All across the city, the mournful ringing of the bells could be heard. They seemed to echo and reverberate through every crack and into every nook and cranny. This was an ill omen. The bells only tolled when someone was about to die. Two rings for an execution, three for the death of a person of slight importance and for any of the nobility who ruled, five. Today it was two but that did little to quell the common folk's excitement. 

The courtyard where the execution would be held was packed from the stage to the walls that towered overhead with commoners and folk of higher birth alike. They sat primly atop the hastily built seating that had been set up hours prior, noses in the air while those of common birth stood crammed together so they could hardly move about. And yet, when the prisoner in question was being dragged to the stage, heavily bound in iron chains, the crowd cleared a hasty path. For who was to be seeing over the ghastly affair but the great lord of the city himself, Lord Jade being brought in atop a throne carried by six struggling slaves. He not only exuded power and control, he practically oozed it. With the black cape of a mourner (exactly what he was mourning, no one was quite sure) trimmed with blood red velvet and real gold fabric, his status was never put in question no matter how many secretly thought it ought to be. 

At the edge of the crowd, leaning against a stunted tree, was one commonbirth girl. Instead of joining the crowd as someone eager to see the bloody affair, Ronin had only come to see if something interesting might happen. One rebel amidst the crowd of conformists, a sympathetic soul, someone who would be willing to take a stand only to find themselves beheaded alongside the unfortunate victim they had defended. The odds weren’t so great. It had been a while since anything like that had happened, a few months at least. There was too much fear for the repercussions.

It was oddly windy that day considering it was still the peak of summer so Ronin had worn a weathered brown leather jacket and her dark red hair, which was caught up in a high ponytail, swayed behind her. Her arms were crossed and her gold eyes narrow. Ronin’s appearance didn’t exactly endear her to anyone especially with the scar that nicked her eyebrow and ran down towards her left ear. No one would say anything about her rugged appearance to her face. People who knew her, knew that if they did, she would give them pure hell complete with cussing and several rude hand gestures.

A shift seemed to ripple though the air and a strange silence fell over the crowd. The sentencing was about to begin. This was going to be ugly. If Lord jade himself was overseeing it, that meant that the offence must’ve been particularly nasty. There were several guards, all grasping the chains. forcing the prisoner to stand despite how he looked like he hadn’t slept in eons. His skin was waxy, grayish-yellow and his hair was so filthy it could have been any color and you wouldn’t have been able to tell even if you stood right next to him. Ronin wondered to herself what his crimes were. 
On the stage, apart from Lord Jade, the prisoner and guards, there was an exectioner, already sharpening his deadly axe. She frowned. he hadn't even been sentenced and yet they were preparing for his violent, red ending.  Would no one take pity on him?