Knives & Levels - Chapter 87

Colt kept his hands in his pockets as he walked; Sarah was with him, a scowl stretched on his face as they went down into the depths of the ‘maze’ that lay under the city. People still weren’t sure what to make of this place and what exactly to do with it now that Denny was no longer here. The layout was complicated and had gotten a bit of a reputation around the city since people who were held down here returned to the surface.

Personally, even when walking down the halls, he could see why no one wanted to be here.

That made it a good place for logistics and prisoners, which was part of what Denny had used it for before.

“We’re executing him, right?” Sarah asked as they walked. She strode fast and rushed to the situation. Somewhere ahead was Jimmy, Julia, and Nate—gathered here for probably too long while Colt recovered. Sarah had been waiting for him to leave the sauna in a nearby bar.

He hoped they would forgive him for dozing off.

As he moved, his body felt light. His soul felt less flayed, too—another day of treatment like that, maybe? And he’d be back near fighting condition.

Certainly enough to finally test out and grapple with his new momentum, Edict.

Sarah stopped and glared at him, noticing he hadn’t responded to her question.

“We end him. He tried to kill us; we did the same thing to Bill, and we do the same thing here. He’s not someone to be trusted, and we can’t just let him out into the world.”

Colt sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“I understand what you mean. You think that by putting down a potential threat, we’re saving ourselves in the future.”

“Then you agree with me. He needs to be executed.”

“I don’t think he’s the same level of threat as Bill. Truthfully, I don’t know what I want to do to him. I feel angry, too, sure, but not in the same way Denny made me angry,” Colt responded.

“He shot you, Colt.” Sarah’s voice rose.

“He hit me with an arrow,” Colt clarified, not that it made it much better. He still felt the sting in his back from where he’d been hit, “Listen, I’m not arguing against punishment… I just want to hear what everyone else thinks.”

Sarah scowled at him but didn’t keep arguing. Instead, she picked up her pace, throwing a bit of her Edict into her walk, each step propelling her a bit faster than the first. Colt took it in with good grace, letting her rush to the end destination and picking up his own speed to compensate. There wasn’t any real need to hesitate.

In seconds, they reached an end to the hall, then another turn, getting lost in the labyrinth. Until Sarah stopped at the door, jerking her head at it with a scowl. She was certainly not feeling too happy about today, Colt supposed.

Neither did he, for that matter, but… Well, whatever.

He pushed through the door to find the rest of their group. Nate, Julia, and Jimmy were sitting around a table. Nate had a pot of coffee on it—and as Colt entered, he poured him a cup and set it down on the chair.

“Hope you’re feeling better?” Nate asked.

“That sauna is a miracle,” Colt confirmed, rolling his shoulders as Sarah stalked behind him. The girl jerked a chair out and then plopped into it, eyes staring daggers at the door.

“Let’s just get on with it.” She said.

Nate gave her a soft look as Colt took his seat. Julia gave Colt a once over, her eyes scanning to make sure he was as good as he said he was—before settling down and stirring her tea. “I’ll go get him if we’re all ready.”

He checked with Colt, who nodded as he took his new coffee in hand.

Why not. They all were anxious about him, which made sense since he’d collapsed just recently. Take it easy. As the eyes left him, he reminded himself and went to Nate, who vanished from the room. Colt took the opportunity in his friend’s absence to note where everyone else seemed to be.

Julia looked on edge, scanning everyone just like he was. If he had to guess by the way she kept stirring her tea with her stares, she also hadn’t made up her mind either. Jimmy, on the other hand, was fidgeting with his hands, not meeting anyone’s eyes, acting like he didn’t belong.

The silence was thick in the air, hanging just as densely as the mist had been outside.

Colt let it hang, nursing his coffee as he tried to sort out his own thoughts on the matter, to take a side. Try as he might, though, judgment and condemnation fled from him. Nick had been someone they’d relied on, someone who, without him, ’d have died. On the other hand, he’d also shot Colt in the back over a tantrum on his failure to grab a power that he’d lost fair and square.

It stung, still, to think that someone he’d started to feel like a friend could swap sides so easily and become someone else entirely. With those feelings in mind, it was impossible to fall on either side of the fence.

Condemnation or forgiveness. Neither felt easy to grasp,

Four minutes later, the door opened again. Nick paraded in, not in cuffs, but with Nate behind him with his hammer and a stern expression. Cuff’s would have been useless had Nick put any stats into strength… Really, the only enforcement on the situation was the fact that all of them were here, and if Nick tried to break out or hurt anyone, he’d find himself dead before he could get very far.

Colt tapped his hand on the table as he stared at the man, who refused to look anywhere but at the floor.

Nate shut the door behind him and then locked it before walking over and taking his spot back at their table. They were the jury.

For all the talk about laws in the town, which would result in how the other soldiers would be processed and dealt with… This particular prisoner was someone they’d reserved the right to judge. After all, this one was more personal than the others.

Colt tried to get Nick to meet his eye. But he didn’t. Instead, he stayed there, quiet. Head hung like a man on an execution block.

“Fucking traitor.” Sarah spat on the ground and then stood up, pointing the finger at him, “Hurt Nate, then backstabbed Colt, then followed a damn dictator into a battle that he intended to put us all down in. I hope you’re happy with yourself. Because we’re going to put you in a ditch.”

Nick winced at that, and Nate raised a hand.

“We haven’t decided on what to do yet.” He clarified.

“Bullshit, we haven’t. Anyone who doesn’t think we should just bury him is out of their mind—we took down Denny, we took down Bill—he tried to take us down, so the only right thing to do here is to repay the favor.”

“He’s strong, and we’re looking at facing our strongest dungeon yet,” Nate responded, folding his arms as he stared at Denny. “A dungeon that we can’t be sure we’ll be able to finish. This city is sorely lacking when it comes to people, and we would be best served by working with someone who had trained with us. I know you haven’t been looking at the scouting reports, but the frequency of ‘mist monsters’ is increasing, with some conflicts that have come very close to casualties.”

“He’ll just shoot you in the back if you take him into a dungeon.”

At this, Nick raised his eyes; a bit of steel there. “I’ve messed up. I don’t deserve forgiveness. She’s right. I don’t see a reason why you should trust me. I chose the power of your lot. I’m a weak, pathetic man, and I don’t deserve a second chance.” His voice lowered as he said it, his face screwed up as he came near to tears.

There was an authenticity there, a regret. Colt felt it in the words and saw it in the way he clenched his hands.

Power was a consuming force, the desire to make something more of yourself and see your dreams finally realized when it was so close to your grasp, only to be taken away…

It could shatter your heart and make you a pathetic person.

“See, you heard it there. Even he knows he deserves death.”

“I’m not too proud to beg for my life, though,” Nick replied, eager to cut her off and end the talk of execution. He got to his knees, bowing his head to the ground, “I don’t deserve to ask, but I will. Please. If you send me out from this place, I will not return. I’ll head north. I’ll disappear. I’ll have nothing to do with Nashville or your lot anymore. I will beg for mercy.”

Colt sipped his coffee, watching Sarah scowl.

“Mercy for betrayal. I still believe that act requires redemption.” Nate said and sighed, shaking his head, “Listen, I feel responsible since your defeat at my hands led you down this path. I don’t like seeing people with the potential for good in them thrown to the wolves and corrupted. Redemption is a hard path to walk, but I believe it in him.”

“I don’t,” Sarah said.

At that, Nate looked around to the rest of the room, having set the two conflicting argumenets in motion.

Colt stared at Nick, his head still pressed against the floor. If the situation were reversed, if he’d been tempted to use such a power and had it ‘taken’ from him in his eyes, would he resort to the same fall as Nick? He’d like to think no, that he’d move on and try to find his own path, but it was hard to say. When you want something so badly, and you fail to get it, again and again…

It jades the heart. It damages the soul too; leaving you feeling like an incomplete and worthless person. In a world like this, where such a power could be literal life and death…

He didn’t excuse Nick, but he found he understood.

Jimmy, surprisingly, was the first one to weigh in. “I think he should be exiled. He says he won’t hurt us… I don’t think we need more death on our hands, especially someone defenseless.”

“He can summon a light bow and kill you right now if he wants to.” Sarah broke in.

Nate raised a delicate finger to his lips and shook his head at her, clearly signaling that it was time for the other people to weigh in and give their opinions. It was a group decision.

“He doesn’t have that fight in him. It’s one thing to do it in a battle. It’s another thing to murder in cold blood. Bill was the type to do that, but I don’t think any of us are.” Jimmy said, shivering as Sarah stared daggers into him.

“Fine. If it matters, I’ll concede to exile if I have to—that’s two votes to kick him, one to let him hang around.” Sarah concluded and then made a motion as if she was zipping her lips in respect to Nate.

Julia raised a hand.

“Speak,” Nate said.

“We need whatever firepower we can get. We’ve worked on tactics with Nick. I don’t want anyone to die—and I don’t think we’ll be taking a healer into this dungeon. Someone with long-ranged abilities to weaken monsters and save us from potential damage… Is invaluable. This isn’t a game, and I know Nick can fill that slot. After the dungeon, we can send him on his way.” Julia said, with a surprisingly well-reasoned argument.

Of course, this didn’t help Colt much since it put him in a bad position.

His words would determine Nick’s fate.

The man raised his eyes and met Colt’s; they weren’t those of a hardened killer. And they weren’t eyes filled with hate and spite anymore. No. It was fear. Like looking at a scared dog or someone pushed to the brink.

Colt found it hard to hate a man like that. And he found it doubly hard to put the people he cared about at risk.

So the question was, did he trust that Nick could carry out a job well enough to trust that having him along would protect his people, rather then harm them.

Colt weighed Nick’s future in his mind.

“Nate says he believes in redemption. I believe in paying off what you owe—you’ve harmed me, you’ve harmed him. We can forgive you on our own terms. But the people of this city they’re who you owe. If we simply let you walk off, that debt will be unpaid, and that is not doing them justice. I’ll go with Julia’s proposal. Work, you help us clear the dungeon, and you’ll have served this city. Then, you can go off on your way.” Colt said as he finally reached a decision.

The relief on Nick’s face brought a small warmth, but Colt wasn’t done with his message.

Colt pulled his dagger and stabbed it into the table. “If you harm any of us again, then you know what will happen. You are not stronger than Denny. You are not stronger than me. And you are no longer my friend. Do your job, and all will be fine. Understand?”

Nick nodded and then bowed his head again.

Colt let out a deep breath, feeling his muscles relax as he slipped back into his chair—watching Nate lead the man out. That, at least, had finally been resolved, and with it, he felt like a whole load of weights had been taken off his shoulders. Was it right? He wasn’t sure. But, at the end of the day, he felt his heart content with the decision.

It left to be seen, however, if redemption was possible. At the very least, he knew one could work to pay off a debt.