Prologue
The flower bloomed inside her palm effortlessly. It was different than the one she had given her youngest sister a while ago. Or the one she had offered to him last night when he came to see her for the last time.
This one was glowing a pale white and she gave it to the executioner with a soft smile.
His eyes gazed at her surprised through the slits of his hood.
“Boil it and mix it with your daughter’s chamomile” she advised. “She should be better by tomorrow”
The man took the flower with a slightly trembling hand and put it carefully inside his pocket, looking around to make sure nobody had seen this. He didn’t ask how she knew that his only daughter was sick. It was obvious and that was the very reason he’d have to tighten the noose around her delicate neck today.
She smiled at him when she saw the guilt in his eyes for what he was about to do.
“You must do your job, I understand” she assured him.
He nodded.
The judge was heard from the stage, his pompous voice polluting the air she breathed. He was a passionate man. If it wasn’t for all the wrong reasons, she wouldn’t hesitate to admire him. But he was cruel and prejudiced. Those very qualities were the ones that made him dangerous to her kind. To her family.
She felt a gentle push on her back that forced her on the stage.
A shiver went down her spine when she saw the noose but she didn’t falter on her step. The judge kept talking, his voice now laced with contempt as his gaze fell on her.
She wanted to smile at him of only to irritate him. Yet, a provocation would be the wrong move. Her sisters were not out of town yet as they should be. She could feel their energy, their sorrow flooding her. She returned their sentiments with a calmness that was rooted deep within her.
Because this, now, would end with her.
***
The terrible sound echoed all around reaching the hill where the three females stood.
One old, one young and one child.
The snapping of her neck kept ringing in their ears long after it was first heard it would haunt them for life that sacrifice.
“Let’s go” the elder of the three finally uttered. “The carriage awaits”
“I don’t care about the carriage” the young woman scoffed. “We shouldn’t have accepted his help”
“It’s what your sister wanted. For us to be safe”
“We should have shared her fate”
“She didn’t let us, child. Now we must leave this place and start somewhere else afresh. She may not be with us…”
“She is” the child spoke for the first time.
The two women looked at the little girl with pity. Children are romantic and hopeful and this one was terribly fond of her oldest sister.
“Li…” the younger woman started, but the child cut her off.
“She is with us. Forever”
She pulled a deep blue flower from the pocket of her apron. It was iridescent and its petals moved slowly although there was no wind.
“She gave me this and said to remember that she will always be with us” the little girl spoke again.
The women stared at the flower mesmerized and they reached for the petals. They were warm to the touch and it was the vibrating core of the flower that made them move.
“What have you done, child?” the eldest woman whispered.
“I made sure she keeps her promise”
***
The executioner returned home, dragging his steps.
It was the first time since he took over from his father in the hideous profession that he felt that he had done something terribly wrong. He wasn’t the one who had sentenced the young woman, but he was the one who delivered the punishment.
Her face was so calm and her eyes so clear… It wasn’t just that she was young or that she was beautiful. She seemed genuinely kind. A good woman, she was and before everything, everyone spoke of how she helped people heal… The same people who were there today, asking for her death.
We walked inside, caressing the flower she had offered him.
He had made up his mind to use it already. He didn’t have anymore hope and no more damage could be done. The fever was claiming his little girl for days and she was the only one who had since her mother died.
He boiled the flower himself and then mixed it with chamomile as the woman had instructed.
He entered his daughter’s bedroom slowly. His sister was by her side, like every time he had been gone.
“How is she?” he asked.
“The same. She’s delirious. I’m afraid, brother, that she won’t survive the night”
He took his sister’s place and lifting the girl’s head, he helped her drink the beverage he had made for her. Little by little he managed to get her to empty half of the mug. The rest of the liquid, he used to drench a towel and wiped his daughter’s face.
Then he waited. If death finally came, he hoped it would be painless. His child had suffered too much already.
An hour passed, and then another and his girl was still alive. It seemed to him that she wasn’t as red anymore and that her breathing had evened out. He extended his trembling hand and put it on her forehead. It was cool to the touch.
His daughter let out a faint grunt and turned on her side.
The executioner sighed relieved before he put his head in his hands and cried woefully as he thought the body that was freezing on the noose for everyone to see that justice had been served.
