6 Consequences

The night is cold while my body remains hot. I look around myself to see the man that is just stabbed through the chest looking at me with a terrified look on his face. I can't feel anything right now. Not even pain. But I do realize that I have sustained some injuries.

Like the arrow to the shoulder. I need get some medical assistance immediately. Plus, I don't know If that punch that I took from the butcher caused some internal bleeding or not. But first, I need to find out why was I attacked and the only person that I can question is this man who's slowly bleeding out. It's better to question him before he eventually bleeds to death.

I approach him. He's clearly terrified, he tries to grab his sword to defend himself, but I run up to him and kick it into the forest. "Fuck" He cries. "HELP! HELP! HELP!" He cries again. I, to silence him, kick him in the jaw once.

Then he starts yelling nonsense. This time I stomp on him. He yet again starts yelling, screaming, asking for help. Realizing that he won't shut up I put the tip of my sword against his neck and say, "If you don't shut the fuck up right now I'm going to end your life".

He quiets down. We lock eyes with each other. I stare at his dirty face, with his chapped lips and messy eyebrows. His teeth are rotting, he probably hasn't washed them in months. "I'm sorry, please don't kill me. I didn't want to do this" he says.

"Why did the butcher attack me" I ask. "Because he is sick. He's a sick man." he replies. "Sick?" I say. "Yes, he eats humans. His whole family eats humans." he cries. "He's a cannibal?" I ask. " A cannibal?" He says clearly not knowing what that means. "Never mind." I switch the conversation. "I'm sorry I didn't want to kill you. You have to understand, he would have started killing people in village if we didn't let him kill you." He cries.

"So, the village is in on this? They know about him eating people?" I reply. "Yes, they know, everybody knew expect for the butcher's daughter." He says. "The butchers daughter? She doesn't know about her father being a cannibal." I ask him. "Like the girl behind me, the girl that I killed. That butcher's daughter?" I continue. "Yes" he answers. "The girl that I stabbed through chest to get to you, that butcher's daughter" I angrily ask him.

"Yes, her! Her!" he yells out while being frightened. I killed an innocent person. Holy fucking shit, I killed an innocent 14-year-old girl. I'm shocked, I don't know what to say. I don't know what to think. I don't know what to feel. I was thinking that I was defending myself against attackers not a little girl looking for her father. Fuck. I'll think about this later. I have to question him now. "What about the mayor" I ask him.

"The mayor lures in people to come to the village and then he lets the butcher eat them." he cries while looking dazed. He's not feeling well. "Then were the wild boars a trap to lure me in" I say. "Not you but soldiers that the city was willing to send" he says. "Soldiers?" I repeat. "Yes, soldiers!" He says.

They were planning to lure in soldiers and kill them just for the butcher? "Why didn't you try to kill him? Why didn't you try to do something against the butcher" I ask. "He was too strong" The man says while his condition gets progressively worse. I can see it. He's bleeding heavily. He's slowly fading in and out of consciousness.

"Please help me!" He begs for his life. He grabs onto my pants; he tugs on them. "Help me" he says. "If I drag you back to the village, will I be killed?" I ask him. He doesn't answer. He just keeps tugging on my pants.

I could drag him back to the village and ask for a doctor. No, I can't risk returning to the village and being attacked. There is no guarantee that they are friendly. Using my healing magic on him wouldn't work, it's too weak plus he has already lost a lot of blood. Even If I heal him, I can't replenish his blood. "Help" He mumbles.

He's going to die. I stabbed too deep into his chest, I probably cut an artery. I can't save him. The only thing that is left for me is to either let him die or to use my sword and finish him. He's breathing heavy, I can't let him suffer anymore. I need to end this.

I move my sword from his neck to his forehead. I stand above him and move my sword upwards. He's still holding onto my leg, mumbling to himself something and then with one quick stab I puncture his forehead and end his life.

He no longer posed a threat to me. He was harmless, but I couldn't save him. This was the only way I knew how. I'm sorry. It's was the only humane way. I couldn't live with myself letting you bleed to death. I wiggle my sword and lift it out of his skull. I grab my quiver and tie the two cut ends together around my waist. I put the bow on my shoulder. I keep my sword out; I don't know who I'll run into.

I need to get back to the house. There Mikhail can heal me, and I can report to the Mistress what happened. The arrow is still sticking out of my shoulder. I won't remove it. It'll just cause more bleeding by opening the wound. I use a cloth that I had in my pocket to wipe off the blood off my blade.

I start running down the dirt path that I came from. I went as close to the village as I could before entering the forest. From there, I ran through the forest until reaching the main road that leads back to the city. I couldn't run anymore so I walked back to the city.

As I walk on the main road, I think to myself. I still can't believe that I killed all those people. I can't believe that I killed the butcher. A man who was at least 5 times stronger than me physically. I don't know how to feel. I'm a murderer, a killer. I knew I was going to have to kill people at some point.

But I didn't think it would be so early in my journey. And the fact that I killed that innocent little girl. I didn't know she wasn't trying to kill me. I was on survival mode. I wasn't thinking straight. I mean I could justify killing the butcher and those sketchy bastards. They were trying to kill me! It was a kill or be killed situation.

On top of that I don't know the consequences of my actions. Will I be sent to prison? Will I lose my apprenticeship? Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I should have just stayed in the house. That was so scary, I thought I was going to die.

I thought It was going to be my end. It was the first time that I have been in that kind of situation. I'm sick, I think I have a fever. Should I even go back to the city? What If they deem me a criminal and hang me?

No, If I don't head back to the city, I won't be able to get healed. I'm going to die If I don't get this arrow wound healed. Plus, I think one of my ribs is broken from the butcher's punch. There it is, the gate of the city.

I finally returned to the city. I showed the guards my apprenticeship collar and they let me into the city then they led me back to the main house. The guards of the house let me into the house, and they picked me up and carried me to an empty room which nobody was using. They said that they were going to get Mikhail to treat me and then they left.

Now, I'm lying on this comfy bed. I put my head on the pillow and close my eyes. I'm tired, I'm sick and I need to get some rest. I was able to quickly fall asleep. I woke up in the morning or the afternoon. I don't know what time it is.

The arrow had been removed from my shoulder and my shoulder had been wrapped in bandages. I was completely naked expect for my underpants. My ribs had also been wrapped in bandages. I'm assuming that Mikhail did this. My throat was swollen, and I need something hot to open it back up. In that moment the door of my room opens, and a maid enters my room. "Tea" I say. "You're awake!" She says surprised. "Tea" I repeat. "Tea? Oh tea" She replies.

"Yes. Wait a moment" she says. She had some clean sheets in her hands whom she placed onto my bed and walked out of my room. A couple of moments later she arrived with hot tea. I grab the tea and start drinking it. "Slow down, it's hot" She urges me. I get it that it's hot, but my throat is basically swollen shut and I need something to open it back up.

"I'll go get Mikhail" she says. I finish my tea "Yeah, do that for me" I say. She walks out of the room. I lay back down in my bed; my head is hot and I definitely have a fever. My throat has opened up. How long have I been out? I think that it's already afternoon. So around 12 to 14 hours. I'm still tired, I think I should go back to sleep. But first I need to explain the situation. From the end of the hallway, I hear 3 types of footsteps walking over to me.

One of them is the Mistress I recognize the way she walks, the other is probably Mikhail. While the Mistress has a light step Mikhail has a much heavier steps so I can differentiate them. And the last one is probably the maid.

The door of my slides open, it's the Mistress, standing behind her and looking over her shoulder is Mikhail. The maid is hidden behind Mikhail. The Mistress enters the bedroom and puts her hand on my head. "Are you alright Leonard, do you have a fever?" She asks me. "I'm good" I respond. "What happened. I had to remove and arrow from your shoulder, were you attacked?" Mikhail asks.

"I'm alright, yes I was attacked" I say, dazed. "Who attacked you, the last time I checked boars couldn't shoot arrows" Mikhail says sarcastically, like an asshole. The mistress looks at him with a mean look in her eyes and then turns back to me. "What happened?" She asks.

I proceeded to explain the situation to the Mistress. I explained the butcher, the sketchy men, the eating of humans and how it was all a trap made to lure soldiers into the village. Then, I explained how I killed the butcher. The Mistress stared at me the entire time with a serious look in her. Mikhail also looked at with dismay in his eyes.

Then, I explained how I killed the three sketchy guys. The Mistress and Mikhail just sat in silence and stared at me while I talked. Not interjecting not even once to ask me a question. I didn't mention the 14 year old girl I killed. I didn't know how it would pan out for me to admit to killing an innocent person and I didn't want to risk it. Especially a defenseless girl.

After I stopped talking. The Mistress finally said something " Mikhail, grab a dozen or so guards and go deal with this situation". "Yes Mistress" Mikhail says. Then excused himself and left my room. "If need be, I can guide them through the forest" I say. "You don't need to do that just rest here Leo; they'll figure their way there" she says. "Oh ok" I say.

"Do you have a fever" she asks as she puts her hand on my forehead. "I think so" I reply. "Yeah, I can feel it" she says as her cold hand with beautiful painted nail rest on my forehead. "You should get some sleep. It'll help you recover, and I'll tell the maids to bring you some food" she says. "Oh, thank you Mistress. You're too kind!" I reply.

What should I do about the girl? If they find her, no, when the guards eventually find her body, they'll return to house and question me about her. I can lie through my teeth and tell them that I don't know anything about her, or I can confess my sin to the Mistress who is right in front of me. Right now. If I don't tell her and she figures out I'm lying consequences will be much harsher then If I just confess. But maybe she won't figure it out. I don't know what to do!

Fuck, I can't even think straight I'm so sick. My fever is high. I think I'm going to puke. "Mistress, bucket!" I say. "Bucket?" she responds. "Puke" I reply. I feel it coming up. The Mistress grabs a wooden bucket that is used for holding cold water. She puts the bucket in my lap and I proceed to throw up in the bucket. "I'll go grab you some towels" she says. I grab her and stop her "Wait" I say puking dripping down my mouth. "Mistress" I pause. "I didn't tell you the whole truth. It wasn't just the butcher and those sketchy guys. There was also a girl my age" I say.

"She" I pause. "I killed her along with the rest" I say. "I didn't know what to do I was scared, I was only thinking of my own survival, and she was just in my way." I say. Me and the Mistress lock eyes. She puts her hands on my legs and sits down next to me. "She was the butcher's daughter" I continue before the mistress can says anything. " I just wanted to say that because I didn't want to lie to you" I add. She doesn't say anything. She puts her hand over her mouth and thinks for a couple of seconds.

"Was she a threat to you?" she asks. "I don't know" I respond. " I killed her before she could even defend herself" I quickly add. I feel terrible. Me and the Mistress stare at each other. I wait for her response. "Thank you for telling me this" she says. Mistress stands up and says to me "Get some rest Leo. You need to beat that sickness before my brat of sister comes to the city in a week or so" she says with a light smile on her face.

"And don't beat yourself about this, stuff like this just happens" she says while placing her hand softly on my cheek. She walks out of the room, closing the door behind her. I put my puke bucket on the floor, clean myself with a cloth and lay back down into my bed. I go back to sleep.

I was woken up about an hour later by the maid who gave me some food and water. I drank and ate and then went back to sleep. I was sweating like crazy, it felt like I was sitting in a hot tub. I dreamt about me walking through the forest I killed the butcher in. I didn't do anything else but walk through the eerie forest.

Over the next few days my condition worsened, on my second day I started getting hallucinations of my past life. Hallucinations of living with my parents in our old apartment, of playing video till the early morning, of my friends, of the people I loved. Throughout this time the Mistress, the maids and occasionally Mikhail cared for me.

And now it's the fourth day. The hallucinations have stopped. My fever has gone down. I'm going to go and take a bath for the first time in four days. I smell like absolute dog shit. Nobody has brought up my situation and nobody even questioned me. I'll have to ask the Mistress what happened to the village.

After my bath I ate some food that the chef prepared and went right back to sleep. The problem is that there is no medication in this world for common colds only magic that heals wounds and stuff like that. So, if you got a sore throat or you head hurts you just have to deal with it.

I was going to exercise but Mikhail advised against it. In a couple of days, the Mistress's sister is going to visit, and the Mistress said that I was going to have help regardless of how I felt by then. I'm still having dreams about walking through that fucking forest. I guess my subconscious is still stuck in that moment.