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The two young victims were pulled out into the middle of the town square by a pair of soldiers, forced to march towards the awaiting scaffolds. One was crying out for mercy, begging his captors to release him, while the other pulled at the soldier leading him as he was forcefully dragged to his demise.

"Please, I didn't say anything! Mercy! Please, I didn't do it!"

"It was food... I only took enough to feed myself, you fucker! My shop was raided, I didn't have anything... how can you do this?!"

Their pleas went unanswered - the gathered crowds not daring to show sympathy as the regiment of soldiers keeping them in place would not take kindly to sympathisers. The villagers stood around, knowing what was about to happen but not willing to risk being absent. The small group of streets and buildings that made up the town had become a centre of operations for the regional radical militia. Anyone seen to aid "their enemies" or not show proper respect was likely to wake up to their house on fire or their wife being stripped and abused while they looked on with a gun pressed to their throat. The two young men eventually stood beneath the high beam of the gallows, their hands lashed behind them as their executioners approached - two large lizards with unusually long tails and the thick, muscular build of a weight-lifter.

The local commander called out to the crowd as the two long-tailed lizards slowly pulled themselves up onto the cross-beam, using their strong arms to hoist themselves smoothly up to perch on the thick wood.

"Behold as our betrayers are killed, like the mongrels they are, without honour or pride. Behold what happens to all enemies of the state. For their wicked crimes they will die - like all traitors and dissenters to the True Cause. How pitiful their actions are, for nothing will stop our righteous war from succeeding!"

"Please no! NO! PLEASE!"

The smaller of the two victims, a scrawny raptor whose blue feathers lay crumpled and dirty, broke down crying - almost falling to the ground, held up only by the dragon guard holding him in place - as he realised there was no escape now. His tail curled between his legs in fear as he cried out for mercy, his throat heaving as he sobbed in terror. His fellow captive merely stood in shock, still hoping it was a perverted joke or a horrifying nightmare, his rage fading as he realised what fate awaited him. At a signal from the commander, the two muscular lizards hunkered down on top of the wooden scaffold's beam and stretched out their prehensile tails, wrapping them around the necks of their charges and tightening them into a coil that would hold them in place - one having to signal the waiting soldier to hold the crying and thrashing raptor in place as his shifting was disturbing the lizard's grip. As the cries for mercy grew into hysterical wails, the two muscular lizards pulled themselves upwards, lifting the bound prisoners off their feet, causing their cries to turn into gurgled chocking as their bodies flexed and legs kicked to escape the deathly embrace of the strong tails around their throats. The two lifting lizards made barely a grunt as they bore the weight of the now hanging men, carefully tensing their legs and gripping the tall post of the gallows to hold themselves steady while their victims slowly died, focusing only on maintaining their grip and counter-balancing the swinging loads. The one lifting the still thrashing raptor moved his foot down to grip the raptor's face, curling his long toes along the raptor's muzzle and spreading desert dust along the young criminal's scales - helping to keep him from swinging so violently.

The two dangling bodies kicked and flexed, tails lashing and toes curling, as the thick band of muscle around their necks squeezed their windpipe closed. The kicking and struggling of the two latest victims slowed and dark stains began to appear as urine soaked through their loose-fitting pants. Their faces darkened into perverse grimaces as their executioners tightened their grip - crushing the windpipes and blood vessels caught within. Spittle dripped from the swollen tongues and dribbled down the flowing tunics the victims wore. The silence of the grim scene was disturbed only by the flapping of the army flags above the gallows as the two soldier guards looking up at them with evil grins, the crowd of herded civilians forced to look on as two more lives were taken in the name of the "True Cause" as the harsh desert sun baked the hard clay of the town square. No one dared look away or try to leave as they knew the militia would use any excuse to punish them. Today they would watch as petty criminals died, and tomorrow the square would hold the weekly bazaar, where the militia would probably take anything they wanted "for the good of the Cause" - including women.

Once the bodies stopped swinging and lay still - the occasional twitch of a tail or curl of a toe-claw being the only movement from the random muscle contractions of the warm bodies - the two long-tailed lizards relaxed their grips and allowed the bodies to fall with a dull thud onto the wooden platform, the two forms landing in an awkward heap. The waiting guards moved in to confirm the kill as the lizards smiled at each other and looked down at their work - grinning evilly as they admired their work.

"Shano, this infidel is still alive" one guard said, pushing his foot into the raptor's face as he looked up at the lizard who began to climb down from his perch. "You are getting sloppy in your work. This is the third guy you failed to kill?"

"Shut up! And get out of my way; I never leave a job unfinished", the large lizard said as he towered over the guard and hunkered down next to the still barely breathing raptor. He placed two large hands on the raptor's head, one on each cheek, before planting a knee into the raptor's gut to keep him steady as he twisted as hard as he could. With a sickening "snikd" sound of popping joints, the raptor's head was twisted sharply. Shano re-positioned his grip and twisted again, the raptor's head almost going full circle on top of his now broken neck.

"There. Satisfied?" Shano said, moving away from the warm corpse - the raptor's head still bent at an impossible angle on top of his rubbery neck - as he heard his comrade laughing at him while attaching a noose to the centre of the beam he was still perched upon.

"You always seem to go too far or under-perform, Shano. Maybe you should retire?" the guard said, pulling the raptor to the side of the platform as his colleague dragged the dead dragon to the same position.

Once the noose was in position another rather feminine lizard was lead out to the platform. His stride was even and calm, despite the journey ahead of him. He looked reserved beneath the veil he wore, his eyes dry and shoulders slumped. He did not struggle or even make a sound as he was roughly shoved onto the waiting stool and the noose was pulled over his head and tightened behind his neck.

"Behold what happens to those who indulge in buggery and sodomy! This whore will die, before the village that he defiled with his wicked acts of heathenism. Such is the will of the True Cause."

"You coward, that kills your own neighbour. You devil, that thinks any action they take is just-"

A loud slap rang out as the commander struck the condemned with a vicious back-hand, causing him to almost fall from the stool he stood on.

"I'll show you, bitch. No one speaks to me like that. See what happens to those who support traitorous trash like the dogs now lying dead before you! None will stand against our will!"

As soon as his shouts finished, the commander kicked the stool out from under the feet of the lizard twink. His body swung back and forth as his legs kicked and tail convulsed. He quickly recovered his stoic appearance, face darkening but his limbs staying still as he swung from the rope that choked him. He could barely hear the commander yelling at the crowd to look at his dying form, the thunder of blood rushing in his head drowning out the words. As the pounding grew louder and his bloated tongue fell out of his mouth, the dying lizard opened his blood-shod eyes to take in the sight of the silent crowd before looking up at the rich blue of the bright sky - watching as the bright sun faded as a black tunnel covered his already blurred vision. Soon, his body hung still, his tail cramping and curled as his shoulders trembled in the final throes of life - and then were still. His body was left hanging as the two other corpses dragged away and thrown onto the back of a pickup truck. The commander sounded off the first line of the militia's anthem, and the gathered executioners and soldiers soon picked up the tune, followed by the nervous crowd that were coerced to endure the grim executions in this small village at the edge of the desert.

The two executioners stood on the platform until the militia commander approached them with small pouches of coin.

"Thank you for your work. Your duty for the cause is respected, and your work should be lauded by those that follow the Right Path. Please accept this humble gift."

"Thank you, commander. Same time next week?"

"Of course. And next week, don't let go so quickly, Shano"