Crown Sword

Chapter 6

I woke up to the sound of the milkmaids voice. She was really annoying. I found myself in a situation where my head was stuck in a wooden post in the ground, my hands on both sides of my head. I was down on knees, my body numb beneath me.

"Yes! Yes! I saw er' comin' out the forest, I did! She had this thievish look in her eyes, she did! I found her first, it's true." The maid stood in front of me to the left.

Through my hair hanging in my face I could see that it was now early morning. There was a crowd of villagers surrounding us as the maid was ranting frantically to a group of men on horseback. They looked like knights, dressed in armor engraved with the same emblem.

"An' I knew she be a thief of the crown sword, I did!" the maid pointed an accusatory finger at me.

The soldier leading the group held the sword in his hands as though it were a delicate object. People around us gasped in awe. He sheathed the sword at his side, then stared at me. It was a long, cold, and calculating stare. I stared right back at him. A hush went over the crowd as he did so.

He got down from the horse then walked over to me and kneeled to stare me in the eyes, sneering. I could see that he was young, about my age. He had a long scar running from across his eye, down to his jaw. He got up and turned to the villagers.

"This girl is no petty thief! She has committed treason and has stolen from the King! This is a crime punishable by death! This is a crime against the crown! We will now-"he began.

"Death!? What the hell? There's no death penalty in Maine! And for what? I didn't steal that sword! I found it in the fucking woods. And for crying out loud, who's this king you people speak of? Last time I checked Maine is part of America, which by the way runs by a democracy, not a monarchy! I'm a minor, you can't just treat me this way. Can someone just call the police-"

The scar faced soldier reared back and slapped me after staring at me in astonishment while I spoke. My head snapped back  and hit the wood between my neck and hand. I groaned tasting sweet metal in my mouth. I spit out blood.

"Silence!" he roared. "The king will bestow proper justice. You will be executed for your crime. Bind her," he commanded the soldiers on the horse.

A large man the size of a bear, came toward me and lifted the top part of the pillory over my head. I was prepared. I bolted. I didn't however see the crowd behind me so I was stuck. He had me in a second, binding my ankles tightly with a rope. Next he did my wrists as I struggled to get free.

The scar faced soldier laughed, "do her mouth too. This one has quite the mouth." The knights laughed along with him

The man walked me back to the horses and reached into the saddle and pulled out a cloth. He shredded it in half then stuffed one into my bleeding mouth as I gagged. He tied the second one around my mouth to the back of my head. He stopped holding me as I squirmed and I fell, having no limb to catch myself. The knights snickered uproariously.

The scar faced knight walked over to me, "get up." A wicked smile played on his lips as he looked down at me with cold blue eyes.

I stayed still and closed my eyes, trying to shut this nightmare out.

"Oh look. She plays dead," the knight mocked, igniting another fit of laughter from his comrades. He kicked my back and spit at the ground next to me. I wasn't going to take this in stride

"I said, get up!" he demanded.

I looked him straight in the eye and smiled. Though my mouth was covered I knew he could tell that I was smiling through the look and crinkle of my eyes. This wasn't anything I hadn't been through before.  It had the effect I wanted.

He looked infuriated. So very furious that this didn't seem to bother me. He scowled and sneered with his mouth. He turned away, disgusted.

"Get her on the horse, we're going back to the King."

"But wait!" the milkmaid walked after him. "My pay! I do be needing it! I just turned er' in!"

"Was there a promised reward for her?" the soldier turned to her.

"Well, no but-" she started.

"Know your place, woman." He got onto his horse and led the group of Knights out.

The bear knight picked me up by my binds and used yet another rope to tie me to the back of his saddle. Then he got onto the horse and followed the group out of the village. I turned my head to see the maid crying on her knees in the dirt. I don't know why, but I pitied her a bit.

All I do know, however, is that I need to get out of this mess. This place that I was in felt like an entirely different world let alone, country.