Authors note: Well well, long time no chapter? Sorry, but I moved out of my parents place on new years day, and don't have proper access to the internet in my new flat. Yay -.- So yeah, stealing internet from a neighbor who must have just moved in or something. Too bad they only switches it on when they're using it, jerk.
Hidden
Guntz kept his head down as he was marched up the small set of stairs, as bits of fruit rained down upon both him and the guards unfortunate to be flanking him. While those on the platform tried to get the mob to restrain themselves, their objections were drowned out by the deafening roar of the crowd; all wanted far too much to show the bounty hunter a piece of the suffering he had caused them.
When they reached the centre of the small wooden structure, both guards raised their rifles to the hunters head, bayonets pointing mere inches from his neck. A third guard arrived and carefully unlocked and removed the padlocks binding his hands behind his back, only to force them into the grooves on the pillory in front of him. Grabbing hold of his neck, it too was forced onto the wood, and the device was closed, a padlock holding it securely in place.
Standing back, the abuse of the crowd continued, with stones, bottles and numerous other hard objects now thrown into the mix. The sentinel allowed this to continue for several minutes before motioning to the crowd to cease. The wave of projectiles slowly started to dwindle, albeit reluctantly. A man, dressed in the heighth of Victorian fashion, made his way forward and unrolled a long scroll of parchment, clearing his voice to speak.
"Shinigami Guntz, you stand before us having been found guilty of the following crimes: murder, conspiracy to murder, assault, theft, robbery, arson, espionage, treason, smuggling, perverting the course of justice, kidnapping and other offenses far to numerous to mention. For these crimes, you have been sentenced to three days in the pillory, followed by execution by hanging," There was a loud roar of approval from the crowd at this, "Do you have anything to say before your sentence begins?" The wolf snarled, and thrashed about in his restraints, receiving a rifle-butt to the face for his effort.
"Let the throwing commence!" The mans voice boomed, and the whole square began to cheer and start throwing things once again, with a much greater ferocity than before. The wolf bowed his head and closed his eyes in some small defense against the onslaught, but it did him little good. Within minutes, he was cut and bruised all over, blood covering most of his face and stinging his eyes. How he hoped that the crowd would go a step too far, and just kill him there and then, but of course, the guards would intervene just before then. Couldn't have their prisoner dying before he reached the gallows, could they? Bastards would probably make the rope a foot too short, just to get the pleasure of watching him strangle to death. A final indignity after the years of terror he'd inflicted on them.
It looked like the Golden Death had finally met his end.
It was the third night of his punishment, and the gallows were steadily growing nearer. In just a short few hours, the sun would rise, and he would be lead to the hangman, to be prepped for that noons festivities. After having the noose tied around his neck, he would be made to stand on the platform and be dropped, to dangle for everyones amusement before being drawn and quartered, his entrails to be displayed for the whole town to see.
By now, he'd decided to go down fighting. He wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of a show, he'd rather die when he stood, a victim of the royal guards. They couldn't well parade his body around with a gunshot wound in the back, now could they?
It was quiet out now, even the drunks had left him to his peace. The only people out now were a pair of sentries, patrolling the area to ensure nobody tried to bust him out. Heh, that was rich. Who'd ever want to spring Shinigami Guntz?
A sound caught his attention over to his left hand side, and he twisted his head to try and see what it was. The wooden bar of the pillory blocked his line of sight, but he could have sworn that it was the sound of...
The sound came again, more to the front. Whipping his head around, he was in time to see one of the guards keeling over onto his knees, blood spurting from a wound in his neck. Did this mean the other guard had been taken out too?
There was a faint creak behind him, the sound of the woodern platform beneith somebodies feet. He twisted and thrashed harder in his restraints, trying to get free, trying to get a look, trying to do something. Was this person here to kill him too, someone with their own personal vendetta against him? Vengence meant little unless it was by your own hand, after all. A finger traced its self down his spine, and his whole body went stiff. This was it, this was the end...
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" The words barely registered to the hunter, he was far too busy trying to place the voice. It was male, and sounded quite upper class, though it could very easily have been put on. Regardless, it was not one that he recognised. Could be the son of one of his victims? He'd taken out some pretty powerful people over the years. "Never thought I'd see you here. Shame for such a pretty thing to wind up in a state like this," he said, brushing some of the glass off of his ears, "but life can be a cruel mistress, I suppose."
"Who are you?" He growled, his patience worn thin by the last three days of torture. If this man was here to kill him, I just wished he get on with it.
"Who am I?" The voice chuckled, "I am your new best friend. I'm here to offer you a deal." He was really close now, hiding just behind the hunters shoulders.
"What sort of a deal?"
"You want revenge, right? On all the men who put you here? I can sort that for you. You can have your second chance."
"So what's the catch?" Another chuckle, and the feel of a hand caressing his thigh.
"Well, I'm giving you what you want," The hand traveled further upwards, and inwards, "so you're going to have to give me what I want..." The wolf froze, realisation kicking in. So this is what it was going to boil down to? His dignity for his reputation, and his life? A deal with the devil, to be sure.
"Deal"
Ah well, he never had a soul to bargin with anyway.
You know, this is only about 1/3 of what I originally had planned for this story, but I kinda like leaving it here. The full ending was far too optimistic for this part of the story, I think. I'm definatly going to type up the rest of this tale at some point, I'll probably post it as a one-shot or something.
For those of you that are sick of all the Guntz-bashing, don't worry, things will work out better for him in the next chapter! Maybe I'll have my own internet connection by then.
Peace.
