Bow and Sparrow

CH 32

The very next day, I got my next visitor. The sun had just risen, and I was sitting on the edge of the windowsill with my legs dangling over the death plummet, soaking in the morning sun. I thought I saw a figure looking up at me from a window below but then a cloud passed in front of the sun and it was gone. Just a trick of the light.

The door opened behind me but I didn't bother turning around. I was too busy staring into the horizon. I'd like to think I could see Verdana from here but all I saw were trees.

"Put this on."

I turned my head and stared at the garment in the guard's hands. "What's that for?"

"King's orders." He tossed the bundle of fabric in a pile next to me, raising an eyebrow expectantly. I eyed it, looking from the dress to the guard.

"A little privacy, please?"

The guard grunted, stormed out of the room and slammed the door after him. Something told me I didn't have long before he came back.

I held the dress at arm's length. It was a deep green color with gold lace detailing around the collar and down the sleeves. It looked to be my exact size and I wondered where they got it from. Whether they bought it from a seamstress. I decided it was best not to know.

As I got out of my normal clothes -since when did I consider a tunic and trousers normal?- and slid the dress up my body, a startling realization washed over me like a bucket of icy water. From the rich green fabric down to the gold thread at the seams, these were Verdana's national colors. My hands trembled as I smoothed the heavy skirt of the dress. It would seem I was once again playing the king's games.

No sooner had I tied the lace backing than the door swung open again. In strode the guard with a pair of shackles in his hands. He gave me the briefest of glances and said, "Your arms."

I stared at the shackles. The thought of having them on again almost brought me to my knees, but I obediently held my arms out. As they clicked around my wrists, I let them drop in front of me, clasping the connecting chain with white knuckles.

"It'd be easier to go down the stairs without these." I gave the chains an extra rattle for good measure but the guard ignored me.

Going down the winding staircase was much worse than going up had been, especially on weak legs and the heavy draping of the dress. I almost tripped several times and I had to awkwardly grip the handrail the entire way down.

We didn't pass a single living soul as we trekked through the bowels of the castle, through a series of corridors and passageways until we stopped at a door. Sunshine beamed through the crack under the door. It must lead outside.

The guard gripped my upper arm, tugging me close to him. His breath whispered against my ear in a threatening growl, "Behave."

The door was thrown open and I was momentarily blinded. The sun seemed brighter than usual but before my eyes could properly adjust, I was loaded into the back of a cart, pulled by a single black stead. There was only room enough to stand in the cart and even then the top of my head brushed against the roof.

The cart lurched forward, throwing me against the wall with a thud and sending a jolt up my arm. I tried to steady myself but there was nothing to hold onto.

The ride wasn't long, a few minutes at most, but it felt like eternity inside the wooden cart. My hair was slick with sweat and my skin had started to itch under the tight fabric of the dress when the door was thrown open. I braced myself as I stepped out of the cart but I was not prepared for the sight before me.

There was already a crowd surrounding the small cart that made me wonder how it managed to get through the thicket of people in the first place. It was as if the entirety of Rezantri's population had packed itself into the town square.

A small pathway had been cleared through the throng of people, lined with guards that wore a bored expression on their faces. My eyes traveled to the end of the path, where a wooden platform had been erected, and a single post with a single rope tied to the end. The gallows.

I gulped, my eyes darting around the square as I was pushed forward through the crowd. At the very back of the crows on a raised balcony that towered over everyone else, King Tano watched, surrounded by his council and a guard that stood taller than any of them. To his right was Rylan, standing next to his father.

Reaching hands managed to grab at my hair and clothes and the guards didn't do anything about it. They were only there to keep me from getting mobbed. I could only make out a few words out of the shouts coming from the crowd, Traitor! Spy!

Each step up to the gallows was a step closer to the sweet embrace of death. I was not frightened or afraid but somewhere beyond words. A calming peace swept over me as I realized I was almost done fighting. My fate had been sealed the moment Dast had been raided and it's only been prolonged since. Besides, how much luck could one person have?

The robed hangman started reading from a parchment paper, my list of 'crimes' against the king. His words were met with jeers from the crowd, but I heard none of it, drowning it out until it was a faint hum in the background.

My eyes met Rylan's. I couldn't read his expression from here. A small line formed between his brows. That face that had become my everything over the past couple months. The first face I saw in the morning to the last face I saw at night. I was sorry for the pain that I had caused him. Three words formed on my lips and before I could stop myself, I mouthed to him.

I love you.

Rylan's face morphed into horror. He shouted but his voice was lost over the thundering of the crowd. He made like he was going to jump from the balcony but his father grabbed his shoulders from behind, keeping him in place.

The hangman finished his speech. My eyes fluttered closed, awaiting the noose to be looped around my neck. The crowd roared so loud that I almost couldn't think as I tried to imagine anything other than this.

Something hit my calf and I pried my eyelids open. A small metal canister stared up at me from the ground, a familiar cloud etched onto the side of it and rolled toward the hangman's feet. Thick black smoke leaked from a crack in the side.

"What in the..." The hangman stared at it, squinting at the shape and rolled it with the toe of his pointed boot before giving it a swift kick off of the podium.

Then it exploded. 

A/N

I'm working on the next chapter right now. I'll try to have it out early next week. Happy Readings!

-T