Derek stared at the devil, and looked back at the temple... the bodies.. and the stones clutched in the hands of so many of the destroyed corpses. Was this... every one of these stones was one used to murder someone who had just come here to help? The innocent were already gone?


    He wanted to doubt the devil. But the man they''d met had even admitted he and his boys were guilty of murder. Which meant... the man had thrown some stones... and likely gotten his boys involved. While the mother, either out of a refusal to be involved in a false execution, or because she didn''t have the stomach for it, had refused. And saved herself, and the man''s daughters.


    "...But... the children. There''s children here."


    The devil stopped. He looked up to focus on Derek for a moment. "Then they can cast themselves on the mercy of the goddess. I don''t think she''s much for child-killing. The dead may just leave the kids alone, if we make sure they have enough room to get to them all."


    Derek looked to Kylie; who also looked conflicted. How many kids were here? If all the innocent had left, why hadn''t help arrived earlier? Weren''t there just a few messengers? "Can we....take that chance, really?"


    He watched Kylie wrestle with her emotions for a few moments, focusing on the dirt, before she looked up. "I... should pray to the goddess for guidance. I felt troubled, as I was fighting these creatures. I don''t think she wanted me to. The... devil may be right, about what we should do here. I..... will go to the temple of my goddess here. It may have been damaged, but its where I''ll feel closest to her. You should get to Parkins, and make sure he and the horses get plenty of rest. We may be riding through the night again."


    She turned, starting to walk away, heading to the east, and the opposite side of the town. Derek watched her go... before turning back to the devil. "Do you have a good way to set these people up for what they deserve, without getting the children killed?"


    Terra gave a slow nod. "I''d prefer not to see any of the kids hurt myself. I''m sure that even if they were involved, it was just because of their parents, not because they were born evil or something."


    The devil turned to his granddaughter. "Being born evil isn''t a particularly awful thing. Its being born a destructive, chaotic, law-breaking little imp that is. A bit of malice in the right place can be constructive, useful, to an organized and stable society." He glanced at the temple. "And of course, if these children were throwing stones at an execution, they likely had no idea what they were doing was criminal. Unlike the adults, I''d expect they were simply doing what they thought was proper. Why, if I didn''t know better I myself would have relished the idea as a child."


    Derek stared at him. "S...So I suppose we have a consensus that we don''t kill the kids?" The chain devil wasn''t generally too blatant about being a sadistic monster, but on the other hand he never really tried to hide it, either.


    "Ehh. We don''t try to kill the kids. If they are genuinely blameless, they won''t end up in the pit after they pass. They''ll go to the Hells, or go up."


    Was going to the hells actually a good thing, in this creature''s eyes? Derek glanced at Terra, who shrugged. "If we break open the buildings before dawn, they''ll probably all scurry out into the open."


    Derek gave a slow nod. "We can check the other cellars for survivors, but the dead seem to home in on the people who threw the rocks; if there are others, there should be one at their doors for each. So we might have found the only survivors who didn''t stay in the temple. We... should wait for Kylie to come back to make a final decision. But it would probably be best if our master of chains here who can chain a door shut in seconds were to go around and seal all of the cellars and basements shut... then we can just start some fires in buildings... and tear open the barricades."


    He looked at the temple. "Everyone will probably just run, and the curse will take those it should. Do you think they''ll escape if they get to other towns?"


    The devil picked up a fist-sized rock. "The curse is in the rocks, and in the Paladin, not the town. Once they get far enough away, it would probably stop working, unless we moved some of the rocks closer. If we took a pack of the rocks with us in the cart, it would probably create a pack of them to hunt down the murderers with the next sunrise. And if we dug up the Paladin and took her corpse with us, it should make another of those armored spirits to lead them."


    Derek blinked. "You''re.... wanting to help the curse hunt its victims who escaped?"


    "Of course. This isn''t just a quest for justice, its an excellent way to inspire horror and terror in the criminals involved, and ensure that their last moments are filled with the misery they deserve. In this, at least, the lady of chains, and the lady of light, would be in complete agreement."


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    The devil waved the rock around for a moment. "Frankly, I plan to take some of the rocks with us, leave them hidden in towns we pass through. Some of the criminals have likely escaped already, and if they haven''t gone too far... well. I can only imagine the fear in their eyes when they realize they didn''t really escape."


    ***


    The temple was a ruin; a desecrated place that had been broken, destroyed. Kylie could feel that someone had used a ritual here to cleanse the place, some time ago, something that would have helped remove any taint before starting to rebuild; but that rebuilding had never happened.


    Once, there had been stone walls. A statue of the goddess. A symbol of hope, of truth, of revelation. A place to help people. Now... a fallen ruin in an accursed place. She placed her hand on the statue, feeling the warmth of the son on the stone, closed her eyes, turning her head towards the sun.


    "Goddess, guide me. I keep ill company, and wish not to be led astray. Is it the truth? Do these people really need to die for their crimes?"


    She heard something... a dragging foot. Movement... and a voice. "Well. Someone needs to die, anyway, for the good of the townsfolk. Did your goddess tell you about the last batch? Guess we best make sure you don''t tell your friends, the knight seems a bit scary."


    When she turned, she could see... three men. Two of them wearing a simple chainmail shirt, and ragged clothing that had clearly been worn a few dozen times too many without being properly mended; no guard uniforms here, just simple brown leather. The other wore what had likely once been a guard uniform; including a good, solid breastplate. None of them had shaved in weeks, if they ever had, and the bedraggled appearance made them look more like beggars who had stolen the armor


    One of the two less-armored men gave a grin. "You know. She''s a pretty one. I like the hair, especially, the red, the curls... we don''t have to just kill her. We could keep her in one of the unused cellars for a few days."


    Kylie studied the men for a moment; Derek had made her practice the ''assessing'' spell he learned at the academy, and while she couldn''t tell what ''level'' someone was, she could still judge how much power was in them. The one with a breastplate was almost as strong as her; probably as strong as she''d been when she left. The other two were weaker. She slowly stretched, and braced herself as she unhooked the flail, settled the shield on her arm; the shield bore the same logo as the breastplate. Clearly it had been meant for the town guard before she''d acquired it.


    "You know... its funny. I''ve been traveling with a devil for over a week now. I don''t even remember exactly how long its been, now. But most of the time when I meet people, I eventually find myself agreeing with him about how I should handle them. What does that say about me?"


    The guards looked at the flail for a moment. The leader glanced at the others. "I''ll take her head-on, you two go to..."


    One moment, he was trying to give orders to the man. The next, the flail was in the air, moving... and as he ducked back, trying to avoid it, a second, glowing one appeared, swinging as well... only lower.


    A solid crunch of metal on bone. A scream of pain; and the guard fell to the ground, his right knee bent sideways; even as Kylie turned to face the other two with a grin. "I think I''m going to cripple your arms and legs, and leave you out to meet the dead on the next sunrise. That''s about what you deserve, isn''t it?"


    The amusement, the jovial nature of the encounter on the side of the guards, had dried up instantly. Now it was anger... and fear. The men raised clubs, charging at her, screaming; Kylie backed away from them, putting their wounded companion between them to force them to go around... and after taking a solid hit from a club onto her shield, swung the flail again; not at the one who had just struck her, but at the other one as he approached; once more aiming for the legs. Her aim was off slightly; instead of the spiked ball striking his knee, it went a bit past; but still, the chain wrapped around his leg, and with a solid yank, he went falling to the cobblestones; even as the weapon of light struck home, slamming into his gut, knocking the wind out of him as his chain shirt partially caught it; and several spikes painfully puncturing his groin.


    The third guard took advantage of the weapon being trapped for the moment, wrapped around the other guard''s leg, charging, trying to tackle her to the cobbles... but Kylie simply let him push her back staying on her feet, shoving her into a wall. As he grinned at her over the shield pressed between them, she started to reach for the dagger at her belt... only to stop, and smile. Without lifting the weapon, she simply gestured, as if she were swinging the flail she no longer held.


    The man frowned. "What...are.." He glanced back just in time for the glowing flail to slam into his face; and as he fell to the ground, Kylie turned to the still mostly intact one; he''d dislodged the flail-head from his crotch and was screaming in pain, holding himself... and she reached down, picking the handle back up, giving it a solid yank; the spikes dragging painfully across his leg. She looked at the three men; only the breast-plate-wearing one was dead from a flail to the face. The other two were just in serious pain.


    For a moment, she was tempted to fulfill her earlier threat. Break their arms and legs. Leave them for the dead. But.... no. They might somehow get away, especially if they had friends who came by.


    When she brought the flail down on the face of the next one, she felt a thrill as she saw the fear in his eyes, and felt the splatter of his blood on her face... and grinned as the final guard started to try crawling away, dragging a badly mangled leg behind him. She let him get a few feet before she stepped up; and another harsh blow. A crunch of breaking bone, the wet sound of bloodsplatter and bone.


    She inhaled deeply, looking around at the three men, then at the temple.


    She''d asked for a sign, whether these people really needed to die for their crimes.


    The goddess had provided. As she turned, leaving the bodies where they lay on the street, she started heading back to the temple of night, and the smithy she left her boyfriend and the others at. It seemed she and the devil were in agreement yet again.