"What I'm hearing is that he's not a murderer, he's a corpse defiler."
The three 'comrades' huddled around in a circle, leaving the stranger to look towards them, eyes filled with intrigue and curiosity.
"Defiler is strong language…"
"He took corpses and skinned them to make costumes. How are they supposed to rest in peace knowing their image is being paraded around by beasts?"
Marion fell silent, not entirely sure how to deny Pala's claims. After a pause to stare at Marion and assert her dominance, Pala turned back towards the pair of them, her tone having a sense of finality to it.
"So, what we're going to do is we're going to kill him off. You'll let me take his corpse to lighten my brother's sentence. I'm sure the magic that runs in his veins is enough to convince them he's the real culprit."
"You mean we'll be taking him to the capitol for a trial. No matter the crime, if it cannot be negotiated between the parties involved, will be taken to the court. It's standard procedure."
Xerut's croaky voice cut through Pala's finality like a knife through butter, his 'matter of fact' attitude seeping through his stare.
"Of course, I forgot you were such a royal mule. Your obsession with the rules is almost as repulsive as… well, you. You're a witched child, don't go around pretending like you care about being normal."
"What does being a witched child have to do with anything?"
"Your kind is cursed, destined to bring misfortune wherever you tread. I hope you haven't forgotten that."
"Sounds like you're following the exact same beliefs the royals follow. You're scared of things you can't understand, so you have to eliminate them. Makes me wonder which one of us is the bigger mule."
Pala tightly gripped the hilt of her sword, fighting her instincts to bring it down on Xerut's head and slice him in half.
"I hunt those who hurt others, no matter who they are. Witched or royalty, man or woman, adult or child. I will not have you reduce me to your level."
"So you're judge, jury and executioner? Sounds rather savage to me."
The pair glared at each other, simultaneously coming to the conclusion that the only way they would win is through numbers. They turned to where Marion was, finding her seat at their spur of the mill conference completely empty.
"Hello Nem, my name is Marion. We've actually met before, but I never gave you my name."
Marion reached her hand out towards the stranger and he took her hand, letting her pull him up to his feet. He didn't seem particularly interested in getting his cuffs taken off, instead being more intrigued by the extremely large sword on Pala's back.
"Do you mind if I search through your memories a bit?"
Without hesitation, he answered.
"Sure!"
Pala and Xerut watched as Marion reached out towards something they couldn't see and begin to stare off into the distance for a split second, repeating that process about fifty times before she finally turned back towards the pair.
"He's been alive for nine hundred and forty-eight years. He's been in this forest for nine hundred and twenty-four."
"So, which is it. Are we going to kill him off, or are we going to… give him a 'fair' trial."
Pala rolled her eyes at Xerut's suggestion, which was returned by Xerut sticking his middle finger up and letting it hover directly next to her head, which she paid no mind to.
"No. We let him go."
The pair erupted immediately, shouting due to a combination of confusion and anger that they couldn't agree.
"There wasn't any malice in him… skinning them. He doesn't know that it's wrong."
Their shouting immediately stopped, not because they weren't confused or angry anymore, but because they were now also baffled.
"You mentioned that he spent more than twenty years outside the forest. Am I right to assume he had a normal upbringing?"
"Yes."
"And he learnt not to play with corpses from his parents."
"… Yes."
"So then what in the world are you talking about? We're taking him to the trial, you can argue for his innocence there."
Marion turned, showing the first time she had been outwardly confrontational throughout their whole journey.
"A trial will find him guilty no matter what, you already know that."
Xerut didn't respond, but he suddenly looked a little less confused than before and slightly more nervous.
"Nine hundred years is enough to drive anyone insane. Anyone would lose their sense of normality if they were stuck in this hellhole for that long, you of all people should know that. Despite that, he's managed to not hurt anyone, both human and… strange magical creature. He deserves to live here peacefully, without us intervening."
Pala stepped forward, no longer willing to be silent.
"So what you're saying is that he 'forgot' that it was a bad thing to play with the dead, so we should forgive him? That's a flimsy excuse considering how many people lost the ability to say goodbye to their loved ones. Perhaps I should 'forget' that cutting off your limbs is a bad thing."
Marion looked infuriated, but she stood her ground, standing inbetween her 'comrades' and Nem, planting herself in place.
"Pala, you say you want to hurt those who hurt others, but you want to release your brother from jail after he essentially got someone killed? What about your parents? They're mercenaries, they've hurt hundreds of people. Are you not going to cut them down like the slaves on the way here?"
Pala grit her teeth, still fighting back on her instinct to crush Marion where she stood.
"You little rat, you looked through my memories as well. It's funny how you ask a criminal for permission but you're snooping around in the heads of your 'comrades' like it's nothing."
Marion ignored her and turned towards Xerut, her barbed tongue continuing its assault.
"Xerut, do you really think you can make things better by following the same laws that have oppressed people like us for the past millennia? Each day the countries around us thrive and become more powerful while we're stuck between choosing to live next to a forest full of monsters or giving up all our food to a bunch of fat pigs who won't do anything for us if we're invaded. We're sitting ducks."
Xerut looked shocked, but he didn't wasn't deterred by her accusations. Within a few seconds the three of them devolved into a shouting contest, all of them completely unaware of what was occurring behind them.
From the forest, two tentacled figures emerged, their two ghostly lights illuminating the withered grass at their 'feet'. Rolling along the ground, they quickly pulled up beside Nem, surrounding him on both sides.
"Mic, Victor, what are you doing here?"
Victor croaked twice and sliced the rope that tied Nem's wrists together with one of his tentacles. Completely unaware, Nem quickly stood up and tapped Marion's shoulder excitedly.
"Guys, I want you to meet my friends, Mic and Victor!"
As the three turned, they immediately jumped back when seeing the creatures who raised themselves menacingly behind Nem.
"Oh, you guys stopped arguing! That's great!"
"Nem, step away from them. They're dangerous."
"No they're not, they're my friends. I'm sure you could be friends…"
Nem was cut off by clicking and gurgling from Mic, which he listened to intently.
"Sorry? What are you apologising for? If it's for leaving without telling me, I'm not rea…"
Before he could finish speaking, Mic slid one of its tentacles into his mouth and the trio looked on, horrified as it extended its appendage, feeding into his stomach and possibly beyond. Eventually, it stopped, with Nem looking somewhat confused, but not particularly worried.
Without warning, purple spikes erupted from his body, puncturing his head and torso with about a hundred thumb sized holes. Despite the tentacle in his mouth filling his throat, he tried to scream, which emitted a sound that was halfway between the gargle of drowning and the shrieking of a crying child. He only managed to survive for a few seconds, but it was the first time he had felt pain in a long time. He fell limp to the ground while the three looked on in silent terror.
Once he was definitely dead, Mic raised the tentacle in the air, hanging Nem in the air like he was a baby rattle. Victor quickly treaded off into the forest once more, leaving four in the clearing. For almost a minute, the three remained silent, frozen in place unwilling to enrage the creature.
"Your name is… Mic?"
The flame inside the tentacle responded to Xerut's question by moving up and down.
"Is Nem your friend?"
The response was the same as before.
"Then why would you do that?"
This time, he was given no response. Before Xerut could ask once more, Victor returned, this time holding a blue frog with two glowing bulbs on a tentacled platform. It stopped in front of Nem, raising the platform to match Mic. The frog hopped once forward onto Nem and he vanished, every trace of his blood and internal organs that had been splatted onto the grass also disappearing.
While the three remained frozen in shock, the three creatures sauntered off into the forest, leaving them with only their thoughts.