It took a few days for us to arrive at a local town. Silvana honored her promise, and beatings ceased. I finally had access to a share of meat from the animals hunted. There was also of course the hard bread that was taken from the village in place of grain. However, a few meals were insufficient to build up my strength. By the time I could muster the strength to stand we were already at a town.

The first thing that hit me was the stench. God was it awful! As our escort of half a dozen caravans and soldiers entered the township a few locals came to cheer our arrival. At their head was an official of sorts and behind him a whole street full of shit. And I do mean that quite literally.

I had the great privilege of living in a village by a river. There, the villagers at the opportunity to clean themselves whenever they pleased and dump their garbage down into the lake where it would be swept away. The situation was not half as pleasant here, with only a well to provide water for the townsfolk.

There were shouts of "watch the water" accompanied by chamber pots being emptied out the window as I walked through town. It was hardly the welcome I was hoping for. Half of what came from the village was escorted to what I assumed to be the town storehouses, and I was taken to the village square. There, I saw a rope dangling over a trapdoor. For a moment, I feared that I was being hanged. Then I saw the crowd.

A man was being dragged into the square, a woman holding a newborn baby trailing behind him. She was sobbing, and the bailiff had to pry her fingers loose and kick her back into the crowd. The baby's face seemed like a mirror of her mother's. "Please, it was me! It was me! Hang me instead!" She wailed.

I saw many of the guards from the caravan ringing the square, spears in hand. It was the content chatter that horrified me the most. "What is this?" I demanded, turning to Silvana.

"An execution." Silvana said, in the same manner I would comment on the weather. "The trapdoor will swing open and the rope will strangle him to death."

My eyes swung to the struggling couple. "Are you heartless? How can you watch this?"

She yawned, yawned! "I will not. Death is a distasteful thing to see." She closed her eyes.

"Why don't you do something!" I shouted.

She peeked at me with one eye. "Calm your voice, celestial. I do not know them, and neither do you, no? Besides, the man is a criminal. Listen, his crimes are to be announced."

I turned over to the bailiff. "The thief Robyn Brown stands before you! He has confessed to stealing the jewels of the young lady Rosanna, and is to be put to death by hanging!"

I took a closer look at the man. His eyes were blackened, more so than even mine. As he opened his mouth, I saw that his gums lacked teeth. "What has happened to him?"

Silvana took a glance. "Torture, I would guess. The inquisitors need to extract a confession to be sure."

"They beat him into confessing? What if they have the wrong man? Look, his own wife has confessed in public!"

Silvana sighed. "Of course they beat him. How else would they know if he has committed a crime? Do you suppose criminals confess freely? As for his wife, she appears to be a loving woman. Perhaps the townsfolk have agreed to allow her husband to die in her place."

My mind spun. "What if they were wrong? Most men would break under torture no matter innocence or guilt!"

"Oh, there must be some evidence, of course. What do you take us for, barbarians?" Silvana asked.

Yes, I thought. Yes a thousand times over. "You can get killed for stealing jewels?"

Silvana counted her fingers. "Most jewels... should cost a dozen gold falcons. The same price of the grain you see here. Stealing them is a serious crime."

"But, killed." I protested.

"Imagine for a moment that a single man had stolen all of the grain here and left the others to starve. Will you pity him as you do now? What would you suggest, cutting off his arms? He will starve to death anyhow." Silvana said.

I closed my mouth. She was right, again. But it hurt to see! A family destroyed over jewels!

"Do something, you ungrateful rabble! I fed you, I fed you all. Don't you dare deny it! I fed you!" I saw Silvana freeze too.

A clamor rose among the townsfolk. Too great a clamor for innocent men. My heart twisted as I looked on at the scene. "The bitch is crazy, possesed." One man suggested.

An old woman spoke up. "Nay, she is guilty, an accomplice. I say we give her peace. Let her die with her husband!" She suggested. A roar of approval followed her words.

I looked for Silvana, but she had already dashed into the crowd. "Stay your hand!" Her voice was strong, echoing across the town. The townsfolk fell silent. "How much was the worth of the jewels stolen? I will pay."

I was not shocked any less than the locals. Then, shock morphed into anger. "Fifty gold falcons, bitch. Pay up or get lost!" A man shouted. My lips curled in disgust. Such people existed on this earth?

"If you cannot afford the gold, payment with your body will suffice. Let us all have a turn." One man suggested. A laugh went up the crowd, and jeering came from all directions.

"No fair, we can't let you boys have all the fun. The dress is pretty, let us have it!" A woman suggested. The townsfolk began approaching her by the hundreds.

A boom filled the air, and the locals fell back as if struck. It was like the sound of a bullet being fired. Silvana remained in the center, eyes glowing silver. "Step closer at your peril." She warned.

The townsfolk began sharing glances at each other. "The lady Rosanna will have us all starved! Marian must die. If word leaks we are dead." A man called from the crowd.

"No less than you deserve." Silvana said.

"One witch, we can take her. Charge her!" He said. I watched in horror as the mob descended.