"How's the wound?" Julian asked her silent companion as they watched throngs of people beginning to assemble in front of them.
Ezra exhaled. "Much better, thank you. During my extensive experience in this charming backwater, I have endured much worse."
"Well, that's reassuring."
Ezra chuckled before coughing into his fist.
"You okay?" She asked him, the concern evident in her voice.
Ezra looked up and watched as three men were marched down the busy expanse of road, parting the crowd as they moved through the masses of citiznes. With a tight smile, he replied, "Never better, my dear.", causing a sharp laugh to escape from Julian as she followed the path of her kidnappers
"Nice day isn't it?" He asked her, looking up at the clear blue sky.
Three men walked up ten hastily constructed wooden steps and out onto a platform.
"Quite," She agreed, tucking a strand of wavy brown hair behind her ear. Ezra reached out and took her smaller hand in his.
A loud crack resounded through the suddenly silent air, as the trap door gave way.
If the two of them had looked, they would have seen their tormentors as they swung from three thick, heavy ropes. But both Julian and Ezra stubbornly kept their gazes looking upward at the sky, hands clasped together, and watched the clouds pass over, unrepentant in the hope that it took a long time for those men to die.