Author Update:
I have an injury that means I'm always in pain. Pain killers don't help much anymore, and I'm tired, sore and angry. So obviously, I've written a story that is based much the same as 'Swords and Scales' but is much darker, much less pleasant, and I'm afraid it doesn't have a happy ending. It will be called 'Wrath'. Below is a preview.
Sometimes, life isn't easy. Sometimes, it doesn't get better. Pain doesn't always go away, and sleep becomes a thing of memory.
He sat alone, forging his soul in the darkness and quiet.
Dawn saw a lone figure making its way down to the cell containing the young man. He stood there, observing the difference between the prisoner and a boy he had known so long ago. As if deigning to acknowledge him for the first time, the figure within stood. Approaching the bars of the goal, he met the watchers eyes.
The intensity of the gaze caused the older man to take an involuntary step back. Those green eyes were unsettling, and he felt the first twinge of fear. Speaking for the first time since they had captured him, there was an eerie calmness to his voice
'I travelled the world, did you know that? I went so far east it became west, so far south it became north and I saw things no mortal has ever seen before. I hunted them, across the globe. I caused the fall of Pompeii, and saw the death of the only woman I have ever loved. I destroyed every one I found, until there was only one left. One nest. The same nest that has plagued you all these years. I came here to help you end it, once and for all.'
'But the instant you lifted that axe, you doomed them all. Every man, woman and child in this village will die, because of you. They will perish by the sword and by the flame. And you will watch, and you will know: "I did this".'
Returning to his seat on the floor, he fell silent. Unseen to the watcher, a single tear escaped, and made its way slowly down the prisoners face.