The Gallows
Damp moss squeezed through the cracks in the stone, finding a way to grow in the dank cell I was in. That moss has more of a will to live than I do I thought to myself in the darkness. In the distance, a torch flickered the only minuscule source of light in the dungeon as far as I could see. I’d been here for what felt like months but had probably only been days, awaiting my sentencing, which would surely be death. What did I do? You might ask. I did nothing but push for a rest between our twelve-hour-long grueling shifts of hacking stone to pieces.
The latest installment of leaders had turned into a twisted demented fuck who didn’t care if we worked ourselves to death, in fact, he probably preferred when we keeled over so they could replace us with fresh younger workers. I simply said “This is bullshit, we all deserve a rest!” and here I am, waiting to die. No one else stood their ground with me, but I can’t blame them, I knew I would get dragged here, but how could I say nothing? How could I not push back?
Clanging footsteps echoed in the halls, shaking me from my thoughts. Soon there was a much brighter torch thrust into my face.
“Get up scum, your next on the hanging list!” The guard spat and started to unlock the cell door.
“Great, took you long enough. Must be a long list, eh?” I’ll be sarcastic until I take my last breath.
“Keep your mouth shut!” The guard yelled and kicked me back, reaching to unlink my shackles from the hook on the floor.
…
Soon I was being marched outside to the gallows. A crowd of ravenous onlookers hooting and hollering. These were my coworkers, friends, and neighbors, but the only break you ever get is to watch someone hang, again, can’t blame them. A rest is a rest, you take anything these days. I shuffled along, they unbound my feet shackles but my wrists were still linked in front of me. Up the wooden stairs and then onto the wooden platform.
A rope was slipped around my neck, then violently tightened when suddenly the execution whispered quickly in my ear “Your rope will be cut, roll underneath the platform, jump the wall behind us into the sea, and make your way to the South Island.”
What? I thought to myself, I had already accepted my fate, I was looking forward to being released from this hellscape. But what’s the worst that could happen? I die trying to get to the South Island? What was even on the South Island, I did not know. I’d only heard rumors of escaped convicts and terrifying creatures. I barely had time to think these thoughts before the guard started reading out my sentencing.
“This morn we have Aleryn, convicted of treason for speaking out against Count Gottard! The punishment is death by hanging!”
The crowd roared, the guard backed away, and the executioner reached toward the lever to drop me to my death. It was probably a sick joke, the executioner enjoyed giving false hope just before we met our doom. But to my surprise when I heard the level crank, I fell to the ground and my boots touched the slick mud below. My rope was cut! I went with it. I rolled backward underneath the platform and spirited to the crumbling stone wall. An arrow whizzed past my left ear, I started to run zig-zagged until I reached the wall and leaped over it without fear.
I plummeted into the icy water, and I could hear distant panicked voices and an uproar of cheering from the crowd. What a show they had just witnessed! My hands were still shackled, so it was difficult to swim, but I pushed and kicked with all my might until the voices drifted and it was nothing but me and the sea.
After what felt like hours, with my limbs aching and my breath shallow, I finally saw land. I drugged myself up on the sandy and rocky beach, soaked to the bone when a stranger approached and wrapped a linen robe around my body.
“Welcome to the South Island, Aleryn, we’ve been expecting you.”
…
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