Joan of Arc’s Death at the Stake – Hermann Stilke, 1843
“The kingdom is mine.” From between cracked lips she whispered, as the pyre caught ablaze and the mob fell silent.
He heard her. He should have ignored her, for the mumblings of heretics should not concern kings.
He should have kept walking, dusted his hands free of the soot, turned his back on the orange fingertips of flame that already stroked her skirts.
Instead he turned, a sneer on his face.
“Say that again, peasant. And louder, so I may hear you.”
She did, and she was right. The mob bayed, the guards were overrun.
She died, a blazing icon, seared on their memories.
He died, his head on a pike.
.
.
Written for BeKindRewrite.
chris white writes 
The tension is built well and the right amount of detail is left out allowing our creativity to take control
Glad you liked it! Thanks for stopping by.
She is remembered! Love the poetic justice of the last two lines.
Thanks, Steph!
I agree with Stephanie – the 2 lines that preceded them were equally as good!
Cheers, Troy – glad you liked it!
Ooh, this feels very real. I like how she has such power even from a position of helplessness. The King should have learned a bit of humility before he tried to preach it
Thanks Elmo – unfortunately for us common folk kings don’t often show much humility! And often those who seem helpless have power – we just need to unleash it (we always outnumber them!)