“I don’t need your help,” he snaps back, with the weight of a dozen betrayals from other adults who promised similar niceties.

Don’t trust anyone, not even your own father. That was the rule out here, right? Any show of kindness could be some form of trap.

He steps forward, nearly able to swipe the tip of his sword at the blade the woman plunged to the ground. One gesture of peace wasn’t enough, not when he was surrounded.

“Go pick corpses somewhere else.”

Once they were gone, he could figure out what the hell he was doing next.