Walking alone to the canteen, Shea was surprised to see the empty streets. Had everyone overslept breakfast? Or was today some kind of occasion she wasn’t aware of? The whole canteen was empty. Not a single person waited inside.

Uncertain, she walked out and went in search of the cook. Her presence or lack of it might give her a better idea of what was going on here.

As she was reaching the backside of the building, Alec stormed past her. She greeted him, but he didn’t even glance her way. It was as if he didn’t register her at all.

The thought grated at her, but she tried not to think too much on it. He must have been in a hurry. Something bad probably happened and he didn’t have time to waste explaining it. That’s what it was. It must have been.

“What’s wrong?” Shea asked, running to squat by her side. “Are you hurt?”

“No, no,” the woman answered. She violently shook her head with eyes fixated at the spot near the doors.

Shea took a look too but there was nothing there. A couple pieces of meat lying on the ground but that only meant Iago had been here, didn’t it? “Did he do something..?” she asked quietly, not really wanting an answer.

The woman once more shook her head. Her breath was calming now and she lowered her hands to push herself up. “It’s.. It was nothing. Don’t mind it… It’s fine!”

After that she proceeded to collect the food and shoo Shea away. “Go, go! I need to cook now!”

But Shea wasn’t fooled. She might not have been from this fancy city but even she could tell that the woman was in shock. Something must have scared her badly. And the only other person here could have been Iago.

She didn’t want to think he was capable of threatening the cook but he had said he’d seen the worst in humanity. That the city was the spawn of all vices. What did it say about him who had grown up and spent all his life in such a place?

No, no. She couldn’t jump to conclusions! She would go and ask him about what happened. Maybe there was a perfectly normal explanation to everything.

On her way to where she’d heard Iago had taken residence she passed through the survivor’s house.

First thing to assault her was the smell.

Rotting human flesh. Flies she hadn’t seen for weeks had appeared and were buzzing around like mad. There was no reason to walk forward but she took the last couple steps to round the corner.

Ten or so bodies lay strewn around. They couldn’t have been long dead from how human they still looked but the smell was overpowering. Heat was doing its part.

She turned and vomited in the corner.

What could have happened here? Had a disease struck? Was that why no one had come to the canteen. Maybe Iago explained that to the cook and that’s what her shock was all about. But what disease could take so many lives in a night? Was anyone still alive?

“Oh, Shea!” Denni shouted out, jogging out from a side street. “I’m sorry you had to see this! We haven’t finished cleaning it up yet.”

“Clean up?” she asked stupidly.

“We can’t just leave the bodies lying like this. Also, elder said it spreads disease so we should take them all out of the city.” Stopping before Shea, she gently turned her around. “But you don’t need to be here. We’ll come to the canteen with everyone once we finish.”

Shea was about to nod when a thought struck her. What if they’ll get sick too? Something this contagious couldn’t be allowed to spread! “Won’t this repeat again now that it started?”

Denni laughed at that. “I’m certain the Scavengers will never dare to attack us again. Iago showed them well!”

“Iago did?”

“Yeah! He killed all fourteen of them in a heartbeat! I haven’t seen anything so amazing in my entire life! Those people just stood there and the next moment they fell dead!” She chuckled. “I’m so glad he’s on our side!”

“Denni, stop chatting and come help me!” Lyra’s voice interrupted their conversion.

She sighed and turned to leave. “Sorry, need to get going. See you at the canteen!”

Receiving no answer she nodded to herself and left Shea standing frozen like a statue.

Killed fourteen people?

Killed? As in murdered?

She desperately wanted to ask for details, something to make it all right but the bodies were before her eyes and they were very dead. Iago had taken the life of those people without hearing a word they said. He wasn’t interested in such things.

Killed… She couldn’t wrap her head around that thought.

Iago had murdered.

How was he capable of such a thing? He had seemed different, more world weary but not crazy. Not mad. He had saved her, when he could have left her to die! It didn’t make sense! Why would he save her and then kill these defenceless people for no reason?

So what if they attacked? There could have been an agreement reached if he’d only tried! A little show of his powers to those men would have made them reconsider any kind of attack! It was that simple!

But to take a life with shaping! It was blasphemous! Wrong beyond words! This power was meant to protect people, make the world a better place! Not to help oneself, take the easy way out! Lady protect, if everyone used the shaping to advance themselves!

It was inconceivable!

And Iago still had done it. Instead of talking it through, making the people understand he just killed them. How could he do it? How could he just up and take a life? Was he going to kill everyone now that he’d started? Or was this was some selective cleaning being done by him?

Cold sweat broke out on her back. Why did he have to become this way? Couldn’t he have left the horrors of the past in the past? But she’d heard it was impossible. The couple people who returned to the village after serving in an army were never the same.

They laughed and joked but the sound was a bitter one, lacking any joy. Besides that their eyes were always cold. It was as if they saw a whole different world than everyone else. In summer they were complaining about the heat, the flies and work, in winter they were dissatisfied with the cold, the rationed food and having nothing to do. Never were they happy or enjoying the moment.

Worst of all, they were always on guard. Two built huge walls around their houses until you couldn’t see their place at all, while the third stabbed his friend who surprised him while working. Oh, he was sorry about that, cried even but the sorrow was a short lived thing. Couple days later he was as if nothing had happened.

Could such people still be called human? She wasn’t certain and didn’t want to think about it. But the problem didn’t disappear because she didn’t want to face it. Iago was still a murderer and she had to find out how and why. And make him stop.

“Are you all right?” a somewhat familiar voice asked. She turned to see Tyr, one of the soldiers, standing by her side.

“I need to talk with Iago,” she said making her decision in an instant and stamping towards the tower. To her surprise, Tyr followed after her. He didn’t say anything more so she let him trail along.

The tower proved to be empty and she set out to search the whole city. Even if it took forever, she was going to find him and ask what had crossed his mind for him to have taken those innocent lives.

While the two were running around in search of Iago, to the south Alec was busy with a far less exciting task. He and the two brothers Evic and Jistas were digging graves for the fallen. It was exhausting work and sweat ran down their backs in torrents.

He’d lost his armour, vest and shirt to make the heat more bearable but it helped little. Still, he wasn’t going to leave the two brothers alone. This was his problem as much as anyone else’s in the camp.

Not many saw it that way, though. All they wanted were for the corpses to be gone and be able to continue with their lives. Whatever happened to them was none of their concern.

By midday they took a water break to rest in the wall’s shadow. But too soon for his liking Jistas motioned for them to return to work. Three more graves remained to be dug and then the dead will have to be transferred.

The thought of having to touch those cold bodies, see lifeless eyes haunted him but there was no way around. If he wanted to be a true soldier, he had to learn to face the dead. Both friend and foe alike, being surrounded by them took up half of an army’s life. The other half being making those alive join the ranks of the dead.

Or that’s what he heard from an old veteran in a tavern.

He’d argued back then with the man, believing he was spouting nonsense but now he was no longer so certain. Commander fit the soldier’s description to the last button. Death bloomed where he went and that was all that mattered. He enjoyed killing, saw it as a sport. Wasn’t that all a soldier was?

But Elecar hadn’t been so. He’d been in the army so long and had not lost himself in the killing. There were no tales of him swimming in the seas of blood. He never shied from violence when it was necessary but tried to solve the encounters peacefully first. That was the kind of man he was.

Still, sometimes Alec wondered whether he was alone in that regard. From childhood he’d wished to follow in the man’s footsteps, dreaming to join the army but after seeing the Commander… his eyes had been opened. If men like him led, how was anyone to remain sane in their wake?

“What has that grave done to you?” Evic asked with a huff, resting on his shovel. “You’ve been glaring at it for the last ten minutes we’ve been resting.”

“Oh, nothing,” Alec muttered with a sigh, brushing the sweat from his forehead. It was as wet as if he’d soaked in the stuff. “Shall we continue?”

The two grunted in response and leaving the shovels they moved towards the bodies. They lay in a heap by the wall where his soldiers had left them after carelessly dragging them here. None of his command returned to bury them and Alec understood their reluctance.

Facing all what happened was not a choice easily made. Their weakness, the enemy’s strength and the overruling power of the shaper. One that stood leaning against the open gates, face hidden in a cowl’s shadow.

“What are you doing here?” Alec asked in a colder voice than he planned for. The accident in the morning wasn’t far off from his mind, though, he’d evaded trying to think about what had really happened back then. Had the shaper really tried to kill him?

The man pushed off the wall, walking closer to their small group. He didn’t take off his cowl but Alec could glimpse the ragged features kept in shadow. “I’m sorry about the morning. It was… unexpected. I lost control.” His voice was low, almost whispering.

“Aren’t you going to promise it’s not going to happen again?” Alec asked, taking a step forward to stand right before the shaper, and hear him better at the same time.

They were of similar height but Iago raised his head a fraction to look at him, lips twisting in a pained smile. “Would you believe me if I did?”

“Not for a heartbeat.”

“I thought so.” He moved past Alec to stand before the pile of corpses, then lowered himself to grasp the hand of one. “I should be the one burying them. It’s my fault they’ve had to say goodbye to this world and all it offers.”

Evic walked to stand by the shaper, towering over him like a giant. “Do you regret it then?” he asked in a heavy voice.

“Not at all,” Iago answered, standing up. He turned to face the large man. “I’ve bloodied my hands enough times to know that sometimes it’s unavoidable. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that their life, or therefore lack of it, is on my hands.”

Alec couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You’ve killed before?”

“I’ve been told to travel and see the world, my teacher’s command. And his choice of travelling companions? The royal suppression army.” The man shrugged as if that explained everything.

But it didn’t. Not even close. He’d travelled with the army? Why? How? Wasn’t he too young? No, maybe not. But if his tale of not being a shaper prior to the cataclysm was true, then what was he doing there? And killing how?

Iago seemed to have sensed his confusion, need for details because he elaborated. “I was learning to be a healer of a sort, so I travelled with the medical tent, watching the fights from afar. You might find it hard to believe but healers sometimes take more lives than the battles themselves. After all, all those swords and spears, they often maim and damage rather than killing the opponent. It is a healer’s job to put the men out of their misery when no longer anything can be done for them.”

“So, you have no idea how to fight with a weapon?”

“I- It’s a tricky question.” The man was looking at him now with a curious expression. “Why do you ask?”

“Just answer the damn question!”

He sighed. “In the capital, I stayed at the duelling school for a time. It was to understand the soldiers, their leaders or so my teacher put it. I watched them, growing bored out of my mind and then followed their practises to occupy myself, though, I’ve never touched a blade. I promised Kallum and myself that I won’t.”

“Why not?”

“It’s a healer thing. I’m sick and tired of hurting people. For once I wanted to save their lives. Not that it brought me any good… Apparently, you need to kill your share of patients before you can save a few.”

Alec glared at the man, knowing he was evading the question. That or his mind was so messed up he couldn’t stick to one idea, thoughts running all over the place. For some reason, Alec found it quite a likely explanation. It somehow fit the killing yesterday night, loss of control in the morning and remorseless grief now.

When the silence stretched, Jistas motioned for them to start moving the bodies. He and his brother took up one and Alec was left with standing alone, not wanting to disgrace the fallen even more by dragging them like sacks of grain.

“Will you let me help?”

He watched the shaper for a moment, noting the bags under his eyes, paleness of his skin. “Can you even lift any of them? You look like you’re barely holding yourself up.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me,” the man said with a wave of his hand. “I’m more resilient than you might think.”

“If you say so.”

Without moving his eyes away from the shaper, he reached for the legs of the corpse closest to him. Iago stepped to take its hands and together they walked towards one of the closer graves and carefully lowered the dead inside. It fell the last few feet with a thump, landing with the feet in a tangled heap.

Alec cursed, feeling like he’d just made a sacrilege somehow.

“Forget it,” Iago murmured, walking back to the heaped dead without a seconds hesitation. “They’re gone. Unable to see or feel what you do to them.”

With such words in their wake, they slowly transferred all the corpses to their graves and after, pushed the ground over their still faces. Iago had taken out a shovel from somewhere too, helping with the work. He often stopped to take a breath, brush the sweat running from his eyes but didn’t complain.

When the graves were filled, three people came through the gates. Denni, Lyra and Grey. The boy’s eyes quickly glued to Iago resting against his shovel. The man hadn’t looked up at the newcomers, murmuring something to himself.

Alec walked closer to hear a prayer he hadn’t heard before.

“-this time. Let live, Lady you say, but that is not human nature. Life is a fight and we battle to prove our worth to survive. Sorrow fills us seeing others fail but that is how you made it. Take these souls to your side and keep them close, protected until their time to return. Until that time comes, we’ll carry their wishes and dreams on our shoulders, as is our right.” He quieted, tightening his grip on the shovel’s handle. “We will live, and so we will fight. As, Lady, you have declared.”

“Where have you heard this?” Alec asked quietly. The audacity of the prayer was astounding, putting the fault of killing on the goddess but the way those words had been said: filled with melancholy and soft understanding of unchangeable truths, made him wonder whether it was as wrong as it sounded.

The shaper didn’t turn to him, eyes locked on the raised ground before them. “I’ve heard a regular say it once. He volunteered to bury the dead enemies after an extended encounter believing it was the only right thing to do. If he took the men’s lives, he had to remind The Lady she shared the blood on his hands as she had created people so that they couldn’t live without battling again and again.”

“She’s the many faced goddess that created everything, the Maker! How can you blaspheme like that!”

“And so she has too much on her hands. If no one reminds her, then how can she remember the promise she made to her subjects.”

“Promise?”

Iago smiled at the distance. “The promise of freedom. As long as we follow our dreams, she’ll let us destroy the world itself.”

His words shook Alec. He knew exactly who the shaper had shifted his thoughts to. “Don’t smirch his name!” he growled. “You know nothing if you can talk like that!”

“Don’t I?” Iago sighed, turning away from the graves. He picked up the shovel and using it as a walking stick started towards the gates.

Alec seethed but didn’t dare challenge the shaper. Now better than ever before he knew the man’s capabilities. Maybe not as strong as other shapers, he could still kill all the survivors and not break a sweat.

What happened in the morning flashed through his mind. The terror in the man’s face as he lost control of his own powers. That reaction didn’t belong to a heartless murderer. Whatever Iago’s goals were, he wasn’t ready to step over dead bodies to achieve them.

Not yet, at least.

Lyra moved closer to him, whispered in his ear: “Have you asked him?”

“Yeah, he’d seen people training but that’s all. Something about promising never to touch a sword.”

Her shoulders slumped at the news. Alec had seen sword practise too and look where that had gotten them. If not for Iago, all of them would be dead.

“I can try learning from him,” Grey piped up. Alec jumped, surprised by the interruption. The little had sneaked up on them without a sound.

His proud grin was contagious but the suggestion brought the recent events back to memory. He had wished to raise a rebellion with Iago as the leader. It wouldn’t end well, allowing the two to spend any time together.

Before he could say an unrelenting no, Denni joined the conversation. “Why would you want to learn from him?” she asked with puzzlement evident in her scrunched eyebrows.

“He saved my life!” Grey declared as if that explained everything. Noticing three unconvinced looks, he added, “It’s important to see what he can teach and I’m the only one who would actually try to learn!”

“What do you mean?” Alec asked.

Grey glared at him. “You and the rest, all of you see him as an enemy! Even if he showed something, you would be reluctant to learn, believing deep down that it’s dangerous, wrong somehow! To you, he’s nothing but a monster! Even if he saved everyone’s lives!”

Quiet settled on the group, and behind the gates Iago smiled tiredly to himself. For once, someone else was fighting his battles. He thanked the young boy in his mind and then set out to his tower. Their discussion wouldn’t last much longer and this was the path Grey would look for him on.

Unbeknownst to him, his tower wasn’t as empty as he expected.

After a long and fruitless search Shea and Tyr returned to the tower and she knocked on the doors. Three taps but no one answered. Another four more, louder. No sound. Tyr moved in to bang the pommel of his sword against the doors that opened a fraction.

Both of them looked at each other, the doors were open and nobody was home. It wouldn’t be right to enter without permission but did it count with murderers? The longer they searched for him, the more she was growing certain of his guilt. Why else would he be hiding? They had to enter his home. Maybe Iago had left some evidence to reveal the reasoning behind his actions, something he would hide on his return.

With a shaking hand, Shea pushed the doors open. Tyr beside her had an aghast expression but soon it turned into a wide grin. “This is so cool!” he murmured, following after her inside.

She dismissed his words and walked through the first floor. It was empty and she moved towards the stairs. The staircase was in semi-darkness, no windows lightening the way and her foot slipped. She grabbed onto the railing that crumbled under her hand.

Flailing, she fell only to be caught by Tyr’s strong arms. He steadied her with a fierce glare at the step he was standing on. It was hidden beneath a layer of dirt but didn’t crack. Or at least they didn’t hear it and moved on before it could happen.

After reaching the top, they were met by a simple bedroom. Old bed in a corner, cracked bookcase, wardrobe and a desk by the window. There was no other furniture in the room beside those few items. They were clean, Shea had to admit, but they were old. And had suffered great damage through the Scourge.

Tyr stepped into the room, his boots leaving dirt marks on the carpet. He opened the wardrobe to find nothing but a couple dusty outfits and boots at the bottom. Moving to the desk, he picked up the papers lying on the corner.

After shuffling through them for moment, he turned to her. “Can you read?”

She nodded, walking into the room herself. It was weird entering another’s abode without their permission. She told herself this was for the better, it was important to find out what he was up to, but the words rang hollow in her mind. This was wrong and that was it.

Picking the papers from Tyr’s hands she scanned the clear handwriting. Vampires. She quickly shuffled through the pages; “are evil beyond redemption”, “known to fear water blessed by the Lady”, “faster than human eye can see”, “could only be killed by trained veteran hunters”, “get more dangerous with years. A hundred year monster had wiped out five villages, two shapers included before a coalition was formed and ten shapers in total collaborated to defeat the beast”.

“What are they about?” Tyr asked with interest, noting her shaking fingers.

What were all these notes? She dashed to the bookcase, all that single step, and looked through the titles. Most were varied in subject but she saw at least ten having to do with leeches, more if she counted ones with ambiguous names like “Researching the Unknown” that could be about anything.

“Hey! What is it?”

“Leeches! All those pages contain information about leeches. Everything from their looks, strengths to how to kill them!”

Tyr focused on the pages in her hand with a frown on his face. “Why would he care about them? They’ve become extinct.”

Oh Blessed Lady… Papers fell from her hand as Shea remembered the creature she’d seen in a buried mansion. If not for Iago, she would have killed it but he had set it free. He had set the monstrosity free! And it must have come here!

There was no other place for the creature to go! It required blood to continue it’s cursed existence and all the humans had collected in this very place! They were like sheep who had gathered for the wolf’s attack!

“We need to tell everyone! He must be harbouring the leech! Where, but where could he hide it?” she shouted out, taking a frantic look over the room.

Too small to hide anything. The leech must be in some other place, hiding from sight until a good opportunity arrived. Then he would strike.

Her memory returned to the bodies she’d seen earlier. No, no, it couldn’t be!

All of them were fully grown adults, people that could fight back! And Iago had killed them all. Now only the kids and elders were left in the city. None of which could pose any problem even to a young leech. It was said they were stronger than humans on birth and only grew stronger with each kill.

And this camp had become the hunting ground for such a monstrosity with her alone to protect everyone! Was she capable? Could she do it? She was strong enough, right?

“Harbouring a leech? What are you talking about? They’re extinct!” Tyr shouted back at her, his eyes wide from fear or disbelief.

She shook her head, sharing the terror that must have been his emotion too. “We’ve met one while travelling. It was weakened from not having killed anyone and I was about to smash his head when Iago stopped me! He stopped me!”

“What? You let one live?” Tyr’s eyes were growing wider by the moment.

Shea was certain her own weren’t far behind his. “Yeah! He did something, created a shield of nothing! Then they stayed hidden for a long time and after he broke the shield down, the leech just flew off when before he couldn’t even move! He flew out!” She paced the room, gnawing at her nails. “Oh, Lady, Blessed Lady… Protect us all… Blessed Lady..”

“We can’t tell anyone,” Tyr stated finally. “No one will believe you.”

“Why wouldn’t they? It’s the truth!”

He stared at her as if she was stupid. “The man just saved the lives of everyone here while you slept through it all. Why would they believe your words rather than his?”

That wasn’t right! She was the one telling the truth! They were all in danger now that Iago had taken care of all the fighting adults! There was no time to waste, they had to prepare and be ready for the monster’s attack!

“We need to find real evidence, something no one could dismiss. These papers are less than worthless when no one can read. The proof has to be more substantial. Something everyone could see and understand. It has t-”

“Why do you believe me then?” Shea asked cutting him off. It struck her how strange this was. He was here, had come with her without any reason to and now believed every word of what she said. It was like he had come from her village, sharing the same beliefs and ideals. Could it be that there were people like that in the city too?

It would be beyond miraculous.

Still, a smile blossomed on her face and she took a better look at the man at her side.

He was younger than her, couple years at the least but he was already taller than her, heavily built. He wore his armour with ease, right hand never moving too far from the sheathed blade at his side.

He smiled at her words, easing the sharp lines of his face. “Because you’re true to yourself while he hides behind his cloaks and mysteries. How could anyone trust a person like him?”

Shea stared at him for a second before shifting her gaze to the ground. “Thank you…”

“It’s nothing! Just telling the truth!” the young man laughed, lowering himself to collect the papers from the ground. He stacked them in a pile and put them back on the table. “Think we should leave before he comes back.”

“Yeah,” she agreed and hand in hand they evacuated the tower at record speed.