Tri-ethereal Ch. 03

He frowned at this, nodded, closed the cell door and locked it.

"Are you ready, John?"

"Yes, my love."

I removed my clothes, lay down on our bed and closed my eyes. I pictured John's naked body in my mind's eye. Within a few seconds I felt him entering me . . .

No sooner were we finished union when the guard came back. He had another guard with him. They were carrying manacles and chains.

Neither I nor Johanna really had any time to enjoy our union. I was sad for her because I know she really enjoys going through union and the bliss that follows it.

The guard gruffly ordered me to stand up. When I wasn't quick enough he and the other guard with him grabbed me by my arms and pulled me to my feet. Then they put the manacles and chains on our body. Next he put the ring around our neck and attached two chains to it. They led me naked to the courtroom.

Half way there we met Lord Kennington. William and King Andrew's personal bodyguard, Sir Glauco, were with him. They stopped us. Lord Kennington introduced Sir Glauco to me. He is the top commander in the palace guards.

I have never met any of King Andrew's bodyguards before but I recognized him as one because of the king's emblem on his chest, over his heart. Only the king, the queen and the palace guards are allowed to wear it.

It is a three pointed shield. It is divided diagonally in half, upper right to lower left. The upper half is sky blue and the lower half is forest green. There is a narrow stripe meandering diagonally down from near the upper left to near the lower right. It does not go all the way up or down, only part of the way. It is white on the top and aqua on the bottom.

There is a white dove in flight in the middle of the shield. The dove has an exposed large red heart on its breast, its carrying an anchor in its feet and an olive branch in its beak. Above the dove in the upper left there is a small rainbow.

The dove represents faith, hope and love bringing peace to Tri-ethereal. The three points on the shield point to truth, justice and equality for all. The blue symbolizes the unpolluted sky, the green symbolizes the unpolluted land and the rainbow symbolizes the non-exploited resources. The meandering stripe is a double symbol, white for clouds, snow and ice and aqua for lakes, rivers and streams.

It is King Andrew's personal emblem; he designed it himself.

I didn't know what William had told Lord Kennington, nor did I know what Johanna had told William. We hadn't had time to talk about it. So, I thought I would just remain quiet for now.

William handed the prison guard in charge a rolled up paper. The paper was an order from Lord Kartier directing him to give charge of the prisoner John to William and Sir Glauco.

The law demands that at least one prison guard be with any prisoner when he or she is to be transferred to the royal court. Lord Kartier put William's name on the paper on the advice of Lord Kennington. Lord Kennington talked to William the other day and learned that William wanted to help out me and Johanna. So, William was chosen to help out.

Sir Glauco ordered the two guards to hand me over to his care. The one in charge just shrugged his shoulders and handed the chain in his hand to William. King Andrew's guard took the other chain. Then King Andrew's bodyguard told the two prison guards to return to whatever they were doing before they came and got me.

The four of us just stood there until the two guards were around the corner and out of sight. Then I was led down another hallway, away from the court!

I was totally confused but I still thought it better to remain quiet. I am sure Johanna was also just as confused but she hadn't said anything to me as yet.

We came to a door. I could see light from outside through the cracks in it.

My first thought was that Lord Kennington was going the break me out and possibly hide me and Johanna in his castle. Like he did after our parents were executed. But I immediately dismissed that thought. He's very influential but not so much as to get away with helping a Trimorph break out of prison.

Besides, if he tried something like that with the help of a palace guard, it would be an embarrassment to the royal family. That's something Lord Kartier would never stand for.

Then the king's bodyguard opened the door and peeked out. After several seconds he motioned for us to follow him. He led us to one of the king's personal carriages. The four of us got into the carriage and Sir Glauco told the driver to bring us to the front entrance of the royal courthouse.

"John, ask them where they are taking us." Johanna whispered to me. She always whispers to me when we are in the presence of others. I don't know why. They can't hear her. She says that she's just being cautious but I think she's just too conservative.

I looked from Lord Kennington to Sir Glauco to William, who still held the end of the chain. Then, "Lord Kennington, where are we going?"

"You are going to enter the royal court through the front entrance instead of the rear. I want them to see what they are banishing into unconsciousness and paralysis to Corporeal. That's why I haven't had you put on any clothes and have kept the manacles and chains on your body."

"I don't understand," I answered him.

Lord Kennington then told me that a couple of hundred commoners and civil aristocrats had gathered in front of the royal courthouse. They have been gathering there since early this morning; all the seats in the courtroom having been taken as soon as the doors were opened. Most of them were clamoring for my and Johanna's execution.

Lord Kennington and Lord Kartier thought it best if they actually saw what it was that they were yelling for; what they wanted to execute. They wanted the demonstrators to see that I'm a normal looking Tri-etherealian just like they are. That's why he didn't bring me any clothes. Of course, the law demands that I our body be chained up when entering the royal court, which is why they hadn't removed the manacles and chains.

It took us about ten minutes to get around the prison castle and to the front of the royal courthouse. It's a large castle. Normally it would only take about two or three minutes, as there is an underground passageway leading from the prison castle to the royal court.

The passageway is heavily guarded with five securely locked doors along the way. Each door must be opened by a different guard, who locks it again as soon as the prisoner is brought through it.

When we got to the front of the royal courthouse, Sir Glauco told us to wait inside the carriage. He got out and went up the steps and into the courthouse. I peeked through the curtain and watched him go up the steps. There must have been 25 or 30 of them, leading into a massive three story building with columns on all three floors. I was very impressed with what I saw.

Lord Kennington touched me on my shoulder and motioned for me to peek through the curtains on the other side of the carriage. What I saw shocked me. The plaza in front of the royal courthouse was jammed packed with spectators. There were hundreds of them.

In front of them, preventing them from coming any closer, were numerous sword and lance bearing prison guards. Between the guards and us were a couple dozen archers, with their bows ready to shoot.

"Oh John I'm scared. Tell Lord Kennington to bring us back around to the rear."

"Lord Kennington, Johanna wants us to enter through the rear. What shall I tell her?"

"Tell her not to worry. Lord Kartier has allowed us to use the king's personal bodyguards. The crowd knows better than to attack them."

"Tell him that I heard what he said John but that I'm still frightened by the crowd."

"She said that she is still scared, Lord Kennington."

He didn't answer me. I looked at William. He just shrugged his shoulders. I could tell that he didn't know much more than I did.

After several minutes Sir Glauco opened the carriage door and motioned for me and William to step out. Lord Kennington followed us. Sir Glauco held one chain and William the other.

Standing at attention before us were about a dozen or so palace guards, each with the king's coat-of-arms on his breast. They formed two lines. Each one had a sword on his hip, a shield in his left hand and a lance in his right. Their shields also had the king's crest on them.

Johanna told me that she felt a little safer now with the king's personal bodyguards here to protect us.

The palace guards are chosen from among the knights of Tri-ethereal. They are the best of the best.

The knights are constantly undergoing rigorous training with battleaxe, mace, sword, lance, bow and arrow and many other weapons. Those who prove themselves as superior with these weapons are given the opportunity to become a palace guard. They undergo further, more intensive training. If they succeed then they are invited to join the king's elite corps.

They are truly the unmatched in all weaponry. That's why Johanna told me she felt a little safer with them protecting us against the mob.

Sir Glauco tugged slightly on the chain around our body's neck, indicating for me to follow him between the two lines of guards. We proceeded up the steps. When we got to the landing Sir Glauco ordered the guards to fan out to the right and left.

Then Lord Kennington turned me to face the crowd. Nothing was said. We just stood there for a couple of minutes. A silence fell over the demonstrators, as if they realized that what they were condemning was something no different than themselves.

Lord Kennington apologized for making me stand naked and chained up in front of the crowd but he said it was necessary in order to show them that I was no different than they are.

I told him that no apology was necessary, that I was not ashamed to stand in front of the masses chained up and naked. I told him that it was not a disgrace to be seen naked. It is those who are ignorant and secular minded and filled with guilt who are ashamed of nudity.

Next Sir Glauco barked off another order and the guards reformed into two lines flanking me. We proceeded up the remaining steps and into the courthouse.

Once inside, the palace guards pushed back the commoners who were in the rear of the courtroom, leaving a broad isle for Sir Glauco and William to march me up through. They were taking no chances with my safety.

The room was filled with spectators just as it was before when Johanna was officially sentenced, Unamorphs to the left, commoners to the right and rear and knights in the balconies. Only this time there were palace guards forming an isle up through the middle of the commoners.

Conspicuously absent was Count Strydamu. In his place was the Public Prosecutor, Master Lemin. It was he who originally charged me as a sex violator. I looked toward Lord Kennington but he just nodded slightly.

For about a minute or two everyone just stood around looking stupid. Master Lemin obviously did not know whether to proceed on his own or wait for the Chief Juror, Lord Thomason to give him the go ahead. Finally, Lord Thomason told him to proceed.

He read from a scroll, the same one the Count read from when Johanna was sentenced. "John, you have been found guilty as a Trimorph and for perversion against the royal monarch, against Tri-etherealian decency codes and against normal, straight sex. Do you have anything you wish to say before sentence is pronounced?"

"No Master Lemin, I do not."

"You have been granted the choice of execution by burning at the stake or banishment into unconsciousness and paralysis to Corporeal. Which do you choose?"

"I choose banishment from the kingdom."

Immediately, I could hear Johanna begin to cry. I wanted to caress her, to tell her that everything is going to be alright. But I couldn't.

"I understand your counterpart, Johanna, has also chosen banishment."

"That is correct Master Lemin." Johanna was still crying.

"Then according to the laws of Tri-ethereal," he continued to read. "I sentence you to be exiled from the kingdom of Tri-ethereal, the date and time to be determined at a later date. Before sentence is carried out you will be notified of the date and time. May God have mercy upon your soul."

What hypocrisy! Everyone knows that Master Lemin is an atheist. Yet he condemns me to banishment and then asks God to have mercy on my soul. He was just pandering to the seven Lords who were the jurors of my case and to the Lords who were sitting to my left. Rumor has it that he wants to be a Lord also.

I was quickly led out of the courtroom by William and Sir Glauco and into another room down the hall. Once there the manacles and chains were removed from our body. William put the manacles and chains into a leather pouch. One of Lord Kennington's maids was there waiting for us. She handed me some clothes. Lord Kennington told me to put them on. As soon as I was dressed he draped his cape over our body. He handed me a hat with a large plume of feathers on it.

While I was dressing two palace guards entered and informed Sir Glauco that everything was ready; they were just waiting for his command. Sir Glauco momentarily stepped into the hall. Then after several minutes the six of us – me, William, Sir Glauco, Lord Kennington and the two palace guards – all went out of the building and down the steps to another carriage parked in front of the king's carriage, but a distance away from it.

The other palace guards were all standing around the king's carriage, lances and swords at the ready. The crowds were still waiting for me to be brought out of the royal court and down the steps to that carriage. The other prison guards were still holding the crowd back while their comrades stood ready with their bows and arrows.

Lord Kennington, William, Sir Glauco and I got into the plain carriage. One of the two guards climbed up onto the seat and grabbed the horse's reins. The other guard stood on a platform on the rear of the carriage. Within seconds we were galloping away from the royal court at a brisk speed. As we left the plaza a group of eight palace guards on horseback joined us, flanking our carriage.

The reason for the disguise and the quick getaway was that Lord Kennington didn't want to take any chances with my safety. Most of those in the crowd had been yelling for my execution. He thought that with so many of them in the plaza a riot might start out once they found out that I had been banished instead of sentenced to execution. If that happened then even the king's personal bodyguards might not have been enough to save me.

Sir Glauco added that they still may riot. But if that happens then more of the king's bodyguards, with bows and arrows, were at this very moment filing out of the courthouse and onto the landing on the steps. If the crowd was determined to riot they would be ready.

The king is a peaceful ruler; he believes in pursuing all avenues of nonviolent negotiations first. But if that fails he has his personal troops.

As we were riding away I asked Lord Kennington what happened to the Count.

He said that I and Johanna should thank William for that.

I looked at William but he just smiled.

He told me that he was talking to one of the guards in the royal court who had happened to overhear the Count threaten to embarrass the king with his son's affair with a male commoner. The guard didn't seem to care. But William gave the information to his wife who is a cook in Queen Marina's kitchen.

The Queen has never liked the Count. She believes him to be a rude, obnoxious and ill-mannered despot; not at all the type of Tri-etherealian she thinks should hold the title of nobility. She gave the information to the king along with a recommendation that Count Strydamu resign his position.

Anyway, Lord Kennington and Lord Kartier had cornered the Count in one of the anterooms in the courthouse. They reminded the count that his son could go to prison for theft of the chess set. They also reminded him that it was a disgrace to blackmail a Lord. If that were known, then that in itself was enough to cause him to lose most of his political influence in the royal council.

Lord Kartier further informed him that the two of them had loaned Lord Clyton enough money to get out of debt. He was going to pay off all his debtors, including the Count, the first thing tomorrow morning.

Then just as they were "advising" the Count to withdraw his bid for a seat on the royal council, King Andrew entered the room. He overheard what the two Lords were saying to the Count.

He confronted Count Strydamu about his plans to embarrass the royal family. Then he demanded an explanation for that and for his blackmailing of Lord Clyton. The Count fell to his knees and begged for mercy. The king told him that he would have mercy on him only if he resigned his position as Presiding Officer of the royal council. Neither he nor his wife thought he belonged there.

Next King Andrew informed the Count that his efforts to embarrass the royal family would not have succeeded. He revealed to everyone that he was aware of his son's homosexuality. He saw nothing wrong with his son's choice of sex partners. He only wished his son would be more discreet when choosing a partner.

The king then turned to Sir Rodney. The second in command among the king's bodyguards follows the king everywhere he goes. He ordered Sir Rodney to get a detail of palace guards and escort Mr. Strydamu out of the royal courthouse and back to his residence. He told Strydamu that he never wanted to see him in the royal council or the royal court again.

After they left, Lord Kartier, Lord Kennington and King Andrew together decided that it would be best to have Sir Glauco, his first in command, escort me from the prison to the courthouse for my official sentencing.

Lord Kennington and Sir Glauco went to the prison, picked up William and were on their way to get me when they ran into the two guards who were escorting me to the royal court. The rest is history.

As we continued to ride in the carriage, I then told Lord Kennington, Sir Glauco and William of Strydamu's threat to have me beheaded if he were not elected to the royal council.

Lord Kennington looked at Sir Glauco and asked him if he wouldn't mind standing guard with William in front of the door leading to my cell until they could be assured that Mr. Strydamu was no longer a threat. William said that he would gladly do it. But Sir Glauco said that he would have one of the other palace guards do it; he had some other business he had to attend to.

Lord Kennington said that he would have Lord Kartier issue an order that no one was to open my or Johanna's cell except William or Sir Glauco or Sir Glauco's representative. Both guards nodded in agreement.

By this time we were back behind the prison in front of the door we had exited from earlier. I was returned to my cell. William left to get an aide to help him return the things Lord Kennington had earlier given to us.

Lord Kennington said that he would have my chess set sent to me in the morning along with some writing paper for Johanna. Then he and Lord Kartier were going to increase their efforts to have all the anti-Trimorph laws repealed.

William entered our cell with the chair; a couple of aides carried the table and other luxuries. Upon seeing the table and chair, Johanna whispered to me that she couldn't wait to start writing again. It would be a break from the monotony of doing nothing all the time.

For the first time in five months things were starting to look up. Both Johanna and I now have hope that our future will be better.

To be continued . . .