A piercing scream scorched Libertha's ears as she was in the kitchen, trying to reach the glass cup that was by the cupboard of the large kitchen.
Immediately she heard the little scream of a little baby, she let go of the handle of the cupboard she held onto and dozens of glass cups came falling to the floor, shattering and smashing into pieces as they did but her interest was not in them.
Without looking back, she raced out of her kitchen and across the compound, sprinting towards the next building besides the kitchen where the sound of the baby cries had come from.
Her huge figure towered as she raced. She had an exceptionally tall body and wouldnt be hard to pass off as a male given her height and physique, but so was not jr case for her waist as they were slender, moving sideways themselves as she raced towards the building.
Panic gushed through her face when she reached the room and realized that the baby was no longer in the crib where she had left him in, and on the floor of the crib were traces of blood she could not tell where he came from.
At first,she wanted to force herself to believe that her baby had crawled off the crib by chance, giving his rapid growth and the curiosity that came with such inquisitive stages.
So she took a few steps backwards from where he crib was and moved further to where she believed her son would be. Babies loved colourful things, and she had made sure to make her late husband and daughters memorial post in the room colourful, that place now seemed like the only plausible space for her baby to have crawled to.
She lost her composure and calm when she reached the extreme end of the clouded room and discovered that her son was no where to be found in where she had expected.
Rushing back to his crib,she began tracing the blood stains and thinking of the possibilities of how it might have occured.
It was then it clinged in her brain and almost immediately it did, she rushed out of the room into the compound, standing in wait of who had taken her son to come for her as well.
She heard a baby's cry from the path that led to the walk down her house and it unmistakenly sounded alike her son's. So not wasting any time, she turned in the direction of where she had heard the voice from and began walking as fast as she could.
She sensed a shadow behind her as she walked on and paused.
Her house was open and she hadn't locked any of her doors, it doesn't seem as if the perpetrator of what was currently happening came to steal from her because if that was theeor mission,they by far had several opportunities to do so without stealing her son.
"What do you want?" She asked, convinced with no iota of doubt that someone was behind her.
But there was no reply from the other person and when Libertha turned to fight the person behind her with her strength, a piece of black clothing was run over her face and nose which she struggled with and in a space of few minutes,she got overpowered and fell unconscious to the floor.
Libertha's eyes opened at the sound of incessant noises and she was bewildered by the sight she beheld.
Why were all the people gathered down a platform she seemed to be on? She questioned herself as she struggled to keep her eyes open.
She noticed her arms being bound to something and she realized her head to notice that truly her hands had been chained with iron each to the legs of a punishment platform on top of the platform.
She recalled that place and immediately shot her eyes open with immediate alacrity.
This was where she usually executed people who were possessed by malicious demons. Because others were scared to do s and because she was the last demon executioner who hadn't run away like her fellows, it made recalling where she was easy.
She turned to stare behind her and there she found the king on a platform above the one she was on. He didn't seem moved that she was bounded hands and legs by chains to the wooden platforms where she mostly executed people.
Were they going to execute her too? The way she always executed demonic people?
The realization of the situation she was in was chilling.
"Kill her!!!! Kill her!!!! Kill her!!!!" The people screamed and this captured her attention, making her to face back at the front of her direction at ten people again.
She felt disappointed. These were the people she always fought for. The people she did everything to protect.
She was the only woman in the executioners list. Was that not good enough for them to respect her for? Even her male counterparts whom she had been trained alongside with in the past to become demon executioners for the kingdom all ran away. Only her stayed back.
She lost her husband and daughter to the demons. In her presence they got killed, in her presence she watched her precious daughter being tortured to death and there was nothing she could do about it,her she didn't blame them for it and neither did she come to seek revenge on them for not being able to help her protect her husband nor her daughter, so for what reasons were they planning to execute her now?.
As the thoughts of her Kate husband and daughter crossed her mind, it rung a familiar bell in her head immediately.
"My son" she screamed while trying to release herself from the chains that were used to bind her to the wooden platform.
"Where is my son?!!!!!" She screamed on top of her lungs for her to be heard as the people kept on screaming on the top of their own lungs for her to be killed.
She was dumbstruck. How could the people have changed that easily? Were they not he same people who always screamed her praises just days ago and for years.
They composed songs in her honour for how she was always swift in killing all the malevolent demons that were detected in the city. She made sure they were always kept at bay from them, to the extent she had been out to protect them the night her husband and precious daughter had been killed.
What could have gone so wrong for them to change that fast in the blink of an eye,all clamouring for her to be killed.
"I should be killed? What about all the demons that disturb our city every night, making us sleep afraid? Have you any demon executioners that have returned? Nooo!!! They all ran away!!! Who would protect you all after you kill me?? Who would save you all from the torturing screams of the demons that keep you awake every night? Who would be courageous enough to fight them,for your safety and those of your family?" She tried frantically to woo them back to her side.
The people had power and once they were together, nothing could put them assunder.
There was no time for her to discover who was behind this. She just wanted to find her son, the last of her family she had left. Since she couldn't protect the other and her husband, atleast she had to honour his dying promise of protecting this last one. He was all she was living for.
No one seemed to be listening to what she said as they continued to scream, "kill her!! Kill her?? Kill her!!"
Libertha got two eggs on her face.
She raised her head as the egg splattered on her face after the raw egg broke on her forehead.
She raised her head to the people again and was heartbroken by whom she saw that had thrown the eggs at her.
Memories came flashing her brain.
"My daughter,my only daughter.she is all that I have. Please help me save her. Please don't let the demon have my daughter" this same woman has pleaded in tears with her one night even the city had been attacked by a giant demon.
She had tried all she could that day to save the people from the tournament the demon attacked to set it on fire. But this same woman has stopped her, begging her to save her daughter who was in the room and she had been unable to carry out. Apparently,the demon had carried the child, wanting to squeeze the life out of her.
Libertha had been faced with an uncomfortable decision that day. To leave the child and burn down the tournament to save the others, or to save the child and face death.
She had closen the difficult choice. She had saved the child and returned her to her mother after suffering multiple injuries, and for that reason, that demon has borne resentments towards her after it got away.
And it had returned later to replace the girl she had taken from it with her own daughter and right in her presence. Yet this same woman who was part of the cause of her misery and sadness was the first person to condemn her by throwing eggs at her.
How could she? Libertha questioned her with her eyes. Teary with her still trying to keep them from falling.
"How could you?" She muttered under her breath as if the lady who was standing down the platform could hear her.
Why are they treating her this way? They could atleast tell her the faults and accusations for her to defend herself but no one was willing to. They are treating her as if she was some sinner. As if she was the worst human to exist.
A faint cry from the background brought her back from her roller coaster of emotions as the voice was very very awkwardly familiar.