Conversation

Bardeelus wanted to keep a cool head here. He wanted to converse with his siblings calmly, for his own sake, if not for relational purposes. 

The reputation he had now was foul. He was seen as a devilish necromancer, and this could get him killed. Apart from that, they associated Tim's death with him as well.

Fenik avoided all responsibility on that matter, regardless of how it was him who sold off his own siblings! This situation was fragile and indefinitely tainted with stupidity, Bardeelus didn't know how to untangle it.

It was especially difficult to discuss these things, in front of an audience; There were ten people around them. The three siblings needed some privacy, so Bardeelus had the ingenious idea of setting up a smaller campfire, about ten meters away. 

This didn't give them a great wall of privacy, but if the rest minded their business at least a little bit, then these three siblings could talk freely.

Bardeelus tried to melt the ice between him and his siblings, with food. He gave some roasted meat to Zera first, as she was the hungriest here without a doubt. 

While she chewed down on it, he cackled. "Look at that! I finally returned the favor."

"Favor?" She asked.

"I know you've fed me… in that well. Should've been you, because it wasn't Audera or Erdeta." He explained.

With a passive glare, and a face sour enough to back it up, she said. "It was Tim. He rattled about feeding you, and that's what got him killed. Mom will kill you when we get home."

Bardeelus wanted to explode and scold these two people vigorously, but he knew that it wasn't the best time to do so. The recent events had to be broken down slowly, or else they wouldn't reach even the slightest understanding, and just yell like baboons.

"Is it really my fault now? Fenik, what do you think?" He pressured.

Fenik had been quiet until now. He seemed embarrassed, and had an ego shattered beyond repair ~ He was stuffed in a sack for hours until now, which hinted how unbearable and useless he was.

Though now, he didn't even have the strength to be resentful, he said. "I messed up. It was a mistake to live in that camp, we didn't have any cousins there, barely any family at all."

With that said, Zera decided to be more bold, she asked. "So that's why you caved? You sold all of us because you were scared?" 

"Shit else was I supposed to do!? We can't make it through the forest alone. It's only a matter of time til someone comes by and kills us all! You can't use your ghost friends to save us, can you?!" Fenik exclaimed.

The conversation was directed towards Bardeelus by now, and he had expected it. Though, he expected to be called an actual demon worshiper, rather than a friend of ghosts instead.

For that matter, he felt less offended, and said. "Actually I can kill most people on the spot, so we don't need ghosts. We'll be safe, because together we're stronger, unfortunately stronger."

"Unfortunately?" Fenik asked.

After a short pause, he teased. "You have powers. So you're unfortunately useful to us, even though you were too scared to use them against actual enemies."

Fenik's powers were very offensive by nature, except in the recent events, he didn't have the guts to use them. Through spells, he could materialize fairly metallic weapons, out of thin air even!

In a sense, he was a hairy barbarian's wet dream, yet he cowarded often. He didn't even have to be muscly to use these powers!

They needed him here, across the forest, so Bardeelus insisted. "If someone attacks us, don't sell us off. Fight, because we'll be fighting too. Marauders don't accept meals."

Fenik just nodded in response. He was still embarrassed, and couldn't even look Zera in the eyes, but at least they settled a fraction of the drama which they went through.

Everyone was in emotional pain, one way or the other. Bardeelus felt utterly betrayed, but he decided to put that aside for now, in order to preserve his very life. 

"I'm sure you see me as a monster… I can tell how anxious both of you feel." He said.

In order to bargain a little bit, he also added. "But I didn't do anything bad. I brought food to the camp and was tossed in a well for it. I saved both of your lives but apparently that's not enough… so, let's look at this differently."

"How?" Zera asked.

She felt inclined to listen, on the count that she was saved without a single thing in return. Logic didn't run much in the family, but she was ready to defy her own nature for once. 

"My powers… this necromancy business, I found out more stuff about it, and that's why I ran away for a couple of days. We found another necromancer, who used to worship an actual devil." He explained.

"We can tell. She looks like she wants to skin me alive." Fenik added, nervously.

"And she can," Bardeelus admitted, "But she's here to help me figure my shit out. I'm some sort of 'pure necromancer', she said, and my powers don't need to be gifted by a demon or some shit… I'm all natural."

"Yeah right," Fenik argued, "And I'm an innocent murderer. Sounds correct."

"We all killed people, we had to." Bardeelus argued, "But we never prayed to a demon, none of us did. We have this whole ass scroll and shit, about pure necromancy. You can look at it, if you understand radinian three."

Fenik stroked his chin, while he was in a hunt for any lies. Everything about this seemed bizarre, but for once, he didn't judge blandly.

Instead, he said. "Shit, you're not kidding. Good luck with that though."

Bardeelus wanted to smack the other in response, but he knew that it would be useless. He didn't want much help from these two, but this conversation still had a purpose.

He explained, "I have my friends here, we'll figure this necromancy shit out ourselves. Thing is, I want to take you home as well, and you need to vouch for me. If you say some random bullshit about necromancy there, I'll end up on a spike."

Furthermore, he added. "I saved you, because you two are my blood, regardless of how retarded you are. It's time to return the favor, help me convince mom and dad that I'm not a demon, I gotta live man."