Limits

After a while of contemplating, I came up with something. 'Blood Pact. If the whole village makes a Blood Pact to never reveal this information, we should be alright' I thought. I then looked at my right hand, and asked a bit concerned "Are you still there Frosty?". I heard no answer. 'Frosty knew about Blood Pacts. It would be best to ask it about them, but I don't know what is going on anymore' I thought.

I woke up the second guy, and interrogated him as well. Half an hour later, the three spies were laying dead on the floor. 'They were from neighbouring villages. All of them were small, and not as powerful as Savala Village' I thought. This was reassuring, but it didn't mean we were safe. They could easily notify people in the city, and create chaos.

I picked up the corpses, and stuck them into a bag. I then left the house, and headed towards the forest. When I buried the corpses, I returned to Finch's roof. There were no other captives there, which meant we should've taken care of all of them. I said to Finch "We need to remove the families of these spies". Finch nodded, and said "I will take care of that. You can keep the watch". I shook my head, and said "It will no longer be necessary. There shouldn't be any more of them".

I then continued "We might have a problem though. New spies may return, and people may share the news of my medicine. This may be bad. We need to make sure, no villager says anything about it". Finch replied "I can't threaten my own people". I said "I never intended to threaten them. The whole village needs to make a Blood Pact". Finch thought about it, and said "It's not a bad solution… but what if they don't agree?". I replied "They have to. Otherwise, we are risking exposure, and further consequences. The Blood Pact will only protect the information about my medicine. They will be able to leave village, talk with others and do whatever they like".

Finch asked "What if they still refuse". I didn't have an answer to that question. I replied "I don't know. I refuse to kill them for nothing. Threatening them will not work either… Maybe it was a bad idea, I just wanted to worry less about this place…". Finch walked over, patted my shoulder and said "It's not your fault. You were willing to help people out. This isn't a bad thing. This shows to me, and should to everyone, that you care for this place. A true Wintersteed, just like your father was. I miss my brother, but knowing that his son is like this, fills me with pride. We will think of something. Go back and rest, I will take care of the traitors".

I sighed, and nodded my head. The next morning, I joined everyone for the breakfast. The atmosphere around the table, was the same as usual. Everyone chatted, smiled and ate without any worries. 'Finch probably didn't tell them anything yet' I thought. As I sat there lost in my thoughts, Aron said "That medicine of yours… Breaking through to my Inner Limits in the future, will no longer be such a problem. It's just a matter of time now. I can feel it". I smiled, and replied absentmindedly "That's great".

Haily asked "Did something happen?". I sighed, and looked at Finch. He nodded his head, so I said "We may have some problems. As you can see, my medicine is nothing to scoff at. This is the problem. If others find out about it, they may come here looking for it. I'm not worried about other villages, but a horde of people that populate the cities".

Finch then continued "Yesterday, we executed some spies. If the news spread, a war can erupt. The situation is not great, I must admit". Aron stood up, and claimed "We will fight then! We are no cowards". Finch looked at his son seriously, and said "Sit down". Aron was taken aback, but obeyed anyway. I then said "There is a solution. We need to make a Blood Pact… the whole village needs to make it". Tina asked the same question, I heard from Finch last night. "What if some people don't agree?" she asked.

I replied "I don't know… That is why, this is a problem". Everyone went quiet for a while. I decided not to linger there, and think about what ifs. I stood up, and said "Let's assemble the whole village. I will try to persuade them". Finch nodded, and all of us walked outside. After Finch called loudly for everyone to gather, we waited.

When everyone was present. I sighed and said "We need to make Blood Pact". The people gathered started talking, and someone asked "Why? What is that Blood Pact about?". I replied "The medicine I gave you, cannot see the light of day. The Blood Pact will not restrict you in any way, it will only be there to prevent you exposing my medicine".

Another person asked "What if we don't want to? You will force us? Kill us?". The crowd began talking again, and some even had fear in their eyes. I sighed, and said "No. I can only tell you the consequences". A different person shouted "That's not my problem then. You should have thought about it before". As he was about to walk away, a woman slapped his face, and said "You want to repay him like that? Did he ask for impossible? He allowed our kids to have a better future, and what? You are going to abandon him? He might not kill you, but I will!".

The man was shocked, but he wasn't alone. Many people were shocked at the behaviour of that woman. Coincidentally, she was Nade's mother. She shouted "Nex was the one who helped out my son. He allowed him to have a future. If not for Nex, would your kids be able to get such benefits. That is how you plan to pay him back?". She walked out of the crowd, and said to me "I will make any Blood Pact you want. I'm not ungrateful like these bastards, who only think about themselves".

More people came forward, and also declared they would oblige. There were around 40-50 villagers still behind. Not stepping forwards. I said "The consequences of leaking that information, is likely war. You might be able to defend against other villages, but what about a city? You can of course leave, that is a solution as well…".

A young man that stood with his family, walked forwards. His father shouted "Where are you going! Do you want to become a slave?". He shouted back "I will not be a slave! If he didn't care, he would kill all of you already. Do you think you could stop him, and the other Wintersteeds?". His father became speechless, while he turned towards me, and said "I lived my whole life in this village. I'm not a coward, nor am I a traitor. I'm not sure what this Blood Pact is, but if this will solve your problems, I'm willing to accept it".

Others slowly walked forwards as well. There were only a handful of people left. One of them shouted "I refuse to be a slave!". I shook my head, and said "No one is going to be a slave. No one is going to command you, because of the Blood Pact. It will only prevent you from exposing my medicine, nothing else". He shouted back "Why should I believe you?". I replied "Because if I wanted to enslave you, I wouldn't care about your lives. The handful of you, would be already dead. Yet you are still alive and well". I sighed, and continued "I told you, I will not kill anyone, nor will any other Wintersteed here".

The remaining people looked at each other. One woman with her kid stepped forwards, and said "I believe you. I'm afraid, but I believe you. What you said is true, if you really wanted to enslave us, handful of people left or right, wouldn't make much of a difference to you. I don't know about the others, but I agree". The others hesitated, but ultimately also walked forwards. Only one person was left. The old man who shouted "I refuse to be a slave!". He said "I lived my life alone. You didn't help my kids, you didn't help me. Why would I be your slave? Others may be blinded, but I'm not".

I sighed, and said "You are free to do whatever you like in that case. You are no longer my concern, or under my protection. Whatever happens to you, is not my problem". He shouted back "Are you threatening me boy?". I replied "No. I will not touch you, as long as you don't try to break the laws here. No Wintersteed will touch you". He didn't say anything else, and started walking away.

'I will not touch you, my family will not touch you, but I said nothing about the people here gathered' I thought. People who decided to accept the Blood Pact, wouldn't be stupid enough to let one person slide. I would even go as far, as to assume they would kill the whole group of people. I wasn't wrong. A few people left the group, and walked towards the old man. When he realised what was going on, He shouted "You said you will not touch me!". I replied "I will not, I never ordered anyone to do something. But as I said, what happens to you from now on, is not my problem. You made your choice, the people also made theirs".

He began running away, but the people who chased him, weren't exactly normal villagers. Soon, the people who chased after the old man, returned. I then said "Thank you, to all of you for understanding. Blood Pact is not a slave pact. I told you already, that you will be able to live your life as usual. It will only prevent you from talking about my medicine. This way, you will not mention it, even accidentally. Your lives, will not be affected whatsoever". The crowd nodded, while I turned to Finch, and asked "Do you know how to make Blood Pacts?".