22 Choose Boy

The doctor took me back to his house, instead of to Rand. He sat in the rocking chair, and asked "Why did you do it?". "Why would you care for someone you even refused to treat?... She asked me to do it. She didn't want to live anymore", I replied.

"Would you kill someone, if I wished for it?", he asked a peculiar question. "No, you'd wish for someone else's death, not yours", I replied. "Does that change anything?", "I'm not a murderer". Whatever he tried to get out of me, I didn't feel guilty about pushing that knife into Dina's heart. I felt guilty because of powerlessness.

"What you did, makes you a killer. A person was alive, and now she's not. Isn't that the definition of killing someone?". I decided it was pointless to answer that question over, and over again. The doctor took my silence in a different way, "You don't deny that?". "Does it matter what answers you get? I'll be punished for it anyway, and I'm fully aware of what happened. Would I do it again? Yes, and I would do much more to people who made her that way", I said.

The doctor remained silent for a while, but then asked a weird question, "How do you feel?". "...How should I feel? Glad? Happy? Sad? Awful? I don't feel anything, but hatred towards this place and you people", I said while staring into doctor's eyes.

The doctor smiled, left the room for a while, then returned. I wasn't sure what he was up to, "So? Why did you take me here, not to Rand? You want me to believe in some fairy tail, that you'll protect me, or get me out of here?". The doctor didn't reply, instead grinned, while a knife appeared in his hand. 'Whatever your intentions, I already crossed the line. I'm not going down without a fight!', I thought and rushed at the doctor.

After only a few steps, I felt pain in my leg. 'What the...', I asked myself at the sight in front of my eyes. There was a knife lodged inside my right leg. I looked back at the doctor, and he was still grinning with a knife in his hand. "Who are you?", I asked a bit scared and backed away without losing the sight of the doctor's hand. "Ugh...", there was pain my my other leg. Somehow, there was a knife lodged in my left leg.

"What are you?", I asked scared. The knives simply appeared lodged inside my legs. He didn't move his hand, I watched it the whole time. Suddenly, another knife hit my arm, "Argh!". The difference was the force behind that knife, it made me fall to the ground. "Grrr...", I growled and pulled one of the knives from my body. *Swish*, *Pak*, my throw was aimed dead at the doctor, but the knife missed for some reason and hit the wall behind him.

I tried the other knife, and another one, but none of them were on target. Even though the doctor stood only a few metres away, I couldn't even touch a thread on his clothes. "Ungh...", this time my other arm had a knife stuck in it. "What the fuck are you?!", I shouted and pulled that knife out. Using all my might, not caring for the accuracy anymore, I threw the knife straight at him.

*Cling*, *Pak*. The knife was simply deflected by something. "That wasn't a bad throw", the doctor commented nonchalantly. Another knife struck me in the right arm, "Just kill me you bastard!", I screamed. I couldn't pick myself up at that point, and felt slightly dizzy. My legs became a bit numb too, as if the doctor put something on the knives.

The doctor maintained his smile, walked over and asked, "Do you recognise this?". "That's...", it was the dagger that should've been hidden inside the smithy. His hand skilfully played around with it, then he said, "That's a rather dull design, and the proportions are off. Who did you plan on killing with this?". "How did you find this? Even Grond would be hard pressed to find it, and the smithy belongs to him", I asked.

He waited patiently for an answer to the question he asked. "No one, I just made it in my spare time", "Really, kid?", he asked and got really close. "Want me to help you?", he added. "No. I don't need your help", I said without batting an eye. He probably had no intentions of helping me. He just toyed with me, perhaps tried to give me false hope.

"You're not an idiot, kid. You must've figured out that Rand will not let you go, right?". I had such assumptions before, hence why it was vital for me to prepare. 'Who knew a monster like this lived here though. Perhaps it would be better if Rand was here...', I figured. "...That's why you learned how to throw a dagger, and hide it?". He then took out my wooden daggers as well.

"You were on the right path kid. Your progress could be considered decent. I can help you a bit, how about it?", he proposed. "Why? What will you gain from doing this?". His reply was simple, yet confusing, "Someone who will inherit my... Skills". "Heh... Hahaha... Are you taking me for a moron? You have so many people to choose from. People like Senty, or perhaps hunters or even warriors from other bigger villages. Yet you want to choose some servant with a body that looks like this?", I laughed.

"You don't understand, kid. Not anyone can learn the skills my teacher taught me. I watched you for a while, and that is my conclusion. You are good enough, albeit a bit rough around the edges. Why debate this? With such skills, Rand or anyone else will be no opponent for you, once you master them", he said.

I wasn't sure what to think anymore. 'If he can teach me for real, why would I reject it... At the same time, I don't like this', I thought and asked, "What if I say no?". He stopped smiling abruptly, and threw a knife at my stomach. "AAAARRGGHH", this hurt much more than before. "You will live a miserable life, and die like a scum. This is your choice, kid", he said.