With my drones circling the village, I began a sweep of the area in infrared; scanning specifically for groups of 10 or more people, some of whom would be children. The group would likely have a contingent of soldiers acting as guards, possibly surrounding two or more V.I.P targets.

  The village leader simply stared at me while I observed the ground through the eyes of my drones. After the first few seconds of silence, he got uncomfortable.

  “Uh, heret—Vita I can… lead you to them…?”

  He cleared his throat, obviously aware that he had almost called me ‘heretic’ instead of Vita. His cheeks reddened, and he attempted to bluster his way through the awkwardness. I tuned him out mostly, choosing to focus more on my pattern recognition to speed up the search; despite the village not being very large, there were still quite a few buildings to sift through.

  He was prattling on about the south side of the village, near the gate. Mentioning that there were one or two buildings that would be capable of housing them, and that a few of them had cellars for storage of mead and mason products.

  This only motivated me to search the north of the village more vigorously. If he thought he was being persuasive, or that he was pulling the wool over my eyes, then he clearly wasn’t used to lying.

  Another 30 seconds ticked by, and I came across a group of 6 guards in a small house just east of the north gate. They were looking through the windows, obviously scanning the people coming or going. There were two other bodies in the house, in what I assumed was the bedroom; however, these two bodies were much cooler than the guards.

  Not completely cooled, but significantly enough that they stood out from the guards quite a bit. It was possible this resulted from sleep, but the more likely scenario was that they had been killed. Without saying another word, I opened a rift and walked into the room, adjusting my weight so as not to damage the wooden floor.

  They were a woman and a man lying side by side on the bed. Both of them looked like they were simply amid a peaceful sleep, but my eye immediately landed on the smears of blood across the floor where their bodies had been dragged from wherever they’d fallen.

  Both smears led out the closed door into the main room where the guards were located. I didn’t know if these were parents of the taken children, owners of the house we were in, or just an unfortunate couple who’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  Regardless of the circumstances, these were yet two more victims of an incredible miscarriage of ‘justice’ that would need to be avenged. Opening the door, I stepped out into the main room; my entrance not going unnoticed by one man, who promptly shouted and hurried to unsheathe his sword.

  The other men followed suit and soon all 6 were staring me down.

  “How’d you get in here?!”

  I didn’t see how any of the answers to that question would help the guards, but I refused to answer it anyway.

  “Did you kill the two in that room?”

  I hiked a thumb over my shoulder toward the deceased couple.

  “So what if we did? One more chance, bastard. How the fuck did you get in here?!”

  My irritation grew.

  “Where are the priests? Have they left the city? Is that why you’re scouting the road in and out?”

  One guard growled and lunged at me with his broadsword. I batted it to the side and caved in his helmet and skull with a swift downward hammer blow of my fist. He toppled to the floor, lifeless.

  “I will find out one way or another, so answering is your best course of action at the moment. My patience for this situation is rapidly dwindling.”

  Their concerned looks didn’t prevent them from all charging me.

  It was over in moments, three of them dying immediately as my tendrils passed through their foreheads, and the remaining two being incapacitated with broken knees. I waited for the initial howls of pain to die down before crouching in front of them.

  “Have the priests left the village? Choose your words wisely, or they may be your last.”

  The one on my right answered immediately.

  “YES!!! AHHHH Y-YES! Th-they left… aarrgghh… mid-morning! P-please don’t kill me, I’ve got a wife and child.”

  The man to my left was staring him down and uttered under his breath.

  “Coward...”

  His head separated cleanly from his shoulders, and a gout of blood erupted in spurts as the headless torso slumped to the floor. The other man scrambled to get away, kicking his one good leg across the floor to help push him further from me.

  “Your honesty has bought your life; however, you are not without fault here. I will take your sword arm from you, and I pray you think deeply about the couple in the room behind me every time you are reminded of its absence.”

  With that, I used the same whip-limb I’d used to sever the other man’s head to cut the man’s right arm from his shoulder. It carved through the flesh and joint with no resistance, and I immediately directed several high-power lasers to the wound in order to cauterise it.

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  If he recovered from the shattered knee, odds were good he would walk with a limp the rest of his life. And it was unlikely that he would take up a sword again at any point in the future.

  “Do not fail your own family the way you failed theirs.”

  I nodded my head toward the deceased couple, but the man likely didn’t hear or see anything; he’d curled up into the foetal position, cradling his damaged shoulder as he whimpered. With that, I sent one of the circling drones rocketing out of the village along the north road. It wasn’t long before two wagons were located roughly 80 kilometers away.

  They’d made good time considering the payload they carried. Another identical set of cages lined the back of each wagon. There were currently 16 occupants, leaving three empty cages. I focused on the cage holding two people and found an obese man pinning a tiny girl to the floor of the cage.

  My rage finally boiled over, and I tore open a rift, stepping out of it onto the path of the lead wagon. Both the drivers and the pair of horses on each wagon were startled by the sudden obstruction in the road. The horses reared up and whinnied at the air while the drivers shouted and drew their swords.

  The commotion was almost enough to drown out the crying and screaming from the back of the wagons. I barely heard any of it. The searing white-hot seething rage of my mind had replaced most sounds with a high, tinny, white noise.

  I ignored the two shouting men and made my way to the rear wagon; they jumped from their seats and were racing to head me off before I could reach it. I grabbed them both by the throat with a whip limb and dragged them behind me as they choked and sputtered.

  More guards came spilling out of both wagons, and I wasted no time; frying their brains with precisely placed microwaves. By the time I made it to the rear flap of the wagon, there was a trail of 8 bodies behind me.

  I tore the canvas framework from the wagon wholesale. the fabric fluttering as the assembly crashed into the wooded brush at the side of the road. I was greeted by three priests seated down the left bench, rows of cages down the middle, and at the front of the wagon on the left side, an open cage with a fourth priest currently assaulting a small girl.

  Her parents were two cages down the same row and were wailing at the priests to stop. They were focused solely on trying to save their daughter, not even acknowledging the removal of the canvas cover. Pleading, begging, damning, and cursing at him, trying to will themselves through the bars of the cage to get at him.

  It was as though they’d become animals, snapping and snarling at the threat to their family, scraping and clawing at the thing that had trapped them and forced them to watch this vile act of cruelty.

  Reaching out, I flung the three priests seated on the bench out over the side of the wagon. I’d circle back to them shortly. Stepping towards the cage, the priest shuffled back, off of the girl, and onto his haunches. His trousers were down around his ankles, his frock bunched up at his waist.

  The girl was in a simple dress that had been pulled above her head to mask her face. Without speaking, I grabbed the priest by the skull and dragged him out the back of the wagon; snapping locks along the way with my whips.

  The parents lunged for the open door and rushed to their child, not even giving me so much as a backward glance.

  Stepping from the back of the wagon, I tossed the priest into the middle of the road, pinning him to the ground by adjusting the weight of his limbs. Collecting the other priests from the woods nearby, I brought them to join their compatriot on the road.

  “Do not speak a word. Not a single sound. If any of you so much as whisper, then your tongue will only be the first thing removed from your body. I will dismantle you like a fucking set of armour, piece by piece. Do not speak.”

  They didn’t even nod in acknowledgement, busily staring at the pile of corpses around us. Truthfully, I was starting to feel a bit sick. Watching innocent people being defiled and harmed, leaving a wake of corpses behind me.

  My mind reeled from the human horror of it. The cruelty. The disgusting brutality. How could these animals call themselves people?

  The sooner this band of scum was eliminated, the better things would be for everyone involved. I had no doubt that some of the conspirators in this mess truly didn’t understand what they’d become wrapped up in, or didn’t actively take part in the more disgusting acts being perpetrated, but knowing about it and not doing anything was as bad as doing it, as far as I was concerned.

  Moving forward, anyone even tangentially related to this, or any other inhumane activity was going to be purged without consideration. My tolerance for forgiveness and understanding had been expended.

  I made my way back to the lead wagon and snapped its locks as well. People poured out of the wagons alongside their children; there was some hesitancy about the bodies, but they mostly went ignored. I gave everyone some time to reconcile their situations before addressing them.

  “People of Hilst, you are free now. I cannot imagine how terrible this must have been for you. My name is Vita; you may have heard about me from your children. I come to you now with dark tidings, and an offer. Please hear me out.”

  They were silent, holding onto their loved ones and attempting to deal with the collective trauma of their situation.

  “It has come to light that the Church members of Eprie are directly involved with a slave operation here in Siltera, though I’m sure I don’t need to mention that to you.”

  I looked pointedly at the priests still pinned to the road.

  “It has also come to light that your village leader was complicit in their activities. Once I had returned to the village, he attempted to mislead me purposely in my efforts to free you. He will be punished, along with these priests, for the wrongs he has brought against his own people.”

  I wasn’t sure what I was expecting from them at this point. Every interaction I’d had with other people had been counter to my expectations so far, so their looks of relief and support were startling. I continued somewhat bolstered by this.

  “After the events of today, an inquisitorial force will most likely be dispatched to purge Hilst under the pretence of harbouring heretics. The cardinal who was sent to oversee this operation has already been punished for his involvement. These are the dark tidings I bring to you now; however, they are not as dire as they may sound.”

  I bowed my head, trying to speak from a place of humility. I still felt guilty for my part in bringing this upon the village, regardless of my actual culpability. But I couldn’t bring myself to say that to them.

  “I have a vested interest in maintaining the peace and prosperity of Hilst; I have grown fond of Seta and want to ensure that no harm comes to her. That sentiment is extended to you all as well. I will offer my aid to shield you from the Inquisition or any further attempts to disrupt the harmony of your lives.”

  I put on a braver face than I felt. I’d come this far by talking out my ass, but I’d need to walk the talk eventually.

  “I know you do not know me, and that the weight of what you’ve gone through will burden you. But please consider my words. Once we’ve returned to the village, there will be a gathering to determine what must be done with the leader and priests. For now, please come with me.”

  With that, I opened a rift leading back to the entrance of the commerce building. Through it, many people had gathered to talk and assist injured guards. The leader had been directing people until he noticed the rift. He looked past me to see the priests pinned to the road and immediately turned heel and began sprinting down the street.

  “Armela, catch him and break his legs. He will be punished by the people.”

  She had been standing at the top of the steps leading into the building, observing the activities of the people and the healer, who was now looking rather exhausted.

  Most of the guards had been seen to by this point, and I wasn’t sure how many of them would ultimately end up losing their life when the judgements of their wrong-doing were handed down, but they would all be punished in the end.

  Armela nodded and leapt down the steps in pursuit of the leader. His age limited the ground he could cover, so she had caught up to him in seconds. I turned back to the group of survivors behind me and beckoned them through the rift.

  “It’s perfectly safe; your children have already crossed this threshold once before when they were returned to their rooms. We will spread the word throughout the village that a meeting will be held at sundown.”

  There were only a few hours left in the day before the sun began its journey below the horizon.

  “If you do not wish to attend, I understand; however, we will mete out justice upon the ones responsible for your torment, so if you wish to see it through yourselves, you are encouraged to come.”

  With that said, I stepped aside and allowed them to pass through the rift.

  Looking back at the wagons, I briefly thought about attempting to drive them through the open portal myself, but since I’d never ridden a horse, let alone driven wagons, I ultimately decided to get a villager to do it instead. Crossing into the town, I addressed the gathered people.

  “Does anyone here know how to drive a wagon? It would be wise not to leave them lingering in the road as they are.”

  The people were having trouble doing anything other than gawking at my open rift. Some of them had glimpsed it when I’d originally left; however, most of the newcomers were too astounded to look away.

  One spritely young man stepped forward and said that he could do it, so I ushered him through the rift and then widened it to encompass the bulk of the vehicle. I spun the rift so that entering on his side would lead away from the gathering of people and not put any of them at risk of being trampled.

  It took about 15 minutes to get both wagons through, plus the three still-silent priests. I would have a small contingent of drones collect the guards’ bodies later in the afternoon.

  Rather than leave them to be found, or picked apart by scavengers, I would deconstruct them to replenish some of the hard-to-find resources I’d been spending on drones and manufacturing.

  With that decided, I once again addressed the mass of people before me; with the addition of the survivors, the total was hovering at 36 souls.

  “There are a lot of you who do not know what is happening right now. Many of you have likely heard my name in passing, but allow me to introduce myself. I am Vita, and I recovered the children from the Goblin raid 3 nights past.”

  This got the attention of all who’d gathered. For better or worse.

  “There have been activities going on in your village that you were not aware of, and forces working against you that someone felt you didn’t need to know about.”

  I stared down at the unconscious village leader.