When Angels Sin

41. Retribution

Lucian

A crackling fire burst into high flames as the heap of hundreds of crossbows lying in the middle of the courtyard was set ablaze. Heavy black smoke rose towards the grey skies. Chained humans writhed and screamed as black clad guards hurled them into the hellfire to burn for their crimes. Liam was among them, and so were all the humans Lucian had given gold to, all crying and kicking as the guardsmen lifted them above the flames. The fire crackled as they fell into its heart, roaring as it fed on live flesh. 

Lucian watched with half dead eyes as the humans writhed within the devouring flames. It was a scene like the stories he read, about the devils and the sinners, where their god would burn them for eternity as punishment for their sins in a place called Hell. This was Hell. And it was eternal...

"Lucian Nordstrom, you are accused of wasting castle treasury, financing humans, supporting the rebellion, and sinning with a human. Do you deny these charges?"

Lucian didn't answer. He didn't even look Bernard's way. He was not sure anymore if that was all real, if his whole life had been real. He did not feel anything, that he wondered if he was even living anymore. He could hear loud side talks. He could see crowds and faces around him, watching him... Bernard glaring at him with ice blue eyes, Alina crying, Vilfred standing quiet, Hans not there... But none of it mattered. None of it seemed real. None of it scared him anymore.

"Lucian!" He heard a distant call. He turned where Alina was watching him, her face twisted with anguish. Don't cry... he wanted to tell her.

"Do you have something to say, my dear wife?" Bernard turned to her.

"Y... Yes!" Alina stepped forward. And this time Lucian's heart started to race. Not in fear for himself, but in fear for her. "I... I would like to call for an appeal."

"An appeal? You want to call for an appeal for a traitor?" Bernard shouted.

"He is not a traitor! He did not support the rebellion."

"Then how would you explain the missing of more than one thousand pieces of gold and the creation of hundreds of crossbows?"

"Anyone else could have stolen the gold!"

"Right, anyone else who is as dimwitted as Lucian, which I do not think exist. Now Alina, let me ask you this question one last time. Had Lucian been going out to the city while we were fighting in Grytia?"

Alina remained silent.

"Alina!" Bernard shouted. "Did he or did he not go to the city while we were fighting in Grytia?"

"Yes, but –"

"Thank you. You may step aside now."

"No!" Alina insisted. "Please! You cannot charge him of being a traitor just because he went to the city."

"I said step aside," Bernard said before he turned back to glare at Lucian. 

"Lucian Nordstrom," he called. "You are charged with stealing from the castle treasury, financing humans, supporting the rebellion, and sinning with a human. All those present here have witnessed your crimes. Therefore, as a punishment fit for the crimes of theft, adultery, and high treason –"

"No!" Alina cried out.

"I Bernard Nordstrom, Lord of Nordenvania, guardian of the North, sentence you to die."

***

The skies were painted in a muddy dark blue, and Lucian could not tell if it were evening or dawn. He must have either slept or passed out, for he found himself lying on his side, his body shivering against the cold grass. He listened carefully and he realized that no more crowds surrounded him. There was also neither the crackling of flames nor the screams of burning men. It could have been a dream, where the sinners burnt in Hell before his eyes. But it was not a dream. He could smell the heavy smoke still hanging in the air, burning his chest. Lucian raised his body slightly, his blurred vision not of much help in the dark, but he could tell that he had been moved to a different place.