Chapter 106 - A Bad Decision

“We should let her go,” said Abby. “She hasn’t done anything wrong. Keeping her would be –”

“Just kill the monster, and get it over with,” Tucker interjected. “You’ll regret it if you don’t.”

“She is a person,” Abby growled, glaring at the big, dreadlocked man. Her fingers twitched with a need for violence. “Not a monster. We have more call to kill you than the frost giant.”

He barked a harsh laugh. “You could try, girl,” he said, a globe appearing in his hands. It glowed with malevolent, purple light. “But I can tell you one thing for sure – if I go down, so does everyone else in this little cabin of yours. Including your pet Jotun over there.”

“I am no one’s pet, Dark one!” spat the hogtied frost giant. She struggled against her bonds, but they held fast. “Release me and I will rip your head from your shoulders and use it to –”

“See? I rest my case,” Tucker said. “That thing is just a –”

“Enough!” Zeke bellowed, his strength pushing his voice to new heights. The furniture in the room shook, and particles of dust billowed off the stone walls. He took a breath, ran his hand through his hair, and in the sudden silence, repeated, “Enough, okay? I’m so tired of everyone arguing about this.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to listen to him,” Abby said. “You know I don’t have any issues with doing what’s necessary, but…I mean, come on, Zeke. She’s a person. And she’s helpless.”

“I will show you helpless,” growled the Jotun, who was still struggling against her bonds.

“We should release her,” Talia said, her raspy voice barely loud enough to carry across the room. Zeke glanced in her direction to see the undead girl sitting on the floor, her arms on her knees. Her claws glistened with liquid, green power in the cottage’s artificial light – a result of the new rune-powered lamps that had replaced the lanterns that had come before. The cottage was clearly still evolving, and Zeke was eager to discover what it would become. But right now, Zeke had to focus on what they were going to do with Gerd, the captured frost giantess. Talia went on, “Or kill her. Keeping her as a prisoner makes us no better than Micayne. Or my mother. Death is better.”

To Zeke, that was a leap in logic, but he could understand how Talia had come to that conclusion.  She’d been through the wringer, and she still bore the wounds. Doubtless, she would never look kindly on any sort of imprisonment, justified or not.

Zeke rose from his chair, then strode toward the Jotun. Kneeling before her, he asked, “What would you do if we were to release you?”

“I would kill you all and mount your heads on the Wall of Foes,” she spat. “I would burn and raze your homes, and –”

“Stop,” Zeke said. “And think. How does any of that benefit you? You’re strong, sure. And you might be able to do what you say, but you’d probably be throwing your life away.”

He sighed, then looked around. Immediately, he thought of his last ill-fated encounter with a prisoner. The unintentional death of Tabby, the girl whose life had ended in the cellar, was definitely on his mind. He hadn’t lost much sleep over it – after all, the woman had been involved in an assassination attempt against him – but he certainly saw the parallels with their current situation.

It would be easy – and probably justifiable – to simply kill the Jotun and be done with it. But would it be right? Zeke had killed quite a few monsters – some with more sentience than others – since being reborn, and, to some degree, he’d become inured to death. However, he had always endeavored to do the right thing. He’d only killed when his morals told him it was necessary. And in this case, every single one of his instincts told him that he would regret murdering the frost giantess.

Helpless, came Pudge’s thought. Zeke looked over to see the bear staring at the bound Jotun. Killing is good. Execution is bad.

Again, Zeke sighed. Pudge’s thoughts were more complicated than simple words, but it came down to a difference between killing in battle and executing a helpless prisoner. To Pudge, the former was natural. Normal. Even honorable. But the latter? He equated it to the sort of thing scavengers did. It was a curious stance, given that, on Earth, bears would eat anything and everything, and there were no lines drawn between killing their prey and scavenging for scraps. Food was food. This world was different, though. Zeke didn’t know if it was the effect of the bond between them or if dire bears were really so different from their Earthly counterparts, but it was clear that Pudge had drawn a line in the sand.

Either way, Pudge’s thoughts echoed his own. He didn’t want to kill Gerd, especially not without good reason. If he got into the habit of killing anything that might pose a threat, he would become no different than any other monster he’d faced.

“Swear to go straight back to Hvitgard, and I will turn you loose,” Zeke said. “Refuse, and you’ll die right here, right now. Try anything, and we’ll kill you. Those are your choices. I don’t want to kill you, Gerd. I really don’t. But I will if I have to.”

“This is stupid,” Tucker muttered.

“Maybe,” Zeke admitted. “But if it goes wrong, we’ll just have to deal with it.”

For her part, Gerd looked as if she’d eaten something incredibly sour. But after a few seconds, she said, “Very well. I will return to Hvitgard. You have my word.”

Without further discussion, Zeke loosened the Jotun’s bonds and helped her to her feet. It was a testament to the cottage’s high ceilings that she didn’t have to crouch, but even so, there was only a foot or so to spare. Zeke had eased the knots enough that she could move, but he wasn’t so naïve that he was going to turn her loose in the middle of the cottage.

“Pudge, with me,” Zeke said. “I’m going to escort our friend a couple of miles away. When I get back, I want you all ready to leave. We’re done here.”

Tucker grumbled something, but he didn’t otherwise verbalize his objections. Instead, he immediately made his way to the bedroom that had become his laboratory. Abby put her hand on Zeke’s bicep, saying, “This is the right decision.”

“I hope so,” he breathed, eyeing the Jotun, who was still glaring at him from on high. The frost giant was much shorter than her kin, but she still loomed over Zeke. “Just get ready to go, okay? And make sure Tucker doesn’t do anything stupid.”

Abby nodded, and Zeke set out, the Jotun following behind him. Pudge ranged ahead, and to Zeke’s surprise, Talia fell in beside him. She didn’t speak, but that didn’t bother Zeke very much. He knew she’d been through a lot, and he had no issues letting her find her own path. The foursome slowly made their way away from the cottage, using game trails where possible, but generally carving their own path. After about two hours, they reached a windswept cliff, and Zeke turned to the frost giantess saying, “I’m about to set you free, but before I do so, I want you remember something. We saved your life. You would be dead if it weren’t for our efforts. I know you’re probably angry. I understand that. I would be, too. But try to see things from our perspective.”

“The perspective of a human is worthless,” Gerd rumbled, her white hair whipping in the wind. As biting as it was, she showed no discomfort. “But I gave my word. I will return to Hvitgard. You would do well to leave our territory, lest you incur our wrath.”

Zeke suppressed yet another sigh. It seemed that the frost giants were dead set on their ongoing war with humanity, regardless of the fact that they had other things they should be focused on. With their fertility issues, they should have been less warlike, if for no other reason than to preserve their numbers. That didn’t seem to be the case, though. Some creatures seemed incapable of acting according to their own benefits.

“We’re leaving,” he said. “I’ve already said as much. We don’t have to fight.”

Gerd didn’t respond to that, so Zeke bent down and loosened the knots. On guard for any sudden moves, he freed the frost giantess. Thankfully, she didn’t go back on her word. Instead, she massaged her wrists, saying, “You have honor. Because of that, I will give you a warning: beware the Dark One. He is deceptive and self-serving. Trust him at your own peril.”

Then, without another word, she took off, her long legs propelling her with speed Zeke couldn’t even hope to match. Thankfully, she fled in the opposite direction of their camp, so he hoped that she would keep her own word. However, her statement about Tucker was disturbing. Zeke knew the alchemist was, at best, entirely self-interested. He would do whatever it took to satisfy his own goals, to fuel his own progression. And given what the man had revealed about his own actions regarding the Jotuns, Zeke couldn’t blame Gerd for her opinions. But on the other hand, he had done what he had done in order to protect innocents. When Zeke had said it wasn’t so different from what he’d done, he hadn’t been lying.

“Should we really let Tucker stick around?” Zeke asked, mostly to himself.

“No,” Talia said, surprising him with her raspy response.

“Why do you say that?” was Zeke’s next question. If she was willing to talk, he was willing to listen.

“A hunch,” she said. “He’s exactly what the giant said he is, but for now, that means he’s best served to help us. Maybe that changes in the future. I don’t know. But right now, he’s an asset.”

“Yeah,” Zeke said, hating that he had to think about another person in such impersonal terms. “You’re probably right. But –”

Big, cold lady changed directions, came Pudge’s interrupting thought. Headed back to house.

“Shit,” Zeke said. “We’ve got to go.”

“What? Why?” Talia asked.

“Gerd is heading back to camp,” he said. “Pudge is following, but…”

He didn’t finish his sentence. Instead, he took off the way they’d come, hoping against hope that they could cover the ground more quickly than the frost giantess. However, Zeke knew just how unlikely that would be. Gerd, though smaller than the other frost giants, was purpose built to traverse these mountains. As such, there was little chance they would be capable of keeping up. He could only pray that they could arrive in time to help.

As Zeke barreled through the sparsely forested mountainside, his stomach twisted itself into knots. He wasn’t particularly attached to Tucker, but if the giantess hurt Abby…

Whatever reservations he had against wiping the Jotuns from the face of the Radiant Isles would be tossed aside without even a hint of a second thought, should something bad happen to his partner. Zeke still wasn’t entirely sure where they stood in terms of their relationship. They were sleeping together, and there was affection there, but neither had tried to categorize things. But the thought of losing her was one he didn’t want to even ponder. So, he ran, and more quickly than he ever had before. The distance melted before him, but even so, he knew he couldn’t match the giantess’s pace.

Finally, he burst into the clearing where he’d placed the cottage, and it took him a long moment to make sense of what he saw.

“What’s going on? Where’s the fire?” Abby asked, sitting in her rocking chair like nothing was amiss. There was no damage. No destruction. Everything looked perfectly normal.

“Gerd didn’t come here?” he asked between gulping breaths. “Where is she?”

Almost as if it was in response to his question, a scream echoed through the mountains, but it was cut off a moment later. Zeke recognized the voice.

“Tucker,” he muttered. “Where is he?”

Recognizing the situation for what it was, Abby stood and answered, “He said something about some herbs he’d meant to gather and wandered off. He was muttering to himself the whole time, so I figured he just needed some time to process what had happened.” She pointed to the west, adding, “He went that way.”

Using her pointed finger as guidance, Zeke sprinted in the appropriate direction. A minute or two later, he found some trampled bushes and a few drops of blood.

Abby caught up, then inspected the ground. “I think Gerd attacked Tucker,” she said. “Probably knocked him out before he knew what was going on. And then she took him.”

“You don’t think she killed him?” Zeke asked.

Abby shook her head. “Probably not,” she answered, her eyes flicking toward Talia, who’d followed silently. Unmoving, she looked like an alabaster statue. “Maybe if she hit him hard enough, but I don’t think…no, there’s not enough blood. I’m sure she wanted him alive.”

That tracked with everything Zeke knew about the conflict between Tucker and the Jotuns. They would want to execute him publicly, if at all possible. “I’m so stupid,” he mumbled.

“You couldn’t have known –”

“I should have, though!” he spat, frustrated and angry. “He’s like their boogeyman. He’s responsible for the death of their species. Of course Gerd wouldn’t let that lie.”

“That’s not your fault,” Abby said.

“Of course it is,” was Zeke’s admission. “It was my decision.”

“What do you want to do?” Talia asked, interjecting at the perfect time to keep them from overanalyzing things. “Should we follow?”

“We don’t have a choice, do we? We can’t let them…do whatever it is they intend to do to him,” Zeke said.

“Or we could,” Abby suggested. “With what he’s done, it’s what he deserves. Who says we’re responsible for rescuing a man who’s responsible for killing so many –”

“He’s one of us,” Zeke stated. “We’re not going to abandon him.”

“Is he, though?” she asked, reaching out to grab his arm. “I know you feel like you need to do this, but you don’t owe him anything. In fact, this kind of solves a problem, doesn’t it? I know I don’t trust him, and I’m pretty sure you don’t either. And Talia…well, she’s got her own issues with him, right?”

“I’m not going to leave him to that fate,” Zeke said. For as horrible as what Tucker had done was, the reality was that he’d thought he was doing the right thing. “He’s part of the group.”

“He’s right,” Talia said. “We should save him if we can.”

Abby shook her head, saying, “Whatever. Let’s go, then. If Gerd gets to Hvitgard, we’re going to have a hell of time doing anything, whether we want to or not.”

So, without further debate, Zeke dismissed the cottage, and the group took off in pursuit of the frost giant and her captive.