Part 1 - The execution of the Gruin's

"So we have an order then?  Are we in agreement?"

The head of the King's guard and chief executioner waved over to the serving girl for more wine and then fell into his seat.  The girl run over, her bare feet barely making a sound and poured him some more wine, her brown eyes searching the room to see if any one else wanted any.

I wanted some wine, no, I needed some wine.  This was not my first execution and I knew it would not be my last but frankly I did not have the stomach for what was to come.  I thought two of the three girls to die the next day were innocent.  Normally these were simple affairs.  At the beginning of every month we, the capitan and I - I serve as the prison doctor, as well as the warden, would go through the King's condemned list, determined the order of who would die first, then had a very nice dinner afterword.  The day would arrive and the prisoners would be dragged naked from their cells then strapped to the X-frames that were pre-built into the back of horse drawn wagons and driven through town.  Often the townspeople ridiculed them, throwing rotting fruit at them, spitting on them.   Forming behind the wagon there would be a jolly parade to the place of execution.  Once there they had only minutes of life left.

In a way, I had to admire his efficency.  The old capitan of the guard was a cruel man,who often made the soon to be dead suffer even more.  Woman in particular were spared no mercy.  I thought back to one girl.  She was just barely a woman, something like sixteen years of age, who found herself without a means of supporting her self in the capital.  She turned, like many girls did, to selling her body in order to survive.  The man that attacked her had been a brute by all accounts and it came as little surprise that he died at the point of a dagger...but murder is murder and the courts found her guilty.  The old Capitan slipped the noose about her neck and then abused her...raising her up so her toes would scrape the wood and then lowering her back down.  He did this several times much to the amusement of the crowd. He plied her body open with his rough fingers and used her horribly on the gallows, again lifting up to show the crowd that "She was just a whore!"

It had taken an hour for her to die, the noose finally getting to the point where it chocked the girl.  The only good thing about his cruelty, if indeed cruelty can ever be a good thing, was that it discouraged the family of the victims from the "right of revenge."   It was the law of the land that the victim of a crime could take "revenge" on the condemned if they so desired.  Often the family of the victim ended up asking for mercy on the condemned behalf, simply because of his cruelty.
  
In all my years as the prison doctor I had only seen two request the right.  The first time a man named Jonas brought the sword down quickly on the head of a horse thief.  I was surprised expecting it to be a bloody and drawn out affair, but the man cleaved the thief's head in one solid stroke.  The second time was a woman whose name I have since long forgotten, her husband had been a drunkard and a fighter and who was killed being such a man.   It was rumored that her husband often beat her as well.  

The day arrived.  The man who killed her husband arrived and was taken to the block, his head placed before her.   She was a frail woman, and everyone knew that the blade would be to heavy for her and it would be a long and bloody affair, the crowd was looking forward to that show calling out for blood.  She stood up, pulling a knife out and slit his throat.  "Thank you for freeing me of that beast" she said, "so I will quickly free you."

"Doctor, more wine?"

I looked up.  "Yes, yes thank you.  I'm sorry I was lost in my thoughts."  

The Capitan nodded and pulled the brown eyed serving girl onto his lap, she squealed playfully and struggled only half heartedly to escape his grasp.  His large muscular hand groped her and he smiled at me.  "Your thinking about the Lady's request for the right of revenge."

"Aye."

He sighed, releasing the serving girl who gave him a saucy little wink as she retreated back to the kitchen to fetch more wine for us.  "I would be happier if it was the Lady's neck in the noose and not that of her step daughter."

I smiled and had to agree.  The noble family of Gruin found itself with no son to retain the name and rights of the land.  The old man was in his 70's and found himself a younger woman, a mean spirited woman in her mid 20's who promised him a male child.  She failed to produce a male child...but did give him yet another daughter, the old man then died.  Which its self would not have been that unusual, except that she asked me to perform an autopsy.  I had found poison in his system and then it became a murder investigation.

The noble family of Gruin was cursed in another way.  All of his daughters had died early.  There were only two left, they would inherit the remaining wealth of the family, but not the name or lands of the family Gruin.  Even during the investigation the various noble families were making alliances and trying to gain the favor of one or the other daughter.   Then a bottle of poison was found in the bedchamber of one of the daughters.  A letter half-written explaining the plan in another, rumors of payoffs to the maids, lies and accusations flew.

In the end the King had no choice, it was generally thought that the girls were innocent and the King was being pressured by those who aligned themselves with the step mother to find the girls guilty.  The end of the whole affair would be tomorrow at noon.  The warden wished to keep their execution private, as to not in-flame the crowd.  The King agreed, giving them at least some dignity.

The warden and the capitan of the guard also wanted to try something new, the results would be the same of course.  It would keep with tradition but prevent some of the unpleasentness of past executions from occurring.  The King agreed to that as well.

I finished my wine and bid the capitan a good night.  

"Till tomorrow then my friend."

  The capitan grasped my hand and then back to the brown eyed serving girl with more than a little lust in his eyes.   "Aye, tomorrow."  I let myself out the door to the squeals of a happy serving girl.