Witch Trials
Disclaimer: Teen Titans is a creation of several people's hard work and considerable talent. I could not have written it : a) because I don't work hard, b) because all my talents are musical, c) I am not several people.
Sorry for not updating so quickly, please forgive me and read and review. In this chapter, I'm going to take a slight turn and miss out abbreviations and stuff to look more old fashioned. Bare with me.
Chapter Five – An Innocent's Death
A great explosion shook the island that night. The purple flames danced as the wind blew it into gentle curves while at all time looking menacing and unearthly. Kori lay meters away unconscious and burnt. She looked almost scary and it was unbearable for her friends to see.
"She is guilty! The flame tells truth! She burns like wood and in her blood is that of a witches'." Shouted the vicar to thunder filled skies.
Victor ran up to her, knelt by her and supported her small frame onto his lap. "She is innocent! She is just a girl."
"No Vic," Richard almost whispered, "she is not just a girl, don't you believe in all of the logic and science? Was it not you who lives by philosophy? Do you have no priorities in what you believe and what you want to believe?"
"Do you have no heart? Do you have no priorities with who is and is not your friend?" asked Vic hypothetically.
"If I were to believe she is innocent, then I would have no priorities. If I believe what I chose to believe about witches then I would be wrong in my beliefs if I were to say she is innocent," replied Richard.
Kori's head lolled to the side and her hair poured onto the floor in one swift beautiful movement. Raven was standing with her tear brimmed eyes unconsciously on the flames which had now dimmed to the usual colour. How could I have let this happen? Am I not her friend? Should I not defend her? Yes, I must. She did so for me.
"No!" she shouted, "She is no witch. She did no spell. She is innocent and I believe it to be so."
"Then I guess you'll be watching an innocent's death tonight," retorted the vicar.
At midnight, the friends stood around the burning stakes on the little island just south of the village. Kori had been awoken, rather unkindly and was standing, deep in thought, in a stock. Left to rot in her melancholy mind.
"It's a good turnout tonight, isn't it?" asked the vicar to Richard attempting to make small talk before the real fun began.
"Yeah, it's great," replied Richard, not really paying attention to the question.
The vicar continued, "Almost everyone in the village turned up for this one, didn't they?"
"No doubt about it," once again Richard's mind didn't fully process the question, or the answer.
"Did you… err… have any relationship with the um… witch?" asked the vicar uncertainly.
"I know," Richard had his mind on other things and he hadn't bothered listening.
"It must be so distressing looking at your beloved for the first time to see what she really is," said the vicar trying to sympathise.
"Sure, why not?"
"Now look at me, there is nothing to worry about. You can trust an old vicar like me, soon you'll be back burning witches and strangling chickens like the rest of us."
"Of course, you're right." For the next ten minutes the conversation went on like that.
Meanwhile, Kori was bidding her time. "My friends, I am so relieved that you believe in my innocence. Listen, Raven, I want you to have any of the clothes you like…"
"She cannot, they are burning it to destroy any witch traces," interrupted Garfield.
"Ah, then Raven, you can have my bed…"
"They're donating it to the poor," once again Gar interrupted.
"My table?"
"They're using it for firewood."
"My chair?"
"Firewood."
"The cow?"
"They are planning to eat it for the successful witch-hunt feast."
"My crop field?"
"It's the vicar's now."
"My bracelets?"
"Oh yeah, some gypsies came and took what they liked."
"My books?"
"Err… I guess."
Mr. Turner was standing behind the stocks listening. Books? What kind of books? Witch spells? This needs investigation.
After Kori spoke her will to her friends, well, what was left of her will, she looked over and saw the bonfire wood was all in place and all was ready for her execution.
"So, when is this thing gonna start?" asked a peasant in the crowds.
The vicar answered, "As soon as midnight strikes."
"Vicar, vicar!" a man came shouting, running and cradling a sack in his arms, "I found spell books badly buried in the mud behind the witches' house."
He unloaded the bag to reveal the books Raven hid hours ago. Raven gasped and burst into silent tears but no one paid attention.
"That is all I need to know, burn the witch!" screamed the vicar.
And at that, Kori was unlocked from the stock and was taken, one man for each arm and was dragged towards the stake.
But what made it more unbearable to watch was the expression on her face. She did not put up a fight against the men holding her, she did not cry and beg. She just held a steady and unreadable expression of what looked like expectance? Was she expecting this? Mixed in her features was pity, but not self-pity. Innocence etched in every fibre.
She stood mighty and proud? Upon that hill tied to the wood. Scented candles were set out, they say it's to make a nice smell but who can resist the big flames they made? The vicar came out and held the torch of flaming wood high.
Raven couldn't let this happen to her friend and under impulsive instinct, she tried to run through the crowd, why was she standing right at the back? She dodged around many men and… not so many women and as she ran she shouted, "Stop, no, don't!" But her screams were muffled by the crowd.
When she got to the front, she was just in time to see the torch make contact with the remains of an old table and chair. She screamed no but no one listened.
Kori looked at her friend and showed a small ghost of a smile. The flames licked higher up Kori's legs but she did not scream.
She just stayed very still.
Unconscious?
Unaware?
Uncaring?
…Dead?