Sapphire Bones

Shear

Updated: April 10, 2019

L

            Not long after the Chancellor announced the end of the trial two large and bulky hands wrapped around my biceps. Whatever trance I found myself hovering in was broken the second they made contact with me, and I hurdled back into reality with a hard thump. They pulled me back, each of my shoulder blades catching on their thick suits. Voices in the crowd picked back up as the formal trial ended, however, the Chancellors own voice towered over a hundred smaller. Echoes of the Council motto swam through the room in wicked currents, deafening my ears until the buzzing from before commenced.

"We will move the trial out into the yard," he said after the guards took hold of me. "Once we remove Eleanor from the courtroom go ahead and take your leave outside." The two guards ahold of me waited for approval before they took their leave. Once they had it, two sets of strength heaved me away from the chanting audience.

My feet stumbled beneath me but I found balance before the ground took my body in his arms. They led me back down the heat-lined pathway toward the entrance. Once there one of the hands left my arm to continue down the hallway alone. What little noise remained of the courtroom died the further we traveled. With only the sounds of our footsteps echoing through the corridor I didn't have much to grapple onto as I approached the end of my life. The guard next to me was stiff in his movements, his grip on my bicep tightening as we continued through the corridor. His breathing was even, smooth and level but every couple breaths he cleared his throat. A lump at the back of his mouth kept something hidden, something he wasn't willing to swallow.

My first breath of open air in over four months came at me like Peter's belt the first time he hit me. A brush of salt mixed with the spring blooms and droplets of water littered amongst soft grass. Every smell tickled the insides of my nose, one at a time to give each a moment of spotlight. I sucked in a deep breath, the air thickening the faster I took it into my body. With only minutes, left in my life I wanted my final experiences to be the best I ever had. And if that meant blades of grass and the collision of water to rocks at the bottom of the cliff the Lycan Council headquarters overlooked, then so be it.

A cry of metal sprang in front of me. A gate swung open and we passed through the entry. My feet stumbled through the cobblestones; the guard held me just high enough with the strength in only one of his arms that even if my own muscles gave out I needn't worry about hitting the ground. I found footing on the rough stones, and while the callus' on the bottom of my feet provided thin shields from the sharp edges beneath, I still felt every jab into the soft flesh on the bottoms of my toes. They curled with each step through the gravel. Just as I found a pattern to walking through the sharp rocks, the guard heaved me up over the steps until I hit flat wood. Three more steps and the grip around my arm was replaced with two hands covering shoulders. A rush of spring breeze slapped into my face. It sent my hair flying in front of me in delicate wisps, strands controlled by no government or entity. I kept my eyes forward, hopefully on the cliff beyond. At the never-ending ocean outside Council grounds. Water crashed into the cliff side somewhere far beyond the compound walls. Its screams harmonized with the whistling wind. A song of dancing leaves in the current above me, melodized by the murmurs of the audience as they filed out into the yard. The wind stopped. My hair fell flat against me once again, much dryer than it was when I first exited into the courtyard. Loose tangles found their way into the bunches of hair, and while I so badly wanted to pull them out my hands were frozen to my sides. I feared moving meant a faster death. I wanted to soak up as much of the morning sun before I knelt and took the blade. It beat down onto my bare shoulders with rays that warmed my skin and played at the tip of my nose. It wrinkled at the tepid sensation. Those crisp saffron rays played in the courtyard like children. Daring and adventurous with its reaching arms. I longed to see it again. One last time.