Promises Fullfilled.

ACT III

ACT III
SCENE I
Mary who has been able to lay low for so long in her humble home and disguised clothes, begins to fail to keep up with the act of looking not pregnant. Her body has changed; her tummy has grown exceeding big and cannot be disguised any more. She decides to accept the fact and deal with it. She takes on normal maternity wear and rests for a while in her house. Feeling hungry and out of supplies, she gets her shopping basket, steps out of her home and goes to look for what to eat. On her across the streets, she is feasted on by onlooker eyes that roll down on her branding her shameless. She bears everything and pays less attention to them. As she reaches her shopping area, a gang of soldiers come and surround her without warning. They arrest her forcefully and drag her to the courts of law

SCENE II
In the courts of law, there are these religious clerics who have conspired and connived with each other and are trying to influence the sitting judge to make sure she loses the case so she can be stoned to death as punishment for her grave sin. As soon as she is presented in the courtroom where there are no witnesses at all except for the clerics and the judge, the clerics leave the judges’ side and stand aside as she is brought before the judge by the soldiers.
JUDGE COLLONIAS
(He looks at her thoroughly for a while and clearly sees her humility and the stay she is in and something changes inside him.) You are Mary. (She nods gently in response.) I am told your pregnancy has issues that go against our way of life. Is that so?
MARY
I didn’t ask for this. I was chosen by a higher power to carry this child inside me. I had my future groom to be leave me because of this. And I haven’t disrespected any of our morals as society says.
JUDGE COLLONIAS
How does a pregnancy come to life without you lying with a man?
MARY
That is a question you should ask the Lord and His angel that delivered the news to me.
AKFADIAS THE CLERIC
Your honor this is clearly mockery of our faith and blasphemy. She must be stoned to death for this matter to set an example for the rest of the women who would want to go around whoring.
MARY
This has nothing to do with whoring. I have been faithful to myself and to the man that I was to be married to. If these clerics your honor see me as a whore, I would care less. If they see me as a prostitute, I would mind less. Because whatever they think of me is simply earthly. I care about what the Lord, creator of the heavens, the earth and the seas says about me. And I will not be intimidated by death because these so called men of God do not have a heart to even be like Him.
JUDGE COLLONIAS
(He after listening to her own defense, shuts up for a while as the clerics keep on devising other means among them to pin the claims on her.) You say that there is a man that was to be your groom.
MARY
Yes your Honor.
MEPHUBOTHIAS THE CLERIC
We have him in our custody your Honor. We can bring him in to testify against her. Because clearly, she is fooling us and mocking these courts of law.
JUDGE COLLONIAS
(He looks at the clerics keenly.) This man better not waste my time if he is brought in here. (They affirm he won’t.) Bring him in.(The soldiers leave the court room and go to bring in Joseph. Shortly after a while they return with him in shackles as they roughly drag him towards the judge. Mary seeing him treated that way, weakens and begins to weep for him. He is brought and made to stand next to her. Unfortunately, he does not even look at her even for once. He then looks at him directly.) Do you know this poor woman young man?
JOSEPH
I once knew her your Honor. But not anymore.

JUDGE COLLONIAS
How did you know her?
JOSEPH
I knew her from our childhood. Nothing more your Honor. (The clerics and Mary are shocked to hear his statement about her.)
JUDGE COLLONIAS
(To Joseph.) I am told you were betrothed to one another and that your wedding was three moons away.
JOSEPH
Your honor, I have no idea of what you are saying. I do not know anything about a wedding between me and her. You have been ill informed your Honor.
KHASBATIAS THE CLERIC
Your Honor, clearly he is… (The judge raises his right hand and intercepts him before he finishes his statement.)
JUDGE COLLONIAS
Let the man tongue out his words. (The clerics shut up uncomfortably in discontent. He turns back to Joseph.) Are you responsible for her pregnancy or do you have any information about it?
JOSEPH
Your Honor, I have no carnal knowledge about her pregnancy and clearly I can say in my sane mind I am not responsible for it.
JUDGE COLLONIAS
(He stands up from his seat.) This case has been a clear waste of my time. I find the accused with no case to answer. Until you find the man who is responsible for her pregnancy, I find her innocent. And I do not want to hear this or smell this case anywhere in any of my courtrooms. (He closes his book.) This case is closed. (He walks away from the court house leaving them all perplexed on what to do next.)
Joseph and Mary are escorted out by the soldiers independently and they still say no word to each other. The clerics still not contented with the entire outcome of the case begin to orchestrate and hatch a new plan still within the courtroom to fully pin Mary the next time
CLERIC MEPHUBOTHIAS
So clearly we had hit rock bottom. But we cannot stop here. If the judge has let us down we have to find other means to gain our victory. We have so much to lose if this goes away like that.
CLERIC KHASBATIAS
We could keep a keen eye on her routines and whom she goes to visit or who comes to visit her.
CLERIC AKFADIAS
That may be futile for now. My friends who visited the kings Palace, some days ago say there was a prophesy about a virgin girl who would give birth to a new ruler of this entire kingdom and beyond. If what she says is true, then the prophesy may have been fulfilled through her.
CLERIC KHASBATIAS
Then we inform the King about this whole occurrence and he could reward us for our information and she would also be convicted as we want it to be.
They agree to that in that moment and walk out of the courtroom on a united front as they plan to advance to the Kings palace later in the course of the day.