[ ––––––––– Ϫ Day 27 ––––––––– ]

Noemi regained consciousness in a small chamber with two straw beddings and two metal doors. Her waist was neatly bandaged and her head was situated on a makeshift pillow made out of her folded wolf-fur cape. It was better than the solid floor, so the girl would be comfortable, If not for the fact that her ankles and hands were tied with a rope. On top of that, the rope on hands was attached to the nearby door to limit the range of movement, away from backpacks and bags in the corner of the room.

Noemi tried to wriggle, but as soon as she did, she felt a sharp pain in her back. Sensing it would hurt less, she tried to break the rope at her wrists, but she lacked strength after the injury and the rope was too thick either way. The girl decided to take a rest instead, to think. She was incapable of escape right now.

A few minutes passed and before Noemi was able to come up with a plan, Arath entered, carrying Noemi's bag. It was filled to the brim with herbs, plenty of moss, and a large, fat rat.

“You...” - Noemi mumbled in a faint voice.

Arath didn't respond. He silently unpacked the bags.

“...water.” - Noemi despised the man for his crimes, but she understood that he meant her no harm, at least for now.

Arath looked at Noemi and nodded affirmatively, with as dispassionate expression as ever. It was like he acknowledged the request, but didn't care or show empathy at all.

Arath prepared a tripod, started a fire, then wrung out the moss into the pot and boiled the water. His actions were mechanical and precise like performed by a machine. The man focused on the task and didn't bother to even once look at his patient until it was finished.

At last, Arath added some specific herbs of his choice, took out Delza's weapon, tied his upper arm with cordage, and pierced his cubital vein with some sort of flexible transparent tube, then added plenty of his own blood to the mixture.

“What... are you doing?” - Noemi couldn't understand the process, it was looking to her like taboo rituals, but the warriors weren't admitted into shaman groups, so she wouldn't be able to tell.

“Adding blood.”

Noemi was slightly disappointed by getting the obvious answer and lack of elaboration. She quickly remembered her previous chat with the boy.

“Why?”

“Better healing.”

“How?”

“The artifact does it. I don't know how it works.” - Arath finished, then moved to sit next to Noemi. - “I will need to lift your head.”

Noemi rolled her eyes to look at the boy, then nodded her head slightly as If to agree. Arath put medicine next to Noemi's dried lips and helped her to drink it.

“Drink everything.” - He politely requested.

“Disgusting.”

“It's medicine. The taste is of no concern.”

After Noemi received something to drink, Arath returned to his tasks, starting with cleaning the pot.

Noemi lied at her bed, staring at the ceiling and pondering what to do in her situation. She realized that she had a single important question.

“Why did you save me?”

“To pay the debt.” - Arath referred to the situation with a zombie.

“Ah.” - Noemi took a pause, then became cynical and demeaning to Arath. - “Why would a murderer be so honorable?”

Arath didn't answer.

“Tell me.”

“I also thought you still might be useful.”

Noemi sighed, she no longer wanted to continue the talk. Arath didn't feel the need for conversation either and returned to his responsibilities.

[ ––––––––– Ϫ ––––––––– ]

A few hours passed. Arath moved next to Noemi again.

“I will examine the wound”- He informed, then upon seeing the agreement, he removed bandages and witnessed a miracle. Outside, the injury was completely healed. - “I will need to touch your stomach, tell me If you feel any pain.” - Noemi agreed, Arath's reason couldn't accept the results - a period of recovery that would take five days was accomplished in a single night.

“If you keep healing at this speed, you should recover by tomorrow morning.” - Arath informed and loosened Noemi's from her ties.

“I'm hungry.” - Noemi really didn't care at what the boy was speaking, she was focused on her own situation and just stated what she needed. She understood that the boy posed no danger and decided to use the situation and recover to full strength before dealing with him. To her, he was a moron who on his own, put himself in great danger of retribution.

“You shouldn't eat for the next six hours. Get some sleep instead.”

Noemi rolled her eyes but ultimately followed the advice.

[ ––––––––– Ϫ ֎ Ϫ ––––––––– ]

A pleasant aroma of mushroom stew filled the room. However, Arath wore a makeshift mask filled with herbs, to stop the smell from entering his nostrils.

Noemi was awakened by the smell. She stretched her arms and legs, shifted into a sitting position, then gently rubbed her sleepy eyes. To be more comfortable, she moved her fur behind her loins and leaned against the wall.

“Smells better than the last time.” – Noemi addressed the boy reluctantly as If to get his attention, but she didn't maintain eye contact and instead stared at the wall to her left.

Arath served the meal and a mug of tea.

Noemi dug into the dish with a wooden spoon and tasted the first portion. A heavenly autumn flavor tenderly caressed her taste buds, her wrist gained momentum and the bowl was emptied in a flash.

Noemi instantly realized it was the best meal she had ever eaten. She finished with a drink, its complex taste was on par with the stew. To her, it was a shame and a waste that she still had the desire to kill Arath, but time and good rest allowed her to rethink the situation. She had a lot of questions. If not a technicality, in a fit of anger, Noemi would desire to disobey village law.

She started boldly. - “I hereby subject you to extended trial by On'tharian codex.”

Arath didn't respond.

“Don't ignore me. You're not a subject to my tribal laws, so you might end up dead by my hand, right here and right now.”

“I don't care If I die. If you insist, we can always talk.”

Noemi was annoyed. Arath was unbothered even by a death threat. She just wanted to hear one affirmation of his full guilt and be done with that.

“Did you torture and...” - Noemi had trouble letting the next word out of her throat, she was repulsed by the taboo meaning. - “...rape your sister?”

“No.”

Noemi's feelings became mixed. She reinterpreted village law and almost killed the man, just because of her prejudice and because she trusted the words of another party, but the man was still subject to branding.

She had always followed the law, but the law never required her to punish members of her tribe. It required her to act in specific ways, to respect traditions, and to not disobey commandments. It was all until she entered the supposed land of gods, the world got complicated and she could no longer blindly follow the rules. Her actions had consequences. She still abode to the rules for foreign races, but the ability to bend the punishment made her feel to need to ask more questions.

“...then, why did you kill her?”

“Mercy.”

“Mercy?” - Noemi's blood was boiling. - “How can you call slaying your own kin, mercy!? You're rotten!” - She picked her spear, clutching it hard, but waited for the man to answer.

“Did you hear what happened to her?”

Noemi stopped, frozen in shock, she dropped a spear. - “I did. Was it true?” - She hoped that the story was false, but she quickly realized that she should've known the truth after hearing the word 'mercy'.

“All of it, except the part where I was the perpetrator. I was framed.”

“You did not have to kill her.”

“She begged me for death. She didn't want to live. She was in pain. She wouldn't survive a day anyway. Even If she did... you have no idea what kind of hell we lived in, her life would only get worse.”

Noemi didn't comprehend these words, she couldn't relate, her mind was confused. She didn't know what to think. She didn't understand only a single word.

“Hell?”

“Hell.”

“What is hell?”

“It's a place worse than one straight out of your worst nightmares.”

Noemi recalled reliefs on the reversed cross in the forest. Boiling people alive, cutting them to pieces, eviscerated woman...

“Are... are we in hell?”

“I don't know, but it's better than where I used to live, so probably no.”

“Better? Brothers and sisters kill each other, we're surrounded by filth and feces... and you say it's better?”

“Yes, it's less bad than what happened in Lynn.”

“Lynn?”

“It's the name of my hell.”

Noemi could understand the situation better, but she still needed to know all the truth.

“What about the guide, why did you take his life?”

For the first time, Arath's expression changed, as If he recalled a painful memory. - “I don't want to talk about it.”

“Be short.”

“Bigger mercy.”

The words 'bigger mercy' struck Noemi like a blow. What happened to Arath's sister was the worst she could've imagined. There was no way there could possibly be an even worse fate, but apparently, there was. She wanted to vomit whenever she recalled Zahar's wicked, detailed depictions, so she wanted to hear no more.

“Did you... kill more people?”

“Yes, but it was no mercy. It was a fight for survival.”

Noemi knew enough to give a verdict. She wanted to know more, but she was exhausted and required time to rethink her ways, alone. She would ask later, right now was adamant about her convictions. Taking someone's life was cardinal taboo, the greatest sin, but she never considered that someone's life might be ruined to the point, that he or she would ask to be deprived of life.

That's when Noemi recalled a deeply hidden childhood memory of her grand-grandmother on the deathbed. She was in great pain and suffered for many days. Noemi and the family were asked to leave the room, so the elder shaman could perform the last rites. He left after a quarter-hour and grand-grandmother was peacefully asleep, apparently forever.

Could she be cheated by her own elders? She didn't want to think about it.

Noemi decided, she would only ask one final question.

“Do you regret what you did?”

“I regret it, but I had no choice.”

“There always is a choice. A choice to fight. You were just blind to it because you're not a warrior.”

Arath didn't answer. He didn't pay attention to these words, he didn't understand them and he didn't believe in any choice in life. He only knew one truth, that he used to think that survival was the only thing that mattered. He would lie, kill, and steal to survive the next day.

How long did it take him to change his mind? Was it when his sister died? Was it when it stopped bothering him whether he was dead or alive? He did not know. He didn't want to recall all of his memories. He forced them into the back of his mind.

“As a punishment, you must be branded.”

The boy shrugged, turned, and lifted a shirt. - “Do it.”

Noemi stared at Arath's back in consternation. There were thousands of cut, burn, and other scars. The girl realized that the boy had already be branded at least thrice, there was a long mark of a snake on side of his waist, a crown on his shoulder, and three flies in the middle of his spine.

“Not here. Not now.” - Noemi softly uttered. She wanted time. She felt pity, although she didn't want to. To her, he didn't deserve pity, so why did she feel it? The girl was angry at herself for having feelings that she was not supposed to have. - “I still need to rest.”