#this era we’re in right now even with all the chaos and calamity is my favourite

[wildfloweronwheels]

We always think we know what Taylor Swift is up to but we never ever do. She’s the queen of surprises, secrets and pivoting. We never see it coming what she does next. Makes it so exciting to be a fan and so intriguing as someone who also makes art and creates and wants to build a life where that is the beating heart

[kosmosian-quills]

The Hanging Crown

Reposting from my other writing account but this was such an important scene to write for my WIP. The General has taken over the country and the Princess is trying to lay low at this point, and accidentally witnesses something she did not want to see.

POV: Karolina

Warnings: public execution

Chaos.

Calamity.

That is what the main square was today. A place that is normally a hotbed of activity on an ordinary day - people going about their business, trading wares, passing by.

But this is no ordinary day.

The sheer number of people here was staggering. I was used to facing crowds, I had done so on many occassions. I never had to address them, but being watched was something I was used to. There were people here that were shouting, screaming incomprehensively. They were chanting, calling for someone. The General, they were calling for him.

His overthrow had caught us all off guard yesterday. We didn’t even know it was him, not until he made his announcement at midnight last night that he had taken over the castle and imprisoned the King.

He made no announcement about the Princess, or the Queen, and yet the former was hidden in my grandparent’s home. We had insisted that she stay there, because if she was spotted… well, we would be in a lot more trouble.

Why they were cheering for him was a mystery. We thought we knew the common folk. We thought we understood what they wanted. We thought they were happy, and yet they were calling the name of a man who had committed such an immense treason like he was a hero.

We had made our way to the vantage point. The crowd was so immense, that we could not get closer to that platform in the centre even if we tried. Zofia had spotted the statue of Jadwiga, and we climbed to her feet as a way to see what was going on here.

The vantage point did make things easier to see. The wooden platform had many armed men atop it, stood to attention and waiting, but nothing was happening yet. We were waiting for it to happen too.

What it was, we had no idea.

Nothing was announced for this, no word or anything. We had been sat waiting for news when we heard everyone heading this way, and we decided to come and see what was going on. We kept ourselves disguised as best we could, given the circumstances. Hoods up, glasses off, no discernible markings visible - only the Princess and Matylda remained behind, because we could not risk her being found so quickly.

“What is that?” Irena pointed as movement finally happened on the platform. Armed men, a few of them, moved to the side as more climbed the steps behind it. One of them appeared to hold a length of rope, and it was only when it was looped around the beam in the centre of the platform that we realised what it was.

The loop of the noose that flapped uselessly in the coastal breeze only drove home what we were looking at here.

More movement on the platform, this time new arrivals.

The first was the General himself, and I felt Zofia tense next to me as he took centre stage, in front of that threat behind him.

Not a threat to his life, at least.

He rose his hands, and the whole plaza went quiet in a wave of breath, that weird noise that happens when loud voices suddenly silence in unison, leaving only the sounds of the sea birds and the chilly wind that coursed through every person in the crowd. Bated breath, intense stares - waiting for the man who orchestrated all of this, to finally speak.

“Today, good citizens!” he called loudly, ensuring that even us here at the back could hear him, “you will witness the start of a new, brighter era for our beloved country!”

The crowd erupted into cheers at his words, and I cast an anxious glance at the others, who shared my concerns. It made me nauseous, hearing that man sound like some kind of hero or god.

The thing is, he has this strange way with addressing crowds and people in general that makes him an enigma to watch, enthralling to listen to, and a wonder to bear witness to. He always was a charming man, all six of us can admit to that much. He knew how to get us to trust him. How to get us to let our guard down.

And yet he betrayed us for it.

“But to begin a new, prosperous era…” he moved across the platform as two armed soldiers barged up the steps with a figure under both their arms. A bloodied figure, roughly forced to his knees with his head bowed low. The body had his hands bound behind his back, and I recognised those torn, welted clothes.

Because that was the King, on his knees.

“… we must first end the old one!”

I felt my breath catch in my throat, and felt the blood rush from my face away to my feet, ready to run over there, to yell for them to stop what they were doing. I looked right at Zofia, and I had never seen such a look of shock and panic on her face before.

The crowd around us, did not share our reaction here.

They were cheering. They were overjoyed. Chants like “Kill the King! Kill the King!” were so loud that you could hear them from miles away. I was on my feet now, and watching as the General grabbed the King by his hair and forced him to look up. His face was covered in blood.

We could see that much, at least.

The two soldiers that manhandled their previous ruler hoisted him to his feet as the General looped the noose around his neck. I was watching in a sick, horrified fascination when I felt an arm grab at my side and shake me.

“Karolina!” Anastazja had shaken my arm and pointed off to the crowd behind us, close to the street where we had emerged from. I didn’t see what the fuss was about until I recognised one single, solitary petrified face amongst the vast sea of enthusiastic ones. Their eyes were wide and they were frozen to their spot, “she’s here!”

The Princess.

I wasted no time.

I dropped back to the ground, and forced my way towards her, through the mass of people. I didn’t care that I was shoving them out of the way, I didn’t care that my friends were either. I heard people yelling at us to watch where we’re going, but they didn’t care either. We had one goal, we had to get to her.

Not because we didn’t want her to get caught.

We reached her within a few seconds thanks to my unknown strength, and the fact that we were forcing our way backwards. Finding her was easy, she had not moved. Her mouth was agape, full of shock and horror.

“Andzia?” I stood direcly in front of her. I was taller than her, and I did my best to block the view of what everyone was here to witness, “Andzia? Andzia, listen to me. Listen to me!” I put my hands on the side of her face, forcing her to look me in the eyes, “watch me, ok? Don’t look anywhere else, just keep your eyes on me. Please, please keep looking at me.”

Her eyes seemed so full of emotion, and yet so empty at the same time. Almost catatonic, yet they oozed pure love and blind terror. She did not verbally respond to me at all. I felt the others crowd us, and I heard Zofia say that we needed to get out of here now, before we get into trouble.

“Come on, we need to go, we need to go, Andzia? Come on.”

I started pushing the Princess backwards. The others were all stood around her, so even if she was not looking where she was going, she would not be pushed into someone she didn’t know. We didn’t care either way, but we needed to be out of here before -!

A loud thud. A crack.

An eruption of cheers.

And we froze.

I pulled the Princess close to my chest, to an embrace, hopefully keeping her from seeing what I feared we would see. Anastazja had her hands in front of her mouth, eyes swimming with tears. Zofia was still forward facing. Irena had closed her eyes and faced the ground.

We all knew what had just happened.

I whispered into her ear, my voice breaking and I felt a tear leave its cool, sticky track down my cheek. I didn’t hear any of the cheers anymore, because I did not care about them. The only thing I cared about was held in my arms right now, and I am certain that there was nothing I could do or say to make her feel the same way right now.

“I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry…”

[whumping-newbie]

The Hanging Crown

POV: Karolina

Warnings: public execution

Chaos.

Calamity.

That is what the main square was today. A place that is normally a hotbed of activity on an ordinary day - people going about their business, trading wares, passing by.

But this is no ordinary day.

The sheer number of people here was staggering. I was used to facing crowds, I had done so on many occassions. I never had to address them, but being watched was something I was used to. There were people here that were shouting, screaming incomprehensively. They were chanting, calling for someone. The General, they were calling for him.

His overthrow had caught us all off guard yesterday. We didn’t even know it was him, not until he made his announcement at midnight last night that he had taken over the castle and imprisoned the King.

He made no announcement about the Princess, or the Queen, and yet the former was hidden in my grandparent’s home. We had insisted that she stay there, because if she was spotted... well, we would be in a lot more trouble.

Why they were cheering for him was a mystery. We thought we knew the common folk. We thought we understood what they wanted. We thought they were happy, and yet they were calling the name of a man who had committed such an immense treason like he was a hero.

We had made our way to the vantage point. The crowd was so immense, that we could not get closer to that platform in the centre even if we tried. Zofia had spotted the statue of Jadwiga, and we climbed to her feet as a way to see what was going on here.

The vantage point did make things easier to see. The wooden platform had many armed men atop it, stood to attention and waiting, but nothing was happening yet. We were waiting for it to happen too.

What it was, we had no idea.

Nothing was announced for this, no word or anything. We had been sat waiting for news when we heard everyone heading this way, and we decided to come and see what was going on. We kept ourselves disguised as best we could, given the circumstances. Hoods up, glasses off, no discernible markings visible - only the Princess and Matylda remained behind, because we could not risk her being found so quickly.

“What is that?” Irena pointed as movement finally happened on the platform. Armed men, a few of them, moved to the side as more climbed the steps behind it. One of them appeared to hold a length of rope, and it was only when it was looped around the beam in the centre of the platform that we realised what it was.

The loop of the noose that flapped uselessly in the coastal breeze only drove home what we were looking at here.

More movement on the platform, this time new arrivals.

The first was the General himself, and I felt Zofia tense next to me as he took centre stage, in front of that threat behind him.

Not a threat to his life, at least.

He rose his hands, and the whole plaza went quiet in a wave of breath, that weird noise that happens when loud voices suddenly silence in unison, leaving only the sounds of the sea birds and the chilly wind that coursed through every person in the crowd. Bated breath, intense stares - waiting for the man who orchestrated all of this, to finally speak.

“Today, good citizens!” he called loudly, ensuring that even us here at the back could hear him, “you will witness the start of a new, brighter era for our beloved country!”

The crowd erupted into cheers at his words, and I cast an anxious glance at the others, who shared my concerns. It made me nauseous, hearing that man sound like some kind of hero or god.

The thing is, he has this strange way with addressing crowds and people in general that makes him an enigma to watch, enthralling to listen to, and a wonder to bear witness to. He always was a charming man, all six of us can admit to that much. He knew how to get us to trust him. How to get us to let our guard down.

And yet he betrayed us for it.

“But to begin a new, prosperous era...” he moved across the platform as two armed soldiers barged up the steps with a figure under both their arms. A bloodied figure, roughly forced to his knees with his head bowed low. The body had his hands bound behind his back, and I recognised those torn, welted clothes.

Because that was the King, on his knees.

“... we must first end the old one!”

I felt my breath catch in my throat, and felt the blood rush from my face away to my feet, ready to run over there, to yell for them to stop what they were doing. I looked right at Zofia, and I had never seen such a look of shock and panic on her face before.

The crowd around us, did not share our reaction here.

They were cheering. They were overjoyed. Chants like “Kill the King! Kill the King!” were so loud that you could hear them from miles away. I was on my feet now, and watching as the General grabbed the King by his hair and forced him to look up. His face was covered in blood.

We could see that much, at least.

The two soldiers that manhandled their previous ruler hoisted him to his feet as the General looped the noose around his neck. I was watching in a sick, horrified fascination when I felt an arm grab at my side and shake me.

“Karolina!” Anastazja had shaken my arm and pointed off to the crowd behind us, close to the street where we had emerged from. I didn’t see what the fuss was about until I recognised one single, solitary petrified face amongst the vast sea of enthusiastic ones. Their eyes were wide and they were frozen to their spot, “she’s here!”

The Princess.

I wasted no time.

I dropped back to the ground, and forced my way towards her, through the mass of people. I didn’t care that I was shoving them out of the way, I didn’t care that my friends were either. I heard people yelling at us to watch where we’re going, but they didn’t care either. We had one goal, we had to get to her.

Not because we didn’t want her to get caught.

We reached her within a few seconds thanks to my unknown strength, and the fact that we were forcing our way backwards. Finding her was easy, she had not moved. Her mouth was agape, full of shock and horror.

“Anja?” I stood direcly in front of her. I was taller than her, and I did my best to block the view of what everyone was here to witness, “Anja? Anja, listen to me. Listen to me!” I put my hands on the side of her face, forcing her to look me in the eyes, “watch me, ok? Don’t look anywhere else, just keep your eyes on me. Please, please keep looking at me.”

Her eyes seemed so full of emotion, and yet so empty at the same time. Almost catatonic, yet they oozed pure love and blind terror. She did not verbally respond to me at all. I felt the others crowd us, and I heard Zofia say that we needed to get out of here now, before we get into trouble.

“Come on, we need to go, we need to go, Anja? Come on.”

I started pushing the Princess backwards. The others were all stood around her, so even if she was not looking where she was going, she would not be pushed into someone she didn’t know. We didn’t care either way, but we needed to be out of here before -!

A loud thud. A crack.

An eruption of cheers.

And we froze.

I pulled the Princess close to my chest, to an embrace, hopefully keeping her from seeing what I feared we would see. Anastazja had her hands in front of her mouth, eyes swimming with tears. Zofia was still forward facing. Irena had closed her eyes and faced the ground.

We all knew what had just happened.

I whispered into her ear, my voice breaking and I felt a tear leave its cool, sticky track down my cheek. I didn’t hear any of the cheers anymore, because I did not care about them. The only thing I cared about was held in my arms right now, and I am certain that there was nothing I could do or say to make her feel the same way right now.

“I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry...”