An Indecent Execution

Edith was just 12 years old when the new king’s soldiers attacked her family’s hamlet.  It was in reprisal for their support for a pretender to the throne when the old king died childless. She had wandered into the edge of the wood gathering fruit when the soldiers came. She crouched terrified in the thicket of brambles where the blackberries abounded, watching as the soldiers forced everyone into her parents’ wood and thatch cottage at sword-point then set it alight. As the flames rapidly spread up the walls and across the roof she covered her ears to shut out the high pitched screams. The thatch started to fall into the building and the door, complete with its frame, collapsed outward allowing a flaming human torch to run out from the flames and smoke towards her. Edith knew it was her mother. The soldiers ran towards the screaming figure which ran, arms flailing, clothes and hair alight towards where Edith was hiding. Although she knew it must be her mother the open mouthed face she saw was black, all the teeth exposed where the flesh from her cheeks having burnt away. Shreds of burning fabric blew away from from her mother in the wind as she uttered a final unearthly scream then fell face down on the ground only ten feet from Edith’s hiding place.

As the soldiers turned back from the charred corpse towards the rapidly collapsing cottage Edith madly tore through the brambles and undergrowth, heedless of the tears both to her clothes and to her delicate flesh, desperate to flee the nightmare scene.

Six years later Edith still had nightmares about that terrifying day, sometimes seeing her mother still burning reaching a hand out towards her but heat from the flames making Edith back away, other nights she would dream that she was being burnt alive herself and would wake up screaming and flailing her arms and legs, her body sodden with sweat.

Effectively an outlaw she had at first survived like a wild animal, hiding almost naked in the woods, eating fruit and berries but the winter forced her to creep into villages at night to steal food and clothes and to shelter in barns. Several times she had been caught and beaten almost to death when caught by villagers. As she fled from the most recent village where she had been caught eating stolen food several youths chased after her for about a mile throwing stones at her several of which struck her thinly clothed wraith like body bruising her thighs and grazing her ribs until she fell panting to the ground. The boys, all younger than her, roughly rolled her onto her back. Two held her arms outstretched while the tallest one kicked her repeatedly in the stomach until she violently threw up stinking vomit, consisting mainly of raw egg and bits of raw turnip, down her front. He then ripped off her soiled clothes, carelessly using a small knife which left long shallow cuts in her hollow belly and down her left hip. once she was completely naked one of the other boys let go of her arm and grabbed her right breast tightly in one hand and started fumbling with his breeches with the other. Frantically she almost managed to roll away from him before her right leg was grabbed, rolling her back onto her back. The tallest boy then jabbed at the inside of her thighs with the sharp point of his knife until she spread her legs wide while a short stocky boy repeatedly punched her in the face, cursing her as a dirty thief while blood from her nose splashed across her face and trickled down into her hair.

But just as she felt the tall boy’s fingers probing into her vagina a man on horseback appeared and the youths ran, trying to hide their faces. Lying flat on her back, naked, legs spread Edith realised she was now totally at his mercy. He appeared to be in his early twenties, but when he dismounted from his horse he gathered her torn rags and helped tie them round her to provide some modesty.

Roger helped her steal some more clothes from the next village then, having sent away the horse which he had apparently stolen two days earlier led her to his lodgings in Canonsford. “Would you rather have a safe, comfortable life in future?” he asked her, pulling her towards him and looking into her eyes. She didn’t reply immediately, neither did she pull away from him. He opened his bag and showed her what he had made his journey for. Some pieces of base metal, a very small amount of real gold and, most precious of all a pair of dies, perfect copies of those used by the King’s mint.

Edith readily submitted her body to Roger as it soon became apparent that no-one could tell the difference between their forged coins and the King’s currency. Roger had screwed many women before but delighted in the way Edith usually climaxed ay the same moment that he came.  She was now almost as happy as before her family was killed, and the nightmares came only occasionally now. Her only worry was whether Roger would stand by her once she became with child as she surely would soon.

To help in passing on their forged coins Edith cut her hair short in the style of a pageboy so she could also pass as a boy, amongst other disguises.  Of course they were blind to the fact that their new found wealth had no apparent source, while the Sheriff started to become aware of a number of forged coins turning up in markets and in the taxes he collected.

Inevitably the Sheriff’s men eventually raided their home and found the dies, metals etc. of their trade. Edith and Roger, arms bound behind their backs , were taken before the magistrate the following morning after spending what she thought must surely be their last night together, shackled to opposite sides of one of the town cells, for this would certainly be a hanging offence.

However after only a couple of minutes hearing the evidence from the Sheriff’s men their case was adjourned, for he said that counterfeiting the King’s currency was High Treason, and would have to be tried by the Judge on his next visit. They were taken back to the prison and locked into one of the dark basement cells.

No longer shackled they clung to each other, Roger said “thank God we have some more time together” and as darkness fell Roger tenderly removed Edith’s clothes and they had the best sex they had ever experienced, the background thought that they were soon to be executed now almost thrilled Edith, much of whose short life had been spent in abject misery before she had been rescued by Roger. A sense of contentment yet lack of fulfilment drifted over Edith as she lay back, Roger gently covering her with her clothes to ward off the chill of dawn.

HORROR … Edith’s worst nightmare suddenly came into her mind! She suddenly recalled, wasn’t the punishment for treason by a woman to be burnt at the stake! She recalled men were hung drawn and quartered but, in the interests of decency women were burned, she panicked and shuffled away from Roger’s sleeping form.

After that first night in the cell Roger couldn’t understand Edith’s frigidity towards him, in fact she showed no interest in anything at all but just sat hugging her knees looking blankly into space, not eating, just occasionally drinking a little water when the thirst became unbearable.