After the trial ended, Venoria and I were thrown into another cell, in another prison in the outskirts of the city, to await our execution. By this point I felt resigned to the fact that our mission was over. That we had failed. I didn't bother looking for an escape route.
I thought about what happened to Hardir and Arius. Where'd they go? Were they captured? Were they dead?
The next morning we were woken up, handcuffed, and taken outside the prison complex. A soldier marched up to us.
"You are to be paraded around the city before your execution," he barked. He beckoned two others to step forward. They each carried a heavy-looking stone tablet, and both had a hole in the middle.
"I HAVE COMMITTED GRAVE CRIMES AGAINST THE FREE PEOPLE OF VRE'CHAL," read the tablets. "I AM THUS A TRAITOR TO THE FREE PEOPLE OF VRE'CHAL. IN THE NAME OF THE WILL OF THE FREE PEOPLE OF VRE'CHAL, THE RIGHTEOUS SUPREME PEOPLE'S TRIBUNAL OF VRE'CHAL HAS SENTENCED ME TO DEATH. MAY MY DEATH BE REMEMBERED WITH RELIEF AS JUSTICE IS RIGHTFULLY SERVED TO ME IN RETRIBUTION FOR MY UNFORGIVABLE ERRORS AGAINST THE FREE PEOPLE OF VRE'CHAL."
The two soldiers forced the tablets onto our heads. The tablets were heavy, and it was extremely uncomfortable. I was forced to bend my back to compensate, and Venoria could hardly move at all. Chains were locked on to the fronts and backs of the tablets to link both of us to the escorts.
We were pushed by the pikes of our escorts through the streets of Wolfhafen. As we slowly inched forward in the early morning light, people started opening their windows and coming out their doors to stare at us. It felt humiliating as we were escorted to our final destination, which as yet was unknown to me. Venoria was trembling in fear and probably exhaustion as she shuffled along the street with her tablet.
I could hear faint whispers as the townspeople started gossiping to each other.
"I heard that a certain Cedric Jägersburg was sentenced to death yesterday."
"The Cedric Jägersburg?"
"Is he that boy over there?"
"Probably."
"What about the girl?"
"Don't know."
"Keep moving, criminal scum!" One of the guards poked at my back to keep me on my toes.
Soon enough, crowds were lining the streets, eager to see for the first time who might well have been their lost Alpha. Muttering and gossiping was all abuzz as we were shoved along the roads of the city.
Eventually, we got to the city square, where a makeshift gallows had been constructed. A single noose hung down from a long wooden beam. A lever was also in place, presumably to control the trapdoor which lay directly below the noose.
Venoria and I were forced up the stairs which led to the gallows platform, where the tablets were removed from our shoulders. My entire body ached from the weight.
"The boy will die first," the commander said as the executioner led me to the noose.
"CEDRIC!" Venoria screamed as the soldiers pulled her back. The crowd started to boo and heckle the soldiers.
"Any last words?" the commander asked as the noose was fixed around my neck. The mass of people gathered before the gallows suddenly fell silent.
This was it.
I focused my eyes on the audience in front of me. "People of Lycanthrium! My name is Cedric Jägersburg, son of Xavier Heulkreis." I let those words sink in a bit before continuing. "We die today wrongly convicted of crimes we did not commit! Such is the hypocrisy of the Hyleborg Imperium. Do not submit to these monsters! Fight against—"
ESTÁS LEYENDO
Alpha of the Shack
Hombres Lobo"Where's the Alpha?" he asked. The Luna opened her mouth in an attempt to speak. She gestured to the small, rugged bundle that she was cradling. All that came out was a faint whisper, the first words she had uttered in days, "In my hands." --- For a...
