The morning sun was warm and gentle against Pyrik’s skin, consoling hands that she wanted to lean into further yet the tension in her body kept her from fully giving herself to its embrace. She had to answer for all the lives lost in the flames and fury of that night. To preside over her judgement was Cutter, who despite his pale complexion was sharp as a dagger as he pointed his flintlock pistol at her.

A grey cloud sailed past and obscured the glimpse of morning sun. The ashes of the red forest were whipped into a frenzy as a gust blew through. Blackened flecks drifted onto her boots. There was no telling who was mixed into those ashes, human or beast. The arachne and Hospitallers were already shedding each other’s blood before she lost control to the beast within, however, it was her hand that stirred the rest of them in. Any chance of resolution, no matter how slim, vaporized when she stoked the violence to a deadly peak. At that point none of them stood a chance, like a water drop in a fire. So, when Cutter asked her to come to the remains of the red forest to talk, she did so willingly.

The armour they wore was either crushed or perforated so both Cutter and Pyrik had abandoned it like trash on the streets. The blood on their white undershirts have dried and browned and crusted to the touch. The wind made their skin clammy. There was a sweetness to the smoky aroma that wafted from the ashes. Akin to the glaze of maple syrup and honey applied onto a pig roasting over a fire. It sickened Pyrik to her stomach, made it growl with hunger.

“Aella has told me about your… unique condition,” Cutter said, “that you’re not entirely a beast, nor entirely a human either. You’re like Menov… except with less control over that beast or voice inside that heart of yours. And although that part of you does not define the whole of you, it is still a part nonetheless. Blood is on your hands.”

And a broken promise too. Pyrik had promised Ira that she would help preserve her kind from the encroachment of the outside world. Now those words of trust forged on that night tasted ironic and bitter, for it was Ira who had to stop Pyrik from continuing on her path of annihilation.

“However, I also know that it wasn’t on purpose, that no blaze starts without a spark…” Cutter blinked, trying to rid the red branching in the whites of his eyes. “It’s… I… I know we’ve only spent at most a day with the arachne. I’m not so naive enough to believe such a short amount of time could cure deep rooted hostilities. But I honestly thought that we could have made things work given some more time. We’ve managed to defeat the insectoids together. Coexistence is possible. If only things had gone differently.” He sighed, pausing for a moment, then said, “You must answer for the death of my men and all the arachne, but I recognize that it isn’t wholly your fault.”

“You’re not going to kill me?” Pyrik was baffled. She was expecting, yearning for an execution, not anything that approached forgiveness. “You can’t risk that, Cutter. I could turn again. Hurt more innocent people.”

“Perhaps.”

“Why won’t you kill me then?”

Cutter slid his pistol back into his holster. “Because I’ve made a promise, and I can think of a punishment more fitting for your crime.”

***

The settlement was alive with activity. It was a strange sight to see settlers out on the streets when they were stowed away in the longhouse for so long. The sounds of sawing and hammering were everywhere as they went about repairing homes, taking down stakes, trying to return things to some semblance of normality. Pyrik saw Oddie and Ellie playing outside with a set of dice outside. It consoled her slightly..

The pod was ribbed and about as hard and heavy as ceramic cradled in Pyrik’s arms. Inside the babe stirred, and she was suddenly reminded of its fragility. It was a miracle that an arachne survived the destruction of the red forest. Perhaps through this pod, Ira’s child, would fulfill Ira’s dreams of expanding into the world in a way.

“Take it east,” Cutter said, “I hear any further conquests have stalled and that they will end the empire at the Arklay Mountain Range. Your best chance at finding a sanctuary is beyond the mountains.”

To foster a race to life was an appropriate path to atonement, however, coils of trepidation knotted in her stomach. Pyrik was a Jaeger, not some old nanny. Caring for a babe, no less a beast, was completely out of her realm of experience. “Are you certain you can’t come with me?” She asked Cutter.

He shook his head. “There are letters to write to families, a settlement to rebuild, and I must report back to the Order. They will want to know about this incident.”

“And it’s not like you’ll be traveling alone,” Aella added as she hefted on a traveling ruck, packed with a bed roll, food, jars filled with odds and ends of herbs and extracts.

With a sigh, Pyrik made a small nod. A wrong had to be righted, after all. She had no choice but to honor this commitment to Ira and her arachne perished in the burning of the red forest.

“Safe travels,” Cutter said to Pyrik and Aella.

“Thank you, Cutter. I promise that I’ll make things right,” Pyrik said. Then to Aella, “We should leave while it’s still day. I’d like to find an inn before nightfall.”

And so Pyrik followed Aella as they headed east, toward the Arklay Mountains, where there was sanctuary and perhaps redemption.

END OF THE RED FOREST ARC