blacksmith’s shop to wash his face before lunch like he
always does, and I knew I was saved. I would ask Kroogi
the question first.
I smiled at Kroogi and sat up straight when he came
over, only he wasn’t looking at me. He was looking at the
knight and the knight was looking back, and neither was
looking away, and they didn’t look too happy about seeing
each other. I waved at Kroogi to get his attention, but he
didn’t wave back. He slowly stripped off his shirt to wash,
and you could see the old tribal tattoos on his chest and
arms from when he was a warrior with the Red Thunder
People who lived east of here before they all died from
fighting or being sick, which was why Kroogi left them.
The knight stared at Kroogi’s tattoos and Kroogi stared at
the knight’s armor, and neither of them said a thing.
“Kroogi!” I said, waving my arms. “Kroogi, I have a
question. Do you have a moment?” I felt safe asking
Kroogi, because he was real quiet and never did anything
mean, even if Jarvis said Kroogi once cut two men in half
using a hand axe in a battle with Istarian army renegades
before the fall of Istar, but that wasn’t anything anyone
would hold against him, as Istarian army renegades were
not very nice and they’re mostly dead now anyway.
Kroogi didn’t look at me, because he was still staring at
the knight, and then Kroogi began flexing his huge arm and
chest muscles so you could see the places where spears or
swords or arrows had cut him here and there. Finally, he
looked away and bent down to soak his shirt in the fountain
water, ignoring the knight.
Several more people had wandered over to the fountain
in the meantime, so I knew I’d have lots of other people to
ask if the knight or Kroogi didn’t give me an answer.
“Kroogi!” I said.
Kroogi glanced at me as he began to wash himself using
his shirt, and I knew I could go ahead and ask my question.
He never said much, but he always made what he said
count.
“I just have one question,” I said, and cleared my throat.
It would be easier to get a response from the knight after
asking Kroogi first. “Kroogi, do you think the gods did right
in dropping the flaming mountain on Istar so that – ”
“Yes,” said Kroogi. He lifted his wet shirt and ran it
across his chest, washing away the ash and dust.
“Wait,” I said. “I didn’t get to finish the question. Do
you think the gods did right when – ”
“Yes,” he said again. ‘They did right in killing the
murdering mongrel dogs of Istar and their Solamnic iron-
assed lackeys. The blessed gods, praise their names, did
right in crushing out the Kingpriest’s filth and purifying the
lands that Istar and Solamnia had defiled, washing them
with clean fire and water.” He dabbed at his forehead. His
face never changed expression. It rarely did.
“Oh,” I said in surprise. This was easier than I’d
thought. “Oh, well, would you – ”
“I agree that the gods did right,” interrupted the knight.
His voice was like low thunder from a distant storm. “They
killed the mad murderers of Istar, who would have chained
or slain us all, but afterward they allowed evil to roam the
lands in the form of ignorant, filthy, barbarian scum who
spread plague as they looted and burned their way across
the injured lands. The gods did right in destroying Istar, but
they didn’t finish the job when they let hordes of masterless
vermin prey on innocent and law-abiding people. The gods
instead left the cleaning up to those with the wisdom to
separate the grain from the chaff, and the strength to dispose
of the chaff properly.”
Well, I thought this was great! Here I had two people who
completely agreed that the gods had done right. I was going
to ask both of them to detail their answers just a little bit
more, when Kroogi’s arm snapped put and he Hung his wet