The sole survivor rushed forward nervously and swung a sword for his head; Merk ducked, feeling it whiz by, and in the same motion grabbed a club from the ground, swung around, and whacked the man on the back of the head. There came a crack, and the man stumbled forward and landed in the mud, out cold.

Merk saw him lying there and knew he could kill him—but he had another idea: he wanted justice.

Merk dragged the man to his feet, holding him in a chokehold as he dragged him forward. He walked him across the mud, toward the girl, who stood there, aghast, hatred in her eyes.

Merk stopped a foot away from her, holding the writhing man tight.

“Please, let me go!” the man whined. “It wasn’t my fault!”

“The decision is the girl’s,” Merk snarled in the man’s ear.

Merk saw the grief, the desire for vengeance, in her eyes. With his free hand he reached into his belt and handed her his dagger, hilt first.

“Please, don’t,” the man sobbed. “I didn’t do anything!”

The girl’s expression darkened as she grabbed Merk’s dagger and stared back at the man.

“Didn’t you?” she asked, her voice cold and hard. “I watched you kill my mother. I watched you kill my family.”

Without waiting for a response, the girl lunged forward and stabbed the man in the heart.

Merk felt the thug stiffen in his arms as he gasped, and was surprised and impressed by the girl’s perfect strike, her ruthlessness.

The man’s body went limp, and Merk let him drop down to the ground, dead.

Merk stood there facing the girl, who held the bloody dagger in her hand, and looked down at the corpse. She was breathing hard, her face still filled with fury, as if her desire were unfulfilled. Merk understood the feeling, all too well.

She slowly looked up at him, and as she did, her expression shifted, and he could see the gratitude in her eyes. And for the first time in as long as he could remember, he felt good about himself. He had saved her life. For a fleeting moment, at least, he had become the person he wanted to be.

With the battlefield still, with all the thugs dead, Merk allowed himself to lower his guard, just for a moment. He stepped forward to embrace the girl, to hold her, to let her know that everything would be okay.