40 I Know (1/2)

”Not for nothing,” Pharaoh interjects. ”We came for you, Trissa. We came for the virgin with the blonde hair, the sheriff's captive. We came to take his life and claim you for our own. We never expected to be successful in one endeavor, let alone both. There was a reason seven of us set out. We knew we weren't all going to make it back.”

I try to take a deep breath and calm myself. ”You came to die?”

”We came to chance our luck,” Alexios adds, drawing closer to me. ”There is nothing in this world for a man anymore. There is no meaning to endless battle without home or family. We swore a long time ago that we would find a woman and make her our own. That she would bear our children and we would protect her and them. We took the contract on Dallas. We should have foreseen the invasion, if not the betrayal.”

”So you think... you think the people who sent you to kill the sheriff also sent soldiers to kill you?”

”Would you keep men around who have proved themselves willing to murder for money?” Alexios smirks the question. ”We're a tool in the hands of desperate men, one they want to melt down when the deeds are done.”

”We didn't realize how quickly the word would travel, and how swiftly the other city states would act. That was our mistake, not yours,” Silver agrees. ”Four survivors out of eight is not a bad number.”

In more civilized times and places, what he is saying would be a horror, but he is right for this time and this place. Half of us are still here. Pharaoh has made a swift and strong recovery. I suspect, though I do not know and will not ask, that Alexios and Silver used the bulk of the antibiotics on him, while giving Tore most of the painkillers. In the end, it was all they could do to ease him out of this world and into the next.

Their explanations make sense, but my guilt still writhes in my belly.

”I am sorry,” I apologize to Pharaoh. ”It was the dress...”

”Stop,” he says. ”This is not your fault.”

”If I hadn't...”

”The sheriff sealed his own death when he took you. He should have been more careful. This war is not because of you. It is because of men who must conquer all they encounter.”

I smile a little, but mostly because I am glad to hear him speak. The strength in his voice is encouraging. His wounds will still take time to fully heal, but they will heal.