Saturday, August 15, 2015

More Chapter 18

     On that fateful morning Queen Sparta arose, just as dawn was breaking, she stirring from her rest. Whereupon, alone without the service of her maidservants, she bathed her body, anointing her flesh with the sacred oil of her people, combing back her long hair into little braids gathered at the nape of her neck with a red ribbon as if she were preparing to go out to war. Donning her military uniform, greaves, gauntlets, along with her full kit of armor, including her weaponry. Doing so she calmly cleared her mind of all thoughts, save only for the pure focus she had on the subject of taking the life of her victim, for the murder of General Cothos would serve as her sacred sacrifice to the Unknown God, whom she worshipped. For in Him she found great favor, whereas she knew Zeus, Poseidon and Apollo would not appreciate, nor care for human sacrifice. However, deep in Queen of Sparta's heart, there in the stillness of her eternal soul, she knew it was truly Destiny who cared, and the Fates; which forever hover over her, and in this she felt alive. In this promise of hope, and peace of mind, shining in the bright light of the the Unknown God's Love and Protection. He, that Supernatural Being, serving as a mighty guardian, the God without a name, the God without a face. This was an overwhelming connection Sparta felt with the Universe, from deep inside her hungry spirit, for she felt tied to this feeling, and she knew being entwined with the awe inspiring energy she could feed off of, Sparta felt she could be made pure in Faith, Hope, Love and Grace. For she so believed the Power of the Universe could belong to her, alone, so she would make this sacrifice, for in doing so she knew what she was doing was right, this would serve to ease the conscience of her mind.
     Setting forth, unescorted by her sentries whom she commanded to come out in one hour, Queen Sparta went into the Royal Stables where she, herself, groomed, fed and watered her war horse, Saxet, mucking out his stall like a servant. The Royal Lady being not afraid of menial labor. Then she tacked up her steed in full battle regalia leading him out to the nearby arena of the Steria Military Academy where she found no one else about so early that late warm Spring day. Here she mounted up, putting Saxet through his many paces of precision drills and exercising. The horse and rider working in unison together the human communicating with the beast through subtle commands by the movement of feet, knees, thighs, along with little clicks and whistles from her tongue. Sparta felt the thrilling rush and memories of combat in her mind gearing herself and her horse up to a keyed state of extreme level of energy and a keen sense of heightened awareness.
     As Queen Sparta continued on with her military exercises practicing her shooting skills with bow and arrow, her marksmanship with the javelin etc... General Cothos awoke from a deep, restful sleep he, himself, being anxious with anticipation of his his meeting with the ravishing Queen, whom he had just been dreaming of just moments ago. Upon implicit orders of the Queen a lavish and delicious breakfast was sent forth for the General and his Roman delegation whom all sat in the Great Hall of the Palace feasting upon delicacies of roasted figs in honey and cinnamon, sweet honeycomb, baked goat cheese covered in toasted almonds, lashings of crisp bacon and cold boiled shrimp marinated in garlic and butter, grapes, watermelon, wheat berry bread in raspberry sauce, with fresh squeezed orange juice and red wine mixed with mountain spring water and spices. This was all served up to the General, who adored being treated like royalty, along with his fellow Romans, who delighted in listening to the excited Cothos, whom kept speaking endlessly, happily talking with his men about his forth coming date with the glorious and gracious Queen. All were intrigued and pleased to hear his confident bragging and boasting of what he intended to do to the Queen, privately, and all the lustful ideas he had in store for the lovely Sparta, for the Roman delegates found his lurid tales most entertaining.
     Now, one hour or so later, Queen Sparta returned to the stables, hot and sticky with beads of sweat on her forehead and chest, where she came upon her victim, the now full-bellied General Cothos smiling with radiance and a gleam in his dark eyes. Whereto fore, seeing the Warrior Queen astride her black steed resplendent in her battle dress, her massive war horse clad in his armament, a golden breast plate and bronze greaves the saddled fitted and filled with weapons of war craft the smell of leather, hay and fresh manure hung heavy in the early morning air. "My Queen!" Cothos hailed her "I am so pleased to see you and be here with you now this glorious day." he said in a loud cheerful voice.
     "Good morning General Cothos!" Queen Sparta responded with a convincing, warm smile of her own but in her heart she felt as cold as the winter snows. "Forgive my delay as I have been out training Saxet in the arena presently."
     "I am quite impressed and overwhelmed at the sight of you dressed as if you are bound for battle!" he exclaimed taking in the menacing sight "Why, any warrior having to face such a fearsome sight would find the experience to be most terrifying. I am thankful to the gods that our two great nations are allies and not enemies on the Warpath."
     "High praise, indeed." she replied pleased with his observation of opinion.
     "I must ask of you.., my brave Warrior Queen, will you allow me to ride out on Saxet, as you have made mention of in previous conversations?" Cothos inquired with all the excitement of a child that is about to receive a special sweet treat.
     "Perhaps..., we shall see." Queen Sparta responded dismounting "Yet first we must see if you are able to master an exercise of trust with the animal." here she paused  producing a small curved pick from her saddle bag "You must be able to demonstrate control and mastery of your fear. For this is a dangerous creature, capable of crushing a mans skull with one kick. Though you can not focus on this as you attempt to clean the sand and dirt form each of its hooves." her words were met by a pale look that came across the Generals face and he grew uneasy as his stomach churned. "It is easy as it is simplistic, allow me to demonstrate." hence Queen Sparta walked over to the towering beast standing next to its fore leg, where she bent at the waist reaching out for the horses ankle which she lightly touched saying "Saxet, lift" and upon her command the horse did obey, gently lifting then resting its hoof in her hand as she gingerly cleaned out the debris, quickly proceeding, making it look it so easy "Now, you have a try." she said handing over the tool as the Roman stood there motionless, tense and nervous unable to relax, for he feared upon his approach the massive black stallion would kick him in the head, or ribs, causing his body terrible injuries.
     "Well now.., let me see." he hesitated trying to calm his rapid breathing, the beating of his heart ever quickening its pulse, a rush of blood falling from his face to his feet. Suddenly as the General took one nervous step towards Saxet the beast reared up swaying its head letting out a loud snort from its powerful lungs as if in disgust. General Cothos felt sore afraid as he jumped back, but he knew in order to work his way into the Queen's bed he would have to be brave and swallow his fear and gain the trust of the creature.
     "Saxet down!" she commanded and the horse again returned to a state of calm as Cothos tried again "Good boy." she turned her attention back on her victim telling him "Go on." she encouraged him as she held tight to Saxet's reins, instructing Cothos to take a deep breath to quell his nerves , clear his mind of all trepidation. "Now, slowly, with the utmost confidence in your dominance, approach his hind quarters and do as I have shown you." Queen Sparta said watching and waiting in anticipation. "No harm shall come your way, my horse will not hurt you, I can assure and promise you of that." here Cothos remained still taking his time "Trust me Cothos, all will be well." she gave a sweet convincing smile asking "You do trust in me Cothos? Do you not?" her she waited for his most important reply.
     "Implicitly my Queen!" he answered truthfully.
     So, gathering up his courage and the gripping the pick in his hand, Cothos did as instructed trusting in the Queen of Sparta's guidance completely. Taking in a deep relaxing breath, slowly he approached, inch by inch he stepped closer to the steed, doing his best to replicate the demonstration of the Queen. Cothos stood at the side of the horse facing away from the animal, he carefully bent forward reaching out for the horses ankle, saying in a calm clear voice "Be a good boy Saxet, lift." he said lightly tapping its hind leg but the horse did not budge even a fraction of an inch.
     "Okay, now try again, but be more forceful in your tone, this is just an animal you are a highly evolved human being, now show your dominance." Queen Sparta informed him.
     "Very well," Cothos took another deep breath 'I can do this!' he said to himself. Here he repeated the same procedure yet this time he spoke boldly commanding the animal saying "Saxet! Lift!" he exclaimed gripping its leg and here, to the Generals shock and surprise, the animal obeyed lifting up its hind leg resting his giant hoof in the palm of the Generals hand. Gently with great care he cleaned out the clumps of dirt impacted in the animals hoof, being delighted he overcame his fear and was no longer frightened. "I did it!" he exclaimed grinning from ear to ear.
     "I had no doubt." Queen Sparta added "Now go finish the rest and we shall be off."
     "Yes I shall!" he said enthusiastically making quick work of his duty ecstatic he had gained the trust of the animal and had escaped injury, whereby impressing Queen Sparta, along with the gathering morning crew of groomsmen, who were shocked to see the Roman there in such close proximity to their beloved Queen.
     "Success! Dearest Cothos! Success!" she smiled going over to him embracing the General tightly to her bosom kissing him softly, lightly upon the lips ever so briefly. Then she climbed back up in the saddle "Now, I want you to come with me. Jump up behind me and we shall go out together to the trails first, so you may become accustomed to the height and experience of being so high up in the saddle. Then we shall see if you are ready to go out on your own with this powerful animal." Queen Sparta smiled charming her victim to accompany her, she being thrilled all was going so well according to her plan of deception. So it was General Cothos, with some assistance from a stable hand, climbed up sitting himself squarely in the saddle behind the deceitful Queen of Sparta, wrapping his hands around her tiny waist, his heart exceeding in measures of joy and bliss, never knowing within the next three hours he would be killed.

No comments:

Post a Comment