Found:
Corpses. So many corpses.
Oh no. What have I done? What did I do?
He's dead. A man dead by my hand! Blood. Blood that I spilled. Red and sticky and fresh. It will never come off. I will never...
No.
No, Silver. Calm. Breathe. Think this through.
This isn't the time to fall apart. You can't afford to. She can't afford you to.
There's more to this than that. There's more to the story than one act. One act of swift and brutal savagery. I've never done anything of the like before. I never knew I could! I shouldn't have. I...
I had to.
What other choice was there?
It was quiet at the farm house. Too quiet. Too still. It was wrong. Something was wrong. I could see that from the start, but I never imagined...
Corpses. Four at least. I didn't stop to look for any more.
I'm used to corpses. I see them a lot. The corpses I usually come across are old and wizened. They walk, yes, but they've been dead for a while. These ones were fresh. Fresh cadavers... I don't like them. They're so... so sticky and smelly. Everything escapes. Everything leaks. They're warm too. It's not right! There's nothing right about any of this.
Randir's head was along the path. His body was in the doorway. Safe to say I won't be having a conversation with him! Probably for the best. I doubt it would have been much better than the one I didn't have with Aerlick. I'll never know now.
I was going to leave then. Why would I stay? My reason for coming was beside himself. Hah! Well, no, no he wasn't. He was in pieces? That isn't funny either. I was going to leave, but then I heard her.
She cried out for help. She sounded so small and afraid and alone and I... I remember crying like that before I learned that it only ever brought more pain. I remember wishing that someone, anyone would come for me, to take me away from the horrors of my life. I remembered... and I couldn't go. I couldn't leave her there to face whatever fate lay before her. I just... I couldn't!
I drew my blades. What other choice was there? I didn't know what lay inside. But it would be hostile, wouldn't it? With so many people dead already, it wasn't going to be friendly or respond very well to a lone woman with a smile and the wrong coloured skin! I had to help the girl...
I wasn't about to give them the advantage. That would have been stupid. I crept in, more or less. I burst through the door and saw them. Three grown men. How could I hope to fend them off alone? How could I help the child? She looked so scared...
They weren't men, I told myself. They were monsters. Wights. The shambling dead but with a better complection. That was all. That was what they were. That was what they had to be because no real man would do this!
So... treat them like I'd treat my usual foes. Run, jump, disable.
Wights don't bleed!
I know that I killed the first one. His throat parted so neatly. The blood sprayed. Hot and thick. Red. So very red.
I'm not sure about the second. He may have been knocked out. Or maybe not. His head made such a nasty crunch as it hit the wall behind him.
The third one fled.
I took the girl. I took her and ran.
She was so very upset, so very scared. I can understand that. I did my best to calm her. I did my best to comfort her. She's sleeping now. We're miles away from her home, and now she sleeps. I don't know if we're safe yet. I doubt it. But she rests as peacefully as a traumatized child can.
But the blood. The dead man. Am I a murderer now? I killed him. Will this ever wash away? What will Rowan think of me now? I saved the girl! That's the important thing.
I saved the girl. Focus on the girl. What will she need? Where can she go? Am I equipped for any of it? I have to be. She needs me. At least for now, she needs me and I..
For her sake, I can't fall apart.
