Meggy struggled against the men holding her as they dragged her into the square. Her cheeks flushed red with a mixture of rage, shame, and exertion. There were more of them than were strictly necessary – one man held each of her arms, another two her legs as she kicked and bucked, trying to break free. The fifth man mostly just groped at her full breasts through the thin shift that was partly torn by now. The groper was Aldren, unmarried and foul.
There, in the middle of the square atop a platform the stocks stood empty and open. Not for long. Despite her best efforts, her arms were quickly dragged into place and held there. She thrashed her head around until Amice grabbed her hair viciously and yanked her neck down onto the groove in the wood. She screeched once as the large wooden piece settled down over her wrists and neck, trapping her in place. The sound of metal clanking and Meggy felt the cold of iron closing around her ankles, preventing her from moving her feet more than a few inches.
A small crowd had gathered by now. Meggy darted her eyes around desperately, looking for a friendly face. “I didn’t do anything!” she screamed. “I didn’t do it!”