Executioner

Executioner

                The next morning Tadyel woke up late with a groan. Her body had decided to play catchup for the past couple of nights now that the problem had been 'found', for all that the problem they found bothered her greatly.

                She rolled herself up out of her fairly spartan bed and rubbed at her eyes. Her 'room' had very little in it - her bed and a wardrobe for clothes. Her wardrobe was still half bare, but had been rapidly filling up at least. Beyond that, there was nothing in the room to indicate that it was Tadyel's in any way.

                Vanna had said it was odd, but to Tadyel it was normal. Down on the peninsula, working endlessly for the Thrath, there had been no time or materials to make more than a handful of toys. What there was were passed on when children became old enough to work - they'd never have a chance to use them again. Any paintings or rugs had long since been destroyed or hauled off, along with much else.

                To Tadyel, her new room was luxurious. She had a proper mattress, instead of a mess of ruined clothes beneath a sheet. And a bed! Being off the ground was excellent, although she hadn't actually seen a single rat since coming to Green Creek. In fact, her original mattress had been too luxurious - Tadyel had found the excessive softness hard to sleep on. Ven hadn't had any problems with it, though.

                A groan escaped her as she remembered what had happened the night before, and what would happen that morning. Whatever the end result it would not be good. Mavnen would probably be killed. The result of the Magi learning what she and Vanna had discovered also worried her; could someone in her village have been Thrath all along?

                Being unable to find Vanna in the shop worried Tadyel, but a quick check of her room assuaged the worries. Vanna was within, sleeping soundly atop her bed and still dressed in the blouse and skirt she had been wearing yesterday. She opened one eye and looked right at Tadyel as she poked her head in.

                "Is it that late already?" she asked. "I was hoping to fit in a trip to the baths for a shower before stupid woke up."

                "It might be later, I overslept," said Tadyel. "I'm not sure what time it is."

                Vanna turned her head at looked at a mechanical device covered in squiggles. It was her 'clock', although the few other villagers with clocks had them set to different times - and some to different numbers of hours in the day. "We've got about half an hour before she wakes," said Vanna. "I've been thinking that we should get a bigger clock for the main room - they're not hard to read, don't worry."

                "Okay," said Tadyel. "I'm going to make myself breakfast."

                "I'll join you."

                Clothier and apprentice, they sat down in the back room to eat their breakfast at one of the work tables. Eating in the room with the prisoner had seemed like a better idea than eating elsewhere as they usually did.

                "There's some information you should know before she wakes up," said Vanna. "They did the test on her kids. Neither of them were Thrath."

                When Tadyel stayed silent, Vanna continued, "We've discovered that she is definitely half Thrath. Her father was infertile, and her mother was... used horribly by the Thrath around the right time. We've also connected some dots, the abuses of the Thrath and the disgust they supposedly show much of the time - not at the act, but at the victim. We think they were instructed to do so by their lords so those like Mavnen would be born."

                "That's - that's disgusting," said Tadyel. "How could anyone ever do that, even to an enemy?"

                "Because of the way they look at all other humans. Non-Thrath are 'filth' to them. Not fellow humans. I know you've seen it first hand," replied Vanna.

                Tadyel nodded. She'd seen plenty of casual violence on the peninsula, heard of worse, and seen truly terrible things on her journey north. "So there are lots of Thrath amongst the refugees?" she asked.

                "We don't believe there are many. The Thrath do not enjoy it as much as they enjoy ordinary violence, so it rarely happens. But the process of asking and finding out has begun, as painful as the process is for all involved."

                "Didn't you believe us already? Surely the tales-"

                "The tales are why we must stop the Thrath. But we don't pick at old wounds merely out of curiosity. Now we are forced to hear of scars we wished to avoid."

                Tadyel, again, stayed silent. She chewed her food slowly.

                "My people need to use yours. Most cannot afford to get close, to become too sympathetic."

                "Let's not talk about it. I know why you didn't ask, and why you're probably forcing people to talk about things they may not want to remember, let alone discuss."

                Vanna lips wriggled as she almost said several things. Eventually she settled on, "Alright. Back to the matter at hand. A few have been discovered already, and panicked. Others seem to be non-Thrath, or are at least prepared to be under suspicion. We're not sure. We tested some of those who were obviously Thrath - the result was positive. They definitely have people amongst the refugees.

                "However, we are almost certain that despite the presence of Thrath that few - if any - of them are working with the others of their kind. They have no means of keeping in contact with each other or any outside coordinator. Our analysts have guessed that they rely on their ability to 'know' one another to work together."

                "Can't you use that to find them? And, did you separate those that may be Thrath from everyone else? They might-"

                "Of course they have been separated. For their own safety, just as much as for the other refugees. As for using their 'knowing'; we have tried. We have some complicated tests that have minimal success, unfortunately. They have 'safeguards' against being under the effects of some drugs; their 'knowing' ceases to function.

                "There is another important piece of information the analysts have put together. The recent surge in agitation groups is to a large extent due to the Thrath. Eden had Ormgus's body exhumed last night. He was Thrath."

                Tadyel's mouth opened slightly in shock. "Piss," she said, allowing her fork to gently dip onto the table.

                "We've got proof for a handful of other groups, and we believe many have Thrath in key positions. There must be some kind of coordination as the spike in groups was quite sudden - there would have been Thrath amongst the earlier refugees as well. Figuring out who they are means that we'll have less to work with, even as covert operations increase in number.

                "That's about it," Vanna finished, sighing. "Eden's ordered us to kill Mavnen after we finish asking her any last questions. She'll be checked after she's buried."

                "How - how are we going to kill her?" asked Tadyel, tentatively.

                "Scissors to her femoral artery. She'll bleed out quickly; a terrible accident. We'll find her shortly after it's too late, but try to bind the wound anyway. Then we'll get the guard, they'll find nothing unusual, and we'll be sad."
                "Okay," said Tadyel. She gulped. She was feeling kind of sad already, but more about what they had to do. Killing someone she knew... Even if she hadn't really known her.

                "I'll do the actual kill," said Vanna. "And you can stop pretending to be asleep!"

                In the corner of the room, Mavnen raised her head and glared. "Let's finish up breakfast," said Vanna, stacking up the remains of her meal.

                Tadyel nodded, and started scoffing down the remnants of her eggs.

                "So, you're going to kill me?" asked Mavnen, the very moment Vanna pulled her gag free.

                "Unless you give us a good reason not to, no," said Vanna.

                "Well, I could try to waste your time, but you won't believe me," replied Mavnen. "I'm glad that you killed the runts, though. Playing at caring for them was the single biggest drain on my time, until I escaped out here."

                "You seem almost... glad," said Tadyel. "You're about to die. Even Thrath-"

                "There's a lot of good in my death," said Mavnen. "Now that you Magi are on to us, we can stop this pissant shit where we don't just kill you all. I spent my entire life not doing it. I'm sick of it. If I can save the others from having to endure this shit then I'm doing them a big favour. Which feels good."

                "That - that's almost... Like the rest of us," said Tadyel.

                "I actually feel like explaining this to you shits. We are like you. We just hate you. I want to watch you slowly bleed to death, or maybe slowly roast alive. That would be fun. But more than wanting to hurt you, I want you dead. I spent a lot of hours thinking about killing my kids. Even when they were in my womb I knew they weren't Thrath.

                "Now they're dead. I'm really, really happy that you killed them for me. I'm happy that there's going to be an explosion of violence soon, and that so few of the dead will be Thrath. The only people I've met who I haven't wanted to hurt, who I like, are other Thrath. Maybe you'll find out who they are? Hahaha. But I like them. I want to help them. Unlike the rest of you, that I've spent my life around, they're not filth."

                "That's textbook Thrath," said Vanna. "But how did you know you are Thrath?"

                "I was told, of course. I could always feel it, but one day an opportunity presented itself so I was taken aside and had it all explained. More than just being Thrath. What our purpose is. Cleaning the filth from the world so it's clean again. It's perfect," said Mavnen.

                "Yet you hate pure blooded portal makers just as much. This isn't the world you're meant to cleanse," said Vanna.

                "We're meant to cleanse all that exists so that there's no more of you," said Mavnen, almost spitting with the hate poured into her last word.

                Silence descended for a moment. Vanna looked contemplative, and Tadyel felt scared - she'd seen the evil of the Thrath first hand, but she'd never known why. What they felt that compelled them to do it. It had always seemed like pointless hate, and perhaps Mavnen was wrong and it was just that; but the Thrath was so sure of it.

                "Goodnight for the last time, Ven," said Vanna, pulling out her knockout device.

                Mavnen just laughed in the few moments she had left.

                "It's done," said Vanna a little while later, returning to the backroom. "The guard will be here shortly."

                Tadyel nodded. Some 'work' was in front of her, knocked aside as if in a rush.

                "You should come out and take a look before they get here. You 'helped' with the binding," said Vanna.

                Tadyel rose with a nod. "Alright."

                After a couple of steps towards the front room, Vanna stopped her. "Listen. Things are about to get very bloody. I know killing Mavnen bothers you because you were... Becoming close to her, but you need to be ready for more killing. Completely innocent people are going to die - townsfolk, refugees, even just strangers who chose the wrong time to come to town," explained Vanna. "Be ready for it."

                "I will be," said Tadyel, "But I'm pretty sure I should be sad right now."

                "You're right," said Vanna. She put her hand on Tadyel's back gently. "Let's head through."