Northbound Pilgrimage II

Chapter LXXIV - Do Some Good

Gulum was right – it was easy and the place was hardly worth robbing.

The room was as small as the storage room they had their secret meeting in before – it was inside one of the watchtowers on the battlements. The access there was simple and nobody was around when Bishop timed it around the patrols right. It was all too simple to get inside and avoid the few traps there – they were hardly very sophisticated. The place had a really basic security.

And it was no wonder. Nothing of interest was there. But there were so many papers. It took him forever to locate the actual list.

He had to be careful. He meticulously put everything back just the way it was while he sifted through tons of parchments and small books. Eventually though, he found it. At least he was pretty sure of it.

The list contained several names from each city controlled by the Empire, and some from villages too. Bishop quickly copied the names on his own piece of parchment before he put the original exactly where it was – hidden on one of the many bookshelves in between two books.

But just as he was about to leave the place, something caught his eye.

There was a glint of something shiny on the floor, between some chest and a crate. While he had what he needed, curiosity got the better of him and he crouched down to investigate.

It was a necklace, golden and decorated with what had to be two actual diamonds. It looked really expensive. And it clearly had no business being there tossed on the floor like that.

It must have fallen off someone's neck or something, or from someone's pocket. It was lost there.

Nobody would know if he took it.

He was a little conflicted – he was not supposed to leave any trace whatsoever, but... he would be an idiot if he didn't take this, right? It even had some dust on it. Clearly nobody knew that it was there.

He stashed the necklace into his belt pouch. Gulum would give him a good price for it. And he couldn't risk selling this in any other place.

And it did feel pretty good to actually get something valuable from the heist. Aside from doing some good maybe, for those Talos worshippers or whatever.

He was more excited about that necklace.

...

Casavir rested his arms on the wall of the battlements and breathed in the fresh morning air.

It would be dawn soon. A new day.

It was probably for the best. He could not sleep the entire night. When it became obvious in the early morning hours that he wouldn't get any rest, no matter how hard he tried, he decided to get some fresh air instead.

He couldn't get what had happened that day out of his head. He couldn't get Aeyrin's expression out of his head. That utter disdain and disappointment.

But what choice did he have?

He had never expected Bishop to believe him. That day when they met, when Casavir killed that dragon that was attacking him, it was not a good day. Travelling with his fellow paladins was no longer one of his favorite duties. It had become uncomfortable and tense. He could feel it in each of them. And he was so tired of it. He was so tired of paying for someone else's crimes for the greater good.

When Bishop spewed those same accusations at him, it became too much. All this lying, it was too much. Casavir couldn't have chosen a worse person to tell the truth to, but at that moment, he could not control himself anymore. The heat of the battle, the strain of the day, the culminating anger that only spilled over when he was confronted with that wretched man, it was too much. He could not stop himself.