Amanise's body stilled.
Shock registering in her brain
"Burn the witch! She killed Her Highness!!!"
Amanise looked down her heart pounding on her chest. Subconsciously dragging down her hood more.
Her eyes spotted the headlines of the newspaper Hamlin held in his hands.
The Sixth Royal Princess Erika found dead in her cabin boarding a ship back from the Alvaron's neighboring Kingdom, Regradon. On visiting her betrothed...
.... The Culprit was caught trying to escape from the cabin. Her death has been decreed by the Royal family by seven a.m in the morning....
.... Death by burning on a stake.
She shivered her head bolted upwards.
The accursed so-called witch, a woman with wild dark eyes and tangled hair. Her expression hidden under a dirty hood. Was dragged to the stake, her wrists were bound with a rough thick rope, her cries of innocence drowned out by the jeers and shouts of the mob.
Children clung to their mothers' skirts, their eyes wide with a mixture of curiosity and terror.
No.
This is wrong!
She moved before she could think.
But stopped abruptly by the bruising grip on her arms.
Hamlin grey gaze staring into her eyes. A deadly aura emanating from his stoic face. His slender, built body tensed.
"What are you trying to do?"
"I.. I can't let her die. She is innocent..."
The scornful chuckle that came from him next made her pause her explaination.
"True she isn't the cause of the incident. But we decided to save you instead. Shouldn't you be grateful. Didn't you want to live?"
A scary smirk graced his pink lips and for a moment the twisted way of his thinking and his gaze.
Made her think she was talking to a monster.
He is right. Why do you want to save the woman in our own expense.
The voice came again.
Shocked by how vile it sounded. So alike Hamlin's.
Disgusted with herself, she struggled from his unyielding grip.
"Speak for yourself. You motherfucker! I am many things but am not heartless. I can't let an innocent person suffer for my deeds. My conscience will kill me!!!"
Her hand clenched into a punch moving fast to his jaw. But he easily dodged. Holding her other hand.
"Will it.. Really Miss Grimshaw?"
The village priest, his voice booming with righteous fury, recited the charges of witchcraft and murder. His voice punctuated by the crackling of the kindling at the base of the stake.
The crowd, whipped into a frenzy by his fervour, hurled insults, curses and stones at the condemned woman. The madness of the crowd palpable, a living, breathing entity that fed on fear and insanity.
"Let me go, Hamlin! You vile..!"
She struggled more, a caged beast trying to rip her way out of bondage.
His arms around her waist felt like burning chains.
Facing her forward to keep watching a situation she couldn't control.
The flames began to lick at the dry wood, the woman's screams pierced the air.
Amanise sanity fell apart reducing to a mere beast. Clawing.. Biting Hamlin's skin on his hands to shreds.
"Let go of me. Now!"
Amanise growled her vermilion eyes redder.
Looking at her eyes, Hamlin felt compelled to let go. His freezed movement was an opportunity she didn't let go. Propelling a furious hook on the side of his head. He let go. She landed in the ground. Her movements swift like a cat's moving towards the girl.
"Amanise... Shit! Stop!! They will see you!"
Blinded by her purpose she pushed her way to the front. Almost reaching.
Something hit her leg. She sprawled hard to the floor. Pain screaming on her left leg.
She looked at it to see a bullet hole.
People began noticing her and the wound.
"Red eyes!! Another monster!!!"
An old man pointed at her aggressively.
Her hand touched her head to being down the hood. Only to find out it exposed her face.
The pain killed her fury and drive in seconds. And she couldn't run.
"It's true!! Kill her!!!!"
The attention was moving away from the stake to her in a dangerous pace.
Before the budding tension would explode to something terrible she felt a warm hand touched her.
Looking up she saw Hamlin.
Staring at her, his eyes filled with hints of awe and wariness.
Before it disappeared to his usual stoic facade and polite smile.
"You have to go before they think you know me and burn us together."
She nervously choked out fear clogging down her throat.
Hamlin laughed.
"Am sorry for putting a bullet on your leg."
Her nose flared. Rage once again blooming in her chest.
Her arms aggressively circled his neck before she could even think.
"He is a monster too! He's my husband!!"
The reaction her heated self expected wasn't what she got. Confused, she looked away from the shocked expression on Hamlin's face.
The old man that first saw her was apologizing to the crowd.
"I swear I saw something. But it seemed my old eyes tricked me. Am sorry."
"Be careful, Grandpa. Sometimes people burn the innocent... Including you."
A man in midnight blue uniform adviced a subtle warning hidden in it.
"Understood."
She swallowed looking back at Hamlin whose face looked smug. A subtle smirk replacing his demure smile.
How?
The silent question in her eyes wasn't answered because of a pained scream that caught her attention again.
The fire roared to life along her screams.
A haunting symphony of agony and despair.
The heat pushed back the onlookers. As the smell of burning flesh mingled with smoke permeating the air, a nauseating reminder of the brutality of the act.
Tears ran down her eyes as she choked back a sob.
Feeling Hamlin lift her up in a princess style. Not struggling this time around.
It was too late.
The chaos reached a feverish pitch. Some villagers wept along with her, overcomed by the horror of the scene, while others cheered, convinced they were witnessing the purging of evil.
The woman's cries grew weaker, her body writhing violently.
A subdued growl escaping her melting lips.
The red flames danced higher, casting eerie shadows on the faces of the spectators.
In the midst of the madness, Amanise felt the woman's emotions.
It was a messy jagged line crossing between insanity and piety. But instead of looking up she was looking at the crowd.
Or more importantly 'someone' in the crowd.
Her sharp vermilion gaze caught the receiver in a second because of the desire of death and vengeance she could feel crackling in the air.
In a heightened moment, she saw a young girl no older than seven standing alone in the crowd.
She wasn't crying or scared at the horror infront of her.
She stared at it with a hollow expression.
The wrongness of it sent tingling flight emotions from her.
The girl's eyes that stared down at the burning woman in a hollow contempt. Twisted her head, sensing her gaze before locking unto her in the matter of seconds.
Her nails dugged into Hamlin's arm. An irrational fear consuming her.
"Look at me, Amanise!!"
A voice shouted at her grabbing back her attention making it possible for her to look away from the creepy girl.
She looked at Hamlin, struggling to breath. Gasping in as much air as possible before coughing violently.
Some blood drops on the hand covering her mouth.
"It's okay. Breathe.... Yes that's it. Good girl."
After stabilising her breathing she looked up at him. Her face still deathly pale.
Hamlin had a worried expression on his face. Surprised, she opened her mouth half expecting all her teeths to fall down.
He is capable of worrying?!
"Amanise... Wake up from your stupor and tell me what got you so scared?!"
"I...I.."
She saw the crowd began to disperse.
Her head turned to see the fire consume the last kindling of the woman's body slumped, her spirit finally succumbing to the flames.
The blood lust was satiated leaving behind the charred remains of their fear and ignorance.
The Central Town's Square that supposedly a place of community and life, was now a grim reminder of darkness that lurked within the human soul and...
Death.