A man of 22 Betelgeuse feels himself too young to die. Was it even worth it to survive the Black Plague for this, for what? To die alone in this forsaken gaol cell, with not but the rats and bugs for company. He shivers and shakes in the damp darkness that surrounds him and a pest stirs in the far corner of his cell. It puts Betelgeuse on alert; every sound in the endless silence comes like thunder. When nothing is all you hear all day, anything sounds too loud.
His stomach makes a noise; he doesn't remember his last meal. He watches by the low light of the torch as a thick black beetle scurries towards him. With unseen agility he reaches out his arm and snatches up the bug in his palm before greedily popping it in his mouth. He tries to chew but the crunching noise echoes in his head so he swallows, the beetle is still alive he can feel it crawling inside him.
He's been in gaol for just over a year, he only knows because she tells him. Passage of time in the dark means nothing to him. In the year he's been locked away his eyes have grown big to adapt to the low light and his hair has grown long and brittle with lack of subsequent nutrition. If he looked pale before he thinks he must now be the shade of midwinter snow. He has not seen his reflection since being locked away but knows if he were to gaze upon it, it would be unrecognizable.
"You are repulsive" a cold voice comes from the shadows.
He shudders as a woman dressed in a blood-red brocade gown weighted down with gold beading steps forward as if walking out of the brick wall. She wears a mantle of black and a matching veil still covers her face. He knows this woman she has been his only visitor in the past year, Cassandra sister of Elizabeth.
"You are not welcome here, Witch" Betelgeuse scorns, his voice rough with disuse and lack of drink. He spits.
As she steps forward she lifts her veil and the flame seems to grow in strength, stinging the corner of his eyes. She kneels down in the dirt on the other side of his iron bars soiling her gown but she seems not to notice. A mirthless smile plays on the woman's lips and he knows she has come to gloat.
"They will hang you tomorrow" Cassandra said, emotionless and for the first time in over a year Betelgeuse felt a heavy weight lifted off his chest.
A slow menacing smile crept across his face and Cassandra twisted her lip in displeasure.
"Did you not hear me?" she asks raising her voice in anger, "this time tomorrow you will be dead." She grips at his bars and to him it is she who looks like the prisoner, "why does this give you pleasure?" she demands.
"I will be dead" Betelgeuse said, still smiling and a long since vanished light rekindled in his yellowed eyes.
Cassandra gazed at him still uncomprehending.
"I will be dead" he repeated a soft glee entering his voice, "and reunited with Elizabeth, and you, you will be alive and alone." He threw his head back and laughed like a mad man, the look in his eyes was pure malice and it finally made Cassandra get up from the damp ground and take a step back from his cell.
Anger flashed in her eyes, "You may die tomorrow but I shall ensure you will not rest in peace. You failed my sister and so I do curse thee Betelgeuse, your soul is mine and should anyone call upon you for assistance in the afterlife you must provide it." She threatened her voice tight with emotion.
Betelgeuse scoffed at her words. This time tomorrow he would be dead and if there was something beyond the grave he would find Elizabeth there waiting for him.
~October 1367~
It had all started with a ring.
As payment for a job Betelgeuse had been given a ring, made of fine black iron and set with rubies. Never mind that the ring was worth more than he could calculate, or that it could easily buy a months' worth of meat pies and ale, Betelgeuse knew there was only one place this ring belonged and that was on the finger of his beloved Elizabeth. Betelgeuse could have saved his earnings for a year and not have a fraction of what he would need to buy a ring of this quality. Elizabeth deserved a ring she was a decent woman and would make an honest man out of him yet.
Betelgeuse was five feet down on the grave he was digging when the sound of running caught his ear. Climbing up out of the grave Betelgeuse was met with a familiar freckled face boy, it was the same urchin Elizabeth always sent to him with her secret messages.
"What is it boy?" Betelgeuse asked impatient as the boy stood there trying to catch his breath.
"Mistress Elizabeth" the lad finally heaved out, "the Watch."
Betelgeuse's heart quickened at the mention of the night watch, if those lewd scoundrels had caught hold of Elizabeth there was no telling what they might do. In blind rage he threw down his shovel and took off running in the direction of Elizabeth's house. There were very few places she could be this time of night. During the day she helped her father and sister run an apothecary, but sometimes at night she was called out to be a midwife, especially to those too poor to pay for such services.
A scream pierced the silence of the night and in his heart Betelgeuse knew it was Elizabeth.
"Elizabeth" he screamed out and ran in the direction of her shouting.
His cloak was flying out madly behind him as he dashed through the back streets and alleyways of the city he knew like the back of his hand.
"Betelgeuse!" it was a clear cry from somewhere nearby. Betelgeuse made a wrong turn and ended up at a dead end, damn his luck. If only she would call out again. He doubled back a few paces and headed off blindly in what he hoped was the right direction.
"Betel-ah!" Elizabeth's cry for help was muffled this time but it led him to the right spot. When he saw them his vision went red.
Three large watchmen had his Elizabeth surrounded, the largest one of all had his filthy hand covering her mouth and he was laughing gleefully as though someone had said something funny.
"So it is true gravedigger" he says spotting Betelgeuse, "you come when she calls, like a suckling pup."
Betelgeuse made to step closer to Elizabeth when there was a flash of silver caught by the moonlight and he sees it pressed against his beloved's throat.
"No, please, don't hurt her" he begs, he needs time to come up with a plan. He is usually quick on his feet, finding unusual ways to get out of awkward situations but the Watch is the law. If it came down to their word against his they would win every time.
Tonight was going to be special, he had a ring, he was going to purpose. Elizabeth was frightened, he could tell but there was nothing he could say or do to ease her mind.
"I come when she calls me because I love her" he said defiantly in the face of the three brutes, "and she only calls for me because that love is returned."
He can feel the other two closing in on him and he doesn't hesitate in attacking when they are within his reach. He kicks out at them, fending them off but it's not enough. A thick cloud covers the moon, the only light illuminating the alley, and descends them into darkness. Betelgeuse throws his voice a simple parlor trick he leaned and makes it sound as though he's called from the other side of the alley.
It's enough to confuse the two clueless lackeys and in the blind darkness they run into each other knocking themselves out. Moonlight fills the alley way again and the third guard is suddenly shaking in his boots. He still clutches Elizabeth in his grasp but Betelgeuse is nowhere to be seen and his two comrades are knocked out cold.
"Devil" calls out the night watchman, "fiend. What magick is this you possess to cause the moon to disappear at your will?"
Betelgeuse is hidden in the shadows waiting for the right moment. One false move and Elizabeth's throat might be cut. He shivers at the thought. He has no skill of magick, only luck, but tonight his luck has run out. Betelgeuse attacks the watchman, jumping on him from behind and it's enough that Elizabeth starts to flee but she's not fast enough. The watchman casts his arm out wildly and his knife hand catches her in the chest.
He lets loose with a vicious howl as Betelgeuse cries out in anguish. Roughly he pushes aside the watchman, knocking him to the ground as he runs to Elizabeth's side. He cradles her head in his lap as he kneels on the cold ground. She looks up at him with wide fearful eyes, the cursed blade still protruding from her chest as it's rising and falling begins to slow.
She's trying to say something but he can't hear her over the furious beating of his own heart.
"Be…Bet…use" she dies with his name on her lips and it breaks his heart in two, he'll never love again. The only thing he had truly valued in this world is gone.
Betelgeuse let the memories wash over him and meets Cassandra's cold hard stare with one of his own.
"Go to Hell Cassandra" he spat at her.
"You first" she chided, before melting into the shadows once more and leaving him to his misery for one last night.
It's ironic but the last thing they made him do was to dig his own grave. Betelgeuse would be buried in an unmarked grave outside of consecrated ground. He dug with the manacles around his wrists, chained together and three guards were set to watch him. They grimly joked about simply leaving him there but his hanging was going to be a public event and not even his heartless guards wanted to deprive the people of a good spectacle.
Betelgeuse was lead from his grave site to the square where a noose had been erected. The gallows man stood ready and waiting, Betelgeuse ascended the steps as a crier read out his charges. Murder of an innocent, and Witchcraft, both of which were lies but there was no judge to give him a fair trial, that it seemed would fall to none other than God.
"Any last words?" The crier asked him as the rope was slipped about his neck.
Betelgeuse appraised the crowd that had gathered old and young alike had come to see him hang. Some people looked smug, satisfied in the knowledge that another criminal would be gone, the children looked frightened. He would become a tale parents told to keep their children obedient. He searched for one face in particular and found Cassandra near the back of the crowd, face veiled. These people had come to see a show, and it was show time.
"Let the entertainment commence!" He shouted throwing his arms wide.
He remembers the scratchy feeling of the rough rope around his neck. He remembers the trapdoor falling out from beneath him, the feeling of being weightless, then the world fading away to black, and then nothing.
Betelgeuse wakes up in the fanciest parlour room he has ever seen. He wonders if the execution was stalled, perhaps he's been brought to see the king. The room is full of divans many of which are occupied. A few of the faces seem familiar but Betelgeuse can't say where he's seen them before. A well-dressed footman waits by the only door in the room, occasionally he calls a name and someone goes over to him.
A young couple sits on the divan next to him, their clothes are dripping water no doubt ruining the fine upholstery. They look as though they were caught in a bad rainstorm. He doesn't know what kind of place this is but surely they shouldn't let in people who looked half-drowned.
"What happened to you?" he asks and it sounds much rudder than he meant.
"Carriage accident" replied the man, somewhat sheepishly.
"We were just out for a ride along the river's edge" the woman explains, "but then that black cat appeared and spooked the horses. Fell right into the Thames we did, carriage and all."
That explains the smell Betelgeuse thinks as he tries to slowly edge away from the couple, but a drop like that could kill a person.