Mara the Knighted Witch

Chapter No.2 Vita et Mors

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."