I couldn’t knock on the door of Bell’s new hosts and expect to be allowed inside. I put my sneaking boots on (metaphorically) and decided to probe the outside defences of the building. The manor was much smaller than the one I just came from. Rounding the edge of it was faster than I expected. Out back was a large garden that sprawled for at least a mile or two.

And sat in the middle of it, at a small metal garden table, was Bell. Two knights of the order stood on either side of him. I could tell even from here that he was feeling paranoid. Before I could create a plan of attack, Cali strode past me and started to descend the steps.

“Cali!”

I was forced to follow her. I didn’t know why she blew our cover like that, perhaps she sought a battle versus the two knights, or maybe she wanted to become a wanted criminal to ‘spice things up.’ Either way, she didn’t listen to me when I told her to come back. The knights got into a fighting stance as we approached.

Bell, for his part, managed to remain calmer than when I met him in the bar. Though that wouldn’t last for long. I was here to kill him before he slipped away again. He sipped from a small porcelain cup and shuddered from the taste. “I prefer beer,” he quipped as we walked up to the table. “Back again? I realized something last time, you’re all bark and no bite. You can’t touch me, not on this estate.”

“I have friends in high places Bell, how do you think I got in here?”

“That doesn’t matter. I have knights from the order watching me. You so much as touch me and your face will be plastered to the front of every bounty board in the Kingdom.” He was overstating the reaction for sure, trying to scare me away. Sull wouldn’t care if a rat like him ran into the consequences of his actions. I doubted that they’d even go to the effort of offering payment in return for my head. Bell was nothing but a liability, taking up space and time for no return.

Knights had their honour, but a lot of that was simply advertising, an outward perception created to keep their actions infallible. The people in charge were the same as any other organization. They didn’t care about honour – they cared about results, what their effort can give them in return.

I turned to the pair of guards who were watching. Neither of them looked experienced, and the young man on the left looked downright terrified. I pointed to him, “You. Give me an honest answer, would you die for this guy? Lay down your life to protect him from me?” His face soured. An idealist would declare that they would, that it’s their job as a knight to do anything to accomplish their mission but…

He wasn’t an idealist. He remained silent.

Bell was furious, “You’re meant to be protecting me! Lord Forester told you to!”

“Didn’t I already tell you Bell? You’re not one of them, you don’t have their protection. He probably told these two to stay out of the way of anyone who came to kill you. They’re worth more to him than a snitch who’s outlived his usefulness.”

“That doesn’t matter,” he growled, “You’re too much of a craven asshole to become a wanted criminal over me.”

“I’m starting to take on a new perspective. I don’t have much time left, so half-measures aren’t going to cut it anymore. I’m gonna’ do what I want, how I want. I’m going to outlive you, whether you die here today or not.”

Silence. We both knew that this was only going to end one way. One of us dead, and the other free to go. I could already see his hand moving. I stepped back as he withdrew a dagger from his jacket and swung wildly, hoping to catch me off guard and slit my throat. I reached over my back and recovered Stigma, the chair he was sitting on fell to the ground as he charged at me again. Neither knight had time to react. This was how we fought, dirty, quick, taking every advantage we could get.

But I’d grown.

Absorbing the abilities of others have turned me into a fledgling knight myself. Combined with my knowledge of moving fast and avoiding danger… Bell never stood a chance versus me. I braced Stigma’s heavy blade against my forearm and stabbed Bell in the chest, not deep enough to kill, but more than enough to send him falling to the ground in agony. He clutched the bleeding wound with his left hand and spat at me, “Bastard! Murderer!”

Strong words coming from a man who moments ago attempted to cheap shot me with a knife. I reached into my pocket and retrieved the golden bar that Bell had given me, the blood money he’d offered in return for slaughtering the people in Exarch’s Bend. I tossed it onto his prone body. “I don’t need your money, Bell.”

He reached out with bloody fingers and grabbed it. The full weight of the statement made settling in to the dull spark behind his eyes. Sensing the end was near, he changed strategy on the spot. Knowing that he couldn’t beat me in a fight, he decided to beg instead. Bell grovelled at my feet, “I-I didn’t want to do it, but that Inquisitor, he forced me! He told me that he’d kill all of us if I didn’t comply!”

The two knights were frozen still. I hovered the tip of my sword over his head, “What difference does that make? I don’t believe a damn word you say Bell. You killed them. You’re a greedy asshole, even by our standards. You’re not a rogue – you’re just a mongrel.”

“Please, please, I don’t want to die, please!”

His frantic pleas for mercy were getting on my nerves, was it so hard for the guy to die with some dignity? I’d heard enough. “Apologize to Fitch in hell you son of a bitch.” I swung down with Stigma, cleaving his skull in two and killing him instantly. A thick spurt of blood dribbled down the cut and onto his body. I withdrew the sword and stabbed him again, this time in the chest wound I made before.

“[Consume.]”

I had to admit – seeing his body wither as his soul was consumed brought me no small amount of satisfaction.

What a mess.

That was it. The entire thing had ended with a whimper. The two knights watched in shock as their charge was cut down by a stranger. I gave them a menacing stare, wordlessly promising that they’d be next if they tried to fight me. I reached down and recovered the blood covered gold from his palm.

“…I thought you didn’t want it,” Cali said.

I never had any intention of giving it away permanently. I smirked, “Rogues have a morbid sense of humour. Fitch would have wanted us to have it. What good is dying for money when you refuse to use it?”

That was one less loose end for me to worry about.

Cali and I quickly fled the scene. Bell had spent nearly all of the money he’d earned on something stupid – probably alcohol, meaning there was little else to take from his body. The haul I’d earned from the nobles would keep me going for a significant length of time. Still not enough to live a stable life though. The killing had happened to suddenly that none of the guards stopped us on the way out.

My body was shaking with adrenaline, my voice wavered.

“We’re getting out of here, back past Exarch’s Bend and to the East.”

“Why?”

“Didn’t you hear Danton? He said that something’s going wrong on the coast, lots of powerful monsters invading civilized areas.”

Stigma spoke into my mind, “Yes, that does seem like the best course of action.”

Killing Bell hadn’t set in properly yet. I was still reeling, trying to distract myself with future ideas for survival.

I needed to slay something big.

Blackened fingers gripped at the edge of my mind. Ink spilled from my eyes. My bones turned to steel. The oceans would run red with blood.

“Ren?”

We were already on the road out of the city.

“I’m sorry, I got… distracted.”

It would be a long, boring walk to the borders of the federation.