Darkness Girl: Trickster God

Chapter Fifty-Three: A Twisted View

'When I first met you, I told you I'd be watching you closely. Do you recall?' 

Ashcroft looked across and searched Regan's face. The girl stared back at her with the same penetrating gaze she'd had when they first met. Her clothes were still covered in the fine tan dust from the arena. They walked side by side away from the training grounds, their feet making soft crunches on the unsealed gravel surface of the road. Ashcroft could hear the sound of cheers in the distance as Pohlman read out the list of candidates who had passed the first round. She hadn't waited to hear the announcement; she knew Regan would be on it. As soon as Regan had stepped out of the arena, Ashcroft had intercepted her and led her away from the others. Sarafina had tried to follow, but one look had been enough to send her away. 

'I've played your game. All of your people got to walk away intact, more or less.' 

The land around the training grounds was a rocky expanse of hard packed soil and stunted grass. Ashcroft and Regan were the only two people walking down the road that led back to the Silverwater barracks. Ashcroft took a breath. She could smell the dryness in the air around her, mixed with the faint scents of the people who had walked along the road hours before. Beside her, Regan was a cloud of living smells edged with the chemical scent of hair dye and the pervasive red tinge of blood. 

'Your fights were impressive. Your skills were unparalleled, and your technique flawless.' 

'You say that like it disappoints you.' 

'My expectation was never that you'd fail because of poor technique. Your fighting abilities were more than enough to secure you a position at Silverwater.' 

'Why don't I feel like I'm being offered congratulations?' 

'There will be a push for your acceptance. Squadron leaders who watched your fights will request it, Pohlman may even insist upon it, but as long as I'm in charge, you will never become a member of Silverwater.' 

'I disgust you don't I?' 

'I told you I'd be watching you during the trials. I wasn't watching for your skill; I was watching to see if I could detect even the tiniest glimmer of human feeling in you, but there was nothing. There's no sympathy in you. That's the difference between silencers and protectors -- a protector feels the weight of human life, but it's clear from everything about you that the lives of others are essentially valueless to you.' 

'So that's the way it is?' 

Ashcroft sighed. 'That's the way it is.' 

'You talk like someone who's been on the other side of that divide before.' 

Ashcroft tried not to let her emotions show on her face. 'Life is long, and I've met all sorts of people, including some I wish I hadn't.' 

'That wasn't an answer.' 

Ashcroft felt a surge of irritation. 'Because I have no desire to discuss my past with something like you.' 

Regan looked down the road. The Silverwater barracks was ahead of them. 'You knew I was a silencer without even seeing me fight. I'll be gone soon. Humour me.' 

Ashcroft looked down at Regan for a moment. 'Perhaps you're the only one who would fully understand,' she said finally. 

'Perhaps.' 

'I know what you are, because I was like you once. A killer without remorse.' 

'And yet you don't want me to join your little toy army.' 

'I said I was like you, but I came here because I'd changed. Because I wanted to make the world a better place with my sword. You're not like that. You're still nothing but a killer, and the world has more than enough of those.'