50: Shades of Grey

So, in the aftermath of the battle we stood around not really knowing what to do. I think Ursula wanted to kill all the farmers there and then but was outnumbered and felt we might not back her. Solvej broke the silence by suggesting we go and get the ham. I noticed that none of the children had glowing eyes now, for some reason, and the other farmers’ eyes were a lot dimmer than the previous evening. Perhaps it wasn’t a mutation after all but more of an infection. I asked Erhardt about it, and he decided that it might have been a magical effect. So, if I could keep them away from Ursula for another day, until all trace had gone, it seemed to me that they might be safe. In any case, Ursula was now keeping a closer eye on me than on the farmers.

I told the farmers we would visit them the next day, and that I suspected this disease would be gone by then and they could return to the farm. Kurtis was pleased about this, as he could see this contributing to the noble lifestyle that he wanted to become accustomed to. Kurtis and I had a chat about Solvej and we agreed that it would be best for everyone, especially her, if we left her behind to manage the farm. She clearly wasn’t cut out for this sort of lifestyle, and every time the going got a bit tense, she would flip out and attack the nearest innocent. She had definitely enjoyed her time on the farm and it felt nice that she would be retiring to do what she loved. So, that was settled. We thought that maybe she wouldn’t know this was the best thing for her, so we made an agreement to flee the farm in the middle of the night while she was still asleep. She would thank us later.

I was also getting a bit concerned for Otto. Ursula’s way of thinking appealed to Otto’s sense of the complex and nuanced (he doesn’t have one). And I think Ursula was trying to recruit him into her band for witch hunting, or flagellating, or witch catchers, as Otto calls them.

I have spent months talking to Otto about Shallya, teaching him about her mercy, telling him stories and parables, and praying with him, but now a couple of words from Ursula about killing farmers, and Otto was all over it. He said that he liked the idea that there was only a black and white way of looking at things. There are, of course, shades of grey but you have to be prepared to think about them. And I ended up calling Otto thick again, and so he got upset again, which didn’t help in the struggle for his soul. Ursula was telling him what he wanted to hear, but Shallya doesn’t do that, especially when she’s been on the truth serum.

When we got back to the farm Erhardt had a look at the grain, instead of Otto, this time, and he managed to spot it was tainted. But to be fair to Otto, I think Erhardt used his wizard powers. Solvej knew which field the grain had come from, so we went out to have a look. Erhardt couldn’t see any sign of the taint in the field, and so we had to rethink. And decided the clue might be with the rats and not the grain. Perhaps the rats had infected the grain and not the other way around.

As we were still affected by the truth serum, Ursula took this opportunity to ask me about my true god. I got the impression I was being inquisited, or whatever the witch hunters call it. Of course, I passed her test. I thought about trying to lie, and mention S_______ just to annoy her. But then I thought, after she flagellated me and burned me at the stake, the joke would probably be on me.

I explained that the reason Shallya was above the other gods was that she never assumed moral authority, but her actions proved her moral authority, whereas the other gods explicitly insisted upon their moral authority, whatever you think of their actual behaviour. This was a pointed stab at Sigmar, but Ursula couldn’t touch me for it.

If the rats had infected the grain, then we needed to find where these rats had come from. Schnitzel managed to track the rats across one of the fields and into some woodland. And we found a couple of crates hidden in the undergrowth, which were open but had clearly been used for transporting rats. It seemed someone had deliberately let corrupted rats loose next to the farm, which was a strange thing to do. I think we all realised that we needed to find who was behind this.

On the way back to the farm I told Solvej how Kurtis and I had decided that it would be better if she stayed at the farm, but she didn’t seem to like the idea. Kurtis denied the whole thing, but I suppose, under the influence of the truth serum he could have been sincere, and it was all a bit of a misunderstanding, who knows?

In any case we burned all the grain and Otto set up a load of traps (mostly in my room, he was still upset about being called thick) and we settled in for the night. I had another strange dream, which was a lot like the previous night’s except this time I saw a vision of Kurtis fighting himself, or something, at the opera. And then when I saw the tainted farms, I could see the Newstead farm had been cleansed. I’m not sure whether my dreams were more disturbing than the fact that Ursula had decided to sleep on my floor to keep an eye on me.

In the morning Solvej asked me something about dreams, so I suspect that she had been having bad dreams, too. She said something about that time in Kemperbad when the strange voice had told us it knew our names. Now she had heard Gulgad’s voice in her dream telling her it knew her name. And then Kurtis said something about his dreams. But I’ve been listening to Kurtis go on about his dreams for over fifteen years, so I just filter it out.

In the morning, I think the itchy eyes that I had over the last couple of days were starting to clear up. And a number of rats had been caught and several of them were large and green-eyed. Otto stuffed them all into his jar and tried to impress us with it. I suppose it was quite impressive if you like that sort of thing. I went through the kitchen and threw away anything that looked like it might contain even a tiny bit of grain.

Then we headed back to the woods to visit the farmers. I checked that Sindri’s wounds were healing nicely. The green in the farmers’ eyes had gone, so we decided it would be safe to let them back to the farm. Kurtis was delighted that he would be getting the income again, and so he got on his high horse and decided to address the hoi poloi.

He told everyone that it would now be acceptable for them all to return to the farm where they could work for him, and that Solvej would be in charge of them. News of Solvej’s promotion didn’t go down too well. Anyway, they gave him three not very enthusiastic cheers which is the sort of thing Kurtis likes.

So we all travelled back together to the farmstead, and I could tell the farmers were happy to be going back to their old lives. As we walked, however, Tina, one of the children, was lagging behind a bit, and out of hearing of the rest of anyone else, she told me that although the green glow had gone from everyone’s eyes she could still see in the dark. That was concerning, and could be interpreted, I supposed, as a permanent mutation. So I tried to make it clear to her that she should keep that secret. I made quite a decent case for it, using comparative theology and doctrinal theism. But I don’t think she really understood it all because she was only seven. I should have just told her to keep her mouth shut.

And it was soon time to leave. I said goodbye to Solvej and told her I would try to come back and visit her some time, but then found out she had never had any intention of staying at the farm, anyway.

Well, she had her chance. She could have retired to the countryside and lived a relatively comfortable and safe life on the farm, which was what I think she always wanted. But she chose not to do this. And now, whatever bad comes of that decision, and I’m sure it will not turn out to be good, she will have no one to blame but herself.

So, we left the farm behind. Otto was still mad at me about calling him thick, and I was worried about him joining Ursula’s witch catchers, so as soon as I could, as soon as I felt the truth serum wearing off, I told him that I had been lying about thinking he was thick, and that I thought he was quite bright really. He looked very pleased and said that he had known all along that I had only pretended to take the truth serum. And that’s how thick he is.