Excilius

2. Almost dead

The soldier looked at her evilly.
He held his whip in his right hand. Lirian thought of the worst. Even with the carrige moving, he edged slowly towards her. His eyes meet hers. Lirian's vision turned emerald, and the guard stopped dead. Lirian could feel tension building up inside her. Her guts started getting tighter, and she could hear every single sound around her. The soldier stood still as rock. He look in his eyes showed he wasn't controlling his movements. She said in her mind: 'Sit.'
The soldier sat down and closed his eyes for just seconds. He rapidly opened them again, looking confused. Lirian then felt faint and maintaned her eyes half opened. She was looking at Roger along the way, inspecting his behavior. He looked positive at all times. But there was something strange in his eyes. When he looked at her, he seemed to be acting like someone he wasn't. She began to suspect he was like a serphent. It's when they seem calm that attack. Her suspicions went to a higher level when she noticed he was too positive for a man who was possibly going to die. No one in this situation would be so sarcastic.
Her eyes slowly closed, and she slowly fell asleep.
.....................

After what seemed long hours with no end, they reached:
Harcourt Center of Execution
The sky seemed to be darkening. In a few hours the night would begin to reign.
The carrige started moving at a faster pace. Little by little they could see more of the Center, occasionally passing an abandoned house or a destroyed column. There was a group of six guard next to an arch gateway ( wich she assumed was the entrance). It looked like if it was going to collapse at any time. They passed through it rapidly. After another ten long minutes, they reached their destination. The Center of Execution looked like an abandoned town square.
There was a large circle of pavement that went all around the place. Abandoned temples were at the far end of the circle. In the middle was a fountain shaped as a mermaid. It was shut-off and broken. Poisonous plants had entangled it, making it seem as if the mermaid was crying out for help.
Soldiers and guards fludded the place. The Center of Execution was divided into three different sections. The smallest was the section of registery. There they wrote your name, and then you would be passed to another table. There, you were told what you had done, and would also be told you what they were going to do with you. The middle section had a sign that said: Vasanistìrio, meaning 'torture' in Greek. People were being torture in that terrifying section. A soldier was cutting off a man's finger. The man pleaded for his life.
"Please! I have a wife and children! PLEASE!!!!"
The soldier chuckled and said:
"Tell me where the Epanástasi is hidden, and I set you free."
The man told the soldier some information and was immediately killed.
'Fools.' Thought Lirian.
The third and biggest section, was the 'kormó ektélesi' or the execution trunk. There the executioner cut of the heads.
Suddenly, our carrige came to an abrupt stop. The drivers quickly got off and talked to a guard close by. He exploded with laughter, and started walking towards our carrige.
"Hey freshman, you thought it was going to be so easy? Did I tell you that some women are impossible? Apparently not. Women are not easy, especially if they are elves."
He went away laughing to the other guards.
Another guard started unloading the prisoners. One took Lirian by her hand and whisperedin her ear,
"Don't worry, we'll get you out of here Liri."
Lirian wondered how he knew her name. And then again, she wouldn't know her name if it hadn't been for the board. When they got off the carrige, their feet were tied, allowing them to give short steps only.
The soldiers pushed them in a straight line towards the section of registration. Lashes could be heard in the distance, and screaming too.
A man tried to run towards the door, but only made himself trip with the ropes around his feet. Soldiers quickly went running to him and took him to the section of Vasanistìrio.
Roger was the first in line, Lirian second.
A guard was sitting with a scroll at his hands. He said:
"Roger Dawntray, leader of the Epanástasi. Accused of killing soldiers and being against king Lugarux."
Roger laughed out loud. The man looked at him evilly.
"What a poor job have they given thou. Don't you know that if I didn't kill them, they would kill me?"
A guard got Roger by the back of his neck and pushed him to the other table.
"Roger Dawntray, for being against the king, your sentence is death."
The same guard got Roger by his shoulders and pushed him to the section of the kormó ektélesi.
The guard then passed Lirian to the first table.
"Lirian Venevyle, xoticò.
Accused of hitting a guard and for being against the king."
'I don't know the king. I don't even remember who I am and they are accusing me for something I don't remember."
Then I was passed to the second table.
"Lirian Venevyle, your sentence fir being elfian is death."
Her face lost her colour. She could feel something laughing inside her. It said in a diabolic voice,
"To xoticó eínai efprósdekti na me episkeftheí ótan synantá ton thánato."
Lirian understood every single word the voice said.
'The elf may visit me when she meets death.'
She stayed petrified. The guard took her by the shoulders and took her to the kormó ektélesi.
Roger told me,
"You shouldn't see this."
Lirian understood what he meant and closed her eyes. She felt something big in the skies coming quickly towards the Center of Execution.
She opened her eyes and she wispered, "Something is coming."
Roger looked at her and said,
"What is coming?"
Lirian looked at him and said,
"I don't know, but soon we shall know."
Roger looked worried.
Then two soldiers grabbed her by the shoulders and layed her head on the trunk. She felt desperation and fear. They holded her down, immobilizing her completely.
She was going to die. There was no escape from here. A soldier in the distance screamed: "DRAGON!!!!!"
The soldiers stopped holding her and ran. When she was lifting her head up, the ax fell right in front of her. The executioner had ran away, leaving his ax behind.
Lirian cut the ropes tying her hands with the tip of the ax.
She quickly untied her feet and started to run towards the entrance. A flying creature flew through the entrence and it caused it to collapse right in front of her. A loud screeching noise was heard and a ball of fire came out of the sky. The abandoned temples exploded, its pieces shattered every where. The explosion threw Lirian backwards. She fell flat on the floor. Nothing softened her fall.
As she stood up again, a big dragon descended and maintained himself in mid flight looking dirrectly at her.
Smoke started coming out of his mouth, and he coming towards her. Lirian was fried meat. Nothing would save her from this death.

~ More does he who wants, than he who can. ~ Ari