The Jaded Leopard

Chapter Three

And here's chapter Three! Not my best writing, but oh well. It'll get better after this, I swear. No more boring scenes with goats XD Anyway, enjoy!

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It had all happened so fast.

How people had slowly crept out of their homes, like mice waiting for a cat to catch them. How they'd surrounded the area where the leopard had once been, keeping themselves far away from Roksana. Her neighbors, her friends, who all looked upon her with fear, hatred, nothing like the warm smiles and greetings they'd once bestowed upon her. Even her father seemed stunned and wary of his youngest daughter. She was trapped in a web of hatred as people murmured, casting furtive glances her way.

Sorceress..... Witch..... Devil.

Her ears rang at their words, and she felt as if she'd been slapped. She staggered away from the hut she'd been leaning against, in a daze. Why were they looking at her like that, like some sort of monster? Incidentally, Roksana had wandered into the center of a large circle all the villagers had made around her.

Pain flashed through her as two hunters roughly grabbed her arms from behind, lifting her thin form from the ground, her feet dangling a few inches from the ground. Roksana struggled wildly against their grip- What were they doing?

The hunters proved too strong, however, and her efforts were in vain as she finally gave up struggling. A hush fell upon the crowd as a particularly tall man stepped forward from the ring, his face hard, unreadable. Roksana's spirits sank even further-the situation had gotten much worse.

The chief.

The chief was an older man, in about his middle fifties. His raven black hair was beginning to gray, streaks of silver running through the dark hair. His face was hardened from many seasons' worth of cold, bitter conditions, and a scar ran over his nose and right cheek, from an animal attack he'd suffered many years ago. Wrinkles dotted his aging face, but it didn't give him a sweet, elderly look. If anything, it made him look like a weary warrior, but he stood tall despite the slight limp he walked forward with. Although the village could usually make decisions by themselves, whenever larger, more serious decisions needed to be made, the chief was brought in to mediate. And this was definitely a large, serious situation.

It would need a large, serious decision.

Roksana kept her eyes down, studying the toes of her boots nonchalantly, evading eye contact with the chief. For what would she see in his eyes then? Shock? Fear? After a long, tense silence, the chief spoke.

"What crimes are we, as a people, charging Roksana Abdulov for here today?" Roksana dared look up at him. Crimes? She didn't do anything wrong. All she'd done was try to save her father. How was that a crime? But the chief's face was unreadable.

"Witchcraft!" A voice screamed from the center of the group of villagers. Murmurs and cries of approval were heard, and Roksana felt as if she'd been slapped in the face. Her friends, her neighbors.... accusing her of such a crime, with such willingness, such assurance, that she was a witch? She didn't even know how she'd done that, convince the leopard to leave.

The chief nodded slowly but remained silent. He stroked his chin, a usual habit when he was thinking hard about something. "For all I have seen is a girl trying to save her father. Or do we wish that Mr. Abdulov was eaten by the leopard?"

Silence. Eyes wandered to the ground in shame, or humiliation. None of them wished that.

"But she controlled a leopard! Such sorcery is dangerous!" A bold voice called from behind Roksana, but she couldn't turn around to face whoever said it. Even if she could, she wouldn't have wanted to. She didn't want to see the face of some person she'd known since she was a child calling her a witch, crying for a punishment. But murmurs of approval rippled through the crowd, and Roksana soon realized that they all were betraying her, turning their backs on her.