Swords and Chores | Sir Leon

Plaza

*TRIGGER WARNING - DEATH*

Shops and stalls lined the stone path. Shopkeepers talked deals, farmers traded, childrens' screeches of joy could be heard as they ran up and down the road, gently scolded by their parents. Lailah skipped happily by her mother's side, clinging to her hand, for fear of losing her in the crowd.

The stone was cold and rough under her and the sky was high, limitless. She dreamed of touching it one day, feeling the wispy white clouds, to see the world like a bird. She dreamed of leaving the kingdom, exploring across the stone walls. Her mother teased these ideas, feeding them with stories and fairy tales. Her mother wanted her to appreciate her childhood, to not grow up so fast. She wanted her to run and laugh before the lines of stress creased her pale face.

But, reality hits hard when you think like that.

Hand in hand, they smiled at those shopkeepers and farmers, their neighbors, their friends. They pointed at lush fabrics that were as smooth as butter on your skin. Though they could only imagine what it was like to wear them, feel like your clothes were clouds, weightless. At boutiques with beautiful arrangements of flowers, Lailah loved the purple ones. Greens and purples, vines, leaves, and soft pearls complimented each other so well.

They laughed and smiled. Past the shops and into the plaza. Where a horrific scene took place. A crowd formed around a wooden platform in the middle of the plaza. A woman stood, with dirty grey hair and an aged face with soft angles, her hands looked worn and tired, dirt hid under her nails. Her clothes were torn and patches could be seen, in an attempt to preserve what she couldn't replace. Her expression looked tired, angry but so tired. Like she had given up. Lailah wouldn't learn till later that she had, she had given up.

"Today, we punish another woman who practices sorcery," Uther bellowed from his balcony, looking over the scene. "A woman who practiced magic underneath our noses. Who put your families in danger, your kids in danger, your animals in danger, she put our kingdom in danger. And for that, she will be punished!"

There was a triumphant flare to the end of his speech, the corners of his mouth lifted, in an almost sicking smile as the ax came down on the woman's neck. Lailah hadn't even realized that the woman had moved to the stool at first, so captivated by Uther's voice, demanding to be heard, to be followed without question. But, when she looked she wished she hadn't. 

The scene was gruesome, her mother tried to cover her eyes but it was too late. That image burned itself in her head, the dull grey eyes of a woman she might have passed in the street, or had given food to when the winter got tough. Now, she had died and Lailah wondered if she was even guilty. Even if she was, she wondered if the punishment was equal to the injustice, if anyone deserved to have their life taken from them. A child's mind, disrupted and disturbed, spinning and unraveling, questioning and scared.