Liane (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
pucelleflambe) wrote2012-09-28 06:10 pm
pucelleflambe) wrote2012-09-28 06:10 pm
Entry tags:
Memory: Sentenced to Burn
Liane trembles, thoroughly bound to the stake twice her height, wind seeming to cut straight through the simple beige shift, all she had been allowed since she was taken prisoner. They are just outside the fortified walls of Rouen. It is almost a beautiful day, clear blue skies with only wisps of clouds floating by overhead. Soldiers and clergymen have gathered around to watch the execution. Liane whimpers slightly as a priest reads the charges being brought against her.
"That the woman known as Jeanne la Pucelle did willfully and immodestly cut her hair and adopt the attire of a man, and continually so disordering the world through her bloodthirsty nature..." The old clergyman pauses, flipping a page in the text he is reading from. "...Moreover, she has rejected the laws of the Church, choosing to submit herself only to her false visions of God --"
No, Liane decides -- she wants to live! She must make the truth known! "I never committed any such crime," she interjects, face and voice raised and set in the proud anger her role has taught her to project so well.
The priest ignores her. She is already dead to him.
"For these pernicious, sinful acts against our faith, she shall hereby be denounced and declared an apostate of the church and heretic," he continues. "Good Christians of Rouen! See what befalls this fine sorceress who declares herself to be your savior!"
Citizens begin to shout, cheer and jeer from behind the false maiden, where she had been unable to see them. The girl trembles, whimpering again, her facade of strength falling, truly and completely broken. She tries again, voice shrill with desperation.
"I beg you, don't do this!" she cries. "Listen to me! I am not the woman that you think I am!"
The priest turns away from her, directly addressing the other clergymen who stand before her in judgment. "Do not allow the witch's sorcery to sway you," he mutters to his comrades, before raising his voice to address all present once again with a grand gesture. "Begone with her! Light the fire! Let her finally be judged by the one true God, the Father!"
One of the soldiers step forward, touching a lit torch to the platform and tender beneath the girl. Fire blazes to life quickly around her, and she screams as the flames take her -- as long as she is able.
"That the woman known as Jeanne la Pucelle did willfully and immodestly cut her hair and adopt the attire of a man, and continually so disordering the world through her bloodthirsty nature..." The old clergyman pauses, flipping a page in the text he is reading from. "...Moreover, she has rejected the laws of the Church, choosing to submit herself only to her false visions of God --"
No, Liane decides -- she wants to live! She must make the truth known! "I never committed any such crime," she interjects, face and voice raised and set in the proud anger her role has taught her to project so well.
The priest ignores her. She is already dead to him.
"For these pernicious, sinful acts against our faith, she shall hereby be denounced and declared an apostate of the church and heretic," he continues. "Good Christians of Rouen! See what befalls this fine sorceress who declares herself to be your savior!"
Citizens begin to shout, cheer and jeer from behind the false maiden, where she had been unable to see them. The girl trembles, whimpering again, her facade of strength falling, truly and completely broken. She tries again, voice shrill with desperation.
"I beg you, don't do this!" she cries. "Listen to me! I am not the woman that you think I am!"
The priest turns away from her, directly addressing the other clergymen who stand before her in judgment. "Do not allow the witch's sorcery to sway you," he mutters to his comrades, before raising his voice to address all present once again with a grand gesture. "Begone with her! Light the fire! Let her finally be judged by the one true God, the Father!"
One of the soldiers step forward, touching a lit torch to the platform and tender beneath the girl. Fire blazes to life quickly around her, and she screams as the flames take her -- as long as she is able.