Chapter Eight: Final Judgement
After the king had given me permission to speak, I turned around and stared at each and every one of them, seated in the court.
The Crown prince was also seated in the court, looking indifferent.
I turned back to the king and inhaled with shaky breaths, bracing myself for what was about to come next
"This court and so called "Noble House" is built on lies and deceits!" I said and gasps were heard from different corners of the room but I continued
"I have served this house for the last 12 years of my life! I have been beaten, starved, almost whipped and still, this is what I got all because a wimpy princess lied against me! I'm even sure she threatened the witnesses to testify against me or else she'd harm their families "
The Queen got up instantly with rage "How dare you?!" She shrieked but I just chuckled
"You know I speak the truth. And to you, My king" I mockingly said as I turned to the king "Acting all high and mighty when we know that it's actually the Queen pulling the strings from behind. You show your valiant efforts here but when you retreat to your chambers, the real story begins. What does that make you, if not less than a man. Living under a facade!" The King's face was turning red with rage but I didn't care less.
I was going to die anyways.
He got up with his fists folded and I could tell he was trying real hard to control himself "For contempt of court and treason to the royal family, I hereby rescind my previous judgement and sentence you to death by dawn. You will be executed at the top of Archienoy. I pray Goddess Bowena have mercy on your soul and receive your spirit into Kes Avontas".
He beat his gravel again and the guards came back and bound my hands, leading me out of the court.
I turned to Dorothy and saw her fair chubby cheeks getting stained with tears and I gave her a short sad smile.
I sighed again when I remembered my fate.
Archienoy was the worst place that could happen to anybody. "The Damned Tower".
Archienoy otherwise called "The Damned Tower" was not always damned.
According to the stories, long ago, when Lelwerchia was still as young as a sap and in full bloom, the king then had built the tower and gifted it to his two sons so they could use it in their boredom.
But the Princes had other plans for the tower.
They used it as a means of torture.
They captured anybody and everybody, under the guise of treason or some other heinous crime and had them brought to the tower where they were mercilessly tortured. Young girls and even married women were not spared of this gruesome act as most of them were raped or even killed after being raped.
Their father turned deaf ears to the crimes of his sons and the people's spirits were dampened.
In the story, it was reported that Goddess Bowena, not being able to bear their sins anymore, caused them to have a huge fight one day that led to them creating enmity between themselves. The fight got so bad that they both went to the tower one day where they dueled each other with swords. But it was too intense to be settled with swords only, that they resorted to their fists. They pounced on each other and fought without pity, tearing each other apart like rabid dogs until they both finally died of fatal wounds and blood loss.
The king, stricken by grief upon learning of the gruesome way his sons had taken their lives, banned anyone from going to the tower and deemed it a place accessible only for people that had been charged with heinous and heavy crimes.
It was said that till this day, their spirits still haunt the tower. Going about, taunting prisoners and preying on their soul. Some even claimed to have seen them in dreams, gnawing and gnashing their teeth at them.
Doomed to forever roam the tower by Goddess Bowena.
I gulped as I looked round my cell. It was small and cold.
I kept pacing round, staring out the small window as I calculated the little time left to sunrise..