PART SIX: It is not meet to take the children's bread, and toss it to the dogs.
There was no way Rubalkubara was going to entrust a child to kill me. But, then again, this was no ordinary child.
His eyes glared, a pearl-white pair of lifeless flesh in their sockets. He was thin, and appeared as if he was deprived of sunlight and food. He walked, but not towards me. He walked from side to side, sizing me up, the blades on the edge of hands leaving scratch marks on the walls where he touched and dragged them.
I stood away, watching the kid. I can't fight a child. I'd kill him. I'd be doing the same thing that brought me here in the first place.
"Father says you're a sinner. I must not yoke myself with unbelievers," the child told me.
I couldn't believe how such a powerful voice radiated from a kid like this. "Your father is cruel. Don't listen to him, kid," I said, like he'd actually listen to me.
He looked unphased by the comment. "My Father loves me, sinner. He saved me from Hell," he replied, casually. The blades grafted into his hands were creating screeching sounds on the hallway's walls, a high, metal-on-concrete vibrato that sent tremors through my spine.
The kid has been brainwashed, I thought. Rubalkubara took the Bible's teachings and truths, twisted and tore them to suit his greed and lust. This abused kid was proof of that.
"I am injustice, sinner, and I was forgiven by Father," the kid continued, "You should really get to know Father, sinner. He can cleanse you of your sins."
I will not kill a clueless child. Forget it. I had to think of another way besides this, or I'd just let him kill me if we draw swords, I will not avenge or justify Miki's death by taking someone else's kid.
"He took me in when I was unworthy, washed me in his love. He saved my life," the kid said.
I could use this. Keep him talking, break his spirit, and save his body. "How did you find Father?" I asked. Keep it clean, easy, I told myself.
The kid kept drawing on the hallway walls with his hand-blades. "He found me, he trained me to be his apparentice acolyte. He guided me," he said, "and I failed him. But he forgave me, and soon I will be with God in Heaven."
Poor thing, blinded by promises, used, abused, broken. "How did you fail him?" I just had to ask.
"I touched myself, I sold my body to Satan's tempations," the child replied, still marking the walls. "He cut my hands off, because the Bible said you must. Now I'm clean, and only Father can touch me, because he has life in hands."
More scratching sounds on the walls. Rubalkubara, what are you up to?
It hit me. Miki. She was going to be an acolyte too, she wanted to be one. We never did sign up, but then...
I was trying to remeber. We went to the church to have her blessed. Mother what's-her-name... Mathilda. That's it. And Yosuke, they met Miki. They said she'll make a fine acolyte. They looked her over, and asked me to have her ready before she turned twelve. Miki was so excited..
Then they said they'd place her under Rubalkubara's training. How the hell could I forget? I'm getting old. He knew who he killed.
"Listen, kid, I had a daughter who wanted to be an acolyte too. Your father," I said, staggering the words out of my mouth, "he killed my daughter. I need your help to find out why."
A tear flowed down his eye. "She wasn't the first. There's been a lot. Father only trains boys. He kills off girls, sinner, before he trains them. He's going to kill Mathilda too. He says only men should serve God," the boy said. He was volunteering information. There was still some human in him. "Women are evil creatures, sinner. They eat the fruit of the tree, they leave you when you love them. Father said boys should only love boys as not to be hurt."
I was sick to my stomach. The perversity he fed to his trainees... how many have been blinded by Rubalkubara?
"Are there.. other trainees.. that failed him?" I asked.
He looked at me. His hand stopped marking the walls, and he walked down the hallway, slow and captivated. "Down the hall, there are many of us. He visits us sometimes, to show us he still loves us. But we know he loves the good students more."
"He doesn't love you at all, kid," I said. "You know it. Show me the rest of the trainees, we can still get out of here." I was going to bust this thing wide open.
"He ordered me to kill you, sinner," he said, voice breaking. I was throwing the truth at him, and it was coming at him, painful and real and tangible.
I dropped the mace. I told him, if he didn't believe me, that he should go ahead and kill me. I wasn't going to hurt a kid, I said. "I'm not like Rubalkubara."
His head hung low. His arms lay listless on his side, and he stood shaking. "I am injustice..." he said, his voice now turning into a leathery rasp. "Nothing can save me."
He took his hand-blades and stabbed himself in his stomach. He pulled it out, and yellow and red spilled out. "My Father doesn't really love me at all," he said, muffling his cries. "Let me die, sinner," he said, "Injustice is tired of being used."
I couldn't watch as the kid opened his eyes to reality. The truth was pulled from under him, and the columns that held his world came down, crushing him, a cold, heartless reality, and he couldn't take it. I didn't blame him.
The hallway was now clear, but it felt like there was a lot more trouble if I walked through it.