Corn, Cows, and the Apocalypse

Man to Man

Through the vent, I could see and hear everything, especially since Priest forced Garrett to come forward by sitting on the steps of the chancel. Garrett sauntered up cautiously, while Priest lounged his elbows comfortably on the step behind him. "How much did August tell you about me?" Priest asked.

"She told me of your many vices. She also told me that Lenore trusts you and that she would go to you if she thought she needed help."

"Yeah." Priest chuckled. "I can't break her of that little habit. What about tonight? You expect me to believe that you were just pretending to rape her?"

"Believe it or not, but Lenore should know. I was lying on top of her. I don't recall being turned on by what I was doing. I think most rapists get off on the struggle, but I was too distracted by the fight to be getting any sick pleasure from her pain."

Priest nodded as if he were mulling over the information. "Pretense or not, that was a pretty deep slice in her arm, and was I mistaken, or is she getting a black eye?"

"I understand your protective nature and I respect it. She's a young woman and your friend; you want to help her; kiss her boo-boos." I could see Priest shift at the condescending undertone of his statement, but he stayed quiet. "She doesn't need a white knight. She needs to become a white knight, and unfortunately I was the dark knight hired to do that job."

"And tonight was just about the job? All alone in a house with a beautiful woman who has no one to protect her. How do I know you weren't just taking advantage of the situation?"

Garrett glanced to the front of the church.

"Just to be clear. You're questioning my motives toward Lenore?"

Priest narrowed his eyes. "Lenore is safe here. I would never harm her."

"Safe." Garrett nodded and shuffled his feet around. "Why is everyone so eager to keep her safe? You don't protect someone from the water by never teaching them to swim. You don't protect someone from a disease by not inoculating them."

"You aren't talking about shots and floaties, Garrett!" Priest sat up and motioned to the dressing room. "You beat the crap out of her tonight and scared her half to death!"

"Yes, I did, and do you know what happened? She fought me, Matthew." Garrett brandished his sloppily bandaged hand. "She fought me, and she won. She got away. That's all that I'm taking away from tonight. She might wake up tomorrow with cuts and bruises, but I don't care. Her enemies will do nothing less."

"You talk as if you are sending her into battle against an army of glimmer grim."

"Please don't make yourself the fool in this. You are a priest, after all. Do you really think this is all there is? Do you think that life ends as we know it, and a few puppeteering demons show up to wreck our parties? We are headed into so much more trouble, and if you care about Lenore, you will realize that she needs to get with the program. You do too, actually, but I'm not going to waste my time trying to dig you out of this hole."

"I understand your concerns for the future, and training Lenore can only help her, but why are you going to such extreme lengths to do so?"

"I've observed Lenore over the last couple weeks. She follows orders well enough, she learns quickly, but she's not a forward thinker. She's very dependent. She is, for lack of a better word, lazy." I cringed at hearing that word again. I do everything for everyone. I'm the damn kickstand. I hold everyone else up.

"Lazy? I've never observed that."

"I just mean she is willing to let others take care of her. When push comes to shove, she just falls down. She thinks nothing of losing a sword match, because it isn't going to result in her death. She doesn't worry about our mock fighting, because I'm not using my full strength. If I had tried to fight her tonight, she would have given up, or retreated, or begged me to stop."