Two

Two

The cold stone that surrounded her was damp and weathered; the dirt ground beneath her bare legs cold and harsh. The bars of her cell were a slightly rusted and harsh reminder that she had been overtaken.  A bedroll was tucked into the corner but Tandine hadn’t bothered to sleep. She had been stripped of her weapons and armor, reduced to a cotton shirt and a pair of shorts. Her legs were tucked into her chest with her arms wrapped around her calves like a small child who was afraid. Her braid was falling apart, tendrils loose and separated, and her face was streaked with sweat and dirt. She dug her toes into the earth beneath her, a single tear trailing down her bruised cheek.

Tandine had let herself be blindsided. She shouldn’t have come forth with the evidence that she had thought was so definitive without taking precautions. She should have known. Heat rose in her chest, tightening around her heart. The anger that she felt was mostly directed at herself, though she knew it should be Menlaias who suffered the brunt of her rage. Her face perked up when the sound of rattling keys came into her range. She watched as a figure came around the corner, a blazing torch casting his shadow on the walls. When she saw his face, her heart beat with life.

“Althiel,” she said, hopeful.

He smiled at her and propped the torch into a holder on the wall. Marric’s son was the most welcoming thing that she had seen in weeks since she had been thrown in the cell to rot. He knelt in front of the bars, shadows dancing across his face as the torch burned. He looked at her from underneath long eyelashes that stemmed from ice blue eyes that gazed at Tandine with sorrow. His long, blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail but a few loose tendrils framed a square face with a chiseled jaw. His muscular frame was clothed in leather pants and a matching vest that overlapped a tight cotton shirt. His dark blue cloak pooled around him in a verdant cascade.

Tandine crawled forward and wrapped her fingers around the bars, looking at him with uncertainty.  “Althiel, I didn’t commit any treason, you have to believe me.”

Her eyes searched his for an answer, but she didn’t have to search for long before he answered her. “I believe you, little light.”

Her eyes lit up and her smile broke free to reclaim itself. He hadn’t called her little light since the night that she had gotten news of her mother’s death. The memory was so clear in her head. His strong arms wrapped around her as the tears fell, his sweet voice soothing her as she choked on her words. She looked up at him expectantly as he reached out and wrapped his fingers around hers on the bars.

He studied her face and frowned. “They’ve been hurting you.”

She could feel his grip go rigid as he studied the marks on her face and body. Tandine looked away and said, “They believe that I am a traitor. Why would they act any different?”

Heat coursed through Althiel’s hands as he replied, “I will get you out of here. I need to formulate a plan, but I will not let you rot in here. You don’t deserve this.”

The smile faded from Tandine’s face as she listened to his words. They were spoken true and with good intent, but she knew that an escape was unlikely. She did not look back at him as she spoke. “There is nothing to be done. I know that you want to free me but you will be hanged if you do.”

A low growl resonated in Althiel’s throat as he said, “I will not watch you be hanged!”

Tandine looked back at him and leaned her head against the bars, closing her eyes. “And I will not let you pay for my mistake.”

Althiel wrapped his other hand around her free hand on the bars and leaned his forehead to hers on the other side of the bars. “I will not allow Tenebris to take you.”

“You may not have a choice,” she replied as she opened her eyes to look at him.

Tandine smiled as Althiel locked his eyes with hers, her heart fluttering in her chest as she breathed in his scent of jasmine and mint. Before she could say any more, she heard a guard yell down to Althiel and demand his presence above. He gave her a last look, grazed her hand with a kiss and stood up, his hand lingering for just a few moments longer. The last thing she saw of him was his cloak billowing behind him, a trail of sadness in his wake. Moments later, a guard came stomping down the stairs and took out his keys to fit into the padlock on her cell floor.

Her eyes looked up at him with a mixture of hope and dread. He reached in and grabbed her by her arm to pull her up as the door opened.

“The time has come for your judgment.”

 

~*~

 

The large wooden doors of the meeting room swung open and through them Tandine was dragged. Her eyes were full of anger, meeting those of the tribunal that sat before her in plush, gilded chairs. The king sat at the head of the pack, council members fanned out around him in a semi-circle. They all looked the same in their ridiculous robes, and every set of eyes was staring at Tandine the traitor. The passing weeks had not treated Marric well. His skin looked weathered, worn. His eyes clouded with regret. But when his gaze met Tandine’s malnourished and filthy form, he looked at her the way a father looked at his child that had committed a crime that he couldn’t make disappear.

“Tandine.” He said, as the set of guards holding her arms threw her on the floor to her knees. The shackles stung her bruised and bloodied wrists with cold, clanging as she made contact with the hard marble and looked up at the king.

“Your majesty.”

The grave looking woman to his left was the next to speak. She did not stand when she spoke Tandine’s charges. “Tandine, you have been charged with treason, endangerment to the kingdom of Rahm and its people with intent to overthrow its ruler. You have been accused of conspiring with a known enemy of this kingdom to commit murder. What say you in your defense?”

            Tandine looked the councilwoman straight in the eye and laughed. She looked at her quizzically, shocked by her outburst.

            “Forgive me but I do not see the jest in this matter. You are faced with the hangman’s noose, Tandine, and you find this to your amusement?” she said with an exasperated sigh. The king watched Tandine in equal confusion, his brows furrowed in concentration as he studied her.

            She hung her head but lifted it back up slowly, rocking her body back and forth as she did. “What does it matter what I say in my defense? You’ve already found your evidence, and I will face the hangman’s noose or the headsman’s axe. You have already decided my guilt, so anything I say in this room now are nothing more than parting words.”

The woman turned up the corners of her mouth in a satisfied smirk. “Clever girl, you are. You are correct in your assumptions. You will face the noose, at dawn. You will face a crowd of your people that you were sworn to protect, and you will watch them stare at you with resentment as you close your eyes and take your final breath.” She lifted her chin and squared her shoulders as she added with a wave of her hand, “Get her out of my sight!”

The last thing Tandine saw as she was forcefully removed from the room, her pace too slow to keep up with the guards, was the single tear that fell from the king’s eye as she turned her head to nod in a silent goodbye.

~*~

The air was damp and cool, leaving a clammy film on Tandine’s skin. Her wrists were so raw from the shackles that she couldn’t feel a thing anymore. Not far before her towered the wooden platform housing the mechanism for the hangman’s noose, the rope that would end her life. She hung her head as angry shouts of Rahm’s people resonated in her ears. The guards had a firm grip on her arms, and she did not struggle against their force. As she looked into the crowd as she was dragged up the stairs to her death, her eyes met Althiel’s. His eyes were already brimming with tears, and he gripped his sword hilt as if he was planning to fight. His eyes darted around a few times to observe the surroundings, but when he looked back at her, fire blazed in his eyes. She met his gaze and shook her head.

Don’t do it, Althiel.

When the noose was slipped around her neck, she met the shouts and the angry eyes of the crows with her head held high and face proud. She was not going to die with her head down. A stout man with a trimmed beard stood on the platform in the center with just enough room for Tandine to be exposed. He unrolled a scroll and began to read. Tandine looked to her left to see the executioner just inches from her, his gloved hand at the ready on the lever to his side. He wore a full black cloak with a hood that covered half of his face. He did not look at her.

“Tandine Sinclair, Lieutenant of Rahm, formerly Tandine Sinclair of Clan Vol. You are found guilty of treason against your kingdom. What say you to the people that you betrayed?”

Tandine looked out into the crowd and shouted, “You have all decided my guilt, but you will find the truth after I am gone! You will take action because you will all be burned!”

The man with the scroll shook his head and the crowd erupted into more shouting and demanding that she be beheaded. The crier looked at the executioner, gave him a nod, and he looked down at the lever, pulling it with a swift motion. As Tandine’s feet gave out from under her, Althiel roared and charged forward. He swung his sword wildly at the guards that tried to intercept him and his cries of anger had a hint of sorrow. As the breath was sucked out of her lungs and she met his eyes, they were full of tears. He struggled against the guards that had finally overcome him and he screamed her name in guttural screams that had the crowd riled up.

Before she took her final breath, the executioner turned to look at her and underneath his hood, his stormy gray eyes looked at her in understanding.

“Markus?” she asked as her eyes fluttered closed and darkness took hold.

~*~

Reviews

[TheTempestWitch]

Thank you. I have not had any time to contunue work on the book but the feedback is very helpful. It motivates me to keep going! I'll post another chapter soon!

[Mayank]

An emotional plot, but nonetheless, heart wrenching! Good write, my dear friend.