Llew spent three days in a cell, with Kynas in the cell next to her; long enough to make sure everyone knew there would be a hanging. She refused to talk to him, no matter how much he apologized, and determinedly looked everywhere but through the bars at him. He knew her better than anyone, and the betrayal was all the worse for that.

There would be no trial for either of them: the accusation was enough. ‘Cleaning up the streets’ they called it. In any case, since Kynas’s accusation someone had come forward about the body in the alleyway and had positively identified Llew as the killer. Or Kynas, maybe. They hadn’t quite been sure which of the two they had seen, but they had definitely seen one of them. Maybe. It didn’t matter. The gallows were going up before they’d even walked into the gaol.

As the sun cleared the tops of Cheer’s roofs on the morning of the fourth day, Llew and Kynas were dragged and pushed through a crowd of excited locals only too eager to spit at the filthy killer-urchins as they passed. The two were forced up the steps on to the stage of the gallows where they stood trembling in the cold air while the charges against them were solemnly read out.

The Farries had dressed Llew in a long, heavy skirt a couple of sizes too big for her, and a thin, floaty blouse, which they had tied in at the back to emphasize what femininity she possessed. A girl being hanged drew a larger crowd than a boy. Rarity, she supposed, and some kind of thrill.

The charge of theft was fair – they had both been carrying stolen purses at the time of their captures – but Llew took offense at being accused of stealing and killing livestock. She had a good relationship with a local farmer, and she caught fish which she regularly swapped for a little beef. She didn’t need to steal the beasts themselves.

Looking out over the crowd, she saw that very farmer watching from a few rows back. He looked less angry than the rest of the crowd; perhaps even a little saddened. Would someone actually miss her when she was gone? Llew gave a brief smile to him and he returned it with a pained look of his own. Suddenly he turned and pushed his way back through the crowd. There was no shortage of people to fill the space he left. Llew recognized a couple of men that her father used to drink the evenings away with, and there was Japod, his face still bruised. He grinned at her and she tore her eyes away. How could he smile to see his old friend’s daughter about to be hanged?

But, as she unwittingly caught a glimpse of her gallows-mate out the corner of her eye, Llew wondered what friendship really meant. You found people as lonely as you to whittle away the hours with, and if you trusted them, if you let your heart rest with them, they left, just as Llew’s ma and pa had done. Sure, they were most likely dead, but that offered no added comfort. And now Kynas had proved Llew right in her decision to hold back from giving her heart to another. That should have meant she was safe from him and his betrayal.

The crowd buzzed with excitement, jostling each other for the best view and sharing their opinions on the two thieves, murderers, and livestock sodomites (how Llew earned that charge, she couldn’t guess). People laughed as though they weren’t about to see two children – at seventeen, nearly eighteen, Llew would have been the first to proclaim her maturity, but now it seemed appropriate to lean the other way – lose their lives.

Charges and prayers read, the Farries turned to their captives and pressed them forward to the nooses. Then the hangman took over, guiding the first noose over Kynas’s head before turning to Llew. Kynas blubbered disgustingly, still proclaiming his innocence. Llew was inclined to believe him, but she couldn’t excuse him pointing the finger at her and still refused to look at him. The rope settled about Llew’s neck as she stared out over the crowd. This was all becoming too real. Sure, she didn’t like Kynas much anymore, but he didn’t deserve to die. She couldn’t look at him, but neither could she shut out his wailing.

The trapdoor fell away and Kynas hit the end of the rope, rattling the whole platform.

For a moment, Llew thought her world had fallen away with him. Her only friend in all the world hung limply from a rope beside her. She was all alone.

Parts of the crowd fell silent, while a small section cheered and then grew expectant.

Llew’s breathing grew fast as panic began to take hold. Her eyes swept the crowd. Would someone save her? Didn’t anyone believe she was innocent? She didn’t deserve to die! She’d stolen, a lot, but only to survive until the opportunity to live a more honest life presented itself. It wasn’t her fault that chance hadn’t come. Someone, someone. Please.

But she had no one.

The lever was thrown and she fell.