Kian rode through the town. Why did Hartmar let me go? How is it that they are after me? How many parties are searching?Kian took corners, but there was something blocking his way to the exit. A shadow. Kian stopped in his tracks after a few corners.He looked around, trying to find someone to ask for directions. He listened for where the fighting was. There was nothing, only this darkness. It resembled the one from the forest. It would be impossible for it to be the same. It cannot be the same creature again; they were burned.Turned into ash, the forest gone with it, the removal of the past from humanity. So how was this similar? As he looked around, something caught his eye.As if it wanted him to notice it. It stood on a balcony; its body was gone. Only one thing was visible: a red smile painted on a mask.As Kian locked onto him, a hand came out of the shadow and waved.
Kian instinctively hit his horse with the side of his shoe so that it started to gallop again.Kian refused to look back at the man standing in the shadows.Even Krahlik or Hraban couldn’t hide like this; he looked as though he was one with the shadow.As he rode away, the shadows slowly began to fade, and the turns started to make more sense.Everything became clearer; people could be seen in the distance.
There was no way to ask anyone where to go.They ignored one another, rushing into their houses as quickly as possible while guards rode along the streets, calling for people to go inside.Kian rode on as the guards ignored him, too busy spreading the news rather than saving themselves.
Kian turned a corner and found Hartmar riding toward him.As if by pure coincidence. ’Boy, follow me if you want to get out of here!’ he yelled as he rode past. Without any options, without Rederick or Albaras to depend on,he could only trust him. At least for a little while. He saved me from the two. He brought me to safety. And now, after the fight, he was looking for me. He turned his horse and followed him.’What is it you want from me?’ Kian yelled after him as he tried to catch up.
’Everything will be explained when we are safe!’ He yelled back. Was there something in his voice, fear, perhaps?Hard to tell from a man like him.From then on, there was only silence, both focused on getting out.
Kelvanya looked down upon them as they left. She then turned around.Let’s get all of the Judgment Executioners out of this place, she thought. With the boy gone from the village, their objective here vanished.The people here would be safe once they were told the boy would be brought to the lord.She hurried, jumping from roof to roof. Climbing higher when necessary, as if she had practiced it for years. The sound of the battle came closer. The smell of iron took over. Once there, she looked down. It was not the first time she had seen many dead lying around a town. She watched as Ranzolf fought the purple-clothed man before being kicked through a wall.Then she looked to where the Ribbon Knight was fighting the Red Smile.As she looked at them, the Red Smile looked back.After a brief moment, he disappeared into the shadows and climbed to the roof, reaching her height.Down below, the Ribbon Knight looked up, then went to his horse and rode away.While the other first looked into the building, then slowly turned to look down the path where Grummulde would stop. The Red Smile moved like a spider along the building before leaping over to where Kelvanya stood. ’Mistress, how fortunate for you to be here as well. I take it, then, that Hartmar took the kid?’ It was always strange to hear someone with such malice speak with such a smooth voice.
Kelvanya stepped a little to the side to create more distance between them. ’Yes, he has. He will bring him to our lord, and our battle will stop here.’The Red Smile stepped a bit closer. ’That means we will all be summoned again to meet at the tower.That means his reality will become true.’ Was there worry in his voice? Or was he just mocking the lord’s idealism? Kelvanya put one hand in her cloak, grabbing the hilt of her knife, ready to throw it at him if he dared to come any closer. The Red Smile stopped trying to get closer and turned around. ’Then it will be time to go towards it.’
Kelvanya looked a bit confused at that statement. Why would he just go?That’s not how he works She threw the knife into his shoulder; he did not make a sound. Only a small movement of his shoulder from the force, then he turned back toward her. ’What kind of wish do you want to ask our lord?’ Kelvanya said, her bow already raised as he turned. ’What do I want? That is quite simple.’ He said calmly as he opened one hand to reveal darkness within it.‘I want the truth of the creatures’ souls you see around you. I want chaos. Not the chaos of war, not the chaos of free will. I want to prove to people that nothing has any inherent purpose.So that they create their own purpose and let their true selves emerge. An unending war of ethics and death. I want exhaustion of the soul. A world in flames in the people’s eyes. The rich getting punished as the poor have been.To show people that, with enough brutality, all your dreams can come true.I want those self-made gods to lie bleeding on the ground.’Kelvanya realized what he was saying. He wasn’t a serial killer for fun, nor for personal kinks.He was the one who inspired others to start killing. The maker of murderers.
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So, do you still want to follow your lord, who is ready to give me what I want?To be honest, I don’t think he would keep his word, for if gods really existed,then how could people like me exist?’Kelvanya couldn’t say anything. Her heart raced like never before.
’Pathetic, is it. People just want someone to blame so they can sleep at night. In the end, it is all just cause and effect.’He finished speaking, and as he did, he slowly stepped back toward the edge of the building. Kelvanya wanted to say something; she wanted to loose the arrow, but before she could, she gave the Red Smile a small salute and jumped off the building, disappearing into the shadows below.
She turned, bow drawn, toward Grummulde and Albaras and fired an arrow into Albaras. That gave Grummulde an opening to knock Albaras down with his bo-axe. Grummulde looked up as Kelvanya signaled for him to gather back toward the tower, since the boy had been taken.He snorted and growled, but still gave a nod before turning.Albaras got back up, looking in the direction from which the arrow had come, as Grummulde turned and took position to run off.Kelvanya looked at him but did nothing. Both Judgment Executioners made their way out of the village.
Kelvanya now had only one thing left to do. It took a while to find him, but there he was, hitting a wall with his fist. She made her way down the building and slung her bow over her shoulder. ’Can we talk for a moment?’ Kelvanya said, hoping he would oblige. He turned toward her.’Why would I? I have failed him, haven’t I? Can you just not kill me?’ The man turned away, his ribbons torn, his helmet lying in the mud. His eyes were tearing up. There was no fight in him. All of his wounds had reopened, as the white ribbons was now completely red. The arrow wounds, the tiny drops of acid that had found their way into his armor. The fatigue of fighting the plague. ’I do know how you feel, and I came to tell you that the boy will live. We do not want to kill him, like I said before. The only thing I can do is give you his location, where it will happen, so you can find him again. Another and I will have your back if it goes south.’ She threw a piece of paper towards Rederick. Rederick could barely catch it. He opened it and looked at it. ’The Tower of the Cross.’ He looked up. ‘Thank you.’
Kelvanya couldn’t say anything. There was suddenly too much happening at once, and whether this was a mistake could only be seen in the future. There was, however, one more thing that needed to be said. ’I will take your kid under my protection. You will have him back again.’ She walked away.Rederick called out one last thing to her. ’Why are you people doing this? What’s in it for you?’
Kelvanya turned. ’We all have wishes we want to come true, some good, some bad. I just want my family back.’ She said it as if that alone was explanation enough to cause such destruction. Rederick couldn’t hold it in. ’I have lost my brother. I walked with his murderer daily. He only wanted to be free. What he got was some sick version of it, while I am bound by the duty of the well-being of a kid. That is following the wrong footsteps. But I do not believe what you’re doing is making things right How many innocents need to be killed for your family? Did you, or perhaps unknowingly, even kill children for this cause? I have seen the sickos walking beside you. Is that not enough proof that he is already lying to you all?’
Kelvanya didn’t say anything. Why do they keep questioning his wisdom? The purple man, the barman, the Red Smile, and now this Ribbon Knight. Even Hartmar seems to be giving hints at it. Why now?Now that we are so close, they all decide to doubt him.She couldn’t hear any more words from anyone. She left Rederick.
Rederick looked at her and then the map. Do you think this will make it alright? He grabbed his helmet from the mud, whistled for his horse, and made his way toward Albaras to relay the news.
On his way there, he saw innocents lying dead, all cut in half at different points on their bodies.That woman had passed this place.Further down, around a few corners, stood Albaras.He was looking at the sky as if he were grieving. His sword and shield were planted in the ground. ‘They have left.’ Rederick said. ‘And I know where to.’ Albaras turned. ’Good. Then we will move there as fast as we can.’ Albaras moved out of his position. ’However, we first need to fix up our weapons and find some allies. And I know exactly where we can get them.’
Rederick mustered a smile. As they left the village behind,they saw that some of the other members of the Judgment Executioners had left town. Some were skinned, hanging from their balconies, half covered in shadow.Some were molten bodies, eaten away by acid.While it was still unclear whether they were gone or still nearby, there was no time to stand still after learning where Kian was.
