It was weird to see how much of the city turned out for the execution.

Intellectually, I knew events like this were used as much of a celebration as a warning and punishment for cultures like the Empire. A way of showing the ability of the government to remove threats to their citizens and punish/scare criminals with the threat that if they stepped beyond a line they would be next.

But it was incredibly disturbing to see a bunch of young children urging their parents to get closer to the execution platform so they could 'get a look at the witch before her head was lopped off' with big smiles on their faces.

I don't think they fully understood what getting your head cut off meant just yet, but it made me viscerally uncomfortable. It also made me glad for the fact that Arya and Leona were elsewhere getting ready to steal the sword for me. I don't know how I would have reacted if they approved of what was happening here, even if it was a show execution and the victim was a serial killer.

I knew them well enough to know they probably wouldn't. But that niggling doubt was enough to make me glad I didn't need to find out just the same.

The crowd quieted down as someone walked onto the platform and I shoved my thoughts aside to focus on him since it seemed things were starting.

I only paid attention for a little bit when it became clear this was more of a 'rah, rah, the Empire is so great' kind of speech rather than anything informative or interesting. Most of it boiled down to propaganda and various crimes I had supposedly committed to make sure everyone knew how evil I was. And while it was a little fun to see what the Empire was trying to pin on me, it obviously wasn't going to be the last speech because my stunt double hadn't been brought out yet.

While I listened to the speaker I mentally dismissed one of my projections, a simple ring I had left with Arya and Leona, to let them know they could get started on the heist. The big trap for any Varden agents trying to rescue 'me' was in swing. The city guard couldn't just drop that to deal with simple thieves no matter how much the city lord loved that sword so the only resistance they should run into were the people in the manor. And a few maids and servants weren't much of a threat to Leona let alone Arya.

They would be fine. Now for the hard part.

Listening to pro-Galbatorix and Samuel drivel without objecting to the obvious white-washing going on.

-o-

Luckily for my sanity I didn't actually need to stand in one place and watch every second to keep an eye on things.

After an hour or two, I wandered over to a street vendor to get something to eat while keeping half an ear out for any major disturbances in the crowd. Nothing fancy, just some grilled meat skewers.

On the way back I started eavesdropping on random conversations just to see what the random citizens thought about everything. Unsurprisingly, most of them were all for the execution of a Varden agent.

They were dangerous rebels afterall, and many of the people here had family in the army. Family that I might have killed in the last battle and they were eager for a bit of revenge.

That…was actually a little hard to listen to.

After Farthun Dûr I had come to terms with the fact I would never really know how many people I killed in battle simply because of how widespread my attacks could be…or at least I thought I had.

Listening to three different groups of women wondering if I had killed their sons/husbands and hoping I suffered in whatever hell I ended up in was…a lot harder to listen to.

I took a bite of my skewer and pushed those feelings aside for later.

Up on the stage things seemed to be moving along. The speaker had shuffled off while a group of men stacked a bunch of - oh, they were setting up a pyre.

I shuddered at the sight of one of the most painful, least efficient execution methods in history. The victim could burn for hours and not die because surprise surprise, people weren't actually flammable and could survive quite a lot if their organs were intact.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

But I guess Samuel had decided to go with a lasting spectacle. Or maybe a sick joke.

They called me the Sun Witch so burn the witch, I guess?

I shook my head and focused as the bastard himself walked onto the stage and cast a spell to let his voice be heard by everyone in the square.

"Hello, people of Feinster. Today we rid the world of a great evil. A witch that selfishly used her powers to join the Varden rebels and killed many of your husbands, sons, and friends." I scowled in annoyance as the crowd cheered for the hypocritical bastard. "But you don't need to fear her anymore! After an intense battle, I, Samuel, First of the New Dragon Riders, defeated and captured the Sun Witch and have brought her before you to face justice for her crimes!" The crowd roared again and more men escorted my struggling double up to the pyre and tied him to the stake. I noticed his hair was the same length and color mine was and despite the thrashing he wasn't actually screaming. Obviously Samuel had used magic to sell his bait and keep them quiet despite being the opposite gender but even from a distance I could see enough obvious differences that he probably didn't put too much effort into it.

…or just wasn't skilled enough to make it more convincing since that wasn't something simply throwing more power at could really fix.

Either or.

"King Galbatorix mercifully offered this witch the opportunity to serve the kingdom and make up for her crimes, but she refused, so the only answer we can give is DEATH! Bring up the torches!"

We were rapidly approaching the point where I wasn't comfortable sitting back and watching anymore.

Executing a serial killer? Fine by me.

Dressing up said serial killer as another person so you could execute them after presumably killing that person by dropping a mountain on them? I could see a few arguments for it.

Dragging things out to make it painful instead of a quick death? Not okay. If you wanted a showy execution there were plenty of other options.

I sighed as the first few tongues of flame caught on the pyre and left to find a more open spot to crash the party from. Arya and Leona should be done by now anyway.

It took a bit of effort to escape the crowds and jump up to the rooftops. From there I projected my bow and thought about what to use for the arrows.

As much as I would have loved to hit Samuel in the face with a Nova Blast or a Noble Phantasm arrow…no one was going to ignore a giant glowing yellow spell circle popping up out of nowhere for the few minutes it took to prepare the spell and the last time I tried projecting a NP it felt like my nerves had been dipped in battery acid.

So those were out, but I still had plenty of other options even if they weren't nearly as powerful.

I formed what was going to be the core of my weapon, a lance with an enchantment that allowed it to thrust forward faster than should be possible. Then I attached smaller, thinner blades with fire enchantments all around the shaft in places where it wouldn't catch on the bow itself. The idea was simple. A technically two-stage missile with multiple explosives on it to give it a bigger kick than any single weapon I could project at this moment.

Then, just to be cheeky, I made a replica of the sword Samuel had left behind during our first fight and had it hover next to me while I drew back the bow.

The sword shot forward with a mental nudge and plunged into the chest of the my disguised duplicate just as the flames started to lick at his ankles. It was morbidly hilarious how quickly everyone fell silent when they had been screaming for an execution, but when they got a much quicker one they felt scared. No matter. I waited just long enough for Samuel to recognize the sword before releasing my arrow.

The improvised missile cracked the air and shot off towards the enemy Rider. People screamed and ran away in panic as the execution stand was engulfed in a massive explosion. A part of me hoped that the surprise attack was enough to get rid of the jackass, but I wasn't that lucky.

Sure enough, Samuel survived to claw his way out of the rubble looking worse for wear but still alive.

"WHO DARES?!" He roared, voice amplification spell still active.

Well, there was my cue.

"HI, SAMMY BOY! DID YOU MISS ME?"

"CROSS!"

"Yep! Still alive!"

"I dropped a mountain on your head! How?! How did you escape that?!"

I smiled. Samuel was making this too easy for me. "That's my little secret, just like how your's was executing a serial killer disguised as me as a publicity stunt!" I looked at the remains of the pyre that had been scattered by the explosion. "Though it looks like I stole the kill from you there. Sorry!" I wasn't sorry.

There were a bunch of different reactions from the crowd that still hadn't run off.

Some continued running, hoping to get away from the whole mess. Some tried hiding in buildings or behind objects scattered around. And others just sort of froze in place.

My favorite were the ones that were just glaring at Samuel now that they realized he had been lying to them.

"And guess what! You get to explain to Galbatorix that you're not only a fuckup, but the whole kingdom is going to know you're one too!"

Samuel paled at the reminder that this whole trap was based on his assumption I was dead. An assumption he had probably used to deflect some of the blame Galbatorix heaped on him for not only failing to capture Eragon and Saphira at the Burning Plains or at Helgrind, but also allowing the Ra'zac to be killed as well.

"I-it doesn't matter!" He stuttered. "As long as you die here nothing will change!"

My smile turned mocking. "Die here? I've got better things to do. Have fun explaining this fuck up to the Mad King. I'm sure he'll be very understanding!"

With that I turned and jumped off the roof, hitting the ground at a sprint and headed for my exit strategy.

"Running away?! COWARD!"

I laughed as I ran down the street.

As if deciding not to fight an entire city on my own was cowardice. And while my own estimation of my intelligence had taken a hit recently, I still wasn't stupid enough to think Samuel wouldn't use every soldier, magician, and even civilian as a tool to take me down. Not when failure meant dealing with the madman he decided to join and whatever consequences that meant.

And leaving him to crawl back to Galbatorix with absolutely nothing to show for his efforts was worse than anything I could do in the short time I had before I had a bunch of pursuers on my tail.

It didn't take me long to backtrack to the pre prepared alley I'd blocked off with a simple Bounded Field that kept anyone from getting too close.

There wasn't much there – just a simple teleportation circle like I had used to infiltrate the Seireitei, already configured to send me several miles east away from the city.

But simple was all I needed.

I gave one last sarcastic salute back towards the execution platform where I could feel the rhythmic spikes of air pressure from a dragon's wings and activated the circle.

It glowed for a second and then in a flash, I was somewhere else.

A quick look around later and I was relieved to see both Arya and Leona heading towards me looking perfectly unscathed. I was even happier to see that they were successful in stealing the sword from the mansion, going by the package in Leona's arms.

Two down, one to go.