“It’s good to have you here tonight, Count Biscay.”

The figure that stood admiring the stained glass portrait of the family turned on hearing his host.

“Thank you, Lord Loyola. You know I wouldn’t miss coming. Your meals are always excellent, as is your wine. Besides, you promised me a surprise tonight. I do hope you won’t disappoint me.”

“Don’t worry, I believe that it is quite a pleasant surprise. But let’s continue to dinner first. We have prepared your favorite tonight, capon. Please, let us be seated.”

With that they moved into the dining room and were seated. Servants came and attended them at the table, taking their requests for wine.

“So, do you think that I shall like this surprise, Loyola?”

“I should say it will be enjoyable.”

“So it is an activity then?”

“Yes, but you have caused me to give up too much already.”

“Right, fine. I shall wait.”

The servants came back with the wine at this point.

“To the surprise,” suggested Count Biscay.

“To the surprise.”

They toasted, and Loyola watched Biscay devoutly over the rim of his goblet. Biscay passed out, glass still in hand. As the goblet rolled off the table and onto the floor in an attempt to escape the potion within, Loyola stood. He motioned to his servants, who lifted Biscay. They followed after their lord.

*************

Biscay awoke with a headache. It was cool and damp. His vision was blurry. He tried to wipe his eyes with his hands, but his arms wouldn’t move. Was he paralyzed? He struggled to regain clear vision, and groaned. A figure began to approach him. It stopped a few steps from him, towering over him.

“Good to see that you are awake, Biscay. I had promised you a surprise. I didn’t want to disappoint you.”

“Loyola? You drugged my drink, didn’t you? This is funny, your twisted sense of humor. You can release me now. My wrists and ankles are sore. Your servants tied them too tightly. I need my shirt. I’ll catch my death down here like this.”

“Oh, but this is no joke. No more than catching your death. I won’t be releasing you just yet.”

“What are you talking about? Release me, Loyola.”

“Do you know where we are?”

“In your tower, I presume.”

“Do you know why we are here? We are here to talk.”

“But we can talk upstairs over dinner. The capon is waiting. You don’t have to bind me to talk. We are brothers-in-law. We are family.”

“Oh, but this way will be a bit more productive, I presume, brother.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I have ways of loosening your tongue,” he said, holding up a dagger.

Biscay drew his breath. Surely Loyola was jesting. There was no sense in killing Biscay. They were allies; they were family. But the blade was still glinting in the light of the sconces. The light was too bright. Biscay noticed just before Loyola continued talking, that the room was covered in mirrors.

“This dagger is dipped in poison. You will wish for me to use it by the end of the night.”

“Come, this is enough of a joke. Loosen me. Let us finish our dinner. You are being too dramatic.”

“Ah, but the joke has yet to begin. However, I do believe that it is time for dinner.”

Loyola’s hand motion was repeated a multitude of times in the mirrors surrounding the room. It was to a servant out of Biscay’s sight behind his head. Biscay looked into the mirror toward his feet so that he might catch a glimpse of the purpose of the motion. The servant brought a bag forward. The man stood beside the count now, with the bag directly above him. The bag was swaying slightly, almost as if it were alive.

“What’s in that, Loyola? What are you going to do?”

“I thought that I was asking the questions. But very well, since you wished to know…”

Loyola motioned to the servant to empty the bag. A shower of angry spiders and scorpions rained down upon Biscay. Horrified, he began to shake as much as he could. He screamed and writhed almost futilely.

“Come, now. Surely you must have learned that the worst thing to do is make sudden movements. It only excites them. Besides, they’re hungry.”

Biscay continued to shake them off. This was difficult, as he was in a position to be drawn and quartered. His body was already stretched taut. The motions only served to pain his muscles more. He couldn’t twist over to completely rid himself of the creatures. He whimpered as bites and stings began to numb his mind with pain like the nails of an iron maiden. How he wanted to take his hands and beat at the blasted creatures.

But he was impotent. Few had fallen. He could feel them rustling the hair follicles as they moved over his skin. Some were burrowing into the warmth of his trousers. Itching sensations mingled with the pangs from stings. One began to crawl through his hair and onto his eye. He was hysterical with fear, trying to blow the creature off.

“Loyola, get these creatures off. This is no way to treat a guest. This is no way to treat family!”

“I agree. This is no way to treat family. I will leave you to think about how you have pained me. I will give you time to consider all of the rotten wounds you’ve given my soul.”

“But I have done nothing to you, Loyola,” Biscay screamed.

Loyola never heeded him, having carried full well the marks on his soul for years. He and his servant climbed the stairs circling the tower. They paused long enough only to douse the light of each torch. Slightly out of breath at the landing, he turned and looked on the figure stretched out a hundred feet below him. How he loathed him. He spat in his direction, then opened the iron door. Behind him, his servant snuffed the last sconce and departed. Biscay remained bound in the dark below as a feast for vermin wishing to have experienced the dagger.

*************

“You don’t look like you’re enjoying the surprise, Biscay. But I am. I see necrosis has set in. Those sores remind me of the festering wounds that you have given me. Have you thought about your offense yet?”

Biscay opened his eyes to look with pleading hatred at Loyola. He was not sure how much time had passed. A few days perhaps? He had been visited by servants infrequently during that time. They had only come to bring a sponge full of water to him. They seemed to be checking something, too. What, he could not be sure. Whatever it was, it was not the gaping holes in his flesh left from the spider bites. They never cleaned the sweat or pus from his brow.

“Loyola, I have never done such an offense to you. When I get free, I’ll…”

“Ah, but it is not in your best interest or power to threaten me. You forget your place. You cannot escape your binds, either. You know that by now. Your muscles were lax when we tied your hands and feet. You will only get free, if I release you. Otherwise, you will remain with the spiders. I see that they have made themselves quite comfortable.”

“This is sick, Loyola! Release me. I need care.”

“Sick is it? Let us talk of sick. You know all about that.”

“What do you mean?”

“How long has it been?”

“Since what?”

“Since she disappeared?”

“Mari?”

“Yes, my sister, the wife you were unworthy of.”

“Five years. Five lonely years.”

“Lonely? I doubt that. I know something of the lonely nights that you have had with your peasants and ill-reputed. I know what really happened to those you had burned as witches. Lonely. No. Never for you. It is only lonely where she is.”

“Yes, I have profaned her memory with my actions since she has disappeared. But surely you cannot hold me accountable for that. I am a man. My flesh has needs.”

“You more than profaned her memory. You profaned your marriage.”

“But she is gone.”

“While Mari still was here, you were free with your affections. She told me. She told me of the way you treated her, the abuse.”

“Yes, I admit that I was a horrible husband. I was adulterous and abusive. Now please, set me free. I have had my comeuppance. I have suffered with these wounds. Is that what you want from me?”

“No. I want to know what happened to her.”

“She left.”

“Do you expect me to believe that she left and never tried to contact me? Do you think that my sister was the kind to abandon her commitments? If there is anything that you have learned from me by now, it should be that the Loyolas are dedicated to what they put their hand to.”

“She disappeared, Loyola.”

“No, she was killed. She was killed to get out of a marriage that was entered into only for her dowry. Can you honestly tell me that you loved Mari? Was your courting more than calculating lies to win her heart in order to win her money?”

“I did not love Mari. That is true. But I never killed her. I am no murderer, Loyola. You must believe me.”

Loyola paused to look at the feeble being before him. His fingers clutched the hilt of the dagger kept at his side. The knuckles were going white with the loss of blood.

“Naturally, I did not expect you to admit as much. You are a coward, a cur, a liar, an adulterer, a pig, a thief, and a murderer. You have no honor. And yet you impugn mine?” But I will hold back my hand. The best part of the surprise is yet to come.”

“What surprise, Loyola? This was not enough of a surprise already?”

“Oh, it is but a preparation for things to come. I had hoped that you would have talked by now, that way you would not have to be prompted anymore. I fear you will not enjoy what lays in store.”

“Loyola, please, I beg of you. Have mercy on me.”

“Like you had mercy on my sister? Are those the same tones she used when she begged you not to take her life?”

“I swear, I did not take Mari’s life. She disappeared. She was unhappy living with me.”

“I do not doubt that she was unhappy living with you. But as for her disappearance, the answer will shortly appear.”

Biscay looked about apprehensively.

“What are you threatening me with, Loyola?”

“Bamboo.”

“You’re going to beat it out of me, then?”

“No, there will be no beating. I expect that a certain desire to confess will sprout in your heart, maybe not now, but soon. Tell me, what do you know of bamboo?”

“It’s strong.”

“It is good to see that you learned something more than how to mistreat women and philander. Have you ever seen it grow before?”

“Never.”

“Well, I believe that you will have an intimate experience with its growth soon. You see, it grows quite rapidly. Sometimes as much as four feet an hour. We have a certain variety planted beneath you, that’s been waiting to educate you for some time. It’ll grow to a height of ninety feet in a year.”

“You’re not serious?”

“I am. It will start sprouting, and when it does it will grow through your decaying body.”

“You’re crazy, Loyola.”

“Only with justice and vengeance.”

“How long have you been planning this?”

“For five years, since Mari disappeared. I’ve been cultivating it all these years. You won’t see it until it sprouts, but it should be time. If not in the next hour, then certainly in the next few days. We’ll keep you alive that long. We’d hate to disappoint it.”

“But I’m innocent, Loyola. You must understand.”

“I understand that you’re unwilling to confess now. Perhaps you want to test to see if I am bluffing. But you will find that I am not. I will keep you alive as long as possible so that you can confess your sin. It would be a shame for you to die with a guilty conscience. As the bamboo grows, we will raise you. At least, until you weary my patience.”

Loyola motioned and a pair of servants that were accompanying him went over to the pegs where the ropes holding up Biscay were fastened. They loosed them and began to raise him. Pus dripped from his taut body, and he screamed.

“The bamboo will be more painful than that. It will enter your putrid flesh. It will pierce your spine and organs. Your heart will still be beating and your brain working, at least until they are punctured. Or you can confess and be free.”

“But I have done nothing, Loyola.”

“Suit yourself, Biscay. We’ll set you at two feet. When it sprouts you’ll be able to feel it shortly. Call us when you are ready to talk. But remember that time is running out.”

*************

Not too much later, Biscay’s screams began to echo through the hall.

“Ah, just as I expected. Let’s go see if he is ready to talk now,” Loyola told his servant. They descended the staircase to the bottom of the tower. It was evident that the bamboo was sprouting.

“You have done well,” Loyola told the servants he had left behind. “You’ve kept him just high enough for it to touch his back, exactly as I had requested.”

“Loyola, please,” Biscay began.

“You are fortunate that I have such obedient servants here, Biscay. If they had been shirking their duties, you would have been dead by now. But seeing as how you are not dead, you are fortunate enough to assuage your guilty soul. Are you willing to tell me everything that happened to Mari, or do you despise freedom?”

“Yes, yes,” Biscay groveled and weeped. “I’ll talk.”

“Good. Now tell me what happened.”

“I killed her. Now set me free.”

“That’s not good enough. I need to know that you are not just trying to get free. How did you do it? Where is Mari’s body, that it may finally be lain to rest?”

“Mari was going to leave me for another man. I found a note telling her where to meet him. She was going to slip out in the middle of the night while I was drunk and hie to their rendezvous. I couldn’t let her go. I couldn’t take that dishonor.”

“But you could dishonor her during your marriage with your revelings?”

“I was wrong. I admit that, Loyola. My pride bested me.”

“What did you do?”

“I left to carouse, as I was wont to do. But there were no festivities in my feasts. I waited until the time and ambushed her on her way. She wouldn’t tell me where she was going. She tried to run from me. She was my wife. But she wouldn’t come home. She fought against me. She never made it to her destination.”

“Where did you leave her body?”

“I took it and put it on the hilltop near where she was to rendezvous in the hollow. He could have her now. Then, I returned to my estate to bury my sins in spirits.”

“Did you ever meet the man?”

“No, I never saw him.”

“That’s not so. You’ve seen him scores of times over the years.”

“You know him?”

“Yes. I am he,” he said, which evoked a gasp from Biscay. “She was going to return to my estate as a sanctuary. Mari would be safe from you. I was late to our meeting. When I arrived, I only found her body. Sorrowing, I took it back home and buried it here near the where the gardens grow. Then, I waited. There would come a time when you would have to reveal the truth. Who else would have wanted her dead as badly as you did?”

Loyola turned to walk away.

“Loyola, you promised. I would go free. Please, release me. I’ll confess. I’ll stand before the court. I’ll acknowledge my crime.”

Loyola spun around with his eyes burning. “Did you really think that I would let you go? There is no justice for those such as we among men. This is justice. You have tried to escape it for years, but you will pay.”

“Surely you don’t intend to this. You are mad. Think, Loyola. Your servants have seen. Will you kill them too? People will miss me.”

“My servants are good and devoted. I have treated them well always, and they know that nothing good will come from my demise. Besides, they are as guilty in this as I am. They loved Mari almost as much as I did. Who is to miss you? Mari? Your subjects you mistreat? For all we know, you have merely vanished with her.”

“Loyola, please. Let me go. I’ll forgive you.”

“I have no need to be forgiven of you, Biscay. You are a worthless cur. But we will feed your remains to the dogs, for that is all that you are worth.”

Loyola approached his servants.

“Raise him up to about ten feet. That will give him time to think about what he has done and where he will go.”

Loyola went to bed, now that his honor was finally cleared. He heard Biscay’s screams echo through the castle that night. He finally slept well.