"Is he gonna wake up?"
Later it would be filled with grit and the stench of thousands of people moving through the streets.
"Not sure. Â You weren't there. Â Didn't see how many times they hit him. Â Mostly in the head."
But right now? Â Here in front of the jail in the wee hours of the rising sun?
"I was upstairs. Â What did you expect me to do?"
The light was sharp and laden with ice.
"Be there when it happened."
Much like the words passing between the two Roe squatting next to a window looking down into a jail cell.
"You're really gonna place this on my head?"
Much like the taste of what was in the flask being passed between them.
"I get conscripted for defending him. Â Min's bolt torched the tavern and is probably getting conscripted. Â You were out getting your rocks off. Â See which one of these isn't like the other Madeye?"
Much like the body cooling on the floor inside the cell. Â Barely breathing.
"It had been five years Lihta, give me a break. Â I'm allowed to be mortal and carry a torch."
Much like the smile on the ghoul-thin Roe's face
"Must be big torch to let it burn your friends."
Much like the glare in the giant roe's eyes.
"That's unfair and you know it."
"Don't tell me. Â Tell Henk."
The lion maned roe in the cell, more tendized meat than man. Â Both of them looked between the bars to check.
"Don't think he's gonna hear me."
"We all knew this. Â Going going to happen, soon. Â Didn't do anything."
The light of the morning pushed between the buildings. Â A blade of white sliding through links of stone and street.
"How many of the monks did he actually kill?"
"Two. Â Two monks. Â Maimed three more. Â Killed two guards."
Piercing the two roe on the wall and painting them with harsh contrast.
"Thought we agreed he wasn't allowed to go drinking without his axe?"
"Used a table. Â And a chair. Â And part of a Monk. Â One went through the floor. Â Near drowned in a beer keg in the basement."
Highlighting the lion maned midget, groaning for each breath between bubbles of blood, in that armor piercing white.
"That's no coincidence....they put a tankard on his head didn't they?"
"First one didn't die quick. Â Died because no one could get close to him."
The ghoul poured out a small measure of white death from the flask into the dirt. Â Formed a small diamond in the stark rising light.
"Hells below."
"We knew this would happen. Â Oath circle's supposed to stop it before it does. Â Keep it our business."
The giant nodded and took the flask back, holding it up to glitter in the mourning light.
"Truth. Â Maybe we shoulda. Â Kinda hard to put a friend down. Â Berserk or not. Â We all know he wouldn't have gone quiet."
"Now he'll hang. Â Alone. Â Should have gone from us doing the job."
They both knew there wasn't enough liquid in the flask to shut out the truth though.
"And not a bunch of injured guards and monks. Â Yeah, I get that. Â And I wasn't there. Â You want to keep turning that screw or you want to let me do it for a little bit?"
"Screwing got you into this, Mad Eye."
No more than it could shut out Henks' coming execution at the end of a short rope.
"FIVE DAMN YEARS, Lihta. Â No way I could have known Henk'd go off his gourd while I try do something simple as a damn date."
"Girl's trouble, Mad Eye."
No more than they could absolve Henk, bleeding on the jail floor, of his rage and crimes.
"More ways than one. Â Don't you worry though, wasn't there when I woke up."
"Serves you right."
No more than they could stop the sun from rising.
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