Only the king
"Wren Klurts, before you die say your last wish. Our king had it in his mind to make you a lord with many vassals for you were the only peasant to emerge as a great warrior. But look at yourself! How can you betray a king who had such wishes for you?" Asked the messenger reminding Wren that he was on a knife-edge.
'Why did I stop to kiss her that time? I would have continued! I would... God save me please. I know that she also longs for calling my name. I wonder how she moans!" Instead of saying his last wish, all he was doing was regretting to have going to die a virgin.
"You traitor, have your last wish, please! We don't need your ghost roaming our kingdom causing distress for having left unsatisfied. What do you want to eat?"
He was not giving a damn to their stupid rituals. All he longed for was his Almond. Hadn't they not limited last wishes to food, he would have made her his last. He could see her standing in the crowd.
There were two Niles pouring down her cheeks wetting her only milk dress. The only gift he had bought for someone in his life. All around her people were in 'behead those traitors and throw their heads somewhere far from our land'.
"They are not traitors!" She could only say it at the back of her brain but not loud. She knew the consequences of doing so. She was way too far from him but Wren thought of hearing her sobbing. He kept staring at her for a farewell nod but she was not looking his way.
"Let's give him time to choose well." The messenger said heading to Wren's friend who was tied at the pole near his, then after biting on a sweet potato, the swordsman swooshed his sword.
Blood splodges decorated the pavement from the podium running down stairs to where the head had decided to sit. "Uhmp!" Almond shrieked upon realizing what awaited her Wren.
"Almond, you are... why did you stop him that night?" She scolded herself. "Maybe if you didn't, he would have impregnated you!"
Her eyes wandered then when she noticed that he was staring at her, she allowed two holes to form on her cheeks. She didn't want her last image in his mind to be of a frog. A rose would work.
He winked at her bringing all memories with him back into life. "The scent of the death?! Does it really smell?" She remembered asking Wren this in their last conversation.
"Yeah! He, I mean, Mr. Death does really smell. I came to realize it at the battle of the ghostyard." This was his reply before continuing. "We were ambushed, outnumbered and surrounded. Chances for survival were below zero. That's when he wrapped us in his scent. Thank good Lord that we survived."
"For your survival, yes! Glory be to God. But for the death smelling, I doubt it." She said stretching her legs long across the lawn, suppressing a yawn at the same time.
"You want to know how it feels, eh?" Wren asked smiling sheepishly with embarrassing plans in his mind then continued to the nod of her head.
"Stand up so I might run in case I need to." Almond wondered if he had used literal words. "Run? For which purpose?" She asked herself.
"You don't need nose to notice it. You need your heart. The beating of it is the one that tells you how bad his oudor is." He told her bowing to land a kiss on her cherry lips.
Inside her, drums started to beat and Wren could hear the sound of the running horses deep into her left breast. The kiss was somehow protracted until the sweetness of a sugarcane left her lips giving her a chance to speak. Wren had his legs ready to run.
"Oh! It smells good!" She told him raising her right hand to touch on her lips. All wren could see in her hazel eyes with green fleeks was an appealing look of why-can't-you-give- me-more. "OK!" He murmured to himself. He no longer considered running as a solution but advancing.
His right hand grabbed her waist pulling her closer then their lips found play mates dovetailling themselves as a hungry man biting an apple. On their faces constellations were visible. They were like when alpha is claiming his mate.
That didn't last long. His touch on her hip reminded her the punishments for a pregnant maid. "Wren please stop! I think I'm not ready."
"Why didn't you let him continue?" She was still scolding herself until when messenger approached Wren again. "You see! You are the only one remaining. Do you want an apple or an orange? Which kind of bread you want to leave in peace?"
"Almond!" He told himself in a voice messenger could not hear then continued with his plan. If he was to die he would die but having tried. How could he leave her alone?
"I know something which can save me." His voice was of a foghorn. "Which is that?" The messenger had to ask. "I'll only tell the king-ONLY THE KING!" He answered repeating and stressing the last three words. With this, public burst out saying.
_"How disrespectful! Demanding an appointment with our king, you traitor?"
_"No! Kill that traitor. What does he thinks he is to don't make his last wish?"
_"He wants to destroy our kingdom while he is a ghost. Kill him."
_" He wants to be a traitor even when he is dead. Behead him!"
"Please don't say that!" This kept on rolling into Almond's mind. She could not utter any word to those furious lions.
"I've said I know something very vital that can save me and our kingdom. If you kill me today, you are dead tomorrow!" He said freezing everyone. In the Age of faith, superstition was of every person which is why the generals exchanged looks to decide for him.
