Stian's Mistake

Chapter Two

The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil.

Psalms 125: 3

The Holy Bible, saved from before the Cleansing

I trudge back to my empty tent, the damp, still-unfinished wash dragging in my hands. Sniffing the air, I realize with relief that Mama Rose might have a little breakfast left.

I stuff the clothes through the door flap and hurry the dozen or so yards that separate me from the woman who did her best to raise me when I stumbled into her life ten years ago.

"You look like you haven't slept at all since leaving on that mission. Two months of your life, gone to the desert sun. What's wrong with you, boy?"

"Hey, Mama Rose." I gratefully accept the enormous bowl of eggs and potato hash she shoves at me. She looks away, but not fast enough to hide the corner of a grin.

"You been with that girl again."

It's not a question, so I don't answer it, too busy eating.

"Three more kill marks."

Again, not a question.

"Sorry, Mama Rose. But they weren't good people. Slave traders."

She snorts. "Not up to you to decide good and bad. You're not Justice." She pushes a strand of white hair back into its place in her bun.

"They would have killed me if I hadn't gotten them first." It's a tired argument, but one we seem to have each time I return from a mission.

"So you're a dumb animal now? Kill or be killed? Bird shit."

I sigh and continue eating. Her food alone is worth putting up with her mouth, but she's also one of the few people who knows my full history and loves me anyways.

"I saw where that girl got one too. Not natural, that. And you always staying out nights with her. Hhmpf."

"I'm going to ask her to marry me, Mama Rose." I've never told her that before. Never told anyone.

Not really sure why I just did.

She only cuts her eyes sideways at me and packs that reeking tobacco into her pipe. "Not while Abraham is alive, you won't. Gonna kill him too?"

"Somebody needs to," I mutter.

She glares at me but ignores the comment. "I need some more meat."

"I'll hunt for you this afternoon. I'm supposed to brief Abraham and Caine on the mission this morning." I hand her the empty bowl and she shrugs a bony shoulder. "Thanks for breakfast."

"Take a bath first!" Mama Rose yells after me as I exit. I chuckle at her expected gruffness. There aren't many soft people here in the Tribe, and I'm lucky to have her on my side.

But I take her advice and scrub any remaining grime from my fingernails and hair and find clean clothes in a different pack before heading to find my Tribal Leader and his preferred henchman.

Caine is nowhere to be seen, but Abraham is sitting in the sun outside the longhouse - the one truly permanent building we have in this valley. Everything else is as portable as we are; stay in one place too long, and the Destroyer is bound to find you.

Abraham holds up a finger as I approach, so I just get to wait while he reads a full two more pages of some leather-bound journal.

I try not to fidget too much, but I'm not a standing-still sort of person.