The doors to the bedroom suddenly opened, and, with the noise, Cameron awoke. He blinked, and leaned up, yawning. "Marco? I can't stay awake for your brand of jokes any longer," he asked, then stated.
"No," Felix stated. "It's your king."
"Oh. Felix! Hey, hon," Cameron now sweetly said, widening his eyes and whining with glee. "I'm so glad you've come out of that library. What was the matter? Why'd you stay there for so long?"
There was a long silence after that. The king, for a fleeting moment, reconsidered this plan, but knew he should show no mercy when dealing with deadly sin.
"Felix?" the canine whined, now not so happily. "Are you feeling well?"
"I will soon," the King chuckled nervously, then walked to the side of the bed, standing tall. He took a deep breath. For Valentia, he kept repeating in his head. For Valentia. For Valentia. For Valentia.
"Felix— is everything okay?" Cameron stammered, now quite frightened.
Felix reached under the blanket and grasped Cameron's ankle, firm and tight. He felt it writhe.
"W-What're you doing?" the collie asked.
The lion turned away, still grasping Cameron's ankle, and pulled hard, his anger overcoming him. The canine fell out of bed with a thud, landing headfirst. A sharp cry followed.
"God!" Cameron then whined out, after a bit of silence while he was silenced by the pain of the impact. "That hurt—! What are you doing!?"
"Something I should have done a long, long time ago," Felix said, quietly but forcefully, with the intense burning of rage in his chest. The collie tried to squirm free, to no avail. He kept turning and twisting, but the vice of Felix's thick paw was too tight around his hind leg.
"What's the matter?" Marco asked.
"Nothing," a guard spoke, and barred his and Lætitia's door.
"Let go...!" the dog struggled, tears now running from his eyes.
"Not for the world," the king replied, walking out of the bedroom, and dragging Cameron behind.
"What?! Where are you taking me? Why are you dragging me like this?" Cameron yelped out. Still overcome with pain and fear, he spoke quietly.
"Somewhere you belong. Other than the fields," the lion answered, his deep growl menacing. His grip only got tighter, his claws digging into the skin under the collie's ankle fur. The young canine widened his eyes and whined out in pain, but not from this sudden pierce of claws. That was the least of his pain.
The two went down the hall, and out the door, to an area directly outside the castle. It was right underneath the balcony where Felix shared those anniversaries with his late wife. Oh, how strangely beautiful it was to end it where it all started.
—
The church's bell tolled a number of times, at exactly midnight. It was a time when people very much didn't expect it to ring, and yet, here it was, ringing out as clear as day. Usually the bell chimed the hour, giving the town's population more of an idea of the time than just the sun. Yet, sometimes, the bell rang for special purposes. These were weddings, funerals... and public executions, the rarest of them all. A night-wedding? A vigil in the dark?
No. The bell said "Hear ye, hear ye."
As the people who woke up from this clanging gathered with the few who had already been awake and wandering, one thing was immediately visible. The risen stage, on which shows or speeches from the House of Law were often held, was now surrounded by guards.
On it was a small podium, and a pyre. The people cheered, wondering what witch or sheer criminal would be thankfully banished from the mortal realm. Suddenly, louder cheering erupted, as Iago himself made way onto the stage, and stood behind the podium, smiling.
"VALENTIA!" he shouted. Cheers from all around in reply sounded. "We have gathered you all here today, so that you might witness a rescue from damnation!" he declared.
More applause came along, and more people gathered around, having been woken up with this further commotion. Felix, still dragging Cameron, now stopped, staying out of sight. He watched, as he saw this unprecedented number of people surround the risen stone. The desperate collie still tried to crawl his way free, turning and twisting with each effort he could muster. The King held tightly on, and remained composed. Dozens of torches were now lit around the stage, illuminating the area in this orange glow.
"Please, Felix. What is all this?" Cameron softly whined again. He sniffled, but was too scared to even fully cry. This was to no reply.
"Good people, ladies and gentlemen. It is with a heavy heart that I do remind you of the passing of our deer Queen Ophelia, not even a month ago," Iago began. "This was due, as we found out, to no certain sickness!" he then lied. He so enjoyed each time he could say this and get away with it. "Indeed, we have discovered the true cause. 'Twas God, His own hand, giving us a warning of what lied in the castle walls," the holy avian declared, a gasp following.
"And here this sin is!" the cardinal then turned as he said, making a presenting spread of his feathered arm. Felix walked out, with Cameron still in hand, the collie being dragged helplessly in front of the crowd, in nothing more than this shabby and loose pair of pants. The rude awakening made his hair look frazzled and messy.
Yet, he was still recognizable. The crowd's noise stopped.
"Sir Cameron!?" a person in the crowd yelled.
"Sir Cameron!" another said.
"The musician?" someone asked.
"No, the brave archer knight!" another rebuked.
"Both! An honorable soul!" a guard stated, confused.
"This is "Senyor" Cameron, alright! A mangy COLLIE! Watch as he writhes!" Iago detailed, whilst pointing to the canine, and adding a mocking tone to his title. "What sorry wretch!"
This left Cameron dumbstruck. Had such hostility existed against him this whole time? The crowd watched as he was restrained by both ankles now, by none other than the king himself.
"And now he is found guilty of highest sin," Iago squawked out, loving this certain part of his declaration. "Our King Felix, our most revered, and unfailingly faithful Felix. Sir Cameron tempted His Highness, to commit some of the most reprehensible sins! God had no choice but to take poor Queen Ophelia's life, as a warning, just a warning!" Iago stopped dramatically. "It shall hence be HEEDED!"
The crowd watched in horror. Sir Cameron was the one to be burned!?
Cameron looked to the pyre... and felt his entirety go numb. "He is tricking you," he tried to appeal.
"You will find your proper fate here," Felix quietly and coldly replied, tightening his grip.
Cameron looked around, his fear melting into sheer disbelief. Felix, however, nodded to the cardinal, and, with the help of a guard, lifted the collie knight up. A great noise of protest came from the crowd as well.
"Do not listen to the crowd, at all, Felix," Iago stated shortly. "They do not know of these affairs."
The lion nodded, then situated the struggling collie against the stake.
While held in place, the guard tied Cameron's ankles to the wooden pole, and Felix himself tightly fastened the collie's ankles. This was the moment of decision. "Free your people from the fate of God, Felix," Iago beckoned, taking one of the lit torches, and handing it to the King.
Felix looked to the bird in disbelief. "I have to do this?" he whispered.
"It is a king's job to save his kingdom," the bird reasoned.
Felix looked at the fire. Stared into it for a while. Fire. The destroying force of it. The element that man had harvested, to cook, warm... and destroy. He used to never see that third purpose of it. He still doubted that it should be unleashed. He looked back to the collie.
"I love you so much," Cameron whispered, trembling. His eyes were contracted, and the tears on his face shimmered in the fire.
For one final moment, this made the lion doubt his and Iago's cause.
He kept the most important thoughts in mind, though. For the rescue from fire and brimstone! For the reputation of the Kingdom, in the eyes of God! For the justice to Ophelia, the innocent!
For Valentia.
Felix threw the torch into the pile of brush, the fire quickly spreading.
"Watch as the collie makes his final plea to God. Such ignorance," Iago mocked, except for the fact that the collie was silent.
The dog's is heels, then pawpads starting to burn as the flames touched them. He scrunched his snout in pain, as they blistered and browned.
Felix turned away, listening to these words as if they were from a vanquished enemy.
The dog briefly yelled, trying and failing to keep his tied ankles from the deeper part of the flame. He screamed as the fur singed off of his feet, and further burned. He had no more words to offer, turning and writhing his head. The fire rose to his legs. His feet charred up. He couldn't feel them. From there, it only grew upwards.
"Cameron is no evil soul! Iago, you monster!" a stray voice from the crowd shouted, as the audience erupted into protest and confusion again.
"Shut up! You know not that we are saving you from God's wrath!" Iago replied.
Felix kept his back turned, as he felt the heat from the fire grow.
Cameron, enveloped in flame, felt his blood boil, and his head grow dizzy. If it is not the most excruciating pain someone can feel, being burned alive is at least close to that. No longer finding the strength to cry, the canine now looked to the sky, trying to breathe with his roasting lungs, knowing his death was near. He spoke softly, from a song of David.
"Hey! He's praying! He can't be a demon if he's praying!" a ferret with a familiar cheek wound objected from the audience.
"You know what I do, and you will let me do it, Byssus," Iago warned in his crazed glee. He chuckled, hearing these sacred words, which he thought would be in vain. He listened with glee as the collie burned slowly, and added another log to the fire. He stared intently.
Cameron saw this, with it being too hot for his tears to run down any longer before they evaporated. He suddenly spoke:
"Beneit el, qui ve en nom de Deu."
Felix still turned away, and knelt, now, feeling heavy. He eventually got up and returned to the castle, the deed having been done. He couldn't bear this anymore. It was done. He shouldn't have to watch.
The collie lastly let out a gravelly yelp. The flames went higher, covering his face. The last thing Cameron saw were such plumes of orange and yellow, covering the silhouette of the king, as he felt the fur on his face singe away.
Felix just barely heard these words, and it felt like a blade was being put through his innards. It hurt to hear his voice like that, sure, but it hurt even more to hear it fade away afterwards. He knew, though, or thought he knew, that they were false. From nothing but a lowly collie. Just as Iago said.
Much of the audience left, in this sheer horror, while a few others found it too awful to even look away. Iago stood and watched the whole time, staring the flame down. "More. More wood!" he called out, and the requests were granted, keeping the fire steady.
Finally, the fire settled down after a couple of hours.
A pile of smoulder was left.
The guards looked solemn and subtly betrayed, but not compared to the handful of people remaining, who subsequently departed.
Iago now went back to the church. He then laughed, a long, long while. The wretched collie was dead! In such a grand way, exactly how he imagined it! He then settled down, sat in a chair, briefly wrote of this event, and slept, feeling quite accomplished, the weight of what he had just done so absent from his mind now.