To Hang... (MMM despondent)
To Hang...
People enter the city through the guarded gates, most on foot, some on horseback. A few heavy carts, pulled by oxen with laboured breaths, make their way to the heart of town. The smells of baked goods mingle with earth and mud and unwashed clothes.
Lily has escaped her sister's nagging and moves through the throngs of people who have come to watch the procession later today. Unlike others who have come to sell their wares at the market or in the hopes of striking up a good bargain, Lily has come on a fanciful whim. She met someone last week. Rationally she knows he will be long gone. He’s a man of adventure, a sword for hire, who would not linger in a place like this. Still, she's come today on the off-chance she might catch a glimpse of him.
The sun still hangs low in the sky but she can already tell it will be another hot day.
Lily loves summer. She doesn't enjoy sitting inside, she takes the opportunity of the longer warmer days to spend her time away from her sister's home. Away from the condescending looks her sister throws her, fueled by her unkind husband. No matter what she does, it's never good enough for them, so she leaves the house and stays outdoors as soon as the weather allows it. She lives off the forest as best as she can. Her bow made from a supple willow branch provides her food. Rabbits are plentiful in these months. She sleeps hidden in the trees of an old oak tree, high above the ground watching the stars. When she returns, Petunia scolds her and Vernon threatens with a beating, but the sense of freedom makes it all worth it to Lily. She feels alive, even safe out there, above the rest of the world. Free to do as she likes, and dream of far away places and a different life.
Until last week, when everything went wrong. She stayed home ever since.
A moment’s distraction, she’d been captivated by the sight of a stag and never noticed the three men who walked through the forest.
They caught her, keen on having their fun. She’d screamed, but there was no one to hear her. No one around to see.
Not strong enough to fight, not fast enough to escape, she’d frozen and stared at the blue sky above her. Her mind closed off from what went on around her. She did not hear the sound of her dress ripping, the heavy grunts of a man twice her size moving on top of her.
Even now, her body freezes from just remembering. People stroll around her, they push, someone says she should get moving, they want to get to the execution on time, to get a good view.
She lets herself be pushed by the crowds to the main square, like a fallen leaf floating on a river. She's pulled along to the scaffold where a public execution is set to take place at noon.
She hears the whispers about the sinner, he is of noble birth, a rich man from the North, who has confessed to killing a man. A grand tale that feeds the town gossip. Two herdsmen complained to the sheriff. They travelled the King's road when their path crossed the convicted prisoner. The tale is juicy, for this proud man on his mighty horse had taken offence and killed one of them when they did not move aside quickly enough. They barely escaped with their hides intact.
To add insult to injury, the man had been easily found, his destrier and his rich clothes stood out like a sore thumb. He'd taken a room at the inn, never bothering to hide his bloodstained tunic. His audacity and lack of repentance were all anyone would talk about for days. The people flocked to see such a man come to a deserved end. Today justice will be served. No man is above God's law no matter how rich or noble his appearance. The crowd loves the promise of a good show.
Lily pushes herself forward. Her breathing is fast, her blood roars in her ears and it's almost painfully loud in her head. It can't be… She elbows her way to the front row of people who have come to watch a man die.
When at last she dares look up she nearly freezes again. It is him. Her head is spinning, a true panic rises in her throat. This is not right. She has to stop this.
She tries to get the attention of one of the men who are assigned to control the crowds. He merely shrugs her off and pushes her back in the growing mass of people. She walks to the side and tries again. It is as if they are deaf, or as if she's invisible. Not one of them acknowledges her. No one listens to her pleas. She raises her voice, shouts at them to understand, to listen, but all she gets is an impatient push that lands her in the crowd again.
Desperate, she fights her way back to the front, ignoring the angry curses of people around her. She looks around to find anyone who may be able to help her, she needs to tell someone in charge that this is all wrong. That they have it wrong. But she doesn't see the sheriff or any other man of the law, the executioner won't come until just before noon.
Despondent, she at last looks up to the tall man on the scaffold. His hands are tied behind his back. His sword still hangs at his side. If he could only use it. He looks completely at ease, he stands straight and almost proud, with not a glance spared for the ever-growing crowd of people here to watch his last hour. He does not cower under his circumstances. His face is turned up to the sky, his eyes closed. She remembers how they shone when he looked at her, a mix of green and gold, when she closed her eyes the past nights it's those eyes that she sees.
His face is just as handsome as it was when she first saw him; strong jaw, high cheekbones, straight nose, and raven black hair tousled as if he rode his horse through a storm.
She recalls how he called her his pretty wildflower. Never asked to know her name, only for a kiss. It is a sin she does not repent. She stares at his full lips that will never kiss another again.
He is turned so that his face is completely in the light of the sun. Lily realises he's enjoying the last moments of his life to the fullest, and the thought breaks her heart.
There is nothing she, a lowly peasant girl can do. She knows that even if the Sheriff did listen to her, he would hardly believe her over the two men who have spun him a different tale. The only thing she can do is be here, so he does not die alone. Make sure that at least one person here knows he is not a bad man, not a sinner.
A good man is about to be executed and there is nothing she can do to stop it. He killed the man that assaulted her, saved her life and virtue and now she can not do the same for him.
That is her punishment, to know this and still have to watch him die. But she owes him that, she will be here until the end.