If I had kept my mouth shut, I wouldn’t be here.
~Anonymous
I awaken some hours later, coughing weakly. I have the most awful headache, and it would seem from the bruises I’ve collected that the guards were none to gentle in bringing me here. A low moan sounds from the corner. I turn, and the sight of battered and bloody Cobe greets my eyes. He groans again and slowly sits up, opening his eyes. One of them, for the other is swollen shut. When he sees me, he lets out an anguished, “Oh, ye gods, no,” and buries his face in his hands. I creep over to his side and tug timidly at his sleeve. “Cobe...what’s happened? What are they going to do to us?”
With a stifled mutter of pain, he puts an arm around me. “To me, precious, they’ll let you go. Against the law to hang anyone under seven.” He snorts with bitter laughter. “Stupid.” He sighs. “But I’m not as lucky...I’ll not be leaving alive.” He sees my expression of shock and horror and smoothes a wayward strand of hair out of my face. “My time’s up, precious. I’m sorry. I didn’t want it to end like this...please, Rois, don’t cry. No tears, remember?”
I nod mutely, but the tears keep coming anyway. Cobe holds me tightly, a tear slipping down his own face. “Listen to me, precious,” he says softly. “Promise me one thing. Get out of here. As soon as they let you go, get out. And run until you can’t go any farther. And Rois,” I look up, “don’t ever come back to this accursed place.” I nod silently, then unable to hold back the pain any longer, I bury my face in his should and cry myself to sleep as he holds me, and, for once, has no words that will make the hurt go away...
When I wake up, Cobe is gone, and a guard has come to unlock the door of the small, smelly cell. He comes in, grabs me roughly by the arm, and all but drags me outside. He’s hurting my arm, and I beg him to ease up, but the only answer I get is a sneer and a slap. This stuns me into silence, and I meekly follow along...until we reach the gallows.
Cobe, head bowed and shoulders slumped, stands atop the wooden platform. There are guards everywhere, and a tall man in black stands beside Cobe. My heart goes cold within me. I know why that man is there. Another is on a different platform, seated in a chair draped with furs. He wears robes of royal blue, and the look on his face is eager, with a look in the eyes that reminds me of the curs in the streets...an expression that sends chills down my spine.
He spies the guard holding me and beckons him over. When we reach him, another guard pulls me up onto the platform, adding a few new scrapes and bruises to my collection in the process. The man in blue takes hold of me, and the crowd gathered in the square turns to watch. The air of anticipation that emanates from them makes me sick at heart and to the stomach. The man whispers, “Watch your father die, child, and let this teach you not to follow in his ways.” The menace in his tone makes me shudder with fear. He calls to the man in the black to begin.
Suddenly, Cobe raises his head. A light of defiance is in his eyes, and he cries out, “If you are to execute me for trying to stay alive, then grant me one last wish!” He glares boldly at the man in blue.
The man replies, “Name it, coward, and I will consider granting it.” He returned Cobe’s glare with an icy stare of his own, but Cobe did not falter, although his voice was not quite so strong.
“Let me...let me speak to..” he cast a glance at me, “to my...child...one last time.” I look up at him, startled, and he favors me with that lopsided grin of his for the final time.
The man in blue slowly nods. “Very well. Keep it short.” He nods to a guard, who takes me by the arm again (My arm is really rather sore now, I note with a childish sigh of exasperation), and half-drags me over to the gallows, up to Cobe. Cobe crouches down so his eyes are level with mine.
“Precious,” he says softly, “remember, get out of here as soon as you can. Take this with you,” he adds, an urgent note in his voice. “Right there, in that first pocket,” my hand closes around it, and furtively withdraws. He nods. “Remember me kindly, Rois...I’m proud to claim you as mine, precious, and remember always-”
“Enough!” the guard barks, and comes up to pull me away. My eyes remain on Cobe’s face, so tragically proud, and more noble in my young mind than that visages of any of those gathered in the square. But tears blur the sight as the guard drags me down the steps, and back to the other platform. The black-robed man comes up and ties Cobe’s hands behind his back, places a noose around his neck, steps back...
“No!” I scream, sobbing wildly. “Cobe!” The guard strikes me, but I cannot feel the pain of the blow through the pain in my heart. The dark man steps back and pulls a lever...
The only sounds in the square are the creak of the rope and the heartbroken sobs of a six year old child.