Gears of Aspiration

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

    Gregor Sarris, Duke of Souford, was laid out, asleep in a drunken stupor. Beside him lay two

raven haired beauties with olive skin. The two women were awake and giggling to each other

over the comatose body of the king's brother as they lay in bed in one of Elysium's most

notorious brothels. The night before had been a wild, wine soaked affair, wild even when

compared with all the other exploits of Gregor Sarris. The three had drained one wine skin

before Gregor turned and took one of the dark haired whores as the other looked on, awaiting

her turn to demonstrate to the king's brother her sexual prowess. Then the three drained another

wine skin before Gregor took the other. This went on for hours until Gregor Sarris passed out

from exhaustion and pure satisfaction.
         

    Gregor stirred and sat up in bed. He looked at each of the two women beside him and his face

split with a devilish smile. The corners of his mouth turned up and began to creep towards his

ears. This gave off the effect of a sharp blade slicing through flesh and it unnerved the two

women the first time they had seen it. Gregor Sarris, it was said, had an evil grin though the man

did not have an evil bone in his body. He was known to give generously to the poor and

destitute within Riverford and was always willing to buy a round of drinks for everyone

whenever he frequented Elysiums many taverns. The man was notorious when it came to

drinking and whoring, but it was his blade that had given Gregor Sarris his notoriety within

Riverford and beyond.


    Unlike most nobles in Riverford, Gregor Sarris did not fight with a sword. He wore two hand

axes upon his belt, one upon each side, and a great ax strapped to his back. None of these

weapons were ever far from his grasp. He stood and dressed then. He did not fancy the court

clothing popular in Elysium, rather he clothed his barrel chest and corded muscles in firs and

leather. He let his great red beard grow as long as he could stand. Together they gave Gregor a

ferocious look quite contrary to his outgoing friendly personality. At that moment there was a

loud pounding upon the chamber door, as if someone were trying to batter down the large oaken

door with a great bronze ram.


    "'Tis too damned early for such a racket, besides my head is splitting," Gregor shouted to

whomever was trying to gain entrance to the chamber.


    "Gregor Sarris?" came the reply from the other side of the door. Gregor instantly recognized

the voice of Beeron, the head of Elysium's royal guard. Beeron was a brave man. He was the

youngest man to hold that position in the history of Riverford.  He had worked his way up from

guard of Clan Sarris to head of the Royal Guard in only ten years.

.
    "Aye, you know it is me, Beeron," Gregor said. Gregor had served with Beeron before. He

was Beeron's commanding officer in the civil wars that had gained his brother Addard the

Amethyst Crown, and knew the man well.


    "Open this door or by writ of King Addard IV we shall break it down. It won't do to try to

escape through the window, Sir, we are five stories up as you know," Beeron said trying to

sound threatening even as his voice cracked with fear. Beeron had not been this nervous since he

was a boy. He was once Gregor Sarris' lieutenant and was loathe to be charged with the man's

arrest now.


    "Open the door, Dear," Gregor said to one of the girls, laughing as he made sure his axes were

not fastened too tightly to his person. He hoped he did not have to kill Beeron today. He liked

that man and had known him to be a loyal and competent soldier and guard. He had protected

Gregor on many occasions and he owed the man his life.
 

    The girl opened the door and no fewer than ten guards, six men and four women, armed with

halberds and dressed in Elysium's colors of sky blue and white entered the chamber. Beeron

himself stood back and let the other men stand between him and his charge.


    "Grogor Sarris, I place you under arrest for high treason by order of King Addard IV. You will

come peacably," Beeron said trying to fill his cracking voice with authority.


    "Nay, I’ll not!" Gregor shouted as the guards began to rush across the room to arrest

him.


    Gregor Sarris quickly embedded his small hand axes into the breasts of the two guards foolish

enough to lead the charge upon him.  He bared his great ax and cleaved two more guards nearly

in two before the others subdued their charge. It took all of the guards to control the raging

giant. Gregor struggled as best he could. He was able to throw a couple of the guards off of him

but it wasn’t long before the rest of the guards restrained him again. Beeron was able, with great

effort on his own part, to clamp a pair of iron manacles upon Gregor’s wrist. The manacles bit

deeply into the skin of his wrists and Gregor knew that this fight was lost. He was going to the

dungeons.


    "Please, sir, be still," Beeron begged the Duke. "We are here by writ of your brother the king.

We are only trying to complete the task with which we are charged."


    "I will go with you peaceably. I have already butchered four of your men, my point has been

made. I will go to the dungeons if only to face my brother Addard."


    As Gregor Sarris was marched from the brothel located in Elysium's first bailey to the

dungeons carved from the bedrock below the keep he tried to figure out exactly what was going

on in his brother's mind. He knew Addard was ailing and that his mind was failing, but he could

not believe that his mind had deteriorated to the point of believing that he was capable of

treason. Addard knew that Gregor loved him. He also knew that the man was not ambitious and

had no plans to take Riverford's crown. The two were as close as only brothers could be.


    Before Addard became king, the two were inseparable. You never did see one without the

other. Though the two were a lot alike in many ways, the two made quite a contradictory pair in

appearance. Addard had always addorned himself in the latest fashions while Gregor wore his

accustomed firs and leathers. They were like opposing sides of the same coin. Where one was

present the other was not far behind it was said of the two men.


    This made Addard's ailment all the worse for Gregor. It was bad enough that he could no

longer spend the time he was used to with his older brother and now that brother was sick and

may well perish. It pained him to think of the times and adventures they had had together. A

worse pain was the thought that he may well loose that brother all together. He feared the worst,

that loosing Addard would be like losing an arm while still being able to feel an itch upon the

missing hand as so many amputees liked to say.  Gregor hung his head in defeat upon that

realization. It was not his impending imprisonment that bothered him. Quite to the contrary, it

was the realization that his brother Addard was worse off than he had feared. He was going to

have to make amends with the fact that his brother the king was going to die. A single tear rolled

down Gregor's face at the thought.


    The Royal Guards surrounding him noticed the change in Gregor Sarris then, but no one said

anything. It was bad enough for them to have to convey this kind hulking giant to a roughhewn

rock cell below the keep, but to see this man that they all loved dearly so depressed was more

than they ought to bare. Each man knew Gregor Sarris as a loyal and true friend to the court.

Many of them had fought alongside him during the civil wars and all of them remember the

drinks the man had bought them over the years in Elysiums many taverns and the tales he would

tell them all when he had gotten enough drink into him. He had endeared himself to the guards

and soldiers of Elysium alike to a man and each of them loved him for it. This was the first

time many of these men were not proud to be a part of Elysium's Royal Guard.


    Before the onslaught of his condition, Addard Sarris never would have believed that Gregor

was capable of betraying his brother. He would have been angered and fly off into a rage if

anyone had even dared to mention such a thing in his presence. Addard Sarris had known

enough of his brother to know that betrayal was not something Gregor was able to pull off.

Duplicity and treason were far from any trait Gregor Sarris had ever exhibited. He was an

honorable man. Honorable to a fault he had been told on more than one occasion, and each time

it made him laugh. A proud and boastful laugh it would have seemed to those that did not know

him. But, Gregor was not a boastful man. He was proud, that was a fact. He was proud to be

brother to the king. He was proud to be a Duke of Riverford and moreover, he was proud to be a

member of Clan Sarris.


    But to boast of such things would have been beneath him. He believed that a man worth his

salt had no need to tell others of the things he had done. Gregor Sarris let his actions and deeds

speak for themselves. He believed a boastful man was a lying man, and lies were tools of evil

men. Gregor did not believe in deceit of any kind. Even in war deceit was, in his mind, not

something to be used and wielded as a boy wields a stick in playing games of war. It was for

this reason alone that the Duke of Souford was never included in the planning stages of his

brother’s battles.


    King Addard knew differently. Addard Sarris knew that deceit was war. A man who would

not deceive his enemies was a man that was doomed to defeat. King Martel the First had been a

master of deceit in war. He had used it as a tool in each of his decisive victories. Addard Sarris

had studied Martel’s battle strategies from an early age. He knew each of the tactics the man had

used to defeat his enemies and unite the entire island under his own banner. He had studied the

battle maneuvers of great warrior kings from all the nations of the known world and had used

many of them in his quest to obtain the Amethyst Crown from Henri Lelani, much to his

younger brother’s chagrin.
 
 
  Addard had tried early on in his conquest to include Gregor in the planning of his battles.

But it had become apparent that his younger brother would have none of it. He would always

try to talk Addard out of using such means to ensure victory. After a time Addard was content

with just giving his brother command of his vanguard and left the man out of the planning stages

completely. As a result Addard’s enemies knew what to expect from his vanguard. They all

knew that Gregor would use all the strength and power available to him in his attacks and

Addard would always find a way to use that knowledge to his own advantage. Knowing

what to expect from Gregor Sarris did not help the enemies of clan Sarris in defeating Addard.


    As he was led through the city streets Gregor thought ever more on times past. He began to

remember the fun he used to have with Addard as a boy. He recalled the many days they spent

fishing in the river near their father's castle in Norford. He recalled too the Celestine twins,

Amarisa and Bridonna, whom they courted off and on throughout their teenage years. The more

he thought on his past with his brother the worse he felt. Gregor knew that he should clear his

head if he were to begin to feel better, but he could not bring himself to do his brother such a

disservice. If Addard were to die then Gregor wanted to remember everything he could about

the man he loved, his brother, his king. He began to weep then, softly to himself. Now and again

his head would bob up and down in time with his sobs. It was more than the guards could bare.

Each of them was careful not to look upon Gregor Sarris as he lost control of himself for fear of

breaking into tears themselves. So each one ignored Gregor Sarris as best they could and kept

focused on getting the man safely to his cell deep below Elysium.


    They all turned onto the main thoroughfare that wound around the hilly terrain of the city

before passing through the gates of the keep. As they did so, Gregor Sarris heard something that

made his pulse quicken, his heart race. From behind, Gregor and the guards heard the familiar

voice Rikard Sarris calling to them from behind. They all turned and saw Rikard hurrying to

catch up with them, It was just what he needed at that moment, the familiar comforting voice of

his brother Rikard. Though not quite as close as he was with Addard, Greggor loved his other

brother just as deeply. Rikard was younger than he was by a good nine years, so Gregor did not

spend as much time with his younger brother, but this did nothing to lessen the love he felt for

Rikard.
 

    "Gregor," Rikard shouted catching up with them. "What is the meaning of this armed guard?

Where are they taking you?" Rikard Sarris did his best to seem both surprised an upset by his

brother's arrest. The guards spun in the direction of the voice as their halberds pointed at Rikard,

keeping him a safe distance from their prisoner.


    Gregor told him that King Addard had placed him under arrest, and that these guards were

taking him to the dungeons deep below the fortified city. When asked upon what charge he was

placed under arrest, Gregor told him that it was because his name started with a G.


    "But, that is no fault of your own. He should arrest our parents for that matter. Why does your

name bother his majesty so? May I know?" Sir Rikard asked his older brother even though he

knew the answer. Rikard tried his best to appear ignorant of his brother’s plight. He had planned

this moment for months and it was all Rikard could do to act surprised by what he was told.


    "Aye Rikard, as soon as I myself know.” His eyes were wet, but dry. He had stopped sobbing

when he heard his brother calling to him from behind. For a moment he had forgotten about his

ailing brother and his upcoming imprisonment. “As yet, I do not,” he continued. “But I've heard

that our brother listens to dreams and divinations. He says a wizard told him that by G the end of

his reign shall be. Since Gregor begins with G, in his mind it stands that I must be he," Sir

Gregor told Rikard.


    "Our king is being influenced by his queen.” Rikard lied.  “The queen has you arrested, not

our brother. She and her brother Tone had convinced the king to send Willem Holinshed, Lord

Whiteford, to the dungeons.“ He informed his brother, not knowing if the man had heard about

Willem’s release he continued. “He was released earlier today, was he not? Geregor, we are not

safe," the Duke of Norford stated, still trying to lay the blame for what was to come upon Queen

Eliza.


    "None of us are safe, Rikard. Save those in Eliza's influence. Holinshed kissed her royal ass to

earn his release, as you've heard," Gregor told his brother.


    "Humbly complaining to this goddess," Rikard shuddered at the thought "got Chambers his

delivery as well. If we are to stay in his majesty's good graces, we too should become the

queen's men. She has become a power behind the throne it would seem."


    "Farewell, dear brother. I will go to the King and tell him all you wish me to say. Know that

this disgrace in brotherhood moves me greatly," Rikard told his brother.


    "Neither of us are too pleased by this," Gregor said.


    "Have patience, Brother. I will deliver you your liberty soon enough," Rikard said in a false

attempt to raise his brothers spirits.


    "Farewell," Gregor bid his brother as he was led away toward the dungeons below the Keep

of Elsium.


    This conversation with his younger brother had brought a smile to Gregor’s face. His pace

quickened a bit and he bounced with each step. Gregor Sarris did not appear to be a man that

was headed to a rough-hewn stone cell deep beneath Elysium. He smiled because he knew he

would not be imprisoned for long at all. Rikard would talk with King Addard and straighten this

whole mess out. But this was just one of Gregor’s problems. He still had an ailing brother to

worry about, and that could prove too much for this likable giant to handle.