Bitterbridge Part IX

The walk to the inn felt very long, the ten minute walk turned into half an hour. Damian had to walk very slowly to avoid aggravating his injuries, which luckily are just nasty bruises and not broken bones. He thanks whatever deity is listening for that blessing as breaking a bone while he is in this position would be catastrophic.

Passing through an alley that has entrances to the kitchens of several inns, he saw some barrels with water and taking advantage of the fact that no one was looking he washed his hands and head, removing most of the visible blood.

Sighing in relief at that small luck, he continued walking to Edmund's inn, which was only a few minutes away. As he entered he nodded to Edmund before heading up the stairs to his room. As soon as he entered, he locked the door and leaned on it.

"Fuck..." He growls and starts to remove his clothes.

Upon inspecting his body he saw many reddish spots that were already changing to a purplish blue covering his torso, upon turning his neck he saw a huge one on his right shoulder and many more covering various parts of his body .

`At least my face is intact.` He inspected his face in the reflection of his sword, after which he picked up a rag and began to wipe away the blood that stained his skin. Damian then wrapped all of the bloody clothing in Benton's cloak and put it in a bag. `So much for not getting involved...`

The redhead sits on the bed after dressing in clean pants and stares at his own hands.

(The most vile of men are those who ignore evil acts for their own benefit.)

(True evil is born when good men do nothing.)

He sighs and runs his left hand through his curls.

`What am I doing?`

Damian remembers the faces of the men who took his mother from him and makes a disgusted face.

`If my goal was only revenge then this would be much easier. Killing them would be ridiculously easy for me, they live in castles that have hundreds of servants. Nobles never take notice of their servants and it would be very easy to pass off as one. Once inside the castle I could ambush them and cut their throats or poison them, not even Aerys would be that hard to kill. The Red Keep has a maze of secret passages, several leading through the king's chambers. Killing those scum would be easy. But my goal goes beyond revenge, my goal is-`

The faces of his little brothers appear in his mind followed by his uncle Ralof, his father, his aunt and all the people of Greenwood.

`My goal is to change this world: Give them a brighter future.`

Memories of the past few years flash through his mind, especially his decisions to keep everyone at a distance and not become attached to anyone outside of Greenwood. Which he failed and honestly Damian does not regret it.

`If I continue with this mentality, if I continue to put walls around my heart, then the day will come when my heart turns to stone and I will no longer have to fight not to feel, because I will lose the capacity to do so. It may not be tomorrow or next year, but there will come a day when I will completely lose myself and become a true monster.`

Damian remembers examples of a wide variety of historical figures who for one reason or another got lost in their own madness and just like Icarus flying too close to the sun got burned. Those people were heroes and legends in their eras, people who managed to achieve so many great things and when they fell all their achievements turned to ashes along with them.

That's not the future he wants.

He wants to change the world and for those changes to last, for them to outlive him and never disappear.

Damian Artois does not want his legacy to be a mountain of ashes.

ʻI have to find a balance, something that allows me to make the difficult decisions that I know I will have to make while still allowing me to retain my humanity. Tsk, in my past life I had it easier...`

In his past life his only objective was revenge and for that he did not have to involve any innocents, he did not have to endanger innocent lives only his own-

Well, that's not entirely true. In order to quickly advance in the chain of command of the company he had to manipulate many people, more than a few were completely oblivious to the shady deals that were taking place in the same building where they worked, but those manipulations were relatively innocent: seducing such a person, turning person A against person B, convincing person C that his family is more important than such meeting,... All these were "clean plays" in the business world, Damian did not put those people in deathly danger. The biggest danger they were in was losing their job (considering who they were working for, Damian felt he was doing them a favor).

In the end Damian Artois only put his life on the line, but here he knows that thousands -tens or even hundreds of thousands- will die to bury the current regime. It would be easier to let go of all his emotions and feelings and become a sociopath or even a psychopath -the best generals in Earth history showed more than a few signs of it- but those who pushed those traits to the limit always ended up in disgrace.

Damian gets up and starts packing up his belongings.

`I don't want to be a monster, if I become one I will run the risk of forgetting the reason for my actions and I don't want that to ever happen.`

The memories of his family are his most precious treasure, he does not want to forget them or forget what they mean to him.

ʻI have to find that balance. And if along the way my heart is broken a thousand times, well then that pain will fuel the Revolution.`

Damian's eyes take on an electric glow as he finally makes one of the most important decisions of his life. For years he fought with his heart because a part of him had come to consider love a weakness, he had convinced himself that only by being cold and relentless could he succeed but that is incorrect. Love is strength, it strengthens you and allows you to overcome many obstacles. The loss of that love can destroy you but it can also strengthen you even more, giving you more encouragement and reasons to keep fighting.

`I also have to do some research on that trigger, that state- I don't have much time, I'll do it when I get out of town.`

After finishing dressing, Damian paid the stable boy to take his luggage to the stables and prepare the horses.

"Are you leaving now? I thought you would stay until tomorrow." Edmund says.

"I heard some travelers say that some huge storms are coming from the Stormlands, if their words are true and I stay longer I may have to delay my journey for several days. I still have a long way to go and if I want to reach my destination before winter comes I have to hurry."

"Aye." Edmund nods with an understanding look. "Traveling in winter is suicide for a lone traveler. Well Damian, I wish you the best of luck on your travels. May the gods be with you."

They shook hands and said their farewell.

Leaving the inn, Damian stops by the market closest to a town gate and buys enough supplies to last until the next settlement, which isn't far away. The Roseroad is the main road in the Reach and passes through many towns and villages. Because of his injuries he will not be able to hunt for food as he will not be able to use his bow so he will depend on the food he bought in the market.

While he was doing his shopping he expected to hear rumors of the dead guards but to his surprise no one said anything about it. That street isn't too remote so they should have already found the bodies and started to investigate. That is exactly the main reason why Damian is leaving Bitterbridge a day early.

Damian is aware of how suspicious it is for him to leave town suddenly in these circumstances but he also knows that this is not Earth in the 21st century, no one here keeps a constant and accurate record of travelers entering and leaving the town and what's more important: he is a nobody.

On the surface, Damian Artois is a twelve-year-old teenager with no motives for murdering guards and "definitely" lacking the skill to carry out the murders. If Damian were to stay in town any longer, someone could find his connection to the caravan and he would become a suspect.

In this world, the way to interrogate suspects of any crime is tremendously inefficient in terms of finding the truth but very good at finding the "guilty": torture.

If a suspect of a crime is not a noble or knight then they will be thrown in a dungeon and tortured until they "confess the truth", in most cases people confess to crimes they didn't commit just to make the torture stop.

But if Damian quietly disappears from Bitterbridge no one will bother looking for him, because on the one hand, no one will believe that a twelve-year-old boy can kill half a dozen trained guards, and on the other, no one will find a reason for it. The best thing for him is that he fades away quietly.

Leaving Bitterbridge he uses another gate, one that is on the other side of town away from where the caravan set up their River Market. After making his decision, Damian feels much more liberated and he would have liked to say goodbye and see how Alysanne and Jeremy are doing. But that would be too risky, it would draw too much unwanted attention towards him.

Damian knows that the Merchant Guild has targeted the River Market merchants and any associates by association will also become targets. With a heavy heart he continues his journey.

`Goodbye Bitterbridge, when we meet again I will be a man and then I will deal with your scum properly. That is my promise.`

The faces of all those famished poor people flash through his mind, then the greedy and corrupt guards as well as the Merchant Guild and the nobles of the city. Damian will remember them all and when he returns he will bring justice to this town.

That is his promise.

***

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PSS: Damian took the last steps to become the revolutionary that will change the world, his character will have some small changes here and there but the structure is already built. He will fight to find a balance that allows him to feel emotions and at the same time be able to make difficult decisions, I personally believe that this is the key to great leaders.

Someone who puts feelings aside and becomes a psychopath/sociopath will end up becoming a monster: the villain and no matter how intelligent and capable they are, they will not succeed. An example of a very capable and cunning leader would be Azula, she was leagues above her peers in anything but her inability to relate to others and form genuine bonds screwed her.

Most people do not see beyond their own noses and would be easily manipulated but truly intelligent people see a sociopath for what they are and will hesitate to follow them even if they share goals and ideals. Damian will need more than pawns to succeed, he will need a team of very smart and cunning people who share his ideals, people who believe in him and who won't hesitate to follow him.

The next part will be much shorter and the end of this arc: Damian will sabotage an important player in the Reach. After that he will arrive in Oldtown, which will be the scene of a good part of the story.