Joan of Arc

 I am tied up, with guards on either side of me. I am on a podium in front of a judge and other people, feeling small under their scrutinizing gazes. A man circles me like a vulture, looking for my weakness, waiting for me to fail. I am holding my chin high determined not to show fear and give anyone the thrill of power over me.

                 “Aren’t you afraid?” the man sneers at me.

 “Terrified,” I reply bluntly.

 “Then deny your voices,” he spat out the word like it was something foul in his mouth ,”and this will all be over,”

 I roll my eyes and say,” How stupid do you think that would be? I have a choice to make, risk your wrath or His,” I say looking up ,”And frankly, I am more afraid of His wrath than yours. Also, I am not a liar like you,” I said.

                 The onlookers gasped at my words. The man turned red in the face, “I am a fair judge! I do not lie, or sin at all unlike you, witch! How dare you accuse me of such a crime!” he raged yelling in my face. I took a deep breath and waited for him to finish.

“What do you have to say to yourself?” he asked thinking that he had put me in my place.

 “If you were a fair and just judge like you claim to be, then I would not be here,” I said calmly enraging him further.

                 “I charge this woman, for witchcraft and I sentence her to death of the flame,” he cried for all to hear. Then he leaned closer to my face and whispered something so soft that only I could hear.

”Where are you voices now witch? Will they not save you? You’ve lost and goodness has provelled,”

 If you can call it that, I thought to myself. I stood up straight and tall, “We shall see. Just as my God delivered Shaderac, Meshach, and Abednego from the fire, so shall He save me, but if it is His will, I shall die with my task complete,” I said so that all could hear.

                 Then the next thing I knew, I was bound tight against a stake in the public square. Soldiers were piling wood and straw at my feet and around me, as the judge read my so-called crimes aloud. Then the fire came. It began to eat greedily at the tinder at my feet. Then, it began to devour my feet. I screamed with the pain. My sweat from the flames rolled into my eyes. The fire ate at my legs, then my middle, then my chest, until fire burned my every piece of flesh and being. The pain was excruciating. My screams began to grow horse, and then they fell silent all together. I look though the flames to see the judge’s evil face, grinning at me; relishing in my pain.

   I woke up my face drenched in sweat. I panted still scared to death by my dream. That was all it was, a dream. I lay down and went hesitantly back to a blissful dreamless sleep.