Abject in the Dust

Chapter 2 - So Civilized

A face full of cold water brought Sam to her senses and her new reality. She blinked away the grogginess of sleep and the blurry mist of water still hanging in her eyes. Bars held her captive. A small cage placed in the middle of the town square for all to see. At one time, it might have been a shark cage, or perhaps something to keep men and women being transported by crane safe from falling out. Whatever it once had been, now it was a prison.

Most of those who lived in the small town seemed to have assembled for the spectacle. Sam looked beyond the gathered masses. The light of the day was in decline as the sky started to glow orange. The tide surrounding the small island was low – the waves hiding the causeway which connected the island to the mainland barely rippling as the land competed against the sea for prominence.

"The charges have been read. What say you?" The Mayor's voice boomed.

"What?" Sam blurted. "Hold on. What charges?"

"Bah. We're not going through all that kerfuffle again. If you weren't paying attention, that's your problem."

"What do you mean, not paying attention? I wasn't even conscious!"

"Stop stalling." The Mayor continued undeterred. "What say you?"

"Just get on with it." Sam shouted back.

"What do you mean, just get on with it? Haven't you anything to say in your defence?"

"What difference would it make? Anyway, it's not as though you're going to execute me?"

"Are we not!" The Mayor bellowed.

"Save your posturing, Mayor." Sam said as she sat uncomfortably on the bottom of the cage. "If you civilized people..." She said as she spat. "... had the ability to take a life in cold blood, you wouldn't need to call upon the likes of me, would you?"

A murmur ran through the crowd as Sam smirked in satisfaction at her own summation of the situation.

"We could take her outside of the town, your worship." Myre said loudly. "Leave her in the wasteland overnight. If she lives, then it would be a sign that she should be set free. If she does not, then she has already decided her own fate and her death would not be at our hands."

"Whoa, who, whoa!" Sam shouted as she jumped to her feet. "Hold on a minute." She continued as nods of approval at Myre's suggestion started to ripple through the crowds. "If you put me out there unarmed and locked in a cage, then you've as good as tied a noose around my neck yourselves." The ripple of nods came to a halt as the crowd digested her words.

"Then we'll give her a knife." Myre shouted as he raised one of the many blades Sam had concealed about her person. The crowd roared in approval as numbers started to move forward to carry Sam and her prison to their fate.

"Wait, wait, wait!" A voice emanated from the crowd. "Good people of New Destiny. Look to your consciences. I implore you!" The old priest stepped from the crowd in front of Sam's makeshift prison. "I agree that this woman – this wretch – must be punished, but do not let the manner of that punishment be a burden upon your souls. The wretch is right. Her death would only be but one step removed from being a death by your own hands."

Murmurs of agreement met the priest's words. "Then what do you suggest by way of punishment, good priest?" Mayor Annel asked.

"Let me take her into my charge and we will leave this night. Whatever happens in the wasteland does not then need to concern you or be a burden upon your conscience." A chorus of nodding heads flowed through the crowd as Myre whispered in his master's ear.

"I am told that you were witnessed colluding with the criminal. That the one you describe as a wretch is actually in your employ. What say you to these charges?"