William's Debrief

9th day of Airgid, 667

William went down on one knee before them, bowing his head deeply. “Forgive me, I failed you.”

From the corner of his eye, he saw them cross their arms. “What happened?”

“We told them that Svend had the artefact. They fought us and won.” He had hesitated too long, unwilling to hurt Tizari. Had they all been strangers, he would have drawn steel sooner. Maybe the fight would have ended differently, then.

They pondered his words. “You told them Svend had the artefact?” they asked, raising an eyebrow in clear disbelief.

William paused. He had not wanted to put the blame on Njal, but he would not lie to them either. “I left Njal alone with the witch and she threatened him. I should have stuck with him.” He should have known that just because Tiz was amongst them, they could not all be trusted. In hindsight, he should not have even trusted her. “One of them, the dragonborn, was known to me, once. I put my feelings over our mission. It will not happen again.”

Reaching out their hand to him, they said softly: “Rise.”

He laid his hand in theirs and rose, keeping his head down for two more seconds before he looked at them.

“Svend is quick and clever. You still bought him time and judging by the blood on your armour, maybe also bought him an advantage over them.” Letting go of his hand, they crossed their arms. “Can I count on you next time you meet them? I won’t hold it against you if personal afflictions hinder you. But I would ask you to step away from this mission, then.”

William considered it. Removing himself from this would be easiest. But he had failed once and the thought of giving up now felt weak. And if they put someone else in his place, would that person kill Tiz? Yes, he was angry at her. The feeling of her lips against his cheeks still stung worse than any of the wounds he had suffered. She had known about Ellie and still she had done it, in battle at that, after rendering him unable to move. Oh, he was furious. But the thought of her dead at someone else’s hand was still inconceivable.

Locking eyes with the person before him, he struck his fist to his chest. “You can count on me. There won’t be a repeat of what happened, I swear it.”

Smiling, they nodded their head. “Good. I am counting on you.”

He thought they were about to dismiss him, but there was one more thing William had to tell them: “The human boy of their group turned into a wolf.”

Their gaze snapped up at him, their lips widening into a teeth-baring grin. “Did he now?”

“I thought my sword’s light might have caused it, but he turned a while after it first shone. It appeared he was hurt too badly.”

“How very interesting.” Their eyes were flashing with curiosity.

But before William explicated, there was one more thing: “I promised him word of this would not reach Colvera and especially not his Bloodhunter Guild.”

He hadn’t thought it possible, but their smile grew wider and toothier. “A werewolf monster hunter? Oh, the poetic irony.” Then they shrugged. “I do not cross paths with monster hunters, it will be easy not to tell them.”