Execution: (The Akeldama Chronicles)

by F. N. Hammack

  I stared wide eyed at the Queen, utterly enraptured.

  “For as long as she had left before the gods came for her, she gave Thierry everything that he had never had and had always longed for. She gave him a family, an identity, and unconditional support. Then, the gods sent their assassins after her.”

  I gasped.

  “Just a few months prior, she had given birth to a baby boy and when she knew death was inevitable, she entrusted his life to Thierry, who swore to honor the debt that could never be repaid.” The Queen smiled softly at me. “Since that day, the Akeldamas and Thierrys who followed have been intertwined with a loyalty so strong that nothing can break it.”

  I nodded, sensing she had more to say.

  She met my eyes and the intensity in them caused me to shrink back into the settee. “That loyalty is why Sienna was whipped.”

  I frowned. “Isn’t loyalty a good thing?”

  “It can be. It can also be a vulnerability. You see, when you are loyal to someone in the way that the Thierrys and the Akeldamas are… a loyalty mixed with love and respect...you will often do things that aren’t in your best interest for the sake of others. That’s what Sienna did for you today. She took a whipping so that you would not have to because that was her way of protecting you.”

  I huffed and sat up straight. “She didn’t need to do that...”

  The Queen held up a hand, silencing me. “Yet she did it anyway. That was her choice. And her show of loyalty. My question to you, dear Rhys, is are you loyal to her? Had your roles been reversed, would you have done the same? You see, a loyalty unreciprocated is a far more dangerous thing than most people think and is a sure way to die.”

  Offended, I glared at her and crossed my arms, forgetting that such an action could have me thrown in the dungeons. One did not simply glare at royalty; even if one was only a child. “Sienna is my friend!” I yelled.

  Tilting her head to the side, the Queen stared at me for several long moments. Long enough that I had realized the errors of my actions…

  “Good.”

  Startled, I glanced her; taken aback by the wide grin stretching her face. And in the face of it, I couldn’t help my own grin from gracing mine.

  ********

  Poke.

  Poke.

  Poke.

  I squinted one eye open and glared at the trouble maker grinning down at me. “No,” I said firmly before she could even open her mouth. I rolled over, putting my back to the wicked minx.

  “No? I didn’t even ask a question yet.” Sienna huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “The answer is still no,” I grumbled into my pillow, idly wondering how she had gotten into my chambers at this hour.

  Where were all the guards?

  What if she had been an assassin?

  “Rhys,” she sang out, tugging on my hair, “it will be fun.”

  I snorted. “No, it won’t.”

  She knelt on the edge of my bed and leaned over my body until her face was inches away from mine. “The curiosity is killing me, Rhys.”

  I growled and flopped over onto my back, glaring at the smiling redhead above me. “Where the bloody hell is your guard?”

  She waved a hand through the air, dismissively. “They won’t even notice that I am gone.”

  I pondered all the ways that this could... and probably would end badly; sighing because I knew that no matter what I said to discourage her, she would simply laugh it off and make me go with her anyway.

  “People will recognize you,” I said, trying for the hell of it.

  She grinned and popped up, swirling around my chambers, showing off her outfit. “No one will recognize me in this.”

  I dragged a weary hand down my face, covering my eyes. The thin scraps of blue fabric wrapped over her chest barely covered her breasts and bared her stomach entirely. And, the long blue skirt was transparent with high slits cut into each side showing the leggings underneath. The leggings covered her skin but did nothing to hide her figure.

  “You look like a whore,” I said, exasperated.

  She stopped swirling and glared. “I do not! I dressed in the attire of the eastern kingdoms. This is what their women wear. I researched it. We will pretend to be nomadic travelers, and no one will be the wiser.”

  “You researched it?” I asked with a smirk.

  “Yes” She affirmed with a nod.

  I grinned. “How?”

  “I asked one of the female travelers at the village market today,” Sienna said, crossing her arms over her budding chest.

  “She dressed like that?” I asked, nodding to her outfit.

  “Yes.”

  I grinned. “She’s a whore.”

  “Rhys!” Sienna snarled delicately. “You don’t even know her!”

  “I don’t have to know her to know that she’s a whore. And, facts can’t be offensive so stop glaring.” I reached out and tapped her nose in the way that I knew drove her nuts.

  “She was a kind, gentle lady, not a whore!” Sienna said through gritted teeth after swatting my hand away.

  I chuckled, getting to my feet carefully, making sure the blanket covered my nudity as I scratched my chest with a yawn. “I never said she wasn’t nice,” I muttered, bending down to rummage through my storage chest for something decent. Finding an outfit, I dropped the blanket and pulled on my trousers as I said, “and, I know she’s a whore because women from the eastern kingdoms that aren’t whores cover their entire bodies, only showing their eyes.”

  “I don’t believe you…” Sienna said uncertainly.

  I shrugged and pulled my shirt over my head and then turning to face her. “Is there anything that I can say to change your mind?” I asked, knowing the answer.

  “Nope!” she said, beaming at me.

  “Bloody hell, come on then.” I said, heading for the open balcony doors. “You really shouldn’t be climbing through my windows, Princess. It is neither safe nor proper.”

  “Since when have we ever cared about either of those things?” Sienna asked, throwing a leg over the balcony and reaching for the trellis.

  I jumped over the balcony and caught a branch in the stout tree feet from the ledge, laughing softly at the rush of exhilaration. I weighed too much to chance the trellis. “Since you got your first blood, and became a woman. If someone catches you here, we’ll be forced to marry.”

  “Eww! You’re like my brother!” Sienna cried with disgust.

  My lips tightened into a thin line as I shoved aside the pain those words caused me. She might think of me as a brother, but I have never thought of her as a sister.

  “So don’t get caught...”

  We finished the climb down in silence.

  She reached the bottom before me and leaned against the wall, impatiently tapping her foot. She waited until I was within whisper distance before asking, “so... what’s it like?”

  I rolled my eyes. I never should have told her about my father taking me there. I knew better than to feed her adventure addiction. “It’s a tavern. There is alcohol, whores, and gambling. Nothing about it is interesting.”

  “I’ll be the judge of that,” she said with a huff and began striding in the direction of the village. With a heavy sigh, I trailed after her…someone had to keep her out of trouble.

  Chapter Two

  ALPAS

  (v.) to become free; to break loose.

  Sienna Akeldama

  “Joaquin?”

  I had been trying to wake him for a while now, but I was getting increasingly worried when he still didn’t respond. Two beatings in the span of day was no joking matter.

  Before Rhys had taken the torch with him as he left the dungeon, I had gotten a good look at Joaquin and what I had seen was seared into my mind. His bruises had bruises and blood had pooled around his prone body.

  He would more than likely die from his injuries. The body could only withstand so much damage, after all. It shouldn’t bother me so much; I had only known
him for a day or two and during most of that time, one or both of us had been unconscious.

  But…It did bother me.

  After two years of having no one to speak to aside from Cassius…of being trapped in the darkness by myself…I had formed a connection with Joaquin. It felt like he was the only thing keeping me sane. It wasn’t logical; he shouldn’t have such a strong hold on me...but… he did, and I had lost so much already.

  After the first few months that I had been held captive here, the darkness had become a blanket of protection and comfort. I no longer saw it as ominous and threatening but rather as a respite from the cruelty that Cassius dueled out in the firelight.

  The darkness became my companion.

  Yet, now…it was preventing me from checking on my friend. I did not know whether he stilled breathed and my mind jumped to the worst conclusions.

  I felt isolated and alone, no longer comforted by the shroud of darkness.

  Trying once more, I called out his name beseechingly, “Joaquin?”

  My shoulders slumped when there was no answer.

  I jumped; startled, when the door suddenly slammed open, hitting the stone wall behind it. Cassius stormed frantically into the room, holding a torch in his left hand. I leaned a little to the side to see who else was with him and frowned when I couldn’t see anyone.

  He came alone?

  As Cassius dropped to his knees before me, I raised my brows. I shied back against the wall when he reached for my arms. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anywhere for me to go to get out of his reach.

  Clenching my arms tightly to the point of pain, he shook me roughly. “Tell me you love me.”

  I couldn’t help it; I burst out laughing, hysterically.

  In anger, Cassius slammed my upper body back against the wall, causing me to bang the back of my head into the wall. I winced as I felt sharp pain radiating from the point of contact and grimaced when warm, wet blood began to flow through my hair.

  I glared at him.

  “Say you’ll marry me,” he ordered harshly.

  I smiled and said, “nope.” I popped the word out slowly, savoring it.

  “I love you.”

  I rolled my eyes at his confession. “No, you don’t,” I denied. “You want to own me and that’s not love.”

  “If you continue to refuse me, I will kill you, Sienna,” he threatened.

  I laughed mockingly and taunted him. “Death would be preferable to being your wife.”

  He threw me away from him and I fell to the ground. Ignoring the pain in my body, I pushed my tangled hair out of my eyes and stared at him as he paced back and forth, clearly frazzled.

  My vision blurred, and my thoughts started to get a bit foggy. I blinked rapidly; trying to focus. Lifting a hand, I felt the wound on the back of my head. The blood still flowed heavily, preventing me from getting a feel for how bad it was. I knew from experience that head wounds bled a lot, so I wasn’t too concerned.

  Cassius muttered to himself under his breath, saying things like: “she’ll change her mind,” and “she loves me too,” and other nonsense. I rolled my eyes and tuned him out.

  Feeling weak, I lowered my body the rest of the way to the ground until I laid flat over the cool stone surface. I sighed in relief as the chilled stone met my heated face. It felt amazing.

  I took a few deep breaths and tried to keep track of Cassius’s movements. He was unpredictable when he got like this. And, I would rather not wake up feeling the evidence of his violation.

  Cassius suddenly stopped his pacing and noticed me lying on the floor. He knelt next to me and brushed the hair from my face, causing me to shiver with revulsion. “Are you ok?” He sounded genuinely worried.

  I was going in and out of consciousness, so my words came out more slurred than I wanted them too. “Stop touching me.” I said, gritting my teeth in a fierce grimace.

  All sign of concern fled his face as a hard, indeterminable façade took its place.

  Nodding slowly to whatever thoughts ruled his mind, Cassius pulled the necklace that held the keys to my chains from around his neck and unlocked the set that bound me to the wall and limited my movement.

  I eyed him warily and before I could take action, he grabbed the chain that circled around my waist and clamped onto my wrist, using the length to pull me to my feet as he dragged me from the room without saying a word.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, stumbling behind him. In the last two years, he had never taken me to a place where others could see me. This would obliterate the myth of my death.

  “I am going to show you what will happen to your precious people if you continue to refuse me.” Cassius stormed up the stairs and through the halls.

  A harsh gasp echoed through the halls as one by one the palace staff noticed me. I was naked and in chains and my people were seeing me like this! Fury boiled to life inside me as I was forced to endure this. But, I was my mother’s daughter and I refused to let this bring me down; so I channeled my mother’s memory by lifting my chin and straightening my spine and pushing through all the dizziness that threatened the edges of my mind.

  “Princess…”

  “She’s alive…”

  “Gods help us...”

  “Princess Sienna…”

  Slowly, I became aware of the whispers that followed the sounds of shock and I grew even more confused. What was he hoping to gain by bringing me out of the dungeons? It certainly wasn’t the wisest move he could have made.

  We continued our path through the halls with a growing horde of followers, until we reached the throne room. Cassius shot me an arrogant look before whispering something to the mercenary guarding the doors.

  Frowning at whatever he’d been told, the hired guard nonetheless nodded.

  Then, Cassius threw open the large ornate doors and pulled me inside the crowded room. Wide-eyed, the crowd formed a path that led to the dais that held the thrones. Whispers flooded the room, creating a canopy of noise that was ear shattering after so much quiet.

  Handing my chains to the guard at the bottom of the dais steps, he walked up them alone and raised his hand; silencing the crowd. “Quiet!”

  Absolute silence engulfed the vast room.

  Cassius threw me a triumphant look; to which, I just cocked an eyebrow? If he thought that was impressive…

  Glaring, he turned back to the nobles and servants that filled the room. “You all know who my prisoner is. Introductions aren’t necessary. Know that I’ve held her life in my hands for two years now. I could have killed her, but I didn’t. Instead, I wish to make her my wife and cement our bond before all of you.”

  The nobles looked around at each other in shock but held their tongues, all too aware of the price to be paid should they speak out of turn. Leniency wasn’t a term Cassius understood.

  Cassius continued. “However, my lovely fiancé needs more motivation than I have been able to provide thus far. So, I’ve decided to up the ante, so to speak.” He snapped his fingers at the end of that ominous sentence.

  Screams filled the halls as ten mercenaries stepped behind ten nobles and slit their throats, letting the bodies drop where they lie. Then, they grabbed the closest person to them and held their freshly blooded knives to the new person’s throat, waiting. It all happened so fast…as if it had been orchestrated…and I now knew exactly what Cassius had whispered to that guard.

  Furious, I glared at him.

  He met my stare with a sweet and sinister smile. “My love, will you marry me?”

  I had never wanted someone dead so much in my entire life. I looked away and gazed out at the crowd, knowing in my heart that I wouldn’t marry him. I couldn’t…

  I scanned the crowd of faces, some familiar and some not, and stalled as much as I could…thinking. My eyes traveled from one face to the next. Then I paused and looked back at one I had just passed.

  It was my father’s old squire.

  Mr. Merrick had been entrusted with many family secret
s and he knew exactly why I couldn’t marry Cassius even if it meant the death of hundreds.

  Mr. Merrick met my eyes with his and slowly…deliberately…shook his head.