What I did was a mercy.

What a wretched creature. Doomed to be nothing more than a pawn used in someone’s sick game – living in squalor and darkness, a sprouting tree that would never break ground and see the sunlight for herself. It was clear to me that Ryan did not understand my perspective. If he was the type of person to do non-violent work, then I doubted that the legendary sword he was wielding had seen much use.

That was what separated a killer from a non-killer. Some people didn’t like getting blood on their hands. It held a significance to them that cannot be understood fully until you’ve been on the other side of it. I only learned what it meant to be a ‘non-killer’ when I killed my first person. And that first person was…

I was only fourteen at the time.

I stabbed him in the neck and gutted him like a fish. His blood got into my mouth and eyes. He screamed a horrible wail that stuck out in my memory above anything else. The other orphanage kids who were watching pulled his body off of mine when he collapsed on top of me. I felt no remorse, he tried to rape one of us. It was only right that I protected one of my younger brothers.

Life is violence.

It sounded so dark to say out loud, but it was true. People who had never ‘hurt’ somebody else didn’t understand that they’re not innocent of that fact. Violence doesn’t have to be physical; it can be verbal, emotional, and economic. A man waking to greet the day in his carefully constructed townhouse – eating a buffet of food from different peoples and places. He’s violent and he just doesn’t know it yet.

How much blood was spilled to provide him those comforts? And how would he react to someone confronting him over his excess? He’d lie, insist that he had done nothing wrong, and refuse to change himself. People like me were the asphalt under his feet. We existed to provide ‘comfort’ and amusement to others. We were ground up and fed to spoiled children like gruel.

We externalise our violence onto other people. We use middlemen and procedure to mask the truth of what we do and think. It was never my fault, I merely followed the rules set by others, I followed orders, and I didn’t know any better. There was no real evil at the top of the pyramid, just a system made by other people to cause the same kind of harm.

The sobering injustice of it all. The good times back in my old life were a distant memory now.

“I can’t believe you just stabbed her like that man.”

“She was the one growing those plants, so I got rid of her.”

“She could have been a victim in all this too. Did you feel safe doing that just because she wasn’t human?”

I stopped on the middle of the steps and rounded back on him with a sour look, “Ryan, how many people did she need to turn into slaves before it became ‘okay’ to kill her?” He stopped in his tracks and opened his mouth to respond, before closing it again. It seemed he had the good sense to not argue that point with me.

“…What about the person who killed those folks?”

“If we can take them quietly, we can hand them off to a watchman and get those bodies inspected. They’ll deal with it, but knowing the punishment, killing them ourselves may save them the hassle.”

“Come on man.”

“I’m joking.”

When we stepped back out into the garden, a lone figure awaited in the footprint of the house. She made no motion to intercept us as we approached. She had long blonde hair, wrinkles under her eyes and a pair of eye-glasses perched atop her nose. At first her look was one of casual dismissal, but upon closer inspection of our persons her face took a turn for the dark.

Her presence here right after we ‘interfered’ with the Barkbone below and her close proximity to the house led me to an easy conclusion. This must be the woman responsible for the bizarre happenings in the town.

“Lady Greene, I assume?”

She tried to maintain the façade to the last, “Ah. A pair of new visitors! To what do I owe the pleasure?”

I had no patience for such games, “What you owe is the crimes you have committed. I counted a dozen bodies in there – all fed to a strange creature.”

“That is… a very serious accusation.”

I despaired at her bravery.

“Aye, it is. Fancy that the bodies happen to be found within a tunnel dug into the bottom of your garden. Bodies that show signs of multiple stab wounds. And then the personal testimony of said creature, who claims that an accomplice did so to make her grow.”

She cowered away from me. Ryan tried to get between us but I pushed him back.

“I no not, of what you speak. We are a quiet… loving… god-fearing community,” each proclamation came between a panicked gasp of air.

“…Are you an outworlder, Miss Greene?”

She shook her head, “Nay. I was born and raised here in the Federation.”

“Well that’s odd, because the model in your home bears a striking resemblance to the architecture of that outworld. Now why would that be?” Truthfully, I didn’t care much for the answer. My intent was to change tact and put her off-balance.

“I was inspired.”

“Inspired?”

“Yes! Inspired, is that a crime?”

“I can name a few other crimes you’ve committed.”

“Pah. This town was nothing before I arrived! Now it’s beautiful, safe, and spacious! The perfect place for young and old to come together and live with their families.”

“And all you had to do was murder a few people to make it happen.”

“I didn’t murder anybody. You must be speaking of that horrible creature they found. They refused to listen to me when I told them that it was dangerous!”

Ignorance was the play. It was entirely unconvincing.

Ryan pulled on my shoulder and whispered to me, “We don’t have any evidence that she did it.”

“What do you mean? All the bodies are in a tunnel at the bottom of her garden! It’s not like the police around here actually care about that kind of thing.” I’d seen people hung and gutted for the mere suggestion that they’d committed a crime as severe as murder.

Ryan put his foot down, “And you’re okay with that?”

“Would you like me to kill her myself?”

“No. Why are you so convinced that she’s the one who did it? If you kill her and it wasn’t her, what does that mean for you man? Do you even think about that kind of thing? You were so righteous about only killing people who deserved it earlier!”

“She deserves it.”

We were going in circles. Ryan wouldn’t relent on the point. He was applying a standard of criminal justice that this world simply did not offer. Perhaps I was being a hypocrite, not living up to my own lofty standards – but people who held back were the ones who lost. I was being pig-headed. Ryan’s refusal to hand her over to the watchmen had inflamed me. Now I ‘needed’ to win the argument.

“You can either come with me and hand her off to someone else – or I can just get rid of her, here and now. It’s your choice.”

“Both of those choices end the same way…”

“Then maybe she shouldn’t have stabbed a bunch of people and used them to grow an evil plant lady!”

“This is how innocent people get killed, man. I know I can’t beat you in a fight. Do what you want.” Ryan had seen and heard enough. He pushed past me and Greene and disappeared back around the side of the building.

I turned on Greene and pointed at her, “You’re coming with me.”

“What do you mean?”

My face darkened, “You’re coming with me – isn’t that clear enough. We’re going to collect my companions, and I’m handing you off to the nearest guardsman as a murderer.” Greene couldn’t stop me from taking her by the arm and pulling her to the main road. She struggled and pulled against me, but my grip was too strong.

“Unhand me you brute!”

I ignored her pleas and headed back to the house where Cali and Tahar were being kept. The front door was still open from when I left an hour ago, though there was so sign of the two outside. I pushed Greene out in front of me and pushed her into the main hallway. I could hear something clattering from the kitchen.

“Cali?”

“Yes?”

In the kitchen, Tahar and Cali were sitting at the table. I forcibly sat Greene with them, “Stay.”

She objected, “I’m not staying here-“

“Cali, Tahar, make our guest comfortable. And don’t let her leave.”

“Of course, dear.”

Hearing Cali say that made me shiver. I needed to snap them both out of their stupors somehow, or at least get them away from this house. I headed into the bedroom and dug through the wardrobe again – eventually locating their armour, gear and weapons under a pile of second-hand sundresses and blouses. I lay all of the pieces out on the bed and returned to the three women.

“Cali, Tahar, let’s go on a walk together.”

Cali stood from her seat and clapped her hands together, “A delightful idea.” Tahar remained with Greene for the moment – I took Cali into the bedroom and showed her the outfit I had selected.

“Could you wear this for me?”

She was indecisive, “Do I need to? That’s our old… travelling clothes.”

“For old times’ sake. I just wanted to see you in it again.”

“And my halberd too?”

“You never know what might happen out there.”

That was enough to convince her. The brainwashing had made her more pliable to suggestions from other people. After making sure that Cali had everything we came with, I did the same for Tahar – who asked fewer questions and just did as I asked.

“Is our guest coming with us?” Cali inquired.

“Yeah. Come on, let’s go.”

I kept the three of them in front of me as we walked down the path to the main road. I wanted to get as far away from this place as possible, as quickly as possible. The plants in the garden hadn’t wilted just yet – if they were caused by the presence of the dryad, they’d still take some time to wither and die. I didn’t have time to wait, so forcing Cali and Tahar out of the village was my next best option. Hopefully with distance and some time, the effects of the plant’s pheromones would fade.

I wondered what Tahar and Cali were thinking in their stupors. Tahar didn’t strike me as the type of person to have many bad memories like I did. On the other hand, Cali had hinted at some of the things that happened to her before she left home. The prospect of having a ‘normal’ family may have appealed to her in some way. But that could just as easily be turned on its head. Cali could very much dislike the idea of getting close with other people. I didn’t know.

This stupid detour had felt much longer than it actually was. In the end I’d achieved what I came to do, though we did have a close brush with death by running into the dryad. The cursed item rattled inside the box. I needed to decide what to do with it once everything was straightened out.

It was clear from Adel’s story that the Great Absolver wanted me to find them, but why?

In one sense – it did eliminate them. With the power drained by Stigma, the cursed objects no longer had the same abilities that they used to. They were just normal weapons and items again. Still, he was taking a huge risk by sneaking them away. Even as the ‘leader’ of the inquisition, he was committing one of the cardinal sins by removing the items from their armoury.

The other possibility was… he wanted me to find them for a different reason. I’d consumed the first without fully understanding the consequences, but what it did was advance the strange infection that had entered my body when I took Stigma for the first time. Stigma wanted that too, she wanted to ‘consume’ her sisters and grow more powerful. What would happen to me if I allowed her to do so?

Once we reached our destination, it was time for a frank talk with her.