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On the Executioner's Stand
I groaned my eyes tried to adjust to the darkness around
me. At each bump and shake, a short spasm of pain shot through me. There were
still some bandages wrapped over me, but that was only because no one had removed
them. I was in a windowless wagon being drawn by two Unis who walked with their
head hanging low, a solemn mood twirling its grasping fingers around everything.
I could still remember how I got to that position…
***
As I fell I had spotted a branch, and I frantically reached out to grab it.
Somehow, I managed to grasp it. It slowed my fall for only a scant two seconds
before it snapped and I fell the rest of the way to the ground.
I woke into consciousness some time later. A
deep pain was in my chest, and I knew without a doctor's check that I must have
broken a rib. I was dimly aware of a spotted Aisha as he ran up to me with a
gasp.
He had carried me back to his home on the outskirts
of Laxcorna where a female Aisha had tended to some of my wounds. They had bandaged
me, and probably would have done more, but another creature came to visit.
This new creature had taken just one look at
me, and fallen back with a gasp. "Do you know who that is?!"
"What do you mean?" the Aisha female had asked.
"That one whom you are tending is indeed the
Zafara assassin Zarrel Charmain!"
The Aisha had dropped her bowl of soup with
a startled gasp, and she ran out the door. I was still too weak to do anything
when she returned with an array of knights who bound my paws, and dragged me
away…
***
The wagon stopped, and I woke up out of my memory. I tried to figure out the
cause of this when the door opened up, and a bright light shot into my eyes.
I tried to shield them for the light was really strong and hurt after my time
in darkness, but two armed guards ran inside the wagon, and stood at either
side of me.
One of them grabbed my bound paws with an iron
grip, and the other slid a rope over my neck like a collar. Grabbing the other
end of this 'collar' he yanked, and I was forced to keep up with him unless
I wanted to be strangled.
I saw Corinth who looked away from my gaze as
our eyes locked. He could not say a word, he could not do a thing unless he
wanted to shame himself in front of all of Laxcorna, and reveal that I was in
truth the one who had saved the city when Teralk's army had invaded.
***
I remembered how the knights who had come to the Aisha's home had taken me
to a dark prison cell in the midst of Laxcorna.
I had sat in there who-knows-how-long, always
wondering if my friends had escaped the wrath of Jown's creatures. I had failed
them all. Zana Taru had perished from all I saw, and the others were in a great
amount of danger. I could only hope that they had escaped, and would live their
own lives without me.
At last, the knights had returned and plucked
me from the cell, and dragged me to none other than the castle of Laxcorna.
I was led before a great council of many noble
pets who looked at me with shame in their eyes. At the head of this great council
was none other than Queen Laiondite herself who looked like she was going to
be sick.
I was then tried by this council of nobles from
Laxcorna and their futile law system. I knew before I had even entered what
their verdict would be. I was doomed from the start. When the questioning had
finally ended, a Lenny stepped forward and unraveled a scroll, "This council
of Laxcorna finds you, Zarrel Charmain, guilty on many accounts including the
murder of the prince Pailoth, which justifies your destruction enough.
Laiondite's eyes had gone wide when the verdict
was heard. "Don't worry my queen. I'm sorry that we had to mention your brother
whom this fiend destroyed," one of the creatures said.
Laiondite shook her head at how wrong they were.
They thought she was worried about her brother who was past to her now. She
was worried for Zarrel Charmain who had done the city much more good than could
ever be told.
She opened her mouth looking at me, but I silenced
her with a motion of my hand. I had accepted my fate, and I would not drag friends
into the inevitable matters…
***
I came back into reality as I was led up onto a large wooden platform. The
sunlight shown down on me, blinding me slightly, but I could still see the many
creatures laid out before me.
Looking past the glare I saw Wintroq trying
to run towards me, the gleam of tears on his cheeks was obvious to me. Shaeila
stood behind him trying to hold him back as he laid a paw upon his sword. I
give him too a motion to stop, and stop he did, looking in sorrow at me with
tears still visible on his face. Shaeila buried her own face into his shoulder,
her angel wings wrapping over them both as they witnessed the events taking
place.
All around me the dark stares of creatures followed
my every movement waiting, watching. Even with the brilliant sunlight shinning
down upon Laxcorna, the whole world was in a gloom. The only thing I was glad
of was that Kowl was nowhere in sight. I would hate to scare him with a memory
like this.
I approached my final destiny as I walked to
the middle of the platform. A black-clad creature with a hood to obscure his
face pointed one gauntleted hand to a wooden stump carved out to suit the purpose
of ridding Laxcorna of its worst enemies, and I was one of them.
I had already succumbed to the inevitable, and
I walked forward slowly. One of the knights knocked me to my knees, and another
one shoved my head down, but it didn't matter, all would be over soon enough.
An ax was brought to the creature dressed in
black. It was sharp enough to split a hair. He raised the weapon above his head
as a drum roll started. Wintroq hid his face in the wings of Shaeila, Corinth
bowed his head to hide from the sight, and even Laiondite who was made to watch,
turned away, wiping away any coming tears before others could see them. I closed
my eyes, and waited.
The ax came down in a flash, and there was a
big clunk, but I didn't understand it, I was still breathing. I opened one eye
to see the ax smashed into the stump at the side of my head, and I looked up
at the executioner just in time to see him remove his hood. He was none other
than Kalzar, blue eyes blazing over his black fur.
The crowd hissed and startled gasps came from
all directions. "What the, who are you?"
"What's wrong with you, executioner? You're
supposed to be rid of her."
Many other complaints, and gasps ran throughout
the crowd. Wintroq looked up, and a smile ran over his face as hope returned.
Laiondite stared in a happy disbelief, and Corinth raised his head.
Kalzar growled. "Do you creatures even know
what you almost had done? You would willingly throw away one of your greatest
heroes?"
There were some startled explanations from the
crowd. "What do you mean 'hero?' She is nothing more than a rogue!" a voice
shouted out.
"And you know nothing." He pointed a finger
out at Corinth. "Of all the creatures here, I thought that at least you would
have the will and the gut to stop something so wrong. The way you told those
stories of the deeds of Zarrel Charmain to me when I was younger, I would have
thought that you would have helped."
It was than that I realized it. I realized why
Kalzar had been so odd to me, why he had seemed to hold a trace of familiarity
even though I did not recognize him with his black coat. In reality he was Erred,
young knight, and son of Corinth.
"Erred!" Corinth shouted looking at him aghast.
"I'm not Erred anymore," he said with a growl.
"I am Kalzar, and I will do things that I know are right!"
Before another movement could be made, a black
Aisha jumped up on top of the wooden platform and ran up to me, cutting my bonds
with a quick flick of a small knife. Shadow grinned at me, as he brought his
fingers to his mouth and let out a piercing whistle.
Some of the Laxcornian's had finally regained
themselves, and were trying to get up to subdue Shadow, Erred and myself, but
a sudden screech hit the air, and I looked up to see Dorono wing himself in.
"Get on!" he shouted, and Shadow and Erred bounded
on top of his back. I stumbled as I tried to stand up, the pain still remaining
from my ribs. Dorono looked at the approaching knights, and scooped me up in
his paws. Once he had me firmly in his grasp, he took off again, flying out
of reach of any archers that might have tried to hit him.
I didn't know how it was possible, but I had
been rescued.
Corinth stood in the distance, his head bowed
down. He couldn't figure out what he was more ashamed of. His son's betrayal
to Laxcorna or his own lack of courage to stop what he knew was wrong and to
save Zarrel Charmain, his friend.
To be continued...
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