As I walked the gauntlet, stumbling and unsteady in my panic, the people shouted all sorts of taunts, curses, and filthy words at me. The same people I had vowed to give my life to protect were now gladly cheering on my death. Garbage and all manner of rotten things were hurled at me. Just when I thought the indignity couldn’t get any worse, from somewhere above, someone emptied a bucket of water on me. Well, I’d thought it was water. It turned out to have been a chamber pot.
We finally reached the scaffold. The boy had to help me mount the stairs because I was paralyzed with fear.
“Where is my lord? Where is the king?” I asked as they lashed my wrists to the pole. “Is he not supposed to witness such an act?”
“He was detained. But that is why I am here in his stead, to make sure the j
