The horse pulled carriage bounced along the dirt road, bumping myself and the other passengers around in the back seat. I was sat in the corner, squished between a fairly chunky lady and the wall. In front of me was another row of seats, accompanied by a tall black man with spectacles pushed up to the brink of his nose. He looked as if he was a butler, wearing an aqua vest over his white button up shirt, and brown pants tucked into his black boots. He smiled at me, noticing that I had been staring. I switched my gaze to the two people beside him, they looked identical, a mirror image of one another. They both had the same curly red hair that sweeped past their shoulders. They both had the same black button ups with crimson vest's, and the same dusted freckles across their noses. Once I had finished examining them I moved my eyes to the woman beside me, she was rather large with a dark green dress and black corset. Her blonde hair was steeped up into a tight bun at the back of her head and she had a sweet smile plastered on her face. How anybody could be so innocently happy in this situation was crazy to me. Though I suppose they were trying to act calm to ease myself and the younger passengers. I couldn't see much of the boy on the other side of the women, just his boot clad feet hovering slightly above the floor of the carriage. There was another jolt through the carriage, sending everyone up out of their seats only to come crashing back down. I winced at the pain in my tailbone, if they were going to send us to our deaths they could've at least made the ride comfortable. The black man must have noticed my distaste because he broke the hour of silence for the first time,
"There's no need to be scared, it should be done quick, lass. No pain, and we are here to serve or country. A fine way to go if you ask me"
He had a thick accent that I couldn't place. I looked at him with lidded eyes, my butt still hurt from all the jostling around. Then the older lady chimed in,
"I suppose someone like you would have that opinion" she spat. I looked in shock, I hadn't expected a mouth like that on such a warm looking woman.
"And what do you mean by that? Markel filth" the man shot back, spite lacing his words.
Everyone was staring at the interaction now, wondering how it was going to play out. I knew who the Markel were, everybody did. They were the people who believed that the sacrifices were wrong and not needed, and I thought the same thing. It was said that six people would be killed by the gods so that humans could live on the world they created without incurring their wrath. I didn't believe in gods, I had never seen them, and I had hoped that I never would. But there was always another side to an argument and in this case that was the Helorric Faith. They truely worshiped the gods and praised them, for they had allowed us to live upon their creation. They would all willingly go to their deaths if it meant appeasing these gods. But the worst thing about the Helorric Faith was,
"Oh, just the fact that because of you, this darling six year old boy is about to Die"
I clued back into the conversation then. It was true, by the age of five people were to participate in the drawing. Everyone in the kingdom would put their name on parchment, the king included, then six names would be drawn. I peeked around the blonde women, the kid did look about six, his face was red and stained with tears. This had gone on long enough,
"Excuse me, I hate to interrupt such a fine conversation, but you seem to be making this experience a hell of a lot worse for the kid"
All heads turned to me, then moved towards the boy. He had begun shaking now and had his knees clenched tight to his chest. The woman gave me an apologetic look then warped her arm around the little boy, whispering assuring words into his ear. I sighed, glancing back around the cabin, the man had his head hung low clearly ashamed of what he had done. So he should be. Then something else caught my eye, the two identical men beside him were looking at me, smirks plastered on their faces. A shiver ran down my spine, they looked harmless of course but I couldn't shake the nerves. I was astounded that they could smile during a time such as this, it was unnatural. I stole my gaze away from the boys, moving back to look out the window beside me. There were rows and rows of trees, covered in fog that glistened in the morning sun. I almost chuckled to myself as I thought,
It's a beautiful day to die
YOU ARE READING
•{Beyond the Wall}•
AdventureA rag tag group of people have been chosen as sacrifices to the gods, they are to be thrown beyond the wall and killed. A worthy sacrifice to escape the wrath of gods. But what they find beyond the wall was not exactly what they were expecting. This...
