I stayed up late after devouring a large meal on account of having taken a nap during the day. After I finished up polishing, sharpening, and in some cases dulling my weapons and tools I took a trip to the outhouse, then went back to my cabin and tried to find something to do to occupy myself. I ended up thinking deeply, perhaps too deeply, about my recent actions and mission performance. The only reasonable conclusion I can make about my chances of success at this point is that they are minimal, I thought, I have to accept that I have a tendency to rely on my operator for long-term planning and objective setting, which is actively harming my chances since I have no way of contacting it now. It was a weakness, a thing to be hated and excised, but a weakness that I could not easily remedy because it concerned my own mind and behaviors.

I opened the window on the back of my cabin, letting cool air flow in to help offset the heat from the lantern which was lighting it. Listening to my body wasn't something I wanted to do often but the silence and lack of other pressing issues made its silent protestations more obvious. Some sweat condensation here, some flushing there, all of them indicated that I was slowly overheating myself. I guess some of the heat must also be from the physical activity, I thought, either way I can tell that I need to cool off. I took my shirt and breastplate off to help myself cool down, then began slowly hammering a few minor dents out of the breastplate with the back of my axe.

The open window turned out to be a good decision for more reasons than one. A few minutes later I heard a noise from outside my cabin, then another. I couldn't quite tell directionality because the sound was coming in from a window, but I guessed that it was coming from the front and not the back. Curious, I extinguished my lantern to darken the cabin and walked to my front window, cracking the bottom left flap just enough so that I could peer outside. The sound was much more clear from the front, so much so that I could make out what it was.

“...proof, could just be a misun...” I heard a man's voice say, growing just loud enough to be heard clearly around the middle of his sentence.

“...plain the rest then,” another male voice replied, “you heard Zyoyf, nothing was missing.”

“He could have just found it,” the first voice protested loudly. A shushing noise hissed out from someone and the voices fell silent. That's not great, I thought as I backed up to the table and began putting on my breastplate and gear. I had been through enough situations like the one I was now finding myself in to know exactly what was about to happen and why. Being honest, I'm not sure this outcome was avoidable, I thought, at least not once I killed Ahpoyt.

With my gear on I walked back to the window and peered out through the crack to see a number of guards, as well as the two town leaders, approaching my cabin carrying lanterns. Five guards only, I thought, do they expect this to go peacefully? The group stopped around five meters from the front of the cabin and the leaders stepped forward. The patriarch took a deep breath, loud enough for me to hear it from the window.

“Yuwniht of the forest men!” he bellowed. “Come out now!” Seriously? I scoffed quietly, if you thought you would need the guards you should have tried to take me by surprise. Unfortunately I wasn't in possession of any proper projectile weaponry. I also wasn't confident that I could open the front window and throw a spear fast enough to avoid retaliation. Furthermore, the confines of my cabin were too small to fight effectively in.

Instead, I opened the back window and crawled out as quietly as I could, making very little noise aside from the sound of my boots hitting hard dirt. I closed up the window behind me slowly and deliberately, then considered my options. I could run into the woods, which was a fairly good option, or I could try to resolve the situation with words somehow. As I was thinking, the patriarch called out again.

“Yuwniht of the forest men, come out of the cabin!” he called out, “We only wish to talk to you!” Yeah, I definitely believe you, I thought sarcastically. After the call-out I heard muttering, then the sound of boots stepping on dirt. They're coming around the back, I thought, I need to get going n-

“There you are,” a man said to my right. I turned and saw the face of Mpahray looking back at me. I considered attacking him but then heard another guard round the corner behind me, then the sound of wood bending. A swift check over my shoulder revealed that the guard had an arrow knocked into a bow with a large-looking draw weight pointed at me, albeit not yet drawn back. From this range it might go through the plate, I thought with gritted teeth as I stood up to my full height.

“What do you want?” I asked, trying to stall for time. The other guards, along with the leaders, came around the sides of the cabin and surrounded me. Two of the guards had bows drawn, and the remaining three held melee weapons, with Dayvao opting for a spear while Mpahray and Vowteyz wielded swords. The leaders themselves also had slender dueling blades on their left hips.

“Yuwniht of the forest men,” the matriarch said calmly from behind the guards, “there are some jhoyztpahneylzaob which we have discovered when investigating the corpse of Ahpoyt which you retrieved. We would ask that you accompany us to a more suitable location to discuss them.”

“We can discuss them right here,” I retorted, “I don't see how the location matters.” I noticed more footsteps around the cabin's front as we spoke. Reinforcements? I wondered.

“This is to be done properly-” the matriarch began before being cut off by the patriarch.

“Where'd you 'find' that head, freak?” he snapped.

“I told you, it was near a tree past the meadow-” I began to restate, but as I expected the patriarch was having none of it.

“We know you didn't find it where you say you did,” he growled with his hand on his sword's handle. “We also know where you probably did find it, and this is a chance for you to explain yourself while your head is still attached.” The threat made the situation as clear as it could possibly be, and I prepared myself for action.

“Where do you think I found it then?” I asked.

“Corpse paam nest,” Vowteyz replied curtly, “whole thing was covered in small nguhvb and vaocheylb, which means either Ahpoyt was digging through one of those nests before he died or, more likely, you were digging through one and found him.” So that infection comes from the rats, not just any corpse, I noted, mentally translating the new words to 'boils' and 'lesions'. I wasn't sure if I was correct, but I was sure the translation was close enough.

“I have no boils or lesions,” I said, holding up my hands, “does this not disprove the accusation?” The patriarch hissed, then spat on the ground.

“That spear you had when we darted you, where'd you get it?” he demanded. I knew they were going to notice that, I groaned internally.

“It was a gift given to me by my father,” I began lying.

“Your father lived in this village?” Mpahray laughed mockingly. “Who was he? Because that spear was made by Zyoyf, hands down. It even had his maker's mark on it.”

“Just tell the truth,” the matriarch urged. As they were talking, I was looking for openings in their formation. Dayvao, being a bit smaller than the others due to her young age, was an obvious choice of a first target. Not only that, I thought, but it's possible that being attacked again could trigger a psychological response since she apparently suffered trauma from me attacking her before. Warbreed were mostly immune to post-traumatic responses but those who did suffer from them never quite got over them. I assumed these humans were the same.

“Fine, I saw a dead man before I came to the village,” I said, spinning a probable story. “I didn't know it was him, obviously, so I took what I could from him and moved on. When you sent me out to fetch him, the description matched what I remembered, so I went and found the corpse.” It was mostly the truth, outside the fact that he was actually alive when I found him originally. My answer disgusted the humans as though I had said something inconceivable.

“Do you have no honor?” the patriarch spat.

“I don't see what honor has to do with any of this,” I replied.

“So you found the body where exactly?” Vowteyz asked. Though his voice was restrained, he sounded furious. Are they upset that I said I looted the body? I wondered, That's pretty unreasonable.

“I saw some rats- rather some rats near the area and decided to follow them to their nest,” I explained. “I dug it up and found the head, then kept digging and found the rest.” Once again the humans reacted with disgust and shock. I hoped that it was mainly disgust at the idea of digging into a “corpse rat” nest and not disgust with my actions, since that might mean they would consider letting me go peacefully.

“One more question,” the patriarch grumbled, “you said Ahpoyt was dead when you found him? How did he die?”

“Animal attack,” I responded immediately, “he was mauled by something large. I don't know the word for it.” I thought of the large animal which had chased me back to the cave when I was holding Ahpoyt captive and reasoned that whatever it was would have been powerful enough to kill a hunter.

“Ngaozm-shit,” the patriarch spat, “you lying npoyt, there's nothing in those woods that could kill a man like him.”

“I was chased by something one night, very large,” I said, “I didn't get a good look at it, but it could have been that. It stalked me through the darkness as well, it could have easily crept up on him. People make mistakes.”

“A naalfay,” Mpahray frowned. For a moment I had a bit of hope that I could salvage the situation.

“Naalfay fear fire, everyone knows that,” Vowteyz said in a tone that dashed my hopes. “Ahpoyt certainly knew that. They don't get within thirty paces of a campfire, even the smell of smoke can repel them. They also only hunt at night. There's no way he was killed by a naalfay.” Shit, I thought as I remembered the experience, I didn't have a fire then, but I think I had started one earlier in the cave. That's why it didn't come in.

“So do you want to try again, or do you want me to tell you what I think happened?” the patriarch asked. My mind raced, trying to some up with some kind of alternative explanation.

“Well something killed him and ripped the body-” I began, outwardly showing confusion.

“I think you killed him,” the patriarch interrupted coldly. “I think you took him by surprise and killed him for sport, then took his belongings. I think you fed the body to the rats to get rid of it and then eventually found Suwlahtk. I think you're lying through your teeth, and that you're a wild animal that just enjoys killing. I saw you brutalize that merchant and his guards, and it was clear to me then. So, what do you think?”

“There's no proof of that,” I replied calmly, “I'm telling you that he was dead when I found him. Why would I have retrieved his body for you otherwise? You can’t be seriously trying to accuse me of murdering him.”

“Oh that is exactly what I am doing,” the patriarch retorted with a malevolent smile.

“Yuwniht of the forest men,” the matriarch announced, “I have heard your explanation and deem it eylzeymoyzsaatmayao. You were suspected of the murder of Ahpoyt Wawpjhyaal, and I have determined that you are guilty. The punishment for this crime is death by jhoytaanoymihdeyl in accordance with Uwrish law, though due to your own situation and potential lack of understanding of your crime I do offer to you the alternative punishment of koynoydh and exile. Should you accept this punishment you must surrender all possessions of your own to the custody of Suwlahtk immediately, upon which time you will be brought to the town center, restrained, koynm precisely sixteen times per daylight hour for no less than fifty days, and then banished. You may make your choice.”

“To be clear, you are violating our mutual pact of non-aggression,” I said flatly. Though my exterior was calm, internally I was already planning my next actions. I don't know what koynm is, but I can't spend fifty days sitting around here, I thought, besides, if koynm means what I think it means, that's just a slower method of execution.

“I never should have allowed it,” the patriarch spat. “You can't make a civilized deal with an animal. What a farce.” You're certainly right about that, I thought, then I drew my knife from its back holster in one swift motion and dashed at Dayvao.