The square seethed with voices, the air heavy with heat and dust. Bells tolled above the crowd as soldiers forced their way through, dragging chains that clattered against the cobblestones.
House Veyra walked at the center of the procession. Cloaks torn, faces bloodied, they were paraded like beasts toward the scaffold. The people jeered, throwing rotten fruit and stones.
Liora stumbled when a guard yanked her forward. The chain around her wrists bit into her skin. She was the smallest of them, her steps quick and uncertain, but she did not cry. Her eyes darted—first to the scaffold, then to the line of soldiers standing rigid with spears, then to the balcony where the King and his council sat in solemn silence.
At the front, Lord Veyra—her father—straightened his shoulders though his tunic was stained with blood. He said nothing as the executioner shoved him onto the platform. The crowd roared when the charges were read: treason, conspiracy, betrayal.
One by one, the axe fell. Steel against flesh, flesh against wood. The cheering grew louder each time.
Liora's knees shook when the guard forced her to kneel. A woman screamed in the crowd, then was drowned out by laughter. Somewhere to her left, a hooded noble leaned forward, lips curling into a smile as heads rolled.
The executioner stopped before her. He glanced at the Council for the signal. But before the old man could speak, a young man with a worried look on his face suddenly whispered on his side. The High Chancellor's eyes widened and looked at the remaining prisoner. He raised his hand—then lowered it with a slow shake of the head. A few drops of sweat formed on his forehead, and he swallowed before speaking.
"Too young," he called out. "Let her live as witness to her family's shame."
Liora, weakened by days of starvation, still found the strength to run to the bloodied guillotine. She forced her own head into the sticky pool of blood and shouted with her hoarse voice. "Kill me! My family's sin is also my sim…kill me!"
The Council looked at each other and their eyes thinned into lines. As if bored, they stood up one by one and yawned as they exit the balcony. No one uttered a word as if the child was nonexistent. They laughed and chatted away as their shadows departed from the scene leaving the child and the executioner alone in the execution grounds.
Liora bumped her head to one of the poles holding the blade steady above. "Why…why-" but before she could even force it to fall on her neck, the hooded man beside her had dragged her by one of her feet and threw her to the ground below the platform. Her head made a thump sound as she fell face down first.
"I am not paid for over time, traitor. Go and kill yourself elsewhere," he adjusted his axe on his shoulder, "Help yourself with your chains."
Liora saw his figure disappear in her line of sight. No tear fell from her face. Only a darkened expression remained. She did not move. She let the crowd spit on her, kick her, and call her names. Maybe, this was worse than what her family had gone through up there. Maybe this way, she might be reunited with them. All she had to do was wait a little longer. With that though she closed her eyes and let her body finally rest.
When silence finally came, the square smelled of blood and smoke. Soldiers dragged away the bodies. The chains on Liora's wrists clinked as a child unlocked the chain, her face pale beneath the grime. The child was even swearing while trying to look away from her. He crinkled his nose and even spat on her before running away after opening her chain. The guards laughed from the scene.
Liora's head was throbbing with pain when her eyes fluttered open. She turned her gaze to the balcony, to the robed figures who had condemned them, but none were left. Her lips parted, voice raw, just loud enough to cut through the quiet.
"You should have killed me."
The soldiers cleaning up the grounds stopped and looked at her before smirking and continuing what they are doing. After a few hours of scrubbing and taking away the bodies, the execution grounds was clean again. But the putrid smell of blood and grime was still overpowering. And a small shadow limping on the corner can be seen hiding away to the forest.