In the Stocks

Melissa sighed. She could do the washing up, she supposed, but she wasn't inclined to go along with these villagers either. She also felt obligated to support Fred against the villagers. Maybe this was a bit surprising considering that Fred was a member of a rich power elite that probably didn't treat the common people very well (Melissa had a graduate student in history in her own time), but she knew that Fred was basically a decent man and didn't deserve the treatment he was getting. "That goes for me too," she said.

There was certainly one thing they had in common, Melissa reflected as several burly villagers grabbed them and pushed them out of the tavern. They were both too proud for their own good. It seemed to be a day in near the end of summer, with the sun hot enough to fry an egg. Not an ideal day for being put in the stocks, if there was such a thing, but at least it wasn't in the winter, so they wouldn't freeze to death. A short but heavily muscled and imposing man who was probably the village constable watched over them with several hulking guards. They were shoved into the stocks and it was clamped down on them. The jeering villagers crowded around them. Several spat at them and some threw rotten vegetables. "You will hear from the King for this!" spat Fred.

"The King! Ha!" said one of the villagers. "When a plague of insects devoured our crops, the King did nothing! When the Dragon that lives in the nearby caves burned our fields and stole our children, all the King did was send a cowardly knight who ran off as soon as he found a pretty girl!"

"That's no pretty girl!" shouted an old woman. "That's a witch! It could even be the Dragon itself!"

Fred did not answer the crowd, but simply glared at them, his eyes burning with hatred. He looked at Melissa and his heart swelled with admiration at how courageously she handled the hatred of the crowd. She herself, however, felt like she was going to break down at any minute. This was almost as bad as high school.

1. After an ordeal of several hours, they are let out--although the villagers despise the King, it seems they still fear his wrath.
2. A hooded man enters the crowd and starts asking questions about them.

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