Celestials and a Demon prince

Chapter 8: Stake

A sleek and sweat creamed arm stretches to a length, a bow string with an arrow pointed sharply on it's steel end. The target, a wooden board is a reasonable distance from the prince who wields the bow, his gaze layed focused on the bulls eye as he prepared his arms for a release. He paused for some seconds before releasing a weak throw that only landed distance away from him.

The arena was quiet as the guards who were previously training on the training ground watched the prince confused at his act, he had a lot going on in his mind, he also seemed to be the only sane person in the royal family at the moment, King Egbert had been swimming in fury all the while, Queen Audrey drowning in her own tears and the princess slept like there was no waking for her but even more he was weakened at his father's hasty and unthoughtful decision.

The king had ordered that the stakes be prepared before noon day and ordered the execution of the prisoner whom he pronounced as an imposter. However, loyal guards and royal family knew he had labelled Fiona as a witch without due confirmation and Edgar was not ready for another unnecessary spilling of innocent blood by his father. He had no say in any matter except his father asked for it, he knew that the king's decision was out of anger but that was not justifiable at least to him.

Edgar had been training for longer than he should that day and it was getting closer to the time of execution, his mind was restless as he had not only felt bad for Fiona but more worried that the same fate would befall Ari. Guilt had been eating him up each time he remembered her eyes lit with hope on hearing of the princess return, he had assured her she would be fine but now, even he couldn't be certain about that.

He folded his hand to a fist as frustration surged in, he let out a deep breath before reaching out for another arrow. This time he channelled his frustration to it and his eyes focused on his target which in his eyes was his father. He had grown up despising this man for most of the time and hating the fact that he was helpless even as a prince, sometimes he wished he was king and then the huge burden of having to love deeply the same man he despised.

He began releasing arrow upon arrow not missing a single bulls eye, he was a good Archer as much as he was a good swordsman. Each release seemed to lessen the frustration he had bottled inside of him but when he was done it happened that there wasn't much progress at all.

He tilted his head to the side feeling a close presence behind him, then he turned slowly, his eyes meeting the impressed smile on the face of Garrett, the king's man.

"My prince." He bowed before raising his head with a smiled plastered on his lips. Edgar bowed slightly to greet him as well. He had much respect for Garrett who had been his tutor since he was little, the king had entrusted the prince training to him as he was revered as the best swordsman in the kingdom. Edgar held him in high esteem and looked up to him as rather a father figure. He was one whom he could share his inner self with something he had no privilege of doing with his father. Their relationship had gone beyond tutor and student and they maintained a great friendship.

They had fought often times previous years and Garrett had been training him till he became a man till it was obvious that the student was now better than his teacher.

"I guess it's time." Edgar said before releasing the bow in his hand to a soldier.

"You need to get prepared, the king will be heading to the execution arena soon."

" Alright but I need to see the prisoner first," he said and Garrett gave his approving gesture before following right behind him.

At the cell, Ari had cuddled herself up in a fold, her back leaning against the wall, her toes and fingers curled nervously as she watched Fiona who was now awake. It was the second day since Fiona had arrived at the castle but she looked quite worse than Ari at this point. Sweat dripped from her head down to her neck, her eyes were circled in red lines and it bore a starving hunger in them which made her look insanely terrifying. Her skin looked quite pale for someone who had only been imprisoned for two days.

Fiona felt her strength gone and her magic caged, at this point she would not be able to help herself even if she was unchained, her neck cracked as she tilted it to the sides, then her terrifying eyes settled on Ari who shuffled her butts as if having more space to escape to.

Ari had clouded her mind with the image from yesterday about Fiona, how she had reacted to the chains after the guards had left, it was something she had never seen before, she couldn't help but suspect that she was indeed a witch and for that she was scared out of her mind. She had never been this close physically with a witch and had only seen them at the execution arena years ago when the king had been raining terror on them.

"Why do you keep staring fool!" Fiona cursed, her voice sounding quite rough which scared Ari even more, she couldn't help but watch the weak effort of Fiona as she tried to free herself from the chain then her eyes widened as she began to fizzle as if affected by her struggle soon she was wiggling making some dreadful hissing sounds, Ari held herself shakily as she sobbed silently with the scene playing out in front of her. Then suddenly the wiggling and sounds stopped and what came after was the sound of the door open. Fiona quickly composed herself as footsteps approached.

"Shhhh...." She warned Ari who simply nodded nervously. The cell opened and prince Edgar stepped in, at first he was confused at the terrified Ari whose fear seemed to be directed to Fiona but when he looked at Fiona she appeared to be the most pitiful one between them, she looked drained and awful but he couldn't understand why either. He entertained briefly the thought of her actually being a witch but waved it off immediately. At that moment he lost all words and the purpose to which he had come intially was lost, he only took a gaze briefly at Ari who was not looking at him before leaving the cell. He wanted to talk to her and hope to calm her but she wouldn't look at him and he felt he had failed her and should not have showed his face to her.

He went back to his Chambers and got prepared for the execution and before the king could arrive the arena he was there with the other guards and council members. Every one paid respect to the King the moment he arrived and the observed as well that the Queen was not present. She had skipped the execution making her place at the side of her daughter.

The stake was centered in the middle of the arena, lamps were lit round about the wooden elevation and fiona was tied to the stake. She struggled weakly to free herself but there was little she could do. All eyes were on her most of which had expectations, she had not stayed the required period for the chain to wear her off so it was likely that if she was really a witch, she would be able to free herself turning into tiny birds or into dark ash but there she was strength dead and everyone questioned the king's conviction in their mind.

With a single hand lift King Egbert commanded the execution dance to begin. It wasn't a complete public execution as the citizens were not invited, only the palace soldiers and officials were present to witness it. If the king truely believed she was a witch he would have called on the people to experience first hand but no he wasn't doing that and Edgar had a battle of confusion as to why.

Three fat bellied men came to the rear with swords in their hands, they had nothing on except underwear that covered their shaft. Drums began rolling and they soon started to move their steps to rhyme with the beat, moving their steps in a ritualistic manner. At each point they would come closer to Fiona who was tied to the stake with their swords closely on her skin and sometimes slightly cutting her. At the foot of the elevated wood a soldier grabs a lamp as he climbs to the stake getting ready for the execution to end so he could burn her altogether.

She gritted trying to voice out only muffled sounds as her mouth was tied. The drums intensified at a faster pace so did the dancers and in a climatic moment their swords hiked at once above their head ready for an agressive decent. Fiona let out a muffled scream shutting her eyes tight as their swords came forcefully at her.