Chapter 26: Madam Mandrake

As the deformed medic’s group was rescuing the prisoners, another smaller detachment was sent away on an important mission. Led by a veteran knight, they were to follow Snowdrop to find a way out of the meadow. Every step they took were drenched in caution. As the abominations could come from anywhere, and that they did.

However, they soon ceased their hostility seeing their brother, Snowdrop. The Mutant leader tried to convince his brethren to turn to his side, to have a chance at being good. But the abominations all turned him down. “Mom… wo…uld be mad…” They would stutter.

“I’m sorry.’ Snowdrop would reply.

He then watched the knights ambushing his, ending their wicked lives. Every blow, every kill weighted heavy on his mind, but Snowdrop knew it had to be done.

“Why… why does everything have to turn out this way...” The Mutant lamented.

Snowdrop wanted for all of them to live under the sun, to be a part of society. There was still possible good in them, just like him. They were mere children, raised to be violent, taught to be brutal, bred in hatred and agony.

But their loyalty to the Madam was unbreakable. Even the group Snowdrop thought were on his side turned as soon as their mother beckoned.

At this rate, all of his siblings shall burn forever in the afterlife.

Despite the pain that thought brought to him, Snowdrop could not deny that they deserved so. True, their minds were of infants, made to kill. But it was also undeniable that they had caught a great deal of pain and suffering, and they had enjoyed every moment doing so.

‘What about me?’

Since he was young, mother had taught him compassion and kindness. She showed him that violence and murder were things to abhor, not enjoy. Yet, Snowdrop could not preach what he was taught. He was a Mutant through and through, even if the young boy despised it so. With these two hands, he had maimed and killed plenty.

Mind wracked with thoughts, Snowdrop led the group to the edge, where an old trading post lied. From here they could escape and warn the outside world. The Mutant leader had held up his end of the bargain.

And the Knights would do too. It was Snowdrop’s wish to forever get away from the raider’s life as per his mother’s wish.

But he could not find it in himself to walk away all by himself.

“Thanks, but I have something I need to do.” He told the Knights.

They accepted his reply and they parted way. Snowdrop sprinted away in search of a certain person. The only one who could let his brethren see the right path, the Mutant’s matriarch herself, Madam Mandrake. This meadow was wide, but Snowdrop believed that he would encounter her again. He left soon disappeared into the distance.

The trading post did not remain without a soul for long. Shortly after the raider had left, a single woman exited from her hiding place. However, she was surprised to find Snowdrop standing behind her.

“This road leads straight to the outpost outside, the best way out of this meadow.” The raider explained, this was why he had led the knights to this place. “So I thought you would go here as well… And that you would wait for an open, as you always do.”

It was just a guess, but it had paid off. Madam Mandrake was surprised by this sudden display of intelligence. While Snowdrop was not brainless like his siblings, strategy was still not his strong suit. The apple did not fall far from the tree after all. Despite her escape now compromised, Madam Mandrake could not help but be proud of this development.

“Will you kill me then?” She asked calmly.

“I will, if it is necessary, but I don’t want that to happen.” Snowdrop replied. “You can still stop this, let get out of here, together, all of us.”

“By ‘all of us’, you also mean your siblings. That, I cannot allow.”

The raider gazed into his aunt’s eyes to find a single hint of hesitation, but none could be seen. But why, Snowdrop did not understand. They could all live a life of peace, among normal human. Did Madam Mandrake thought the people would shun them?

Her answer could not be further away from his naïve thought.

“Those… creatures, they deserve to die, all of them, to burn in hell. You think that I would love them just because they came from my loin? No. They wormed their way in and teared me apart to get out, every single time.” Madam Mandrake suddenly broke character with fiery hatred. “I do not care if they are capable of good or not, I simply want them all to burn.”

Who was this person in front of him, Snowdrop wondered? He knew full well that the Madam was capable of horrible acts without any hint of hesitation. But she would always be that person standing in the background, blending into the surrounding, waiting. Not once had the raider ever seen his aunt showed any strong emotion.

Even when his mother was killed and his brother expelled, Madam Mandrake would simply stand behind him, completely silent.

Now, Snowdrop no longer knew what to expect. “Then what are you going to do… after you get out?” He questioned his aunt.

Having regained his composure, Madam Mandrake replied calmly. “Revenge, that is my purpose. You believe that the outside world is filled with opportunities and wonders, such poison that my sister had put into your mind.” For the first time ever, she spoke out loud of her true intent. “No, it was this world that left me and your mother to rot in that hell. They may look different, dress different, walk different and talk different. But let me tell you my dear Snowdrop, they are no different from what they call ‘raiders’.”

Madam Mandrake was a name given to her by the Mutants, once, she went by a different name, a different life. Born in a minister’s family, what awaited the twin baby girls was endless luxury. Furniture crafted from the finest wood, with marble pillars and walls, every part of their estate was enough to feed a family of five for a weak. But one closer look and it was not hard to see the place for what it really was, a gilded cage.

There, they would be taught not how to be a complete person, but to be the perfect wife. Two beautiful trophies to be given out as gifts, to save their family’s failing influence. Madam Mandrake loved someone once, a penniless trader with hope of grandeur. But he left her, promising to return one day when he had become successful.

It was never meant to be. Such a thing as love or happiness, they were bait dangled in front of a person to make them keep on pushing forward. In hope that one day, maybe one day, they would be fulfilled, and their miserable lives would be worth it.

The twins were meant to marry a prince and his brother, a young duke. But the Madam’s sister, however, had another plan. Always a free and spirited soul, she jumped on a caravan to get to her secret admirer, the person who would send her letters filled with passionate words.

But Madam Mandrake knew too well, that road led to a dead end. She could never tell her sister of the person behind the letters, a rich old trader with a taste for young beauties.

And so, she chased after the caravan, only to find the worst. It was hit by the fierce raider group, the Mutants. Her sister had seemingly escaped, but her eyes said otherwise. It was a trap to lure in any brave travelers, and Madam Mandrake was caught. What awaited them were a lives of pain and suffering.

Forever trapped in the dark, the sister had thought that the world outside was all happiness, that her secret admirer was still out there, waiting for her. Madam Mandrake wanted to be fooled as well, to believe in such hopes. But she could not, plagued by the knowledge that they had traded one cage for another. And now, only one of them remained.

Madam Mandrake walked towards Snowdrop and extended her hand. “My children might be monsters, but you aren’t. I left you out of my plan because I did not want you to be infected by that corrupting power.” She spoke with great care and warmth. “So join me, my niece, my flesh and blood. Together, we will take revenge together, at the world that left your mother, my sister, to die.”

Such a display of affection pierced through Snowdrop’s heart. For the first time, he realized how similar the Madam was to his mother, they were twin after all. Standing here at this moment, Snowdrop felt like a child once again. And in front of him was his mother, extending her hand out to him.

The raider reached out, but he soon clenched his fist. Oh how he had wanted to take her hands, but Snowdrop knew, it was not the right and just thing to do.

“I can’t… to inflect pain on others… mother would not want this.”

“And you would rather listen to someone who is now deep in the ground rather than your aunt? Unlike her, I am here, and I am reaching out for you.” Madam Mandrake questioned with a pained expression on her face. It was as if the rejection had struck her hard.

But Snowdrop was adamant, he would stick his ideal no matter what, the ideal passed to him by his late mother. “I’m sorry.” He told his aunt, giving her his definitive answer.

“I see.” Madam Mandrake said with great disappointment in her voice.

Snowdrop wanted to console his aunt, but in that moment, something was calling out to him. It was his instinct, warning the raider of an imminent danger. Out of pure reflex, Snowdrop dodged back just as a steel blade cut through his cheek.

“Rohan had trained you well.” Madam Mandrake remarked, holding a bloodied knife.

The mother Snowdrop saw was now gone without a trace. Not a single hint of emotion could be seen in the woman facing him. It was if everything was just a lie.

Even so, his heart still ached at the thought of hurting his aunt, his flesh and blood. But it must be done. Snowdrop drew the cleaver hanging from his hip, ready for a fight to the death.