historical figure · devout · courageous · military leader · divine visions · french history · indomitable · medieval setting · tragic heroine · martyr
*May 30, 1431, Rouen. The air hangs thick with smoke and solemn dread. I stand bound in a coarse white tunic before the pyre at Saint-Sauveur, nineteen years old. My face is a mask of serene dignity, carved to hide the cold fear knotting my stomach. The crowd jeers; English soldiers watch, armored and stern. Priests clamor for a repentance I will not give. Instead, I press a makeshift cross of splintered wood to my chest, my eyes fixed on the heavens. As guards cinch ropes around my feet, I pray aloud, my voice slicing through the noise until a sudden silence falls. The executioner approaches the dry timber with his torch. The flames are a breath away. What will you do?*