…For The Witch You Didn’t Kill

JP with Omni and Winteroak

She wasn’t expecting to be comforted by her visit with the Purger but it was true, she wasn’t alone anymore. Arbiter Voah Sahnsuur gave out a slow involuntary exhalation as if all the weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Yes, she had felt lonely whenever she was away from the rectory. She had felt an absence or lacking of the Pillars… or at least, the deep devotion of faith, in Arcadia.

Though… she didn’t like the sound of a Holy Crusade at this point. It sounded like genocide to her, and she tried to keep her feelings about that hidden… as well as the pain from kneeling.

She bowed a low nod in thanks to the Purger, gravel digging deeper into her shins, “I anticipate any news from Mizar, and of your own exploits and plans.”

The Purger did not like her attempt at changing subjects.

"Before we move on, sister..." He interjected. "One last question…What have you done to correct your failure of letting the first witch you met in Arcadia live?"

Her heart raced, there was internal panic. Should she lie and try to weasel her way out of punishment? Try to bargain? Hadn’t the Pillars already punished her with guilt, madness, and near death over and over this past year?

Should she beg for mercy? Would he allow her to live? Was physical punishment enough? Would there be anything left of her body and mind, if she did live, to represent the tenets of Kupen and Hoi?

She would face her punishment in honorable dread.

She cast her eyes to the ground in shame and shook her head, “We both know that one does not atone for this most grievous of sins? What is befitting… if not death?”

There it was again. Free admission of failure and pushing for the most extreme of penalties while avoiding the question.

"Rise, sister. Come with me." He said standing up looking down at the kneeling figure of Voah and pushing past the entrance of his tent.

Once outside, the brightness of the morning sun immediately forced the Purger to close his eyes. They started to water slightly, a pain and discomfort that he welcomed.

Not far from his tent a native hanged from a wooden post. His skin had deep scores of wounded flesh where he had been flogged.
A few members of the Silent Flock stood around him as did some soldiers, watching.
Voah noticed a circle of salt around the man and protective runes carved along the surface of the wooden post.

"One of their so called Bonecasters." He said as Voah joined him. "We have learned all we could from our ministrations. We know where the bulk of his tribe is heading." He said as Voah noticed tears streaming down the Purger's face. "Let this be your Penitence for the witch you didn't kill." He told Voah waiting to see her reaction.

The Purger unexpectedly bade Voah to follow, her punishment awaited elsewhere. She noticed his reaction to the sun. In Helias she had heard of his aversion to sunlight but didn’t quite understand it. Was it blessing of Zin, or some kind of curse from Kupen? She found herself empathizing somewhat, for she had no love for suffering and it seemed the Purger was made to do so everyday of his life.

Then her thoughts and emotions changed to something more conflicted as they approached the bonecaster. She had a deep and vengeful loathing for the maleficium, but she took no pleasure in sadism and though she was no stranger to such gore and pain, it was not easy to look upon. Either way, the look upon her face was disgust.

She wasn’t sure what the Purger was getting at. Did he mean for her to switch places with the bonecaster? Continue the interrogation? Kill him? Go to the location of the tribe and kill them?

“What did you have in mind?” she asked.

"Kill him..." He ordered.

There was no hesitation. She nodded, pulled out her sword and beheaded the bonecaster where he hung.

‘Thank, Vastad.’ She said inwardly. That was the easiest option for her. No drawn out bloodlust. No unnecessary, extraneous, criminal cruelty. They had their information and she ended his suffering. But she still could not help herself from feeling somewhat justified for what had happened all those years ago, but… the deed didn’t carry the same satisfaction anymore.