Cien held his hand out to his cousin and waited. Alex looked down at the hand in front of him and then up at his cousin, confusion on his face. "Give it to me, Alex." Alex watched him carefully for a moment, the torch in question, burning nearly silently in his raised hand. Finally he must have seen what he expected to see, because he sighed and shook his head at Cien.
"I canna cousin."
"Give me the torch, Alex," Cien commanded softly, anger seeping into his voice.
"Nay. You still care for the witch. This is the only way." Alex stepped around Cien and bent to light the pyre.
"NO!" Cien screamed and rushed at Alex. But he stopped. His sudden stop made Cien stop and stare at his cousin. He stood slowly and turned to Cien. An arrow stuck out from his chest. Somewhere in the crowd a woman screamed. Her scream was followed by others.
Alex dropped to the ground in front of Cien, staring down at the thing in his chest, almost as if he couldn't believe it was stuck in his chest. Maybe he couldn't believe it. Cien looked up at Regan in disbelief. For a split second he thought she'd done it until he saw her. She was blowing at her feet hastily. She was going to hyperventilate. Behind her, he saw two of his men shooting arrows into the soldiers.
Looking back at Regan, he realized why she was blowing so hard at her feet. Alex had dropped the torch on the kindling of the pyre. It was quickly engulfing the dried wood at her feet. "Regan!" Her eyes darted up to his and they had a perfect moment of understanding. She was not going to die, and if she did, he'd die trying to save her.
Regan quit blowing on the wood at her feet and began to struggle against the ropes on her hands. Cien rushed forward, jumping on to the pyre narrowly jumping past the growing flames. He pulled his dagger and sliced through the bonds easily enough.
