The Blade Witch

Chapter Eighteen - Deeds and Sacrifice

The jailer's footsteps were slow and
methodical, completely out of rhythm with
the clanging of his keys against the bars of
the empty cells that he passed. Then there
was the tune that he whistled, it was much
too cheerful for the occasion.

That melody he sang was one fit for
springtime weather, meant to be sung by
children at play or grandmothers doing
needlework in their rocking chairs. The
ugly sensation emanating from the dull
grey walls overpowered it completely.

pleasurable about the world. The sunlight
trying to reach through the tiny cell
window was too weak to illuminate the
bleak darkness, the hard floor carried a
chill that could soak through bone, and the
salted air was chokingly humid. Everything was wrong.

Then again, nothing seems appropriate in
the moments before a hanging. Estra
thought to herself. She peered into the cell
across from her, carefully eyeing the rise
and fall of the jails only other inhabitant.

Dost was sound asleep, or at least he
appeared to be. Part of her was glad that
he'd been assigned to the same fate as her,
and even more so that she'd get to watch
him die before she met her own fate. The
other half of her was sickened by the fact
that she'd be forced to spend the last day
of her life locked away with him as her
only companion. She looked down at the
thick manacles encircling her wrists. They were old and worn, but they were still
diamidian. The dark material sucked the
magic from her bones and everything
around her, and that was the sole reason
she hadn't finished burning this thrice-
damned city and everything in it to the
ground.

"Rise and glow Blade Witch," the jailer
said, finally making his way to her cell.
Estra looked up at the thickly muscled
man, long over the fact that he was the
same person whose home she'd once
hidden at in the slums. The jailer fumbled
through his ring of keys, doing his best to
balance a pair of sparse food treys in the
other. He spat a curse from his mustachioed lips as he struggled to get the key to turn in the rusted lock before the door finally came swinging open.

The man offered her the trey, allowing her
a moment to stare at him blankly before he
shrugged and set it down on the ground indifferently. He repeated the same routine
for Dost, not bothering to wake the man
before he turned to make his departure.

"Nothing to say?" Estra called after him.

The guard looked over his shoulder
quizzically. Likely surprised to hear her
speak for the first time in the days since
the massacre.

"What is there to say lass?"

"Today's the last you'll ever see me," Estra
said. "I've been waiting for you to take
your chance to curse me. Call me all the
horrid things I know you want to. To tell
me how much of a monster I am."

"That's not the kind of man Elmont is,"
both Estra and the jailor looked over at
Dost's cell. Neither the Blade Witch, nor
the giant had spoken during their stay in
the prison, yet somehow, he'd still managed to be the quieter of the two. He
rolled over on his mat to face them,
leaning forward to rest his elbows on his
knees. "You burned more than a few of his
friends, but you won't hear a word from
him about it. He's thinking plenty right
now, but he'll always keep it to himself
and do what needs to be done. Even after
all these weeks he's been watching over
me, I still don't understand it myself, but
that's just the way the man works. That's
why he was chosen to be our guard."

"Just a man trying to do his job and go
home to his family at the end of the day is
all," the jailer said. His eyes flickered back
and forth between Estra and Dost, seeing
that "I'll be back in an hour when you need
me. That should give the two of you more
than enough time to talk." He nodded at
Dost before making his exit.