Up shit creek wi' no paddle

Eleanor left us shortly after, claiming to have changed her mind about taking the day off work. Though, judging by her expression as she left, I figured it was more likely she needed to hit something to alleviate her frustration, and she happened to work one of the few jobs where that was actually productive.

That left Alice and I with little to do, now that our plans for the day had completely fallen through on us. With Alice’s survival also supposed to be a secret, we had to maintain a low profile anywhere we went, which led to us picking up some Cornish pasty-esque pastries at a nearby vendor and eating on a set of stone stairs off to the side of the district, out of the way of prying eyes. Alice kept her hood over her hair at all times, barely even daring to look up for fear of being exposed.

“‘Tis kwite þe conundrum we face, ys it not?” She said after swallowing some of her pasty. “I cannot possibly ask master Amaranþus to compromise his ideals, and his objecshons doþ ring true under scrutiny, but…”

“Without his 'elp we’s up shit creek wi’ no paddle, yeah?”

“We- pardon me?”

“We’re in a bad situation with no easy way out.”

“Ah- yes, to put it sussinctly.” Alice sighed, taking another small bite from her pasty, her movements sluggish and dejected. “Perhaps þis endevour truly is a fool’s errand. I am not so naïve as to þink þat lofty ydeals and brave speeches are enuff to chanje þe world, but I do wish to believe þat þee and I may yet shape þis society into someþing better. And yet, at every turn þat belief haþ been tested and rebuked. It ys becoming… kwite tyresum…”

Alice’s voice, which had remained strong and resolute even after an attempt on her life, had begun to waver. Her attempted stoicism only worried me further.

“So… do those beliefs still hold?” I asked. “Even if the world keeps kickin' us back, does that belief a'yours that we can make an impact stay strong?”

“…aye. Even now, my hart doþ not relent. I still believe þat chanje may yet come at our hand. However… master Amaranþus’ words… þey make me kweschon myne approach. For if myne acshon free’þ fifty men and slayeþ a furþer hundred, can I truly clame to be ryte and just? She who ys smeared wiþ blood and sat upon a þrone of corpses may call herself a liberator, but a tyrant by any oþer name doþ remane as crule. þe paþ to my gole may yet be paved wiþ untold bludshed. I must ask myself if þat ys a cost I am willing to pay.”

As she sank into silence and took another bite from her pasty, Alice simply stared off into the distance, deep in thought. To be honest, I was having second thoughts as well. To take lives in the pursuit of ending the horrors of slavery was something I thought I was okay with, but Arthur’s words made me realise I had been looking at the situation with too small of a scope.

Perhaps we would only need to maim or kill a handful of people to overthrow lord Edelweiss and have Alice take his place. But what then? Do we send the entire Edelweiss army off to war and try to deal a death blow to the slave trade? Simply stopping the Edelweiss family’s involvement in the trade wouldn’t blot out the institution entirely. To achieve the goal of truly ending slavery in Igris and Airan, there’s every chance the death toll would be substantially higher, and every chance we fail along the way. When the United States ended slavery, the resulting civil war killed hundreds of thousands and tore the nation in half. Could we accept such a cost?

Not to mention, as Arthur pointed out, the invention of the revolver would increase the deadliness of war exponentially. The ability to fire six rounds faster than a musket could fire two… whichever nation mass produced them first could cause untold devastation to it’s enemies.

It wasn’t an easy conundrum to overlook.

“...I can’t pretend to ‘ave all the answers,” I said, after a long silence, “but I do know this: injustice and cruelty thrives when good people ain't willing to do what's gotta be done. For every one oppressor, there’s a hundred oppressed, and a thousand who ain't do a damned thing to stop it. I… can’t act like the possibility of ‘avin’ to cause a whole lot o’ death ain’t shakin’ me will to act a tad… but I also know that nuffin’ll ever change if every bugger thinks that way. People are cruel, we kill and enslave each other over shite as petty as borders and religion, but it’s the silent complacency of good normal people that lets that world keep turnin’ like there ain’t summin' wrong wivvit. Maybe our approach is wrong, but our cause sure ain't. ‘Cause if no one else is gonna stick up for the little guy, might as well be us, right?”

I voiced my honest thoughts, though even I knew they were naïve. A motivational speech and simple outlook on life ain’t enough to change the world, and I knew that as good as anyone. But I also felt like I was in this world for a reason, and there could be nothing but this. After being a useless whiny twat on Earth for 23 bloody years, I wasn’t about to waste my time on this world too. I just hoped I was going the right direction.

“...þy presence is so often þe remedy for my woes, dear Barry. I cannot say my doutts are entirely assuaged, but þy words, in boþ þeir simplicity and rytechosness, doþ ease my hart so. I þank þee true.” Having finished her pasty at last, Alice sighed and shuffled closer to me on the step we were sat on, until she and I were shoulder to shoulder. “I… should þank þee also for þyne actions yester eve. Were’t not for þy bravery, I would most certanely have perished þere in þe streets, a victim of myne own hubris. ‘Tis… twyse now, þat þou hast saved my very lyfe, and wiþ no consern for þyne own. I… truly owe þee mor þan I could ever repay.” She looked down even more than she already had been, hiding her face even from me, and put her right hand over heart. Her soft voice was enough to make my own heart skip a beat.

“Wh-I-I mean… what are friends for, right? We 'elp each other when in need, yeah?”

“Of course… as… friends do…” before I had a chance to question the tinge of sadness in her voice, Alice got to her feet, before hurriedly adding “we should return to þe inn wiþ haste, ‘tis not safe to speak here.” Before I had a chance to respond, or even get to my feet, she walked down the few steps beneath us and out into the main street. I had to run for a moment to catch up with her.

“Easy, Ems, don't leave me beh-”

Just as I began speaking, Alice stopped dead in front of me, and a moment later I saw why. A large crowd had formed further down the street, with even some nearby shops having been temporarily abandoned. Without a word, Alice picked up the pace towards the congregation, with me half a step behind. As we got closer, I could hear obscenities yelled towards the centre of the gathering, with ever-so-pleasant words like “heathens” and “sinners” most common amongst them.

As we approached, we found an opening among the crowd and managed to slip close enough to the front to see what was happening. The sight was sickening.

Two men, no older than 19 or 20, had been stripped down to their underwear and forced to their knees, their bodies covered in bruises. Behind them stood three men, two of whom wore clothes that even I could recognise as too expensive for the average commoner, and the third of whom wore a priest’s hood. The jeering continued for a short while, until the priest raised his hand, and the crowd began to fall quiet. Once content that silence had fallen, the priest spake thus:

“Hark, ye good, ye faiþful! Before ye be two heaþens, two treacherous men, who haþ made a mockery of þe very faþe þat giveþ us lyfe!” The jeers began to grow again, which the priest allowed for a short while, before raising his hand once more. “þey haþ disregarded þe word of þe gods to engaje in a debochery as impure as it ys sinful. For as þe Scripts sayeþ, if man lieþ wiþ anoþer man as he doþ a woman, he haþ committed an abominæshon!”

The jeers grew even louder, and a pit opened in my stomach. I knew this world was backwards, and I hadn’t been optimistic, but I had hoped the treatment of homosexuality wouldn’t be this harsh. It was no wonder Eleanor thought I was insane for suggesting she admit her own feelings to Alice. Though, judging by the abject horror on Alice’s face, I had to wonder if she had taken my advice already.

“As ye faitþul knowest, ‘tis þe word of þe Scripts þat such sinners be put to deaþ. But þe lords be’þ merciful, and þe church is þe house of þe lord’s faiþful servants. þus, we offer to þese sinners a chance to repent, in indentured servitude.” The crowd’s reaction was mixed, with yells of ‘let them hang!’ mixed among support for the church’s ‘mercy.’ Alice, however, was shaking with anger. “þus, come þe eiþ hour of þe eve, þeir fate shall be decyded. þe men behynd me represent þe noble house of Edelweiss, and þe lord Edwyn Amadeus Edelweiss who watcheþ over þis land. þose who seekeþ to assist þe sinners in þeir repentance may offer þeir coin to þese men, and he wiþ þe larjest donæshon shall haþ þem as hys servants until þeir time haþ been served. þank ye all for þy continued faþe in þe church, and may God be wiþ ye.”

The crowd cheered a deafening cheer, with abuse and vitriol hurled at the two men all the same. I, however, was completely mortified. It was obvious with one look that the men had endured torturous beatings at the hands of these men, and now they were to be sold off like cattle?

Donations for repentance. Who the hell did they think they were fooling? It was a damned auction. The powers that be were profiting from the unjust punishment of two men had done nothing truly wrong.

My blood boiled with anger. I knew if I stayed any longer I wouldn’t be able to keep my temper in check.

“Come on, Emma. Let’s get ou-”

I cut myself off halfway through as I looked over at Alice. Even without seeing her face, I could tell she was embroiled in righteous fury and rage. Her body trembled with anger, though she was completely silent. And under her cloak, I could just about make out her right arm, her hand gripping the hilt of her sword.

A thousand possibilities ran through my head. Was she really about to do it? Cut down three men in front of a crowd? How could we possible escape an angry mob in the wake of such an action? Was her anger about to condemn us to death? I tried to think of something to say, to drag her away from the mistake she was about to make, but no words came to me. Perhaps because the shock rendered me speechless. Perhaps because I wanted to see those three men dead just as much as she did.

I held my breath, waiting for her to make the move that would spell our certain death.

But I waited for nothing. A moment later, she took a deep breath, steadied her trembling, and moved her hand from her sword.

“...let us make haste. ‘Tis not a good place to be.”

With her every movement consumed by anger, Alice Edelweiss turned away.