Not to mention there might be uproar from everyone in Tov’ra. There might be a full blown riot through the city until someone does kill Sertia in a much more violent way than this order suggests, or it might not end there.

  She thinks of it more and more, her exaggerations of what will happen get worse and worse until finally she thinks of Tov’ra involved in a civil war over Sertia’s survival. She sits back down, slides the parchment closer to her and puts her hand over the feather pen, but doesn’t pick it up. Instead her hand hovers over it, just barely touching it. She stares at her hand, willing it to move but it disobeys, it starts to shake back and forth, back and forth until it slams down on the feather quill. She cannot do this but she knows she has to. She closes her eyes and lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She relaxes her tense muscles and picks up the feather quill. The ink that was on the quill is now dry so he dips it into the bottle again and wipes away any excess ink off the edge of the bottle top. She hesitates again but this time the quill meets the parchment. She takes another deep breath and signs the parchment.

  She lets it dry then folds the parchment again. She then pours red sealing wax from a small pot onto it and she puts a seal on which is a small version of the symbol of Tov’ra.

  She takes it to the nearest knight and tells him to take it further to Bevil, since it his job to look over it and send it away to the knights in the barracks. The knight salutes and obeys.

 

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Since having sex with Moira and bragging to Sertia Bevil has been walking around with a sense of entitlement, he walks around briskly and with a feeling of ecstasy. He feels like since he has lain with the queen that makes him the new king, he knows it makes no sense but he still feels this way, and he doesn’t want the feeling to end. He cannot wait for another go with Moira.

  His thoughts are interrupted by a knight with a piece of parchment. He gives Bevil the parchment and leaves as quickly as he came. The parchment has the Tov’ra seal so Bevil knows it to be important. He rips the seal off unfolds the parchment and reads it.

  At first he cannot believe it. The parchment says Sertia will be executed tomorrow at high sun by decapitation in front of the whole city. Bevil is amazed at how soon the execution is. Though more amazing is that at the bottom of the parchment is Moira’s signature. His eyes go from left to right, looking at each line and curve of her signature. His mind goes through all the lines and curves of Moira herself.

  He thinks of going to Moira and asking how she is, be a good friend. She might need comforting which he can give her, but decides not to. She has signed it there is no going back and she will have to deal with it with or without him, for now at least.

  He burst out laughing, his hands tightening their grip in the parchments edges. This news is too good to pass up. He walks off with the execution order in his hands.

  In the night the Highguard cell isn’t as closely guarded as in day, but there are still enough to make escape impossible. One of the knights guarding the door gives Bevil a lit torch. Bevil walks down the stairs to the locked door. Bevil takes out his set of keys and one by one opens them until the door is finally open.

  Inside Sertia is asleep on the bed. The sound of the locks opening hasn’t woken her. She is covered in red welts and plenty of painful cuts and bruises just beginning to form. He pokes her side with his finger it stays there longer than necessary and When Sertia grumbles and wakes he removes it. When she sees Bevil above her she rolls her eyes but doesn’t move otherwise.

  “More torture or are you here to tell me more about f*****g my mother.”

  “Actually I came to give you this,” Bevil lifts his arm until the parchments is in front of her face.

  She snatches it from his hands and reads it using the light emanating from his torch. He watches her angry face turn to melancholy and apprehension then back to anger. He can tell she is reading it more than once, and by the end of the fourth time she yells in anger and tosses it away.

  Bevil bends to pick it up and hears someone approaching fast. He turns to see the two guards from above rushing down with their swords drawn ready for action. Their eyes dart questioningly from him to Sertia and back. He gestures that all is well and tells them to leave. They give Sertia a warning glare then do so.

  “Did you force her to sign it?”

  “No, I was just given it.”

  “And you just happen to be coming here when you got it.”

  Bevil smiles that wicked smile of his.

  “No,” he says in mock concern, “I just thought you should know about this, begin to prepare for the end.”

  She knows he is lying, he wants to see her suffer, but feels he have done the right thing unintentionally. This may be her last night; she will have to do something. Make plans. At least spend her final night with someone who is going to beat her within an inch of death.

  “Very well Bevil. I guess I should prepare myself…I have a request.”

  “A request? That’s interesting.”

  “Think of it as my dying wish.”

  Bevil thinks of this for a moment, then nods.”

  “What is your request?”

  “I wish to spend this night with Kaila.”

  Bevil knew she would want to spend the night with someone, one last feeling of pleasure before death. But Kaila might not be a wise choice, not for him and Moira anyway. They might do some hushed talking and plan an escape. But then he scolds himself for thinking such a ridiculous thing. Even if they do plan it won’t work and Kaila will most likely die alongside her.

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Sertia nods a thank-you and Bevil walks out. As soon as he is back up the stairs and out of the Highguard cell he walks to the barracks. The city guards and knights that are still in the barracks pay him only a single glance and nothing more. He knocks on the office door to the head of the guards. Lord Kworln, Wazilli’s replacement, tells him to enter.

  The room is much the same as when Wazilli was in charge. But now there is more room. Most of the parchments meant for Wazilli are gone, replaced with fewer ones meant for Kworln. Bevil leans forward and hands him the execution order, he reads it quickly then nods in understanding.

  With the job done Bevil leaves and returns to the castle.

  The execution order makes its way along the chain. From Lord Kworln, to Lord Taisen: who is to organise the execution and bring as many of the citizens of Tov’ra along to witness. The last who is given the parchment is the executioner himself. He becomes ecstatic at the thought of killing someone of royalty. He has never done anything like this, and has wondered if he ever will.

  The executioner is a large beefy man. Most of his teeth are missing and those that aren’t are a dark brown colour. He spends the rest of the night sharpening his large two-handed axe. He enjoys listening to the noise the axe makes as he sharpens and thinks of the feeling of cutting Sertia’s head. He wonders if he should do it in one strike or several. Perhaps two, maybe three strikes to make it more fun and pleasurable.

  But this is all a fantasy. He knows he is only allowed to make one strike. If he has to do more, no matter how greatly the spectators love it and cheer him on, he will be in trouble with the knights and the city guards and the royals themselves.

  One swipe, head off, the end.

 

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When Kaila is told by Bevil about Sertia wanting to see her she cannot believe it. Why does Sertia want to see her? Surely she knows that Kaila betrayed her.

  Since Sertia was sent to the Highguard cell Kaila has become a kitchen servant in the castle. Though it is not meant to be a punishment Kaila feels it is. She is given a new dress uniform and smaller bed chambers than she had before, and this one is shared with two other female kitchen servants, all a higher standing than her.

  All the other servants, including the ones she shares a room with, know about her affair with Sertia so they look down on her and talk about her behind her back. She speaks to none of them and concentrates on her duties, making sure to work hard and not give her superiors anything more to complain about.

  After receiving the message she immediately goes to the Highguard cell even though she still had some kitchen knives to clean. She can tell the kitchen cook wants to shout at her but being that the message was given by Bevil Bralag the cook knows doing so would cause trouble for her as well as Kaila.

  It takes her less than ten minutes to get to the Highguard cell. When the guards at the first door stop her she tells them Bevil told her to come. They seem to take it on faith and let her through. One of them follows and unlocks the cell door and gives her a lit torch like Bevil before then leaves.

  Inside she cringes at what she sees, she gasps and covers her face with her hands. Sertia is sitting on the bed with her back resting on the wall and her legs dangling over the side. She smiles a weak broken smile when she sees Kaila; it lasts only a second then she winces in pain.

  “Is it as bad as you thought it would be?”

  Kaila nods, not trusting her voice. She places the lit torch and slides it into one of the shackles and uses it as a cradle. Sertia lifts her hand, struggling a little, and takes Kaila’s hand in hers. She then guides her to sit on the bed next to her.

  “I am so very sorry,” Kaila says.

  “Shh, you shouldn’t be sorry,” Sertia cups Kaila’s face with her free hand, “you did what you had to.”

  “I was so scared of what they would do to me, it just spilled out I couldn’t help it.”

  “You don’t need to explain.”

  Kaila is about to speak again but Sertia silences her with a finger to her lips from the hand that was cupping her face and then she shakes her head. She puts her arm around Kaila’s shoulders, bringing them closer. Sertia uses the hand around Kaila’s shoulders to move her head so they are facing each other with Kaila’s head pushed slightly upward, revealing her neck.

  They start to kiss, tenderly at first with Sertia’s injuries, but then harder. Kaila does all she can to avoid Sertia’s cuts and bruises but at times they touch it and make Sertia grimace.

  Suddenly Sertia breaks the kiss.

  “Take off your dress.”

  Kaila obeys and stands. She does it slowly under Sertia’s attentive eye. She takes her arms out of the sleeves and pushes it down until her breasts are revealed. She looks at Sertia who nods at her and keeps going until the dress is bundled at her feet. She steps out of the dress and kneels in front of the bed, her hands moves to Sertia’s legs.

  Sertia leans forward and her hands go through Kaila’s hair. As Kaila’s hands travel upward Sertia’s travel down. From her hair to cupping her face again enjoying Kaila’s wet lips as she kisses them. Then from her face to her neck. Sertia’s hands stop at her neck, rubbing it back and forth while Kaila’s continue until they reach between her legs.

  “Thank you, dear Kaila.”

  Kaila smiles a wide toothy smile. Sertia stop rubbing her neck and her flustered look disappears. Her grip on Kaila’s neck tightens, Kaila looks shocked and tries to get away but it is too late. Sertia’s grip tightens again and Kaila starts choking. Kaila’s hands go for Sertia’s but she already is too weak to get a good enough grip, so she tries slapping Sertia in the face, but that doesn’t work either. After trying to slap Sertia for a while Kaila starts falling back and Sertia goes with her until Kaila is lying flat on the ground and Sertia is kneeling on top of her. Her eyes start bulging and only little choking breaths escape her mouth.

  Soon even that stops and she lies there with her tongue out. Sertia keeps her hands around Kaila’s throat for some time longer, and then slowly she releases her hands from the throat one finger at a time and carefully stands using the bed as leverage.

  “Thank you, dear Kaila.”

  After staring intently at Kaila’s body she undresses herself. She does it much the same way as Kaila did, but unlike Kaila’s undressing Sertia hurries, this isn’t for someone else’s pleasure this is for something much better.

  Once she is naked she redresses in Kaila’s servant uniform. It is tight around her waist and her breasts feel like they are going to pop out, but other than that it fits well enough. She then dresses Kaila in her dress, this time it is more difficult with Kaila being dead weight and having to move her around many times. While dressing Kaila she cannot help but take quick looks at her body, then scolds herself for wasting time.

  Once finished she lifts Kaila onto the bed and moves her so she is lying on her side facing away from the door. Then, when satisfied, she takes the lit torch and leaves. She walks up slowly as if waiting to see if she is to be caught. Once at the top of the stairs she walks out the top door. She keeps her head down and puts the torch away from her face as she walks between the two guards, she walks faster once outside. She stops for a moment when one walks through the door to the cell, she hears faint noises and for a moment thinks the guard has discovered her rouse. She is still, frozen in place. ‘How could they find out so soon?’ she takes another step, then another, then a third. She hears more noises, still faint. No one is shouting and rushing around.

  After the sixth step she takes she hears the guard coming back up the stairs, she risks a look. He walks through the door and stands back at his original position; he doesn’t look troubled or more alerted than normal. She nearly falls over realising those noises were nothing more than the guard locking up the cell door. She hates she didn’t think of it sooner, she has heard those locks often enough.

  With a few more steps she arrives at a turn, she quickly turns it until she can no longer see the guards or the entrance to the Highguard cell. Now she runs away, keeping her head down though she sees no one around. She takes many unnecessary turns, into many different streets though she makes sure to stay away from the castle and the barracks. She is so paranoid that someone might be following her.

  She arrives at the gates to exit Tov’ra. There are still a few knights stationed at the gate, she knows she won’t be able to get them to open it. She moves along the wall until she comes to a guard tower. She enters it, then stops and listens. She hears nothing so she continues up the spiral stone stairs until she reaches the top. There she finds a circular room with two small beds at opposite ends of the room with dark green sheets and a single pillow and an archway leading to the narrow walkway on top of the wall. She looks outside in the gates’ direction, making sure to keep her torch inside away from prying eyes, and finds something odd. Two torches floating in the air moving slowly back and forth. She realises the torches are being held at head height by two guards. Sertia knows she will have to get past them to get to the lever that opens the gates.

  She looks back into the room for anything to use, a knife, a rock, anything that will be useful. All she finds is the beds themselves. She takes the green sheets from one of the beds and lifts it in a bundle in front of her, hiding her face, then kills the fire of her torch and drops it. Now with both hands carrying it she walks out to the top of the wall and walks slowly towards to the floating torches. One is closer to her than the other, the one further has stopped moving and she guesses he is standing near the lever.

  Sertia relaxes and changes her walk to a purposeful stride hoping the two guards will think her a servant changing the bed sheets and taking the old ones away.

  She gets close enough to see one of them more, but the other is just a floating torch in the night. The one she can see sees her as well and she can see he is suspicious. Sertia is scared, thinking this isn’t going to work and she will be caught and sent back to the Highguard cell, forced to sleep next to Kaila’s dead body. They get closer, she lifts the bed sheets higher to hide more of her face, but this also means she cannot see him much either. She listens as she passes him for any sign she is discovered, but nothing comes. She hears only a mumbled greeting and his footsteps as they walk in opposite directions.

  She sighs in relief and continues to the second guard. She knows she will have to do something to get him away from the gates’ lever but isn’t too sure what. When she comes to the second guard the fear returns, and again she passes him unnoticed. When she is in front of him she stops, he takes a long glance at her then looks away. She smiles and wriggles her hips invitingly; he looks at her again and smiles. He steps toward her and places his free hand on her behind. She giggles like a child and his smile widens and he rubs his hand back and forth.

  Before he realises what is happening she grabs his torch and using all her strength she shoves him back. He lets go of the torch and falls off the wall. Sertia waits until she hears the thud of him landing. She looks over to the first guard; she can only see his torch but knows from the movements that he didn’t hear anything.

  She drops the sheets and takes hold of the level but then stops. She looks down at the sheets and realises she could use them to shimmy down the wall. She lets go of the lever and begins tying the edges of the sheets together using her free hand and her teeth. Once that is done she drops one end over the wall and lowers it as much as she can, but it ends too soon, too high. If she climbed down that she would have to drop from a height she feels is a bit too high. It is impossible.

  An idea forms and she ties her end of the sheets to a stone of the wall. Then she grabs the level and pulls, the gates open loudly. This gets the attention of the first guard and she can see his torch approaching quickly. She tosses her torch over the wall, making it look as if someone has gone over, and hides. The first guard comes and finds the tied bed sheets. He looks over the wall hoping to find the torch and whoever did this and suddenly is pushed over, he screams until he hits the ground.

  With the gates open Sertia rushes back to the guard tower, down the spiral stairs, out the tower and back to the gates. She rushes through them to outside Tov’ra. She keeps running until the sun begins to rise and she can run no longer.