The jailer's footsteps were slow and methodical, completely out of rhythm with the clanging of his keys against the bars of the empty cells that he passed. Then there was the tune that he whistled, it was much too cheerful for the occasion.

That melody he sang was one fit for springtime weather, meant to be sung by children at play or grandmothers doing needlework in their rocking chairs. The ugly sensation emanating from the dull grey walls overpowered it completely.

This place suffocated everything pleasurable about the world. The sunlight trying to reach through the tiny cell window was too weak to illuminate the bleak darkness, the hard floor carried a chill that could soak through bone, and the salted air was chokingly humid. Everything was wrong.

Then again, nothing seems appropriate in the moments before a hanging. Estra thought to herself. She peered into the cell across from her, carefully eyeing the rise and fall of the jails only other inhabitant.

Dost was sound asleep, or at least he appeared to be. Part of her was glad that he'd been assigned to the same fate as her, and even more so that she'd get to watch him die before she met her own fate. The other half of her was sickened by the fact that she'd be forced to spend the last day of her life locked away with him as her only companion. She looked down at the thick manacles encircling her wrists. They were old and worn, but they were still diamidian. The dark material sucked the magic from her bones and everything around her, and that was the sole reason she hadn't finished burning this thrice-damned city and everything in it to the ground.

"Rise and glow Blade Witch," the jailer said, finally making his way to her cell. Estra looked up at the thickly muscled man, long over the fact that he was the same person whose home she'd once hidden at in the slums. The jailer fumbled through his ring of keys, doing his best to balance a pair of sparse food treys in the other. He spat a curse from his mustachioed lips as he struggled to get the key to turn in the rusted lock before the door finally came swinging open.

The man offered her the trey, allowing her a moment to stare at him blankly before he shrugged and set it down on the ground indifferently. He repeated the same routine for Dost, not bothering to wake the man before he turned to make his departure.

"Nothing to say?" Estra called after him.

The guard looked over his shoulder quizzically. Likely surprised to hear her speak for the first time in the days since the massacre.

"What is there to say lass?"

"Today's the last you'll ever see me," Estra said. "I've been waiting for you to take your chance to curse me. Call me all the horrid things I know you want to. To tell me how much of a monster I am."

"That's not the kind of man Elmont is," both Estra and the jailor looked over at Dost's cell. Neither the Blade Witch, nor the giant had spoken during their stay in the prison, yet somehow, he'd still managed to be the quieter of the two. He rolled over on his mat to face them, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "You burned more than a few of his friends, but you won't hear a word from him about it. He's thinking plenty right now, but he'll always keep it to himself and do what needs to be done. Even after all these weeks he's been watching over me, I still don't understand it myself, but that's just the way the man works. That's why he was chosen to be our guard."

"Just a man trying to do his job and go home to his family at the end of the day is all," the jailer said. His eyes flickered back and forth between Estra and Dost, seeing that "I'll be back in an hour when you need me. That should give the two of you more than enough time to talk." He nodded at Dost before making his exit.

The giant and the Blade Witch remained staring at each other until Dost broke the silence. "I suppose you know the truth about you and Helena now? That she's your mother."

Estra ignored the man's question, instead choosing to pose one of her own. "I should have died in the square. Why'd you save me?"

"Because I didn't want to see you die," Dost answered plainly. "I didn't want to see your friend die either. In fact, I begged Heston to give her mercy the night before he brought us to the guillotines. He gave me his word that no more harm would come to her. Said he'd only bring her out as an example and give her the chance to declare loyalty to his cause. That way more of the defiler's supporters would be wont to do the same. I guess you cutting open his niece's arm had some effect in changing his mind on the matter."

Estra grunted at the man's words. No matter how much she wanted to call him a liar, her gut told her that his words were the truth. "So that's it then? My friend dies because you trusted a madman, now I find myself about to end my days hung next to you."

"You won't die tonight Blade Witch," Dost said. "At least not by hanging anyway."

Estra looked up at him, raising an eyebrow quizzically.

"You don't even understand how fortunate you are to have a man like Brennan the Bard on your side," Dost said, shaking his head with the disapproving tone of a man speaking to a child. "You may be one hell of a fighter, but you're woefully oblivious to the way things work. Check beneath your tray there, I believe our friendly jailer left a little present for you."

Estra shifted the trey to the side, finding a piece of paper neatly folded beneath it, a golden rose elegantly scrawled on its surface.

"What's it say?" Dost asked

Estra bent over picking up the letter, almost reading Brennan's hastily scrawled text aloud before she remembered who she was speaking to.

"City is in chaos.

Guards raiding homes every hour.

Jailer is one of us.

You can trust him.

He'll lead you out of prison.

Meeting at convent ruins.

Must end this tonight."

Estra's eyes stayed glued to the letter

"It's an escape plan correct?" Dost said as more of a statement than a question. "If that's the case, then take me with you."

A harsh laugh arose from Estra as the man's suggestion. "And what in dark hell do you think would possess me to help you?"

"Given the past, I can understand why you hate me. I've come to hate myself as well.," Dost said, his slurred speech, growing somber. "I beat a little girl half to death only moments after helping murder everyone she knew. I have my own reasons for hating the Faith, but what I did to you, I did out of anger and grief. Yes, I'd just lost a brother, but I was still the one in the wrong. I know that now. I don't blame you for wanting your justice, but you should know that I've already been punished."

"Ha," Estra spat hard enough for her saliva to cross the distance between the bars that separated them, landing on the sack that covered the man's face for her to watch as it rolled down. "Fuck whatever justice you think has been served. If it hasn't been dealt by my hand then it isn't worth shit to me."

Dost froze for a moment, before giving a long sigh and a slight nod. He reached up, gloved hands tugging at the sack on his head. When the leather fell away a revolted gasp found its way through Estra's lips.

The giant man's face looked as if it was made of wet clay, sloughing off to one side to the point that his eye was no longer visible and cracked like dried earth on the other. Only a few strands of hair were left on a head that was overgrown with odd lumps and warts that protruded at every interval. It occurred to Estra that she'd never seen a more horrid sight, even for someone whose sole duty was hunting down the wretches of the world.

"Helena wasn't always insane. When I met her, she was just a hurting woman that wanted revenge against an institution that I have plenty of reasons to despise as well," Dost explained, spittle flying from his mouth uncontrollably as he spoke. "That was a long time ago. She's mostly insane at this point, but she still has her moments of clarity."

"When you showed up in the city and she saw you through the eyes of her watcher, she grasped at sanity for an instant. That's when she realized who you were," he pointed a thick finger at his face. "That was when she remembered what she'd allowed me to do to you. This was the punishment I received. I'd held out hope for her up until that point, but eventually, I had to come to the realization that she was too far gone to be helped."

The giant continued facing her, a look of pain crossing his face as he allowed her to take in his condition. "Words are meaningless to the Enlightened. They only take their penance in deeds and sacrifice," Dost said, reciting The Exaid. "Those are the words of your holy text correct?" He waited for Estra to give a curt half-nod before he continued. "As you can see, the corruption already has a strong hold on me. I don't have long left in this world, and the life I've lived so far hasn't been worth much. I know what I'm asking, believe me, but would you at least give me the chance to make up for at least one of the sins I've committed?"

Estra roamed over the man, taking in every distorted curve of his figure, unable to grasp the kind of suffering he must have gone through. Deep down she knew it wasn't truly satisfying, having not come from her own hand, but for the time being, it would be enough. Estra thought over her choices for a moment before rising to her feet. Her rage was no less virulent, but the sight of Dost's condition had given her the chance to think things through.

"When this done, yours will be the first life I take," Estra said, rising from her sleeping mat. "We go tonight," with that she sat back in her cell and waited for the last minutes of the hour to tick away.