@nolegacies
The free man must be born before freedom can be won, and the brotherly man must be born before full brotherhood can be won. It will come into being only if we build it out of our very muscle and bone - by trying to act it out. - Barbara Deming
The carriage wheels echoed through the streets of Nassau as Charles Vane sat on the back of it, shackled and subdued. Only his mind was free at the moment, free to carry out the thoughts in his head as he was driven to meet his final fate. He had once promised that Nassau would be free for as long as he had drawn breath, but on this day, it was about Nassau rising for their freedom in his final breath. This day would find itself coming to terms with revelation, revolution, and retaliation; retaliation against those who would subdue them in Charles Vane’s absence. This revolution in which he found himself the default leader of would come to fruition in his sacrifice to the cause.
He did not fear death, and had come to terms with it long ago that he would someday meet death face to face with open and welcoming arms should it come early or late in his existence. As he rode in the back of the carriage, sapphire orbs scanned the crowd; meeting the gazes of peers he’d had dealings with in all of his years as a feared Captain of the port. There were friends, enemies, former enemies, lovers, all gracing him with their presence in his final moments on this plane of existence. All of them would bear witness to the death of a man who fought tooth and nail for the freedoms they all possessed in this place they called home. All of them would know by the end of this gathering, the man at the end of the rope had died, so that they all could live.
Debris was thrown his way by townsfolk, falling off his shoulders like water falling from a duck’s feathers as they neared the town center in the carriage, and his expression stonewalled them all. He would not show fear, he would not show pain, and he would not give them the pleasure of breaking him when not even slavery could. As the carriage came to a full stop, he not once looked at the men who would string him up; not giving them the pleasure of acknowledgment. Instead, his gaze fell to Eleanor, giving her a knowing look as to how he had come to be in the position he was now in, granting not even her, the true feelings behind that cold, hard stare. And just like that, his gaze moved from her, to the ground, to others in the crowd, to anyone but the woman he knew could and had always broken him down, splintered him like a mast in a storm. That turmoil he was feeling inside of him, that crashing wave of anguish to know that the only woman he had ever loved had betrayed him for her own gain once again coming to pass through his mind, and although he had known that she would turn on him, he could not hold her accountable, only himself for ever loving her to begin with.
As he was read the list of crimes that the crown would be holding him accountable for, Vane’s eyes scanned the crowd once again in his attempt to save face and prove once more to the people of Nassau that he was unafraid. His eyes met those of Billy Bones, recognizing the look plastered on his features as he took into account the idea running through his mind. He had the idea many of them no doubt had in that moment and Vane held his gaze on Billy with narrowed eyed conviction to his cause. There were other men surrounding Billy, no doubt waiting for his signal to help aid Vane in an escape attempt should he wish for it to happen. But there would be no escaping this fate today, not under his command, and as Billy looked at him with the most curious of gazes, Vane soon saw his expression drop knowingly of what he was trying to do, and the general form of sadness overtaking him as he realized that Vane was sealing his own fate for the rise of Nassau.
Charles merely shook his head to Billy, and as the rope was tied around his neck after his final speech to the masses that had gathered, he felt a sense of pride in Nassau, the feeling of unease for him by the crowd, and the sheer tension in the air that could be cut with a knife it was so thickly apparent on all of them. The noose was tightened, hair moved away so as not to interfere with the looped rope around his neck, and for a brief moment of pause, he looked around one last time at the others. When the carriage driver was told to proceed, Charles lifted his head with a sense of pride, unrelenting courage, and a sureness that things would be free once again in the place he called home. As the carriage began to move beneath his feet, he walked one foot in front of the other as he edged nearer to the end of the support beneath his legs. Taking that final step, confirming the future of Nassau, he walked over the edge and dropped as the rope caught his fall, causing him to grunt from the impact, and his feet dangled helplessly, but did not seek refuge on the ground.
The rope tightened, strengthening its hold on his neck as it gripped his larynx tightly, the weight of his form pulling him toward the ground as gravity set in to finish the job. He felt the strain of it, not in his throat, but in his eyes, his temples pounding as the pressure of the rope against skin squeezed, blood coursing through his face as the veins in the sides of his head protruded from the blood pressure rising, being cut off from the rest of his body. All thoughts left him, but his eyes caught glimpses in between not blackness, but white hot light, of Eleanor standing, staring at him in those final moments. Regardless of the betrayal she still looked beautiful to him in that moment, and still held his attention in the way only she had ever been able to. Was that a flicker of fear in her gaze? It didn’t matter anymore, as the darkness started to overtake him, and he felt himself giving in to the damage the rope was doing as it cut off his brain from the rest of his limbs, numbing his lower body slowly, but still maintaining the agony of being unable to draw breath.
What a way to fucking go.
The thought loomed in his mind as blackness finally overtook him, and he fell unconscious. His body continued to jerk and twitch out of shutting down, spasms rippling through his form as his hands and legs shook.
