The One Knight Stand

.: Botched Execution :.

04 | Botched Execution

The Three Kingdom Festival kicked things off with a smashing bloody display of the worst behavior Anachakar had ever seen.

Blue stood on the chopping block in the town square. She was wearing a black tunic and oversized pants given to her by one of the kinder guards at the prison. He wasn't Cutie, she knew from the moment he unlocked the grate, but Blue appreciated the thought nonetheless.

A black mask was tied securely on her face to conceal her identity, but anyone who knew her would be able to tell it was the wisecracking thief from a mile away.

The crowd was ruthless, throwing mushy, rotten bananas at her and often missing terribly.

Blue briefly wondered if Red was there watching, and if he brought Violet, Indigo, Sienna, or Saffron with him to see.

She hoped he hadn't. This spectacle wasn't anything she wanted her family to witness.

Behind her, two shackled men waited for their turn. They were eerily silent, and Blue guessed they were criminals offered by the other Kingdoms for the entertainment of the people.

A burly man in a hood approached, and the crowd roared with approval as he hefted his mighty axe. Dried blood stained the edge. Blue's stomach swam down to her ankles and made its new home there.

"On your knees, lass." The large man growled.

Blue licked her lips at him, sly. "For how much, big boy?"

That earned her a furious shove, and Blue was roughly maneuvered so her hands pressed on the wood stump used as the raise-up.

"Hold still." He spat, adjusting his grip on the axe.

"Make it it quick; I got an appointment at noon." She laughed with more confidence than she felt. Terror took the reigns and drove crazily.

Blue got one last good look at her cuffed hands. They weren't the best hands, sometimes they ventured where they didn't belong, but she'd had them for twenty six years. She'd grown quite attached. And within minutes they'd be hacked off into the basket below, leaving her with two useless stumps.

Well, at least my last few days weren't completely miserable, she thought. It was entirely possible she merely imagined her silent companion down in the dungeon to cope with her approaching sentence.

Either way, she was comforted by the taciturn man who may or may not have existed. He let her, a complete stranger, touch his face and hold his hands, and he stayed with her longer than any guard would even entertain.

Probably thinks I'm a weirdo. He wouldn't be wrong, Blue chuckled as the executioner swung his glinting ax into the air to deal the blow. The citizens brayed for blood, hankering for suffering on someone else's behalf.

Goodbye hands, she squeezed her eyes and clenched her fingers. Been nice knowing you.

"HALT THE AXE!" A strong voice boomed. The order sliced through the din, quieting the crowd at once.

"What?!"

The executioner threw his weight against the force of his swing, rocketing the blade away from Blue's wrists just inches before dismembering them.

The thief's eyes cracked open once she realized she would keep her hands another day.

The source of the voice parted the sea of confused onlookers and hauled onto the rickety stage. It was a woman. Her curly black hair wildly flowed from her head like a lion's mane, and her ember skin gleamed in the morning sun.