I froze; my mind flashed with all the possibilities, as I edged away from him. I instinctively reached for my dagger, but stopped myself.
‘...what do you mean?"
"I mean," he said slowly, "I was just as bad as this Bahr, one time. As wicked as you think he is. I partook in these terrible acts you’re probably thinking of right now, and I only changed once Ginah changed me."
I felt my perception of Braz slowly twist. I had always seen him as a goofball; someone who never took life seriously. But I realized now how obvious of a farce it was. I remembered seeing him passed out drunk many times since I came here, and I realized now why he did that.
"If I told you what I did and why I did it, would you ever forgive me?" he finally asked.
"I—" I bit my tongue, stopping the reply. "Why are you asking me this?"
He shrugged, finally getting up off the table.
"Just something for you to think about," he said. And with that, he left me alone.
I stared at his back as I watched him leave. I didn’t even realize I was tightly gripping the hilt of my dagger. I just sat there, unmoving.
Just for me to think about? I shook my head. Does he want me to give this Bahr a second chance or something?
I would not do that; I had been fooled into thinking that was possible before. And I did not personally know this Bahr. But there was no way he would have ever wanted to change. And even if f he wanted to change—
...would I let him go free?
I didn’t think so. I didn’t want to. How could someone who had committed such vile crimes wash his hands and walk away from it? But if he was willing to work to right all his wrongs, and spend the rest of his life repenting and dedicated to charity—
I stopped myself, as I realized Braz had achieved what he wanted to achieve. He wanted me to think about it. And that was what I was doing right now.
But I spent too much time thinking before. Thinking allowed others to suffer. So I pushed these thoughts aside, and focused on what I could do now. Maybe I would consider what Braz wanted me to think about later. For now, I acted.
Chapter 33: Ambush
The plan was simple. We were supposed to ambush Bahr in the docks of Luke. Not only was it going to be the most overt operation Ginah’s Crew was going to carry out thus far, but it was also going to be the most dangerous.
Bahr was apparently a powerful spellcaster from the Dark Crusaders— an Apostle. He was even more powerful than all previous Dark Acolytes I had met, as they were only Disciples. I should have been nervous; I thought I would be nervous. And yet, I was surprisingly calm.
The stage had already been set. The deal had already been struck. There was no backing away now that I was here. Even Braz’s words from a week ago barely hung in the back of my mind, for I knew what I was doing here was right.
The Elise was expecting a shipment of the enuim to be coming in tonight; we had been destroying all their alchemy labs, preventing them from producing more within the city, thus forcing them to rely only on an outside supply. So we had set a trap.
Ginah, Jack, Elda, Gennady, and some of Ginah’s Crew were to intercept that shipment before it reached the city. They would hijack it just beyond the docks, forcing whatever ships and men Bahr had with him to come to its aid. But that was only the bait.
Myself, Kai, Braz, and the remaining elite pirates were to sneak into the city before twilight, waiting in a safehouse Lisa had prearranged for us; she had a meeting with one of her last few available contacts just the other day, setting this up for us. I wasn’t sure whether I trusted her, but I had no reason not to.
All I had to do was keep an eye on her now. I would have preferred if Gennady went with me, but a Dwarf in a city of mostly Humans was rather conspicuous. So he wasn’t able to participate in this part of the plan.
I had worked without him plenty of times before in the past few weeks, and I had gotten accustomed to fighting alongside Kai. While I had thought he was distrustful of me the entire time, it seemed my assessment was incorrect: he trusted me. He believed I could take care of myself, and he even assigned me with one of the most important roles in the mission.
"You’re our only spellcaster," he said, back during our planning session. "We want you to stay at the back. Attack him from afar to draw his attention as we take out any stragglers that’s left behind him."
"And what happens if he zeroes in on me?" I asked, folding my arms.
"Don’t worry. Braz and a few others will stay behind with you." He gestured over at the grinning man, who shot me a thumbs up. I shifted uncomfortably, remembering his vague admission of guilt from the other day, but did not protest.
Ginah nodded. "We’ll already have him distracted by taking over his shipment of enuim by then. Maybe you could even take him out by surprise."
I don’t think it’ll be that easy, I thought, but did not voice my thoughts. She continued.
"Once he sends his entourage out on boats to deal with us, you will begin your attack. It doesn’t matter if Melas kills him or not— because you’ll have him surrounded by the time his men would even
