A soft scuttling sound pulled me screaming back into reality. A dull glow filled the small room of my cell, the tiny brazier rocked slightly from the ceiling with a horrific grating sound. Two red eyes stared unblinking at me from the dark recesses of my new hell. I sobbed quietly as the rat moved forwards from the shadows. It pounced quickly upon the small bowl of rotten bread and meat that had been pushed beneath my door. Its squeaks and squeals grated on my exhausted mind and before I could even think about it I had broken its back with a well-placed blow. Its legs pumped once before ceasing eternally, a single shriek pierced the dark gloom before only the grating sound of the swinging brazier remained.

   It seemed like an eternity since I’d been condemned to wait in this hell for my final breath. It could not come soon enough. Every second I was haunted by images of poor William lying broken and bleeding in the clawing rain, each night the image burned brighter. Throats cut, eyes missing, a lake of blood that seemed to squirm and pulse as though alive. On the rare occasions I actually slept, I always awoke screaming, my dirty, torn rags clinging horribly to my skin. My nails had long since been torn from my fingers as I dragged them along the stones of my cell trying to escape my burning dreams.

   Whilst I sat staring at the broken body of the rat, wondering if just one bite could hurt, the door to my tiny cell opened and a huge man with a black hood covering his face pushed his way into my room.

   “It’s time.” Without even letting me digest the words he hauled me to my feet and threw me from the room. With a loud crack my head connected with the wall and exploded with supernova white light, blackness followed instantly and I crumpled to the floor. Footsteps approached through the swimming, screaming of my head. My tenacious hold on reality gave way and i fell back into the land of the unconscious…

   …Cheering and clapping smashed like a giant fist into my mind, pain engulfed my conscience and I wanted nothing more than to sink into the dark once more. The executioner had different ideas though; he hauled me roughly across a splintered walkway and onto the gallows. A knot of rope swung almost hypnotically in the early morning breeze. Dark, ominous clouds moved slowly along the horizon and the huge town wall loomed behind me, its shadow drowned the watching crowd in a sea of black and I struggled to see the faces staring frantically at me, their day’s entertainment. In the far off distance thunder echoed, to me it seemed as though even the almighty Lord was clapping my coming execution. Though which Lord it was I could not be sure, light or dark, good or evil. Though I knew I would soon find out as the rope was laid about my neck and tightened until it constricted my breathing. My skin pricked in protest against the rough rope and tears ran down my cheek to drop pitifully against the wood of the gallows.