Standoff

A scout team found the two guards that murdered the Exiles. For the last day they've been at a standoff, the two men holed up in a house about thirty miles north of here. Our people have them surrounded but won't attempt to make entry on the house. Rather than put our people in more danger by going in after armed men, our leadership has made the call to starve them out. Or, in this case, thirst them out. The murderers don't have much in the way of drinking water, so in no more than three days and probably a lot less, they'll have to make a choice. 

The strange thing is that they were just waiting there patiently, fire in the fireplace as if they didn't have a care in the world. Maybe they didn't think anyone would come after them. God knows if they'd have kept moving on we would never have found them. The only conclusion we can reach is that they are waiting for someone to show up. If that's true, then the situation may become more complex. 

Henry hasn't come around yet. Whatever poison the guards used appears to have hit him very hard even though it didn't kill him. Phil doesn't have much confidence that Henry is going to pull through, truth be told. I don't know that I want him to. Not because I hate him, though I haven't historically had a lot of love for Exiles or marauders. 

It's just that I'm not totally without compassion for even the worst of people, no matter how much pain they've caused. Bad guys rarely think they're bad guys, and Henry was a part of a community, no matter how messed up. He knew those people, lived with them day to day. He probably had good friends among the dead. People he loved.

All of that is gone. He watched them suffer in unimaginable pain for hours at least. The sort of agony he witnessed and then went through himself aren't the kind of memories you want to carry around with you. They damage you, change you in ways that can be impossible to recover from. Maybe the best thing for him is to pass on in his sleep, immune to the hurt waiting for him in the waking world. 

Some deaths are necessary, cold and heartless. Some are a kindness, and in this case I think it would be the best thing for him.