The queen nodded to her people to let Keleah stand again. Her eyes were red, and blood spilled from her mouth.
“That is just the beginning. You will die soon, make no mistake. The end of your existence is quite near, but I’m going to have so much fun before that time comes.”
Jularra glanced at her men and forced her shoulders to relax.
“Bring her and follow me.”
As the queen began to turn, Keleah spat a large mouthful of blood onto her. Jularra nodded with understanding. As she reached for a scrap of cloth to wipe her face, her Bedrock and Spire shuffled to react.
“No, no,” the queen said calmly. “She can have that one. Come.”
With Keleah now in her possession, Jularra walked patiently back to the beginning of the hall and started down the stairs, tapping Vischuno on the shoulder as she passed him.
The small party soon emerged from the base of the residence tower. Jularra led them through the courtyard and past Latham’s corpse.
“Ah!” Jularra said, stopping and looking to Keleah. “This is your first time seeing your friend post-mortem! Care to say a few words, or, well…”
The queen offered a few muffled, throaty grunts in mockery of Keleah before continuing.
“…mumble something?”
Keleah silently stared down at Latham’s corpse. Tears streamed down her face.
“No?” the queen asked. She looked to her guards and then gestured at the corpse.
“If any of you need to relieve yourself, please feel free!”
A few Bedrock and a Spire stepped up, delightedly taking the queen up on her offer to cause pain to the traitor.
As the guards began to piss on Latham's corpse, Jularra made another request of her guards. “Anyone need to take a shit?”
A few small laughs rippled through the group, with some in the front shrugging.
“Oh well, then,” she said with slight disappointment.
Jularra craned her neck to obnoxiously catch the glance of the grieving Keleah. She held her eyes for a few seconds, then straightened back up.
“All right. Continuing on! If we still have an executioner available, have him meet us down at the Hole. If not, send me someone who is up to the task.”
Keleah continued to spit occasionally; not at anyone in particular, but simply to expel the blood from her mouth. There was still no talking, except for Keleah’s indecipherable whimpers and mumbles. As they weaved their way in and out of smoking rubble and uncollected bodies, resting guards and fighters would stand and walk up to the group before cursing at Keleah or spitting on her.
“Draw it out, Your Majesty!” one Spire shouted.
A different fighter spat on Keleah’s face before following with his own comment.
“Let there be no mercy for the bitch!”
The queen made no reply, nor did her guards.
As they approached the Hole, Jularra’s mind was clear and confident. Hate and contempt had her full attention, and for once she had no regrets at allowing it to consume her. Whatever was about to take place, she knew Keleah deserved it.
Jularra still had not decided what fate would consume Keleah’s final moments, but she signaled for her guards to bring Keleah up to the platform where most executions were carried out. Jularra herself walked to the middle of the platform with her hands on her hips, weighing the various options available to her. She stood with her back to the rest of the group, slowly shifting her head from side to side as she tried to decide what would be the most horrific way to kill Keleah. She heard sounds of a growing crowd and turned around.
Though she wasn’t surprised, she saw the bulk of her remaining Bedrock and Spire gathering at the base of the execution platform. She nodded slightly in solemn understanding. Her people deserved to see this. As she was about to address her people, she saw an executioner starting to make his way through the crowd.
“The imminent execution of Keleah will be as grotesque and obscene as I can fathom,” she rumbled to the crowd. There was no response. Each person there held a proper respect for the situation. The queen continued.
“I trust you will not judge me too harshly, and I hope each of you will be able to realize a clear conscience after you bear witness to this sight. We do not know what justice may take place in the next world, but some betrayals justify the harshest punishment in this world, first.”
The silence from the crowd remained as Jularra stepped towards Keleah, before returning to the edge of the platform.
“This mediocre, common slab of shit, who has accomplished nothing and will never be remembered for anything, conspired to have our city destroyed. Our people, killed. Our culture, exterminated.”
The crowd grumbled and stirred as the executioner reached the top of the stairs and stood next to the queen. Some from the crowd gesticulated at Keleah. A few began to hurl clumps of rocky mud at her. The executioner held up his hands, encouraging restraint.
Jularra spun and marched to within inches of Keleah's face, continuing to shout so that everyone could still hear.
“But she failed! I am alive! You are alive!” she screamed while whipping her arm around at the crowd. “Our city still stands! And while we still live, all meaningless scum who conspire against us will meet similar fates and be erased from history!”
The crowd bristled, until someone finally screamed a motion of judgment.
“We’re with you, Queen Jularra!” a voice shouted. “Destroy the slut!”
With that, the crowd erupted into roars or primal excitement. Some at the edge of the platform shouted to where Keleah could hear them specifically.
“You’re about to die! Ha!”
Others joined in a repetitive chant of, “Kill her! Kill her!”
With a final glance at the crowd, the queen turned to the executioner and nodded at him. She then signaled for him to follow her to a nearby chest. The chest held numerous torture and execution implements. Jularra kicked the top off the chest and
