Hangman's Wages E-Book

Cora Buhlert

• Herausgeber: Cora Buhlert
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Germany in the Middles Ages: Ulrich, executioner to Count Dietmar of Finsterwalde, finds his workload unexpectedly doubled, when Count Dietmar orders him to hang Anna, a young thief caught picking pockets during the public execution of a notorious bandit.Ulrich feels sorry for Anna, but orders are orders. And so he leads the terrified Anna to the hanging tree, determined to make sure that she suffers as little as possible. But as he places the noose around Anna's neck, Ulrich finds that she touches his heart like no one before her.But how can he save Anna, when the merciless Count Dietmar has already ordained her death?This is a short medieval romance of 3300 words or approximately 12 print pages altogether.

Leseprobe

Hangman’s Wages

by Cora Buhlert

Bremen, Germany

Copyright © 2015 by Cora Buhlert

All rights reserved.

Cover photo by Piotr Marcinski

Cover design by Cora Buhlert

Pegasus Pulp Publications

Mittelstraße 12

28816 Stuhr

Germany

www.pegasus-pulp.com

Hangman’s Wages

The girl shivered in her thin linen shift. She was young, barely twenty years old, and pretty to look at. And stupid, too, Ulrich reminded himself, lest he be overcome by compassion. Truly, she’d brought her fate on herself. And for that she would die.

She was a thief, a pickpocket who’d been stupid enough to ply her trade among the crowd that had come to see Count Dietmar of Finsterwalde and his new bride visit the town of Goldenburg. Even worse, she’d managed to get herself caught. And so the soldiers had dragged the struggling girl before the Count.

Count Dietmar had been less than pleased. He’d made a name for himself as a strict ruler who persecuted and punished criminals to the fullest extent of the law. And he certainly wouldn’t show any mercy towards a little thief, no matter how comely she was.

And so the Count had taken one look at the girl, as she was forced to her knees in front of the dais where he was seated with his new bride. Then he turned to Ulrich who was standing beside the Count, clad in his black executioner’s garb.

“We do not tolerate thieves and other malefactors in the Grafschaft of Finsterwalde,” the Count said, not even sparing the girl another glance, “Make sure that she’s hanged for her crimes, once the day’s entertainment is over.”

The day’s entertainment and the reason why Ulrich had come to Goldenburg at all was the public execution of the infamous bandit Black Berthold who had terrorised Finsterwalde for months, before he was finally captured and sentenced to death by breaking on the wheel.

As soon as Count Dietmar condemned the little thief to death, Ulrich seized the girl. For the briefest of moments, their eyes met and Ulrich saw a mix of defiance and despair in hers. Then the moment passed, Ulrich bound her hands and made her kneel before the scaffold while he attended to Black Berthold. A bloody business it was, too, for it took several thrusts of the heavy iron-bound wheel before Black Berthold finally expired.

Ulrich prided himself in his skill and efficiency as well as his utter lack of compassion. When a condemned prisoner was brought before him, he did his utmost to put them to death without any undue suffering. Alas, he never allowed himself to be moved by cries for mercy and executed his office without any emotions at all.

Yet while he brought the heavy wheel down on Black Berthold’s limbs again and again, Ulrich found himself stealing the occasional glance at the little thief, as she knelt before the scaffold, head lowered so she would not have to see the bandit’s final suffering.

Long dark hair fell to her shoulders and the thin linen shift outlined the gentle curves of her body. Yes, she truly was a sweet little thing.

The priest who had given the last rites to Black Berthold was with her now, praying and urging the girl to confess and repent. Good. At least, the girl wouldn’t have to go to the scaffold without the comfort of the church.

When Black Berthold had finally drawn his last breath and the Count’s soldiers busied themselves with tying his mangled corpse to the execution wheel for public display, Ulrich stood before the Count and bowed.

“Come to my treasurer for your payment later on,” the Count said.

“And the girl?”

“Is a thief and must be hanged.”

“I’d prefer to do it outside the city gates, far from prying eyes,” Ulrich said. Actually, he would prefer not to do it at all. In five years as a hangman, he had only executed a mere handful of women and he had never liked it. “The townsfolk get up to all sorts of mischief, particularly when the condemned is a woman.”

“Do with her as you please,” the Count said with a dismissive wave of his hand, “Just make sure that she pays for her crimes.”

Ulrich bowed to the Count and seized the little thief.

“Come on, girl. Time to die.”

An hour later, Ulrich was riding across the bridge just outside the town. The little thief was trotting after him, dragged along by the rope that bound her hands.