Night of Accusations

Near the old sawmill, evening.

"Damn it, I'm bored, there's no one to kill!"

"Patience. You'll have plenty of fun at the festival. Now go and hit several times that tree if you insist to do something."

"It's not the same, boss... but fine - it will help to kill some time"

"All right. When you're done, remember it's your turn on south guard duty tonight, as the other two went to sleep already."

A brutal silence follows, then the boss of bandits steps into wooden ruins. The man with light equipment as he has a simple caftan and metal cervelliere went into the direction of the trees. Than he vanishes from the view of his companions. When he grips weapon, a hand clamp over his mouth and a short dagger presses into his throat. He freezes, his hand drops the club and within seconds his body falls where the grass has already changed color to crimson.

Roland whispers to Max

"You heard them. We will strike them, here and now. Nadia be ready to shoot at any time, while I go in. I need you to hit that tree so their leader don't get suspicious of the silence."

Max nods. His heart jumped but also he feels relief that he won't be the one to kill them. He picks up the club and starts to hit the tree. Sound of his blows echoes through the woods.

Nadia takes a better and closer position with a clear view of the 2 tents and sawmill entrance, while Roland circled around trees to reach the wooden wall of the old building and closes distance into the tents. Dusk works in their favor making it harder to see their silhouettes. Roland gets close enough to see two bandits lying on their pallets inside the tent, their armor tossed aside. Without hesitation, he quickly slips inside and drives his dagger up through one man's chin from below, one lethal stab. The sound of it alerted the second bandit, he opens his eyes, but Roland's blade is already pressing his throat. As he look behind, the other tent is empty.

"Three down" as Roland says in his inner thought. "By the size of this camp, there should be 2-3 more of them."

Roland steps slowly into the wooden ruins of a sawmill and finds the bandit leader sitting in a chair with exposed back to him. The foe wears similar armor to Roland's. As he gets closer prepared to eliminate him, the bandit notices him through the bottle's reflection. The leader instantly stands, turns, shouts "Intruder!" and charged at Roland.

Nadia hearing some voices, signals Max to run toward Roland's position.

Two bandits approach from north into the wooden building. An arrow quietly flies and hit one of them in a throat. The other stopped surprised for a short moment and suddenly is knocked down by a shield bash from Max's charge. The bandit is disoriented, a perfect timing to take him down. But the foe looks up and sees heavy armored knight above him, ready to strike... but hesitates.

"Do it! You must do it!" As Max's keep shouting at himself in his mind. During this moment the laying bandit takes out a dagger and tries to thrust aiming toward the gap of Max's armor - but in that moment, Max instinctively strikes with full power the bandit's chest. The simple caftan had no chance of stopping the axe.

Max's heart hammers, his hands tremble as he takes pulls off the axe. He notices how foe's breathing stops. A cold wave runs over his skin, a shiver through his bones.

"It was just a criminal... not human, a monster. I have to help Roland" as Max thinks. He gets up and walks into the sawmill. 

As he enters, he notices a bandit boss laying dead on the floor. While Roland stands over a table. Hearing footsteps, Roland quickly picks up some papers and put them into his satchel and says

"Good work. It's finished. Let's return to the village - tomorrow you'll receive your reward."

Max notices a slight worry across Roland's face, but he ignores it and replies

"Thank you... although I did little."

"You did much" Roland answers. "Your presence enchances my morale - Nadia's presence too." He steps outside and nods approvingly at Nadia, when he sees a dead body with an arrow in his throat.

Moments later, the trio heads back to the village. Max walks in bigger distance behind them, moving slowly. With each step, a chill runs down his neck and spine. His arms and legs tremble. After a time, his throat goes so dry he cannot swallow. In his mind he hears only:

"Not human... a monster.... human... not a monster..." as if a demon feeds him these words, while the sound of his axe hitting the bandit still echoes through his ears.

When they reach the road, passing villagers wave in greeting. Max does not lift his helmet's visor, as he knows his gaze would disturb the atmosphere of their smilling faces. As they enter the village, children play fighting with sticks. Max instinctively looks away - as he's afraid he will scare them away.

Roland approaches Max and says:

"Return to your room and rest. I've told Nadia to take the room next to yours, instead of sleeping in her house. In case you need help - just shout. I'll tell Mira to send Thomas into the forest to gather some medical herbs."

Roland knows what happens as he knows how it feels, he pats Max's shoulder:

"Do not fall in such guilt. You have done what has to be done, this is the art of a true warrior's codex. If dark thoughts will haunt you, remember to shout and Nadia will quickly arrive. You're not alone pal."

Roland than walks toward Mira and begin a conversation with her, but he's too far away for Max to hear anything. Max with a small appearing tear in his eye, decides to do as he was told. He walks toward the building where he's sleeping at. After few steps he glances back and sees Mira wiping away a tear, then as she notices him, she straightens and smiles, as she seems to hide her sorrow while talking with Roland. Max was already too tired mentally, to think much about this.

Late night, in Max's room.

Max tries to fall asleep anxiously, face buried in his pillow. The silence is so deep that each of his heavy breathes could be heard. A chill breeze flows in through the window. Then - black void. Max is no longer laying. He stands in arena. Surrounded by his teammates. Their faces have no eyes. Max grips his axe and shield and in his ears the command rings:

"Ready? Fight!"

He charges forward by the muscle memory and strike the foe's chest. The opponent white knight falls down and Max wanted to charge into another one but he looks at his axe. It is filled with dark red fluid. The metallic and sulfuric scents fills the area, and he tastes adrenaline on his tongue. A heavy, black rain begins to fall, hurting his face and blurring his vision.

On the ground the white clad warrior, morphs into a bandit's corpse. His teammates surrounds him while being silent, even without eyes their faces are judgmental. Their lips begin to move. They lift their arms pointing a finger at Max, each hand is trembling.

From the mist emerges a woman in white, the bottom of her dress stained in red. She also points accousingly.

Than Max starts to hear a chant of voices:

"Why? Why? Why?"

Their echoes twist in his head, pulsing with pain. Max tries to run but his feets are glued to the floor. He tries to speak but his throat is completely dry, making it impossible to say a single word. Suddenly every face in his vicinity morphs into a face of dead bandit:

"You are no better than me. You are exactly the same!"

Max forces himself to make a single step behind. Only to hear another chant:

"Killer! Killer! Killer!"

The world goes in sudden silence. 

A short relief.

Suddenly a hand holds his shoulder. He twist his body just to see Roland which tells him:

"You've failed me. You weren't ready."

Roland's cold and arrogant tone drives an invisible knife into Max's spine. The chant resumes even louder:

"Why? Killer! Why? Killer!"

Max suddenly find some strength opens his mouth and screams.

But suddenly Max opens his eyes and finds himself sitting on the bed of his room, heart pounding like a pneumatic hammer. For a moment he isn't sure - a dream? A reality? He wipes sweat from his forehead, he grabs his blanket and pulls it closer, he curls. Every of his muscles is shaking.

The door bursts open and a woman enters - slim, with black hair and a ponytail, her voice gentle but urgent:

"Max? I've heard a shout. What's happening? Are you all right?"

He tries to speak instantly but can't. His hands shake and after a short while in a broken whisper he says:

"They were all there... especially her... they saw it... they know what I did...."

Nadia kneels beside the bed and lays a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him:

"You're here, you're safe. It was just a nightmare. Tell me what happened."

"They... they were pointing... no eyes... the woman in the blood-stained dress... Roland... the bandit's face..."

Nadia gently lays him back:

"You're not alone. It was just a bad dream"

She gets up and says:

"Every scar tells of a battle, but not everyone demands a guilt. What you did was necessary. Try to sleep again and remember, I'm next doors. You're not alone."

In quiet steps she leaves. Max, still trembling but less tormented, finally drifts back to sleep - knowing the difficult work ahead has only just begun.