Alexandria: The Rebel Princess

Chapter 5 - Part 1

Tristan and Jeremy scan the crowds anxiously behind Xavier and I. Holding my hood tightly around my face, my heart flutters nervously under the curious gaze of passersby. Following Xavier's guide, I do my best to not regret my decision last night.

He had written the letter shortly after kneeling before me. Lifting up a sheet, he revealed a cage with a single bird inside. Scooping the bird into his hands, he secured the letter to its talon. Opening up his window, he lifted the bird out into the fresh air and it flew off into the night. With a finger pressed to his lips, he suddenly let me in on his secret. This bird was the only one who knew how to travel to Clifton and return. This is why Xavier was so valuable to them, and he was the only one since all their other birds were collected and messengers were arrested on site, if they had even made it to their destination without being stopped by patrols. This bird was sent to him with a tiny map, incase of emergencies. He scanned it with with me, engraving it into memory, before tossing it into the fire.

"Why are we here?" Tristan's agitated tone pulls me out of my thoughts, "She shouldn't be out in the open."

"Hush," I reprimand him.

Xavier stops, and I nearly bump into him. "This is it," he whispers with disgust.

Peeking out from around his large frame, I'm left in shock. It was an invisible barrier of fear, people walked around the free standing pole. It was strange, they went out of their way like it pushed them away, squeezing themselves to the far sides of the street. Grinding their shoulders against the walls of the buildings, they did everything to avoid it. Even Xavier stood at the edge of this make believe wall.

Stepping forward, Tristan's hand grabs my shoulder, and I turn to him surprised. With a shake of his head, he warns me not to approach. It seems that he is familiar with these poles and the power that they shouldn't have over the villagers. Brushing off his hand, I stomp away from him. He is the successor to the Northern Clan, and a pole with a rope hanging from it shouldn't bring him fear.

As soon as my foot passes over into the clearing, I gulp. A discomforting feeling fell over me, Xavier's daughter died here. Had his wife sacrificed herself in this clearing as well? Approaching the pole drew attention to me. Tormented faces, masked the villagers, this pole was a symbol of Thaddeus' destruction and not a memorial of those they loved. The rope swung lightly in the soft wind, it called to me, daring me to tempt my fate. Thaddeus doesn't deserve to hold this kind of fear mongering power over them.

The soil looked smooth and untouched, the wind had blown over the footsteps of those lost to this world. Marking my presence, I step farther, my boots imprinting into the ground. Closer and closer I approached till I was right before the pole. The air had thickened in the crowds silence, and a small scuffle sounded behind me.

"Stay," Xavier growled quietly, "She needs to do this."

A huff blows loudly over the crowd. Oh, Tristan, you need to let me grow up, just like you did during those three long years apart.

My hand reaches out slowly, palm out towards the pole, and I place my hand gently against it. The crowd gasped all around like a pulse coming from the wood. Staying still, I waited as the crowd absorbed their fear. The streets quaked with the people's agony. They had concealed their hatred and mourning for far too long.

Looking up to the top of the pole, I watch the sun shine over the outstretched limb of the pole, the rope pinned to that limb fell off limply. This should never have been here. Closing my eyes I see the face of the woman hanging in the streets of Willbridge. Her brown hair twisted in the wind but her eyes stared emptily through me, like only a small while ago a person she loved had stood in that spot.

Falling to my knees, my hand slides down the pole and the crowd cries. A woman weeps painfully. My necklace falls out from behind my cloak and the light catches its spin, glistening the sparkles dance around. It kissed the pole as if blessing this very spot with its holy powers.

"Look," a man whispers amongst the crowd. He had seen it, seen the crystal.

More whispers began, "Who is this?"

"A blessed monk from the mountains?"

Their whispers filled me with a purpose, there was a reason I had met Kalen. My hand clasps around his icicle, finally I know what this necklace is doing still around my neck. I have work to do. Dragging my finger over the cold stone, I feel my heart flutter. "No death shall be without purpose," I mumble to the pole in a prayer of my own. No, a promise. Their deaths will have meaning. 

Standing up, I hear gasps and cries, but behind me is a scuffle and heavy huffing. Turning around I see Tristan is dragging his feet forward, but Jeremy has his arms locked behind him, in a desperate attempt to hold him back. An angry Tristan, drags the struggling Jeremy behind him in his determination to get me back out of sight.

"Take it down," I command them.

They froze. "W-what?" Tristan stuttered in bewilderment, "Are you mad?"

"It must run in her bloodline," Jeremy chuckles.

The crowd looks between the pole and myself. More whispers flutter through the crowd, hushed to the point I am unable to make them out. A sly smirk forms as I lock my stare with Xavier, watching proudly.

"Do it," I commanded loudly, my voice echoing off the buildings, silencing the crowds. He nodded and stepped forward.

It is like something clicked inside Tristan as Xavier stepped into the barrier. He runs up beside me and grabs my shoulders. "Are you insane!" His arms shake me desperately trying to slam my brain back together, but I had my thoughts together, and I had a goal that needs to be completed.

Spinning around I watch Xavier, with his axe in hand, he swings it into the pole. Over and over again, the blade hacks away at the thick wooden block.

"No more suffering shall befall these people," I hum, "no more deaths shall haunt this place. They are all free now."

The pole wobbled under another swing.

"Chloe," Tristan whispers in a whine.

"I know what I'm doing Tristan," I announce, lifting my chin watching Xavier destroy the symbol of his endless suffering.