Fate stay/BERSERK (Book 2)

Ch 2

It was outside the castle walls and into the city that an execution was taken place. The townspeople looked up at the wooden stand. An executioner wearing a black hood was holding down a cuffed woman, whose head laid against a piece of stone. She looked malnourished, gritting her teeth as she tried fighting against the muscular man above her, but to no success.

"VERDICT!!!" A priest cried out to the people as he held a scroll in his hands, he was a small and frail old man. He read the scroll to people. "The inquisition hereby finds the accused guilty of making a pact with the devil and engaging in heresy most foul! The accused is hereby sentenced to immediate execution!"

"IT'S A LIE!!!" The woman cried out to the priest. She looked over to the townspeople before her attention was drawn to another executioner making his way up the wooden stand, an axe in hand. "I'M NOT A HERETIC!!!!" Tears filled her eyes as the axe was raised into the air. "I SWEAR!!!"

CHOP!

The crowd of civilians watched in discomfort as the head rolled of the wooden stand, forcing themselves to watch as blood leaked out of her headless body before cheering, yet they did not sound excited. The priest walked towards a higher stand, where a tent stood with open flaps.

"Your excellency." The priest bowed his head in prayer. Sitting inside the tent was a big, fat, bald man. So fat, his cheeks sagged downwards as well as his eyebrows. He was dressed in fine clothes and cranked from a gold goblet. "The execution is completed."

"Good work Dahl." The man praised the priest as he took another sip from his wine. His voice was deep and almost cruel in nature.

"But this is the fifth one this month...I'm wondering if we're overdoing this a bit?" The priest spoke, his face fearful as he looked at the ground. Like the townsfolk, Dahl was uneasy about these rapid killings. "If we keep this up now, how long will it be before his holiness intervenes?"

"I don't care, Dahl. Arrest anyone who looks like a spy or a drifter....as heretics." The man spoke with a chuckle before looking Dahl in the eyes. "I do this all for the good of my subjects. It is my duty to protect this city from any accursed heretics." The man leaned forward, resting a hand on his knee. "The peaceful existence of my subjects is my utmost desire, my utmost pleasure. I will not let anyone interfere with that."

"Yes....." Dahl gulped as he stood up, shaking. "....my lord."

Down in the crowd of peasants was a cloaked man, walking past the people till he came to a stop. He kneeled down and picked up the severed head of the woman and looked at her face. It was filled with horror, tear's drying up and her teeth gritted.

"AAAAAHHHH!!!!! SISTER!!!!" The cloaked man looked up and saw a young boy running forward, tears in his eyes. He was stopped however, as a guard hit him with the pommel of his halberd. He hit the ground with a nasty thud. Blood leaking out of his head wound.

"ANYONE CAUGHT SYMPATHIZING WITH A HERETIC WILL NOT GO UNPUNISHED, EVEN CHILDREN! YOU'LL BE THROWN INTO THE DUNGEON!!!" The same guard shouted down at the boy, a smug look on his face. Other guards advanced forward, blocking off the civilians from moving forward. The guard turned towards the man, noticing the head in his hand. The guard walked over rather smugly and looked the man in the eye. "Hey pal....mind handing that over?"

The cloaked man looked down at the head before looking at the guard. The cloaked man smiled before spitting in the guards face, shocking any peasants who were watching and even the guards who saw. The cloaked man reared his arm back and threw the head directly at the fat man on the tall stand.