Fragments Gallery
Finding Peace
Kel tensely watched the world slide by beneath her. She stood alone at the top of the cathedral bell tower overlooking a small square with marble steps along one edge. Clouds swirled far above her head, grey and menacing. They reflected her mood. Mere weeks ago this square had been home to a massacre. Blood had pooled on the cobbles until the streets surrounding the square had run red. The wind picked at and caught Kel's deep red hair, setting it adrift around her.
She had been at the center of that carnage. For a moment she found herself back there, fighting for her life against an angry swarm of soldiers. They had greatly outnumbered her but still they hadn't stood a chance. As she had swirled among them, as they had fallen one by one, she had felt a certain thrill and a hunger for more had consumed her. That hunger scared her. She had felt it before then while in the heat of battle but never to the extremes she had felt it then.
The steel in her armour clinked as she shifted uncomfortably. The soldiers who had found her there afterwards looked at her in awe. Even those who were not there had heard the stories. She hated the way they looked at her now. Beyond that it bothered her that the death she had caused had seemed so... right. So easy.
She could still see their blood painting the stairs down below. Their blank vacant eyes still stared up at her even though the bodies had long since been removed. She could not look away from the scene before her, against all reason she could still see the dead down below. The corpse's gazes remained locked onto hers; their accusations were evident in their eyes.
How could she come to live with this?
"I figured I'd find you up here," spoke a familiar voice from behind her.
She turned to watch as Gaul approached and joined her at the rail. Gaul was a big man; in the time since she had met him in training all those years ago she had heard many tell him he should become a smith due to his size.
He stared down at the cathedral steps for a moment before turning to her to speak, "Things seem different at this height, don't they?"
She remained silent and looked down once again.
"Alright lass, what's bugging you?"
"Nothing, I'm fine."
"I know you and you wouldn't be up here if you were fine."
"Fine," she sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "It scares me. What I did here."
"You did what you had too didn't you? They were trying to kill you."
"I could have escaped; the cathedral door was right in front of me. All I had to do was get through and shut it. Then I would have done my part as ordered."
"Yes you could have, but there were complications as you know too well. They were onto you too quick. We weren't in position around the square yet and we would not have been able to contain and trap them. If not for you they could have gone on a rampage through the city," he put a brotherly hand on her shoulder, "You made the right call. You saved many innocent lives."
"But I killed them. Killed them all, and I was alone. How could one woman kill so many without falling? They didn't even get close enough to injure me. Who, what, am I? Maybe there is truth to what the soldiers say. Am I some kind of freak?"
"You are now, and always have been, amazing. I have never, and I mean never, seen anyone fight the way you do. That does not mean you are a freak or unnatural in any way. Some things just are."
"The other soldiers," she spoke quietly, her eyes locked onto his, "Some look at me in awe but in more I can see the fear reflected in their eyes. They ask the same questions when they think I can't hear. Who is she? What is she?"
"Well," his words came slowly, thoughtfully, "I can't answer for them but I do know that to me you are my friend and my sister even though we do not share blood. That bond is all that matters. No matter what happens you will have me by your side. I’m sure Gareth feels the same."
Calm settled on her at his words, perhaps a momentary calm but still it gave her some peace.
Maybe that was the answer she was looking for. It mattered not how she did what she did. What mattered was that she would do what she must. For him, for Gareth and for everyone else she cared for. No doubts. No regrets.