The Twelve Kingdoms: A Thousand Leagues of Wind

Marquis."
    Shoukei snorted. "Gekkei! That jackal!"
    "Enough!" Gobo said in a resolute voice.
    Shoukei haughtily raised her head in turn. "Overthrowing the king and sitting yourself on the throne without the Mandate of Heaven, that is regicide. No matter how you try to pretty it up." The horrible images from that day welled up in her mind's eyes. "He killed my father. And even that wasn't enough. My mother, too. And Hourin! Gekkei is a traitor. He slaughtered the king and kirin and stole the throne."
    "Really?" Gobo murmured to herself. "So the king and queen were executed in front of you?"
    "He's a traitor! Don't you know anything?"
    Even if she did, the hard expression on her face didn't change. "What I know is that you are rotten to the marrow of your bones."
    "What are you . . . . "
    "The Marquis can't take the throne for himself. He lives at the provincial capital. Just because you're a shameless little hussy doesn't mean that everybody else is as self-centered as you. But if that's what really happened to you, then curse all you want. You won't be able to after not too long."
    "But of course, you're going to kill me no matter what I say." When Gobo turned her back to her, Shoukei continued to glare at her. Bring it on, then. I'm getting tired of you all.
    Gobo said, "It looks like the townspeople aren't coming to their senses, no matter what I say. They're talking about having you drawn and quartered."
    Shoukei rose to her feet. "Hold on. They're what?"
    Gobo shut the door, abruptly cutting off the light. "Drawn and quartered, you mean?"
    It meant tying her arms to a pair of stakes and her legs to two ox carts and then tearing her body in pieces. The most barbaric of all punishments.
    Shoukei screamed, but there was no one to hear her. In the freezing darkness of the cell, the only light came from the red glow of the coals in the brazier.

Chapter 16
    I t's all a bad dream, Shoukei thought as she was dragged from the cell. All lies, just more of Gobo's hate at her expense, she told herself over and over. She was taken to the public square in front of the Rishi. The blood froze in her veins.
    "It can't be."
    The square was lined with people. She saw outsiders there as well. At the center of the wall of people a patch of ground was cleared of snow. Two stakes had been pounded into the earth and two ox carts awaited her.
    She looked up at the two men holding her arms. "You're kidding, right? You're not really doing this, right?"
    "Oh, getting scared, are you?" one of the men sneered. "But your father did it so often."
    The other man gave her a twisted smile. "You should be overjoyed to go out the way your daddy loved the best. Daddy must be dancing in heaven, watching his little girl get her own moment on the stage."
    "No . . . . "
    Shoukei did everything she could to keep stop her forward progress. She planted her feet, resisted with all her might as they pulled her along, slumped to the ground and writhed to get free of their grasp, and all to no avail.
    "Stop, please."
    "Quit your whining!" the man spat at her. "This is how my wife was killed!"
    All she had done, he lamented, was wear a hairpin on a visit to a neighboring town. He yanked her as if to jerk her arms out of their sockets. "Giving you a taste of your own medicine doesn't quite make up for it, but it's all we got. It'll have to do."
    "No! Please."
    She saw no pity in the faces of the townspeople. With no hope of rescue, she was pulled down and pinned to the ground. She screamed and wept but these men had not a drop of compassion in them. She folded her arms and drew her knees to her chest. They pulled her arms out and fastened a leather strap around each wrist, turned her face up and stretched out her body and bound her arms to the stakes.
    Her eyes wide and searching for help, the dull, overcast sky reflected the empty look on her face. She kicked her legs against the earth. Somebody grabbed her legs. She felt the leather cord being wrapped around her ankles and screamed. She was rendered immobile, literally frozen to the ground.
    This can't be happening. Something so dreadful couldn't be happening to her. Her legs were bound with the leather cord. The cord was pulled back and tightened, spreading her legs apart.
    Into the corner of her fixed gaze floated a black stain. Ah, a premonition of death. I should want to die before my body is torn in two.
    Her jaw was wrenched open and a rag was stuffed into her mouth to deny her the easy out of swallowing