Nefarious

Here is the first chapter of my novel. Please acknowledge that I am still in the editing phase and not looking for the grammar police. Please enjoy!

The crowd was exploding with anticipation. The children were on men’s shoulders waving the Arylian flag smiling down at their mothers. Individual’s placed their bets and shared in the ale that was being circulated around amongst solders in celebration. Today was the execution date of Peter Glyn. The man was sentence to death once it was revealed that he had leaked sensitive information concerning the where about of multiple army camps along the east coast of the continent. Peter was lead out of the cellar by cloaked men. He had been sweating since he was capture and was told his punishment. Death by darkness. This was a statement of an execution. It was a very political and violent reaction to the leak. The king had not lost anything by the threat but rather furthered his front line 30 km closer to the Zuni border. This death had only been carried out in the gravest of times. This was a show for Aryland as well as officials from around the globe.

The guards grab peter by the arms and supported his painfully limp body under the castle to the cutting blocks. As they reached closer and closer to the light at the door peter could hear the audible chants and cheers from the crowd. Monsters, peter thought, every single one of them. They had no idea what occurred outside their walls and how their beloved king that pillaged and violated their neighbouring countries. It was better to believe that they had no idea of the horrors unfolding rather than staring into the eyes of a society that thrived of the terror of its enemies. Once peter had made it to the end of the walk way the sun blinded him. All he could see was the wooden thrown erected in the middle of the stage. Peter eyes were taking awhile to adjust to the summer sun, only making the first 3 rows of the coliseum visible. But it was obvious that by the sound of the crowd Peter knew that there were thousand behind them. The cloaked guards bided peter’s hands to the thrown. This thrown was more extravagant than the oak chopping block he had expected and himself seen at other execution during his mission in Aryland. But this time it was different. The thrown was black cold stone. Engraved in it was the legend of Valyn the man that betrayed his own father to become a god. Along the edge of the back showed his rise to power and disloyalty. On the back of the thrown it showed his father’s bulls tearing him apart from limp to limp.

Peter looked around for any chance of escape but there was none. He had heard of the king’s Death by Darkness and legends of the terror it brought to a man’s heart. He had heard that one man, a spy from Tranzile die of a heart attack before the execution was carried out. He tried to focus on the sun kissing his skin and the birds singing rather than the skin ripping under the tightness of the rope around his wrist and screams of the bloodthirsty crowd. All went queit at the sound of the drum. It was like no other drum he had ever heard before. Every time he heard a beat, the sound changed the rhythm of his heart, pulsate terror through his body. The crowd went completely silent. Conditioned, Peter thought, to be on their best behaviour. The drum sounded again mimicking the beats within a man’s chest. Flag bearers came out from the tunnel peter had just come from; bearing the sword of Aryland. State officials followed the perception to the other side of the stage. Next followed General Talyn and his officer Redwood who had been (judging by his new armour and robe) had received a promotion for catching peter. Peter stared at this new general and tried to see if there was any glimpse of regret or sadness but nothing. Redwood simply stared at the crowd not even looking at the man on the thrown. The crowd rather silent and unmoved until the King of Aryland walked through the threshold. The gold on this armour and robe made him look as though he had literal power omitting from his body. The crowd made the sign of the crown. Every individual including the children present pressed three fingers to their heart and closed their eyes. The King walked to the center of the stage, when a gust of wind brushed across the crowd, singling for them to raised their heads and look at their king. He gave the crowd a smile and raised his palm to thank them.

“My people! My friends!” he spoke to the crowd.

“Today we celebrate. Today we eliminate the threat of Peter Glyn. These lies and deceit has brought the nation down a dark path. He has spoken nothing but lies to enemy forces and has put loved ones and your self in harms way for his own personal growth. He stands in the way of our mission. This failed rebellion will not hinder our mission of showing our brother and sister nations the important of civilization and generosity. Today you will see what happens to those that attack us and keep us away from goals. A man must see true darkness for himself if he wishes to bring his people down with him.”

The crowd remand silent and the drum beat again. It was louder and painfully slower. A cloaked red headed woman came out and stood the right of the king. She stood next to him, observing her surroundings as though she had been plotted some sinister behind those dark forest green eyes. A white haired woman came out next. Her hair moving as fluid as her sliver and dark blue dress, across her youthful freckled skin. She walked with one arm at her side, the other doing smaller circles as though she were brewing something. As she glided across the stage to the side of the king, the skies began to darken. This was so natural storm. The white hair girl swiped her hand in front of herself as thought sliding something into place. It was than Peter saw a thick fog making its way over the coliseum. He turned to look at the white haired woman. She smiled back as though she had set the bait and was waiting for the beast to arrive. The crowd whispered to each other in anticipation the loudest carried away from the crowd by observing guards. This must be a silent affair. So that he could hear everything, every step, every gasps, and every claw mark scrapping against the stone floor.

The fog grew thicker and thicker as the seconds felt like an eternity. Peter could hear the foot steps of a woman’s heels making their away slowly down the hall. The sound grew louder and louder until the woman stopped. It was that moment that the world had felt as though it had stopped spinning. There was a deafening silence amongst the crowd. Peter could not turn to see the woman but he could tell that the amazement and sheer terror in the audiences faces that she was the legend he had heard throughout his travels. The daughter of death.

“Agrona, please show the people what must be done to those that threaten our peace and livelihood”. The steps sounded again. She walked closer to the throne in which Peter had been strapped to. To the left Peter could only see the two witches. The golden skinned girl continued to study the crowd while seeming completely unfazed by the events occurring right in front of her. The white haired woman continued to twirl her figure, not breaking eye contact with peter. She gave him a sinister look. The fog began to thicken even more around peter. So much so that he could not see a majority of the audience standing before him. The sound of the heels on the stone stage was approaching. Peter’s heart had felt as though it was about to fail him at any second. It beat so loudly that it echoed in the silent coliseum. He tried to focus in the thick of the fog straight in front of him.

The steps had stopped again but he could felt that Agrona, the daughter of death, and the king’s shadow was standing behind him. Peter whelped at the touch of her figure tracing his shoulder along his collarbone. She let out an amused laugh.

“Hello Peter” She whispered in his ear.

Agrona fallowed her figured as she traces up his neck to his check. Peter could not help but let some tears escape from his eyes when he was face to face with her. She forced his chin to look her in the eyes. She wore a terrifying smile. She had black hair that cascaded done her body that flowed down her body like a beautiful black river. Peter could not help look directly into the eyes of the King’s Shadow. They looked like a the night sky at dusk. Full of purple and black. She had been the most beautiful thing Peter had ever seen. Her beauty was horrifying and amounted to half of Peter terror. He felt ashamed that a woman like that was looking at him, especially in such a state. He supposed that this was why her killed men just by looking at them. He had never felt so small. She let out another laugh as though she had been reading his thoughts.

“Oh Peter” She continued continuing her trace onto the other collarbone.

“Please. My lady. Please” Peter pleaded. Tears were openly flowing down his face and the sweat from his brow was bleeding into his eyes.

She clicked her tongue as though she expecting more from him.

“Don’t beg Peter. I like when they play hard to get” She lifted her finger off Peter’s shoulder. The absence of the figure felt as though 50 pounds had been lift.

“Agrona” The King interrupted. “Please fulfill the prisoner’s punishment”.

Again she stood just out of Peter’s line of sight. He again looked to the crowd to judgement what was occurring behind him through their reaction. Gasps exploded from the crowd and their terror turned into a horrified amusement. Peter closed his eyes. He again felt something touching his shoulder. Through his ripped tunic he could a something soft and strong moving along every part of his body. It moved like a snake on the hunt. Don’t look he thought to himself. For the love of the gods. Do not look. He could here the steps wrapping around before the chair. It was not the steps of a woman’s heels but rather the paws of creature with the craws gently scrapping along the stone floor. He could sense the creature had sat themselves directly in order of him. Peter could feel the beasts breath on his face. It did not smell foal but rather of rose water and lemon grass. His curiosity got the best of as he opened his eyes.

Involuntarily he realized that he had been staring directly into the eyes of panther. The creature in front of him licked its lips but to only show off it’s knifed sized teeth. Peter returned its gaze to the panther’s eyes. Dark purple and black worked seamless to hypnotize its prey. Peter could do nothing but hold the gaze of the beautiful creature sitting in front of him.

“Please” his whispered so that only him self and the giant feline could hear. It was at that moment that he saw something flicker in the panther’s eye. Something of guilt and pain.

“Now” Peter heard the King yell behind.

Peter’s heart tightened at the demand. The discomfort spread along his chest and arms while his head felt lighter and lighter until the dizziness consumed him. Peter was now engulfed by the darkness.

“Well my people! If you choose to defy our kingdom, one must have the heart to back it up.” The King began to laugh. The audience still in shock of what had just occurred.