Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to apologize to a person after you’ve kicked their ass (and may have intended to put them to sleep…permanently)? It’s so freaking awkward. I’ve never had to do it before and I was having a lot of trouble doing it now.

If their faces were anything to go by, it was just as awkward getting apologized to by the person who kicked your ass as it is to do the apologizing.

What I found amusing (and no one else did) was that the only one of the four who had a regenerative gift was Brin, the one with the least serious injury (besides Niel who got away unscathed.). So that meant the rest of them had to wait to get treated back in Trade Town. Nel wanted to go back with them, more so she could pump them for information than anything else I think. I agreed, somewhat reluctantly and we went to get our packs, or in my case: sack.

I wasn’t about to go get our stuff by myself. I wasn’t leaving Nel alone with them for fear of them hurting her, and she wasn’t leaving me alone with them for fear of me hurting them.

“You should have let me kill them,” I said once we were out of earshot and making our way back through the Grove.

“You are the Champion of Aeris, these are the people you are meant to help.”

“And now we are going to travel with a group of men that are scared and resentful of us. That is not a good mix, Nel.” I growled, a little pissed off at her. “Men like that would stab us in the back at a moment's notice and consider themselves smart.”

“They are scared.” She insisted.

“They are stupid!” I snapped. I stopped and had to reach out and grab her shoulder so I could turn her to face me. “They attacked you, based solely on the fact that you’re a Denvii, where I come from that's racist and pretty fucking disgusting…though not uncommon, but that's not even the point! The point is, if they can attack you for so simple a reason as that, you can’t trust them!”

Nel met my eye’s, her own were cold. “And if they had all tried to kill me I would have let you destroy them, but they did not. That man, Titus, attacked and the rest were simply supporting him. Tam even tried to stop him at first, remember?”

“He stabbed me in the stomach! With a spear! A fucking spear!”

“Yes, but in defense of his friend, much the same way you were going to kill them to defend me.”

“Well then by your logic I should get to at least kill Titus. He was the instigator and was the first to resort to killing.”

Nel rolled her eyes and turned away so she could continue on. I was so annoyed I didn’t even look at her ass. Yeah, amazing. I know!

“Why are you so eager to kill them?” She asked as I caught up to her and we walked shoulder to shoulder.

“Cause it’s just plain smart. You leave someone alive and that's an opportunity for them to get even…and they sure as shit won’t be giving you the same opportunity. In Dockside everyone understood that. Is it different here?”

“Not so much,” Nel admitted with a sigh. “just try to remember that as the Champion of Aeris, it’s your job to help all the People, not just those you care about.”

Honestly, I doubt that was ever going to happen. If something happened in front of me I’d help out a stranger…probably, and only if it didn’t inconvenience me…but to help everyone? Fuck, that sounded exhausting. No thanks.

Our gear was where we left it and I slung my sack over my shoulder with a casual shrug. Nel slipped her pack on and adjusted the straps so they fit more comfortably. Once ready we both turned back the way we had just come.

“Is helping them really that important to you?” I asked, at last, ducking under a branch before stepping back into the Grove.

“It is if it means we may find the Dryads and the rest of the Pack based on their information,” She looked back at me, her pretty face lined with worry and she gnawed on her lip. “And I’m thinking long term. I doubt Titus is the only human from Trade Town who has lost someone. His anger could be mirrored by others, and what happens if they decide all Denvii are to blame, not just the ones who have been twisted.”

…she kind of had a point. A civil war was not something this place needed right now, what with the Government and the missing Centre Life Core…crap!

“Nel, do you think it would come to war?” I asked, needing to confirm my suspicions.

“Not at first, but eventually? Yes. And it would start with something like this. Picture it, these men have come out here looking for the child and in their hatred and fear they lash out at a Denvii, me. You respond with violence and this time I don’t stop you. The men are dead and their families will ask questions and who will be blamed? The Denvii, for its the simple answer. More anger is added and more fear and they decide that something must be done. They retaliate at the Denvii, to show they won't be cowed and the Denvii, unsure of what is happening and why, view the attack as an act of aggression rather than revenge and they retaliate…on and on until it grows into all-out war.”

“and who prospers?”

Nel shrugged her shoulders. “It is war. No one prospers.”

“A third party does if the other two destroy each other.”

Nel stopped so suddenly I walked a further two steps before realizing she wasn’t beside me anymore.

“The humans from your world?” She asked. She sounded…angry. I can't say I blamed her.

“I think. We have no proof and for all we know, we’re both wrong…and it doesn’t make much of a difference since I’m still going to kick their teeth in when I find them.” I nodded towards the group of injured men in the distance. “And for what it’s worth, I guess you kind of had a good reason to stop me from killing them. But I still don’t have to like it.”

Nel beamed at me. She was a little too happy to be right if you asked me, and the fact that I had even admitted it may have set a bad precedent but I’d handle that when it came to it.

“I’m still going to kill them if they try anything else,” I held up a hand to forestall any arguments. “And just so the Denvii won’t get blamed I’ll drag the bodies to Trade Town and wave them about whilst yelling out my name. Happy?”

“That’s a little dark…” Nel muttered before perking back up. “But that works for me.”

So, of course, the first thing I said to the damaged group when Nel and I rejoined them was…

“Look at her wrong and I end you. Understand?”

Nel swatted my arm, scowling.

“Sorry…One wrong move and I end you. Understand?”

Nel swatted me again.

“Okay, Okay! Relax woman, jeez.” I turned to regard the four men sitting on the ground. I tried to get a read on them, seeing if any were feeling particularly rebellious or angry and might cause a problem later. For the most part, they just looked sullen, except Tam. Tam just looked fucked up. His face was all lumpy and swollen and turning some weird purple color that did not go with his blood-encrusted beard.

Problem numero uno, Titus, was sitting down crossed legged, his head bowed and his arm hanging limp at his side. One of the others must have dressed the wound while we were gone because I could see a white wrap under his torn shirt.

“I think we can all agree that this was one massive fuck up. We aren’t the ones that took your child and you thinking we were, was just stupid.” I took the time to glare at Titus, but he was looking down so I got to examine the top of his head instead. “Attacking us was just as stupid and if it wasn’t for Nel you would all be dead and gone.”

Niel, the scaredy-cat, was shaking a little. Brin, looking healthy and fresh thanks to his gift, had the guts to look me in the eye and nod. I think he was just happy I hadn’t killed him instantly. Tam…Tam continued to look fucked up.

I went on to explain why Nel and I were out there and what we thought might be happening. I kept a lot secret though, like being the Champion as my understanding was a Champion was someone from another world and I didn’t want that getting back to the wrong people, surprise and all that stuff. I also kept the theory of it being humans from my world responsible from them and instead said we thought it was a water-based disease that was turning the Denvii feral.

Brin raised his hand when I said that and I pointed at him.

“I’ve seen a Forgotten an’ these ones were too smart fo that.” He ducked his head, probably expecting to be rebuked after contradicting us but Nel sprung forward, her eyes intense.

“What do you mean?” She said.

“Uhh,” He looked between her and me, fidgeting terribly as he remembered my words. To help him out I mouthed ‘look at her funny and I end you.’ over Nel’s shoulder. Brin went bone white and studied the grass.

Okay, I admit it. I’m an asshole. Still fun though.

“Ya…ya see, they moved in a pack, they did,” he said, still looking down. “And they were all twisted up, like Forgotten, I’ll give ya that…but they were aware of what they were doin’, right-enough.”

So Forgotten but not Forgotten. I thought back to the first ones I’d fought. There was that last one, that had fought less like a wild animal and more like…well, me. Then there was the Alpha who had held on to his weapon. Hadn’t used it, but he’d still kept it…as if he knew it could help in a fight.

If the Government was responsible like I thought, I wouldn’t put it passed them to come up with a way to control the Denvii once infected. Some drugs made you susceptible to suggestion…maybe it was like that, but juiced up by a thousand? They were running on basic instinct by then and I guess that would make them easier to control.

Nel was looking at me thoughtfully but we didn’t say anything in front of the men.

“Did you see where they went? Did they come this way?” She asked.

Brin shook his head. “The first ones were taken from surrounding farms an’ homesteads. Few days gone by, that was when we saw them twisted things, was just outside the walls, raided the ol’ Dime Inn.” Brin gulped hard at the memory and Niel shook some more. Tam tried saying something but was too fucked up for it to make sense. “Some of the men wanted ta give chase but the Mayor…he pulled the town-folk behind the walls. Ain’t no one allowed out now. We only found out later that Titus’s boy had been heading back from these woods, he came here ta hunt.”

“No one allowed out...except you.” I cocked an eyebrow and stared the man down. He gulped and surprisingly it was Niel that answered.

“Ran away.”

“Come again?” I asked.

“We ran away. We wasn’t needed and wasn’t watched. Knew Titus and Milik, his boy…when he told us he thought his boy was taken we figured we could help. Figured we could be heroes.” He looked away, embarrassed. Underneath the overgrown facial hair and weathered skin, he was surprisingly young. So was Brin. Tam looked the oldest, with more wrinkles around the eyes and forehead.

“So you traveled to the closest Denvii settlement and figured you would what? Take on the whole Grove?” Nel asked, her voice conveying what she thought of that. She said it anyway, in case they couldn’t tell. “What are you? Idiots?”

I couldn’t help it. I started laughing. Great big belly-aching laughs that shook my body and had me doubled over. Nel jumped at the sound before turning to look at me, a small unsure smile on her lips like she wasn’t sure if what she had said was that funny or if I was laughing at something else.

I’d figured them out, the four men, and that made me laugh all the more because I’ve known dozens of men like them.

“Let me guess,” I said, still laughing a little. “You three were sitting down, probably drinking or already drunk, bemoaning the state of the world, the cowardly mayor, and probably the taste of the drink. In stumbles Titus, wrecked with grief and beside himself with worry. Drunk and full of false bravado you lot decide that you can do more than a town and it’s time to step up.”

The men were all looking away again and that only made me break into more fits of laughter. Once I’d subsided I continued.

“I bet you pledged to get him back, This Milik kid, and went and got what you could as weapons. None of you are actually warriors or guards so my guess is you picked whatever you had laying around. Titus, well Titus doesn’t look like the most reputable sort, so I’m gonna go out on a limb and say he knows the secret ways in and out of the town. How am I doing, am I close? I’m close aren’t I?”

I had to break to wipe a tear from my eye.

“So off you four trot, head held high and something solid in your hand. Probably figured you’d have it done in an hour and be back for the next pint, but that's where you fucked up…because your guide was sober and he kept you moving and before you knew it, its dark and your bedding down outside the safe little walls of your town and the courage from too much drink is fading fast. What do you do then? Tell these other men, who haven’t complained yet, that you’re scared and you wanna go back…or do you shut up and hope for the best?”

Brin opened his mouth to object and I waved a hand to stop him.

“No, no, no. That's wrong. You do speak up, right? You speak up but Titus doesn’t let you go back, he urges you on…maybe you don’t know how to get back into the town? Either way, you’re out in the middle of nowhere with hardly any belongings and being led by a man mad with grief. Did I get that right.”

There was a long stretched out silence as the men looked everywhere but at each other. Nel looked impressed.

“So what are you?” I asked before remembering the term. “What’s your class?”

“Tanner,” Niel said, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Merchant. My father owns the grocer and I’ll follow in his steps.” That was Brin.

Tam gurgled out something but between the swelling, the blocked nose, and the fact that if he moved his mouth too much his whole face ached, I couldn’t understand shit.

“He’s a butcher,” Brin said.

“Of course he is,” I muttered before nodding towards Titus. “He’s what? A Hunter?”

“Poacher.” Came the muffled response from Titus. He still didn’t look up and I don’t know what made him answer but I nodded anyway.

“Well, you nearly got the only fools willing to help you killed and then you tried to kill the only Denvii that probably wants to help you.” I crouched down and whispered so the others wouldn’t hear. “I know a little something about grief and I know it doesn’t matter how you handle it, but if it puts me or mine at risk then I end you. Understand? Control yourself.”

“Now, are you lot ready to go? Your buddy Titus is going to show us the secret way into Town”

I moved up to Nel and shook my head sadly. “Their just a bunch of idiots in over their heads. They don’t know shit but their own blind hate and foolish dreams. We did get lucky though, I doubt the Town’s people would have let you in, with all the tension right now, but now we get to be all sneaky.”

The men staggered to their feet.

I almost felt sorry for beating them but then I remembered what they had done and I stopped feeling that way.