Chapter 33

CHAPTER 33

T he next day dawned bleak and gray. The sky above Drachenval hung low and pregnant with the promise of rain, but Malissa feared the rain would not come in time to save her from her fate. Even if it did, it would only be a temporary stay. She sighed, and let her eyes wander coldly across the crowd that had gathered in the castle courtyard to watch her burn.

She was standing barefoot on a small wooden platform, with her back to a tall wooden post and her hands bound behind her with iron shackles. A length of rusty chain had been looped around her thighs, and another around her neck to hold her in place until the fire had done its work. Beneath the platform, a pyre had been built from logs laid atop a layer of wicker and an inner core of dry straw.

For clothing, she had only a simple, roughspun smock, and her hair hung loose and wild around her shoulders.

I must be quite a sight to behold , she thought. The witch of Drachenval .

The pregnant witch .

Most of the castle had come to watch. Some of them were huddled together in a large circle around the sides of the courtyard, held back by a ring of soldiers to keep them from getting too close to the pyre. Others were gathered on the parapet of the castle wall to get a better view of the proceedings. The only ones who were missing were the children. The king had ordered them to stay inside, saying that an execution was not a sight for young eyes.

As for the king himself, he was standing at the foot of the pyre, flanked by a pair of royal guards with torches. His eyes still had a dull, unfocused look from all the wine he had imbibed the night before, but he'd sobered up enough to stand without swaying. After a moment, he raised his hands, indicating that he was about to speak. The murmuring crowd fell silent.

"Queen Malissa of Drachenval," he shouted. "You have been found guilty of witchcraft and congress with evil spirits. For this crime, you are sentenced to be burned alive. Do you have anything you wish to say for yourself before you die?"

Malissa found that she was surprisingly unafraid of dying. If she had been alone on the pyre, she probably would have just spit in the man's eye.

But she was not alone.

Her baby was with her, inside her, and she was willing to do anything to save the child's life. She would beg. She would plead. She would degrade herself in the most shameful ways imaginable, if it meant she could buy her infant's life.

"Please!" she cried. "I beseech you, Wulfgang, think of our child! Surely you do not wish to kill your own heir."

"The child is not mine," the king said coldly, then he looked around at the gathering. "Where is the maidservant? Bring her forward."

A moment later, a guard stepped out of the crowd, escorting Droanna. As she walked forward to speak with the king, she cast a furtive glance in the direction of the pyre, but when she saw Malissa watching her, she quickly darted her eyes away. Once she reached the place where the king was standing, she dropped to one knee and bowed her head.

"Rise," Wulfgang said.

Droanna rose.

"Tell us what you told me last night."

The maidservant looked around nervously.

"You want me to say it out loud, Your Highness?"

Wulfgang nodded. "Nice and loud, so everyone can hear."

Malissa already had a good idea of what Droanna was going to say. During the long ride back to the castle last night, Malissa had had plenty of time to think about why the maidservant had been present at her capture, and she had arrived at the only logical conclusion.

It was Droanna who had led the men to the darkstone ring.

Malissa listened with a leaden heart as the maidservant told her tale. It was heavily embellished. Droanna claimed she had frequently begged the queen not to leave the castle at night, but the queen had merely laughed at her, and told her to go away. Instead, fearing for the queen's safety, the courageous maidservant had followed Malissa through the woods to the darkstone ring. From a hiding place at the edge of the clearing, Droanna had watched as the queen had stripped out of her gown and conjured a demon from hell.

Droanna then went on to recount everything the demon had done to the queen. The gathering gasped in shock at the obscene acts the maidservant described, but Malissa felt no shame.

Her only concern was her child.

And Beliath.

By the time Droanna had finished her highly detailed narration, the king's face was almost purple with rage.

"Your tale defies belief," he said. "Yet I know it is the truth, for I have seen the demon's destructive power with my own eyes. Last night, the creature killed three of my men in the most savage way imaginable before we were finally able to capture it."

"What have you done with him?" Malissa asked.

"Don't you worry about that," the king said coldly. "Your lover is tucked away safely within Dr. Jaeger's soulstone…"

He glanced around drunkenly.

"Where is the doctor now?" When he received no answer, he flapped his hands dismissively. "Oh well, it doesn't matter. We don't need him for what we're about to do. Go ahead and light the pyre. It's time to burn this witch and the unholy thing she's carrying within her womb."

The two guards with the torches stepped forward.

"Wait!" Malissa shouted.

To her surprise, the men actually did halt. They looked back at the king, awaiting his command. The king, meanwhile, looked at Malissa with an expression of expectant curiosity.

"You had your assassins kill your last twelve wives for you," she said. "If you're going to burn me alive, at least have the common decency to set the fire yourself."

The king bared his teeth in a snarl.

"Witch!"

He stormed forward and snatched one of the torches from one of the waiting guards. Then he strode the rest of the way toward the pyre and stabbed the flame into the straw and wicker core of the pyre. A moment later, the other guard followed suit, and soon yellow tongues of flame were licking up between the logs.