9. A Killing Machine.

Winifred was inside a small room with Aquila, trying to feed her some food when she heard loud noises outside their house."The cat has been let out of the bag, head Priest! You have only five minutes to surrender, you betrayer!" She had heard a voice thunder before she immediately flew to her feet.

It had been days that looked like months to Winifred since she suddenly woke up in a universe she didn't understand. She had tried to think of all possible theories but none had made sense. It just didn't make any sense to be brought thousands of years back so she had simply decided to act normal and try to fit in till she could think up a solution.

Aquila had been quite normal for two days before she started to scream in pain for reasons that were blur to Winifred no matter how many times her father explained it. He had suggested that they try to take her to a hut he had built on one of his farms a bit faraway from the village this night and they had even planned on it.

But now, it seemed like the very worst her father was talking and panicking about was about to happen.

She rushed out of the building with her father on her trail as they both came face to face with angry faces and various weapons. Some of the men in the village had even started to wet the roof and grounds with gasoline and this was the point where Winifred started to get really terrified.

"Father, tell me that's just urine or better still, water." She said to the head priest who simply threw a glare at her in response.

"Oh, Winnie. It's not urine, neither is it water, it's gasoline. We would not hesitate to bring down this whole house if you do not confess your sins!" Alexander, as usual, spoke first.

Winifred had only used a few days in this new world and she already had someone she hated with so much passion, that person was Alexander. To her,, he was like that kind of character that was put in a movie just to make life hard for the Female lead at every turn. She found him annoying and always at the center of every bad thing that concerns her life.

"What sins are you talking about? Are you guys forgetting that this is the home of the... the... uhm... Father... what do they call you again?" Winifred whispered to her father as she forgot what he was called.

"Head priest?"

"Yes! This is the home of the head priest who is like a leader in this village! Don't you think treating him and his family, which is ....me... who is his daughter... like this is a sin too?!" Winifred blabbered on, acting confident and strong even though she was literally a puddle of water inside her and everything she said sounded like gibberish to the people in front of them who were just ready for war.

"We do not care about that! Nobody is above the law of the land! If he betrayed us and did something that is responsible for hurting this village, then his title is as good as nothing!" Alexander spoke again, getting on Winifred's nerves even more.

"Why do I feel like you have something against us, huh? What is your problem with us, with me? Is this about me turning down your advances?Aren't you just turning everyone against my family just to get some kind of stupid revenge? Isn't this some kind of framing?" She finally asked moving so close to him in a challenging position.

The villagers that were solidly behind Alexander before were now getting mellowed as they reduced their chants and stopped breaking things around the house. Alexander was scared that things were not going his way and the girl before him was starting to make it look like it was all something he plotted so he knew he needed to act fast.

"Oh! Are we doing this now? This is no pity party and nobody is trying to frame you for anything and I'll prove it!" He said as he bypassed Winifred and even bumped so hard into the head priest without any care in the world such that he stumbled.

All the statements that the head priest was saying kept going over the people's head as they now started to chant very loudly and had continued to break more things.

Winifred remained where she was, her feet was rooted to the ground and she kept praying for some kind of miracle that would just make Aquila disappear at that instant or at least make her invisible for a while. She started to contemplate running away from the scene and just saving herself while she can, there was a little opening in front of her and if she ran fast, nobody would be able to catch her easily but before she could make any decisions, she saw Alexander dragging out Aquila with her hair without mercy.

Aquila was now also looking so different and devilish, she had hairs on her skin and animal like claws on her finger nails and toe nails, her eyes were bulging out and her teeth were starting to look like fangs, even Winifred was terrified at her at this point.

Upon seeing this, the women had started shouting even louder while the men started to light the house on fire.

"Look at the beast that our so called head has being hiding under his roof, people. Look at the huge betrayal that this old man has done. I say take a look at what has been the cause of anger from God. Take a look at what has been making us suffer in this village these past few days! All caused by no one but the person who is supposed to be our head." Alexander chanted as the villagers got angrier at each of the statements he pulled.

Within a twinkle of an eye, Winifred had been knocked to the ground and some men had started to tie her hands to her back with some kind of rope. When she looked to her right to check on her father, the same fate had befallen him and even worse, he was getting stomped on without mercy and she didn't know when her voice started to scream as she shouted and pleaded with them to take it easy with him even though it all went past their ears and they continued nonetheless.

Aquila on the other hand had been tied with something different, it was a huge chain that had been rubbed with Wolf's bane. Before they could even say any other thing, their house was already covered in huge flames and smoke as the men started to drag them towards the village square.

As soon as they reached, Aquila was dragged towards a part where a cut tree was and forced to stay put there while the head priest and Winifred were placed on either sides of her with the villagers facing them.

"We are not going to adjourn the judgement this time! No, we would not wait till it's dawn this time around, we are going to pass their judgements this same night! My fellow people, are you with me?!" Alexander asked eliciting an excited and loud 'yes' from the villagers.

"The head priest's family have committed a huge sin. One that can never be forgiven, one that they need to be punished for! A beast is a beast, whether or not, he was once an human. For a human to be turned into a beast, he must have committed a huge sin, he must have lived a bad life for the beast to have chosen him, hence, he's the one at fault and he deserves to be killed, I say all of this in accordance with the laws of the land! So let's get to it!" Alexander said as some men began to drag Aquila towards something Winifred thought she didn't see there before.

Never in her life did Winifred ever think that she would see that killing machine outside of a museum and never at all did she think she would witness one being used and on someone she knew at that. It was one the killing machines that they were taught about in history classes, it was said to be specially designed to carry executions by beheading. The device was made of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top, it was a guillotine. As shown and explained to them in class, a person known to be the criminal is secured with stocks at the bottom of the frame, positioning the neck directly below the blade. The blade is then released, swiftly and forcefully decapitating the victim with a single, clean pass so that the head falls into a basket or other open object below.

Winifred was petrified, she didn't know when she started to scream on top of her lungs. She watched as they placed Aquila's head in the hole after holding her hands back and then before she knew it, the blade dropped at high speed from the high top and landed on Aquila's neck.